Nell Rose (author) from England on June 25, 2012: Hi floriferous, I remember that on tv too, the bullying starts at school and spills over to adult life, even now, over a hundred years later, its still the same, will we never learn? Displayed and humiliated, she was dressed in one of her dancing dresses. yes I believe that Julia should have a proper burial with a statue above it to show the world how wonderful she was, thanks so much for reading, and I am glad you liked it, cheers nell, You have provided the spice in my coffee this morning. But Julia Pastrana, of course, was no beast. Darwins On the Origin of Species complicated the relationship between ape and man by suggesting that the two were placed on an evolutionary scale. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Beach, but in 1854, she eloped with Theodore Lent, marrying him in Baltimore, Maryland. Julia Pastrana was born in 1834 into an Indigenous community in the Sierra Madre in Mexico. The Eye of the Beholder: Julia Pastranas Long Journey Home,out now fromLucia|Marquand, chronicles this return, with essays by six authors exploring Pastranas life, our treatment of the dead, and the exhibition of fellow humans as freaks. Barbata co-edited the book with Donna Wingate, and it draws on over four years of research to understand Pastrana as a person, and restore to her a humanity that was long denied. He didnt write about her, though, until 1862 when he returned to another one of her shows, which was very different to the first. I wonder if she was related to that family of Mexicans who were covered with hair. After a Roman Catholic Mass in a local church, Julia's coffin was carried to the town cemetery and buried as a band played the local traditional music. After both their bodies were desecrated following display in a midcentury chamber of horrors, the remains of Pastranas son were lost. the one good thing about this though was the fact that as I kept sharing it everywhere they eventually found her and buried her with dignity, so pleased. After the adulation in London, Julia began a tour In Berlin Germany, which both changed her appearances from a Freak show to Stage actress. Julia Pastrana was a talented Mexican singer and dancer of Indigenous background. According to Dr Woolf, this description probably went a long way towards many people denying Pastrana her humanity. Anyway, he responded to the living and dead Pastrana with a sense of disgust he was titillated but also disgusted by the embalmed Pastrana. Addressing ethical issues and human remains" Julia's mummie disappeared over the next few decades. This was soooooo well written, and from an outstanding perspective. [14], Charles Darwin discussed her case after her death, describing her as follows: "Julia Pastrana, a Spanish dancer, was a remarkably fine woman, but she had a thick masculine beard and a hairy forehead; she was photographed, and her stuffed skin was exhibited as a show; but what concerns us is, that she had in both the upper and lower jaw an irregular double set of teeth, one row being placed within the other, of which Dr. Purland took a cast. She was aware of the fact that she was different but used her small frame and powerful persona to her advantage. Genevieve Carlton earned a Ph.D in history from Northwestern University with a focus on early modern Europe and the history of science and medicine before becoming a history professor at the University of Louisville. So sad that she was treated so badly. Julia finally went home but without her baby who was also human. Allegedly, Marie did not like seeing the mummified grin of Pastrana so the bodies were again lent to a show, this time in Austria. Julia Pastrana was an indigenous Mexican woman treated as a spectacle in life, and death. And of course Lent took this as permission to treat her like it, I would say that I am glad this doesn't happen any more but of course it does. Originally from Oklahoma, she has been covering visual culture and overlooked history for print using unknown embalming techniques - mummified the bodies of Julia and her son.The entire process took six months and the results, while macabre, were impressive.Unlike the mummies of . For example, its claimed Julia said Lent Loves me for my own sake. amazing woman! He said she had an exceedingly good figure despite being hideous., Hermann Otto, a circus owner, was even more damning in his descriptions of her. The most popular story is that she was found living in a cave with her mother and was taken to an orphanage where she was adopted by the governor of the state of Sinaloa who used her as his maid. Sadly, Pastrana didnt survive either, dying a couple of days after her baby. The show was closed on the grounds of obscenity, but Pastrana continued to perform Spanish dances and popular songs. Why would you want to go to a show to stare at someone who is different? When 23-year-old Pastrana was exhibited at the Queens Hall in London in 1857, the Liverpool Mercury newspaper described her as one of the most extraordinary beings ever presented to the public. The press also promised that a visit to the exhibition must afford ample scope for philosophical speculation and reflection. And though she caused a stir with sold-out crowds as she toured across Europe and North America, her behind-the-scenes life was marked by sadness and tragedy. thanks, nell. Unbelievable. Wellcome Library, LondonAn ad for Julia Pastranas show. One doctor, Alexander B. Mott, M.D., certified that she was specifically the result of the mating of a human and an "Orang hutan". Pastrana, an indigenous woman from Mexico, was born with genetic condition hypertrichosis terminalis which meant her face and much of her body was covered with black hair. [12] Another, Dr. S. Brainerd of Cleveland, declared that she was of a "distinct species". Pastrana's body has since been relocated to Sinaloa, and was buried in a cemetery in Sinaloa de Levya in February 2013. Referred to by the locals as Wolf Woman due to her genetic abnormality, she lived with her mother until her mother passed away of unknown causes. Suzette Walker from Taos, NM on May 04, 2014: Wow, Nell! Is the Destruction of Armenian Heritage Not Important Enough for the Getty? It is awful to think of her mummified corpse still doing the rounds as 'entertainment' during WW2, a human being deserves more dignity than this, even if she was unique in the way she looked. However, during her performances, she demonstrated her intelligence and talent: singing, dancing, and interacting with the audience.[10]. its half eleven here in good old England! Julia Pastrana has come home, declared Saul Rubio Ayala, the mayor of Sinaloa de Leyva. The two would exhibit Julia's preserved corpse for over a decade, before Lent allegedly went insane and died in 1885, but even this is not the end of poor Julia's story. how awful was that? This hub does a good job in teaching us how to treat other people. she may look strange outside.. but i think what matters most is the inside.thanks for posting this. Juliet Christie Murray from Sandy Bay Jamaica on November 25, 2012: Well this is truly amazing.This hub could have made you a millionaire but the content was so spell binding and mind boggling that I get the feeling no one saw the ads. Shame that greed played such an important part of her life, she didn't deserve to be treated that way. That Lent guy was extremely heartless and he only truly cared about his money, but he got what he deserved. Peg Cole from North Dallas, Texas on May 04, 2014: Beautifully written and touching story, Nell. Doctors declared her a human and orangutan hybrid, and her talent at dance and song were displayed as a contrast to her seemingly unfeminine appearance. Thanks for sharing. She was believed to have been born within a small tribe of Native Americans on the western slopes of Mexico. In this version, Pastrana lived with her mother until her mother passed away, after which, her uncle sold her to the circus. In 1860, Pastrana died in Moscow after giving birth to Lent's son, who inherited his mother's condition. By Bess Lovejoy. What a story and what a life. For example, in the 17th century, Jacob Bontius blamed Indigenous Indian women for the existence of orangutans, claiming that they mixed with apes and monkeys with detestable sensuality., Charles Darwin, for his part, described her as a remarkably fine woman albeit with a thick masculine beard and a hairy forehead. A zoologist named Francis Buckland, who examined Pastrana in 1857, largely agreed. I am also reminded of the Hottentot Venus who had a similar fate as Julia. Looking at the image of Julia she looked like an African cross bread with an Indian. What an extraordinary lady you've introduced us to. Mahaveer Sanglikar from Pune, India on August 15, 2012: Interesting information about an unfortunate lady. The newspapers of the day said she was hideous, but in her favor she had a very nice singing voice. Did he feel any love toward Julia? That poor baby was torn to shreds when he should be laid to rest. Linda Bilyeu from Orlando, FL on February 13, 2013: Great story Nell. More by Allison Meier. And the thing is, even today, cruel names are being given to people who "don't fit" something like "gorilla people of Mexico." Nell Rose (author) from England on May 04, 2014: Hi heidi, thanks so much, some things never change, but thankfully the way we quickly deal with it is much better thankfully, glad you liked it, nell, Hi Dabble, thanks for reading, yes some people just have it bad from birth don't they? He dissected them and then mummified them so that they could be put on display. Barbata discovered her story in 2003, whenAmphibian Stage Productions, a theater company directed by her sister Kathleen Culebro, invited her to collaborate on designs for the New York premiere of the playThe True History of the Tragic Life and the Triumphant Death of Julia Pastrana, the Ugliest Woman in the World by Shaun Prendergast. Julia Pastrana (1834-1860) was one of the most famous human curiosities of her time . Another poster for Pastranas 1857 exhibition contained a short section on the Root-Digger Indians to which Tribe Julias Mother belonged: These remarkable beings inhabit the Mountains, in Mexico, and live in caves with animals of different description, such as Bears, Monkeys, Squirrels, &c., between which and themselves they know no difference; their food consists of grass, roots, insects, barks of tree, &c.. By this time she was being 'shown' by a Mr Theodore Lent who became, in a sense her manager, helping her with her dancing and singing on stage. But it appears that Lent was attracted to bearded ladies. I had heard of her before, but never knew the real story. Photograph by George Wick of the embalmed Julia Pastrana (via Wellcome Collection), Pages from The Eye of the Beholder: Julia Pastranas Long Journey Home (photo of the book for Hyperallergic). I'm glad she was finally laid to rest it was so long overdue. thanks for reading, nell. He also barred her from walking the streets in daylight, worried that no one would pay to see her on the stage if they caught a glimpse for free. The delivery had also taken its toll on Pastrana and she died, following complications, in the early hours of March 25th, 1860. After moving to Cleveland with another new promoter, J.W. After a few months perfecting the process, he put them in the Museum of the university, where they attracted great crowds of people. Pastrana was advertised as a hybrid between an animal and a human and worked in sideshows and freak shows under the stage names the "Baboon Lady",[8] the "Dog-faced Woman", the "Hairy Woman", the "Ape-faced Woman",[9] After her 1857 London exhibition Lent and Pastrana travelled across Europe. In 1855, Pastrana was married to Theodore Lent, who saw her as a path to fortune and fame. You always find the most interesting people to write about. In the mid-1850s, she set off to travel and perform across the United States and Europe. What a great woman! She had a great thirst for knowledge and willingly gave herself up to a medical examination. I remember as a child visiting the travelling side shows at the carnivals and hearing the barkers call out "See the bearded lady" and their recruiting for other similar attractions. :). BookTok is Good, Actually: On the Undersung Joys of a Vast and Multifarious Platform, 10 Crime Novels You Should Read This March, 11 Speculative Fiction Titles Out in 2023 Perfect for Crime Fans, Women Outside the Structure: Victorian Widows and Governesses. [2], Multiple versions of Pastrana's early life exist. He went on to say ' Julia has been reborn among us, let us never see another woman be turned into an object of commerce'. One artist said the Mauritshuis Museums decision to displayA Girl With a Pearl Earring made using Midjourney highly unethical.. [11] Lent later found another woman with similar features, married her and changed her name from Marie Bartel to Zenora Pastrana, becoming wealthy from her exhibition. Boo to her husband for being greedy!! I remember watching a documentary piece 20/20 or some such and the whole family had the disorder. Nell Rose (author) from England on April 28, 2014: Thanks so much for reading suzzycue, yes she was an amazing woman, imagine having to face the world, and live with that evil man, but she came through singing, but sadly she had a terrible ending, nell. Susan Britton from Ontario, Canada on April 28, 2014: An amazing woman. Much of Pastranas life is still shrouded in mystery. Some people might act politely as they have been "trained" to do so, but atrocities such as the treatment of this woman and her child are as much prevalent today as they ever were. haha! Pastranas manager, Theodore Lent, described her as half-woman, half-animal in a bid to increase ticket sales. Michelle Liew from Singapore on August 31, 2012: Hi, Nell. Soon she began to travel all around America, and when she arrived in Boston she was billed as the 'Hybrid Woman or The Bear Woman. External Links There are various stories about her early life, and little is known for certain, but some accounts . It affected her very deeply in her heart with sadness, Otto related. By the time they got to Vienna, she wasn't allowed out in the daylight, because Lent was embarrassed to be seen with her. Soon she became better known on stage than just being a 'Freak', as they used to call people like her. From University to museum, from curiosity stands to freak shows, Julia was passed around and around. The parents of a five-week-old baby mauled by two rottweilers have spoken for the first time since their little girls life was taken. Lentseems to have considered her a model freak, a house-trained monster that behaved well in front of audiences, writes Jan Bondeson in a book essay. After this look at the tragic life of sideshow performer Julia Pastrana, check out more famous sideshow freaks. Then, meet P.T. I voted up for sure. By 1943, the corpses were touring Sweden and theyd continue to grace the entertainment sites of Europe as late as 1970 they were exhibited in Sweden and Norway; in 1973 they were part of a travelling amusement park in America. We can still see them at State Fairs, although they do not seem to display the most exotic ones. Billed as the missing link between apes and man, Julia Pastrana was checked out by several physicians who produced certificates which were displayed wherever Pastrana went on tour stating that she was not really a woman at all, but rather a new species of half-human, half-ape hybrid. The press, who were given a private view along with men of medicine, praised her very pretty whiskers, double gums, and strange set of teeth, declaring that she dresses with great taste in rich Spanish and other costumes, and after each performance comes among the audience to converse and answer questions.. So we come to the end. Possibly some of them originated with Julia. Thank you for sharing this story. During her life, Pastrana performed across America and Europe in a number of spaces including the circus where she performed on horseback. The Eye of the Beholder: Julia Pastranas Long Journey Home is out now fromLucia|Marquand,distributed by D.A.P. Thank goodness this exploitation is not allowed today. These Miniature Artworks Prove That It's the Little Things In Life, Inside Robert Rauschenberg's Newly Renovated SoHo Home, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. "El trgico viaje de una mujer salvaje mexicana al mundo civilizado". I know I have been loved for myself." Unfortunately, she was dehumanized in death as she was in life. Thanks so much Deborah, I wrote this after reading about her years and years ago, and she seemed to stay in my mind, I just suddenly realised that I wanted to know more about her and what happened to her in the end, I am so glad you liked it, and thanks! Mike Robbers from London on February 14, 2013: What a story! And so, in 1862, the Embalmed Female Nondescript and Child were displayed at the Burlington Gallery, 191 Piccadilly, a site usually reserved for high art exhibitions. Julia Pastrana was exhibited during her lifetime, and for quite some time after her death. Saul Rubio Ayala the local mayor of her town stated 'Julia Pastrana has come home'. Nell Rose (author) from England on November 18, 2012: Thanks unknown spy, glad you liked it, nell. By Charles Wilson Feb. 11, 2013 Her own husband called her a "bear woman." An 1854 advertisement in The New York Times said she was the "link between mankind and the ourang-outang." She became. In their version, Pastrana was born with the condition hypertrichosis, which covered her face and body in thick hair. Of her origin nothing certain was or is known: the story however being that her mother was a Mexican Indian, who was lost for years in a country full of apes & bears. From The Wonders: The Extraordinary Performers Who Transformed the Victorian Age. In that last year, when another theft occurred, Julias corpse was stolen. It is not a coincidence, for instance, that the degrading of Pastranas gender and race happened at a time in the 19th-century when the rights of women and non-white people were under debate. In 1862 Julia returned to England. Times were much different then and it is easy to say they were being gawked at and used but the same thing happens today just slightly differently. Matthew Manning-Psychic and Healer. [13] Francis Buckland stated that she was "only a deformed Mexican Indian woman". Nell Rose (author) from England on September 02, 2012: Hi Sujeet, thanks so much for reading, nell. Audrey Howitt from California on August 31, 2012: Wow--such an unusual story--she led a sad life and we still do not understand much about this disorder--but what a great write! This story made me tear up. I am sharing.. How Has the Publishing Industry Been Affected by Trump? Sculpture of Indigenous Woman Will Replace Mexico Citys Columbus, Museum Under Fire for Showing AI Version of Vermeer Masterpiece, Hito Steyerl to Deliver 2023 Wolgin Lecture at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, NYUs Non-Tenured Faculty Rally for a Union. [3] Both accounts claim that, at some point, she lived in the home of Pedro Sanchez, the then-governor of Sinaloa, and left the home in 1854. Great ending to a sad story, Nell. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. sounds fascinating. Dr John Woolf, the author of The Wonders: Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show told news.com.au that Pastrana was popular among naturalists, attracting the attention of Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin. She was a human being and such claims would be hurtful to any of us; more so in the Victorian context when people were furiously debating the relationship between ape and man. He probably met Pastrana while she was performing in New York, charming his way into her life and, it would appear, marrying her in Baltimore around 1855. In a book essay, Bess Lovejoy compares her to figures like Sarah Baartman, an African woman exhibited as the Hottentot Venus for her curvy appearance, and Minik, an Inuit boy brought to the American Museum of Natural History by explorer Robert Peary. The bestiality was enhanced by the very association of the term Root-Digger, which signaled, to the white Victorian mind, dirty, lazy, bloodthirsty and animalistic sexual savages. Its quite a story , she really had amazing courage and grace. Money didn't interest her at all. She then became part of theSchreiner Collection in the University of Oslos anatomy department. Its really sad we ignore this fact & ill treat people or misbehave tyem on the basis of their outer appearence & we forget that we desrespect God this way! [13] Samuel Kneeland, Jr., a comparative anatomist of the Boston Society of Natural History, declared that she was human and of Indian descent. Up. What a shame that Julia was subjected to such treatment during her lifetime and even afterward. Then in 1990, Julia was eventually found in the basement of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, in Oslo, Norway. Lent apparently convinced doctors to let him keep the bodies which he used to sell more tickets. . His wealth meant nothing. God made her and she is has a beautiful voice and GOD never made anything that He didn't love. Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature. She arrived, steeped in mystery, and her life was as strange and sad as her birth. ode to the vampire mother results; national asset mortgage lawsuit; green tuna paper; mary davis sos band net worth Tragic saga continues Julia tragic saga continued even after her death. Nell Rose (author) from England on May 19, 2012: Thanks Cathleen, glad you liked it, cheers nell. Not a lot is known about her early childhood, but she first appeared in public, when, in 1854, she was brought out and exhibited at the Gothic Hall on Broadway. Engraving of the embalmed Julia Pastrana with her son (at right) (1862) (via Wellcome Collection), Laura Anderson Barbata, Julia y Laura (2013) in The Eye of the Beholder: Julia Pastranas Long Journey Home (photo of the book for Hyperallergic). Wonderful story shows how debase people are and cruel. Suspiciously Suspect:Who Isand Isn'tan Unreliable Narrator? Wikimedia CommonsJulia Pastrana was billed as The Ape Woman and drew crowds all over the United States and Europe. At the Regent Gallery Pastrana could be seen three times a day, for the price of 3 shillings from the stalls, 2 shillings from the area and 1 shilling from the gallery. This informed his sense of disgust.. Thanks for sharing her story and giving her the honor she deserved! Indeed, in the world of the freak show bearded ladies often found admirers and husbands. G. Diane Nelson Trotter from Fontana on October 13, 2012: All I can say is, "Unbelievable!" England became aware of her and stated in the newspapers at the time, she is an amazing oddity and promptly started to call her The Nondescript, which is similar to what we say today as unexplained. Although now we can look back and think that she was treated badly in life and in death, perhaps she wasn't. She then joined the circus, traveling across Germany to Warsaw and, by late 1859, Moscow. The reasons for Julia Murray's suicide are not known. Her body was exhibited all over Europe for decades until, finally, the bodies ended up in storage in Norway.
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