Julia Pastrana

Julia Pastrana (August 1834 – 25 March 1860) was a Mexican singer and exhibition performer who became one of the best-known sideshow performers of the 19th century. Born in Sinaloa, she had generalized hypertrichosis and gingival hyperplasia, conditions that affected her appearance and led to her being exhibited under promotional names including "The Nondescript", "Bear Woman", and "Ape Woman".

One widely circulated account claimed that Pastrana belonged to a group described as the "Root Diggers", an Indigenous people portrayed as ape-like cave dwellers. According to this version, a woman identified only as Mrs. Espinosa was abducted by the group, later escaped with the young Pastrana, and brought her into Mexican society. The account originated in promotional literature produced for Pastrana's exhibitions and has been treated cautiously by later writers.

A second account, based on oral histories collected from Indigenous residents of Ocoroni, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, describes Pastrana as a local girl known as the "wolf woman". According to this tradition, she lived with her mother until her mother's death, after which an uncle sold her into exhibition. Career In 1854, at about 20 years of age, Pastrana left Sinaloa and began appearing in exhibitions in the United States. According to Mexican writer Ireneo Paz, she was brought to the country by Francisco Sepúlveda, a customs official in Mazatlán. She initially performed under the management of J. W. Beach, an American showman, and appeared in cities including New York, Boston, and Baltimore.

Although often advertised as a curiosity, Pastrana was also a professional entertainer. Her performances included singing, dancing, conversing with audiences, and appearing at public receptions and social gatherings. Contemporary observers frequently remarked on her intelligence, poise, and musical ability. Others rejected these claims. Naturalist Francis Trevelyan Buckland described her as a "deformed Mexican Indian woman", and comparative anatomist Samuel Kneeland of the Boston Society of Natural History concluded that she was human and of Indigenous Mexican ancestry.

Marriage and family

On 10 November 1855, at about 21 years of age, Pastrana married her manager, Theodore Lent, in Baltimore, Maryland. While performing in Moscow, Russian Empire, Pastrana became pregnant with the couple's only child. On 20 March 1860, she gave birth to a son, who inherited the same generalized hypertrichosis that characterized his mother's appearance. The process was a blend of taxidermy techniques and embalming chemicals. Although generically referred to as a "mummy" by some authors, her preserved body was technically not a mummy because it was not mummified. Her body was "stuffed", as noted by renowned naturalist and taxidermist Charles Darwin.

After the bodies were preserved by Sukolov, Lent re-purchased them from him and began exhibiting them throughout Europe. 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.

For over a hundred years, the bodies of Pastrana and her son were displayed around the world in museums, circuses and amusement parks. They appeared in Norway in 1921 and toured the US as late as 1972. Later that year, a tour of Sweden drew considerable public opposition, leading to the bodies being withdrawn from public view. Vandals broke into the storage facility in August 1976 and damaged the baby's body. The remains were consumed by mice. Julia's preserved body was stolen in 1979, but stored at the Oslo Forensic Institute after the body was reported to police but not identified. It was identified in 1990 and for many years rested in a sealed coffin at the Department of Anatomy, Oslo University. In 1994, the Norwergian Parliament recommended burying her remains, but the Minister of Sciences decided to keep them, so scientists could perform research. A special permit was required to gain access to her remains. In February 2013, more than 150 years after her death, her remains were repatriated to Mexico with the assistance of Sinaloa governor Mario López Valdez, visual artist Laura Anderson Barbata, and Norwegian authorities. After a funeral mass, her coffin was carried to the town cemetery while a band played traditional music. The production was nominated for five Melbourne Green Room Awards.

A play based on Pastrana's life, The True History of the Tragic Life and Triumphant Death of Julia Pastrana, the Ugliest Woman in the World (1998) was written by Shaun Prendergast. A 2003 Texas production of the play staged by Kathleen Anderson Culebro, sister of Laura Anderson Barbata, led to the campaign by Anderson Barbata to repatriate Pastrana's remains from Norway to Mexico. .

Music The musical supergroup Apparatjik released a single titled "Julia" on March 20, 2020, accompanied by a lyric video.