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Julia Pastrana

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Been reading a book which touches on the subject of Julia Pastrana (rather unkindly billed as the ugliest woman in the world in the 19th century). I remember reading that her poor mummified corpse was still being exhibited in the 20th century along with that of her baby son. I also remember that at some point the baby was disposed of and she resumed her post-death show-biz career alone. Does anybody know where she is now and has she been given a decent burial ?
 
Was she the black girl with the big buttocks?

I feel like a character in Allo Allo.
 
Ahh, the bearded woman. Why didn't you just say so. Looks quite ugly to me. but she did get a kid after all. The again so did Zana.
 
I believe her manager married her, presumably to keep an eye on his star attraction rather than any love match, but I may be wrong. He certainly could not have thought that much of her to have wife and son mummified rather than buried........
 
I guess that is why he married her. I remember when I was in Ripleys some years ago there was something about bearded lady. I don't know if it was the same one, but it said she once got 8 marriage proposals. I imagine that was also other managers.

It's the same thing they do today with Celine Dion and such isn't it?
 
FT had an in-depth article on Julia Pastrana a couple of years ago.

If I remember correctly, she currently languishes in a storeroom of the Danish Medical Society(or somesuch) in Copenhagen.

Hers really is a sad story, being mummified and then sold by her husband/manager. I think was still being touted round European fairgrounds until the 1970's or so.....
 
Probably the Panum institute. They are one of those places that have fetuses in jars and such. That is just so yucky. But who do they never use jars of the right size? It alway seems they've had to squeeze them in.

I've been meaning to contact them regarding the Starchild skull. They probably have similar skulls in their collection.
 
THEATRE IN THE DARK: THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE TRAGIC LIFE AND TRIUMPHANT DEATH OF JULIA PASTRANA, THE UGLIEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD

Went to the above play last October at the Komedia in Brighton. I'd recommend it to anyone who gets the chance, to go along and see it.

Commissioned by the Battersea Arts Centre for their 'In The Dark Season', and performed in the pitch black, Shaun Prendergast's terrible, tender play tells the true story of a 19th Century South American Indian who was sold by her family to the owner of a travelling freak show where she was billed as "The Ugliest Woman In The World".

The owner of the freak show marries and impregnates her in the hope that the child would be equally deformed. Basically he only did it for the money and unfortunately it all ends in tragedy for the poor Julia Pastrana and her child.

Performed in the pitch black, this play is not for the claustrophobic, week at heart or those afraid of the dark. However the play is a remarkable riposte to anyone who thought that drama performed without any visuals could only amount to a radio play. You can sense the actors walking around as they present their dialogue, whispering in your ear, caressing your face with fabric. Everyone is plunged into complete darkness - you can't even see your hand in front of you - at times you think you're the only one in the theatre!!!

Definitely an experience not to be missed!
 
I think if that was me I would be screaming after a while. People walking around whispering in the dark touching your face lightly. I'm not afraid of the dark or anything, but that sounds freakish.
 
Yeah, certainly very freaky at first, but after a while you got used to the visual deprivation and started to picture the characters in your head - the darkness, whispering and caressing added to atmosphere of the story.

I assumed the actors and the stewards wore night vision goggles - if any of the audience experienced a panic attack, they need only raise their hand and one of the stewards would quietly escort them out.
 
Admittedly, I did get a bit paranoid after a while. My imagination wondered - especially when I didn't hear any of the other audience, cough, sneeze etc..

I suddenly imagined the cast to be vampires or something and were picking of members of the audience - reminiscent of the Parisian theatre scene in "Interview with a Vampire".

Yeeek!!!
:eek!!!!:
 
Reviving this thread. Buried with dignity and respect at last.

World's 'ugliest woman' Julia Pastrana buried 153 years on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21440400

Julia Pastrana' remains were returned to Mexico from Norway

An indigenous woman exhibited in 19th-Century Europe as the "world's ugliest woman" has been buried in her native Mexico some 150 years after her death.

Julia Pastrana, who suffered from a genetic condition that covered her face in hair, performed in circuses as a freak of nature.

After she died in 1860, her American husband toured with her embalmed body, which ended up in Norway.

Her remains were returned this week for a proper burial, after a long campaign.

People flocked to the town of Sinaloa de Leyva on Tuesday where Julia Pastrana was laid to rest in a white coffin adorned with white roses.

"Imagine the aggression and cruelty of humankind she had to face, and how she overcame it. It's a very dignified story," said Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez.

"A human being should not be the object of anyone," Father Jaime Reyes Retana told mourners.

'Place in history'

Julia Pastrana, who was born in 1834, suffered from hypertrichosis which covered her face in hair and had a jutting jaw.


Campaigners wanted Pastrana to have the dignity denied her in life
Because of her appearance she was called a "bear woman" or "ape woman".

In the 1850s, she met and married US impresario Theodore Lent who took her round freak shows, where she would sing and dance.

She died in 1860 in Moscow after giving birth to a son who had the same condition and lived for only a few days.

But Julia Pastrana's story did not end there as Lent continued to tour with their embalmed bodies.

The corpses finally ended up in Norway, where, in a further twist in 1976, they were stolen, dumped and recovered by the police.

The remains ended up in storage at the University of Oslo.

Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata began a campaign for Julia Pastrana's body to be returned home in 2005, with Mexican officials subsequently lending their weight to her request.

"I felt she deserved the right to regain her dignity and her place in history, and in the world's memory," Ms Barbata told the New York Times.
Click to expand...
 
Julia Pastrana featured in today's Quora.
Nothing new that hasn't been covered in this thread, but the remarkable photo is worth reproducing here:
Whilst it looks like a photo of her during her life, it was actually taken in 1900 and is of her stuffed skin.
Charles Darwin described her thus: "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. From the redundancy of the teeth her mouth projected, and her face had a gorilla-like appearance".


julia.png
 
If it were not for the facial hair, I don't think she would (negatively) stand out very much. For instance, she had kind eyes. Rest In Peace, Julia
 
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