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Thread: Julia Pastrana

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Julia Pastrana

    From Wiki:
    Julia Pastrana (1834-1860) was a Mexican-born woman with hypertrichosis who exhibited herself in 19th-century Europe.
    Julia Pastrana was born a Mexican-Indian in 1834. She had hypertrichosis terminalis; that is, her face and body were covered with straight black hair. Her ears and nose were unusually large and her teeth were irregular.
    Theodor Lent discovered her and purchased her from a woman who might have been her mother. Lent taught her to dance and play music and took her on a worldwide tour with the name "Bearded and Hairy Lady". She also learned to read and write in three languages. Eventually they were married and she became pregnant.
    During a tour in Moscow, Pastrana gave birth to a baby with features similar to her own. The child survived only three days, and Pastrana died of post-birth complications soon after.
    Lent did not abandon the tour; he contacted a Russian professor named Sokoloff, had his wife and the child mummified and displayed them in a glass cabinet. He eventually found another woman with similar features, married her and named her Zenora Pastrana. He was eventually committed to a mental institution.
    The mummies disappeared from the public view. They appeared in Norway in 1921 and were on display until the 1970s when the Norwegian government threatened confiscation if they were not withdrawn from the public. The mummies were stolen in 1979 but later recovered and stored at the Oslo Forensic Institute where they were rediscovered in 1990.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Here is a more thorough article on here life
    http://thehumanmarvels.com/?p=33
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  2. #2
    PvN73 Guest
    How interesting! That pic though didnt make her out to be that hairy.

    I wonder if they will put her on display somewhere seeing as they now have her at the Oslo forensic Institute. WHO would steal the mummies? THAT is odd.

  3. #3
    Guest Guest
    I have seen her pic before! It would be cool to see her on display.

  4. #4
    cherryghost Guest
    Fascinating I recall reading about the mummies and their travels through controversy!

  5. #5
    xenaswolf Guest
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a whole family in Mexico that has this disorder? From my foggy recollections, it seems to be a condition that affects Mexican/Indians ( sorry I can't remember the proper term).

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Australia
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    1,102
    I remember reading about her when I was in high school. I felt so sorry for her. To display her and the baby as mummies after they died was so cold. He couldn't have loved her to do that to her.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    new zealand
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    2,524
    just read about julia pastrana, i'd never known about it. that poor poor woman, to be treated so miserably.....
    pull the string!

  8. #8
    havoc Guest
    I rememember reading about her when I was a kid. From a book called Very Special People. I think I was in elementary school and it was something I ordered. lol
    I was a strange kid.....

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  9. #9
    SueWahoo Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by havoc View Post
    I rememember reading about her when I was a kid. From a book called Very Special People. I think I was in elementary school and it was something I ordered. lol
    I was a strange kid.....
    No, you weren't. I had (and I think I still have it) the same darn book!

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