Julia Pastrana

Julia Pastrana (* 1834 in Sinaloa, Mexico, † 1860 in Moscow) was an actress who ( later called general Sideshow ) in a freak show occurred and became known as " monkey woman ".

Life

The exact origin of Julia Pastrana can not be solved well, and some reports said the suffering from hypertrichosis child of the mother was found with his mother in a cave, bought and trained for show purposes. In later years, Julia could sing, dance and communicate orally and in writing in three languages.

Julia Pastrana, who only reached a height of about 1.38 m, had in addition to their strong body hair still further features. She had abnormally large ears, a big nose, thick protruding jaw and allegedly double rows of teeth. So the thought of her impresario Theodore Lent was natural to present it to the audience on three continents as " monkey woman ".

Whether Theodore Lent Julia Pastrana actually married, is uncertain. Anyway, she gave birth on March 20, 1860 while on tour in Moscow also affected by hypertrichosis child who died soon after birth. Julia Pastrana survived the birth also only a few days.

The fate of the corpse

Lent left the two bodies initially a Mr. Sokoloff, a professor of Moscow University, who embalmed. After the success of this procedure he had been able to convince Lent purchased the products back and went on his business by - Julia Pastrana's body was in one of the costumes in which they occurred was usually presented, the child beside her on a frame like a parrot.

Allegedly found Lent 1863 in Germany another woman who had resemblance to Julia Pastrana, she married and moved them also in his show, where he pretended it were Zenora Pastrana, the sister of the dead. Lent is later went mad and be come across in a Russian prison.

The prepared corpses Julia Pastrana and her child were acquired in 1921 by Haakon Lund, who vorführte to 1943 in its circus -like traveling shows. In 1943, she was seized by the German occupation, after the war, but once again to show. 1970 attacked the Norwegian government a, forbade the public presentation and confiscated the bodies. After they were in 1979 fell into the hands of a thief, they were many years in Oslo and were used there for research and educational purposes. Early 2013 were their mummified remains are converted into their native Mexico to be buried there with dignity.

A planned film version of the life Julia Pastrana with Richard Gere in the male lead was not realized.

Similar cases such as Tognina Gonsalvus have been published since the 17th century in Europe.