La Pascualita: Bridal Mannequin or Embalmed Corpse?

From the window of a small bridal shop in Mexico, an eerily lifelike mannequin has inspired macabre legends. Learn about La Pascualita in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/la-pascualita.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Lauren
Vogelbaum here dressed in a shop's best fashions. Mannequins are
common in storefront windows as a way to attract potential customers,
But what about when the mannequin becomes the main attraction.

(00:23):
That's the case for a family owned bridle shop La
popular dress shop in Chillavla, Mexico, where there's plenty of
lore and legend about whether the female figure standing in
the window is actually a mannequin. Lapascualita is an eerily
lifelike mannequin, and the speculation is that she's the actual
dead body of the daughter of a former owner. The

(00:47):
Tale of the Mannequin La Pascualita is a popular regional
story in northern Mexico and near the border with Texas
and New Mexico, but this famous mannequin and the store
window she stands in have gained more of a reputation
as a tourist attraction. For the article, this episode is
based on hastuff Work spoke with Thomas Prower, a Latino

(01:07):
licensed mortuary professional and author of the book Morbid Magic, Death,
Spirituality and Culture from around the world, he said. As
with any urban legend, there's no official story, but the
common narrative is that a woman named Pascuala Esparza began
displaying a new mannequin in the window of her bridle
shop in the nineteen thirties. The story goes that this

(01:30):
new manniquin appeared not only uncannily lifelike, but also closely
resembled Esparza's deceased daughter, who died young before her wedding day.
So was the mannikin, a nicknamed La Pascualita, actually the
mummified body of the shop owner's daughter. The legend goes
that the mother had her daughter embalmed so that she

(01:50):
could keep her daughter near and dear to her. Prower said,
there are various supposed causes of death of Pasquala's daughter,
most of them related to bites and stings from venomous bugs,
or suicide due to her mother not approving of the
impending marriage. A storyteller's point to supposed signs such as

(02:11):
the unusual features of her mask like face and incredibly
detailed hands, including fingernails, palm lines, and veins. It's especially
startling to find in a small local shop. Some stories
go so far as to say that Lapascualita is not
just the daughter's body mummified, but a ghost who comes
alive in the bridal store at night. It's easy to

(02:34):
see how the story that this is not just a
bridal mannequin but a corpse bride has taken off and
created a life of its own. There's no denying that
the figure has eerie, realistic features that make her look
like more than just a mannequin. Prower said, Lapasqualita's realism
is what makes her stand out from the mannekins of

(02:55):
the day, with the hands and veins being super detailed,
and supposedly her eyes are rumored to be the kind
that follow you and seem to be looking at you
if you move around the room. However, although the legend
is fun, it's far fetched to think that this is
an actual embalmed corpse. A Preserving such a thing for

(03:16):
almost a century would take constant work and require special
conditions to avoid deterioration. A storefront window exposed to the
intense heat of the sun is far from an ideal
condition for maintaining an embalmed corpse for starters, and Prower
would know, since he is a licensed mortuary professional. He explained,

(03:36):
there are techniques to embalm a person standing up, but
embalming doesn't preserve a corpse forever. To have an embalmed
corpse on display in the window of a small family
owned business, day in and day out, exposed to the
hot desert sun and human interaction would take a toll
on the corpse and it definitely wouldn't stay so fresh
after being on display for over ninety some years now.

(04:00):
If doubts about La Pascualita are lingering in anyone's mind,
Prower put the nail in the coffin of this shop
window legend. Quote. As a licensed mortuary professional who has
seen and worked with many corpses, I can guarantee that
there is no way that mannequin is a corpse. Like

(04:20):
lots of good folk and urban legends, this one has
the key ingredients of a lack of verifiable historical information
and a fantastic explanation that's more tantalizing than the mundane one. Plus,
there's another likely reason that the story of the real
life corpse bride in the shop window continues. It's an

(04:41):
excellent marketing tool for this local dress shop. Researcher Teresa Cordova,
now the director of a community arts and culture space
in New Mexico called Las Pistoles, wrote about La Pascualita
in her twenty twelve University of New Mexico dissertation thesis.
She visited the shop where the bri al mannequin stands,
explained her research objectives, and was granted an appointment to

(05:04):
talk with the manager. But when she came back for
the scheduled meeting a few days later, she realized she
had been stood up. A store clerk eventually told her
that there would not be an interview because the owners
claimed it would bring bad luck. She wrote in her thesis,
I left the store and realized how the story of
Pascualita was the dress shop's marketing tool in a city

(05:26):
with multiple wedding dress shops. The owner and public relations
director viewed my study as negative publicity. Determined to find
more information about La Pascualita and prove her existence, Cordova
sought out archives at the city church and was told
the story was only a legend. She wrote, I could
not find any record of her life in the archives

(05:48):
because she did not in fact exist. I was unable
to rely on any historical archives, written obituaries, or church
documents in order to reconstruct the life and death of
La Pascualita. Denying interviews about the corpse in the shop
window seems to be a good marketing strategy and one
that maintains the intrigue and mystery of lapask Kalita. Prower said.

(06:13):
It keeps the legend alive, keeps their business in business,
and keeps a little more magic here in our mundane world.
Today's episode is based on the article LAPAs Kalita Bridal
shop mannequin or Embalmed Corpse on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written
by Lauren David. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart

(06:34):
Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and it
is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.