What is this bridal shop mannequin and could it be the embalmed corpse of a young woman?
La Popular is a bustling bridal clothing store located in Chihuahua, Mexico.
For decades, passers-by and tourists have been looking closely at its windows. They are attracted by an unusual mannequin showing the latest bridal fashion trends.
The girl's mannequin appeared here on March 25, 1930. For almost 90 years, she silently smiles at passers-by through the glass.
And all these years, passers-by have been asking the same question - is La Pasqualita the corpse of the bride?
This question began to torment people immediately after the appearance of a strange mannequin in the store. He was incredibly realistic. From not exactly the same auricles to wrinkles and folds of skin in bent fingers.
La Pasqualita didn't look like the plastic mannequins people were used to seeing. She looked too human.
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And soon a rumor spread around the city - it was an embalmed corpse. And the locals even guessed who it belonged to.
Wedding tragedy
Shortly before March 25, 1930, tragedy struck in the family of the owner of La Popular.
Pasquala Esparza looked forward to her daughter's wedding with impatience and excitement. She helped her choose the most beautiful wedding dress and lovingly placed a long white veil on her daughter's hair.
But the unexpected happened - on the way to the church, the girl was bitten by a poisonous spider.
The venom of a black widow is much stronger than that of a rattlesnake. And it works very quickly. In just a few minutes, Pasquala Esparza's daughter was dead.
Shortly thereafter, a new mannequin appeared in La Popular's window displaying the most beautiful bridal clothing.
Locals noticed the realistic features and similarities between the young bride, who tragically died a couple of weeks ago. They nicknamed her "La Pasqualita" - little Pascuala.
Could a grief-stricken mother have embalmed her daughter and put the corpse on public display? Horrified by these rumors, Pasquala Esparza made an official statement that this was not true. But no one believed her.
The mannequin contained details that are difficult to explain: uneven ears, fingerprints, fine wrinkles on the hands, and even varicose veins on the legs!
These rumors still live on. Some sellers refuse to be near the mannequin. They say that at night he moves on his own, and the direction of the girl's gaze can change.
The mannequin's clothes are changed twice a week, but even this process is shrouded in mystery.
Unlike other mannequins, which are changed right in the window, La Pasqualita changes her outfits exclusively behind a special screen. Not all sellers are allowed to change her clothes. Are the owners afraid to reveal La Pasqualita's naked and all too human body?
Could the mannequin really be a corpse?
Most people who see La Pasqualita are convinced that it is a corpse.
However, scientists do not agree with them. They argue that it is simply impossible to keep a dead body in this state for many years.
For example, in 1924, 6 years before the death of La Pasqualita, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died. His body was embalmed and displayed in the Mausoleum.
Since then, every year, his body has been immersed in glycerin and potassium acetate for 30 days to prevent decay of the body and fill the skin with moisture.
Keeping an embalmed body in good condition is time consuming, expensive and challenging. It is unlikely that the owners of a small store had the necessary knowledge or resources to do something like this.
But if La Pasqualita is an ordinary mannequin, then how to explain her individual characteristics?
Could the owners of La Popular know the secret formulas? Or maybe they ordered a dummy that exactly replicates the slightest features of their daughter?
Journalists often ask the current owner of the store, Mario Gonzalez, to tell the truth and thereby stop all the rumors and speculation around the strange mannequin. But he always evades the answer, stating the following: "Many people think that this is a corpse, but I cannot say."