- Who is Julia Pastrana?
- What diseases did Julia Pastrana have?
- How did barbara become aware of Julia Pastrana’s plight?
The 1800s in Mexico seem to have produced a bizarre population of people. In Texas, USA, a two-headed Mexican railroad worker by the name of Pasqual Pinon was reportedly employed. The existence of the most distasteful woman in the world was also reported earlier in the same century. Julia Pastrana dubbed the “Ape woman,” was the one and only.
Despite spite of being 112 pounds, Julia Pastrana, a 4 ft 5 tall woman born in 1834, was not well known. Her entire body was covered with hair, except the exception of her hands and feet, which attracted people from all over the world.
Rare genetic syndrome
Medical professionals say this might be a quirk of nature or one of a million congenital defects. Acromegaly Hypertrichosis Syndrome, a genetically uncommon syndrome, is the name of the abnormality. She had thick, arched eyebrows, a prominent brow, and unnaturally big lips in addition to having a huge jaw as a result. Julia Pastrana, sometimes known as the “Ape woman,” had crooked teeth and an oddly huge nose.
159 years have passed since Julia Pastrana was born in the western Mexican mountains. When Julia was born in 1834, her mother was allegedly persuaded that her ugly appearance was caused by a supernatural force. Even some members of the local tribe attributed the disfigurement to werewolves.
Is Julia Pastrana half-woman or half-animal?
Theodore Lent, her manager, did his best to uplift the people by asserting that she was a hybrid of a woman and an animal. Commons at Wikimedia As “The Ape Woman,” Julia Pastrana attracted crowds throughout Europe and the United States.
Earlier years of Julia Pastrana:
Julia’s ape-like appearance made her a local celebrity since she was a little child. She spent the majority of her early years at an orphanage. After that, she is alleged to have been adopted by a regional state governor. The governor employed her as an in-house maid and performer until she reached 20.
Fake shows:
Later, when Julia was in her 20s, she met M. Rates, an American showman, by happenstance. She was persuaded by the performer, who made her go on stage. Her career in freak shows and circuses in Europe and the United States thus got underway. The Gothic Hall in New York City hosted Julia’s first performance in 1854. She rose to fame as a performer and has since been dubbed “the Ape Woman” or even the “Baboon Lady.”
Physician-surgeon Alexander Brown Mott of New York City is credited with establishing the notion that Julia Pastrana was a semi-human person when she was busy performing in freak shows.
Alexander reportedly remarked after studying Julia that she was a cross between an orangutan and a human. According to rumors, Julia’s publicists adopted this idea and used it in marketing materials.
Julia Pastrana Death:
In Moscow, in January 1860, Julia gave birth to a child at the age of 36. Sadly, the boy passed away two days later. Julia passed away after three days. “I am dying happy,” Julia Pastrana stated as she lay dying.
Kind and perceptive:
Despite her outward appearance to the contrary, Julia was a sweet, smart, and compassionate woman. Her three languages included Spanish, English, and a few others. She self-taught both singing and dancing. She was passionate in cooking, needlework, and travel.
Julia secretly wed Theodor Lent, her manager, before she left for Europe. Although Theodor claims to have married Julia for money, Julia married him out of love.
The tragic drama goes on.
The tragic story of Julia didn’t end with her passing. Her cunning husband agreed to pay anatomy professor Sokolov of the Moscow University for the bodies of his wife and child. Theodor purchased the two bodies back, though, after the professor embalmed them and put them on display.
Theodor took the bodies on a globe tour and showed them in glass cabinets over the following six years to sell them. Sadly, death did not set Julia free, and people kept staring at her and her kid. People and the government benefited from the mummified remains throughout the decades. Eventually, they were placed in Norway’s cold storage, only to reappear in 2013. The bodies were brought back to Mexico but were only buried in Sinaloa. The ape woman is at last shielded from inquisitive eyes.
The Ape Woman, a movie:
A movie about Julia’s life and times called “The Ape Woman” was made in 1964 by Marco Ferreri. The film “Velvet,” directed by Celso Garcia, was based on the life of Julia Pastrana, an “ape woman,” and was set to be released later in 2013. The movie’s screenplay was written by Francisco Payó González and Celso Garcia.
plays and musicals:
Julia was the subject of the 1989 musical “Pastrana,” written by Australian authors Allan McFadden and Peter Northwood. The musical was presented at Melbourne’s Church Theatre, and it was well-received.
Later in 1998, playwright Shaun Prendergast created a new work inspired by Julia’s life. Julia Pastrana, the ugliest woman in the world, was the subject of a book titled The True History of the Tragic Life and Triumphant Death.
A production company in Texas run by Kathleen Anderson Culebro performed a play about Julia in 2003.
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