On the face of a terrible, kind inside: the life and death of a bearded Julia, a female monkey from Mexico

She was born in a tribe of Indians, was sold to a circus as a child, became famous all over the world as the ugliest woman, traveled a lot, had a wild success among men, died at the age of 26 in cold Moscow and was buried in her native Mexico 153 years later…

By her example, the monkey woman Julia Pastrana proved that beautiful appearance is not the main thing. For most of her life, Julia was not considered a representative of the human race. But at the same time she was kind, made a good career and earned a lot of money. In general, her life is full of mysteries and riddles. When she began performing on Broadway, the reaction to her was, as a rule, very cruel: people in the audience, apparently, were horrified by the fact that she looked like a monster, but at the same time gracefully danced and sang like an angel.

When you look at her photo, you realize how cruelly fate treated this girl, not giving her absolutely anything attractive and collecting all the flaws: tiny height (only 140 cm), coarse and absolutely devoid of charm facial features, crooked teeth, and most importantly - terrible hairiness all over the body.

It should be noted that the girl was born in an Indian tribe. That is, she was of Indian origin. But very little is known about her childhood and youth. It is believed that she worked as a maid in a wealthy Mexican family until 1854. Then an American with the surname Wrights saw her. He persuaded the girl to go to the States and earn a lot of money there by participating in a freak show. Already in New York, an ugly woman was outbid by Theodore Post, who specializes in such shows.

At that time, a woman was able to earn good money on her ugly appearance. Crowds of people came to see the live exhibit. In addition to her exotic appearance, the girl was very plastic and danced well.

Julia's fame reached Europe, where she went on tour in the late fifties. The tour did not interfere with Julia's personal life. It may seem that men wanted to get her attention in order to get a person that other men don't have and that they can brag about in front of friends. Julia repeatedly made marriage proposals, but she refused all applicants. The reason is their insufficiently filled pockets with money. The girl earned well and did not want to be "sucked" by gigolos who were ready to tolerate her hairy face for the sake of money.

In 1859, a married couple came to perform in Russia. Here's how her performance was announced in an advertisement distributed at Moscow fairs: "And here's the Brazilian monkey Julia Pastrana! A clever German put him in a cage and for money he seems to tell a story about her! And his monster in a crinoline youth!" Such a farcical poster-splint was designed for the general public. For the more respectable gentlemen, the tone of the messages was different: "There is a big entertainment and musical evening in the Hermitage garden, in which the famous phenomenon of Miss Julia Pastrana will have the honor to appear before the Moscow public. The entrance price is 1 ruble 50 kopecks in silver. Children pay half."

But fame and happiness did not last long. In 1860, Julia Pastrana gave birth to a child in Moscow, the same as herself. The baby was less lucky, and he was able to live only three incomplete days. And Julia herself did not suffer a difficult birth and died five days later. She was only 26 years old.

In 1862, upon presentation of the proper documents on the legal marriage, Lent won the court. But the authorities banned him from participating in scientific exhibitions: don't fool your head, boy, they still understand that you have an ordinary commercial enterprise. Lent later married again, and again to a bearded woman whom he passed off as Julia's sister (although, judging by the photo, it was an ordinary European). After that, they began to travel around the towns and villages - Lent, his current bearded wife, the bodies of the former bearded wife and their common baby, also bearded.

For several decades they forgot about mummies, they appeared again in 1921, in the "Room of Horrors" of the Norwegian Mr. Lund. They were exhibited there until 1970, when unrest began in Norway. As a result, in the summer of 1976, angry thugs broke into the warehouse of the "Room of Horrors" and mutilated the mummy of a child, and Julia's mummy was stolen. It is not known where she was for the next decades, but in 1990 she was discovered in Oslo, at the Institute of Forensic Medicine. There was talk that it was time to stop exposing a woman like an animal for everyone to see, and it was necessary to bury her in a human way.

In the end, the coffin containing Julia's remains was handed over to the Mexican Ambassador to Denmark during a ceremony at the Oslo University Hospital and then sent to Mexico. After the Roman Catholic Mass in the church of the city of Leyva, the "monkey woman" was buried at the local cemetery to the sounds of national music. Julia Pastrana, who died in 1860, was buried only on February 12, 2013 (after 153 years). Let her not be a beauty herself, but her last abode was very beautiful: Julia was laid in a snow-white coffin decorated with delicate white roses and lilies.