The Corpse Bride in the Window: La Pascualita in Mexico

For more than 80 years, visitors from all over the world have been lured to a wedding gown shop in Chihuahua, Mexico, to study the spookily lifelike bridal mannequin in the window.

Most are so captivated by the mesmerizing gaze of La Pascualita, that they leave convinced that she is a mummy rather than a dummy.

The Shop Window At Night

She was first installed in the window in 1930.

People soon realized that she bore an uncanny likeness to the store’s owner at the time, Pascuala Esparza. They concluded that the apparent mannequin was really the embalmed body of Esparza’s daughter who had died recently on her wedding day after being bitten by a black widow spider.

According to legend, the mannequin is not really a model at all, but the perfectly preserved corpse of the previous owner’s daughter.

Esparza denied the story, but the rumors persisted.

Closeup of her face

La Pascualita began to take on a life of her own. It is said that a love-struck French magician would arrive at night and bring her to life, taking her out on the town.

“Her hands are very realistic and she even has varicose veins on her legs. I believe she’s a real person.” – Sonia Burciaga

Others say her eyes follow them around the store and that she changes positions during the night.

One shop worker, Sonia Burciaga, who has to change the dummy’s outfits twice a week, says:

“Every time I go near Pascualita my hands break out in a sweat. Her hands are very realistic and she even has varicose veins on her legs. I believe she’s a real person.”