The Tragic Life And Death Of 'The Ugliest Woman In The World'

Julia Pastrana was born in Mexico in 1834, but accounts of her early life are rife with misinformation. 

It's generally believed that Pastrana was born to an indigenous woman in the Sinaloa province of Mexico. Her birth was traumatic for the new mother who purportedly uttered the word naualli - akin to “wild beast” or “evil being” - when she first saw her child. 

When Pastrana was born, she was covered in hair, and her facial features were markedly inhuman. Long after her death, she was diagnosed with two rare medical conditions. The first, hypertrichosis terminalis, is a condition that leads to excessive hair growth. The second, gingival hyperplasia, results in large gums and usually accompanies hypertrichosis terminalis.  

Pastrana was either abandoned by her mother or her mother died and she was then sold to the circus by her uncle. Either way, at some point during the 1830s, she became the ward of Pedro Sanchez, the governor of Sinaloa. 

While in the Sanchez household, Pastrana was treated like a member of the family. She learned to read and could speak several languages, such as Spanish, English, and possibly French. She likely had knowledge of her native language, Cahita, as well. 

Her distinct looks didn't keep her from singing, dancing, and thriving during the 1840s and early 1850s. As she grew into a young adult, Pastrana soon stood roughly 4'6" tall and had proportional limbs covered in hair. She also had large ears, a flat nose, and a mouth that protruded forward.

It's not clear exactly when or why, but at some point during the mid-1850s, Pastrana left the Sanchez household. She may have been sold to Francisco Sepulveda, a customs official in Mexico, or she left willingly and entered the service of a professional showman. Pastrana soon started performing, first in Mexico and later in the United States. 

While in the United States, Pastrana crossed paths with Theodore Lent. Depending on the account, Lent either arranged to buy Pastrana from Sepulveda or she ran away with Lent to get married. They were wed in 1854 - either in New York or Baltimore - and Lent took over the management of Pastrana's career. 

One newspaper account described what took place between Pastrana and Lent and how her previous manager, a man called J.M. Beard, sued to try to take back possession of Pastrana. Lent used the marriage certificate as a way to maintain rights over his wife.

The matter appeared in several newspapers in 1854, one that included a description of Pastrana:

The “Bear Woman," an Indian of the Digger Tribe, probably the lowest of human creation… being about four feet high, stout built, and of about the common indian color. Her face, neck, and arms covered in a luxuriant growth of hair, which gave her somewhat of an animal appearance. Her forehead low, and the lower part of her face protruding like… a monkey. Her mouth awful to behold, and “must be seen to be appreciated.”… 

With respect to the marriage, it read:

The young man exhibited a certificate of marriage with the hideous monster!… [they] came out in toe county early in the morning to have the knot tied! She refused to raise her veil during the ceremony and when over, she gave the clergyman a sight of her visage… were we the judge we should order that the young man, as a punishment for his unnatural marriage, should be forced to live with his wife until death, passed then. It would be awful!

Newspapers around the world reported on Pastrana and her performances. The New York Tribune wrote that the “Hybrid or Semi-Human Indian” “delighted” spectators with her “gentleness and modesty." It continued, “no monster ever possessed either sentiment or speech.” 

In contrast, the Albany Argus said Pastrana was, “without a doubt… something out of the usual order of things” and was more negative in its reception of her appearance and performance.

Throughout the remaining years of the 1850s, Pastrana toured the United States and Europe. In 1858, a report from Leipzig, Germany, read:

This most revolting, hideous, baboonish female is creating in Europe a positive excitement… she appears very elegantly dressed, frightfully decollete as regards both neck and legs, and entertains the audience with English and Spanish songs, the Cachuea and the Highland Fling. 

Pastrana was in Moscow, Russia, when she gave birth to her son on March 20, 1860. Documentation from the event indicates it was a live birth but that the baby had the same medical conditions as his mother. As a result, “after a little time, [the baby] fell into a state of asphyxia.” He was revived but, “after having lived for thirty-five hours, it died on the 22nd of March at four P.M.”

Pastrana had struggled during childbirth and stayed in the hospital. Her husband reportedly sold tickets for spectators to come see Pastrana in her hospital bed. Her health did not improve, and she died of metroperitonitis (inflammation around the uterus) on March 25, 1860.

Both Julia Pastrana and her son were sold to Professor J. Sukolov at the University of Moscow so he could test out his embalming technique on them. Both bodies were autopsied before being embalmed, the latter of which was a six-month process. By the time it was over, their faces were little-changed, although “the eyes have sunk in, the lips are slightly thinner than they were” and the gums had “grown hard and white.” 

Two years later, Lent returned to see the bodies of his wife and his son. He took them back into his possession and put them on display.

Theodore Lent took the bodies of his son and his wife to be assessed by physicians and scientists, encouraging the notion that they were “nondescript” in their origins. Even Charles Darwin added his thoughts on Julia and her appearance, noting:

She had a thick masculine beard and a hairy forehead… [with] a gorilla-like appearance.

This helped when Lent toured the bodies of his wife, Julia, and their son in a glass display, visiting London and other locations where Pastrana had once performed live. When some of the novelty of the site wore off, Lent married another woman with excessive body hair named Marie Bartel. She later became part of the exhibit, presenting herself as Pastrana's sister, Zenora. 

Pastrana and her son were toured for through the remainder of the 19th century and well into the 20th century, even making its rounds in the United States as late as 1972. Their bodies were sent to Sweden in 1973 and displayed there until protests ended the exhibition. After that, Pastrana and her son were placed in storage.

In 1976, the bodies were damaged by burglars at the facility where Pastrana and her son were kept. The latter was reportedly beyond repair and disposed of, while Pastrana was kept until her body was later stolen.