Mexico Island of Dead Dolls

In Mexico, there is an island where a young girl died and soon afterward, dolls started to appear. The island is called Isla de las Muñecas and it is now completely full of dolls. My friend Richie, who I had been on many previous trips with, expressed to me that he thought it would be amazing to visit the island and so we decided to plan a trip to Mexico to see it with our own eyes.



On the day we chose to visit the island, Richie and I took a taxi with our friends Tommy and Theo and asked the driver to take us to Xochimilco where the ‘trajineras’ would lead us to the island. It was about a two-hour journey on the boat. We paid the man his fee and we then went on the island.

On arrival, there were hundreds of dolls, some of which have been there for years and are in varying states of decay. On this island with a dark history, the dolls, the decay and seeing how scary the faces were lead to a very unique experience.



The sheer number of dolls and the way they were displayed made them look so disturbing. We were there to take photos of the dolls, to show people who had never seen the island that they existed. The photos we took added to the memorialisation of the death of the child by extending its audience to people who could not see it with their own eyes.