by emad » Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:53 pm
<br>By Tim Gaynor<br>CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (Reuters) - Peering through the glass at a mannequin's veined hands, sparkling eyes and eerie smile, the small crowd gathered outside a store in northern Mexico tries to settle a macabre riddle beguiling many.<br><br>Is the tall, slender bridal figure in the window a richly detailed shop's dummy or, as a local legend says, the decades-old embalmed corpse of the former store owner's daughter?.<br><br>The haunting figure known as 'La Pascualita,' or 'Little Pascuala' first appeared 75 years ago in the window of the bridal gown store in the city of Chihuahua.<br><br>Since then, the striking realism of the dummy has spawned supernatural tales and reports of a miracle, and even inspired a foot-stomping accordion ballad played on local radio.<br><br>The figure has drawn a stream of people from across the desert state of Chihuahua over the past eight decades, and is now attracting curious visitors from South America, the United States and Europe, the owners of the La Popular store say.<br><br>As cars and trucks rumble by the shop on a busy city street, the entranced visitors smudge their noses up against the store window and try to decide for themselves if it's a corpse.<br><br>"She looks good for all the years that she's been here," Yolanda Robles, who trekked to the shop out of curiosity from Phoenix, Arizona, said as she studied the rosary-clutching figurine.<br><br>"There are just so many details, like her hair and the nails on her hand, that it just has to be true," she added.<br><br>CORPSE BRIDE<br><br>Through the years the story has bloomed into a tale with all the rich characteristics of magic realist fiction. It all began on March 25, 1930, when the dummy was first placed in the store front window.<br><br>Dressed in a spring-season bridal gown, the figure immediately gripped the attention of passers by with its disquieting, wide-set glass eyes, real hair and blushing skin tones. Pascualita is unique among other shop mannequins in the sleepy backwater state capital. Continued ... <br><br>© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=lifeAndLeisureNews&storyID=2005-12-19T192054Z_01_KNE969629_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEXICO-MANNEQUIN.xml&archived=False">today.reuters.com/news/ne...ived=False</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>
