From the movie, Annabelle, to the iconic Chucky, dolls have played an important role in horror. In fact, a lot of people won’t even go near a creepy doll in a dark room, with their macabre smiles sneering at you. However, creepy takes a new level in a place known as The Island of the Dolls.

The Island of the Dolls is an island found in the south of Mexico City. According to local legend, the owner, Don Julián Santana, started hanging dolls long ago in order to protect himself against evil, thus earning the island’s infamous name. Due to his superstitions, he started preaching the Bible, and eventually confined himself to the island. Santana's superstition involved a woman who had drowned in the canals of the island. He began experiencing a variety of frightening situations that led him to start collecting dolls and placing them in random locations around the island. He believed that by doing this, he could scare the ghost of the woman away. After he did this, he started hearing footsteps, wails, and whispers near his hut. This drove him to hang more and more dolls, some of which were even missing body parts, as a way to bring peace to the woman. After Julian’s death, the island was converted into a tourist site. Many tourists actually brought dolls to the island in its honor. Travelers have also said they have seen strange behaviors from the dolls, from odd noises to the dolls moving by themselves. Some of the locals would agree to take tourists to the island, while others would avoid it out of superstition. The reputation of the island is, indeed, chilling.

The island has been the subject of many books. In Jeremy Bates’s Island of the Dolls, the island’s horrific potential plays out when a group decides to visit the island, only to be stranded with a potential murderer. In a book with the same name, by Hudson Taylor, the main protagonist must face a dark mystery that centers on the sins of both the island and humanity itself. In Island of the Dolls: The Real Story of the Muñecas Project by A. E Hodge, a similar group of people go to the island for a documentary project, never to be seen again. The island has also inspired various movies, such as the newly released Island of the Dolls in 2019 and articles such as A Journey into the Haunted. The island has continued to provide audiences with a source of horror and fascination. The island has also been covered by various news organizations, such as Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, and ABC News.

The island has since maintained its dark aura. It’s a reason why many writers, myself included, have begun fearing dolls. And the advent of horror stories involving demonic spirits using dolls as conduits doesn’t help. Nonetheless, it continues to fascinate the public and will continue to do so for many years to come.