14/07/2025
“La Planchada,” which in Spanish means “the ironed lady,” refers to the restless spirit of Eulalia. The earliest photographs show her alive in her crisp, perfectly pressed nurse’s uniform; later images are said to capture her ghostly form tending to the sick long after her death.
The legend unfolds in central Mexico during the 1930s, at a busy municipal hospital. Eulalia was renowned for her immaculate appearance and her compassionate care—patients felt privileged to be in her ward. Everything changed when a charismatic young doctor joined the staff. Eulalia and he began to spend time together, and before long, they were engaged. But one day he departed for a medical seminar and never returned. Weeks passed without word until the hospital learned he had married another woman in the seminar town.
Devastated, Eulalia’s grief consumed her. Her once-stellar performance faltered, and one night a patient died because she failed to attend to them. Overcome by guilt, Eulalia fell ill and died in the very hospital where she had devoted her life to healing.
After her passing, staff and patients reported seeing a nurse in the emergency wing who never spoke but moved silently down the halls. Some claimed she seemed to glow, almost floating; others said she walked normally—but no footsteps ever echoed behind her. Always dressed in a freshly pressed uniform, she became known as La Planchada.
Most astonishing are the accounts of patients who awaken to find their charts updated, their medications adjusted, or fresh bandages applied. By morning, they’re often strong enough to move to a lower-acuity ward—and when asked who helped them, they whisper, “A nurse came in and healed me.” It’s said that Eulalia’s spirit continues her atonement, forever tending those she once let down in life.
Over time, variations of the tale emerged. In one version, Eulalia was cruel and negligent by nature, condemned in death to care for the very patients she mistreated. Some say her spirit is drawn especially to the room where she died. Regardless of the details, the core of the legend remains the same: La Planchada, the ever-pressed nurse, wandering hospital corridors to comfort the sick in her eternal penance.
