Who Is La Planchada? Meet The Ironed Lady

If you follow Mexican folklore and ghost legends from the region, you know that there are actually several versions of La Planchada floating around. Nevertheless, the Iron Lady is a tale that still haunts hospitals in central Mexico to this day. We explore, in detail, her history and why she refuses to move on.

Who Is La Planchada? Meet The Ironed Lady

La Planchada – whose real name was Eulalia – was a nurse and so she is typically seen in an old-fashioned nurse’s uniform. The story dates back to the 1930s and so her clothing is stuck in that time period.

We actually know where she worked since she was alive only a few decades ago. The hospital’s name is Hospital Juarez and you can find it in the heart of Mexico City.

Eulalia was a stellar nurse – always going above and beyond for her patients. She was truly on top of everything needed on her floor. Eventually, a doctor caught her eye and the pair fell in love.

When Eulalia Became The Ironed Lady

This love was not meant to last, because eventually, the doctor left for a conference and never returned. The rumor is that he met another woman while away and – without notice – never returned to Eulalia or his job. This was heartbreaking, confusing, and soul-crushing.

It affected her work, her life, her passion. Eulalia’s performance began to suffer and mistakes began to happen within the walls of Hospital Juarez. Eventually, she lost a patient due to her lack of concentration. This crushed her spirit. Once an impeccable nurse – now a shell of herself.

When this happened, she couldn’t get over the fact that her lack of concentration caused a death. Eulalia became depressed and eventually took her life – right at her place of work.

Sightings At Hospitals In Mexico

Immediately, colleagues and patients began to notice ghost sightings of La Planchada all around the hospital floor. It was almost as if she couldn’t let go of tending to her patients now that she had moved onto the afterlife. Was she trying to right a wrong?

You can find La Planchada walking through the halls, in the patient’s rooms, and in the emergency corridor. But this is not specific to Hospital Juarez.

La Planchada began her healing journey at Hospital Juarez, but since then she has continued to expand her visits beyond her origin. Many patients from a variety of hospitals all have claimed to receive a visit from The Ironed Lady.

Why Do They Eulalia Call La Planchada?

The reason why the hospital staff began to call the ghost of Hospital Juarez, “La Planchada” is because she always wears a clean and freshly pressed uniform.

This is probably the only thing that is constant in this story. The variables that you will read depending on the source of this tale are as follows:

glowing vs not
walking vs hovering
relationship with the doctor vs rejected by the doctor – reason for suicide
healing all across hospitals vs healing only those in the room where she died

But one thing was certain – she always looked great!

Does The Ironed Lady Have Healing Powers?

This is where the story gets interesting. Sometimes the hospital is over-occupied and it takes a while for the nursing staff to get to every patient and then to their needs. However, when they arrive, the patient says that a nurse has already helped and HEALED them.

Naturally, they are talking about The Ironed Lady. But does the Ironed Lady actually have healing powers or is it something they believe in because these patients are just spiritual? We will never truly know.

What do you think about this story? Spirits don’t move on because they have unfinished business. It seems that this woman is holding onto some serious guilt. In the end, she is doing a wonderful thing for her patients, but I feel like it would be nice for her to get some rest after all of these years.