Column: Legends, Lore, Superstitions, and More
Nurses and doctors save people’s lives on a daily basis, especially during this pandemic. This is the tale of a nurse who couldn’t do that and regretted it for the rest of her life, and even beyond.
La Planchada translates to “the ironed lady” in English, they called her this because of her nicely ironed clothes. La Planchada was once a living woman named Eulalia who worked as a nurse in a hospital in Mexico around the 1930s.
Eulalia was known for being one of the best and most respected nurses in the hospital. Eulalia ended up falling in love with a doctor at the hospital. The two of them eventually got engaged. The doctor left Eulalia for a week to attend a medical training seminar.
The week soon passed, but the doctor did not come back. Eulalia was so worried about where he was. She was already sad when he didn’t come back, but it was like salt in the wound when she found out he had met another woman while away, and they got married.
Eulalia was so devastated that she became depressed. She began to neglect her patients, as well as herself. A patient even died in her care due to her neglect. She was so upset that she let a patient die that she became sick herself. She died from her sickness.
After her death, workers at the hospital reported strange things happening. In the emergency room area of the hospital, a mysterious nurse often appeared. Her ghost is reported to help around the hospital. She goes around and heals patients who have been neglected by other nurses. In the morning, once deathly ill patients become only mildly ill, and when asked what happened, they say a nurse helped them.
This nurse is known to be La Planchada.