Words and Photos by
Annabella Mireles
With the Fall season coming up, many people may be searching for the fall spirit by decorating for Halloween, Dia de Los Muertos, or watching horror movies.
However, for some people, embracing the macabre is not necessarily a Fall activity, but a lifestyle.
Located on the Montana and Mesa intersection is Tooth and Veil Oddities and Macabre Shop, a store that can be described as something conjurable by Elvira or The Addams Family. This store is filled with jewelry, wet specimens, apothecaries, taxidermy, vintage dolls, and so much more. Although walking into a store with items such as these may be unique for some El Pasoans, owner Michelle Bocanegra, also known as Deady Page, says she has always been immersed in this lifestyle.
“I’ve always been a darkling,” Bocanegra says. “I learned everything from my grandmother. She was a curandera, a healer. Whether the ailment was skin or bones, she would help. My grandmother also had two sisters, Nina and Tonya, and every Sunday we would go to the cemeteries like Concordia, and they would fix all the headstones that were broken. They would get paint brushes and cement and repair them every Sunday for about an hour or so.”
Bocanegra said that her grandmother taught her how to respect the dead through the way she carried herself at cemeteries.
“It’s probably where I got my sense for the macabre from,” she said. Even though they didn’t know these people, it was showing respect for these people not to be forgotten and respect for the last place they are going to be.”
Bocanegra says her grandmother had a big influence on her lifestyle.
Her style evolved from mimicking her grandmother’s and her grandmother’s sister’s 1950s gothic style to making it her own within the world of pinup where she got her nickname “Deady Page.”
“I was always attracted to how they dressed,” she said. “They always had very feminine heels, long black nails, and all-black outfits. They were pretty out there, but it was normal for me, but now that I look back at it, I realize it wasn’t normal to other people.”
In addition to finding the pinup community, Bocanegra also partook in events such as the Rockabilly Riot while also doing pop-ups where she made hats for Dia de los Muertos.
“I was making about 3,000 to 4,000 fascinators and paper mâché masks,” she said. “I always noticed that my aesthetic for Dia de los Muertos was a little bit darker than what everybody else was doing. I did that and then it progressively got darker. I was starting to do taxidermy and apothecary and that’s where it just evolved.”
At this point, Bocanegra had been working in management at several restaurants like Cafe Central and DJing while saving years’ worth of antiques in storage units to one day open a store. She would travel with an extra suitcase to bring back antiques from California, Arizona, New York, and New Orleans.
Part of Bocanegra’s passion is also repurposing broken antiques to make them regain their charm while also adding her personal style to the mix.
“I had been saving antiques for about 30 years,” she said. “I’m attracted to a lot of mid-century and Victorian designs. A lot of broken things were the things that I gravitated to. I feel sad for stuff, and I just want it to have a purpose. So, I just started making and repurposing stuff. I’m a big fan of the underdog, so if someone doesn’t want something, I want it.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bocanegra struggled after moving to her current location due to stay-at-home orders. However, with her knowledge of apothecary, she helped the community by creating jams and homemade hand sanitizer.
“A lot of people were happy to be able to support a business while also buying something that they needed,” she said. “My mother-in-law grows aloe vera, so we made our own aloe vera gel and we had tons of alcohol since I use it for my taxidermy. I was also able to make healing jams that people could put in hot water, and it would turn into tea. We had a blueberry luck and a one for love.”
Not only does she share her passion for apothecary, oddities, and macabre with the community through her shop, but she also hosts events such as the Mystical Market, Mourning Tea, and the Vampire Ball which is coming up Oct. 19.
“This will be our eighth anniversary doing the Vampire Ball,” she said. “It’s not a Halloween party. It’s not a masquerade party. It is a celebration of the lifestyle.”
Bocanegra reciprocates the love she’s received from the community and aims to tear down any misconceptions.
By hosting her Mystical Markets at Keystone Heritage Park, she is not only trying to introduce people to her work but also expose them to El Paso’s bird sanctuary and botanical garden, which is run by volunteers.
“I wanted to do something good for my community because my community was good to me,” she said. “I feel that it’s always good as a businessperson to give back and make other people and businesses responsible for the community.”
