José Rabadán, a party enthusiast who surprised each year with his original costumes, died after a hooligan set him on fire during a parade
The colorful celebrations of the Carnival of Cabezo de Torres became frightening on February 23, 1982, when an unscrupulous person set fire to the costume of José Rabadán, known in the town as Pepe ‘El Mislán’, causing serious burns that ended up costing him his life. Rabadán was a well-loved character in the town who became popular for the picturesque costumes that he made by hand for months. He dedicated about five hours a day to them and used ‘low cost’ materials as atypical as cigarette packs. His daring creations, which he kept secret until it was time to parade, caused a sensation in the Murcian district.
«Tragic carnival in Cabezo de Torres»,
titled THE TRUTH reporting the brutal event that shocked the neighbors and made front page news. «Those who laughed so much with the thanks and chattering of ‘El Mislán’ during the first round of the tour, watched with terror how now he screamed in pain turned into a human torch”,
reported the newspaper.
According to numerous witnesses, a boy of about 18 years had the fatal idea of bringing a lighter to Rabadán to joke, pretending to set it on fire. The joke got out of hand when he brought the flame closer than necessary to the costume and it caught fire like a torch. The suit, made with dry cane jopos from the Segura River, burned completely and the ill-fated partygoer suffered serious second and third degree burns on 75% of his body. While some neighbors were helping the wounded man, the person in charge took advantage of the confusion to flee through the crowd. He was never identified.
Pepe ‘El Mislán’ was transferred in a very serious condition to the Virgen de la Arrixaca hospital in Murcia. There he debated between life and death, until his body couldn’t take it anymore. On March 9, 1982, he died due to multiple organ failure, despite the fact that days before he had shown a slight improvement that encouraged fragile hopes among his relatives.
The town, which for two weeks followed the evolution of the wounded man through the press, received the news of his death like a blow and gave him a
mass funeral. Hundreds of people, including representatives of all the troupes and groups of the Cabezo de Torres Carnival, honored him with more than twenty floral crowns and accompanied him in his last parade.
exemplary carnival
José Rabadán was 55 years old when fate erased his smile and he had been actively participating in the festivities for the last forty years. «Everyone messes with me, but it is true that my departure causes expectation; many hundreds of people wait at the door of the house for him to come out,
excitedly declared THE TRUTH in an interview, before the tragic parade that would end his life. Already then he complained that “some are very rough”, remembering how some attendees tore his suits when he passed by: “They even took away the mirror that I was wearing and that I wanted to have as a souvenir.”
Forty years after his death, the same ones he dedicated to carnival, ‘El Mislán’ has not yet fallen into oblivion. Juan Vivancos Antón, writer and chronicler of Cabezo de Torres, points out that “it has remained in the memory of carnival goers as an example that to have a good costume, above and beyond economic means, you have to have a lot of imagination. He, at a time when there were not so many facilities, used materials that he had on hand, such as popcorn or ice cream spoons, and managed to raise great expectations in the town. Every year he surprised with something new ».
So much so that in 2011 it was decided to pay tribute to him by creating the Mislán Award for the best comparsa. That same year, she also starred in the Carnival poster, painted by the artist Cristina Franco, and a street was dedicated to her. A tribute that would have delighted this mason by profession who worked busily throughout the year in his ingenious disguises, with the illusion of monopolizing all eyes for a day.