Josefa Martínez Torres was born in Ponce (Puerto Rico) between approximately 1862-1863. Her mother's name was Carmen Torres and her father, Román Martínez. From birth she was visually impaired. At the age of two she lost one of her eyes and was completely blind at the age of eight and orphaned at the age of ten or eleven, as a result of which she remained in the care of a sister. In September 1879, she began to frequent a spiritism centre. According to the spiritism press, she often fell asleep during and outside the séances.

Her sleep was in a state of somnambulism, which is what is known today as hypnotic trance. When Martínez Torres was in this state, she sang, laughed and danced, which caught the attention of Manuel de Jesús Morel y Pastor, a Ponce native who, in 1869, began to work as a notary in the town of Coamo. In 1875, she resided in the 1st neighbourhood in Ponce, was single, 38 years old and owned property. In 1883, she was the owner of the Establecimiento Tipográfico de M. J. Morel which, most likely, is what was called the Morel printing press.

According to the Spanish spiritist press, Morel y Pastor realised that the young woman was the victim of a haunting spirit. According to the spiritism, obsessions are the product of a spirit's domination over a medium. Morel y Pastor helped Martinez Torres to turn her situation around so that she was able to develop auditory mediumship. In this way, apparently, she dictated what the spirits were telling her...