Mini Coffins of Edinburgh

 Have you ever wondered if you discover coffins on a quest to find rabbits?

And that also not of humans but of small dolls?

Well, this is what happened in Edinburg in 1836,

While playing in Arthur's seat, a group of boys stumbled upon a small cave in the rocks. They found seventeen mini coffins inside the cave, each containing a mini-doll.

Yes, dolls, and if you don't believe me check out the National Museum Of Scotland.

Eight of the seventeen coffins that survived are displayed there.

Unique collection to be kept safely in a museum right!

Now coming, to the question why are these coffins are so famous? Could they be a foul joke? or something a child did while playing?

Nah!

Things are never so simple!

Let's start with the dolls, each of the dolls is dressed differently and could be differentiated from one another. They are assumed to be originally small wooden soldier toys. The coffins are so tiny that some of the toys have their limbs removed to fit in. 

Coming to the coffin, each one is approximately 95mm in length and has carvings on their surface that also seem to be different from one another. They were arranged in three tiers, two tiers of eight and one solitary coffin on top.

Though most researchers think that all the coffins are made by the same person the question still remains!

 Why? why would someone make coffins of dolls and why hide them in Arthur's seat of all places?

Let's dive into the different theories behind these Lilliputian coffins.

Since these were discovered in the 1800s of course one of the first theories published in newspapers would be witchcraft and demonology!

How intuitive!

They must have thought something like "These look similar to voodoo dolls so blame the satanic cults!"

This was one of the theories published in The Scotsman on 16th July 1836.

Almost a month later, the Edinburgh Evening Post suggested a new theory. It mentioned an ancient custom of Saxony, where friends who were lost in distant lands were buried in effigy.

Caledonian Mercury, Talked about the existence of a superstition, where sailors lost in the sea were buried in effigies by their wives to give them a Christian Burial.

But these two theories still raise questions why seventeen coffins? or why bury them at a Volcanic hill?

Obviously, no answer was found.

The coffins disappeared for some time after being auctioned off. They reappeared in 1901 when they were donated to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Society somehow concluded that the coffins could be honorific burials.

But the case didn't stop there!

Of course, if it stopped there with such a simple theory, we Mystery seekers wouldn't have anything to discuss.

Besides, if they were honorific burials why make these dolls so creepy, that the children almost destroyed them.

Five years later in 1906, The Scotsman published another interesting but absurd story. 

The story was relayed by a woman who lived in Edinburgh, her father, was visited by a daft man. who had once drawn on a piece of paper three coffins with dates 1837, 1838, and 1840. following that incident in the autumn of 1837 a relative of her father died, in 1838 his cousin demised, and in 1840 his own brother. After the funeral, the daft man again appeared glaring at him, and then disappeared forever. Even if the article hinted that the daft man could be the original creator of these Arthur seat coffins. But they could also be a mere series of coincidences.

In 1976 Walter Havernick, director of the Museum of Hamburg History, came up with a new theory. according to a German superstition of keeping mandrake roots or dolls in tiny coffins as talismans, he postulated that these coffins could be lucky charms for sailors. Even though charms were still used in 19th-century Scotland, no evidence of such seafaring tradition was found.

I guess you are tired after reading so many theories,

So, now let's discuss the most interesting theory!

The Mystery of Murder Dolls.

Edinburgh became renowned for medical science by the early 1800s. The field of medical science is based on understanding the body's mechanisms, so of course, anatomy plays a vital role in this honorable study. We all know anatomy requires a human body to be dissected. With a rise in medical schools and students, fewer criminals punished with the death penalty, and diseases being treated better, there soon became a shortage of cadavers for anatomical studies.

The news of this soon spread like wildfire among criminals, who saw it as an opportunity, and body snatching from churchyards became a common thing. Thus, most of the criminals shifted to suppliers of dead bodies for medical schools. Among these suppliers, two soon attracted the attention of people, as the bodies they supplied seemed not to come from the graveyards.

The two Irish immigrants William Burke and William Hare ran a boarding house in Edinburgh. One day one of their elderly lodgers accidentally died still owing them money. To make up for their losses they sold the body to Dr. Robert Knox. This is how their murderous business started. 

Why murderous?

Because the rest of the bodies they sold none of them were accidental death anymore.

At first, Burke and Hare started abducting travelers then they became sloppy and started murdering townspeople who were easily recognized by others. The small mistake became their doom and William Burke was hanged after Hare confessed to his crimes. In the 10 months of their murder journey, they killed 16 people. After Burke died his body was also dissected and used for anatomical studies. 

How ironic!

Interestingly, a lot of people were admitted to the hospital that day just to observe his body.

So 16 victims and one of their murderers: could this be the answer we are looking for?

Could someone have felt pity and buried the people, murdered in cold blood who never got a proper funeral in this way?

The only logic against this theory is that their victims were predominantly women but toys were male.  Then again premade soldier toys.

Or is there some other story behind the miniature coffins? feel free to comment below.

If you don't know Arthur's seat is associated with the legendary King Arthur, not only that it was the home to the Celtic Voltadini Tribe in 400AD. 

Obivously, a story like this will attract a lot of creative attention. Ian Ranking, wrote  in his thriller book 'Fall', "Plenty of people over the years have come up to me with their excited notions of plots for my next book. I’ve found precious few of them to be helpful, or viable, but I was intrigued by these ‘little dolls’… which is how I made the acquaintance of the Arthur’s Seat coffins… As soon as I saw them, I knew they would make a great story, especially as no one had come up with an incontrovertible interpretation of their meaning. In other words, there was a story to tell about them…"

In 2006 the novel was adapted for television, and replicas of the coffins were produced. These replicas often replaces the originals when they were required to be presented somewhere else.

The mystery continues...

In December 2014, the museum received a beautiful replica of the coffin cryptically named XVIII, attached to it was a note which quoted the climax from a chilling short story 'The Body Snatcher' by Robert Louis Stevenson.

These tiny coffins will continue to attract more attention in the future. We can just hope for this mystery to be solved one day.

Blue rose belles

( Archie) 

UNRAVELING THE TITANIC MYSTERY

 

THEY SAID THE SHIP WAS UNSINKABLE, YET IT SANK!

2 AM on the morning of 15 April 1912, the RMS Titanic sank, drowning 1,500 people with it.

The question that the majority of us ask is, " HOW THE SHIP SANK?". 

The answer to that question is simple, " The ship hit an iceberg causing irreparable damage to it, which led to its drowning."

But what if the question I ask is, "Why did the ship drown?"

Confused right!

Well, you see, we all know the basic story that the media wants us to know and ignore the small details hidden within and what best place to hide than in plain sight.

The three adjectives that I want to use for the story of Titanic are creepy, tragic, and suspicious.

THE SUSPICION

Did you know the stack of binoculars onboard was never used?

The key to that room was not even on the ship!.

 The key never reached the ship due to some last-minute changes.

So, the lookers had to completely rely on their eyesight, not to mention the thick fog of the Atlantic would make it almost impossible to see. the lookers Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee didn't see the iceberg until 37 seconds before hitting it.

It's funny to see that the key that could have saved so many lives, was sold at an auction in 2010 for  $130,000.

Was it a mistake or a well-planned mistake?

According to one of the survivors, a lifeboat drill was to be held on Sundays, but it was canceled on the first Sunday, which also happens to be the last Sunday, 14th April 1912.

The answer to, "Why the drill never happened?" drowned with the captain.

The very next question is about the scarcity of lifeboats,

 "Why were only 20 lifeboats on the ship carrying over 3,330 people?"

Even if the crew was overconfident, at least they could have kept enough boats to accommodate seventy percent of the people. There were supposed to be 60 lifeboats, but the number decreased before the voyage. According to the crew, the lifeboats would hinder passengers from enjoying the ocean view.

Stupid right! 

When you see people putting luxury and aesthetics over safety.

A telegram reached the ship, informing it about the icebergs ahead, but the message was ignored as spam?

The SS. California, although nearby, never came to aid the Titanic.

A missing key, An ignored warning, a Scarcity of lifeboats, and the help that never came, can all of them be ignored as mere coincidences.

You may ask me why would drowning a ship be planned?

 

Well, Titanic had some really influential men abroad, one of them was the richest man of that time, who went down with the ship. It could be a plot to wipe out some dangerous competitors.

THE PREDICTION

Now comes another twist to the story. The prediction.

Do you know that the fall of Titanic was predicted?

Almost 14 years before the ship went on a maiden voyage, a book was published called 'Futility' by Morgan Robertson, it was based on a fictional ship called Titan, that drowned on her first maiden voyage in the North Atlantic after it hit an iceberg. Not only the name and tragedy are similar but the Titan was imagined to be the largest ship, the most magnificent and unsinkable, and it also had a scarcity of lifeboats as the crew was overconfident. The book was renamed in 1912 as 'The Wreck of the Titan or Futility'.

I mean a lot of catastrophes have been predicted before like Corona but was the sinking of Titanic really predicted or the story of Titan was taken as a framework for the Titanic tragedy.

Confused!

Let's put it this way. If you are planning mass murder and want to show it as an accident, lure your victims with a promising offer, then make the accident. In this case, Titanic was made hype, the influential men wanted to be on the ship to show off they were capable enough to be on the most prestigious ship of that time. The couples wanted to make their honeymoon memorable to be on a famous ship and the last, passengers in third class just wanted the experience to tell stories to their grandchildren.

Now comes another rumor, the ship was already damaged before it hit the iceberg, it was damaged before even it started the voyage. The damage happened due to burning coal and not hitting an iceberg. Once the captain knew of the damage he started speeding the ship, so they could reach the land before a disaster.

Another theory claims that it wasn't even Titanic that went on sail, It was her twin sister the Olympic, a notorious accident-prone vessel. It was a desperate attempt to defraud the company insuring the ships.

It seems far-fetched, but the ship was really speeding up before it hit the iceberg. So could the sinking be pre-planned?

But the story of the sinking ship is not unique.

Another fictional story also had a similar storyline, written by journalist  W.T. Stead, who tragically died when the Titanic sank. 

It's scary right! how you write a tragic story and it becomes your own tragedy. 

A creepy coincidence occurred with  Revered Charles Morgan. He fell asleep and dreamed of turbulent waves in the sea and a dark sky with a long-forgotten hymn playing in the background. he woke up but when he fell asleep again the dream returned. He was so moved by the dream, that in the service that evening he played the hymn. It seemed so inappropriate at that time. As it was an inland church and the hymn was 'For those in peril on the Sea' and the date was 14 April 1912.

THE CURSE

Could the Titanic be cursed? Did you know that eight people died during the construction of the ship? A plaque memorizing them was discovered in Belfast.

A nurse Violet Jessop was called the luckiest or unluckiest woman on board she survived the fall of Titanic and also the fall of Britannic.

Did you know the 'Heart of the Ocean' that was portrayed in the film, is very similar to the Diamond of Doom?

THE CONCLUSION

So, how to conclude this mystery?

The story is obviously tragically surrounded by some eerie stories

But what about the suspicions that pose a red flag to ruling it out as mere coincidence or accident?

What do you think should be the conclusion? 

Comment below.

Blue Rose Belles

(Archie)

(Video from National Geographic.)

THE SKELETON LAKE MYSTERY

Hill stations and lakes have always been weak spots for tourists, but Roopkund lying on the laps of Trishul massif in Himachal Pradesh is proven to be a horror sight for everyone. You will get chills here and that is obviously not for the weather. Beneath the beautiful glacial lake lies the graveyard for more than 500 skeletons that have been piled up for thousands of years.

Yup you heard me right, 500 skeletons whose origins are yet unknown.

In 1942, these skeletons were discovered by Hari Kishan Madhawal, a ranger of the Nanda Devi forest. Although there were random reports about finding bones near Roopkund, nobody was enthusiastic about digging deeper because the trek to Roopkund was treacherous, and so random deaths were not an uncommon incident.

But what was surprising was the finding of 200 skeletons scattered near the lake that remains frozen for most of the year. At first, the British suspected the skeletons to belong to the Japanese hidden army that suffered casualties, but they were soon relieved to find out that the bones were way older to be Japanese warriors. At that time no logical explanation was found for this mystery. The bodies did not show any sign of epidemic or fatal wounds received during wars, so there was absolutely no clue as to why masses of the body lay deposited at the lake, but that doesn't mean the villagers didn't have a story, a folk song tells the story of victims of goddesses wrath. The story revolves around the Nanda Devi Raj Jat, Once upon a time, a king defiled the pilgrimage by taking dancing girls for his entertainment at the holy trek which enraged the goddess to such an extent that she struck everyone with heavy" iron balls" that fell from the sky.

As absurd as this story sounds the more absurd event is that the skeletons that were examined were found to have holes the size of cricket balls in their skulls or shoulders bones eerily giving fuel to the belief of 'being hit by iron balls'.

In 2004, after a trek and closer inspection, scientists concluded that this set of people were not hit with iron balls rather caught in a hailstorm mostly during the pilgrimage, and thus were victims of bad weather day rather than of someone's wrath. The theory is more logical and reasonable was approved and accepted with open arms.

BUT

BUT

BUT

Some curious-minded people were not completely convinced with the theory, being caught up in a hailstorm is okay but so many being hit in the head is kind of fishy, isn't it?

So they did a little more digging up.

Two things: DNA Analysis, Radiocarbon dating

And that just twisted and complicated everything, making our return to square one, only more clueless than before.

After studying 38 skeletons from Roopkund, researchers revealed that these people did not die in a single incident. There are at least three identifiable distinct groups who died at least thousands of years apart. People dying once in huge numbers, at the hands of nature is believable, twice justifiable but thrice or more than it at the same place, then it is suspicious, that's what makes it more mysterious and creepy.

Out of the 35 skeletons studied 23 closely matched with the DNA of modern-day Indians and is assumed to have died between the seventh to the tenth century, while 14 of them closely resemble the people of Meditterean islands like Crete or Greece. The one left shares ancestry with South Asia, the latter group of fifteen individuals is believed to have died between the 17th to 20th century.

The mystery just goes on being more creepier since more recent bodies were found at the lake, the bodies were frozen with skin attached to them but were still unidentified.

anthropologist Kathleen Morrison suggests, "When you see a lot of human skeletons, usually it's a graveyard," but Harney thinks the area is too remote to be a graveyard beside there were no genetical similarities with the nearby villages.

And even if the area is a graveyard, What is the reason for having holes in the skulls and shoulder bones. Moreover, why would someone come all the way to Roopkund just to dump bodies? There is no logical answer to these questions.

The question that is now roaming in all our minds is what lured these peoples to Roopkund? Was it for the sake of religion? or some other mystery that lies in the depths of the lake, that none of us know about?

The second question is How and Why did they die?

According to Harney the answers to the questions may be achieved by digging deeper into the age-old ancient texts associated with the lake.

Could it be the handiworks of someone or something or maybe some crazy sacrificial event that no one knows about?

No matter what, it seems to be a perilous dark secret buried deep into the icy waters of the skeleton lake. A secret that itself has the capacity of lurings hundreds of lives to its depths from where there is no return. it's the secret that people have sought for ages but still remains buried. Whatever the reason skeleton lake still remains a mystery to all the curious minds out there, and one day this mystery will surely be solved. Until then let's hope the web does not get more tangled than it already is.

                                                                                                   blue rose belles

                                                                                                        ( Archie)

The secret society of witches

 Witches- half of us imagine them as teens while the other half imagine them as old hags with a crooked nose.

But all of these types of witches originated from Europe around the middle ages. So what prompted these witches to sprang into existence as evil beings?

Apparently, the male-dominated society was behind spreading the concepts of witches. if you look closely, then witches were thought to be associated with evil doings like making poisonous potions, cursing people, luring souls, practicing dark magic e.t.c.but what actually the witches did?

The old hags or pretty women, all types of witches are pictured as outcasts living alone with their magical ingredients in some desolate and deserted part of the village, practicing dark magic throughout the day and roaming around on broom at night. most of the time witches didn't have any male companion with them though they were accused of salacity. What is more interesting is that while witches are considered as wicked women breaking havoc in people's life, their male counterparts i.e. wizards or warlocks were actually respected around the world. As we already know anyone suspected of witchcraft was burned on a stake, hanged to death, or drowned in water. According to the scholars, there were approximately 40,000 to 100,000 witch executions in Europe during the middle ages. What did the witches do to deserve the horrible deaths?

To answer all these questions we need to go back to the ancient times when witches didn't create such a turmoil, superstitions ruled the hearts of people at that age and many believed that bad spirits cause havoc in the night to frighten newborn babies and make them cry. nightmares were also considered as a part of their mischief. So to protect their families from the hands of these evil beings the women of the house started using protection symbols and some items that can distract these spirits enough to not cause any ill to their family. Some used to mirror and foods to distract them, while others used herbs to keep them away. during that time protection spells, enchantments and magic were not considered as something evil and malicious rather the anyone who could do magic was considered to be gifted by Hecate; the goddess of magic. Even though Hecate was one of the minor goddesses, she was respected by everyone due to her powers. Necromancy or the calling of spirits was very much practiced around the world at that time and even practiced now. I am not only talking about the plan-chit s that but also about large festivities like Halloween and the day of death ( Día de Muertos ). Both the festivals are held to remember dead people and it is even said that the souls visit the land of living during this time, good souls can bless you while bad ones can curse you, so these bad spirits are kept away with the help of jack-o-lanterns.

So, if throughout the ages everyone tried to protect their family from evil then where did those women went wrong? 

Well, the answer is simple they practiced pagan beliefs rather than Christian beliefs.

Confused!

 You see even if Europe was succumbing to Christianity some people still practiced the age-old religions i.e worshipping of roman, greek, Norse gods, and goddesses. these minority was considered as a threat to the Church and so all necessary precaution was taken to subdue them and the very first victim of this cruel discrimination became the woman of the society. Why? because women were weak! No, it was because these women were always looked like a threat to the male dominating Christian society that was beginning to rise. Naturally, they started moving away to desolate places, hiding away to avoid being executed, sometimes they used to form groups and live in a safe place where the church can't find them forming a secret society and helping other women to escape the cruel hands of the church.

Now, some women had an extremely deep knowledge about different herbs, medicinal and poisonous both. They used their knowledge in curing different ailments, going from village to village to help people. They dedicated their lives to gaining knowledge and healing people, they didn't have family and usually lived alone making different concoctions for different ailments, sometimes they were right sometimes not. Their dedication led to villagers worship them like a god because they succeeded when in so called doctors also failed to cure the people.  Now, that became a huge problem for the church and so they started giving the story a little evil twist and that did the job effortlessly. The healers were blamed to practice withcraft to heal people from near death situation and since most of the villagers were illiterate about herbology so they believed the theory and burned these well wishers on stakes claiming them to be witches. Thus began the execution of the so called witches all over Europe.

The church added fuel to the little flame of witchcraft and it soon turned into a wildfire engulfing thousands of innocent souls throughout Europe. Maybe the church didn't want it to take such a massive turn but it did and the old hag picture of witches was actually created to bring out their evil nature through their ugly looks. The images were successful in awaking fear in the hearts of ordinary people.

Urban literature has opened the path of viewing witches in another light rather than evil practitioners of dark magic.

If you think that witches don't exist in the 21st century then you are wrong some people claim to practice witchcraft,  they claim it to be their religion. Though it is not known if they can actually perform magical spells or it is just a modified version of pagan beliefs. their religion is known as Wicca.

Wicca 

The pentacle

Interestingly the symbol of Wicca is quite similar to the pentacle, the very symbol used for the protection from evil spirits. Actually, it is the same symbol. thus giving fuel to the theory that witchcraft is actually the practice of pagan beliefs.

                                                                                                                  blue rose belles

                                                                                                                           (Archie)

The Mysterious Mothman

 Mothman: Though the name sounds like superman. Most people will assume it as a fictional character, but that is where they go wrong.

 Mothman is not a fictional character, it has shown his face more than once in public. So what is it actually? 

Well, those who have seen it claim it to be "a man with wings".

I am serious!

On the fateful night of 16 November 1966, two couples encountered a human-sized bird-like creature in the TNT area of West Virginia at around midnight. The incident was published in the newspaper on the following day. The four people claimed that "the man had red eyes and large wings". When asked if the couples were drunk, they denied the accusation and told that if one person saw it, it could be overruled, but all four of them saw it, hovering over the car.

The incident should have been forgotten, but Mothman continued its appearance another two or three times. The most prominent among them is the silver bridge incidence.

The silver bridge connected Point Pleasant to Gallipolis and collapsed on December 15 of 1967. It had been visited by Mothman just a day before the incident. The records say that tragedy happened due to a faulty eyebar suspension chain and poor maintenance, but suspiciously the Mothman disappeared for a long time after that incident.

Dr John Keel in his book  The Mothman Prophecies linked the appearance of Mothman and the bridge collapse.

Keel believed it to be no coincidence and in his book, he concluded the Mothman sightings by the residents of Point Pleasant was a premonition about the silver bridge accident. He even went as far as assuming Mothman to be an alien. keel's book stirred the community and the local legend of Mothman became a figure of interest, the book was adapted into a movie in 2002. both the movie and the book made the little town famous and tourism skyrocketed. the people of West Virginia started an annual Mothman Festival. The legendary Mothman had impacted the town so much that a 12-foot metallic statue of Mothman and Mothman museum and research centre was also established.

Some people claim that Mothman also made his appearance at Chernobyl before the disaster while some claim he visited the twin towers before 9/11.

Over the years Mothman has become a figure of catastrophe, his story has grown and turned into a legend but the question remains.

 Is he real?

The shadowy legend of Mothman seems too absurd to be real, some researchers claim the Mothman is nothing but a large Sandhill crane, a large bird with a 10-foot wingspan and red markings around its eye.

The theory of it being a bird is one of the most accepted ones. Though the bird is not native to the lands, it had been spotted many times in and around the lands, thus, solidifying the belief. But its mysterious appearances at the spot of destructions still can't be solved, and the photographs captured doesn't quite really help!

According to the reports the residents claimed it to be a human-like figure and some even went further to say it lived at the nuclear plant. Since it was first seen in the TNT area so the fact is not completely throwable. 

Could it be a result of radioactive mutation or some crazy experiment that went wrong or it is actually some extraterrestrial being? Whatever it is the creature has surely made a prominent place in modern myths and pop culture. 

What do you think the creature really is? feel free to leave your views in the comment section. ( you can also comment anonymously) .

                                                                                               - blue rose belles

                                                                                                (Archie)