STRANGE HISTORY: Agnes Bowker Gave Birth to a Cat

 

157 years before the case of Mary Toft was the case of Agnes Bowker. A 27-year-old woman claimed to have given birth to a cat.

In 1568 Agnes Bowker got pregnant which was looked down upon at the time. At the time she was a 27-year-old house servant that worked in Leicestershire, England. On Jan. 17, 1569, Agnes went into labor and gave birth to the supposed cat.

A midwife Elizabeth Harrison talked of a being that would visit Agnes. It would come in the likeness of a bear, or dog, or even sometimes a man. Before Agnes gave birth she told Elizabeth of a Dutch woman she walked by in the countryside who had told her she would give birth to a mooncalf (A monstrous creature).

There were several women present at the birth, but most claimed to have seen nothing. One witness Margret Roos claimed to have been pricked by the beat while it was still in the womb. The women were sent to go get essentials for the birth and came back the monster was laying on the ground and they believed Agnes gave birth to it.

A midwife Elizabeth Harrison talked of a being that would visit Agnes. It would come in the likeness of a bear, or dog, or even sometimes a man.

Local men were suspicious of the supposed birth. The cat has dissected it and found hay and bacon inside. It was known Agnes had tried to borrow a cat and neighbors ended up disappearing. It was not something that was carried by Agnes, but a cat that was killed and skinned.

The tale was spread around and eventually Anthony Anderson, the Archdeacon's Commissary, decided to investigate it. The courts suspected that infanticide may have been committed. But it's possible it was investigated out of curiosity and may have possibly done it to stop the story from spreading any further.

It's unknown what her motives for claiming she gave birth to a cat. It's thought that maybe she wanted to be seen as a victim as her stories for how she got pregnant portrayed her. At the time it was seen as it may have been shameful for her to have become a mother before a wife.

Agness was also examined and told tales of her pregnancy. It's unknown whatever happen to her own baby as it was known she was in fact pregnant.

She told several stories about what had happened to it. She claimed a schoolmaster seduced her and gave her epilepsy. She said that he told her the only way to be cured is to give birth. She claimed the schoolmaster sent the demon that Elizabeth Harrison claimed she saw. So Agnes slept with it and got pregnant.

She first claims that she gave birth and the baby was being nursed at Guisborough. There was another that she gave birth before Christmas and the child was stillborn and buried in Little Bowden. She would then claim she didn't know what had happened when she gave birth other than the midwife saying it was a monster she gave birth to. It's possible she may have committed infanticide and that's why the story of her giving birth to a monster came to be.

SOURCES:
Tudor Society
Historic Mysteries
Mysterious Universe 
Neatorama

Murder of Lord Darnley and William Taylor

Henry Stuart better known as Lord Darnley came from a family that had both the Scottish and English thrones via ties with James II of Scotland and Henry VII of England.  He had the potential to claim either side. Lord Darnley met Mary Queen of Scots when he was 20 in Feb. of  1565.

The two became smitten with each other. They have soon married in July and he had become King of the Scots. Soon the bliss faded though. Lord Darnley had a bad temper and made enemies in a drunken and arrogant manner.

Mary Knew that he shouldn't succeed the crowd as he would make an awful ruler. She refused to grant him the Crown Matrimonial which would make him the successor if she was childless. Mary didn't have to worry about that as she became pregnant with her son James. Who would become the future James I of England.

Mary became close to her private secretary David Rizzio. He was stabbed 56 times on March 9, 1566, by Darnley and his confederates and Protestant Scottish nobles. This was all front of Mary whom people suspected was pregnant with David Rizzio's child.

In 1567 Lord Darnley was staying the Kirk o' Field in Edinburgh, Scottland. In the weeks leading up to Feb. 9, 1567, he was either suffering from smallpox or syphilis and stayed at the Old Provost's lodging at Kirk O'Field. He had formed pocks on himself. He was staying with his family in Glasglow before but Mary thought he'd do better there.

On Feb 10, 1567, around 2 a.m. an explosion could be heard. The place that Lord Darnley resided was in rubbles, but his body was not inside the home. He and his valet, William Taylor, were found in the orchard. Their bodies were found outside surrounded by a cloak, a dagger, a chair, and a coat. Darnley seemed

Two barrels of gunpowder were placed underneath Lord Darnley's room. Something had spooked him and he and William ran outside the place. It's believed that Lord Darnley had been asleep at the time because he was only dressed in a nightshirt. He had apparently been smothered there were no physical signs of violence, but he had internal injuries possibly from the explosion. It's not stated how William died and why they thought the items that were around them were around them.

Some suspect that it was Mary who had plotted his death. That she may have gotten revenge for David Rizzio's death or because she was in love with James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. She was a devout Catholic and believed that divorce was not an option.

It's unknown what had really happened that night.

SOURCES:
Tudor Society
Wikipedia
The History Jar
Historic Mysteries