The Sacrifice of Princess Inikpi

Statue of Princess Inikpi

Between 1515 and 1516 there was a war called The Igala–Benin War. It was a short conflict between the Igala Kingdom and the Kingdom of Benin in what is now Nigeria. For the Iglas people, their land seemed to be in trouble. It's said that streams of water were poisonous and the people were starving. All due to the Beni's

Ayegbu Oma Idoko, the Atta of the Igala kingdom would consult an oracle for help with their problems. However, the oracle would give him devastating news. His beloved daughter Princess Inikpi had to be buried alive for there to be victory. This would devastate him.

For seven days he would mourn the idea of either losing his daughter or losing his people. He would refuse to eat or drink and was in a depressed state. Inikpi seeing her father this way worried her. She would ask him what was wrong and in turn, he refused to talk. This is until the eighth day when he admits in tears to Inikpi and tells her of the oracle's prediction.

Surprisingly Princess Inikpi would take the news well. She loved her father and loved her people just as much as she was loved. She would not go against fate and volunteered for it. She had either gone to the bank of River Niger at Idah or market square. She and nine virgin slaves would be buried alive. The slaves buried with her were to help her on the other side.

It's said that Inikpi's sacrifice did protect her people. The Bini armies came to attack, but they saw the town in flames and retreated. They saw no point in attacking a town on fire and being destroyed already. It was said that the blood of the princess was what deceived them.
Princess Inkpi's sacrifice still stands as an important event. To this day she is still seen as a hero who saved her people from slaughter. A statue of the princess stands at “Ega” in Idah. Today many of the people in Idah are named in her honor.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia (The Igala–Benin War)

Wikipedia ( Princess Inikpi)

Steemit

The Gaurdian July 28, 2019

Pulse October 26, 2022

GHOSTS: Specter of Newby Hall

 

In 1963 Reverend Kenneth F. Lord would be taking pictures of the Church of Christ the Consoler on the grounds of Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, England. When the pictures were processed a strange figure would show up standing next to the altar.

The being was semi-transparent and was standing on the first step to the altar. It still towered over it however as it stood 9ft high. The figure was wearing a black robe that covered where its feet supposedly were and the hood was over the head. The hands are unseen and the face is covered in a white sheet with two depressions where the eyes are. The figure seems to look right at the camera. It's believed that this figure could have been a 16th-century monk wearing a white shroud over the face to mask leprosy or disfigurement.

Reverend Lord was confused by this figure as the church had no history of the paranormal. It was said the he was not the type of man who would pull a hoax at the time. 

Reverend Lord would then release the photo. It's believed that the photo was a hoax or possible double exposure. It's said that professionals at the time looked over the photograph and came to the conclusion that it wasn't so.

So was this a hoax or is there a harmless Specter at Newby Church?

SOURCES:

Burials and Beyond

Wikipedia

Ghosts Wiki

Urban Legendpedia

UNIDENTIFIED: November 8, 1577 London, England Poor Unknown Woman

 On November 8, 1577, a poor woman died in the streets of London, England. Her name and where she was from was unknown, but some believed she may have been Welsh. She was buried in the Bedlam Burial Ground.

SOURCES:

Find A Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: October 17, 1581 London, England Unknown Poor Woman

 On October 17, 1581, a poor woman was found dead in the streets of London, England. She had died from the plague and it was unknown who she was. She was buried in the Bedlam Burial Ground.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Sarita

 

In September of 1996, the body of a teenage girl was found on the East face atop the 18,070 ft Andean peak in Sara Sara, Peru. She was discovered by Johan Reinhard, a senior researcher at Mountain Institute in West Virginia, and José Antonio Chavez, dean of archaeology at the Catholic University in Arequipa, Peru. It was found that the girl was a sacrifice 500 years ago for the Inca Gods including the sun moon and mountain. There was evidence that Sarita had been killed with a blow to the head. 

Sarita was a teenage girl around 14-years-old. She was slender and weighed 80 lbs at the time. She was healthy and her bones and teeth were strong. She had a well-balanced diet and had fasted the day before her death. 

She was found in the fetal position and placed on a platform along with three gold and silver statuettes and a small bundle of coca leaves, these were traditional offerings to the mountain gods. There were 7 more offerings with her, a seven-inch tall silver female statuette wrapped in textiles, one silver and gold male statuette, a female figurine, a llama carved out of spodylus shell, and on a nearby platform was one gold and one silver llama.

Because Sarita had been left on the sun-drenched east face of the mountain, her body had decomposed. Reinhard and his team moved the mummy to the snow-covered south face to freeze it before a 20-hour journey to the conservation laboratory at Catholic University, where Sarita will be preserved and eventually unwrapped.

SOURCES:
Archeology

PNAS

Crystal Links

UNIDENTIFIED: 1590 Chislet, England

   In 1590 an unknown "poore waygoing" woman died and was buried at the St. Mary The Virgin Churchyard in Chislet, Kent, England. There is little information in this case. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: November 1590, Bicester, England Stranger

 On November 21, 1590 a body of a stranger (gender unstated) was found in a field in or near Bicester, England. There is little information in this case.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Dancing Plague of 1518

A Copper engraving of Hendrik Hondius's based on a painting of Pieter Bruegel's believed to be about the dancing plague

It seemed like any normal day in July 1518 for the people of Strasbourg France. A woman named Frau Troffea started dancing in the street without any music. People laughed and clapped at her, but people began to worry as she not only danced to the next day, she danced for six days straight with no rest. Suddenly the dancing became contagious and 3 dozen people joined her by the end of the week. And by the time August came around 400 people had joined in the dancing.
No one really had a clue on what was happening. Physicians of the time claimed that the people were affected by hot blood and were recommended to dance the fever away. People started dying from exhaustion, heart attacks, and strokes.

In response to people dying the physicians recommended more dancing. They erected a stage and brought in music hoping that this will help people dance away the hot blood faster. Their plan didn't work as it had brought in more people to dance. During the height of the dancing mania, at least 15 people died per day. In September the dancing ended as it had started.

This event sounds like it's a legend, but it was a true event. There is no doubt that this Dancing Plague did happen as it was well documented in the town. It wasn't even the only one to have had happened in the 16th century either as events like it happened in Switzerland, Germany, and Holland. None of the others were as extreme as this one though.
There are many theories on why this event happened. One of the bigger theories is that it was all due to mass hysteria. This time it was extremely stressful for the people of Strasbourg. there was a famine happening and many of the residents were suffering from malnutrition due to t it.

Other theories are that they could have ingested Ergot which is a fungus that grows on Rye and grasses like Wheat. When ingested it can cause poisoning and or death. Some of the side effects are hallucinations, spasms, and convulsions which would be a cause for the dancing. It is known as nature LSD. Another theory is that they were part of a religious cult causing them to dance.

SOURCES:

BBC

Historic Mysteries

Discovery

History

Web MD

UNIDENTIFIED: 1577 Chislet, England Jane Doe

In 1577 an unknown "wayfaring" woman died and was buried at the St. Mary The Virgin Churchyard in Chislet, Kent, England. There is little information in this case. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Lovers of Cluj-Napoca

 

In 2013 a pair of skeletons known as the Lovers of Cluj-Napoca were uncovered by archeologists in a cemetery of a former Dominican convent in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The couple was buried facing each other and with their hands interlocked. It's believed that the two lived and died between 1450 to 1550 due to where they were located.

The couple was around 30-years-old. The male appears to have died from a fight or accident which left his sternum broken. This wound was possibly caused by a blow with a blunt instrument. It's also possible that he died from a broken hip instead. The cause of death for the female is unknown, but it could not have been suicide as she would not have been able to be buried in the consecrated ground if she had. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

The History Blog

The Huff Post April 22, 2013

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

Sacrifices: Children of Llullaillaco

On March 16, 1999, the three mummified remains of children were found on the summit of  Llullaillaco on the Andes mountains on the border between Chile and Argentina.Because their names are unknown the three mummies were called, The Maiden (la Doncella), Lightning Girl (la niña del Rayo) and Llullaillaco Boy (el niño). The three were sacrifices for the Incas in the 1500s. The sacrifice was called Capacocha which typically involved the sacrificing of children. They were likely chosen because they were considered beautiful, unblemished, and talented.

The Maiden was around the age of  13 to 15-years-old. When she was found she wore a dress, and her hair was braided and she wore a feathered horned headdress. At the time she had a bacterial infection in her lungs.

It's believed that she was an aclla or a Sun Virgin or Chosen Woman. In the Inca Empire, the aclla may have been an adopted this tradition from earlier cultures. Each year girls not of noble birth between the ages of 8 to 12 were gathered as tributes for the state. They were typically chosen for their beauty and talents. These girls would then be raised in convents. These girls had taken a vow of chastity as the priestesses who raised them called Mamakuna, for preparation of their future roles. These girls would either be sacrificed, become Mamakuna's or sometimes became imperial concubines or wives of the noble. Unfortunately, in this situation, The Maiden became a sacrifice.

The Lightning girl was found to be the half-sister of The Maiden. She was likely around 4 to 7-years-old.  These two were not related to Llullaillaco Boy though. She was m She isn't believed to be an aclla as she did not have the same care as her older sister. Even though it showed that she had possibly been chosen for sacrifice around a year before. She did not have elaborate braids or a headdress. She did have an elongated skull. She had her head lifted high and facing toward the South-West. She was wearing a traditional light brown acsu dress and her head and body were wrapped in a wool blanket and then her body was wrapped with another that was a red and yellow embroidered.

The Llullaillaco Boy was likely around 4 to 7 -years-old had blood on his cloak, a nit infestation in his hair, and also had evidence of an elongated skull. He was the only one tied up. He was wrapped so tightly that his ribs and pelvis were dislocated. He may have been bound due to reluctance to being sacrificed. He was wearing a grey tunic, a silver bracelet, leather shoes, and was wrapped in a brown and red blanket.

For around a year all three had been taken from a village and may have lived in poverty as an analysis of their hair showed they had a diet of potatoes before. The Maiden showed that she had been fed better in the two years before her sacrifice. The other two were likely chosen within their last year. It was shown that they had ingested coca leaves (which makes cocaine) and alcohol.  Their ingestion of coca and alcohol was likely to induce altered states associated with the sacred.

It was shown that the Maiden's use of coca was high in the last year, and then there was a surge in her alcohol consumption the weeks leading up to her death. It's possible that the reason for this was because she knew of her fate coming closer. The children's use was lower than hers.

On the day they were sacrificed all three had a high protein meal. The Maiden was found to have chewed Coca leaves in her mouth and may have made her Docile and maybe end unconscious likely why she was found in a resting position. The other two did consume alcohol and coca, but not as much as The Maiden. They may still have been somewhat docile like her.

 It's believed that when the three got to the top of the mountain they were allowed to fall asleep. They were either put in the small tomb 1.5 meters underground and left to die. It's possible that The Boy was lying in a fetal position and likely died from suffocation instead of exposure like the other two. And unlike other Capacocha victims, they seemed to have died peacefully.


SOURCES:
Wikipedia
National Geographic
NBC News
Live Science 
Andes Specialists
Julia's Travels
Britannica (Chosen Women)

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