Morbid Monday-The Origins of Macabre Superstitions.
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Well…it’s the New Year. And people tend to be superstitious on New Years. Who am I kidding; people are superstitious all the time. But there are superstitions that are specific to New Years, many of which center around making the new year bright. One is to be very polite to others to garner good will in the coming year. Another is that only new clothes should be worn on a New Year's Day, preferably red, happy looking clothes. Boring isn’t it. Personally I prefer darker, more macabre superstitions. Their origins are far more interesting. Let’s look at a few.

Holding Your Breath When Passing a Cemetery

I think it unlikely that most who are reading this are afraid of cemeteries. However, many people are. A common superstition concerning cemeteries is the belief is that it is unlucky, or dangerous to pass a cemetery without holding ones breath. Why? The most obvious answer would seem to be fear. It’s normal to hold ones breath when frightened. But there is more to it than that. One version of this superstition has it as being disrespectful to the dead to breathe in their presence as they can no longer breathe themselves. While this puts a nice, polite spin on the myth, the more common belief is that if you breathe in proximity to a cemetery you may inhale the spirits of the dead. In this way it is related somewhat to the superstition which requires one to cover one's mouth when yawning, or saying “bless you” when someone sneezes. All of these are intended to prevent an evil spirit from entering through the breathing passages.

The idea of absorbing a spirit through breath is truly ancient. In folklore breath is often seen as being essentially synonymous with the soul or the life-force. In many Indo-European languages the word for "soul" is often derived from the word for "breath" or “air." In the mythological traditions of many cultures, breath has long been a means of conveying life. For example, in ancient Egyptian lore the the god Ptah created the universe and “set all the gods in their places and gave all things the breath of life.” In the story of Osiris, Isis (in the form of a bird) resurrects him by sewing his dismembered body together and fanning the breath of life back into him. Similarly in Judeo-Christian myth, God created Adam by molding him out of earth and breathing life into him. In each of these cases inert matter was given life and a soul by means of breath through the mouth.

It is not hard to understand why breath has been so closely associated with the essential nature of life. Nothing is quite so immediately necessary to life as is breathing. Many things are essential to life, but one can go for days without food or water. Just try going without air for more than a few seconds and see how you feel about it. The association with breath and the soul is truly ancient, as is the fear of becoming possessed by inhaling a malevolent spirit. So if you are passing a cemetery, possibly filled with ghosts, well…why risk it. Hold your breath and hurry past.

Horseshoe Over a Door

The belief that a horseshoe hung above the doorway will attract good fortune to the home comes from a variety of sources. The crescent shape is reminiscent of a number of ancient religious symbols. A Hebrew crescent shaped amulet was used to ward off the evil eye. The crescent shape is also reminiscent of a number of European goddess symbols. But when upturned the horseshoe can also look like horns which can symbolize any number of pagan gods. Horseshoes are also made of iron. Due to its strength and ability to endure fire, iron was often believed to have certain magical and protective properties. In Scotland, iron was used as protection against fairies. In Scandinavian folklore Trolls and other supernatural creatures also feared iron.

One legend that specifically relates to horseshoes as protective talismans dates to the 10th Century. In this story the Devil visits St. Dunstan, who was a blacksmith and particularly skilled in shoeing horses. In one version of this tale, St. Dunstan agreed to remove a horseshoe from the Devils cloven hoof in exchange for a vow to never enter any house with a horseshoe over the door. Other versions have St. Dunstan nailing the Devil to the wall and torturing him until the promise was made. Another frequently told story is that witches ride broomsticks because, for some reason, they are afraid of horses. For this reason a horseshoe on--or over-- the door will scare a witch away from ones home.
Whatever the specific origin of this belief, a horseshoe on or over the doorway of the house has long been used to ward off evil and bring good luck in Europe and America. In the Mediterranean horseshoes are also a traditional form of protection against the evil eye. In most parts of Europe, the horseshoe is usually placed with the ends facing downward. However in Ireland, Britain and the United States most believers place the ends pointing upward so that the luck will not “run out.” Horseshoe shaped charms or rings made from horseshoe nails are also common charms of good luck.

Spilling Salt

The most commonly held superstition about salt is that it is unlucky to spill it. And that the bad luck garnered from this can only be countered by taking a pinch of the spilled salt and throwing it over left shoulder. But why salt? Salt is clearly a very important commodity. It is certainly essential to life. In medieval Europe it was also a sort of status symbol at the dinner table. Those of highest social standing sat at the part of the table where the salt container was kept. The less important diners, however, were seated “beneath the salt.” This has brought about the modern expression “not worth his salt” meaning someone who occupies a position he does not deserve.

In addition to its nutritious and social importance, salt has been credited with magical properties in many societies throughout history. In Hebrew belief salt is considered to be symbolic of the covenant between God and Israel. For this reason salt was always to be present at the making of animal sacrifices to God. Blessings were also not typically made without salt. This reverence for salt is the most likely reason why spilling the important substance brings bad luck to the clumsy fool who did it. But why throw salt over the shoulder to counter bad luck? This stems from the old belief that devils follow people around and tempt them to do evil. And if you do something that invites bad luck, like spilling salt, well that gives the demon behind you extra opportunity to cause mischief. So if you throw a magically good substance like salt at him, it distracts him from this purpose. You may even be lucky enough to hit him in the eye and really piss him off!

Walking under a ladder

One obvious reason for not walking under a ladder is the quite reasonable desire of not wanting things to fall on your head. Ladders are not always stable. If you happen to be standing under a wobbly one any number of things or people might fall on you. But excluding simple safety there is also a pervading belief that walking under a ladder invites bad luck. There are multiple possible origins for this. One stems from the ladder forming a triangle with the wall it is leaning on and the ground. The triangle has long been considered by Christians to be a symbol of the "Holy Trinity." Therefore, violating the triangle by walking through it is an offence to God. There are also those who say that ladders are feared because of their use in hanging. A hangman often would kick a ladder out from under the condemned person. So if you walk under a ladder, you are inviting death to notice you.

Crossing Your Fingers

One common way of avoiding all of this bad luck is to cross the middle and index fingers of the right hand. Crossing the fingers is, to this day, a frequently used good luck gesture. It is also used as a casual way of indicating that you hope something good will happen in the future. There is not much mystery to this one. The origin is simple. Crossing the fingers is a quick and easy way of making the sign of the cross. To Christians the cross would prevent mischievous spirits from destroying ones chances for good luck. It is also common to cross ones fingers behind the back when telling a lie. Again the making of a crude cross seems to somehow make the lie not count, or absolves the liar from the consequences of the lie.

Fear of the number 13

Okay this is the big one! The fear of the number thirteen is one of the most commonly held superstitious beliefs today. It is so common that even finding the number 13 marked anywhere can be a bit tricky. There are so many people who refuse to stay (even temporarily) on the 13th floor of a building that many major hotels, office buildings and other high rises are traditionally built with only twelve floors. If they do go higher they may skip labeling the 13th floor and just call it the 14th. Many airports do not have a thirteenth gate. Even U.S. zip codes sometimes skip over the dreaded unlucky number. One remarkable example is in the city of Topeka, Kansas. In Topeka all the zip codes start with 666 followed by two digits. But the one code Topeka does not have 66613. It does not exist! The codes go from 66612 to 66614. So in Topeka even the dreaded number of the beast is not considered to be as objectionable as the number 13. Go figure!

There have been many cited possible origins for the idea that 13 is the unluckiest of numbers. One is that Judas, famed for being the betrayer of Jesus, was the 13th member present at the Last Supper. This goes on to say that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, leading to Friday the 13th as an unlucky day. There is also the notion that this belief comes from the destruction of the Knights Templar which was supposed to have occurred on a Friday the 13th. But fear of the number 13 is much older than that. Perhaps the most ancient example of 13 being considered to be unlucky is the numbering of the laws in the Code of Hammurabi. These 282 ancient Babylonian laws date to approximately 1772 BC. Well..sort of. The laws are numbered to 282 but in fact there are only 281. As you can see, just like the floors of a modern office building, the numbering of these laws skip 13:

12. " If the witnesses be not at hand, then shall the judge set aimit, at the expiration of six months. If his witnesses have not appeared within the six months, he is an evil-doer, and shall bear the fine of the pending case."

14. "If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death."

Why the Babylonians abhorred the number 13 is not entirely clear. It may have something to do with the “Song of Ishtar.” This is a Babylonian epic poem where in the thirteenth line contains the name of the goddess of the dead. But there is not enough evidence to say for sure if this is the reason why.

None of the above mentioned beliefs are likely to make your New Year any happier or brighter. But I hope they made for interesting reading. And I do wish you a very dark New year!!! Morbid Monday to ya.

Morbid Monday – I’m Dreaming of a Dark Christmas

 Unless I miss my guess I am probably not the only one who finds the modern winter holiday season to be a bit too much on the...hmmmm, how shall I put it, a bit too much on the terminally happy side. Don’t misunderstand me, I do enjoy this time of year. I am an atheist, but I was raised with Christmas and I still celebrate it (in a purely secular way) with my family. But in my own efforts to do so, I usually find myself struggling to counterbalance the sickly sweetness of it all with something a little more, shall we say, salty. I have a black wreath with a spider ornament. My tree has etched glass ornaments of the Christmas spider as well. I have painted holiday candles with the images of Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Future. And the music I listen too is mostly medieval Christmas music, Nox Arcana and Dark Noel. I made the ornaments and candles myself. Christmas (or other winter holiday) decorations with a darker, gothier feel to them are largely a do it yourself proposition. It’s hard to find anything commercially that doesn’t conform to the ooey gooey, holly jolly mold. But was Christmas always like this? Certainly a holiday as old as Christmas is must have more to it than we see today. Indeed it does! And if like me, you feel the need to season your holiday palate with something a little less sweet then read on! I am about to pass the salt.
         
Every December radio stations inundate listeners with warm, cheery familiar Christmas music. If there is ever an award given for the sweetest and happiest Christmas song of all time, one that should at least be in the running is a popular little ditty called “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." It was recorded in 1963 by the well known pop singer Andy Williams. In all the time since then it has never been off the air during the Christmas season. And why shouldn’t it be played? It’s so bright and festive! The lyrics describe all the delightful things we do during the season. They mention caroling, partying with friends, and glowing hearts. This is the song that tell us that Christmas is the “hap-happiest season of all.” It practically orders us to smile! But there is one verse to this little cavity causing holiday hit that is a bit of a contrast to the rest. And it has often been a source of confusion and a little controversy.

There’ll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for roasting
And caroling out in the snow.
There’ll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories
Of Christmases long, long ago.

Er what? Stop the record for just a minute! Ghost stories? How did that get in there? Ghost stories are for Halloween aren’t they? Christmas stories are all about slay-bells, snowmen, tiny reindeer and elves who don’t fit in because they would rather be dentists. Who tells ghost stories at Christmas? We never did in my family. Well there is that story about Scrooge and the three ghosts, but that’s just a fluke right? And anyway it’s a moral about the “true meaning of Christmas” and how you should learn to be happy. It’s not really meant to be scary is it? I remember asking my parents about this when I heard the song as a kid. They had no real answer other than to say that the song lyric had probably just been thrown in for the sake of a ryme. But the truth is that these song lines, and the previously mentioned Charles Dickens story, do hearken back to Christmas traditions that are not so widely practiced anymore. In fact, ghost stories, and dark superstitions were once an integral part of the Yule time tradition.
     
Despite current appearances, the histories of the modern day holidays of Halloween and Christmas have more in common than one might think. The traditions of both originated as a sort of hybridizing of Christian holidays with the pagan beliefs. It was commonplace for the early Christian church to try to discourage pagan practices by usurping the ancient holidays and festivals of recent converts. Halloween now takes the place of the Celtic festival of Samhain, which was one of the four quarter days on medieval calendar. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the ‘darker half’ of the year. The winter solstice (the time associated with Christmas) is also one of these quarter days. But the solstice is darker still. It has the shortest duration of daylight and the longest night. The prevalence of darkness from the time of Samhain to the solstice was seen as the beginning of the dominance of spiritual darkness as well. At this time the border between the physical world and the domain of the spirits was considered to be at its thinnest. The Yule time, as it was known before it became Christmas, was a time of celebration and merry making. But it was just as much a time to fear and be weary of the spirit world.
 
The word “Yule” is Scandinavian in origin, as is the tradition of burning the Yule log. It was introduced to Britain, and other European countries, through a series of Viking invasions and colonization efforts. Never being ones to do anything on a small scale, the original Viking solstice time tradition called for the burning of an entire Yule tree as part of an annual tribute to Odin and to ward off the evil spirits that were always a present threat during this time of darkness. In addition to being the king of the gods, Odin was also the god of drink. So the burning of the tree was accompanied by plenty of alcohol and partying.

Even after Odin had been replaced by the baby Jesus, and Yule usurped by Christmas, many of the pagan beliefs persisted. The idea that the solstice was a time haunted by spirits and strange happenings continued and became the source for legends and stories well into the middle ages. One of my all time favorite examples of this is the Arthurian story “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” This is a late 14th-century alliterative story, written in Middle English. It is the tale of a Christmas feast of King Arthur and his court at Camelot. The festivities are interrupted by a knight with green skin, hair and armor who rides his equally green horse right into the castle hall and challenges any knight there to an exchange of axe blows. The young sir Gawain takes on the challenge on behalf of the king. He takes the axe and chops off the green knights head. Undaunted by this, the Green Knight picks his head up and puts it back on. He vows to return the blow upon Gawain in one year’s time and rides away. Queen Guinevere was frightened by these strange and seemingly supernatural events. But Arthur calms her by reminding her:

“Dere dame, to-day demay yow neuer; wel bycommes such craft vpon Cristmasse.”

“Beloved Lady, do not be troubled by what happened here today. Things of this kind can occur at Christmas time.”

 But the Yule log was not just a benevolent protector. If not treated appropriately it could be dangerous as well. How should a Yule log be shown proper respect? It seems that a Yule log was actually a fairly temperamental piece of wood. For starters, it should never be purchased by the user. It had to be either directly harvested, or received as a gift. It was considered to be extremely unlucky if there was any difficulty at all in getting the log to ignite, so PLENTY of kindling needed to be kept on hand. The log was never to be touched by a barefooted woman or a squint eyed man. Yule logs also had something against flat-footed men. If such a man were to visit the house while the log was burning it was a bad omen for the family. I guess a lot of flat footed men spent Christmas alone. In England if the log failed to burn for the full twelve days of Christmas, or worse went out before dawn, this was also a portent of evil in the future. Family and friends would gather around the Yule fire at Christmas time for the warmth and protection from evil. But it was important to not get too close. Even the shadows cast by the fire could be dangerous. If the light from the Yule fire caused you to cast what appeared to be a headless shadow, then you were sure to die that year.

For the most part, however, as long as the Yule log was well used it was a good friend, even after it went out. Cinders from the log were considered to be useful talismans against evil. Rubbing them on the walls of a house, or keeping a dead cinder on ones person was considered to bring good luck. Ashes placed at the roots of vines and fruit trees were said to bring a good harvest. If dropped into well they would keep the water good. These same ashes were also used medicinally for both people and livestock.

So Christmas was celebrated in the Victorian era with singing, gift giving, eating and drinking with friends, just as it is modern times. However, the average Victorian also huddled around a burning log as much for protection against ghosts as for warmth. He drank his spiced wine joyously in fellowship with family and friends, but also to calm certain nagging fears that he may see his headless shadow flickering on the wall, or the ghost of one of his ancestors walking the halls when he went to bed. In that kind of atmosphere is it any wonder the Victorians developed a vigorous tradition of telling ghost stories around the Christmas fire? Even when it was not a holiday season, the Victorians were ghost story junkies. Despite the popular image of the prim and proper ladies and gentlemen of the period as being stodgy, stuffy and boring, the truth is they were literary thrill seekers.

Some of the best supernatural fiction ever written originates from 19th century England. And when Christmas came around the genre got an added boost. Far from being a fluke, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is a star example of a thriving holiday genre of literature. And Dickens made more than one contribution to Christmas spectral literature. “The Story of a Goblin who Stole a Sexton” is one of Dickens’ earlier works with a theme similar to A Christmas Carol. It involves a miserly grave digger who is abducted by Goblins on Christmas Eve, and shown the error of his ways. “The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain” is about a man who does nothing but brood over the wrongs done to him in his life. He is haunted by a ghost that assumes the man’s form and offers to take away the man’s memory of all the wrong he has suffered. The man agrees but comes to regret it.
Not to be outdone by Dickens, many other authors of the time developed and published supernatural tales at Christmas. Some of the most noteworthy stories of the time were written by Montague Rhodes James, who wrote under the name M. R. James. In a preface to his first collection of tales, “Ghost Stories of An Antiquary” James writes.

"I wrote these stories at long intervals, and most of them were read to patient friends, usually at the seasons of Christmas."

But supernatural thrills and chills were not an exclusively British tradition. In 1898, the celebrated American horror author Henry James began his classic story “The Turn of the Screw” with the following words.

“The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.”

So what happened? How did a festival with such deliciously dark origins become the sticky sweet hallmark holiday we know today? It seems likely that the commercial aspect played a large part. Commercialization of a holiday, or anything else, does tend to white wash it. If you are trying to sell candy or toys (particularly to children) it helps to keep things as light and happy as possible. A holiday add for Hershey kisses that showed ghosts walking the halls of a child’s house, or headless shadows from a Yule fire, would have kids shaking in their beds all night. But whatever the reason may be, the whitewash has been pretty thorough. The majority of the public seem to have no idea that ghost stories and menacing superstitions were ever part of the winter holiday tradition. Even those whose job it is to make things scary seem blissfully unaware. Attempts by film makers to create Christmas horror movies tend to fall flat. Movies like “Silent Night Deadly Night,” and “Black Christmas” are decent enough slasher films but could easily be set in any time of year. Given the lengthy and rich history of Christmas’s dark side, one would think writers and directors could find better inspiration for a spooky seasonal horror film.

But just because toy companies and movie makers have been uninspired does not mean you have to be. If you have been feeling the need to counterbalance the excessive sweetness of the holidays, might I suggest you salt it with some new family ghost story telling traditions? There’s no reason why you can’t. It’s fun! And it’s a good way to keep the “spirit” of Christmas alive. I hope this helped to darken your holiday. Morbid Monday to ya!
 

Morbid Monday!: No Noose is Good Noose -Avoiding being hanged, boiled, mutilated or otherwise punished in the middle ages.

Okay, suppose you are an English peasant living in the Middle Ages. You find yourself in court on some sort of criminal charge. You would like to be able to honestly say you are a victim of circumstance, but the truth is…you are as guilty as a shame faced puppy standing next to an overturned kitchen waste basket. Just how worried should you be? Well, if you are found guilty you can expect to face rather severe punishment. But all hope is not lost. As in any era, if you know the system you may have a chance of getting away at least mostly intact.

As just stated, medieval punishments were extreme by modern standards. If you were found guilty of a crime you would likely face death or maiming. Long term imprisonment was not a realistic option at the time. Prisons cost money to maintain and few communities were willing or able to pay for them. It was more practical to either execute offenders or punish them in some sort of painful and often disfiguring way and then let them go. Thieves could be publicly exposed in the stocks for three days, and may have their hands cut off. A poacher who was caught illegally hunting on royal land could have his hand mutilated or his ears cut off. The laws of Cnut, established in the 11th Century, specified that an adulteress should lose “all she owns along with her nose and ears.” I guess having the nose and ears cut off was meant to make her less appealing and thus less likely to be a repeat offender.
If you were a murderer you would be executed by any number of means depending upon the exact nature of the offense. Hanging was quite common, though it wasn’t the sort of hanging you might expect. The 'drop-stop' method where by the condemned falls through a trap door and has his neck broken, was not done until the 19th century. In the middle ages a hanging victim was either pulled up by the neck or had a ladder kicked out from beneath them. If you were hanged this way, it is unlikely that your neck would break. Rather you can look forward to a death by slow strangulation which could take an hour or more. Not fun! But hanging was not the only means used. If you committed murder by the use of poison you would likely be boiled alive. Or If you were convicted of treason you would either be hung drawn and quartered, or burned alive. If you were a female traitor you would likely at least be shown the mercy of being strangled before being put into the fire. Lucky you!
But medieval punishment did not end with death. It was common practice to place the body of an executed criminal in a small cage and hang it from a gallows like structure called a gibbet (pictured below). The body would be left there to rot and be pecked at by crows for weeks on end as a warning to others. How effective this was as a deterrent is highly debatable, but the practice was very common. The frequency of the place name “Gibbet Hill” in England today is testimony to how widespread the use of the gibbet was. Pirates would be hung from gibbets over the water at ports as a warning to other would be pirates.

“Okay” you say “I get it. Medieval punishment was harsh and best avoided. But how can I avoid it if I’ve already been brought to trial? Is it even possible?” Well, in 1202, the city of Lincoln had recorded 114 murders, 89 violent robberies and 65 people injured in fights. In that same year only 2 people were executed for these crimes. This indicates that it was certainly possible to commit a crime and escape punishment. But how to go about it? There were multiple possibilities.
One way to gain an acquittal was by swearing you didn’t do it. “Really?” you ask “It was that simple? I Just raise my right hand and say ‘It wasn’t me, I wasn’t there?’” Well no, it wasn’t quite THAT simple. How seriously your oath was taken depended greatly upon who you were, what the crime was, and who would vouch for you. For example, if you happened to be a married woman whose husband had committed a crime, such as thievery of cattle, food or other goods, then it is possible that you and even your children might be considered to be accomplices. If convicted your entire family could be put into slavery. If this is the case, then it will go best for you if you are fortunate enough to have been born at least as late as the 11th century. At this time the “Code of Cnut” was the prevailing law of England. The Code of Cnut recognized that a wife had no way of preventing her husband from bringing anything he wished into their house or on to their property. What mattered with regard to her guilt or innocence was whether or not any of the stolen goods had been used by her or entrusted to her care. Women were considered to be responsible for household goods and assets. A wife held the keys to the “storeroom, her chest and coffer.” If her husband had stolen food or other such goods, but they had not been “brought under the wife’s lock and key”, then she could swear to this and be considered blameless in the actions of her husband.

Another means of gaining acquittal by oath taking was what was known as “compurgation.” The idea here was that the local town’s people would better know the character of an accused person than would a visiting judge. So if the defendant swore an oath to his own innocence, and could find twelve other people (compurgators) to also swear to their own belief that the he or she was innocent, then the defendant would be acquitted. While there is some validity to the idea that locals know each other best, it is easy to see how this could degenerate into a popularity contest. And privilege tends to breed a sense of entitlement. If you happened to be the son of a prominent and well respected family and you were accused of raping a less socially important girl, then all you would need to do is get twelve of your drinking buddies to support you in your claim to innocence and you are home free.
But trials were not always so easy and painless, far from it. If you were told by your judge that you would have to face a “trial by ordeal”, well I’ll be honest with you. Win or lose you have some unpleasant times ahead. The procedure was to put the accused through some sort of difficult, painful, or even life threatening situation and see what the outcome was. It was considered to be a form of judicium Dei (Judgment of God). It was based upon the premise that God would certainly favor the innocent. So if the accused survived intact then he must be guiltless. If not, then he was to be condemned. There were many variations on this theme.

On commonly used form was the ordeal by fire. An iron bar was heated in a forge or other fire to the point of being red hot. If you had to face this form of judgment then you would have to take this bar in hand and walk three paces holding it. Your severely burned hand was then bandaged and left alone for a period of three days. If the burns showed signs of healing after that time then God was saying you were innocent! If the wound had begun to fester well..don’t make any plans for the weekend.
At least the ordeal by fire offered some chance for acquittal. But it is hard to see the up side of ordeal by water. If you, as the defendant, were put to this test then you would find yourself bound hand and feet and thrown into a lake, river, or other body of water. If you floated then you would be considered guilty and likely be hanged. If you had the “good fortune” to be innocent then you would sink to the bottom and drown.

The most well known, and often romanticized, form of ordeal is certainly trial by combat. The accused would have to demonstrate his innocence by defending himself in an armed fight to the death. The risk of being challenged to an ordeal by battle likely averted a lot of petty litigation. Not everyone is necessarily skilled with a sword, and only women, children or the elderly could legally decline such a challenge. There were even instances where judges themselves were challenged to defend their decisions by means of combat. However, if you did find yourself in the position of having to prove your case by the sword, and you didn’t know one end of that sword from the other, there was another option open to you. Strictly speaking it was not really necessary for you to be the one holding the sword. So, if you were wealthy enough to afford it, you could hire a private champion to do your fighting for you. Many skilled men at arms made good money hiring themselves out as champions. It was even common practice for wealthy land owners and churches to keep permanently retained champions on the payroll for just such emergencies.

Eventually the church began to discourage certain forms trial by ordeal. In 1215 Pope Innocent III even forbade priests to cooperate at all in trials of either fire or water. Use of the more extreme forms began to decline in favor of compurgation, trial by jury, or confession through torture. But trial by ordeal did not completely disappear until the 16th century. Despite the horrific nature of many of the ordeals, many were reluctant to abandon it in favor of jury trials. They were still more comfortable with God making decisions of justice than they were with neighbors, many of whom might be harboring personal grudges against them. However a law instated in 1275 allowed the use of torture on any defendant who refused to be tried by a jury. This may have helped the public to be more accepting of juries.

Okay, let’s assume that you have been brought to court and have no money to hire a champion, and you are not confident of your chances of passing the other ordeals either. Fear not there is still a chance for you if you are clever enough. One possible means of evading harsh sentences (if not justice all together) was available to you as long as you happened to live no earlier than the late 12th century. Until that time it was traditional in England for courts of law to be jointly presided over by a secular magistrate and a church official, usually a bishop. This changed in 1166 when King Henry II established a new court system that entirely excluded church authority, and was answerable only to the king. The church understandably took issue with this move. A power struggle thereby ensued over this, and other issues, between Henry and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket maintained that such purely secular courts should have no authority over accused clergymen. This conflict between King and Archbishop culminated in the murder of Becket by four of Henry’s knights in 1170. In order to appease public outrage at this incident, the king made amends and concessions to the church. As a consequence of the Compromise of Avranches Henry accepted penance and agreed that clergymen would be tried only in ecclesiastical courts. So now any member of the clergy who was brought before a secular authority had the right to demand to be transferred to a church court. This was known as “Benefit of the Clergy.”

Yeah..okay but you’re no priest. So if you are a common thief or murderer, how does this help you? It has to do with how priests were required to prove that they were actually priests. At first priests had to appear before the court wearing the robe and having a tonsured head. But that was easy enough to fake. In an effort to curb abuse of this privilege, defendants claiming to be priests or brothers were obliged to prove it by means of a literacy test. They were typically required to read (appropriately enough) Psalm 51. Which says “Miserere mei, Deus, secundum misericordiam tuam.” Or in English "O God, have mercy upon me, according to thine heartfelt mercifulness." Of course priests are not the only ones who can read. If you are a layman but can read then you can take advantage of the benefit of the clergy by saying you are a priest and reading the passage. But even if you cannot read, there is still a good chance that you can use this legal loophole. Psalm 51 was so commonly used for this purpose that if you managed to memorize it, you had a good chance of faking it through court and getting the change of venue. In fact so many used it to escape being hanged by secular courts (and were instead tried in the more lenient ecclesiastical courts) that psalm 51 was commonly referred to as “the neck verse.” It could literally save your neck.

Benefit of the clergy was not extended to women until 1624. But there were other means a woman could use of escaping, if only temporarily, the hangman’s noose. One such example was available by the late 14th century and was commonly referred to as “pleading the belly.” This was an aspect of English common law. It allowed condemned pregnant women (or women claiming to be pregnant) to be granted a temporary reprieve of their death sentences until they had given birth. Pleading the belly was not a defense. It was more of a stalling tactic. It could only be used after a verdict was reached and sentence of death was pronounced. If a female defendant claimed to be pregnant she would be examined by a group of women called a jury of matrons. If declared to be pregnant, she was usually granted the stay of execution.

As with any other legal technicality belly pleading was ripe with abuse. Often women who were not pregnant would claim to be so. And the jury of matrons were not medical professionals and not always accurate with their diagnoses. Consequently women were often fraudulently or mistakenly declared to be pregnant. The overuse of pleading the belly was dramatized in the novel Moll Flanders, written by Daniel Defoe in 1772. This book includes a condemned female character who avoided hanging by successfully pleading her belly despite being “no more with child than the judge that tried her.”

But what is the point of a brief delay if you are just going to end up being hanged anyway? It seems that a pregnant woman languishing in jail tends to evoke feelings of sympathy with jailors and judges. Analysis of records from the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I have demonstrated that women who had been granted a reprieve due to pregnancy sometimes had their sentences commuted, or were even pardoned altogether. There was no guarantee that this would happen but I guess a chance is better than nothing.

No one wants to be arrested in any time period. But the punishments awaiting the convicted and the means of trying defendants, in the Middle Ages were fearful indeed. However, with a little knowledge of how the system works there was at least a chance that the accused could avoid meeting the hangman and “slip the knot” so to speak (ba-dum-bum!). I hope this helped to darken your day. Morbid Monday to ya!!

Morbid Monday – The Art of Fear; How to create a masterpiece of panic!

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Everyone is aware, or by now should be aware, of the famous radio broadcast of War of the Worlds that sent a great many American radio listeners into a panic. It is considered to be one of the great landmark events of twentieth century media. The show was presented in the style of an actual news broadcast reporting on an invasion by creatures from another planet. In the modern age it seems hard to believe that anyone could have taken such a thing seriously. When I first heard about it in grade school, my teacher told us that such a thing could not likely happen again as people were better educated and more sophisticated now. But how true is that? Why did so many panic at hearing a simple radio play? And could it happen again? Let’s investigate shall we?

The whole thing began with a nationally broadcast, buy a relatively obscure, hour long weekly live radio series called “The Mercury Theatre on the Air” show and its creator, a 23 year old actor by the name of Orson Welles. Each week the Mercury Theater Company would present dramatic versions of classic works of literature. Treasure Island, The count of Monte Cristo, Jane Eyre, and Dracula were just a few of the better known works to be performed on air. In October of 1938 the company decided to do a special Halloween show by presenting an updated narrative version of HG Welles’ classic science fiction novel War of the Worlds.

Despite often being called one of the world’s greatest media hoaxes, the War of the Worlds broadcast was never intended to scare anyone or to deceive its audience into believing that it was a genuine news event. This was merely a style of presentation. Welles and his crew only meant it to be an exciting dramatic performance of a well known book. And they made this clear at the very beginning. The show began with the same basic introduction that each episode customarily did. At 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 30, the announcer opened the performance with:

"The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater On The Air in 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells."

Pretty clear right? It’s a radio play based on a book, nothing to get too excited about. So what went wrong? Why did so many listeners freak out? Ironically it had to do with the fact that Mercury Theater On The Air didn’t have very many listeners at the time. Allow me to explain. It was a Sunday evening on October 30th in 1938. And Sunday evening was prime-time in the golden age of radio. Competition was high on Sunday night. The Mercury Theater show had a relatively small slice of the ratings for their time slot. At 8 o’clock, when War of the Worlds began, most of the radio listening audience was tuned in to the very popular “Chase and Sanborn Hour” on Radio NBC. It was featuring the well known act of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy "Charlie McCarthy." At about 8:12 p.m. Bergen’s act was done and a little-known, not very popular singer went on. At this time radio listeners did the same thing that television viewers today do when a show gets boring, they channel surfed. Many then came across the War of the Worlds presentation. But by this time they had missed the opening announcement, and the show was well underway.

Many who tuned in to War of the Worlds first heard what seemed to be a music show. This was part of the format. It was presented as a performance of “Ramon Raquello and his orchestra." In fact it was a record being played in the studio, but it sounded convincing. But the music did not play long before being interrupted by a “news bulletin.” The announcer cut in to report that a Professor from the Mount Jenning Observatory had detected huge explosions on the surface of Mars. The music came back on for a few minutes only to be interrupted again by more bulletins following up on the Mars story. They featured a long list of scientific and military experts being interviewed for their opinions on the phenomena.

These “news interruptions” are what really got the attention of listeners. But why? News bulletin interruption was a relatively new thing. Only one month prior to this broadcast, news interruptions had begun to happen to inform American listeners about the unfolding events in Europe surrounding Hitler, and impending war. By October of 1938, cutting in to radio shows to give disturbing news reports was happening rapidly. The words “special news bulletin” were all it would take to make a radio listeners heart begin to race.

Eventually The War of the Worlds’ “bulletins” progressed to “live and on the scene” news from a field reporter. The reporter described the crash of a large meteor in a farmer's field in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. But, as it turned out, this was no meteor. It was a smooth metallic cylinder, and something was coming out!

“Good heavens, something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now here's another and another one and another one. They look like tentacles to me ... I can see the thing's body now. It's large, large as a bear. It glistens like wet leather. But that face, it... it ... ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it's so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate."

The part of the reporter was played by actor Frank Redick. In preparation for his part in the show, Redick had spent the previous night listening to recordings of the frantic news coverage of the crash of the airship Hindenburg. Anyone who has seen the dramatic footage of this crash (which had happened only one year previous to the War of the Worlds broadcast) knows how emotional the speaker became while trying to describe the events he was seeing. Redick listened to that tape over and over again so that he could re-create that same sense of panic in his own performance. And he pulled it off with startling realism.

As the man in the field continues to report on the unfolding events, the Martians fire heat ray weapons at everyone and everything around the crash site…

“Now the whole field's caught fire. (Explosions sound in the background) The woods . . . the barns . . . the gas tanks of automobiles . . . it's spreading everywhere. It's coming this way. About twenty yards to my right……”

And then it goes dead. Nothing but silence comes out of the radio. Try to imagine the feeling listeners had when the reporter (apparently killed in the attack) went silent. Up to that point they had been glued to their radios desperately clinging to every word. In a way, the experience was like how many of us felt during the 9/11 attack on the world trade center. On that day I was about to leave for class when I turned on the TV and saw the smoking towers. I forgot my classes, sat on the couch and did not move all day. I clung to the television hoping for it to eventually tell me that somehow it was all going to be alright and that I would have permission to feel safe again. It was as if I were a deep sea diver with an old fashioned diving suit, and the television was my lifeline bringing me air. Many of us felt that way on that day. For those listening to the War of the Worlds broadcast the experience was similar. And when the transmission seemed to be cut off, their lifeline was severed. And they FREAKED!

Before long the show continued, and its content fueled the fire of panic. More Martian cylinders were landing in other major cities. They were releasing poisonous gas into the air. People in the invaded cities were fleeing in desperation. The radio play was very realistic, employing sophisticated sound effects and excellent actors playing terrified survivors of the alien holocaust. It is not known how many people believed that the invasion was real, but estimates put it at about one million listeners nationwide. In New Jersey, terrified people jammed highways trying to escape the alien forces. The Trenton police department got 2,000 phone-calls in a span of two hours from people who were desperate for information. One woman in Indianapolis reportedly ran into a church where evening services were being held and yelled, "New York has been destroyed! It's the end of the world!" The psychological effects were so acute that some people claimed to see smoke in the distance from the battles. Some were sure they saw alien machines. Many believed that the reports had it wrong and that it was actually the Germans who were invading.

When Orson Welles realized the effect his radio play had produced he was horrified. He got on the air and reminded listeners that it had only been a work of fiction and was never intended as anything else. The Federal Communications Commission investigated but concluded that no law had been broken nor was there any intent to incite panic. Welles was sure that the whole affair would ruin his career. In fact the publicity generated by the incident enhanced his reputation as a showman greatly. He soon got a contract with a Hollywood studio. This lead to his chance to write, direct and star in the movie that would crown his career, Citizen Kane. An impressive story to be sure. But if my grade school teacher is right, it was just a fluke. Panicky citizens, frightened by the shadow of war in Europe, got a little carried away. It couldn’t happen again…could it? Well my teacher, it seems, was not aware that, in fact it did happen again, not just once but twice!

So now, Fast forward eleven years to 1949. The place is the city of Quito, Ecuador. At the time it was a quiet town of about 250,000. The primary radio station was Radio Quito, directed by a man named Leonardo Páez. Paez got ahold of a copy of the script written by Orson Welles and thought it was brilliant. He decided to use it himself. But he would do one better than Welles. As stated previously, Welles never intended to actually deceive anyone into thinking that the Martian invasion was real. But that is exactly what Paez meant to do. He had been charged with the task of bringing radio drama to life at the station and this was how he was going to do that. To add to the illusion he planted phony news stories in the city’s major newspaper (located in the same building) about UFO sightings in and around the Quito area. These stories were read by the citizens of Quito in the days leading up to the broadcast. This served to heighten public tensions.

When the day of the broadcast came, the Welles script was followed faithfully. But whereas the experts and officials featured in Welles’ version were fictional, Paez hired actors to impersonate the voices of actual government officials. Even the mayor of the city was convincingly imitated by an actor who urged the public to “defend our city. Our women and children must go out into the surrounding heights to leave the men free for action and combat." Did it work? Hell yeah it worked! It worked a little to well. The initial reaction from the public was very much the same as that of the first broadcast. The people of Quito poured into the streets in panic. Ecuador is a largely Catholic country. So many of the frightened people did what any good Catholic would do, they ran to church. There were reports of mass absolutions by overwhelmed priests. Military forces were deployed to the north of the city where the aliens were supposed to have landed. The site of mobilized military vehicles fueled the public’s belief that the invasion was real. In an uncanny parallel to the original broadcast some listeners believed the invaders were actually Germans. Others thought that it was Peru who was attacking.

When the radio station staff realized what was happening in the streets. They made a plea for calm and admitted that it was a work of fiction. Word that they had been deliberately fooled spread quickly. As this realization sank in something happened that had not happened eleven years ago in the United States. The fear the people had felt flash-boiled into rage. Up until that moment, there had been no serious injuries. That was about to change. In a scene right out of a Frankenstein movie, a torch wielding crowd attacked the radio station and set it on fire. The mob attacked policemen who arrived on the scene and destroyed nearby fire hydrants to prevent fire fighters efforts to extinguish the blaze. They blocked the main entrance so the building staff had to escape via the rough top. Others leapt from windows while on fire. Most got out of the building but six people died that night. Paez escaped and fled the country, but he paid a price. His girlfriend and nephew were two of those who died in the fire. I guess he didn’t do as well as Orson Welles.

Well 1949 was still a long time ago. And the people of Quito could at least be excused for not knowing about the original broadcast at that time. But that was still not the last time this curious phenomenon managed to happen. In 1968 a radio station in Buffalo New York got in on the act with their own version of War of the Worlds. Their broadcast also followed the same basic structure as the original Orson Welles version. It described battles between military forces and aliens in nearby areas. And once again…people bought it. There were no reports of serious injuries, but the Buffalo police department received 4,000 calls for information on what was happening and where they could go that would be safest. Canadian forces were deployed to the boarder to engage the invading aliens.
So what have we learned from this? For one thing we have learned that one of the greatest show-business careers in history, that of Orson Welles, and one of the best American films ever made, may never have gotten off the ground if the Chase and Sanborn Hour had booked a more interesting singer on October 30th 1938. And maybe we’ve also learned that the old adage that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it, over…and over…again. Does this mean it could happen again? Of course not! After all this is the 21st century. People are more sophisticated and better educated now…right? I hope this helped to darken your day. Morbid Monday to ya!