Eccentricities, true crime, macabre, lore

Author: Tiny

Jane Lewson

“On this day of the year, long before you were born, this heap of decay,” stabbing with her crutched stick at the pile of cobwebs on the table but not touching it, “was brought here. It and I have worn away together. The mice have gnawed at it, and sharper teeth than teeth of mice have gnawed at me.”

Does this quote sound familiar? No? It’s OK, we’ll get there.

Jane Lewson, or Lady Lewson to some, was born in 1700, in Strand. She married a wealthy merchant, moved to Coldbath Square, and had a daughter. All was fine until her husband died when she was 26 years old. Although she allegedly had many suitors, she decided not to remarry. After the marriage of her daughter, her life took a weird turn.

The Cadaver Synod (no, it’s not a Harry Potter spell)

This Synod took place in Rome, in 897.

You will need the backstory, which is more complicated than your average soap-opera, but I’ll try to skip the boring details.

It’s 864 and Formosus becomes the bishop of Porto (not to be confused with Porto in Portugal). Apparently he did such a good missionary job in Bulgaria, that Bulgarians asked him to be their bishop, which wasn’t allowed, since he was already appointed elsewhere.

Carl Von Cosel

I’m going to tell you the story of Carl von Cosel, or Karl Tanzler or even better, Count Carl von Cosel. Yes, he used to go around under a lot of names and as it turned out, under a lot of occupations too. There is no real evidence that he was indeed a Count, nor is there proof that he was a radiologist, a microbiologist, a bacteriologist or anything with an -ologist at the end. Suspicious as it might sound, this not why I’m telling you his story.

Let’s go back to the basics. Carl was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1877. Considering all the false Ids maybe I should just skip everything he claimed he did and fast-forward his story in the years following WWI in 1926. That’s the year he migrated to the US, in Zephyrhills, Florida where his sister was already living. His wife and two daughters followed him shortly after.

Sagittarius

So, I was talking on the phone with a dear friend of mine, and she complained that I have gone from writing once a week to writing once a month. I said no, and besides, if that was the case, you would only see the signs mythology posts back to back. I guess deep down I don’t want to prove my friends wrong, so here’s Sagittarius, almost directly after Scorpio.

Ah, Sagittarius… Powerful centaurs, bows and arrows, raw power. This is what comes directly to mind, right? Think again, and to make you feel better, I was in the same boat too. Truth be told, Sagittarius has complex origins, matching only those of Virgo. If someone had asked me on the street, I would have spontaneously replied “the centaur Chiron”. Then I realized that there already is a planet named Chiron, and there’s also the constellation of the Centaur. So, what the hell is going on? I’ll present you with all three possible explanations.

Scorpio

Yes, yes, it’s Scorpio time, and we’re back to epic tales of mythical heroes and divine interventions! No worries, Zeus stays put this time…

So, once upon a time in ancient Greece, there was a mythical hunter, with gigantic proportions, called Orion. You might have already heard of the constellation and its famous “belt” or you might be Metallica fans! In some of the earliest works of Greek authors, like Homer and Hesiod, Orion is already mentioned as a constellation, and in the Odyssey, Odysseus meets with Orion’s shadow in Hades. What this tells us, is that his story is ancient, even for ancient Greeks!

Libra

A month has passed, the Sun in well into the sign of Libra, and here I am, researching the mythology behind the constellation. Alas, and I apologize to all my Libra readers, there’s not much to write…

See, the problem is that Libra is the only inanimate sign. Throughout the ancient civilizations, it was considered to be either “the claws of Scorpio”, or “the scales of Justice”, held by Dike/Astraea (see the article on Virgo for more details).

Virgo

The sun has already entered Virgo, and loyal (but kinda late) as I am to this section, I’ve been researching the myths surrounding it for quite some time now. One would think that such research shouldn’t take so much time, but trust me, this is one complicated constellation. Daring an astrology joke, this constellation is far more complicated than it would want to be.

Let’s start with the basics, and by that I always mean etymology! The word “virgin” is of course Latin, and although in our collective minds, it means a person who never had sexual relations, the original meaning is closer to someone being pure and “untouched”. Think about it. When you buy “virgin olive oil”, it doesn’t mean that your oil never made whoopie, it means that the olives used where “young” and pure.

Leo

The sun has entered Leo, and as planned, I sat down to write the story of the constellation, but alas, and such a shame for such a glorious sign, the story isn’t that interesting…

The story is again about our friend Hercules and his twelve tasks, and from the looks of it, you will probably learn all of them by the time I finish the zodiac…

Gemini

As of this month, I’m introducing a new topic, which will feature one article per month. See, the macabre, eccentricities, and human stupidity are endless, so I thought we could all lift our gaze higher for a while and dive into the history of the constellations. June is the month of Gemini, so for all of you wondering, this is how it came to be.

Ever since ancient Babylon, this constellation has been known as “the twins”. Each civilization has an epic story or two about the twin brothers that earned celestial immortality. Still, since the official astronomical names are based on the ancient Greek mythology, I will present you this version of the story.

Cancer

Today is the 20th of June, and astrologically speaking, the Sun is entering the sign of Cancer. In keeping up with this new section, here’s the story of the constellation, and it is an inglorious one…

You all know Hercules, right? That drunken, brutal, super-strong, fallen hero, who was deeply hated by Hera? I’m also certain you have heard of the 12 tasks he completed, but did you know that he had to go through with that in order to redeem himself for killing his children and wife while drunk? Yeah, I know, that fine detail wasn’t in the Disney movie…

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