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There are a few seemingly-ordinary objects in this world that allegedly possess supernatural powers. As legend has it, sometimes those powers curse, sometimes they heal, and sometimes they even raise the dead!
Yes, we’re obviously dealing with flights of fancy here. But… people will believe what they want, even when there’s zero evidence to prove it.
Welcome to the realms of the unreal. Join us, won’t you?
5. Drake’s Drum
Photo Credit: The Federation for Ulster Local Studies Limited
Ever heard of Sir Francis Drake? If so, you know he accomplished A LOT when he was alive and kicking, not the least of which was being a real pirate. But nobody can live forever, and he died in 1596 off the coast of Panama. Of dysentery.
Yes, he shit himself to death. Yikes.
While his remains were buried at sea, all of his other stuff was sent to back to England. Specifically, to his childhood home of Buckland Abbey. Among those possessions? A small leather drum. And with it, came a story.
You see, it is thought that when England is being threatened, that small snare will parumph-parumph all by itself. And if anyone were to beat on the drum, Drake would rise from his watery grave and come back to defend his homeland.
4. Busby’s Stoop Chair
Photo Credit: The Northern Echo
You’ve never heard of Thomas Busby, and for good reason. He was a violent alc*holic who was convicted in 1702 of murdering his father-in-law. His sentence? Death by hanging… and then his corpse was suspended from the gibbet until it decayed.
What’s a gibbet you ask? Well, it was known as a “stoop” to the locals, but really it’s just a gallows where they hang people. So yeah, they just had him hang there until his corpse rotted. Because that’s how they rolled back in the 18th century.
Needless to say, Busby’s story caught on and soon there was a roadside inn known as Busby’s Stoop Inn. The place was said to be haunted by Busby, and he would get particularly angry if anybody sat in a certain chair. In fact, several fatal accidents in the 1970s were attributed to people sitting in the chair.
In 1978, the chair was donated to a local museum, where it’s suspended to a wall so nobody can ever sit in it again.
3. The Nanteos Cup
Photo Credit: National Library of Wales
Ever heard of the Holy Grail? Well, The Nanteos Cup is considered by some to be that famed chalice.
Naturally, people thought it had healing powers, so over the years it has been lent out to help the needy. For free.
That’s right, the cup would just be given to people who needed it, with the only stipulation being that the loanee had to leave their most valuable asset as a deposit.
It actually did get stolen in 2014, but it anonymously returned unharmed a year later to its current residence at the National Library of Wales.
2. The Hand of Glory
Photo Credit: www.badobadop.co.uk
The Hand of Glory, or The Whitby Hand, is believed to be the last example of its kind in existence… an actual pickled human hand! It was discovered in the the wall of an English cottage in the early 20th century, and is supposedly formed from the right hand of a newly-hung corpse cut.
So what’s so special about this thing other than it’s a pickled human hand? Well, the Hand of Glory can supposedly double as a handy candle to help burglars rip people off! The story goes that they can dip its finger in special wax and light it right up. However, if a finger can’t be lit, it means that someone in the household they’re trying to rob is awake.
Only catch? It’s not so easy to put out. The flame can’t be extinguished by anything other than blood or blue milk… whatever that is.
Good luck with that one, thieves!
1. John Dee’s Crystal
Photo Credit: Science Museum, London
John Dee was an astrologer, a scientist, a mathematician, and he even dabbled in the medical arts. He was also an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I and… he talked to angels.
The angels liked him so much that one of them (Uriel, the fourth archangel, to be exact) gave him a large, purple crystal that could help Dee predict the future. So yeah, just your typical astrologer, scientist, mathematician, wannabe doctor stuff.
The crystal eventually made its way into the hands of an actual doctor, Nicholas Culpeper, and he apparently used the stone in his medical practice. To heal patients. Until a demonic spirit emanated from the crystal. Then Culpeper decided to stop using it. Because science!
And there you have it… five weird stories. Now, I’m not saying it’s aliens…
…but it’s aliens.
