People have always been enamored with stories that involve mystery, mythology, and magic, and items that fit those descriptions have likewise captured people’s imagination when they’ve cropped up.
You can go ahead and add the 5 objects below to King Arthur’s sword, the Ark of the Covenant, and that piece of toast that looks like Jesus.
#5. The Bell of St. Mura
Image Credit: Wallace Collection London
Said to have been brought to earth by angels. The clapper-less bell is allegedly too holy to ring outside of heaven. The bell is said to alleviate human suffering and to safeguard against danger, including pain-free labor and delivery for pregnant women (sign me up!).
It’s currently housed in the Wallace Collection in London.
#4. Drake’s Drum
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Sir Francis Drake was an explorer, adventurer, slaver, and pirate. After he died of dysentery in 1596, his belongings were returned to Buckland Abbey, his childhood home – among them a leather snare drum that’s purpose would have been to signal an attack.
The drum is said to beat of its own accord whenever England is in trouble, and if any person should beat on the drum, Drake would return from his grave to protect her from harm.
Reports of the drum beating on its own come from Napoleon, people who heard it during the outbreak of World War I, and during the evacuation of Dunkirk.
If the drum is ever removed from Buckland Abbey, legend says that England will fall, so I’m guessing that you’ll have to go there to take a peek. You know, better safe than sorry.
#3. The Witch’s Ladder
Image Credit: Wikipedia
The object, four brooms and a piece of string, along with feathers, was found in an attic in 1911. The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford houses what is one of the only genuine examples of a witch’s ladder, though no one understands their purpose or how exactly they were supposed to work.
#2. The Nanteos Cup
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Though by some to be the elusive Holy Grail, this broken piece of a wooden cup is believed to have healing powers. It was lended out to the sick, lame, and dying as long as they left something valuable in its place to ensure the cup’s return.
It was once kept at Strata Florida Abbey in Wales but now resides in the National Library of Wales.
#1. The Munlochy Clootie Well
Image Credit: Wikipedia
First off, for all of my fellow Americans, a clootie is a strip of cloth tied around the branches of the clootie tree in order to honor the spirit – in this case, of St. Boniface – that resided in the nearby well. The Munlochy well is on the Black Isle in the far north of Scotland and is built over a natural spring, and sick people who dip their cloth in the water before tying it on the tree are said to have been miraculously healed.
Others have journeyed to the clootie well in Munlochy with the hope of changing their bad luck, though the stories aren’t all of light and benevolence – it is believed that anyone who removes a clootie from a clootie well is doomed to suffer the same misfortune as the person who tied it.
Maybe think twice about bringing any vintage dolls into your house. It just makes good sense.
