During his historic journey aboard the HMS Beagle Charles Darwin spent over a month on a small island off the coast of Chile, known as chill away it wasn't his final destination, but he still managed to work and collect information and specimens, including a small endangered fox. Now known as, Darwin's Zorro. He also witnessed the after effects of an earthquake and made known a rainbow that transition from the typical semicircle to a full circle right before his eyes, but it was the people he encountered that seemed to impact him the most, I wrote they are a humble quiet, industrious set of men, although with plenty to eat the people very poor, and the lower orders cannot scrape together money sufficient to purchase even the smallest luxuries

He also noted seen a pair of black next ones, but thankfully Darwin didn't have the same view of birds that the local people did and still do. Actually, one local historian recalls how, when he was a boy, a hunchback heron flew low over his fishing boat when he told his father the old, and grabbed his shotgun and waited for the bird to return. Why? As for as long as anyone could remember, the people of chill away had believed that some birds are more than they appear some people, it seems believe the birds are war, locks and seen. One was a bad omen, hinting that someone close to you would soon die, all of us are ruled by authority to some degree, whether it's through our government, our. Login or our family ties. Often it's all three.

another governing body, one that's as old as time itself and until away a controlled people for centuries. Sometimes you see, people are ruled by. Here I am Erin Maggie, and this is lore. The Incas called it the place of the seagulls. They stayed away from the area believing it was the border between their empire of prosper,

ready in safety and a cold dark wilderness to the south. Chill away, isn't a large island, perhaps less than a hundred miles from north to south, but it certainly the largest in the collection of small islands there off the coast of Chile and to visit it is to go back in time: Green hills, mountains in the distance, the dark waves of the South Pacific lapping on the shore where colorful houses are built on, tilts to stay above the mud and the rocks Darwin described it as beautiful in eighteen, thirty, five, he wrote of the mixture Ever green trees in tropical vegetation of the rolling hills and the thick forests, and all of that Green Darwin past Lated, was due to the enormous amount of rainfall, gray, skies and wet soil are a constant of life in chill away. Then, as it is now, and while most people have never heard of the place, the unique churches there have in architecture of style that is earned them classification as UNESCO

world heritage sites. There are churches, of course, because Jesuit missionaries built them shortly after arriving at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but don't let those european artifacts fool. You the culture, the Jesuits encountered when they arrived was far outside their realm of experience. The chill away of old was home to a vast collection of myths and legends that informed almost every aspect of everyday life and because much of the economy and culture of the island was built around the fishing industry, just as it is today. Many of those stories have elements of the sea in them. One example is the legend of the ghost ship known as the collegiate according to the store,

he's the collegiate patrols the waters off the coast of the island, moving both above and below the water. The ship itself is as sentient beings and has the ability to sense when someone from the island has drowned after they die. These people are brought onto the ship by two sisters and a brother where their new life can begin. that life consisted of both an eternal party aboard the ship and working as sailors in the transport and unloading of illegal cargo for the islands merchants. Even today There are many and chill away who claimed to have seen the ship still patrolling the cold waters, offshore. There are other legends that hunt the island story speak of the truck o a sort of forest troll or little person who lives in hollow trees. Deep in the forest. Their task is to protect the trees, but they have also become a convenient scapegoat for unwed mothers. The trout do, they say, is irresistible to virgins who wander into the forest and those women

frequently returned home pregnant. Then there is a lot in Korea was said to be a woman who appears to fishermen along the coast. She has described as young and beautiful, but her hair is covered in wet kelp. The locals consider her to be an omen. Although the outcome depends on the circumstances, if she appears facing the see your fishing nets will overflow if she's facing you, though, those nets will be empty and in the rare instances when she appears right in front of a person. The legend says that it's best to close your eyes and run as fast as you can, lest she seduce you and lead you down in the sea, one more legend, is that of the basilisk, a creature that appears elsewhere around the globe he'll away, though the basilisk is more than just an enormous snake here, Also has the head of a rooster and hatches from an egg some stories oh, how the bachelor school nest beneath a person's house during the night

it will slither out and suck the air from the lungs of the people sleeping inside First I mean, as some of these creatures in stories may be, though none of them compared the legends of the blue hope that show the way the war locks of the island. They have struck fear into the hearts of the locals. For centuries they have shaped many ass. Aspects of their culture. They have been blamed for tragedy, for loss and even for illness and death. Most frightening of all is the simple fact that, unlike all the other legends found on the island, the brew were real. the. we know the brouhaha were real because they were brought to trial in eighteen. Eighty

almost overnight what was once little more than a whispered legend, a sort of chilean man, if you will took on flesh and bone and what the investigation uncovered was truly shocking. Step back, though it's important to understand where the warlocks came from the shore answer is that we don't really know, but there are ideas and many of them hold promise and truth. Come common theory. Is that something powerful was formed as a result, the collision between the indigenous culture and the catholic faith of the Spanish. When they first arrived, the ingredients This new breed of legend have been there for a very, very long time, though inside. We have the mochi. These were traditional shaman of the chilean culture, the healers and wise p Their realm was that of revelations interpretations of dreams and serving as the

workable of the community. On the other side, there was the calcutta. These were the practitioners of black magic considered to be witches and war locks by most people. Unlike the Marquis who sat at the centre of their society and were documented religious figures, the Kalkhi were more mythical spoke novel stories and whispered about at night, the cow coup are described as much. He gone bad. Those who became more interested in selfish gain than serving the community, and I know this will be a gross oversimplification but think of the mighty as the Jedi and the Kaliko as the Sith Alight side in the dark and, as HANS Solo famously said, It's true all of it entered the spanish conquistadors. They arrived in fifteen sixty Evan and brought countless stories with them of european witches, but the culture and chill away has always been very male driven, and so the idea of the female which was converted to the male war lock in the past.

what narrative this melding of religions has actually happened in many countries across the centuries where the catholic faith would meet ancient beliefs and rather than wipe them out, would blend with them unintentionally becoming something new and that's how the brew HO were born. Well, maybe some scholars make reference to a story from the seventeenth century of name Jose de more later, who met the match and wanted desperately to impress them, he challenged them to imagine dual then after they brought in one of their best. Mucky more later was defeated as a prize, the Spaniard handed over to them a book of spells that he claimed had been gathered from around the world. It was with that book of spells. The legend goes that the Blue HO built their cult, some still referred to it by the original name, the wrecked up, Provincia, the righteous province and according to them, the secret group manipulated the culture on the island for two centre.

His initiation into the group was complex and drenched with the occult. The first step was to wash way any remnant of christian baptism, and they did this by bathing in one of the local rivers for fifteen nights. In a row some were instructed to murder a relative or a close friend, and then, when all of that was completed, had to run around the island naked. While invoking the devil's name, the brew home tat their power over the people of chill away through an odd mixture of supernatural, rumour and math like control, they would most commonly force local farmers to give them produce or money but they were also known to bribe local authorities and even created a shadow governments that ruled in the places where those Spanish didn't reach, and rather than use violence or traditional weapons to enforce these policies, they used the threat of a curse. Ultimately, it was this game of blackmail and protection, rackets that brought in

End to their reign over the people of Jill away, and so in eighteen, eighty over one hundred members of a cult were arrested and interrogated. Many were released when they turned out to be nothing more than Machi looking for a community to belong to, but some were held for trial on the charge of murder. The darkest revelations from the trial, though we're never believed the supernatural creatures, the book of spells the secret hidden cave where the cult maintained their seat of power. All of this was passed off as folklore and superstition. However, eyewitness testimony says otherwise the riles revealed many new details about the brew hoe in their beliefs, practices and inner workings. Some

sound like they were pulled right out of a children's book, they're, so simple and benign, while others are downright chilling, for example, one of the men on trial in eighteen, eighty revealed that each warlock carried a pet lizard with him. This lizard, according to the man, would be tied to the war forehead then because it was magical and gifted him with powers. He's war locks were even said to communicate and interact with the ghostly sailors aboard the collegiate use. Seahorses as aquatic carrier pigeons, to pass messages back and forth, seahorses spoke of how the warlocks recruited new spies for their sect. According to the legend, these warlocks would kidnap you women who would be given a special elixir to drink once ingested. These girls would vomit until their stomachs and intestines lay on the ground at their feet. Then they would transform into birds and do the bidding of their master

None of this, though, compares to what the brew were said to have kept in their cave, one of men on trial in eighteen. Eighty elderly man named met Hale claimed that in the eighteen sixties he had been asked to visit the cave to feed the creatures they kept there. And although his testimony was rejected by the court as fantasy, some have been left wondering the cave, it is said, was difficult to locate, and rightly so, It contained a multiple magical items, including the book of spells the group had received from the Spaniard more later, as well as a bull that was said to show the future to those who looked into it now, because these were objects of power for the war locks they needed to be carefully

guarded, the entrance was a door hidden beneath the grass and soil in a Rocky Canyon near the coast and with it a metal key Matteo told the court that he opened the entrance to the cave only to find two creatures inside that nearly defied description, one was called the tobacco humanoid creature. That was briefly described as goat like and walking on four legs, but it was the other thing in the cave that Matteo had no trouble describing because at first glance it seemed to be nothing more than a bearded man. This man, though, was deformed, not mine, Lee or by birth, but intentionally and drastically twisted. He was called the inborn J and, although the one that material witnessed appeared old, he said that they typically began as infants. Now. This next part isn't for the faint of heart,

But it's necessary to understand the level of cruelty and barbarism that this cult practiced. According to writer, Bruce, who visited the island in nineteen. Seventy five, the locals, still maintained a good amount of folklore around the creation of the mbuji. According to Chatwin's report, the warlocks would kidnap a male six month old child and then deliver it to one known as the former who lived inside the cave. This man's job was to shape and disfigure the infant's body. The head would be twisted daily until after many months, if faced backwards, limbs and fee I swear disjointed and even its ears and mouth were malformed by the former. The final characteristic, though, according to the Chatwin, was the right arm. It would be bent backwards and and slipped into an incision made on the right shoulder blade. Then the wound will be sewn up, leaving the arm permanently affixed to the child's back.

Why this was done is something that history has forgotten over the years, but the impact is just as powerful. Today, left to guard and inhabit the secret cave of the war locks the invention. was seen less as an act of torture and more as the creation of an essential part of the cult society. When one in she died, another was created to take its place, this is the level of darkness these real life warlocks were capable of. This is what powered the fear they used to enslave and control the people of the. island, and this is what many of them confessed to on the stand that spring in eighteen. Eighty and as a result, many of the accused were sentenced,

long prison terms. These were men who had killed, who had cursed their neighbours in blackmailed businesses for protection money and get the court's couldn't make the ruling stick. Just one year later, nearly all of the war locks were released. The reason there was impossible to prove that they had belonged to a secret society, a black magic as horrible. As the stories had sounded. No one, they thought could be that's evil. Could they. In a world where authority often falls to those with the most wealth, the most weapons or the most connections. It's unusual to find cases where some other power allows people to

Oh, but if the story of chill away teaches us anything, it's that fear can be just as powerful as any government. Official fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of the unknown. Those who cause themselves, part of the blue hoe in eighteen. Eighty were card carrying members of a cult that wielded fear like a weapon. Thankfully, the trial helped put real faces to the shadows that had plagued the people of chill away for centuries, whether or not they receive punishment for their crimes with secondary the war locks had been exposed, battering their illusion of fear, but while many saw the trial is the end of that nightmare, there are some who aren't so sure in two thousand and six, the local court there in Chile issued a restraining order against Manuel Cardenas and his brother in law due to a physical altercation. They had with a sixty six year old farmer named Jose Marquez. They were prohibited from coming within ten meters of the old man when asked

why he attacked the farmer. Cardenas said that it was because of an illness. His father had been suffering through. Pain had become a constant part of the old man's life and it had gone on long enough her Dania claim that his father's illness had begun after an encounter with the farmer all the way back in nineteen. Ninety two, the pain, hadn't, stop sense and after consulting with a local showman, they were too Why? According to the shaman, the farmer had cursed their father with black magic, which sounds vaguely familiar and begs the question did the trial of eighteen. Eighty really wipe out the cult of war locks orders Some of them slip through the government's net living on

spread and grow their sacked into the twentieth century and beyond. After all, neither the cave nor its occupants have ever been found. The events that took place on the island a chill away, represent an unusually rare departure from the typical witchcraft accusations of the past few centuries. Almost everywhere you look in the pages of history. Those accused of witchcraft were women, but here things played out slightly different but it's not the only instance in history that the word warlock has captured the public ear. In fact, I found one a lot closer to the typical witchcraft trials that just might fit the bill stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all of

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formed at the beginning of his trial. Most people who live for or five centuries ago, barely left a paper trail pack, even the most famous play right of all time. William Shakespeare is only mentioned a handful of times in public documents. The fact of the matter is most people who lived and died back then our camp Wheatley lost to history, but Richard managed to land in the record books just as time was running out for him and through the confessions of others and some court gossip. We know a few things about him, but again not much

I think she appeared on the scene in edinborough sometime around one thousand five hundred and eighty seven Richard was an excommunicated catholic looking for someone to give him permission to settle in their territory and Francis Stewart. The fifth earl of Bothwell agreed what sweeten the deal well, we're pretty sure that it was Richard's reputation as a warlock over the next three or four years. A number of stories would cement that reputation. One of the most famous examples came from the confession of a woman named Barbara Napier. According to her, she was a regular client of Richards. First it was a ring that she wanted the warlock to charm with magical powers. Then she returned hoping to buy his healing abilities for her sick son, but many of Richard's encounters actually took place a bit higher up the social ladder. It seems that the warlock had worked his way into the lives of many powerful people in Scotland's upper class. In fact, he ended up. Staying as a guest

so many of them that he was rarely home and he claimed that social ladder high Bothwell once took Richard horseback riding at the estates of the chancellor. The king of Scotland, while they were hanging out together Richard showed off some sort of device that he used in his magical activities. Both men were understandably impressed. but then again, that also meant that they would remember that moment. That's what were to one thousand five hundred and ninety one and things were starting to heat up for our Warlock Richard, Graham because just a year earlier, the North Berwick Witch trials broke out and people started naming names. Of course they did so out of desperation out of hope that if they handed over a long enough list of other witches they might be spared because of their helpfulness and that's the position. Barbara Napier found herself and she had been named by one of the earlier accused, a woman named Agnes Sampson, turns out. Richard was on a number of lists, making him a top suspect one victim Isabel. Why

claimed. She actually saw Richard interacting with the fair folk as if he were in cahoots with them Naturally, our intrepid warlock try to lean on his powerful friends for support, but when it came to witchcraft trials in late sixteenth Century Scotland, there were a few associations more destructive to a person's political career than floating in the same circle as a witch and to make matters worse. The king of Scotland at the time was James, the sixth, quite possibly one of the, violence and aggressive, which hunters in history, in the end, it all came down to a bottle of liquid. You see Richards, noble friend, the Earl of Bothwell didn't have the best relationship with King James, so Bothwell hired the warlike to create a potion that would increase his favor in James is eyes it didn't work, then to make matters worse. Someone else who knew about the potion ended up telling the king as you'd. Imagine he didn't take the news very well written

Graham, the warlock of Edinburgh was executed at the city's market, cross at the end of February, in one thousand five hundred and ninety two, but just before he was led to his death. He accused Bothwell of plotting to kill the king, true or but that was enough to seal the nobles death warrant as well. History has large, forgotten Richard G, but he was one of the few. True warlocks to land on the scene in the days of the english and scottish witch trials. Bothwell, however, managed to add a number of thrilling events to the history books before he finally escaped the country to live. His remaining days in ITALY, oh and one last thing, easy to dismiss Richard Graham, is nothing more than a trickster and a fraud use a bit of arcane knowledge to fleece the aristocracy for personal gain, but there's one event from one thousand five hundred and ninety one that leaves me wonder, It seems that a man named Sir Louis Beilin and had a run in with Richard that had quite the impact bell and and

Among many other things, a prominent lawyer and government official, he was even part of the Royal wedding party that followed King James across the sea to Denmark where his bride awaited, but it was a year after his return that he heard tales of Richard Graham and his dark powers. So he did what any good attorney would do in the situation. He accused g of in a fraud unless he could demonstrate those powers in front of an audience. Of course the documentation is scarce, so I can't paint the entire picture for you, but we know how it ended. You see Ballantine requested that the war lock conjure up the devil himself for all to see right there on. his own property in the canongate. What exactly happened? We don't know, but we do know this. Sir

and was so terrified by what he saw TAT day, but he almost immediately took sick a short time later, the man was dead. This episode of lore, with research written and produced by me, Aaron Mahnke, with music by Chad, Lawson is much more than just a podcast. There is a book series available in bookstores and online and two seasons of the tv show on Amazon. Prime video check them both out. If you want more lore in your life, I also make an executive produce a whole bunch of other podcast, all of which I think you'd enjoy my production, company grim and mild specializes in shows that sit at the intersection of the dark and historical,

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