The Witch Who Predicted the Future: The Life of Mother Shipton

Welcome to season two of the Strange History Podcast. If you're new here,

go check out season one. You talk about the dark history of the Lego

Company, pirates and hookers, and the creation of the American crime fighting system.

Now onto the episode. On this episode, we'll be talking about the

mysterious Mother Shipton who was Mother Shipton. Mother Shipton was a famous English prophetess

from the fourteen hundreds who was known to be a witch healer and a prophetess

who predicted the future. Her real name was Ursula Soothough. Mother Shipton was

born in fourteen eighty eight in a mysterious cave near the River Nid in North

Yorkshire during a violent storm. Her fifteen year old mother, named Agatha,

refused to give up the identity of the father of Ursula. Some people suspected

that the father was the devil, because when Ursula was born, she was

said to have had an ugly and deformed appearance, with bulging eyes and crooked

legs, a humpback in a very large hook nos. What did not help

matters was the cave she was born in had a rock pool in the shape

of a skull. The cave sits next to a geological wonder called the Petrifying

Well. Agatha had given birth to Ursula and the cave, and when she

went back to the village, she was ostracized by the villagers because she was

an unwed mother and refused to say who the father was. Agatha and her

young daughter went back to the cave and lived there till Ursula was two years

old. When Ursula was two, her mother was convinced to enter the convent

and give her daughter up to a family in the village who would raise Ursula.

It was said she never saw her mother again, and her mother died

just a few short years after that. She grew up in isolation and was

shunned by the local community, who feared her odd looks. She was also

gifted with the ability to see the future and make prophecies, although when Ursula

was twenty four, she married a carpenter named Toby Shipton and they lived in

a cottage near the cave where she was born to feed fire to the frenzy

of Ursula having strange powers due to the fact that she was born in the

cave and had the looks of a witch. A month after their marriage,

Ursula helped out a neighbor who had some items of clothing stolen from her home.

The following day, a woman went walking through the town singing, I

stole my neighbor's smock and coat, I am a thief, before handing it

over to Shipton and leaving with a curtsey. Such tales would only add to

the mystery and intrigue surrounding Ursula. Only two years after marrying, Ursula's husband

passed away, leaving her to become a social outcast once more, as some

questioned the circumstances of his death, and she would move back to the cave

she was born in. She would also be known as Mother Shipton from then

on. Regardless of her social stature, she became known as a wise woman

and a healer who could cure diseases and tell fortunes. She had spent so

much time in the woods near the cave she was born in, she taught

herself the ways of herbal medicine from the plant in the forest. In these

times, she would have been referred to as a healer. When doctors could

not be afforded by the poor, she would have been called upon to act

as a midwife heal the sick and cure commonalities with her remedies. It is

said she lived to be seventy three years old, in a time when the

average life expectancy was only forty nine. This in itself was quite extraordinary.

Mother shipped and made many predictions about the events that happen in England and the

world. In order to avoid persecution for the crime of witchcraft, Mother Shipton

published her prophecies and rhyme and verse. They were published after her death in

fifteen sixty one. Ursula's prophecies became famous. The King sent messengers from London

to hear her prophecies, but she became a target of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey

became the subject of one of Ursula's predictions. She told him that though he

would see York, he would never actually set foot in it, while Wolsey

retorted that when he made it to York, he would build a huge pire

on which to burn her as a witch. As it transpired, Wolsey made

it to Collwood on the outskirts of York, where he was arrested for treason

by Henry Percy, the sixth Earl of Northumberland. As he made his journey

back to a trial in London. Woolsey fell ill and died at Leicaster on

the twenty ninth of November in fifteen thirty. Let's dive a bit further into

her rhymes and verses that would leave its mark on the world and become a

premonition of what was to come. Here's the first one. Around the world,

men's thoughts will fly quick as the twinkling of an eye. The waters

shall great wonders do, how strange, and yet it shall come true.

What's the possible interpretation of this one? You can plainly see she's talking about

the telephone, radio, television, and the internet, and waters shall be

great wonders due you would think the building of massive dams and the harnessing of

waterfalls like the Niagar for hydroelectric power, which lights the world. Another states,

through towering hills, proud men shall ride, no horse or ass moved

by his side. Beneath the water, men shall walk, shall ride,

shall sleep, shall even talk. The possible interpretation of this through the towering

hills proud men shall ride could refer to skyscrapers. No horse or ass moved

by his side would be automobiles, planes, trains, and every other mode

of modern transportation. Beneath the water, men shall walk, shall ride,

shall sleep, shall even talk. Submarines, the aqualung scuba gear, allowing

men to walk and be beneath the water. And yet another one, and

in the air men shall be seen in white and black and even green.

A great man shall come and go for prophecy declares it. So the possible

interpretation of this, it would seem she's referring to modern aircraft. There have

been many great men since Mother Shipton's time, but she points to another great

profit, maybe yet to come. And she could have been referring to Nostre

Dramas, who was born in fifteen oh three and died in fifteen sixty six.

But this is just speculation. Mother Ship and predictions go back to the

oceans with the water. Iron then shall float as easy as a wooden boat.

Gold shall be seen in stream, and stone, and a land that

is yet unknown the possible interpretation of this. Ships made of iron and steel

were the boon of the industrial era. The eighteen seventies saw three ships built

that pioneered the practice of steel construction and ships. The first of these was

the French ship Redoubtable, which was launched in eighteen seventy six, and the

latter two were the sister ships HMS Iris and the HMS Mercury, which were

launched in eighteen seventy seven and eighteen seventy eight, respectively. And also most

certainly an accurate description of California in the gold Rush days, when she talks

about the gold being seen in stream and stone in a land that is yet

unknown. America had not been discovered yet. Mother Shipton also predicted the dissolution

of the monasteries, which led to the redistribution of the wealth in the land

held by the monasteries to the emerging middle class and existing noble families. The

fall of Cardinal Wolsey, who he spoke about before, who was Henry the

eighth Chief Minister. He had failed to secure his divorce from Catherine of Argonne,

who was conveniently arrested for treason. The death of King Edward the sixth,

who was Henry the eighth son and heir at the age of fifteen.

She predicted that the bloody reign of Queen Mary the First, who tried to

restore Thalicism and burned many of the Protestants at stake, she predicted the ascension

of Queen Elizabeth the First, who established a golden age of peace and prosperity.

She also predicted the Great Fire of London in sixteen sixty six, which

destroyed most of the city, the Spanish Armada in fifteen eighty eight, which

was defeated by the English Navy, and the start of World War Three,

which would involve nuclear weapons and cause great destruction. But let's dive into predictions

of the future events. According to Mother Shipton, for storms will rage in

ocean's roar when Gabriel stands on the sea and shore, and as he blows

his wondrous horn, old worlds die and new be born. The interpretation is

the last trumpet the Biblical revelation, the destruction of the civilization and creation of

a new one, the so called end of the world. A fiery dragon

will cross the sky six times before the earth shall die. Mankind will tremble

and frightened bee for the six heralds in this prophecy, it appears here she's

referring to a single object that goes by Earth six times before a collision,

or is she referring to a nuclear disaster and six bombs for seven days and

seven nights. Men will watch this awesome sight. The tides will rise beyond

their ken to bite away the shores, and then the mountains will begin to

roar an earthquakes split the plane to shore. Of course, we can imagine

it means after something hits this earth, oceans, huge tidal waves will strike,

followed by the awakening of volcanoes and earthquakes and flooding waters rushing in will

flood the lands with such a din that mankind cowers and muddy fen and snarls

about his fellow men. Tidal waves and wars continue. He bears his teeth

and fights and kills and secret foods and secret hills, and ugly in his

fear, he lies to kill marauders, steeds, and spies. This refers

to the continuation of wars in spite of disasters, the storing up of secret

food supplies and underground bases. Man flees in terror from the floods and kills

and rapes and lies in the blood, and spilling blood by mankind's hand will

stain and bitter many lands. The continuation of a world war, and when

the dragon's tail is gone, Man forgets and smiles and carries on to apply

himself. Too late, Too late, for mankind has earned deserved fate.

War and natural disasters will abait for a brief period of time. After the

dragon's tail of a comet or an asteroid disappears from the heavens, or nuclear

war is over, peace will seemingly return, but man's fate is already sealed.

His masked smile, his false grandeur will serve the gods Their anger stir,

and they will send the dragon back to light the sky. His tail

will crack upon the earth and rend the earth, and men shall flee King

Lord and Serf. When peace has returned and men become complacent, suddenly an

even greater disaster happens. But slowly they are rooted out to seek diminishing water

spout, and men will die of thirst before the ocean's rise to mount the

shores. Seas will crack, and lands will crack and rend anew. Do

you think it's strange? It will come true, more earthquakes, flood and

death, And in some far off distant land, some men of such a

tiny band will have to leave their solid mountains span the earth. Those few

to count. This refers to survivors coming out of their hiding places underground.

Mother's Shipton's prophecies have fascinated people for centuries and have been compared to those of

Nostrodamus. She is regarded as one of the most influential figures in English folklore

and legend. One of the mystical secrets of Mother's Shipton's has been solved by

modern science. The well near by her Dwelling that petrifies objects left in its

waters has been something of a visitor's attraction since sixteen thirty, making it one

of the oldest tourist spots in England. Once thought to be the work of

witchcraft, is now known that the water can turn things like teddy bears,

hats and other random items into stone within three to five months, which is

due to the natural process of evaporation an unusually high mineral content. Today,

the petrifying well is England's oldest visitor attraction. It was first recorded by the

Kings and Tickuary in fifteen thirty eight and has been visited by millions of people

since sixteen thirty. This has been not just another episode of strange history,

but the first of Season two. Season two will delve into all the weird

and wonderful history of science, space, aliens, and other strangeness. Thanks

to Dead to Me Productions for producing this wonderful project, and thank you Spreaker

for being the greatest podcast platform in the world. Peace out ya

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