Mary Bateman and her seer chickens who can predict the apocalypse (10 photos)

It would seem like ordinary chickens. They must lay eggs, cluck, hatch chicks, and upon reaching a certain age go into the broth. But these birds turned out to be not so simple.





However, this could not have happened without the intervention of their cunning mistress.



There are countless examples of people who have claimed to have magical powers or strange abilities.

The Yorkshire witch, Mary Bateman, was one such person. Her story of deception, murder and very magical eggs takes place in the 1800s in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

Mary Bateman





Most of the details about Bateman's life come from one source, the book The Extraordinary Life and Character of Mary Bateman, published immediately after her trial and subsequent death. The book is considered quite reliable. But you need to understand that it was written in order to earn money after a high-profile case.

Mary was born in Asenby, Yorkshire in 1768. The girl's father was a farmer, and her mother was a housewife. Her youth was uneventful, but Mary was a smart girl.

She learned to read and write at a young age (which was unusual for a farmer's daughter at the time). From the age of 13 she worked as a maid.

She held this job until she was 20 years old. Then she decided to change her situation and moved to York, where she became a dressmaker. It was in York that she showed herself in all her glory.

She was caught red-handed during a burglary and was forced to flee to Leeds. Apparently, stealing was not an unexpected hobby for her: Bateman's biography states that she “displayed a perhaps pathological urge to steal. Besides, she was not very careful in her robberies.”

Once in Leeds, she began sewing again. At the same time, she began working as a fortune teller and, like some modern bloggers, as a “wise woman.” It is likely that her predictions were not particularly true, and the medicines she gave were more likely to cause rather than cure diseases.



In 1792 she married John Bateman, a wheelwright. Bateman did not fix this marriage. Over the next few years, she committed several robberies. Apparently her thieving skills haven't improved at all. The thief was caught several times and was forced to bribe her victims to avoid litigation.

When her husband joined the army in 1796, she left Leeds. However, a year later she returned with the realization that she was a bad thief, but a decent swindler.

Rumor has it that she wandered the streets of Leeds after the terrible fire, begging for money and goods for those who lost everything in the fire. Of course, she pocketed all the donations. It was also reported that during this time she used her reputation as a "wise woman" to perform abortions on the streets.

Bateman and her fortune teller chicken



In 1806, Bateman joined the followers of the prophetess Joanna Southcott, a local woman who claimed to be a holy seer.

During this time, she ran her most successful (and profitable) scam. Bateman claimed that one of her chickens began laying eggs with the inscription "Christ is coming."

This message was perceived by society as a message about the onset of the last times - the apocalypse. Soon crowds began to flock to Bateman's modest home to view the sacred eggs. Everyone paid a penny to see the miracle.

People were driven into a frenzy, convinced that the apocalypse would finally come. Bateman used this religious fervor to increase her profits. She began selling pieces of paper with seals guaranteeing entry into heaven.

Of course, it was all a hoax. It turned out that Bateman wrote on the eggs using caustic ink made from concentrated vinegar. She wrote on the eggs and then “inserted” them into the poor chicken. Alas, no one asked the opinion of the poor feathered creature.

When the scam was discovered, Bateman quickly sold the bird to a neighbor foolish enough to believe her. The hen, who by then was nicknamed the "Prophetic Hen of Leeds", never laid prophetic eggs again.

Poisoner



Unfortunately, Bateman didn't stop there. After the egg scam was exposed, she needed a new source of income or a trusting victim. That same year, William and Rebecca Perigo approached her. Rebecca suffered from chest pains and was desperately looking for a cure. Bateman told the poor woman that she was cursed.

Luckily, Bateman knew how to fix it. Over the next year, she provided the couple with a magical medicine for a huge fee. The medicine turned out to be pudding mixed with poison.

Unfortunately, in 1808, Rebecca died from illness and poisoning. Her husband quickly came to his senses and in October 1808 accused the false healer of poisoning his wife.

Mary's trial took place in York in 1809. The trial lasted 11 hours, but the jury did not take long to find the woman guilty of fraud and murder of Perigo. The sentence was death by hanging.



Bateman attempted one last scam. During the sentencing, she stated that she was 22 weeks pregnant and therefore could not be sentenced to death by hanging. Twelve married women were quickly sworn in to question and examine Bateman. Naturally, there was no talk of any pregnancy; it was just another ploy in an attempt to delay the inevitable.

Bateman was hanged along with two men on Monday 20 March 1809. But the story didn't end there. It was decided to make it a good example.



The fraudster's corpse was taken to Leeds General Infirmary, where the body was put on public display. Visitors were charged 3 pence per view. Then, over the course of three days, she was dissected by the famous surgeon William Hay. On the first day students were charged for viewing, on the second local gentlemen could pay 5 guineas per viewing, and finally on the third day women were allowed to work.

Once the preparation was complete, Bateman's skin strips were processed. They were sold as magical amulets that could ward off evil spirits. As a final insult, her lying tongue was taken away and kept by the warden of Ripon Prison as a souvenir, and the skin was used to bind two books.



Mary's skeleton is currently in the Leeds Museum and is available for viewing.

Bateman paid dearly for her crimes. This is a classic case of crime escalating from petty theft to robbery, fraud and ultimately murder. It seems that her greed was insatiable.

Bateman is an important reminder of how unscrupulous people can prey on the naive and unsuspecting. Although the egg scam seems funny today, its prophetic claims caused serious unrest at the time. However, historical examples do not teach many people, and therefore wise women (and men too), energy practitioners, runologists, tarot readers and fulfillers of any desires at the click of a finger are still thriving today. And this is paradoxically strange.

As for the greedy Mary herself, the irony is that her skin really became a magical amulet and was actively sold. But the “wise woman” herself did not find out about this.