Urban_Saboteur
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Registered: 04/29/08
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Reply with quote | #1 |
This is a pretty fascinating story, i'll do my best to describe it to you but a more indepth article can be found at Wiki.
The Manchester Mummy
To summarize, Hannah Beswick of Birchin Bower, Hollinwood, Oldham, England was a wealthy woman who had a pathological fear of premature burial. Following her death in 1758 her body was embalmed and kept above ground, to be periodically checked for signs of life, presumably on instruction from her will, which itself was contested for over 100 years after her death.
Her body has been passed around in storage/display for many years and in 1828 including the Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society. She was displayed in the entrance hall.
Bonnie Prince Charlie entered Manchester at the head of his invading army in 1745, causing Beswick some apprehension over the safety of her money, which she therefore decided to bury. Shortly before her death she promised to show her relatives where the treasure was hidden, but she did not survive long enough to do so. Her home, Birchin Bower, was converted into workers' tenements following her death. Several of those living there claimed to have seen a figure dressed in a black silk gown and a white cap, and described it as Hannah Beswick. After gliding across the house's parlour, the apparition would vanish at one particular flagstone. It is claimed that while digging to fit a new loom, a weaver living there discovered Beswick's hoard of gold, hidden underneath that same flagstone. Oliphant's, a Manchester gold dealer, paid the weaver £3 10s for each gold piece, the equivalent of almost £450 as of 2009.
Birchin Bower was eventually demolished to make way for a Ferranti factory, but sightings of the apparition were still reported.
Intriguing stuff eh?
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