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Episode 15 - Headless Horsemen and The Empress of Austria
13 Plays3 months ago
Nym recounts various tales of headless horsemen while Nylene dives into the fascinating world of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria and her dark death.
Enter the Nightmare for show notes, transcripts, sources, and more!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Nim and Nyleen's Nightmare Cottage'
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome to Nim and Nyleen's Nightmare Cottage, where we discuss dark locations, sinister media, and other tales of the macabre. I'm Nim. And I'm Nyleen. Let the nightmare begin.
Boundaries of Podcast Topics
00:00:48
Speaker
follow into the nightmare if you dare
00:00:54
Speaker
um if it's if it's not horribly inappropriate i like to leave it i don't know what what what constitutes horribly inappropriate at this point that's a great question i'll point it out now i feel like i feel like poop is too far well but we did talk about that poor kid who oh yeah nope see asteroids kid But we didn't like go into detail. I feel like detail poop is too far.
00:01:18
Speaker
Detail poop is probably too far. I can't think of a situation where it wouldn't be, but I don't want to completely take poop off the table. You shouldn't have poop on the table to but begin with.
00:01:29
Speaker
I just hope you know that. I was not prepared for this to be our conversation. It's is usually how it goes for most of our conversations. Yeah, that's fair. For any of you that think that this is this is every time. this is This is us just in general. like It's impossible for us to like not talk to each other most of the time before we record and we just kind of sit there staring at each other awkwardly like, there's so much I want to say to
World Oddities Expo Experience
00:01:56
Speaker
you. Right.
00:01:58
Speaker
But how's things? ah Things are good. don't know. The most interesting thing that happened to me recently was our trip to the World Oddities Expo. Yes, the World Oddities Expo. I found it like couple nights before we decided to go.
00:02:15
Speaker
And I just so happened to have Bashi with me as well. So we took him with us. We took my three year old. And honestly, was really cool because I think they kept most of the really gruesome stuff behind like a curtain.
00:02:28
Speaker
So it wasn't like anything that would be too far for him. But he he likes spiders and he likes bones. He like he likes to point out bones. And he likes it was funny because he was touching one of the pelts.
00:02:42
Speaker
And I don't know if he realized what it was, but it was, I love to watch the look on his face when he's doing stuff. I don't know. ring Yes. And he's just like, he touched it and then he got to the part where it like attaches to the nose and he like, he did one of those like, oh, like, but like, just not audible, but the face was like, ah ah So I, I've never really been scared of like taxidermy and stuff. But I've, you know, I think I was probably too weirded out to touch them when I was a kid. Yeah, that's fair.
00:03:08
Speaker
I would never like reach out and touch them even now. I don't like I'm not weirded out by him. It's not something I would do. But because Bashi was there, I wanted to show him that it was safe. So it was like a teachable moment. So I would like pet the nose of the stuffed lion. Oh, yes. No, I definitely learned that being with him, it's very much like when you and I get together in public, we become more brave for the other person. That's so true. You know it's it's like the ah like, well, oh, they forgot my ketchup.
00:03:35
Speaker
And it's like, no no, no, no, don't make a deal about it You're like, I'll just go get you some fucking ketchup. But like, if I was by myself, I would not ever get the fucking ketchup. Right? Yes. It's that whole thing. And I feel like it's the same with him because like, there's...
00:03:47
Speaker
You have to be brave for him so that he can be brave for himself, right? And just show him that it's it's not anything to be scared of. Look, it's a soft kitty lion with massive teeth that you're petting right now.
00:04:00
Speaker
Yes. But yeah, the um the the people there were amazing. They all had such great stories. The people running the booths were like, so great. There was like, upon getting there, there was this really, really nice lady that like,
00:04:15
Speaker
noticed that he wanted to touch everything and there was a lot of don't touch that we look with our eyes no their hands no don't do that don't put that back like it was a lot and the sweet sweet lady like what was her booth called do you have it still um i believe i do because that was the lady with molly the haunted doll No, it wasn't the lady with Molly the Haunted Doll. No, that was a different story. But no, the the but she she had the gem booth, like the one with a bunch of the different ah stones.
00:04:47
Speaker
mojo mama mojo mama yeah yeah so she was so nice she gave him a little um purple crystal yeah so that he could hold it and carry it around in a little baggie like it was very like safe but like does he still care does he ask about his crystal okay he's asked about it a few times and i gave it to ace because i was like hey i need you to figure out a way that we can give him this crystal without it being dangerous because like you know it's one thing like you're walking around the fair with it It's another thing entirely to like let him have free reign of this tiny little crystal that he can swallow and choke on.
00:05:19
Speaker
I've got some display boxes that I have for rocks that I steal from places I visit. I'm just wondering, like, I need to be able to put it in something clear that he can shake it up in. So probably like a jar of some kind.
00:05:32
Speaker
idea. That it won't break the jar. Or the stone. i may have something I've got like shatterproof jars for herbs. Oh, nice. So I'll look at what I got. I'll bring them over.
00:05:43
Speaker
You can pick. Okay.
Fear of Dolls and Haunted Encounters
00:05:45
Speaker
And then there was Molly the Haunted Doll. Yeah, listen, i i don't know if I've said this before, but i i feel very similarly to to dolls as I do about clowns. And oh, God, they had so many of those there. So many, so many.
00:06:03
Speaker
it was not okay. thought it was great. Yeah. I just, I was not okay. But yes, that doll with the missing eyes, that was not cool.
00:06:14
Speaker
So tell me about Molly the Haunted Doll. Okay, Molly the Haunted Doll. So the lady said, what was her booth called? Her booth was called Readings in Cleromancy, but Bash grabbed my hand.
00:06:28
Speaker
clarimence you meet yeah and he was more important at the moment so but so yes so readings and clarimence yes she was doing readings and speaking of this lady her outfit was so great so amazing but yeah she was also doing readings in that area too she said that she she'd like to go into king and there's a place that she typically goes to where she just would see this doll there like For like the past four or five times she's been there, she just always sees the stall there.
00:06:58
Speaker
And, you know, one day she was she was asking about it. And i think the the lady, the shopkeeper had said, take her, take her if you want to. Like, I i don't want her like she's haunted.
00:07:09
Speaker
And, you know, she thought it was just like, you know, part of the like the charm of it all. And so she bought it and ah along with like a little box that she keeps her in to put her in just because she wanted to like put her on the wall.
00:07:20
Speaker
But she was saying that, you know, she took her home. And, you know, after a while, like they would she said they were having problems with like the lights in that room or something. I do. Yeah.
00:07:32
Speaker
And then that's when she started noticing that, you know, she would. you know, like maybe fall over a little bit in in the box. And she was like, yeah, you know, like it was probably people walking by or whatever it might be.
00:07:44
Speaker
But then they like try to prop her up and then they started trying to record it and they could see like a shift in her um when nothing was around. So think she was trying to sell her though.
00:07:55
Speaker
She was. She was 200 bucks. And if I were less responsible with my money, she may come home with me. I would never go in your house again. Ever. I'm going to let you know right now, if you ever get a haunted doll, do not tell me because I will not go to your house.
00:08:10
Speaker
I have nightmares about haunted dolls. Not doing it. Okay. So like, I don't know if you want to keep this in the episode, but I'm going to tell you. so One of my most prevalent nightmares when I was little, I couldn't have been more than four or five.
00:08:25
Speaker
And this is where my fear of dolls came from. So I think I brought up the Chucky thing where now my dad had it on and that was a problem. But ever since I was little, I've had this dream that I go out onto my balcony And I see a baby doll that's like, it's one of the baby dolls with like the head like is normal, like that plastic, but the body is like cloth, you know I'm talking about? And the arms are like plastic, but she's like naked. So it's just the baby doll.
00:08:55
Speaker
And so as they usually are, because, you know, kids and I never had a baby doll like that when I was little. So I pick her up. I look at her and all of a sudden I feel a pressure on the back of my neck and my perspective changes and I fall to the floor.
00:09:11
Speaker
And I see myself walking away. And the doll is now me. And I am the doll. That's fucking rad. I have had this dream since, like I said, like I was four or five.
00:09:22
Speaker
And ever since then, i am just terrified of dolls. And it's irrational. I 100% know it's irrational. But like, even though it's of the kind of doll it was, I'm especially afraid of like the porcelain ones, of course, because they're just creepy.
00:09:38
Speaker
Because have those
Expo Reflections and Macabre Belonging
00:09:40
Speaker
realistic eyes. Yes. And also the ones that look like the Nutella Quest. hate them. love those so much. No, because they look too much like people.
00:09:50
Speaker
And the worst part about all this, I'll ask my mom if she can send me the picture. So, When I told my mom when I was older, like, this is why i was always afraid of, because I would always have nightmares of some kind. So, of course, like, she doesn't remember a single one. But I told her, I was like, this is why I hate dolls. And she was like, oh, my God, you would have painted my room when I was little.
00:10:10
Speaker
And I was like, what do you mean? and she shows me a picture. Now, my mom is one of seven. She had, like, four or five other sisters. And they...
00:10:23
Speaker
A few of them shared a room at a time, right? Depending on age. The entire room, and I mean the entire room, has dolls hanging from the ceiling by their hair.
00:10:35
Speaker
Oh. So they would get like a clear string and put it right here and hang them on the ceiling. And I'm like, that is horrifying. Like she showed me the picture. It is, I'm like, why would your mother do this?
00:10:48
Speaker
Okay, first of all, if you can find that picture... Her mother did it for them. And she's like, well, we didn't think it was creepy. We thought it was fun and cute. And I'm like, who the fuck thinks that's cute? Because it's not.
00:11:01
Speaker
It's not. There's nothing. That that is horrifying. But yeah, so what else did you really like about it? Okay, so it was this convention's first year. So there's the oddities and curiosities ones that a lot of people know about already. I thought that's what this was. It was not. No, no. this is This was the first year for this one.
00:11:20
Speaker
And... I've been to some first year conventions before. but No complaints. It was relatively small, which actually worked in our favor because think we were both over it once the flood came in and around noon. Yes.
00:11:32
Speaker
But I don't know. I just, I like being in a room With so many other people that like the dark stuff that it's like the vibe I would used to get when I'd go to concerts a lot. And like just being in this room full of everybody of the same energy. of Oh yeah. Like the guy behind us was driving a hearse.
00:11:51
Speaker
ah Yes. Yes. And I don't know. I just, I don't feel so other. Yeah. In those kinds of situations. And yeah, and Yeah, I mean, i just like looking at the the various things and it's pretty much all just candles and crystals and taxidermy. Like it's a lot of the same stuff over and over again. Oh, and Bash got to hold a tarantula.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yes, that was awesome. Yeah, because I mean, I love, love tarantulas. They're so sweet. it's funny when i got home i told ace and i was like hey i he was like he held a spider and i'm like yes i'm sorry i didn't tell you because it's just like he's ace is very not okay with spiders very very very not okay him and his dad both have pretty bad arachnophobia but i love spiders does he have an issue with gosh playing with the spider it's just more like
00:12:45
Speaker
It's all right. Like the first thing he said was like, I mean, it's a tarantula at a convention. It's defanged and and had its venom removed. And I was like, so not necessarily. And he was like, you seriously. And I'm like, listen, it's fine.
00:12:59
Speaker
First of all. Second of all, like that's so mean. She said it's kind of like defawing a cat. Like they need that. So it's how they digest their food. Yeah. Like they need it. And third of all, like this lady had him out at a convention.
00:13:11
Speaker
Like she was letting people actively hold it you're not going to do that if your spider is venomous, first of all, or a problem. And second of all, she said he doesn't really, she doesn't really attack. Like she's a really sweet little girl, blah, blah, whatever. And I was like, and I held her. And like, it was more just like that knee jerk reaction. It wasn't like, he was like, how dare you? It was more like the worry. It's the parent worry, you know? i'm so glad he wasn't there so that could still experience it. He probably still would have. ok It would have just been a lot of A's standing back there, like making a face at me like,
00:13:41
Speaker
ah That's what would scare Bash, though. That's true. That could instill that fear in him when there's no reason for fear. Yeah. But I mean. Now he got to play with the fuzzy little spider. Yes. He was fine with it after, you know, I told him and I showed him the picture and he was like, okay.
00:13:58
Speaker
But yeah, like, I cannot stop staring at your boobs. I'm so sorry. They look good. Hey, ladies out there, I want you to know it's okay. I think we need to bring back, like, complimenting each other's boobies.
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah. Not in a like ah sexual way. Not in a like ah kind of like you're like, you know what? I really like your hair today. Like, really like your boobs today. I feel like every little lady needs that in their life.
00:14:21
Speaker
You know, just that little that little pick me up of like from not a creepy guy. Right. Yes. You know, just your creepy friends not sexualizing you, just telling you you look pretty.
00:14:31
Speaker
Right. Appreciating nice tits where nice tits are there. Exactly. Sorry. you can't just really say that to a stranger. Exactly. Like there's ah
Tales of the Headless Horseman
00:14:40
Speaker
maybe some situations where you can get away with it.
00:14:42
Speaker
There's been a few times I have. Right. But I mean, but that was probably drunk Nyleen. um So lastly, before we move on my favorite part was when I told you to away with Bash for a second so that I could, um i think I was buying something or looking something. You were getting it something bottled water? No, I was getting um a poster of Adventure Time things. Right. A dark ah darkened version of like the...
00:15:09
Speaker
the lich and adventure time, which was amazing, by the way. Anyways, so yes, so I told you to away with him and he was spending so much time on your shoulders. I felt so bad for you. But there was a moment there where I looked around and I could not find you guys. And I was like,
00:15:24
Speaker
It was an oh no not oh no, like what, like I was concerned for like him. It was like, I was concerned for you. i was like, oh he's taking her and like, she's, he's going to overwhelm her or he's going to ask her for something and she's not going to know what to do And I messaged you.
00:15:43
Speaker
And where do I find you in the middle of the aisle where she would never be, never, ever be on her best day. And with a little toddler just sitting there playing in the aisle in front of show, not in the front of a show, but watching a show. So yeah, that was my favorite. I think just watching him like get you out of your shell and drag you everywhere. Yeah, he definitely...
00:16:07
Speaker
uh he removes the shell the shell just goes away when he's there i would do anything for that kid oh he's the greatest yeah he pretty much is the best um i'm actually gonna revise my favorite thing about it i really enjoyed spending that time with both of you it was so fun and i i don't know i felt loved well you are loved so that's good all right it's getting too sappy all right let's fuck some shit up all right all right
00:16:42
Speaker
i'm going to tell you some stories today. all about how your life got to have turned upside down. Sorry. i was torn between... that was That was a nim look in case anyone was curious.
00:16:56
Speaker
um I'm going to be telling you stories and not in West Philadelphia. and okay what are your stories about today? Are you familiar with the various legends of Headless Horsemen?
00:17:08
Speaker
So like... Yes and no. Like, mainly just from, like, the standpoint of, like, it's a headless horseman and something to do. Like, the one that you told about that candle jack or something.
00:17:21
Speaker
Yeah, Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, ah most people have at least heard of Washington Irving's short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Oh, yeah. um And I'm cover that one first.
00:17:32
Speaker
Okay. I'm sure you've seen the Tim Burton version. Have you seen any other Legend of Sleepy Hollow movie? I didn't see the Tim Burton version. Oh, really? Okay. um The only remember was a cartoon one from back in the day. Yeah, that one. Okay, yeah. So that's also the one that i most remember. and That was the one that I...
00:17:51
Speaker
<unk> as a kid yeah it was the adventures of ichabod and mr toad yes and so it was two separate stories it had wind of the willows and the legend of cindyala so that's that's the one that stuck with me that's the one i always think first yeah i did read the short story at some point when i was a kid but i didn't read it again until i was prepping for this in my head it was a book it's actually a short story oh yeah But yeah, I think I associated things from the cartoon with my memories of the original. So I was really surprised that the story was so short.
00:18:19
Speaker
ah There's no dialogue. um And the story is told from the perspective of someone who heard the story from someone else. And I already showed you the pictures. and I'm glad that that's the one you remember too. So I'm going to give just like a quick summary of the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Okay.
00:18:32
Speaker
Ichabod Crane is the new teacher for the superstitious town of Sleepy Hollow. He's a decidedly awkward dude, and he falls in love with Katrina Van Tassel, the local hot heiress. And he tries to court her on the sly.
00:18:44
Speaker
But he has to be smooth about it because the local beefcake, Brom Bones, also has the hot for Katrina. Is this the one with Johnny Depp? That is the Tim Burton one, yeah. Okay. Yeah. it is not faithful but also faithful but also it really villainizes women and i do have fond memories of that movie but when you look back at it it's like every woman in that is demonized okay that's like everything from our childhood i know though childhood was 10 years apart you can take that part but there's so many mentions of us being 10 years apart it's fine
00:19:16
Speaker
and So Brom was aware that Ichabod was going after Katrina, but Ichabod did not make himself available to get his ass kicked. Brom recruited his friends to harass Ichabod, but Ichabod stood firm.
00:19:28
Speaker
Later that fall, there was a Harfist party at the Van Tassel home. People were telling ghost stories and Brom recounted the legend of the Headless Horseman, said to be the ghost of a Haitian soldier from the Revolutionary War. And the Haitian soldiers were just known for being very, very brutal.
00:19:42
Speaker
ah This soldier apparently had his head removed with a cannon. Oh, fun. Yeah. Some time after the ghost stories, Ichabod decided it was time to tell Katrina how he felt. The narrator says he doesn't know how the conversation went, but that Ichabod left quickly and did not look pleased.
00:19:57
Speaker
We then get the showdown between the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane. And by showdown, I mean that Ichabod, scared shitless, tried to shake the shadowed rider that had begun to chase him, but to no avail.
00:20:08
Speaker
The following day, the townspeople found on the other side of the bridge out of town Ichabod's hat and a shattered pumpkin. He was never heard from again. da du du Right.
00:20:19
Speaker
So while the legend of Sleepy Hollow was definitely an American folktale, it had its origins from Europe. I think we at least briefly mentioned the Wild Hunt in our holiday episode. and That's likely going to be its own episode in the future, so i'm not going to get too deep into that. She keeps saying. I know.
00:20:34
Speaker
But basically the Wild Hunt is of Germanic roots and depicts an entourage of fearsome beasts and hunters with a typically named character at the lead, like Odin, Fral Perchda, or Henry Cavill.
00:20:45
Speaker
Yes. he can be in anything he wants to be anything anything Washington Irving wrote Sleepy Hollow while traveling through Europe and meeting his contemporaries it's likely he would have explored the history and folklore of the area and he came in contact with a poem that likely lent inspiration from Godfried August Berger Der Wild Jager which translates into Wild Henzmen the other more likely culprit as a source of inspiration was the Irish Dullahan This thing is fucking cool.
00:21:18
Speaker
The Dullahan was a Celtic fertility god whose tradition involved decapitations as tribute. Like she would decapitate people or people decapitated in tribute of her? Him. Decapitated in tribute to to him. Okay, got it. yeah um He was dropped with the introduction of Christianity and now he's just big mad and restless and wanders the Irish countryside.
00:21:37
Speaker
ah Like most ancient monsters, the descriptions vary from village to village. He's always headless and there's always a horse. Sometimes the head is not there at all. Sometimes he's holding it.
00:21:48
Speaker
Sometimes it's attached to the pommel of the saddle, which is my favorite because every time I think of that, I hear a squish of it being put on the... Yeah, sorry. See, I don't know why I imagined one that was like, that you took the guts out and then you put it on there.
00:22:03
Speaker
Oh, that's probably more... No, no, yours yours makes most the most sense. Squish. The horse is usually black and sometimes also headless. Sometimes the horse is pulling Wait.
00:22:16
Speaker
Horse is headless? Sometimes. Aww. I don't like that. Yeah. Well, sometimes the horse is pulling a hearse carriage. Oh, that's okay. The wheels of the carriage are made from human bones. Ooh, fun.
00:22:29
Speaker
In some accounts, the Dullahan horse and carriage are all completely silent. And my favorite part, the Dullahan carries a whip made of a human spine. Ooh. That sounds just really awesome. If you see a Dullahan, you or someone you know is going to suffer a terrible fate.
00:22:44
Speaker
But if you throw gold in its path, he'll disappear. And the horrible fate will not come to pass. Apparently we need to make sure we're wearing gold jewelry if we go to Ireland. Okay. Some other headless legends include a whole bunch of saints that were beheaded, referred to as cephalophores or head carrier in Greek.
00:23:01
Speaker
These were generally martyrs for their causes, and there were several such saints depicted in paintings and sculptures. Some pictures. Oh, I have oddly enough not seen these.
00:23:15
Speaker
<unk> Interesting. yeah there's tons of them. I just picked few. There's like a ridiculous amount of ancient art depicting saints carrying their heads after having been slaughtered for their cause.
00:23:26
Speaker
And now, perhaps the most well-known headless legend on a horse... comes from Arthurian legends. Are you familiar with the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? No.
00:23:37
Speaker
Okay. During a winter celebration in King Arthur's castle, a massive knight, all in green on a green horse, enters the Great Hall and issues a challenge. He will not request a duel because everyone there is too weak.
00:23:50
Speaker
Instead, you will allow someone to deal him a blow in any way they see fit, and in a year and a day, the Green Knight would return the same blow. oh Sir Gawain was King Arthur's nephew and not yet a Knight of the Round Table.
00:24:05
Speaker
He stepped forward. In one slash, he removed the head of the Green Knight. At that point, instead of falling over dead, the Green Knight picked up his head and through it reminded Gawain that in a year and a day, they must meet at the Green Chapel so he could return the blow. I was about to say, like, why would you do that? He just told you what would happen.
00:24:23
Speaker
Well, clearly, if the man doesn't have a head, you would think. No, this is clearly a fuck around and find out situation. And he definitely fucked around like a dum-dum. You ready to find out? I mean, i feel like i already know what's going to happen.
00:24:36
Speaker
Okay, well, let's see. Good to his word, because he's a knight or wants to be in the round table, Gawain set out to find the Green Chapel. On his way, he stopped to meet the lord and lady of a lovely castle.
00:24:49
Speaker
He told them of his adventures, and they invited him to rest there for a few days. Each day, the Lord offered to give Gawain whatever he got hunting if Gawain would give him whatever he gained that day.
00:25:01
Speaker
The first day, while the Lord was hunting, his wife tried to get into Gawain's pants. Okay. He rebuked her advances, but she gave him a kiss. When the Lord returned with the day's catch, Gawain traded to him a kiss with no explanation.
00:25:16
Speaker
This repeated for two more days.
00:25:20
Speaker
This has totally gone in a different direction. I know. it's This is the least spooky of them, but it's the most known. This turned into a ah what's it called? Porn? Oh. Oh, I meant like where you, um Pineapple, were you? Oh, Swingers? Yeah, Swingers. A Swingers situation. Yeah, gotcha.
00:25:37
Speaker
but Nothing wrong with being Polly. I just think it's funny. not Not where you expected a spooky story to go. yeah So this repeated for two more days, but on the third day, the lady insisted that he take her scarf along with the kiss.
00:25:50
Speaker
She said it was enchanted, and if he wore it, harm would never befall him. Since he was heading towards his own beheading, he was too tempted to pass it up. But she made him swear not to tell her husband.
00:26:01
Speaker
So when the Lord returned, Gawain exchanged a kiss for the day's catch, but did not mention the scarf. At this point, he leaves the castle to complete the journey and go to the Green Chapel. When he arrives, the Green Knight is there, and Gawain kneels and exposes his neck.
00:26:14
Speaker
The Green Knight swings his sword, and Gawain flinches. The Green Knight gives him shit, but then goes for another swing. But he doesn't complete this one either. Gawain is just barely nicked on the neck.
00:26:27
Speaker
The knight tells Gawain he was testing his courage and conviction. The green knight is then revealed to be the lord of the castle and has been glamoured by Morgan Le Fay. The reason he was nicked is because he wasn't honest about the scarf.
00:26:39
Speaker
o The end. I'm going to talk about one more headless horseman story. This one has much more recent origins. I'm going to take you to South Texas in the 1840s, 1850s.
00:26:51
Speaker
Not a good time. Not great. At this time, the area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River were truly lawless. The border was being disputed at the time and US and Mexico were fighting over which one made the Texas-Mexico border.
00:27:05
Speaker
So that land in between those two rivers was really dangerous. Yeah. The Rio Grande was ultimately decided as the actual border, but it took decades to implement that. The Texas Rangers were formed specifically for this reason, they were formed to get this under control.
00:27:19
Speaker
One of these Texas Rangers was Creed Taylor. Several of his prized horses were taken by a prolific horse thief named Vidal. Taylor did not take kindly to this, so he got fellow ranger William Alexander Anderson Bigfoot Wallace. No.
00:27:34
Speaker
All of these names. And tracked down Vidal and his crew. They waited until nightfall and murdered them all. But as it seems people like this are wont to do, killing them did not satiate their rage.
00:27:45
Speaker
Because they were dickbags. They wanted to send a message to the other thieves and bandits. I mean, yes, stealing is wrong, but this is a little bit harsh. They had already done so many heinous things like stringing dead bandits up from trees and leaving them hanging or chopping them up and leaving pieces of their bodies for wild animals.
00:28:01
Speaker
And because that apparently wasn't teaching them, they wanted to go a step further. So Taylor had Bigfoot chop off his head, mount him to the saddle attached to the wild horse, tie the head to the saddle and let them loose. Oh my gosh.
00:28:14
Speaker
The body was eventually found and buried, but there have been sightings of a and sorry a headless man on a horse in that area at night ever since. That's sad, that poor horse. There is more to that story, but two of the three sources I found were very whitewashed and I hated them. That's fair.
00:28:33
Speaker
And so I don't have more information. But anyways, that was the some of the many legends of head deficient equestrians. Oh, loving it.
00:28:44
Speaker
but
00:28:48
Speaker
I am ready.
Life and Tragedy of Empress Elisabeth
00:28:49
Speaker
Bring it. So today, i'm going to tell you about the Empress of Austria, Elizabeth. How much do you know about this little lady?
00:28:59
Speaker
Maybe nothing. There's a lot about her. and It was, I'm gonna just go ahead and warn you, it was so hard to stay on on topic because there's just so much about her life that is not in this. Like, I really do suggest you and everyone else who likes to learn things, just Google her and like look up stuff. As you go deeper and deeper, it just gets weirder. But yeah, so anyways.
00:29:25
Speaker
I wonder if there's a podcast I can listen to that'll tell me about it. Probably not. um The first bit um is just going to be a little bit of background. So she was born Duchess Elizabeth Emily Eugene in Bavaria on December 24th, 1837.
00:29:45
Speaker
It's Christmas Eve, I think, right? She eventually became the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary in 1854 after her marriage to Franz Joseph the first of Austria.
00:29:56
Speaker
For those of you that are like me and hear Franz and say, oh, Franz Ferdinand, it's a different guy entirely. Apparently, Franz Ferdinand is Franz Joseph, the first nephew and the eventual heir to the throne. But we'll get there.
00:30:11
Speaker
France Joseph I was Elizabeth's first cousin and the child of her aunt, the Archduchess Sophie. So the fun part about all of this was that Elizabeth was not originally supposed to be the Empress.
00:30:24
Speaker
The role was originally promised to her sister, Helene, but the Emperor fell in love with Elizabeth instead. And for those of you who that did the math earlier, ah they married when she was only 16. Yeah.
00:30:35
Speaker
yeah Again, it was all natural at the time, but it's still a little icky. Yeah. So because she was not raised to be a royal, she was challenged a lot in her role as empress and struggled with the confinement and restrictions that came with being a royal at the time.
00:30:51
Speaker
Being tasked to produce an heir, she had four children, three of them before her 21st birthday, and they were difficult births. um But she only had one male heir. ah Her aunt and mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, saw Elizabeth as unfit to raise her royal children. So she took the role of mother over grandmother onto herself, along with the help of a governess.
00:31:14
Speaker
So basically had her pushing out kids and then took them from her. Great. Yeah. So to make matters worse, um in 1857, Elizabeth insisted on taking her two children with her on a visit to Hungary and her two year old daughter, Sophie caught typhoid and died. home So that didn't really help the perception that she couldn't look after her kids.
00:31:38
Speaker
Death did seem to follow her because later in life in 1889, her 30-year-old son, Rudolph, was found dead in his bed next to his 17-year-old mistress, Baroness Mary Vistera.
00:31:51
Speaker
So while there is a lot of mystery surrounding the murder, it seems to have been a murder-suicide pact that the lovers had made. The medical reports showed that Mary had been dead for upwards of 40 hours at the time she was found.
00:32:04
Speaker
She was covered in blood and holding wilted flowers. The crown prince, Rudolph, had died more recently and was laying next to her. With Rudolph being the only heir to the throne, the royal family, including Elizabeth, went into damage control mode.
00:32:19
Speaker
In order to remove Mary from the property without anyone noticing, she was dressed up, put in a carriage as if she was still alive, and a stick placed in the back of her dress to prop her up. Oh, gross. Yes.
00:32:30
Speaker
Her death certificate was noted that she committed suicide and she was buried so quickly and secretly that even her own mother was not able to attend the funeral. As for the prince, he would not be able to have a church burial if he would have committed suicide.
00:32:44
Speaker
um And the optics on that just, you know, weren't good. So the medical certificate was signed off that he was not responsible for his actions at the time that he killed himself. um An insanity plea to the church.
00:32:57
Speaker
Is kind of what that sounds like to me. Yeah. So he was buried in the church against, you know, what should have happened at the time. All this to say, the pressure to appear in control and in good health was something that was really, really important to the royals and really plagued Elizabeth throughout her life. hmm.
00:33:16
Speaker
So a few fun facts in that story I just told. Firstly, Emperor Franz Joseph had the hunting lodge that his son died in converted into a convent. They even had the altar permanently placed in the spot in his bedroom where they were found dead.
00:33:31
Speaker
Oh, that's dark. Yes. ah Secondly, Elizabeth's morning clothes and mask were amazingly beautiful. Oh my gosh. All black with a beautiful velvet lace, glass beads, ostrich feathers, a full mask that made her look like a raven. is there pictures this? Yes.
00:33:49
Speaker
I will tag it on the site. Like apparently a lot of her clothing is actually on display in different places. That's the mask. Oh. Yes. And again, I'll put these on the site.
00:34:01
Speaker
And then this is the dress. Oh, I want it. I know. It's it's really pretty. But yeah, those are the people that killed themselves. That was a suicide note.
00:34:13
Speaker
And yeah, more of the dress. Wow. Yeah. So. i could do a whole show on Victorian morning clothes. Oh, I know. i have. Some notes. Something similar. Nice.
00:34:25
Speaker
Not quite that, though. So, yeah, with the deaths of her children looming over her and now having no heir to the throne, um she was kind of known to be really depressed and really flighty for obvious reasons at this point.
00:34:39
Speaker
ah She spent most of her life traveling away from the court. She's best known historically for her integral role in the joining of Hungary and Austria and her immense beauty. She had a really intense beauty regimen of warm oil baths, eye masks made of raw meal and strawberries.
00:34:56
Speaker
I'm sorry, raw veal and strawberries. That's definitely different. Yes. Distilled water baths and vinegar for ah soaking her clothes in. I don't know, maybe he got the stench out. Yeah. I don't know. imagine that would be that.
00:35:10
Speaker
Warm oil bath. yes huh now they need to keep her like counterproductive i agree with that uh she was also known for her tight-laced corsets at one point getting as small as 16 inches in circumference yes so she was known for a few things um she was a little bit of a wild card she would stay up all night reading and writing how dare oh yeah witch she would be smoking all night and riding horses.
00:35:36
Speaker
That was something she apparently really liked to do. um And at age 51 in 1888, she got a tattoo of an anchor on her shoulder to reflect her love of the sea. So basically she was just another lady born in a time that wanted her to basically have kids serve the emperor all while dealing with immense political pressure from all sides to be a perfect Royal.
00:35:56
Speaker
But she just wanted to be her. Yeah. She just wasn't that person. i kind of love her. I figured you would. but Yeah. But wait, there's more. So there were a lot of territory disagreements at the time. And Austria was in a constant struggle to keep the kingdom of Lombardy, ah Venetia, under their rule.
00:36:15
Speaker
So this area fought for independence for many years um and only became the unified kingdom of Italy in 1859 when Austria finally seceded the territory. So just to find a little history lesson for you. Yeah.
00:36:27
Speaker
So this is all important because in 1898, one year prior to this change in rule, 60 year old Elizabeth traveled to Geneva, Switzerland.
00:36:39
Speaker
She was warned against traveling alone by Royal security due to the risk of being assassinated. Elizabeth ignored these warnings and traveled to the hotel boat Riviage with just her lady in waiting a countess.
00:36:51
Speaker
At 1.35 p.m. on Saturday, September 1898, Elizabeth and her lady-in-waiting left the hotel to catch the steamship Genevieve for Montreux. Elizabeth hated people fussing all over her.
00:37:04
Speaker
Again, she didn't really want to be a royal. yeah And she hated processions. So she instead insisted on walking alone, just her and her countess. As they were walking, 25-year-old Italian anarchist Luigi Luciani approached them and attempted to look under Elizabeth's parasol.
00:37:22
Speaker
As the nearby ship's bell started to ring, announcing the departure, Lusheni stumbled forward and his hand pressed itself against the Empress. As Lusheni fell into her, Elizabeth collapsed onto the ground, but was quickly able to get back up.
00:37:38
Speaker
After being hit in the chest, she stood, continued on her way, wondering why the man had struck her he or if maybe he was trying to steal from her. yeah Elizabeth had asked her companion, what do you think that man wanted from me? Maybe my watch?
00:37:52
Speaker
So Elizabeth and her companion continued walking towards the boat. They walked about 100 yards to board the boat. But once on the boat, Elizabeth lost consciousness and collapsed onto the deck. Her companion called out for a doctor, but they were only able to find another passenger who happened to be a nurse on board to help.
00:38:11
Speaker
Once the captain became aware that there was a lady passed out on the deck, he advised the countess to take Elizabeth back to the hotel and get off the boat. But the boat was already starting to sail away from the harbor. Right.
00:38:22
Speaker
And no one had told him that this was the Empress Faustria either. Oh, shit. Yeah, there's that. So at this time, three men carried the Empress to the top deck of the boat, laid her out on a bench.
00:38:34
Speaker
Her companion, the Countess, opened Elizabeth's dress and cut the corset laces in the hopes that this would help her breathe better. At this, the Empress opened her eyes, responded that she wasn't in any pain, and stated her last words, What actually did happen to me?
00:38:50
Speaker
Before losing consciousness. Upon further inspection, the Countess noticed a small brown stain above her left breast. Paired with the Empress's lack of responsiveness, the Countess decided now was the time to inform the Captain of the Empress's identity, and the boat immediately turned around to the to get the Empress back to Geneva.
00:39:10
Speaker
So the crew created a stretcher from a sail, cushions, two oars. Six sailors carried her on a makeshift stretcher from the boat back to the hotel. And back at the hotel, Elizabeth was examined by the hotel director's wife, Fanny Mayer, who was a nurse.
00:39:25
Speaker
Fanny and the Countess noticed there were a few small drops of blood and a small wound on the Empress's chest. But at this point, they also realized that the Empress was already dead. Oh, shit.
00:39:36
Speaker
So two doctors and a priest finally arrived to pronounce her death at 2.10 p.m. So the next day the autopsy was performed. It was found that what had killed her had penetrated 3.33 inches into her thorax, fractured her fourth rib, pierced the lung and pericardium and penetrated the heart from the top before coming out of the base of her left ventricle.
00:39:59
Speaker
Damn. Yes. So as you've probably figured out by now, Luigi Lucchini did not trip and fall into the Empress by accident. Luigi had originally planned to kill the Duke of Orleans in protest of plutocracy, but the Duke had caught an earlier ship and Luigi failing to find the Duke decided to assassinate Elizabeth instead when a Geneva newspaper accidentally leaked that the Empress of Austria was traveling the area under the pseudonym of Countess of Hohenbs.
00:40:31
Speaker
When Luigi stumbled into the Empress, he stabbed her in the chest with a sharpened needle file that was four inches long. Now, this file was very small as it was used to sharpen industrial needles.
00:40:42
Speaker
So it's very thin, but very strong. um He had fastened it to a wood handle to turn it into a weapon. And it's believed he specifically used an old rusty one to keep it from shining and catching attention as he fell into her.
00:40:56
Speaker
With the file having been so sharp and thin, the wound was very narrow and due to the pressure from Elizabeth's extremely tight corsetting, the hemorrhage of blood into the pericardial sac around the heart was slowed to just a few drops at a time. So just the tiniest little leak every tick of her heartbeats.
00:41:16
Speaker
It took some time for the leak to obstruct her heart beating, which is why the Empress had been able to walk from the sidewalk up the boat's boarding ramp without losing consciousness. That's nuts. Yes. Another fun little fact, the medical examiner photographed the wound, but turned the photograph over to the Swiss procurator general who had it destroyed on the orders of Franz Josef.
00:41:37
Speaker
Along with the autopsy instruments for respect of the Empress. But yeah, I mean, if her corset hadn't been so tight, I mean, she would have probably started bleeding out pretty immediately.
00:41:48
Speaker
But by order of the Emperor, her body was placed in a triple coffin, two inner ones of lead, the third and exterior one in bronze, all with like frills all over it. To ensure that the emperor could identify her body, her coffin was fitted with two glass panels and the panels were covered with doors so that they could be slid back for her face to be seen.
00:42:10
Speaker
Pine lead? I don't know. have some research to do. um I do wonder how they sealed those doors, though, or if they like can still open them, because her casket is above ground in a tomb next to her husband and child to this day. Yeah, like you can visit it, but it's obviously like walled off. Right.
00:42:30
Speaker
Not walled off, but cordoned off. Yes, thank you. That work. So as for Luigi Luciani... He fled down towards the water and threw his file towards the entrance to one of the docks.
00:42:42
Speaker
He was found by two cab drivers and a sailor and turned in. The weapon wasn't found until the next day, and there was no blood on the file. The tip was broken off from attempting to dispose of it. Apparently, he had originally planned to purchase a stiletto, which is an actual knife of the same type, for those of you who don't know, but he couldn't afford it, so he decided to make this himself.
00:43:02
Speaker
Lusheni said that the police interview, quote, As the two of them stepped out onto the street, I was leaning on the railing of the lakeshore. I ran towards her and blocked her way.
00:43:13
Speaker
i bent down and looked under the umbrella. I didn't want to get the wrong one. They both wore black. She wasn't particularly pretty. Quite old already. Wow. Right? Like insult to injury.
00:43:24
Speaker
When I gave her a push, I knew she was going to die. I pushed with all my strength and felt the weapon penetrate deep into her chest. She also fell over as if struck by lightning.
00:43:35
Speaker
So Lushani was tried before the Geneva court, which he was pissed about because they had abolished the death penalty there. If they didn't kill him for his crime, he couldn't send the martyr message that he wanted to send.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yes. To this, he demanded that he be tried by the laws of the canton of Lucerne, which still had the death penalty in place. He penned a letter where he stated, quote, I am an anarchist by conviction. I came to Geneva to kill a sovereign with object of giving example to those who suffer and those who do nothing to improve their social position.
00:44:14
Speaker
It did not matter to me who the sovereign was whom I should kill. It was not a woman I struck, but an empress. It was a crown that I had in view. Signed, Luigi Luccherny, anarchist and one of the most dangerous.
00:44:26
Speaker
I'm sorry, Luigi who? End quote. yeah Since the Empress was famous for having preferred the company of the common man, known for her charitable works, and considered a blameless target in this situation, Lushani's sanity was questioned for a while.
00:44:41
Speaker
He was found to be sane, but was tried as a common murderer, not a political criminal. This ensured that he would be given a life in prison sentence and be denied the opportunity to make his political statement.
00:44:52
Speaker
At this, he attempted to kill himself in his cell with the sharpened key from a tin of sardines two years later. He failed. But 10 years later, he succeeded in hanging himself with the belt in his cell after a guard confiscated his incomplete memoirs.
00:45:07
Speaker
Wow. Yes. So one more fun little fact before i end this. Her death actually resulted in the International Conference of Rome for the Social Defense Against Anarchists, which was the first international conference against terrorism.
00:45:21
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. I had never heard of any of that. That was freaking fascinating. Yeah. And you say there's more? Yes. Oh my God. There's so much more. Like, I know this was a long one, but like i would finish it and then I was like, oh, but I really wanted to talk about this.
00:45:35
Speaker
Oh, but I really want to talk about this. Like she just had such a like... chaotic life but she also had a very like I'm gonna do what I want to do i don't give a fuck attitude but she was also very beautiful very classy very like you know what I mean like she was just kick ass right yeah and and she was very for the people You know, she was known and that's kind of why there was this weird, this weird, because the the emperor and the past emperors at the time were very well known for being like, well, this is...
00:46:11
Speaker
we're we're the rich, you're the poor, like you serve us and and we're class, like you don't talk to us, you just do what you're told and pay your taxes. And if you can't pay, you die and this whole thing. And she was very much one of the those people that started kind of turning around like that is a human being.
00:46:28
Speaker
you can't expect them to work in these conditions. You can't expect this, like trying to humanize these people who are humans. And so that there was, that's why a lot of the back and forth,
00:46:40
Speaker
between all the territories was happening because there were there was the anarchy group who was very much like well we really really want to take down the emperor but i think the emperor is just trying to change him uh maybe we see this out uh don't really know and so that's i think that was a lot that a lot of that played into the whole like why they would not let these kinds of statements be made but yeah Yeah, there was a lot of death.
00:47:05
Speaker
And it's really interesting to if you look into, maybe I'll give you that as my add to add to the nightmare fuel. Yeah, there was a ah whole thing about her son Rudolph and the murder suicide yeah and the cover ups that were attempted behind all that and the way evidence was falsified and just the levels they went to.
00:47:26
Speaker
It was insane. that's crazy you don't really think about that kind of intrigue and fuckery happening in these pristine victoria say pristine victoria times they're very fucking dark but you know to say um but you know proper you know but that's that's that was really fascinating yeah i've been waiting to do that one
00:47:49
Speaker
Got a couple of would you
Spooky 'Would You Rather' Game
00:47:51
Speaker
rathers for you. All right. Got some for me. Yes. So would you rather find a human finger in your backyard or a complete stranger's family photo album under your bed?
00:48:03
Speaker
Sorry. She's looking up at the ceiling. Well, I just, I'm i'm thinking like, ah you know, a finger in the yard and doesn't actually really seem too sinister to me. You're like, oh, someone lost a finger. yeah like that just seems like ah like a dumb tool accident and one of the neighborhood cats was carrying it around and dropped it. I don't know. That's not alarming. It's fine. it You know.
00:48:23
Speaker
I don't know. It doesn't seem so scary. And it seems really eerie and scary, the idea of the photo album under my bed, but it also sounds really cool. Oh my God. No, because you don't believe in ghosts. And so that means there's a real person under your bed.
00:48:37
Speaker
It's photo albums, you said. Yeah, but who's reading those photo albums in your room? Fair. Did you not think of how it would have gone? Okay, you go.
00:48:49
Speaker
Okay. Would you rather be in a river full of piranhas or a jungle full of tigers? Jungle tigers? I can't escape rivers with piranhas, one.
00:49:01
Speaker
And two, I'm afraid of water that I can't see in. So definitely, I'd rather go for the unknown and be mauled to death than drown while being eaten.
00:49:12
Speaker
I would just assume they're being cute kitty cats. And I would also go with the tigers. Okay, you Would you rather find out your house was built on an ancient burial ground or a site of a historical massacre?
00:49:25
Speaker
I mean, you're on dead bodies either way. i i would massacre. That depends. Is it it like a political? Is it it like a military thing? I don't know. i don't have details. I mean, what are your what are your parameters? I suppose.
00:49:39
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like on the burial ground feels disrespectful. Yes. So that's why. And then you're going garden there. Like, I mean, chances are the nutrients are fantastic in the soil.
Episode Conclusion
00:49:55
Speaker
next yes um would you rather would you rather be trapped in a room with spiders crawling over you or snakes slithering around your feet snakes yes like i like spiders but they like to go places and then you can't find them and then i'm like oh i don't know where you're hiding don't know, man. I've seen ah garden snake like pop up and like wiggle its way like um almost like it was on its feet, which it doesn't have. Just wiggle away really, really fast like in ways I did not expect a garden snake to move. I love snakes so much. I would have one if I could.
00:50:36
Speaker
But i feel bad leaving them in like, because you need to give them like huge enclosures if you want them to grow to like a real good, nice size bit. Would you rather be able to speak to the dead, but they all resent you or be friends with a demon who secretly plans your demise?
00:50:54
Speaker
Am I not already friends with you, the demon? No, just kidding. Oh, don't look at me like that. Now I think I'm right. So a demon that plots my demise or what? Would you rather be able to speak to the dead, but they all resent you or be friends with a demon who secretly plans your demise?
00:51:10
Speaker
So I feel like I should say the ones that resent me, but like, if I know that somebody resents me and I can tell, like, I would hate that. But if he's secretly plotting my demise, then I'm good because I don't have the anxiety about it think everything's fine. Exactly.
00:51:23
Speaker
that one. But then you're going to die eventually. Quicker. Probably. We're all going to die. That's fair. That's fair. So that's our nightmare. Yeah.
00:51:35
Speaker
Sweet dreams. Have a good night. If you have topic requests, book or movie recommendations, or just want to say hi, email us at nightmarecottage at gmail.com or visit our website at nightmarecottage.com. Sweet dreams.