The Inquisition Palace is one of the more bizarre museums in Cartagena. It documents a dark pocket in Colombia’s history similar to the Salem witch-burning era in this country.
According to an historical plaque on the first floor of the building – the one in the image above – the inquisition began in Europe in the early part of the 12th century, which the Catholic church imposed and used as a tool to confront heresy. It was called The Holy Office: Identification of the other.
Between 1231-1233, Pope Gregory IX conferred legal status on this institution. In 1478, under the reign of Castilla and Aragon, with authorization from Pope Pius IV, the inquisition was formally established in Spain. And from there, it made its way to Colombia. Here’s an artist’s rendition of what the cells were like.
The usual suspects were persecuted – anyone who practiced divination, astrologers, people suspected of practicing black magic, anyone who was different than the norm. The accused sat on this block of rock in an open courtyard for judgement.
What I found particularly disturbing about this museum was the instruments of torture that were used. Take a look at this collar. Imagine how this would feel around your neck.
Or this sucker. Move your head and the device penetrated your throat.
In one of the courtyards, a guillotine and a noose were displayed.
One of the tourists, a woman, actually went over to the guillotine and stuck her head in that opening between the base and the blade, then also went over to the noose and fitted the rope around her neck. Death wish, lady?
To wander through a place like this, you have to detach emotionally and regard it as some awful period of history. I want to believe humanity has evolved beyond horror like this, but we haven’t. Our forms of torture today are just different – waterboarding at Gitmo, chemical weapons in Syria, economic deprivation, nukes. And I suppose that’s the importance of museums like this, reminders of our capacity for needless cruelty.
And look at the woman the trump admin has nominated for head of the CIA – Gina Haspel, who oversaw the black sites during the Bush years that ran the waterboarding torture program. Sorry, but this country’s ideals don’t include torture or those who perpetrate it. Bye, Gina.
This comment is for the last post you guys wrote (Like Magic), but like magic the “Leave a Reply” box has disappeared on that post, so I’ll have to write my comment here.
I was listening (still am) to you guys on the Exploring Unexplained Phenomena radio program and heard the fog on the golf course story and I thought that you guys should collect creepy golf course stories and put out a book called something like “Beyond the 18th Hole”.
What would sell better than a book about golf and creepy stories about golf?
Anyway, I did a search on golf and vortexes and came across this You Tube about a haunted golf course in New York state –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB3s26wt2LU
I also came across a story of a father who had a son who was killed in a plane crash and as the father made his winning shot a rainbow appeared briefly (see the photo at the link, 8.DAVIS LOVE III AND A TIMELY RAINBOW) then disappeared again.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/the-top-10-moments-in-pro-golf-that-turned-supernatural
I’ve never heard of a book about creepy golf stories before and I imagine a book like would sell well, especially around Father’s day and Christmas.
You could also refer to golf featured in creepy movies like ‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘Melancholia’.
Something “FOUR!!!” you guys to think about anyway. 😉
And here is an amusing scary looking golf illusion if you click on this link below, which would make a great book cover for such a golf book –
https://www.moillusions.com/scary-golfer-optical-illusion/
What a great idea!will check out those links!
There is another creepy looking video about Thompson Park at this link –
https://lite987.com/investigating-the-thompson-park-vortex-cny-paranormal/
Was just about to take a look at the first links you sent
Meant to say: I closed the comments on that like magic post because spammers were using it!
creepy images on two of those links. I like that one for a possible book cover!
I’m reading a book called ‘Draw Your Weapons’ by Sarah Sentilles, which deals with this subject, but maybe not as far back as the Inquisition…although I still have a third of the book to read yet.
I highly recommend this book and not just because I’ve met and talked to the author under very serendipitous circumstances, like I wrote about in this post –
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com.au/2018/03/synchronicity-42-and-owls.html
But because it is a very good read and meditation on the senselessness of war and torture.
I’ll check out the book – and the link!