Who was the well loved Leather Man?

In the 1860s there was a man who would make a round of every 34 days to visit the same homes. He would travel around 365-mile walk from Connecticut to New York. He went through towns like Danbury, New Fairfield, Watertown, Middletown, and Canaan into Westchester, New York then back to Danbury. Typically this trip would take around 34 days. He would stay in caves and visit homes he was welcomed to for food. Some of these homes he would visit for more than 25 years.

Now, what was the name of this mysterious traveler?

No one knows. People had noted him for his unique fashion and called him Leather Man since he wouldn't say his name. He wore clothes that were stitched together pieces of leather made from old boot tops. He would wear this outfit all year round even during the summer. It was estimated that his jacket alone weighed 60 lbs.

He would not hunt or fish on someone's land without permission. He also kept the caves on his path neat with a pine bough or leaf bed. He would have wood stocked up for the next visit. He preferred to sleep in the caves rather than in people's homes. People were generous and would give the man tobacco, food, and pennies. In some towns, school was let out for Leather Man day so that the children could visit with him and give him pennies.

It seemed that he was fluent in French and spoke broken English. He would mostly talk in grunts and movement. When people were to ask him personal questions it seemed that he would avoid questions and leave the conversation. He carried around with him a bible written in French. It could be possible he was French Canadian or just French.

After a bad winter in 1888, the Leather Man began to have a growth on his lip. Which turned out to have been cancer. He didn't get treated or help with the growth and in 1889 the Leather Man was found dead in one of the caves in Ossining New York.

There have been many theories on who he was. But for the most part, the theories are tales spun to give him some sort of background. None of them have been proven to be true.

Another mystery appeared in 2011 when the grave of Leather Man had been dug up. Other than a few nails there was nothing in the coffin. Leather Man's body wasn't in the grave and no one knows where it had gone.
 
SOURCES:

Historic Mysteries

The Leather Mans Loop

New England Today

The Legend of Peter Dromgoole

Picture of Gimghoul Castel

The legend of Peter Dromgoole and Fannie is a long time legend for the campus of University of North Carolina  at Chapel Hill. This story is popular among students of University of North Carolina. It's a traditional story involving ghosts, passion, love, and a tragic end. Unlike many other Urban Legends this one has a base in truth.

Peter was the son of a prominent family. His grandfather was Reverend Edward Dromgoole an Catholic Irish native who came to America and renounced his Catholicism and became a Methodist Minister in 1770. His Grandfather played an important part in the growth of Methodism in North Carolina. His father Edward Dromgoole II was also a Methodist minister, planter, his mother was Sarah Creese Pelham. His younger brother Edward Dromgoole III graduated from University of North Carolina and was the one of the editors of  first volume of University Magazine. His uncle was Congressman George C. Dromgoole.

Peter was known as a wild child and was daring to anything, loved fast horses, lose women and drinking. In 1832 Peter was sent to  Franklin Male Academy in Louisburg, North Carolina. In 1833 he was sent to Chapel Hill as a freshman. Peter caused troubles at school and a letter was even sent to his father to retrieve his son. Peter claimed that he would not and never go, but soon Peter would disappear to never be seen again.

 One popular story is that Peter soon fell in love with a local girl named Fannie. Fannie and Peter used to meet in secret at a large rock at Piney Prospect, near where Gimgoul castle now resides. Another student had also fallen in love with pretty Fannie. the other man was jealous and envious of the relationship between Fannie and Peter. He had challenged Peter to a duel, and supposedly Peter lost his life that night and was buried and that rock that Fannie and him used to meet at was placed upon it. The rock was stained with his blood and never washed away.

Dear Fannie went to the rock day after day and waited for Peter. She then started asking around campus and tried to find him, but he could not. She died a year later from a broken heart.

Another version said that Fannie had found Peter shot through the heart. He had collapsed on the rock that they would meet at and it was stained with his blood. The witnesses to the crime had buried him quickly and placed the rock upon him. Fannie died later that summer saying that Peter was lonely.

To this day people claim to have seen Fannie and Peter's ghosts on the edge of the forest. Dromgoole's rock does exist, but is not accessible to the public.

Many of the students at the time believed that Peter had left on his own. His books were sent to his parent's and his room was found empty. His family believed that he left school and went west where he was robbed and murdered.

SOURCES:
http://www.ncpedia.org/biography/dromgoole-peter-pelham
http://www.prairieghosts.com/unc.html
http://northcarolinaghosts.com/piedmont/legend-peter-dromgoole/
http://gradschool.unc.edu/funding/gradschool/weiss/interesting_place/history/castle.html
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9525120/peter_dromgoole_mystery/

Who are The Men In Black?

You are probably more familiar with the Movie series Men In Black about an undercover organization who makes sure alien's aren't known to the human population. In reality the movie is based off the legend of the Men In Black (MIB) and that they've been around for decades.

The Men in Black are dressed in black suits and confront those who claim to witness alien activity. According to Ufologist the purpose of the Men In Black is to try to keep witnesses of alien activity to stay silent. This some times includes the threat of harm. There is no evidence of harm ever happening.

The first encounter with the Men In Black happened in the summer of 1947. A private pilot, Kenneth Arnold spotted 9 shiney discs in the sky. Afterwards other people claimed to have seen something similar all over the world. That same summer, Harold Dahl witnessed UFO's around Tacoma Washington. A man dressed in a dark suit confronted him and told him if he disclosed what he saw that harm would come to him. Dahl's sighting is now known as "The Island Mystery."

This sighting would not be the last of the Men In Black as in the 50's a large number of witnesses claimed to have met them. The thing that is most common about these men is that they arrived in new cars, not exclusively black, with unofficial plate numbers. The Men would always be dressed in a black or  dark suit and black Homburg hat. It was believed that they were part of a government organization.

Some even claim that the MIB had telekinetic powers. The powers include knowing when someone in lying to them and they knew a lot of personal information that they shouldn't. Some described it that it seemed as if they were impersonating human beings.

There has been a decline in the reports of Men In Black.





SOURCES:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1707.htm
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/05/23/men_in_black_sightings_do_they_still_happen_.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=KCEtC3xnzuAC&pg=PA218#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Devils Bible

Photograph courtesy to The National Library of Sweden.

The Codex Gigas (Latin for Giant book) or the Devil's Bible is single handedly the biggest book or manuscript from the Middle Ages. It is massive with 310 parchment leaves or pages made from a from 160 different animals (most likely donkeys or calfskin). There are unfortunately a few pages missing from it. This monster of a book weighs a whopping 165 lbs and it takes two adults to lift it. People call it the Devil's Bible not only because of the picture of the Devil in it, but because of the legend that comes with it.

The legend goes that a 13th century Benedict monk broke his vows. For the punishment of  that he was sentenced to be walled up alive. In an attempt to save his own life he promises to write a book in a single night of all human knowledge. Out of mercy they accepted his plea, probably not believing he'd do it. When the monk realized that he could not finish the book he turned to the Devil for help. In return the Devil asked for his soul and the monk gladly gave it to him. In thanks for that the monk dedicated a picture to the Devil.

In reality it is believed they do believe that it was worked on by a single monk, but it was over decades and not a single night. there have been test done that show the calligraphy alone would had taken 5 years of none stop writing. It isn't known who the monk was and no other work done by him had ever been found.

It is believed to be the only bible of that era to depict the Devil. Even though there were many depictions of the Devil in painting the one in this book has a whole page dedicated to him by himself which was rare. On the other side was a picture of  the heavenly city. These are the only two images in the book in which a whole page was dedicated to.

                            Photograph's courtesy to The National Library of Sweden

In the book there many works inside of it. Many of the works include the Bible, some medical information of the time, a calendar, science and alchemy and even more. Even though the legend says that the Devil helped the monk there isn't actually any indications of the Devil being seen in a good light. More than likely the images were placed in the book next to each other to show representations of Good and Evil.

On the pages that followed the Devil image there are instructions and rituals on how to exercise demons. Illnesses during the middle ages were thought to have been caused by the possessions of demons. It wasn't just people, but objects that could be exercised.

It is unsure what the origin of the The Codex Gigas. It is believed to be created in Bohemia which is now modern day Czech Republic. A note in the manuscript stated that it was pawned off by the Podlažice Monks to the monastery at Sedlec in 1295. It was then passed to the monastery of Břevnov near Prague. It isn't known the exact place it was created and it isn't known if it was created at Podlažice, but there is a possibility it was.

In 1594 Rudolf II, who was King of Bohemia 1575-1611, moved the Codex Gigas to his castle in Prague. It remained there up until the 30 Year War and was taken by Sweden. It was then placed into a collection at a Stockholm royal library by  Queen Christina of Sweden. It was the put in the National Library of Sweden where it now resides.

So do you believe the legend of the Devil's Bible or that it was the work of a determined monk?

SOURCES:
https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2008/12/17/devil_bible/
https://aleteia.org/2017/04/12/its-not-the-devils-bible-its-just-the-codex-gigas/
http://www.kb.se/codex-gigas/eng/short/history/