Rosalia Lombardo: Little Sleeping Beauty

While this may be a morbid topic (when do i ever avoid those?) I couldn't help but want to post this due to the fact that it's rather beautiful in a strange way. Forgive me me for posting such old topics, but i'm here to inform. Not to update. :)


Rosalia Lombardo was an Italian child born in the year 1918 in Palermo, Sicily. When she was only two years old she died of pneumonia on December 6, 1920. Her father was so grieved by her death that he contacted a noted embalmer, Alfredo Salafia and asked him to preserve her. Her body was one of the last few to enter the Capuchin Catacombs.

Photo of Rosalia's corpse in 1995

This wonderful state of preservation was achieved by a formula concocted by the embalmer, Alfredo. Until recently the formula was thought to be lost, but a handwritten memoir was discovered that contained the recipe for the formula. The preservation method used formalin, alcohol, glycerin, salicylic acid, and zinc salts. These were mixed together in a liquid and then used to replace the girls blood. X-rays showed that her internal organs were very well preserved and were all intact.
Until recently Rosalia was kept in a glass covered coffin at the end of the catacomb tour. Recent photos show that her body is starting to show signs of decay, the most prominent being discoloration. Her body has been moved back into the catacombs alongside the bodies of two other children.

2009 National Geographic photo showing the signs of decomposition.

Links!

• National Geographic article: [link]
• Discover Magazine article: [link]

The Green Children of Woolpit

The Green Children of Woolpit is an interesting story coming from the village of Woolpit located in Suffolk, England. The story takes place during the 12th century, sometime during the reign of King Stephen. No one is quite sure if the story is true or not, but it is sill a interesting story all the same.

Sign erected in 1977

The story starts when two children, a brother and a sister, are found in pits dug to trap wolves.The children were normal in appearance except for the fact that their skin was a shade of green and they spoke a language that none of the villagers had heard before. The children were taken back to the village to be cared for but they wouldn't eat any of the food that the villagers brought them. They didn't eat for the first few days until someone brought them green beans. The children lived off of the beans untill they eventually learned to eat normal food.

Source

Eventually the brother of the two, who was apparently the youngest, got sick and died. But the girl remained perfectly healthy, was baptized and raised by the people in the village. As the girl grew the green color in her skin eventually faded away. When she was older she learned to speak english and was able to tell the villagers of the place that she and her brother came from.
The girl claimed that she came from a place of perpetual twilight called Saint Martin's land. She told the villagers that Saint Martin's land was found underground and that all the people there were green just as she was when she was younger. She recalled that she and her brother had wandered off and were not able to find the way back to their home after being dazed by the strong sunlight.
As for her life in the village, the girl adjusted well and eventually married though she was apparently "rather loose and wonton in her conduct." (Er...skanky?) If this story is true or not remains to be seen, but it still makes for one interesting story.

Links!

• More information on the history of this tale: [link]

Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Here's one you may of already heard of: the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. I've seen this place on so many ghost hunting shows I can't even be bothered to count them all. But, a place as famous as this is worth mentioning.

 

 

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The Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened in the year 1910 and is located in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Despite the sinister sounding name it was used as a hospital for people suffering from tuberculosis, also known as the "White Plague." The hospital was closed in 1962 due to developments in treatments making the hospital unnecessary, though could of also been caused by patient abuse.
The most famous part of the hospital is what is known as the "body chute." A tunnel was built where bodies of those killed by the disease could be taken away and not be seen by the rest of the patients. This was intended to help keep patients from being upset and keep up the patient moral. Bodies would be strapped to a gurney at one end of the tunnel and then attached to a system of pulleys to be pulled down to the opposite end of the tunnel. Once at the end of the tunnel the bodies would be transferred to a hearse to be taken to their resting place. The tunnel is approximately 500 feet long with air vents to the surface every 100 feet.

 

 

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The body chute may be spooky, but what stands out the most at the Waverly Hills Sanatorium is the legend of room 502. Local legends say that a nurse working at the hospital found herself pregnant out of wedlock. During this time period this was a BIG "no-no" and she could of lost everything. The nurse was so depressed that she commuted suicide by hanging in room 502. Supposedly she still haunts the Sanatorium long after her death. It's not very clear if this is true or not, but it's still an interesting tid-bit to consider.

Source

Links!

• Official Waverly Hills Sanatorium page:  [link]

My Favorite Little Island: Poveglia Isand

Poveglia island is a place that until recently few people knew about. Now thanks to shows such as Scariest places on Earth and Ghost Adventures, a few more people may know about it. In case you're not familiar with it, Poveglia is a small island found in the Venetian Lagoon, located between Venice and Lido.

Source? D:

Why is this my favorite?  The legends surrounding this place are really fascinating, true or not. There's also the fact that it's full of abandoned buildings that have all sorts of things left in them. But the thing that really sparks my interest is the fact that the local government has banned any visitors from visiting the island and has police boats patrolling the waters nearby. 

Now, before I get down to all the gritty details, here's a disclaimer: there's not a lot of information out there about the island and most of it is pretty fuzzy. There are some details that could be fiction or the hard truth. All i'm saying is take everything you read on the internet with a grain of salt, i'm just telling you what i've read.

Ok, let's get to the cool part. Legend claims that Poveglia island was used as a site for massive body dumps during the Roman era. It was used as a quarantine zone and plague pit to those that were infected with the Black Death. Versions of the legend claim that the bodies were burned on the island along with plague victims that were still alive. It's said that there were so many bodies burned that the center of the island still had ash covering the ground. Fishermen apparently steer clear of the island due to the fact that bones are still getting caught in their nets along with their hauls (Grain of salt: Apparently untrue, fishing nets can be seen around the island.) Over 160,000 people are said to have died on the island throughout it's history.  (Grain of salt: Sources say that Poveglia wasn't used during the plague but another island, Lazzaretto Nuovo, was.)

Source

But we haven't even gotten to the best part yet! The Insane Asylum. No, i'm not kidding. In 1922 a building was erected on the island that was used for many purposes including a home for the elderly and a mental hospital. Legends say that the mental patients who were housed there often complained of seeing ghosts, apparently those of the plague victims. These claims were brushed off as a side effect of thier mental illness. The doctor who ran the mental institution was interested in making a name for himself by finding out what caused madness. He attempted to do so included everything from torture to lobotomies. He often preformed these procedures with crude tools such as hand drills, hammers, and chisels. Apparently after years of these "treatments," the doctor himself began to lose his mind, he then climbed up the bell tower were he threw himself off.

Eventually the hospital was abandoned and the island is currently uninhabited. What parts of the legend are true is up for speculation. But true or not, it makes for one hell of a good story, no?

Links!

• Blog of a visit to the island (lots of pretty pictures of your enjoyment!): [link]

• View of the island via Google maps: [link]