Well here we are again at the start of another week.
Let’s hope I can get through this week without breaking the equipment!
Anyway we started out by looking at the witch trials of old.
And why you might well ask have I decided to raise this issue now?
Well back in the day witches, or those suspected of being a witch could find themselves being “ducked”.
But sometimes this practice was extended to cover both men and women charged with various offences against the community including drunkenness, gossip, sexual offences and even dishonest trading.
But, believe it or not in the city of Trento in Italy on the last Sunday before 26th June they put people in a cage and dunk them in the River Adige.
This is supposedly intended to honour St Vigilio who is the patron saint of the city.
One of the main events is the Court of Penitence, where famous figures from Trento who have disgraced themselves over the year are put on trial.
Some will be found innocent and spared a dunking in the river, but those found guilty will be summarily forced to take part in the ducking, which is called, THE TONCA.
Very often this means that a politician is going to be among those taking an unscheduled dip in the waters, because when you’re looking for the person in the city who has screwed up the most it’s usually going to be a politician!
Last year a total of six people were found guilty while five were saved from a plunge into the river.
At least nowadays the people found guilty get to be winched back out of the water again while they’re still alive, instead of staying there until the locals are sure they’re dead and want their cage back.
Should you decide to holiday in Trento just make sure you don’t commit any catastrophic screw-ups whilst you’re there, unless of course you don’t mind taking the risk of getting chucked into a cage and lowered into the river.
Maybe we should bring that custom back here as I imagine there’d be no shortage of nominations of people you’d like to see getting a good old dunking.
Now at this time last week we reported on the US man who vanished whilst on a business trip only to be discovered wrapped in plastic and an old rug in a vacant lot, in spite of which police didn’t suspect foul play!
And now believe it or not a similar story has just emerged.
In April last year a resident of St Louis, Illinois, Jennifer Maedge reported that her husband, Richard was missing.
Police said that the last reported sighting was of him leaving the house wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, whilst his son, Austin said he’d last seen his father at work when he went to get a key for a storage unit.
In spite of police efforts, of Richard, there was no sign – that is until Christmas when Jennifer went to retrieve Christmas decorations from a cupboard, only to discover his body. That must have been a bit of a surprise!
The local coroner subsequently confirmed the view of the police, that no foul play was involved and suspected and that he had taken his own life.
Nevertheless neighbours were more than a little surprised that anyone could overlook a dead body in their own home, which it should be noted was twice searched by police at the start of their investigation.
Although noting a strange sewer like pong, they thought this was due to the condition of the place being in a similar condition to a tip; a plumber later claimed to have fixed the smell.
However by the time the corpse was discovered, it had become mummified and as such would no longer emit any kind of whiff!
Well on that note, I think I’ll depart and hope to have your company at the same time tomorrow,
Scott