Legends 46: Landslide

Summary

Lore Legends 46: Landslide – Detailed Summary

Released on February 3, 2025

Introduction

In Episode 46 of Lore Legends, host Aaron Mahnke delves into the harrowing tale of the Aberfan disaster, exploring the eerie occurrences and premonitions that surrounded this tragic event. This episode intricately weaves historical facts with the mysterious elements of prophetic dreams, shedding light on how foresight—or the lack thereof—can shape catastrophic outcomes.

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The Messina Earthquake of 1908

The episode begins by recounting the devastating earthquake that struck Messina, Sicily, on December 28, 1908. At 5:20 am, a powerful 7.5 magnitude quake obliterated the city, causing buildings to crumble and triggering a massive tsunami mere minutes later. With over 200,000 lives lost across southern Italy, this catastrophe serves as a grim reminder of nature's unpredictability.

"The city's population of 150,000 was cut in half. And across southern Italy, the estimated death toll rose to over 200,000 lives." (01:48)

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Premonitions and Prophetic Dreams: A Historical Context

Mahnke transitions into the concept of premonitions, exploring how cultures throughout history have perceived and interpreted prophetic dreams. From ancient Greek scholars like Artemidorus to religious texts such as the Bible, dreams have long been considered windows into the future. However, as religious institutions sought to control these interpretations, the legitimacy and acceptance of prophetic dreams faced significant challenges.

"Druids, for example, once induced dreams by chewing on raw meat and then praying over the meat and giving it as an offering to the gods before falling asleep." (06:57)

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Harriet Tubman: Dreams as a Guiding Force

One of the most compelling stories featured is that of Harriet Tubman, the renowned conductor of the Underground Railroad. Mahnke narrates how Tubman's prophetic dreams not only provided her with visions of freedom but also seemingly predicted pivotal moments in her life and the lives of those she helped.

"Her visions might change every day, but that was the one constant she knew. She would be free." (09:15)

Tubman's dreams guided her actions, ensuring the safe passage of over 70 enslaved individuals without a single recapture, highlighting the profound impact of her intuitive insights.

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Mark Twain: A Prophetic Warning

The episode also touches upon Mark Twain’s prophetic dream. Before the tragic explosion of the steamboat Pennsylvania, young Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) dreamt of his brother Henry’s death aboard the vessel. This vivid dream eerily mirrored the real-life disaster that claimed over 200 lives.

"The dream was so realistic that when Samuel awoke, he didn't even realize it had been a dream." (12:29)

Twain's experience underscores the unsettling nature of premonitions and their ability to blur the lines between reality and the subconscious.

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The Aberfan Disaster and the Premonitions Bureau

Central to this episode is the catastrophic Aberfan disaster in Wales on October 21, 1966. Aberfan, a coal-mining village, was engulfed by a landslide of mining waste, resulting in the deaths of 144 individuals, including 116 children. Mahnke explores the aftermath of the disaster, particularly the emergence of prophetic dreams among the survivors and residents.

Psychiatrist John Barker, intrigued by reports of premonitions preceding the disaster, collaborated with reporter Peter Farley to establish the Premonitions Bureau—a central repository for individuals to report their prophetic dreams in hopes of preventing future catastrophes.

"The Premonitions Bureau would be a central clearinghouse to which the public could always write or telephone should they experience any premonitions, particularly those which they felt were related to future catastrophes." (17:01)

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Prominent Dreamers: Lorna Middleton and Alan Hencher

Within the Premonitions Bureau, two individuals stood out for their accurate predictions: Lorna Middleton, a dance teacher, and Alan Hencher, a post office employee. Their consistent and precise visions earned them reputations as the bureau's most reliable dreamers.

• Alan Hencher forecasted multiple plane crashes with alarming accuracy.

• Lorna Middleton predicted the deaths of notable figures like Vladimir Komarov and John F. Kennedy, as well as the Charing Cross train crash in 1967.

Their contributions, however, were marred by personal tragedies. Both dreamers foresaw and ultimately faced untimely deaths, casting a shadow over the bureau's mission and its efficacy in preventing disasters.

"The Premonitions Bureau never succeeded in its goal to create a catastrophe warning system, mostly because they had a success rate of just 3%." (19:24)

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Lucrezia de Leon: The Forgotten Prophetess

Shifting back in history, Mahnke introduces Lucrezia de Leon, a 16th-century girl from Madrid who experienced vivid prophetic dreams. Despite growing up in a repressive environment under the Catholic Church, Lucrezia's visions of apocalyptic events and the downfall of Spanish authority drew both fascination and fear.

Her prophecies, particularly those foretelling the demise of the Spanish Armada, came to fruition with the fleet's catastrophic defeat in 1588. However, her gift led to persecution during the Spanish Inquisition, resulting in her imprisonment, torture, and eventual disappearance from historical records.

"A woman with a powerful gift to see far into the future vanished from the eyes of history." (32:56)

Lucrezia's story exemplifies the peril faced by individuals deemed threats due to their prophetic abilities, highlighting the fine line between reverence and repression.

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Conclusion

In Lore Legends 46: Landslide, Aaron Mahnke masterfully intertwines harrowing historical events with the enigmatic realm of prophetic dreams. By examining cases like Harriet Tubman’s daring missions, Mark Twain’s tragic foresight, the Aberfan disaster, and Lucrezia de Leon’s persecuted visions, the episode underscores the profound yet often perilous nature of premonitions. Mahnke leaves listeners contemplating the thin veil between fate and free will, and whether our ability to foresee tragedy could ever truly alter its course.

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Notable Quotes

• "The city's population of 150,000 was cut in half. And across southern Italy, the estimated death toll rose to over 200,000 lives." (01:48)

• "Her visions might change every day, but that was the one constant she knew. She would be free." (09:15)

• "The dream was so realistic that when Samuel awoke, he didn't even realize it had been a dream." (12:29)

• "The Premonitions Bureau never succeeded in its goal to create a catastrophe warning system, mostly because they had a success rate of just 3%." (19:24)

• "A woman with a powerful gift to see far into the future vanished from the eyes of history." (32:56)

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Final Thoughts

Lore Legends 46: Landslide serves as a poignant exploration of the intersection between historical calamities and the mysterious world of prophetic dreams. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Aaron Mahnke invites listeners to ponder the possibilities and limitations of foresight in the face of inevitable tragedies.

Transcript

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[Aaron Manke]

Welcome to Lore Legend, a subset of Lore episodes that explore the strange tales.

[Unknown]

We whisper in the dark, even if they can't always be proven by the history books. So if you're ready, let's begin.

[Aaron Manke]

It happened in an instant. At 5:20am on December 28th of 1908, the Sicilian city of Messina was demolished. That morning an earthquake struck Sicily and the southern toe of Italy.

[Unknown]

It had developed in the Messina Strait.

[Aaron Manke]

A sliver of ocean that separates Sicily from the mainland.

[Unknown]

For those who lived in the coastal.

[Aaron Manke]

City of Messina, there was no escape. All they could do was ride it out and pray that they would survive.

[Unknown]

The shock lasted over 20 seconds and.

[Aaron Manke]

Reached a 7.5 on the Richter scale.

[Unknown]

The historic center of Messina all but.

[Aaron Manke]

Collapsed, with some of its most historic.

[Unknown]

Buildings crumbling to pieces.

[Aaron Manke]

One survivor who had been buried under rubble for 24 hours was eventually dug out, only to see their city completely destroyed.

[Unknown]

Another said that as they walked through burning neighborhoods and piles of wreckage, there.

[Aaron Manke]

Were so many corpses on the ground that they felt like they were just walking on bodies. The city had suffered and it wasn't over.

[Unknown]

Just 10 minutes after the earthquake faded.

[Aaron Manke]

A tsunami hit the coast.

[Unknown]

Massive 40 foot waves crashed down, killing.

[Aaron Manke]

Thousands of earthquake survivors. They had run to the sea to.

[Unknown]

Escape the falling buildings and the sea.

[Aaron Manke]

Had turned against them.

[Unknown]

Messina was reduced to little more than.

[Aaron Manke]

A pile of rubble, with over 90% of the buildings destroyed. The city's population of 150,000 was cut in half. And across southern Italy, the estimated death toll rose to over 200,000 lives. Tragedy comes for everyone, and more often than not, we never see it coming.

[Unknown]

Disasters upend our lives without warning. An earthquake, a train wreck, a deadly fire.

[Aaron Manke]

And none of it can be predicted. Except, of course, when it can. I'm Aaron Manke, and this is lore Legends. Beware the ides of March. It was with this dramatic line that.

[Unknown]

A fortune teller famously warned Julius Caesar.

[Aaron Manke]

Of his impending assassination.

[Unknown]

At least, that was the line in the Shakespearean play. If the philosopher Plutarch is to be believed, the real prediction was much less exciting, simply that Caesar should, and I quote, be on his guard against a great peril on March 15. But that wasn't the only warning that Julius Caesar got. Apparently, his wife Calpurnia, saw her husband's.

[Aaron Manke]

Dead body in a dream.

[Unknown]

Different writers disagree on what happened in her dream. Plutarch says that she dreamed she was.

[Aaron Manke]

Holding Caesar's body in her arms.

[Unknown]

Another source wrote that she dreamed that the senate had voted to add an ornament to Caesar's house.

[Aaron Manke]

But the ornament collapsed and shattered.

[Unknown]

Whatever the content of her dream truly.

[Aaron Manke]

Was, she was sure that it was an omen.

[Unknown]

She begged her husband not to meet.

[Aaron Manke]

With the senate that day, and he almost was convinced his wife was nearly hysterical.

[Unknown]

Surely he needed to stay with her. But in the end, he stuck to.

[Aaron Manke]

His schedule and went to the senate meeting. He never returned home.

[Unknown]

Just about every culture throughout history has, at some point or another, had a tradition of prophetic dreams. The Greek scholar Artemidorus divided dreams into.

[Aaron Manke]

Two Dreams about the present and dreams about the future. And within the latter category, he divided.

[Unknown]

It even further, with allegorical dreams about the future and dreams that will actually.

[Aaron Manke]

Come to pass now. Historically, the task of interpreting the meaning.

[Unknown]

Behind suspected precognitive dreams has largely fallen to religious leaders, Be they shamans or priests. Religion has almost always been intertwined with.

[Aaron Manke]

Efforts to predict the future, and vice versa. The Christian Bible, for example, has a long history of God revealing the future to his followers through dreams.

[Unknown]

In the book of Genesis, Joseph was given so many accurate visions from God that he became the vizier of Egypt, second only to the pharaoh and the.

[Aaron Manke]

Entire apocalyptic book of revelation.

[Unknown]

At its core, is one long prophetic dream. In the early years of the Christian church, dreams were thought to be signs from God, just as they had been in the Bible.

[Aaron Manke]

But as the centuries wore on, the church became much more suspicious of anyone who had vivid dreams of the future.

[Unknown]

It seemed that by giving laymen the authority to speak for God, those dreams were threatening the church's divine monopolistic power over its people. Precognitive dreams were determined to be a.

[Aaron Manke]

Pagan tradition, and anyone who had them was at risk of being accused of heresy or witchcraft.

[Unknown]

In the Islamic tradition, a practice known as istikara involves praying for divine guidance.

[Aaron Manke]

To appear in a dream.

[Unknown]

While divination rituals are typically frowned upon by Islam, istikara is an ancient practice and is permitted.

[Aaron Manke]

And there was once a similar medieval.

[Unknown]

Jewish practice called shi alat shalom, or the dream question. The dreamer had to write down the.

[Aaron Manke]

Question they hoped to have answered in the dream and then read it aloud.

[Unknown]

Before placing the question under their pillow. Then they would have to sleep alone on left side, in clean clothes, in a bed with clean sheets. Only then would their question be answered.

[Aaron Manke]

Both istikara and shi'alat shalom are examples.

[Unknown]

Of dream incubation, essentially rituals that create.

[Aaron Manke]

The perfect conditions for a certain dream experience. And there are, of course, others. Druids, for example, once induced dreams by chewing on raw meat and then praying over the meat and giving it as.

[Unknown]

An offering to the gods before falling asleep. The Quechua people of Peru practiced dream.

[Aaron Manke]

Incubation to heal those suffering from what.

[Unknown]

We would call today ptsd. The ritual started by killing and skinning a guinea pig and then reading its entrails.

[Aaron Manke]

Only then would they know what medicines.

[Unknown]

To give the patient while they slept. And some dreamers had to stay overnight in certain locations to get the spiritual.

[Aaron Manke]

Guidance they were looking for.

[Unknown]

In northern Africa, for example, the Berbers induced dreams by sleeping in large ancient tombs. And in ancient China, officials who traveled to new cities would sleep in the local local God's temple so that they.

[Aaron Manke]

Could receive a divine visit while they rested. And, of course, the list could go on and on.

[Unknown]

But despite this litany of rituals, luring.

[Aaron Manke]

Nocturnal spiritual guidance was never an exact science.

[Unknown]

Some were more receptive to it, and some were unlucky.

[Aaron Manke]

But on rare occasions, there have been.

[Unknown]

Some who could see the future in.

[Aaron Manke]

Their dreams, and they could do it without any help at all.

[Unknown]

America may not have a long recorded.

[Aaron Manke]

History compared to the rest of the.

[Unknown]

World, but what we do have is a rich history of prophetic dreamers. You might know the names of more of these sleeping psychics than you would expect.

[Aaron Manke]

From Abraham Lincoln, who dreamed of his.

[Unknown]

Own mourners filling the White House, to.

[Aaron Manke]

Buddy Holly, who dreamed of a fiery airplane ride just days before his own plane crash. There had been plenty of People who dreamed of disaster before they ever happened. One of the more surprising dreamers was the famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman. Born into slavery and forced to work from a young age, Harriet's early life.

[Unknown]

Was nothing short of brutal. But the most trying episode of her.

[Aaron Manke]

Life had yet to come. At least she would have some forewarning when it did.

[Unknown]

When Harriet was just 13, she was.

[Aaron Manke]

Sent on an errand to a local dry goods store. Now, reports on the incident vary, but it seems that while Harriet was in town, she stood between an angry overseer and his slave.

[Unknown]

The overseer threw a weight from the store's counter at the slave's head, and.

[Aaron Manke]

It hit Harriet's head instead.

[Unknown]

After the incident, she was given almost.

[Aaron Manke]

No time to recover.

[Unknown]

Commanded to work through the injury, she.

[Aaron Manke]

Was soon plagued with headaches, seizures and fainting spells.

[Unknown]

Reports that she frequently fell asleep at.

[Aaron Manke]

Random times have even led some historians to speculate that she might have developed narcolepsy.

[Unknown]

And it during these narcoleptic spells that.

[Aaron Manke]

Harriet began to dream.

[Unknown]

In most of her dreams, she flew.

[Aaron Manke]

Like a bird until she came to an impassable fence.

[Unknown]

Then women dressed in white would pull.

[Aaron Manke]

Her over to the other side, and she would be free.

[Unknown]

When Harriet's enslaver died, she and her brothers finally decided to make a break for it. They made it out, but en route to Pennsylvania, they learned that their enslaver's.

[Aaron Manke]

Widow had put a high reward for their return. Terrified of being caught, her brothers decided to turn back. But Harriet pushed forward, assured by her dreams that she would make it.

[Unknown]

Her visions might change every day, but.

[Aaron Manke]

That was the one constant she knew. She would be free. And she did eventually make it. But she wouldn't stay away for long. Not when so many others still needed her help. When Harriet later returned to the south.

[Unknown]

To free other enslaved peoples, she continued.

[Aaron Manke]

To trust in her dreams. She believed that they were guiding premonitions, showing her where to go and what.

[Unknown]

To do so that the people she.

[Aaron Manke]

Was helping were not caught. And no one ever was.

[Unknown]

Out of the 70 enslaved people she.

[Aaron Manke]

Led out of the south, none were ever recaptured.

[Unknown]

Her dreams even showed her the death.

[Aaron Manke]

Of the famous abolitionist John Brown. Before she ever met the man, she saw him in her sleep.

[Unknown]

In her vision, a snake rose up to greet her. Then its face morphed, becoming the old.

[Aaron Manke]

Withered face of John Brown. Two more heads rose up next to his. The faces of two much younger men. Before the three men could say anything to Harriet, a mob of men struck the heads to the Ground killing the odd serpents just as they would have killed any common garden snake. Later on, when Harriet finally met John Brown, she recognized his face as that of the old man in her dream.

[Unknown]

And in 1859, when she heard that.

[Aaron Manke]

John Brown and his two sons had.

[Unknown]

Led a failed slave rebellion in Harper's Ferry and been executed for it, she.

[Aaron Manke]

Finally understood her dream. Had predicted that they would die.

[Unknown]

Harriet Tubman, though, wasn't the only person.

[Aaron Manke]

To see a vision of someone's death. Just a couple of states away from her at the exact time she was operating the Underground Railroad, a young man was about to experience the greatest loss of his Life.

[Unknown]

At only 23, Mark Twain had a.

[Aaron Manke]

Bright future ahead of him.

[Unknown]

He would one day become one of.

[Aaron Manke]

America's most beloved authors, his name immortalized alongside the greats.

[Unknown]

But in 1858, he was just starting.

[Aaron Manke]

Out in life, still known only as Samuel Clemens.

[Unknown]

Samuel and his brother Henry worked together.

[Aaron Manke]

On a steamboat called the Pennsylvania. Samuel was an apprentice pilot and Henry was a low level employee called a mud clerk. One night before the ship set out, Samuel had the most vivid dream of his life. He saw his brother's body dressed in Samuel's clothes and laid out on a metal coffin. Resting on his chest was a large.

[Unknown]

Bouquet of white roses with a singular.

[Aaron Manke]

Red rose at the center. Somehow, Henry had died.

[Unknown]

The dream was so realistic that when Samuel awoke, he didn't even realize it.

[Aaron Manke]

Had been a dream.

[Unknown]

In a haze of grief, he left home.

[Aaron Manke]

Walking along the road in a stupor.

[Unknown]

He made it two blocks before he realized later saying, it suddenly flashed upon.

[Aaron Manke]

Me that there was nothing real about this. It was only a dream.

[Unknown]

I can still feel something of the.

[Aaron Manke]

Grateful upheaval of joy of that moment. And I can also feel the remnants.

[Unknown]

Of doubt, the suspicion that maybe it.

[Aaron Manke]

Was real after all. But his doubts turned out to be true. Samuel never joined Henry on the riverboat. After fighting with a pilot, he transferred to a different ship.

[Unknown]

Henry stayed there though, and the two.

[Aaron Manke]

Went their separate ways. Only a few days later, the Pennsylvania's boiler exploded.

[Unknown]

The blast killed over 200 people and.

[Aaron Manke]

Injured the rest of the crew.

[Unknown]

Henry's entire body was scalded and his.

[Aaron Manke]

Lungs had been damaged beyond repair. Soon enough, he was dead.

[Unknown]

The next time Samuel Clemens saw his.

[Aaron Manke]

Brother Henry's body, it was inside a makeshift room for the dead.

[Unknown]

He had been dressed in some of.

[Aaron Manke]

Samuel's clothes and laid out atop a metal coffin. Everyone heard the sound.

[Unknown]

At 9:13am on October 21st of 1966, the students at Pantglass Junior School heard.

[Aaron Manke]

A sound that was later described as an airplane landing on top of the building. But it wasn't an airplane. It was much, much worse.

[Unknown]

The school's 240 students lived in the.

[Aaron Manke]

Village of Aberfan in southern Wales.

[Unknown]

Aberfan had a long history of being.

[Aaron Manke]

A coal mining town and the local mine was the villagers number one employer.

[Unknown]

Coal was in the food they ate.

[Aaron Manke]

And the air they breathed. It was a small price to pay.

[Unknown]

For the people of Aberfan, coal meant that they could pay their bills and.

[Aaron Manke]

Save for their future. Coal was their life. The mine in Aberfan had been in.

[Unknown]

Operation for nearly a century and things were going pretty well.

[Aaron Manke]

The only problem was that they didn't.

[Unknown]

Have the most ecological way to dispose.

[Aaron Manke]

Of the mining waste.

[Unknown]

Mining waste isn't just coal. It includes everything from a slurry of.

[Aaron Manke]

Ash to general rubble.

[Unknown]

Aberfan's waste couldn't be buried, otherwise it.

[Aaron Manke]

Would taint the town water supply.

[Unknown]

So instead it was piled up into gigantic heaps called spoil tips. And these tips would be built up for years at a time, creating a.

[Aaron Manke]

Variable mountain of waste.

[Unknown]

By 1966, Aberfan's tip no.

[Aaron Manke]

7 had been collecting rubbish since 1958 and it contained nearly 30,000 cubic yards of mining waste.

[Unknown]

Tip number seven was precariously balanced on.

[Aaron Manke]

A hill above the village. For years people had brought up concerns about its location.

[Unknown]

Not only was the tip in an insecure spot, but it was located directly over a school.

[Aaron Manke]

And it all came to a head on that morning in October when tip number seven collapsed.

[Unknown]

The waste thundered down the hill, creating a 30 foot avalanche of debris. It hit farmhouses and cottages at 80.

[Aaron Manke]

Miles an hour, killing everything in its wake. And then it slammed into the school. In the end, 144 people died that day. 116 of them were children.

[Unknown]

Suddenly the eyes of the world were.

[Aaron Manke]

Turned on the little village of Aberfan. The Red Cross moved in, offering medical.

[Unknown]

Aid and cigarettes to grieving families.

[Aaron Manke]

Work gloves and shovels were sent to Aberfan by the hundreds.

[Unknown]

In the words of One report, in.

[Aaron Manke]

24 hours the world had learned the name of Aberfan and its meaning. A place whose children had been buried alive by coal waste piled up by their fathers.

[Unknown]

Volunteers came in by the truckload to.

[Aaron Manke]

Help dig bodies out of the rubble.

[Unknown]

But some people just came because they were curious. People like the psychiatrist John Barker.

[Aaron Manke]

While he was an Aberfan, John heard a few stories that piqued his interest.

[Unknown]

Stories about people who had had dreams.

[Aaron Manke]

About the disaster before it happened. He walked away wondering how many people had dreamed of the event before the tip collapsed. A week later, newspapers ran a notice asking people to send in recountings of.

[Unknown]

Their dreams, writing did anyone have a.

[Aaron Manke]

Genuine premonition before the coal tip fell on Aberfan?

[Unknown]

That is what a senior British psychiatrist.

[Aaron Manke]

Would like to know. And they received 76 responses describing their nighttime premonitions. One man saw the word Aberfan written in large letters. A woman had a vision of a schoolhouse and coal sliding down a moun.

[Unknown]

And in that vision she saw a.

[Aaron Manke]

Little boy being rescued and then later saw that same little boy on a television news report.

[Unknown]

But the most striking story came from the mother of 10 year old Errol Mae Jones, who had told her family the day before the disaster, I dreamed I went to school and there was no school there.

[Aaron Manke]

Something black had come down all over it.

[Unknown]

The very next day, Errol Mae Jones.

[Aaron Manke]

Died when the mining waste crushed her school.

[Unknown]

After receiving this encouraging response, John Barker.

[Aaron Manke]

Teamed up with his lifelong friend, newspaper.

[Unknown]

Reporter Peter Farley, to establish what they.

[Aaron Manke]

Called the Premonitions Bureau. According to them, the bureau would be.

[Unknown]

A central clearinghouse to which the public could always write or telephone should they experience any premonitions, particularly those which they felt were related to future catastrophes. John hoped to one day establish a sort of disaster warning system where dreams.

[Aaron Manke]

Could be used to forewarn and even prevent mass casualties.

[Unknown]

In its first year, the Premonitions Bureau.

[Aaron Manke]

Received about 470 dream submissions. Most of those visions never came to pass. But eventually two shining stars rose from the masses. Lorna Middleton was a middle aged dance.

[Unknown]

Teacher who had experienced uncanny premonitions since.

[Aaron Manke]

She was a child.

[Unknown]

Alan Hencher was a post office employee.

[Aaron Manke]

Who frequently had intense headaches followed by visions of the future.

[Unknown]

Together, the two became the bureau's most reliable dreamers. Just how good were they?

[Aaron Manke]

Well, Allen predicted multiple plane crashes, while.

[Unknown]

Lorna foresaw the deaths of Vladimir Komarov.

[Aaron Manke]

And John F. Kennedy.

[Unknown]

They both predicted the Charing Cross train crash that occurred on November 5th of 1967.

[Aaron Manke]

And even during the crash, Allen was.

[Unknown]

Having premonitions about it.

[Aaron Manke]

At 10:15pm he was overcome with a headache and wrote a note saying that there had been a railway accident that probably happened about an hour before. And he was right. The train crashed at 9:16pm in the.

[Unknown]

End, the Premonitions Bureau never succeeded in.

[Aaron Manke]

Its goal to create a catastrophe warning system, mostly because they had a success.

[Unknown]

Rate of just 3%. Failure, of course, is probably the one.

[Aaron Manke]

Thing they all could have predicted. But hey, at least they tried.

[Unknown]

For those who are curious, almost the entirety of the Bureau's 3% success rate.

[Aaron Manke]

Came from Alan Hencher and Lorna Middleton.

[Unknown]

That being said, their personal success rates were remarkable. From what was recorded, it would seem.

[Aaron Manke]

That the majority of their predictions came true in some fashion or another.

[Unknown]

There was almost no tragedy they could.

[Aaron Manke]

Not predict, not even their own deaths.

[Unknown]

In July of 1967, Allen called Lorna.

[Aaron Manke]

In the middle of the night.

[Unknown]

Bleary. She answered the phone, and then she straightened.

[Aaron Manke]

Allen had had a dream predicting John Barker's death. A year later, Lorna reached the same conclusion. In July of 1968, she dreamed that she and her parents were having tea at the seaside. And then her mother got into a.

[Unknown]

Big black car and told Lorna that.

[Aaron Manke]

She wouldn't come with her. The car drove off and Lorna chased.

[Unknown]

It down the street before realizing it was futile.

[Aaron Manke]

She would never catch up. When she wrote to the Premonitions Bureau about her dream, she scribbled this may mean death in all capital letters. Then she suspected that it meant the head of the Bureau, John Barker, would die. And she was right.

[Unknown]

On August 20th of that year, Lorna shot awake, feeling like she was choking.

[Aaron Manke]

Under an oppressive weight. Her body knew what was coming. Within a matter of hours, the founder of the Premonitions Bureau was dead. He had died without ever seeing his dream warning system come into existence.

[Unknown]

But it's probable that it never would.

[Aaron Manke]

Anyway, no matter how long he kept the Premonitions Bureau up and running. After all, two people could never be enough to predict all the catastrophes in the world. And even if they could, there was no way anyone could stop their terrible premonitions from occurring. And in the end, maybe that's the biggest tragedy. We can believe in the power of premonitions and even find those who are gifted enough to experience them regularly. But there's simply no way to stop a landslide or an assassin's bullet or a terminal illness.

[Unknown]

Some people believe the future can be.

[Aaron Manke]

Seen ahead of time. But all that power is a waste if we can't rewrite it.

[Unknown]

While I hope you enjoyed today's topic, I'd like to think that at least.

[Aaron Manke]

A few of you saw it coming. After all, many people wish that they could see into the future. Alas, true premonitions have been rare throughout.

[Unknown]

History, proving that the Rolling Stone's wisdom is too accurate.

[Aaron Manke]

You can't always get what you want.

[Unknown]

But there have also been times when.

[Aaron Manke]

Psychic visions have done more harm. Than good, and I have one last.

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Story to tell you that stands as proof.

[Aaron Manke]

Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What are some of your relationship green flags?

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[Aaron Manke]

She saw rivers of blood. And soon enough, her own would flow with it.

[Unknown]

Lucrezia de Leon started having vivid dreams.

[Aaron Manke]

When she was only 6 or 7.

[Unknown]

Unfortunately, in 16th century Madrid, dreams weren't really encouraged. The Catholic Church held Spain in an.

[Aaron Manke]

Iron fist, and the institutions didn't like.

[Unknown]

People to dream about anything that could.

[Aaron Manke]

Usurp their own authority.

[Unknown]

But Lucrezia was just a girl. She didn't know anything about politics. So her parents punished her whenever she talked about her dreams, and they hoped that that would be enough to keep her safe. But sadly, it was not. When Lucrezia turned 18, she described one.

[Aaron Manke]

Of her recent dreams to a family.

[Unknown]

Friend, who in turn told the nobleman.

[Aaron Manke]

Don Alonso de Mendoza about it.

[Unknown]

Don Alonso was deeply fascinated in the theology surrounding mysticism and apocalyptic omens. He immediately took a liking to Lucretia, who he was certain would one day turn into a prophet. To this end, he had the director.

[Aaron Manke]

Of a Franciscan monastery named Fray Lucas.

[Unknown]

Record Lucretia's dreams every day. But only a few weeks into the assignment, Fray Lucas tried to quit. Lucretia had dreamed of his bedroom in excruciating detail, a place where no woman.

[Aaron Manke]

Had ever been allowed to step foot.

[Unknown]

Fray Lucas now knew that her dreams were very real and very, very dangerous.

[Aaron Manke]

He destroyed every record he had written so far, determined to bury all the evidence. Don Alonso, however, waved his worries away.

[Unknown]

Ordering him to continue with the project.

[Aaron Manke]

The nobleman was blinded by his ambition, too blind to see the warning signs.

[Unknown]

Eventually, public interest in Lucretia's dreams grew.

[Aaron Manke]

With many believing that her dreams were actually prophetic visions.

[Unknown]

She began hosting salons to talk about.

[Aaron Manke]

Those dreams, drawing more and more attention.

[Unknown]

To herself with each session. A small religious group even formed around her.

[Aaron Manke]

They called themselves the Holy Cross of the Restoration. And they built a bunker to wait.

[Unknown]

Out the holy tribulation that Lucretia claimed Spain would one day be forced to reckon with. And that was the problem, really.

[Aaron Manke]

Not that she had vivid dreams, but that most of her dreams concerned misfortunes that could befall the Spanish Empire.

[Unknown]

In one of those dreams, she saw.

[Aaron Manke]

An avenging angel come down to earth on a cloud made of blood and fire.

[Unknown]

He had come to kill Spain's King Philip because, and I quote, he has punished just people without reason and without fairness, and he has always favored evil people. About another dream, Lucretia was quoted as saying, and I saw a blood river coming from the area of the stables. This river was surrounding the palace, flowing with serpents and snakes, pikes that I.

[Aaron Manke]

Have seen in other visions, and with.

[Unknown]

Lots of crows squawking with their beaks in blood. Three men came out of this river and looted the palace and cut many children's and old people's heads off.

[Aaron Manke]

Charming stuff, I know. But her most alarming dreams were about the Spanish Armada.

[Unknown]

Spain's naval fleet was the pride of the Empire. It had prepared for two grueling years.

[Aaron Manke]

To crush England and bring Catholicism back to the heretic nation.

[Unknown]

But before the Armada set sail, Lucretia.

[Aaron Manke]

Repeatedly dreamed about its demise.

[Unknown]

She even dreamed about the death of its commander, who actually died before the fleet ever left port. The commander's death wasn't the only vision.

[Aaron Manke]

To come true, though.

[Unknown]

In 1588, the Spanish Armada was destroyed, at the time, it was the most.

[Aaron Manke]

Stunning defeat in military history, and no.

[Unknown]

One could have predicted it except Lucretia. In May of 1590, Lucretia, Don Alonso.

[Aaron Manke]

And Fray Lucas were all arrested by the Inquisition.

[Unknown]

Their internment had been ordered by King Philip II himself. Lucrezia was only 21 years old at the time. She was young, frightened and pregnant. She ended up giving birth while imprisoned, and she named her baby Margarita, after Santa Margherita, the patron saint of those who were falsely accused. Lucretia was taken to a secret prison in Toledo and put on trial for heresy and treason. Inquisition trials were nothing like the legal process that we might be familiar with today. There was no jury of peers, no.

[Aaron Manke]

Due process and no set timeline. Those arrested by the Inquisition were kept in jail indefinitely, and they usually weren't even told why they were being held in the first place. They were just told to confess to a myriad of sins.

[Unknown]

Lucretia's trial dragged on for several years. The entire time she was kept in prison and tortured.

[Aaron Manke]

It's believed that she was regularly waterboarded and stretched on the rack, all to wring a confession out of her.

[Unknown]

After five years of torture, her verdict was determined. In July of 1595, the Inquisition decided that she was guilty of heresy, but.

[Aaron Manke]

Not of treason against the King. They had been able to get her.

[Unknown]

To talk about her dreams, but she.

[Aaron Manke]

Never confessed to plotting against King Philip. Still, her punishment would be severe.

[Unknown]

Lucrezia was sentenced to 100 lashes, two years of confinement and banishment from Madrid. After she received her lashes, she was sent to a religious hospital with a.

[Aaron Manke]

Bleeding back and a broken spirit. And after that, no one knows what happened to her.

[Unknown]

Lucretia completely disappeared from the historical record.

[Aaron Manke]

After that conviction, and so did her daughter.

[Unknown]

She may have died of infected wounds in that very hospital, or she might have been able to leave and start.

[Aaron Manke]

A new life elsewhere, but no one knows for sure. And the irony isn't lost on me.

[Unknown]

A woman with a powerful gift to.

[Aaron Manke]

See far into the future vanished from the eyes of history.

[Unknown]

This episode of Lore Legends was produced.

[Aaron Manke]

By me, Aaron Manke, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Cassandra D'Alba.

[Unknown]

Don't like hearing the ads?

[Aaron Manke]

I've got a solution for you. There's a paid version of Lore on Apple Podcasts and patreon that is 100% ad free.

[Unknown]

Plus subscribers get weekly mini episodes called Lore. But it's a bargain for all of that ad free storytelling and a great.

[Aaron Manke]

Way to support this show and the team behind it. For more information about those ad free.

[Unknown]

Options, go to lorepodcast.com support lore, of.

[Aaron Manke]

Course, is more than just a podcast.

[Unknown]

There's the book series available in bookstores.

[Aaron Manke]

And online, and two seasons of the television show on Amazon Prime. Information about all of that and more is [e-mail] and you can also follow the show on threads, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

[Unknown]

Just search for lore podcast all one.

[Aaron Manke]

Word and then click that follow button.

[Unknown]

And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi.

[Aaron Manke]

And as always, thanks for listening.

[Mandy]

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