Mother Shipton was born Ursula Sonthiel in 1488 in this cave near Knaresborough, Norfolk England, to a homeless 16 year old prostitute.The child was purportedly quite ugly, and described later by a biographer as: "morose and big boned, her head very long, with very great goggling, but sharp and fiery Eyes, her Nose of an incredible and unproportionate length, having in it many crooks and turnings". She later got married though, to a local carpenter named Shipton, with whom she spent the rest of her days until her death in 1561.

When Ursula grew up, she began to tell fortunes and predict future events which always happened. As her fame grew, the elite got wind of it, and came to see her. She was no manpleaser and as a true prophet socked it to them straight as she got it, thus making enemies! She predicted, for instance, that Cardinal Wolsey who so much wanted to become arch bishop there, "would see York, but never go to it." Wolsey sent three men to threaten her to change her tune or "burn!" Shipton was unimpressed and told them that they "would die on the pavements of York!" Sure enough, in 1530 Cardinal Wolsey was traveling to York. He climbed to the top of a tower and saw the town in the distance, but just then was told by a messenger from King Henry VIII to return to London, to be tried for treason. He died on the way back to London, and his three messengers "on the pavements of York", exactly fulfilling Mother Shipton's dire prophecies

Her prophecies about current times are hair-raisingly accurate thus far; and the rest are just plain hair-raising; some describing endtime events and future technology like cars, submarines, steel ships, airplanes, the telephone and the internet
"Carriages without horses shall goe, And accidents fill the world with woe. Around the world thoughts shall fly In the twinkling of an eye.... Under water men shall walk, Shall ride, shall sleep and talk; In the air men shall be seen, In white, in black and in green. Iron in the water shall float, As easy as a wooden boat.
The first known edition of Mother Shipton's prophecies appeared in print in 1641, eighty years after her death. Later editions of her work appeared in 1684, edited by Richard Head, which edition included the earliest biographical information about her

The cave has a petrifying well that turns everything in the path of its flow to stone. Teapots, teddy bears and all kinds of tchotchkes have been hung up by the visitors, and promptly petrified. You can google her prophecies for yourself, but just make some time to walk around feeling kind of traumatized after

10-11-2017