Shrouded in Mystery

If there is one passion that has clung on to me like something sweet and sticky, always too tempting not to consume, it’s history. I am what they call a history buff. I live for the past, and I would happily put myself in a time-machine, never to come back….almost. I believe it all started at the tender age of 3. My grandmother, sharing my passion for both history and antiques, opened the doors to this utmost fascinating of subjects. As soon as I could read, a few years later, I would put myself on the oriental carpet that was placed in front of one of our bookshelves, the one holding all the leather bound books, and I would pour myself over these intellectual bricks of gold lined paper, often too fragile for a 6 year old to handle. But as they were my little treasure, in fact immense to someone whose world was rather limited yet knew no boundaries, I would handle them with the greatest of care. A few years later, when my mind was saturated with century old encyclopedia, and my passion still remained, my mother started buying me their modern equivalents.
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There were a few parts in history that I especially paid attention to; naturally the French Revolution, the Danish invasion of the Swedish island of Gotland in 1361, Jean D’Arc and the Inquisition. But there were other, more sinister parts that grasped my fascination on an even greater scale. The Knight Templars, bathomet and the Catars, the legend of the black madonna, Pope Joan – the female pope,  the Turin Shroud, Rasputin, the Romanovs, the Rothchilds, the Freemasons and Gilles de Rais. Add to this numerous executions of kings and queens, assassinations, the murder of Marat, the mystery of the money pit and the faces of Belmez, and the picture starts becoming more complete. In fact it’s all about discovery. Discovery of something so illusive, only privy to a few.

I’m writing this with little aim, as should I decide to write anything on any of these topics, my days would be consumed. The only reason being, I am entering a phase of meticulous research. Every spare hour and minute of the day, I watch history documentaries….from Inquisition and witchcraft to the Tower of London, and the execution of Anne Boleyn….and this is only from today. I am also grateful for having been given the book, The First Crusade by Thomas Asbridge. It makes for great nighttime reading material. It also acts as great fuel for dreams, as my dreams are becoming more and more vivid, often quite violent and volatile in nature. And yet I love it. It’s like seeing the epic movie of Ben Hur in your sleep. I can’t imagine a better way to end come start the day. And on this note, ever wondered what hides the money pit off the coast of Nova Scotia?… judge for yourself…