Lore - REMASTERED – Episode 25: The Cave

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

This return visit to the eerie island of Chiloé and its history of dark magic features fresh narration and production, plus a brand new story at the end. ———————— Lore Resources:  Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music  Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources  All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com Access premium content!: https://www.lorepodcast.com/support See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Les Jardins Condos by Jaiman Built, a community inspired by Parisian architecture with two acres of lush central gardens. Live in a one- or two-bedroom condo offering high-end finishings, professionally curated color palettes, smart home technology, and air conditioning. Enjoy our state-of-the-art fitness center, stroll along the Beau River, or visit the shops and restaurants of nearby Quarry Park. Now selling from the 250s, visit Jaiman.com slash Les Jardins. During his historic journey aboard the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin spent over a month

on a small island off the coast of Chile, known as Chilaue. It wasn't his final destination, but he still managed to work and collect information and specimens, including a small endangered fox now known as Darwin's Zorro. He also witnessed the after-effects of an earthquake and made note of a rainbow that transitioned from the typical semi-circle to a full circle right before his eyes, but it was the people he encountered that seemed to impact him the most. He later wrote, "'They are a humble, quiet, industrious set of men, although with plenty to eat, the people

are very poor, and the lower orders cannot scrape together money sufficient to purchase even the smallest luxuries.'" He also noted seeing a pair of blackneck swans, but thankfully Darwin didn't have the same view of birds that the local people did. And still do, actually. One local historian recalls how, when he was a boy, a hunched-back heron flew low over his fishing boat. When he told his father, the older man grabbed his shotgun and waited for the bird to return.

Why? Because for as long as anyone could remember, the people of Chilaway had believed that some birds are more than they appear. Some people, it seems, believe the birds are warlocks, and seeing one was a bad omen, hinting that someone close to you would soon die. All of us are ruled by authority to some degree, whether it's through our government, our religion, or our family ties. Often, it's all three.

But there's another governing body, one that's as old as time itself, and on Chilaway, it controlled people for centuries. Sometimes, you see, people are ruled by fear. I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is Lore. The Incas called it the Place of the Seagulls. They stayed away from the area, believing it was the border between their empire of prosperity and safety and the cold, dark wilderness to the south. Chilaway isn't a large island, perhaps less than a hundred miles from north to south, but

it's certainly the largest in the collection of small islands there off the coast of Chile. And to visit it is to go back in time, green hills, mountains in the distance, the dark waves of the South Pacific lapping on the shore, where colorful houses are built on stilts to stay above the mud and the rocks. Darwin described it as beautiful in 1835. He wrote of the mixture of evergreen trees and tropical vegetation, of the rolling hills and the thick forests. And all of that green Darwin postulated was due to the enormous amount of rainfall.

Gray skies and wet soil are a constant of life in Chilaway, then as it is now. And while most people have never heard of the place, the unique churches there have an architectural style that has earned them classification as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are churches, of course, because Jesuit missionaries built them shortly after arriving at the beginning of the 17th century. But don't let those European artifacts fool you. The culture the Jesuits encountered when they arrived was far outside their realm of experience. The Chilaway of Old was home to a vast collection of myths and legends that informed almost

every aspect of everyday life. And because much of the economy and culture of the island was built around the fishing industry, just as it is today, many of those stories have elements of the sea in them. One example is the legend of the ghost ship known as the Kaliuche. According to the stories, the Kaliuche patrols the waters off the coast of the island, moving both above and below the water. The ship itself is a sentient being and has the ability to sense when someone from the island has drowned.

After they die, these people are brought onto the ship by two sisters and a brother, where their new life can begin. That life consisted of both an eternal party aboard the ship and working as sailors in the transport and unloading of illegal cargo for the island's merchants. Even today, there are many in Chilaway who claim to have seen the ship, still patrolling the cold waters offshore. There are other legends that haunt the island. Stories speak of the Trauco, a sort of forest troll or little person who lives in hollow

trees deep in the forest. Their task is to protect the trees, but they have also become a convenient scapegoat for unwed mothers. The Trauco, they say, is irresistible to virgins who wander into the forest, and those women frequently return home pregnant. Then there is La Pancoya, who is said to be a woman who appears to fishermen along the coast. She is described as young and beautiful, but her hair is covered in wet kelp.

The locals consider her to be an omen, although the outcome depends on the circumstances. If she appears facing the sea, your fishing nets will overflow. If she's facing you, though, those nets will be empty. And in the rare instances when she appears right in front of a person, the legend says that it's best to close your eyes and run as fast as you can, lest she seduce you and lead you down into the sea. One more legend is that of the Basilisk, a creature that appears elsewhere around the globe.

In Chilaway, though, the Basilisk is more than just an enormous snake. Here it also has the head of a rooster and hatches from an egg. Some stories tell how the Basilisk will nest beneath a person's house. During the night, it will slither out and suck the air from the lungs of the people sleeping inside. For as frightening as some of these creatures and stories might be, though, none of them compare to the legends of the Brujo de Chilaway, the warlocks of the island. They have struck fear into the hearts of the locals for centuries.

They have shaped many aspects of their culture. They have been blamed for tragedy, for loss, and even for illness and death. Most frightening of all is the simple fact that, unlike all the other legends found on the island, the Brujo were real. We know the Brujo were real because they were brought to trial in 1880. Almost overnight, what was once little more than a whispered legend, a sort of Chilean boogeyman, if you will, took on flesh and bone, and what the investigation uncovered was truly shocking.

Let's step back, though. It's important to understand where the warlocks came from, and the short answer is that we don't really know. But there are ideas, and many of them hold promise and truth. The most common theory is that something powerful was formed as a result of the collision between the indigenous culture and the Catholic faith of the Spanish when they first arrived. The ingredients for this new breed of legend have been there for a very, very long time, though.

On one side, we have the Machi. These were the traditional shaman of the Chilean culture, the healers and wise people. Their realm was that of revelations, interpretations of dreams, and serving as the oracle of the community. On the other side, there was the Calcu. These were the practitioners of black magic, considered to be witches and warlocks by most people. Unlike the Machi who sat at the center of their society and were documented religious

figures, the Calcu were more mythical, spoken of in stories, and whispered about at night. The Calcu are described as Machi gone bad, those who became more interested in selfish gain than serving the community. And I know this will be a gross oversimplification, but think of the Machi as the Jedi, and the Calcu as the Sith, the light side and the dark. And as Han Solo famously said, it's true, all of it. Enter the Spanish conquistadors. They arrived in 1567 and brought countless stories with them of European witches.

But the culture in Chile has always been very male-driven, and so the idea of the female witch was converted to the male warlock in the public narrative. This melding of religions has actually happened in many countries across the centuries, where the Catholic faith would meet ancient beliefs and rather than wipe them out, would blend with them, unintentionally becoming something new. And that's how the Brujo were born. Well, maybe. Some scholars make reference to a story from the 17th century of a Spaniard named Jose de

Moroleda, who met the Machi and wanted desperately to impress them. He challenged them to a magical duel, then after they brought in one of their best Machi, Moroleda was defeated. As a prize, the Spaniard handed over to them a book of spells that he claimed had been gathered from around the world. It was with that book of spells, the legend goes, that the Brujo built their cult. Some still refer to it by the original name, the recta provincia, the righteous province, and according to them, this secret group manipulated the culture on the island for two centuries.

Initiation into the group was complex and drenched with the occult. The first step was to wash away any remnants of Christian baptism. And they did this by bathing in one of the local rivers for 15 nights in a row. Some were instructed to murder a relative or a close friend. And then, when all of that was completed, they had to run around the island naked while invoking the devil's name. The Brujo maintained their power over the people of Chilaue through an odd mixture of supernatural rumor and mafia-like control.

They would most commonly force local farmers to give them produce or money. But they were also known to bribe local authorities and even created a shadow government that ruled in the places where the Spanish didn't reach. And rather than use violence or traditional weapons to enforce these policies, they used the threat of a curse. Ultimately, it was this game of blackmail and protection rackets that brought an end to their reign over the people of Chilaue. And so, in 1880, over 100 members of the cult were arrested and interrogated.

Many were released when they turned out to be nothing more than machi looking for a community to belong to. But some were held for trial on the charge of murder. The darkest revelations from the trial, though, were never believed. The supernatural creatures, the book of spells, the secret hidden cave where the cult maintained their seat of power. All of this was passed off as folklore and superstition. However, eyewitness testimony says otherwise.

The trials revealed many new details about the brujo and their beliefs, practices, and inner workings. Some almost sound like they were pulled right out of a children's book. They're so simple and benign, while others are downright chilling. For example, one of the men on trial in 1880 revealed that each warlock carried a pet lizard with him. This lizard, according to the man, would be tied to the warlock's forehead, and because it was magical, it gifted him with powers.

These warlocks were even said to communicate and interact with the ghostly sailors aboard the caliuchi, using seahorses as aquatic carrier pigeons to pass messages back and forth. Seahorses Other stories spoke of how the warlocks recruited new spies for their sect. According to the legend, these warlocks would kidnap young women who would be given a special elixir to drink. Once ingested, these girls would vomit until their stomachs and intestines lay on the ground at their feet.

Then they would transform into birds and do the bidding of their master. None of this, though, compares to what the brujo were said to have kept in their cave. One of the men on trial in 1880, an elderly man named Mateo, claimed that in the 1860s, he had been asked to visit the cave to feed the creatures they kept there, and although his testimony was rejected by the court as fantasy, some have been left wondering. The cave, it is said, was difficult to locate, and rightly so. It contained multiple magical items, including the book of spells the group had received from the Spaniard Moraleta, as well as a bowl that was said to show the future to those

who looked into it, and because these were objects of power for the warlocks, they needed to be carefully guarded. The entrance was a door hidden beneath the grass and soil in a rocky canyon near the coast, and with it, a metal key. Mateo told the court that he opened the entrance to the cave only to find two creatures inside that nearly defined description. One was called the chivato, a humanoid creature that was briefly described as goat-like and walking on four legs.

But it was the other thing in the cave that Mateo had no trouble describing, because at first glance, it seemed to be nothing more than a bearded man. This man, though, was deformed, not mildly or by birth, but intentionally and drastically twisted. He was called the imbunche, and although the one that Mateo witnessed appeared old, he said that they typically began as infants. Now, this next part isn't for the faint of heart, but it's necessary to understand the level of cruelty and barbarism that this cult practiced.

According to writer Bruce Chatwin, who visited the island in 1975, the locals still maintain a good amount of folklore around the creation of the imbunche. According to Chatwin's report, the warlocks would kidnap a male six-month-old child and then deliver it to one known as the deformer who lived inside the cave. This man's job was to shape and disfigure the infant's body. The head would be twisted daily until after many months, it faced backwards. Lims and fingers were disjointed, and even its ears and mouth were malformed by the deformer. The final characteristic, though, according to Chatwin, was the right arm.

It would be bent backwards, and the hand slipped into an incision made on the right shoulder blade. Then the wound would be sewn up, leaving the arm permanently affixed to the child's back. Why this was done is something that history has forgotten over the years, but the impact is just as powerful today. Left to guard and inhabit the secret cave of the warlocks, the imbunche was seen less as an act of torture than more as the creation of an essential part of the cult society. When one imbunche died, another was created to take its place.

This is the level of darkness these real-life warlocks were capable of. This is what powered the fear they used to enslave and control the people of the island. And this is what many of them confessed to on the stand that spring in 1880. And as a result, many of the accused were sentenced to long prison terms. These were men who had killed, who had cursed their neighbors in blackmailed businesses for protection money, and yet the courts couldn't make the ruling stick. Just one year later, nearly all of the warlocks were released. The reason?

It was impossible to prove that they had belonged to a secret society of black magic, as horrible as the stories had sounded. No one, they thought, could be that evil. Could they? In a world where authority often falls to those with the most wealth, the most weapons, or the most connections, it's unusual to find cases where some other power allows people to rule. But if the story of Chilaue teaches us anything, it's that fear can be just as powerful as

any government official. Fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of the unknown. Those who called themselves part of the brujo in 1880 were card-carrying members of a cult that wielded fear like a weapon. Thankfully, the trial helped put real faces to the shadows that had plagued the people of Chilaue for centuries. Whether or not they received punishment for their crimes was secondary. The warlocks had been exposed, jattering their illusion of fear.

But while many saw the trial as the end of that nightmare, there are some who aren't so sure. In 2006, the local court there in Chilaue issued a restraining order against Manuel Cardenas and his brother-in-law. Due to a physical altercation they had with a 66-year-old farmer named José Marquez, they were prohibited from coming within 10 meters of the old man. When asked why he attacked the farmer, Cardenas said that it was because of an illness his father had been suffering through.

Pain had become a constant part of the old man's life, and it had gone on long enough. Cardenas claimed that his father's illness had begun after an encounter with the farmer, all the way back in 1992. The pain hadn't stopped since, and after consulting with a local shaman, they were told why. According to the shaman, the farmer had cursed their father with black magic, which sounds vaguely familiar and begs the question, did the trial of 1880 really wipe out the cult of warlocks, or did some of them slip through the government's net, living on to spread

and grow their sect into the 20th century and beyond? After all, neither the cave nor its occupants have ever been found. The events that took place on the island of Chilaue represent an unusually rare departure from the typical witchcraft accusations of the past few centuries. Almost everywhere you look, in the pages of history, those accused of witchcraft were women. Things played out slightly different, but it's not the only instance in history that the word warlock has captured the public ear.

In fact, I found one a lot closer to the typical witchcraft trials that just might fit the bill. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. Well, you're in luck, because I'm here to yammer on about an interesting topic for you right now. Introducing Canada's first 5G subscription phone plans from the new public mobile. That's right, now you can subscribe to your phone plan. Public mobile, different as calling.

True to the standards of late 16th century Scotland, Richard just sort of appears on the scene, fully formed at the beginning of his trial. Most people who lived 4 or 5 centuries ago barely left a paper trail. Heck, even the most famous playwright of all time, William Shakespeare, is only mentioned a handful of times in public documents. The fact of the matter is, most people who lived and died back then are completely lost to history. But Richard managed to land in the record books just as time was running out for him.

And through the confessions of others, and some court gossip, we know a few things about him. But again, not much. It seems he appeared on the scene in Edinburgh sometime around 1587. Richard was an excommunicated Catholic looking for someone to give him permission to settle in their territory. And Francis Stewart, the 5th Earl of Bothwell, agreed. What sweetened the deal?

Well, we're pretty sure that it was Richard's reputation as a warlock. Over the next 3 or 4 years, a number of stories would cement that reputation. One of the most famous examples came from the confession of a woman named Barbara Napier. According to her, she was a regular client of Richard's. First it was a ring that she wanted the warlock to charm with magical powers. Then she returned, hoping to buy his healing abilities for her sick son. But many of Richard's encounters actually took place a bit higher up the social ladder. It seems that the warlock had worked his way into the lives of many powerful people in

Scotland's upper class. In fact, he ended up staying as a guest with so many of them that he was rarely home. And he climbed that social ladder high. Bothwell once took Richard horseback riding at the estate of the Chancellor to the King of Scotland. While they were hanging out together, Richard showed off some sort of device that he used in his magical activities. Both men were understandably impressed.

But then again, that also meant that they would remember that moment. Fast forward to 1591, and things were starting to heat up for our warlock, Richard Graham. Because just a year earlier, the North Barrick witch trials broke out, and people started naming names. Of course, they did so out of desperation, out of hope that if they handed over a long enough list of other witches, they might be spared because of their helpfulness. And that's the position Barbara Napier found herself in. She had been named by one of the earlier accused, a woman named Agnes Sampson.

And it turns out Richard was on a number of lists, making him a top suspect. One victim, Isabel Watson, claimed she actually saw Richard interacting with the Fairfolk as if he were in cahoots with them. Naturally, our intrepid warlock tried to lean on his powerful friends for support. But when it came to witchcraft trials in late 16th century Scotland, there were a few associations more destructive to a person's political career than floating in the same circle as a witch. And to make matters worse, the king of Scotland at the time was James VI, quite possibly one

of the most violent and aggressive witch hunters in history. In the end, it all came down to a bottle of liquid. You see, Richard's noble friend, the Earl of Bothwell, didn't have the best relationship with King James, so Bothwell hired the warlock to create a potion that would increase his favor in James's eyes. It didn't work, and to make matters worse, someone else who knew about the potion ended up telling the king. As you'd imagine, he didn't take the news very well.

Richard Graham, the warlock of Edinburgh, was executed at the city's market cross at the end of February in 1592. But just before he was led to his death, he accused Bothwell of plotting to kill the king. True or not, that was enough to seal the noble's death warrant as well. History has largely forgotten Richard Graham, but he was one of the few true warlocks to land on the scene in the days of the English and Scottish witch trials. Bothwell, however, managed to add a number of thrilling events to the history books before he finally escaped the country to live out his remaining days in Italy.

Oh, and one last thing. It would be easy to dismiss Richard Graham as nothing more than a trickster and a fraud, using a bit of arcane knowledge to fleece the aristocracy for personal gain. But there's one event from 1591 that leaves me wondering. It seems that a man named Sir Louis Belenden had a run-in with Richard that had quite the impact. Belenden was, among many other things, a prominent lawyer and government official. He was even part of the royal wedding party that followed King James across the sea to

Denmark where his bride awaited, but it was a year after his return that he heard tales of Richard Graham and his dark powers. So he did what any good attorney would do in this situation. He accused Graham of being a fraud, unless he could demonstrate those powers in front of an audience, of course. The documentation is scarce, so I can't paint the entire picture for you, but we know how it ended. You see, Belenden requested that the warlock conjure up the devil himself for all to see,

right there on his own property in the cannon gate. What exactly happened, we don't know, but we do know this. Sir Belenden was so terrified by what he saw that day that he almost immediately took sick. A short time later, the man was dead. This episode of lore was researched, written, and produced by me, Aaron Mankey, with music by Chad Lawson. Lore is much more than just a podcast. There is a book series available in bookstores and online, and two seasons of the television

show on Amazon Prime Video. Check them both out if you want more lore in your life. I also make and executive produce a whole bunch of other podcasts, all of which I think you'd enjoy. My production company Grim and Mild specializes in shows that sit at the intersection of the dark and the historical. You can learn more about all of our shows and everything else going on over in one central place, grimandmild.com.

And you can also follow this show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll see you in the next one. Bye.