Dead Water: Why Mother Shipton's Well Turns Things to Stone

There are many mystical and creepy places in the UK. This is greatly facilitated by the ancient and rich history of Foggy Albion, multiplied by the love of the inhabitants of Britain for legends and legends. One of the most mysterious and scary sights is located in Mother Shipton's well is called Naresborough. The water from it has strange properties that have been scaring the locals for centuries.

The water from the well is called "dead" by the locals. She has the ability to turn various objects into stone. This does not happen instantly, but rather quickly. For example, plush toys become fossils in 2-3 months, and less porous objects — in 1.5-2 years.

Local legend says that Mother Shipton lived in a cave near the well in the 15th century. This woman had the gift of clairvoyance and, as was customary in In the Middle Ages, she was considered a witch. She predicted both minor events important to local peasants and global cataclysms. For example, the prophetess claimed that the end of the world would come in 1881. We know that didn't happen, but Shipton was still nicknamed "Yorkshire Nostradamus".

Today, Mother Shipton's Cave and Well is a popular tourist location. In Naresboro, the legend of the witch is actively exploited, selling souvenirs and petrified objects from the well. The attraction even has its own website where the history of this place is told. It says that "in Knaresboro, there lived a woman named Mrs. Shipton, and when she spoke, people believed her and passed on her words."

For the particularly impressionable, it is indicated that the legend has been insisting on local tales and gossip for 500 years, which greatly embellished the story of Mother Shipton. Nevertheless, the witch's well actually has unusual properties. It was first mentioned in historical sources in 1534. The author writes that the water from the well has a "wonderful nature". It turns everything it hits into stone, and all kinds of fossilized objects lie on the ground around it.

Of course, the power of the water from Mother Shipton's well has been greatly exaggerated. And it does not have magical properties. Geologists explained this phenomenon by the fact that the water is extremely saturated with minerals. It rises from a depth of about 1.6 km and dissolves rocks along the way. The analysis showed that it contains a large amount of iron, zinc, magnesium, aluminum and calcium carbonate.

In 1630, the cave and the well were acquired by a local rich man, Charles Slingsby. He quickly realized that it was possible to do business on the unusual properties of water. The magical place became a landmark in Naresboro, which anyone could look at for money. Many visitors believed that the skeletons of animals, branches and articles of clothing laid out at the well actually petrified when they were sprayed with magic water.

The first study of the well was conducted in 1896. When the water was weighed on an accurate scale, we saw that its pint, that is, 0.56 liters, is 0.65 grams heavier than ordinary water. It was examined and determined that it contains 1140 milligrams of dissolved substances per liter. The scientific report says that water "rich in sulfates and carbonates also contributes to the deposition of calcareous tuff."

Tuff is one of the types of limestone. It is formed due to the release of carbonates dissolved in water after its evaporation. Scientists note that the well consists of tuff and another mineral, denser — travertine, also consisting of calcium carbonate. It is the deposition of salts on objects that causes them to turn into stone.

Centuries of pilgrimage of the curious to Mother Shipton's well could not but leave traces. Today, you can see a lot of mineral-covered objects near it. Among them are Queen Mary's shoe, left by the hostess in the well in 1923, a top hat from 1853 and an ewok toy brought by Hollywood star Warwick Davis.

Well in Naresboro is not the only place with similar properties. In one of the mines of the city of Falun in Sweden, a "metal miner" was once found.