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Elah Feder: Hey, Dylan.
Dylan Thuras: Whats up. How are you, Ella?
Elah: I'm doing properly. How are you?
Dylan: I'm doing good. , it's summer season. The youngsters are dwelling. It's just a little chaotic round right here, however like all is properly, all is nice.
Elah: That's good to listen to. I need to take you again to a much less nice time. January of 2021. This was deep COVID. In England, it was one more damp, grey winter. They'd gone by means of Brexit. They'd entered their third nationwide COVID lockdown. After which they needed to undergo a pandemic. They needed to undergo a pandemic. After which they needed to undergo a pandemic. And that is the second when the Tower of London, sensing that the world wanted extra unhealthy information, introduced that Merlina the Raven had gone lacking. Does that imply something to you?
Dylan: Not Merlina! Not likely. I'm guessing it has, this can be a nationwide fowl of some kind, however no, I don't know what that is.
Elah: Okay. Merlina is an important fowl. She's really a part of a gaggle of ravens that reside within the Tower of London, which by the best way, is extra of a palace or a fortress than a tower. Anyway, these ravens, they didn't simply fly onto the grounds. It's really an elite group that was purposely dropped at the tower and cared for by an expert raven grasp.
Dylan: Sure. I've seen one in every of these raven masters and the ravens. They're like these personable, charismatic British birds. Individuals find out about them. They're enthusiastic about them.
Elah: So Merlina is one in every of these ravens and he or she was very, yeah, very entertaining. Apparently she would imitate crow calls, they assume, to get crows to return down and play together with her. She additionally had this behavior of taking part in useless in entrance of vacationers. So she'd flop over on her again and faux to be—which may really be a stress response, however folks thought this was hilarious. She was additionally a really soulful raven. So she was at one level bonded to a different feminine raven. And apparently when that raven died, Merlina wouldn't depart her aspect. They took the physique away and Merlina stood on the north wall of the tower, simply not shifting, silent, for 3 days. Her properly ran deep.
Dylan: Yeah. Very stoic raven conduct, appropriately moody and broody. Okay. So this Merlina then went lacking like in the course of COVID.
Elah: Sure. It wasn't really that uncommon for her to go away the tower. She did go for these little journeys, however she by no means went away this lengthy. Partially as a result of, , these ravens have an awesome life within the tower, but in addition as a result of since her previous companion, the feminine raven, died, Merlina, no less than from her perspective, was mainly courting the raven grasp. His title was Chris. They usually had this very candy relationship. They might apparently name backwards and forwards to one another all through the day, feels like—they have been a bonded pair. Chris was married, however I don't assume she knew that. So after weeks of her being gone, no signal of her, Merlina was feared useless, understandably.
Dylan: Is that this like an enormous—I imply, actually, like, that sounds horrible, however like, ravens can fly.
Elah: Sure.
Dylan: She flew away. She didn't come again? That's regarding. Like, how unhealthy is that this? Like, why is it such an enormous factor?
Elah: As a result of based on legend, the way forward for the British monarchy is determined by the protection of those ravens.
I'm Dylan Thuras, and that is Atlas Obscura.
And I'm Elah Feder, and this episode is concerning the ravens of the Tower of London: the legend, the reality, and what occurred to Merlina.
That is an edited transcript of the Atlas Obscura Podcast: a celebration of the world's unusual, unimaginable, and wondrous locations. Discover the present on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all main podcast apps.
Dylan: So, these ravens reside in a fairly essential historic web site. It's been round for 870 years. The Tower of London has been a palace, famously it's been a jail, an armory. Queen Elizabeth I, earlier than she grew to become queen, she was held prisoner there for a bit. So, , it's like an enormous deal web site. It's obtained a number of thrilling and generally grotesque historical past, yeah?
Elah: It does, yeah. One of many issues it's most well-known for are the numerous, many executions. It's principally not a contented historical past, though it was a palace at one level, so, , there have been good instances too. So right now, in the event you go for a tour of the Tower, you'd study all about that. However one of many important points of interest are these ravens. And even in the event you're not into birds, I feel you may be enticed by ravens. They're actually, actually good.
Dylan: Loopy good. They're like wild, loopy little instrument customers. They do every kind of nuts stuff.
Elah: I used to be studying that they maintain grudges. They've accomplished checks the place they keep in mind, like, who screwed them over, like among the many different ravens and who's been cooperative, and they won't cooperate with the unhealthy ravens. The tower birds themselves are fairly good at mimicry. When Vladimir Putin came around, apparently one in every of them greeted him with a superb morning, which actually startled him. So like, they're enjoyable. They're good. They're just a little bit creepy. They're an enormous hit with the vacationers. However it's not nearly leisure. There's a legend that if there have been ever to be fewer than six ravens on the Tower, the crown of England would fall. And the Tower itself would disintegrate into mud.
Dylan: It's fairly critical stuff. That's unhealthy. So, I imply, clearly, this could have been scarier for British folks traditionally. Possibly they might have put extra inventory on this. Now the royals are like figureheads. They're sort of like gossip journal characters. And lots of people need to do away with, like, the crown altogether. Does anybody care about this? Does anybody really care about this?
Elah: Effectively, some variations of the legend say the entire kingdom will fall together with the crown. So not nice, even in the event you don't just like the royals. However both manner, I feel it's principally identical to a enjoyable legend these days. However within the '40s, there was this one raven named Mabel who went lacking, suspected to be kidnapped. And I do surprise, like, , what have been they making an attempt to attain there? Was this an try and topple the throne?
Dylan: Yeah, steal three ravens, the entire monarchy goes down. It's like a superb discount.
Elah: It appears extra doable than any sort of different try. Yeah. So, , it's a enjoyable story that folks inform, though the tower does take this accountability very severely. They take actually excellent care of those ravens. The raven grasp lives in an residence within the tower. Apparently work begins earlier than daybreak. He'll feed the ravens mice, rats, quail. One in all their favourite treats is blood soaked canine biscuits. After which at night time, he has to carry all of them again into these open air cages. Typically he has to climb up towers to get them. So that is like this, they take this very severely.
Dylan: This isn't like a goofy job or one thing. That is fairly excessive status, no joke sort of factor. Okay, so the place does the notion that the monarchy is determined by them come from? That could be a very particular concept to have about these ravens.
Elah: So there are just a few completely different variations of the fundamental story. And what you'll typically hear in the event you go to the tower is that it dates again lots of of years. King Charles II, so someday within the mid 1600s, he's mentioned to have heard an historical prophecy that if the ravens have been ever to go away the tower, the crown would fall (or Britain would fall). And he agreed that there at all times needed to be no less than six ravens on web site. However who informed Charles that?
Dylan: Proper.
Elah: Isn't actually specified. However it in all probability really doesn't matter who informed Charles or the place it got here from, as a result of it's completely made up. You'll be shocked.
Dylan: I imply, , these items accrue in kind of bizarre and stunning methods. However okay, so if it's not some historical prophecy informed to Charles II, like the place did it come from? When did it begin?
Elah: Effectively, okay. So a historian really dug into this and he was ready to determine that this historical prophecy is definitely a fairly current invention.
Dylan: Go on. Like how current? Like TikTok?
Elah: Like, your mother and father may need been round current.
Dylan: Oh wow, okay.
Elah: So all of that is primarily based on the investigations of a historian named Boria Sax. I couldn't attain him, sadly, for an interview, however he's written fairly detailed accounts of his investigations. So Boria was initially a believer. I imply, he believed not essentially that the tower would fall, however that this was an precise historical legend. However then when he began trying by means of previous paperwork, he couldn't discover any point out of it. And actually, he couldn't discover any mentions of even simply ravens being on the tower earlier than the late 1800s. So no magic, empire defending ravens, not even random customer ravens, simply no point out of ravens, which really, it sort of is smart. Ravens have been thought-about a risk to livestock and so they have been aggressively hunted all through most of Britain. And by the 18th century, they have been just about gone from London. So it is smart that you just wouldn't see a number of raven mentions.
Dylan: Totally lower than six—zero is totally lower than six ravens.
Elah: Certainly. So Boria does begin seeing mentions of ravens on the tower beginning within the late 1800s, early 1900s. However like, nonetheless, nothing about this legend till near the top of World Conflict II. And I even have a newspapers.com account, so I began taking a look at previous newspapers.
Dylan: Sure.
Elah: And it completely checks out. Should you take a look at newspapers from the Nineteen Forties, this legend seems very abruptly. So in the event you take a look at papers from 1943, articles will say, “Sure, there are ravens right here, sure, they're being cared for.” Nothing a few prophecy although, they simply say like, “Oh, they're ravens, they're in all probability initially right here as a result of they have been attracted by the executions,” proper? Like being scavengers for useless meat. Then in the event you take a look at newspapers from a few years later, 1945, all of a sudden each time an article mentions the ravens, they're like, “After all, there may be this historical custom that we should preserve the ravens or the empire will fall.”
Dylan: Can I make a prediction?
Elah: Yeah.
Dylan: So I imply, okay, within the Nineteen Forties, properly, first off, we go to World Conflict II and we combat it with the British, proper? So there's all of a sudden all these cross-cultural connections. However it's additionally like worldwide tourism is beginning to choose up, you possibly can take a business flight to London, proper? You'll be able to simply get on a airplane and go and be a vacationer in London. You don't should take like a steamer throughout the rattling ocean. And so all of a sudden you've obtained the very beginnings of an actual worldwide tourism growth. And so I'm questioning if, , you've obtained to love—this simply looks like precisely the sort of patter {that a} information makes up as they're taking folks round a vacationer web site. After which the opposite guides are like, “Dude, that's good. That's good patter. Like, whoa, he included the ravens who're simply sort of like some jerks who hang around round right here. And like, now all of us obtained to do the bit.” Like, that is my guess. I don't know if that's true, however I like I need it to be true.
Elah: I imply, actually, that sounds fairly believable to me. Boria thinks it may need one thing to do with World Conflict II itself. So the ravens, , they have been there probably as props for vacationers listening to gory tales about executions. However then when World Conflict II comes round and London is getting bombed, Boria thinks that ravens have been used as unofficial bomb spotters. Animals are sometimes fairly attuned to scary airplane sounds. So you possibly can see how that may sort of morph right into a legend of those ravens being nice protectors important for the protection of the dominion. However yeah, I can completely see a tour information considering, like, let's simply make this a extremely good story. We'll give like, oh, we'll give this some further heft. So they simply made this up someday within the Nineteen Forties. However yeah, it's very clearly made up round 1944. This works out rather well for the ravens. They're pampered. They're fed. They're saved protected from predators. Ravens within the wild apparently can reside as much as 15 years. Tower ravens can reside as much as 40 years.
Dylan: This raven and this raven grasp may have had a lifelong relationship at that time, mainly. Effectively, so wait, this will get me again to the query. Hold on. What the hell occurred to Merlina? The place'd she go?
Elah: Okay, so sadly, Merlina didn't come again. She by no means got here again. She might be useless. Any person on-line speculated that maybe she had gone away to spare Chris the ache of seeing her die the best way that her raven lover had beforehand died. However yeah, we don't know. And Chris, the raven grasp on the time, he was completely crushed. He introduced that he was taking just a few days off to mourn her passing. So I imply, the love was actual.
Dylan: That is candy. Yeah. And clearly, the crown didn't fall.
Elah: It didn't fall. Probably as a result of its destiny doesn't really depend upon the variety of ravens in residence on the tower.
Dylan: Effectively, that may't be proper.
Elah: No. Yeah. The opposite cause is extra probably, which is that the tower had two backup ravens.
Dylan: Proper, okay. They nonetheless have been above the essential threshold of six.
Elah: They usually made certain to reassure the general public once they made this announcement. Even with out Merlina, they nonetheless had a complete of seven. They're very cautious about this, proper? You'll be able to't take probabilities. So since 2018, they've had a raven breeding program to be sure that they at all times have ravens in inventory.
Dylan: I really feel like possibly in my previous age, I wish to have a raven. I'll be just a little raven grasp of my very own area.
Elah: You can get the outfit. It will be very fetching on you. Have you ever seen the outfit?
Dylan: I've really. It's like all brass buttony sort factor, proper?
Elah: It's a number of prospers and an enormous shiny prime hat. Yeah. It will look beautiful on you. I feel it's one thing to think about.
Dylan: Effectively, thanks, Elah. Unhappy story in a manner as a result of Merlina, , but in addition like what an attention-grabbing historical past.
Elah: Yeah. It was nice to be right here. Thanks for having me.
Pay attention and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all main podcast apps.
Our podcast is a co-production of Atlas Obscura and Stitcher Studios. The individuals who make our present embody Dylan Thuras, Doug Baldinger, Kameel Stanley, Johanna Mayer, Manolo Morales, Amanda McGowan, Alexa Lim, Casey Holford, and Luz Fleming. Our theme music is by Sam Tyndall.
