Thousands of creepy sigils have been discovered in an ancient cave system in Britain‘s midlands, and I don’t know about you, but it sure seems like they’re designed to keep an ancient terror trapped far beneath the earth to me!
According to the BBC, two members of a charity group called Subterranea Britannica discovered the marks during a cave tour of the famous Creswell Crags cave system (also home to Britain’s only Ice Age cave art). Originally thought to be Victoria-era graffiti, the marks – called ‘witches’ marks’ or apotropaic symbols – are in fact ritual markings that are meant to protect from magic, witches and evil spirits.
So far, heritage workers have discovered thousands of the marks throughout the cave system. Paul Baker, the director of the Creswell Heritage Trust, told the Guardian:
They are everywhere. How scared were they?
Apparently the village of Creswell used to be located much closer to the cave system, before being moved in the 19th century by a couple of dukes (this is just the most English nobility bullshit I have ever heard, I swear to god).
So it makes sense that the caves would be full of protective marks – overlapping Vs designed to invoke the Virgin Mary, symbols of the Cross, and lines and crosshatching that were supposed to trap or confuse evil spirits – if terrified post-medieval villagers had to share their day-to-day life with the no doubt spooky as hell underground stuff in the caves.
Most importantly, though: have researchers awakened an ancient evil by discovering and documenting these marks? Is the whole of the British Isles about to be sucked into a hellmouth? Is this somehow related to the Brexit mess? Only time will tell. Start practicing your protection sigils, friends.
