Case file · Folklore / legend
Mother Shipton's prophecies
The first pamphlet of prophecies by 'Mother Shipton', a Yorkshire seer said to have been born in a cave at Knaresborough, was printed in 1641, eighty years after her supposed death.
1641 CE · 54.01, -1.47 · status: legend
The account
Later editions added 'predictions' of steam trains, the telegraph and the end of the world in 1881. The cave and petrifying well at Knaresborough have been a tourist attraction since 1630.
The sceptical view
There is no proof she existed; the famous verses were largely written by Charles Hindley, who admitted the forgery in 1873.