Posted on 02/16/2024 7:14:45 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Legend has it that during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, a shipwrecked monkey was hanged by the people of Hartlepool, believing him to be a French spy! To this day, people from Hartlepool are affectionately known as 'monkey hangers'.
A French ship was spotted floundering and sinking off the Hartlepool coast. Suspicious of enemy ships and nervous of possible invasion, the good folk of Hartlepool rushed down to the beach, where amongst the wreckage of the ship they found the only survivor, the ship's monkey which was apparently dressed in a miniature military-style uniform.
Hartlepool is a long way from France and most of the populace had never met, or even seen, a Frenchman. Some satirical cartoons of the time pictured the French as monkey-like creatures with tails and claws, so perhaps the locals could be forgiven for deciding that the monkey, in its uniform, must be a Frenchman, and a French spy at that. There was a trial to ascertain whether the monkey was guilty of spying or not; however, not unsurprisingly, the monkey was unable to answer any of the court's questions and was found guilty. The townsfolk then dragged him into the town square and hanged him.
So is the legend true? Did the good folk of Hartlepool REALLY hang a poor defenceless monkey?
There could perhaps be a darker side to the tale – maybe they didn't actually hang a 'monkey' but a small boy or 'powder-monkey'. Small boys were employed on warships of this time to prime the canons with gunpowder and were known as 'powder-monkeys'...
Whatever the truth, the legend of Hartlepool and the hanged monkey has endured for over 200 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at historic-uk.com ...
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An elderly neighbor lady (RIP) tells the story of how she looked out her window years ago one summer morning. Out in the back yard was a monkey wearing a pirate’s outfit with a parrot on his shoulder!
She ran to get her husband, but of course by the time she got back the monkey (and parrot) were gone. (Just like Mrs. Kravits on Bewitched). So she figured she must have just seen things, but she also was pretty sure she saw it.
The following day she saw them again but was home alone. But now she knew it was real, and called the police. Turns out the traveling circus was in town and had lost their monkey and parrot! The police and the circus people showed up and finally found the animals a few blocks away.
The correct term here would be foundering.
Regards,
Not true!
Everyone knows that a sizable fraction of the population of 19th-century England was composed of diverse POCs! And they usually occupied the highest levels of society!
Regards,
That is who I thought of first, but frankly, I couldn’t remember the little twerp’s name at the moment.
Monkey Man (Remastered 2019) | 4:11
The Rolling Stones | 3.16M subscribers | 2,134,854 views | October 31, 2019
They should have just spanked the monkey.............
After the first two paragraphs I thought you were telling a joke.
Then the third paragraph made it clear no punch line was coming it was a real story. LOL
Poor lady might have been branded crazy for the rest of her life.
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