Monday, September 14, 2015

A Grave Riddle For Monday Mystery...!

Sometimes the tombstones in graveyards are a source of mystery and wonder. Often the mysteries cannot be solved

This article from Listverse tells of one such tombstone. To this day, the riddle of the stone has not been truly solved, although there are many guess as to what it means. Maybe someone will figure it out for sure one daqy.

Betty Stiven


Photo credit: Angelo Bissessarsingh

In the town of Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Tobago is a tombstone belonging to a woman named Betty Stiven. The inscription reads:
“Within these walls are deposited the bodies of Mrs. Betty Stiven and her child. She was the beloved wife of Alex B Stiven to the end of his days will deplore her Death, which happened upon the 25th day of Nov. 1783 in the 23rd year of her age. What was remarkable of her, she was a mother without knowing it, and a wife without letting her husband know it except by her kind indulgences to him.”

For centuries, the meaning of those words has been a mystery. While it’s very possible to become a father without realizing it, mothers go through a process that’s rather difficult to miss. Being someone’s wife without their knowing about it also has its challenges. As the sign next to it says, the inscription “baffles interpretation.”

One theory is that Betty was a slave and Alex Stiven was her owner. He impregnated her when she was 12, and then she got ill and was confined to her bed. During one of her bouts of unconsciousness, she gave birth to four children, one stillborn. Alex Stiven gave them to other slave women to raise, ordering them not to tell Betty. The wife situation is explained by how sex constituted a union at that time, without the requirement of a marriage ceremony.

We could consider another possibility. The engravers might not have meant the statements literally. If an older female figure made a difference in your life, you could say she was like a mother without her realizing how much she meant to you. The wife part is a little harder to figure out, admittedly. Either way, people continue to speculate, and Betty Stiven’s tombstone has become a popular tourist attraction, whoever she was.

Don't yu love a good mystery riddle to start the week?

Coffee out on the patio this morning.

6 comments:

Momlady said...

I like the first interpretation. Makes more sense. But it certainly is a riddle. You always choose such great stuff!

Chickenmom said...

That is a good one, Mr. Hermit. Wonder if there are any descendants left?

linda m said...

That really is a strange one. I think the first explanation is the most plausible one. Thanks for a good Monday mystery.

JO said...

Now that is interesting and sad all at the same time.
Coffee out doors sounds wonderful to me.

Dizzy-Dick said...

Now that one is hard to figure out for sure and like Momlady said, the first interpretation makes the most sense.

HermitJim said...

Hey Momlady...
Glad you liked it. Too good a mystery to pass up, ya know?
Thanks for stopping by today!


Hey Phyllis...
Does make you stop and think, doesn't it?
Thanks for coming by today!


Hey Linda...
One of those things we'll just never know for sure, I reckon.
Thanks for the visit today!


Hey Jo...
You are certainly right about that. Wonder what kind of life she had?
Thanks for dropping by today!


Hey Dizzy...
Makes you have to put on the thinking cap, right?
Thanks for stopping by this morning!