19 Facts About Mother Shipton

Mother Shipton has sometimes been described as a witch and is associated with folklore involving the origin of the Rollright Stones of Oxfordshire.

The book reputed Shipton to be hideously ugly, and that she had married Toby Shipton, a local carpenter, near York in 1512, and told fortunes and made predictions throughout her life.

Mother Shipton was born Ursula Southeil or Sonthiel, in 1486 or 1488 to 15-year-old Agatha Soothtale, allegedly in a cave outside the town of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire.

The sources state that Mother Shipton cackled instead of crying after having been born, and as she did so, the previously raging storms ceased.

Mother Shipton found acceptance with her foster family and a few friends, but Ursula was ultimately ostracised from the larger portion of people in town.

Mother Shipton found sanctuary in the woods like her mother had and spent most of her childhood learning of plants and herbs and their medicinal properties.

Mother Shipton's mother returned to find the front door wide open.

Two years later, in 1514, Toby Mother Shipton died, and the town believed Ursula to have been responsible for his death.

Mother Shipton started by making small prophecies involving her town and the people within, and as her prophecies came true she began telling prophecies of the monarchy and the future of the world.

Not long after Mother Shipton uttered this prophecy did a huge storm fall on York.

The most famous claimed edition of Mother Shipton's prophecies foretells many modern events and phenomena.

The booklet The Life and Prophecies of Ursula Sontheil better known as Mother Shipton predicted the world would end in 1991.

Mother Shipton made potions, herbal remedies, cast spells and prophesied the future.

The earliest account of Mother Shipton's prophecies was published in 1641, eighty years after her death.

The story goes that the document of Mother Shipton's life was recorded by a woman named Joane Waller who heard the story as a young girl and transcribed it as Mother Shipton spoke of her life.

Mother Shipton never wrote anything down or published anything during her lifetime.

The figure of Mother Shipton accumulated considerable folklore and legendary status.

Mother Shipton's name became associated with many tragic events and strange goings-on recorded in the UK, North America and Australia throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Mother Shipton is referred to in Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, referring to the year 1665, when the bubonic plague erupted in London:.