July 9, 2026

Isla de Mezcala

Isla de Mezcala
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Where there is history, there are hauntings! In this episode, Ayden recounts the four-year battle for independence led by fishermen and farmers on a small but mighty island!

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WEBVTT

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Hey, girlfriend, it's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way, I

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am still your host and you are still listening to SOUSTOL,

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the podcast of paranormal folklore from Latin America. Welcome back,

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all right, let me address the giant elephant in the room.

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A couple things to address. Number One, Listen, I am

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sorry about the last episode or the lack of a

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last episode. This is part of a larger conversation that

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we're gonna have today. I'm just gonna go for it.

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I'm just gonna let it rip. I'm gonna rip it

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off like a band aid. And I hope that you

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all will understand that, first and foremost, SUSTO has always

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been an independent production. Jeff stepped in this last year

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to help me with writing, which has been a huge help,

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and yet it is still a massive undertaking to produce

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this show at the level that I want to produce.

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Which is that gives you a peek into my brain,

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is that this is an independently produced show. I can

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do whatever I want and I somehow figure out a

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way to put this immense amount of pressure on myself.

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With that being said, I just needed the last few

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weeks off and it it was I hate using the

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word bad, but it was. It was so it was

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so intense, that's the word I'll use. It was so

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intense that I just I couldn't even bring myself to

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address it, to create a graphic and post online. And

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it's just it's been a lot, and it's not like

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like we're okay, we are fine, We're doing good. It's

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just sometimes it feels extremely overwhelming. So I thank you

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for your patients. If you probably didn't even notice that

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I was gone, and I'm glad, that's good, go about

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your life.

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I did.

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I'm just letting you know I had to take a

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break and I just had to like disappear for a

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couple weeks. With that being said, there's this idea of

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scaling back that is going to happen right now. It's

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in the stars. I feel like they are speaking to me.

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I am scaling back. So first things first is I'm

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I'm breaking up the band. I am disbanding the book club. However,

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I will continue to share what I am reading. I

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will continue posting like this is what I'm reading right now,

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this is maybe like this is how I feel about it,

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this is whatever, whatever. It's just like having to keep

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up with everything else and then putting that on my

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plate was a foolish thing to do. Hey, we did

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it for a while. It was really fun. However, that's

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where we're We're putting that on let's say pause for

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right now because yeah again, so we're scaling back. Another

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part of the scaling back is I'm reverting back to

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audio only. Listen, I am the king of saying making

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an announcement and being like this great, super cool thing

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is happening, and then tripping over myself and being like,

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never mind. That's part of the conversation of like a

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lot happening, of taking on more than I want to.

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My eyes are hungrier than my stomach, My ambition is

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greater than you know, what realistically is sustainable. So we

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are scaling things back. I'm not doing video episodes for

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the foreseeable future. However, there are still other perks and

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benefits that you can gain as a subscriber to soustalplus

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dot com also known as the Patreon. One of those

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is early in at free episodes, and when I do

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happen to do video content this I'm not saying there's

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never going to be video content ever. Again. I actually

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have something already recorded on video that's going to be

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coming out in a few weeks. That will be exclusive

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access on Patreon. It'll be ad free on Patreon. So yes,

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video content will probably continue in some form of the future.

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I just like it's not sustainable at this moment to

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do it for every single episode, so reverting to audio only,

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scaling things back now onto something exciting that that is,

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it's very sustainable. I just have to implement the change,

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and I don't have to. It's not going to be

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this huge undertaking is you may have noticed, and if

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you are following online that's at Sooostal Podcast on every

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social media platform that there is new cover art. This

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has been in the works for several months. I worked

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with an artist known as lux Fatal. You can check

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out lux Fatale dot card with two rs dot co

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and that will be linked in the description of this episode.

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I will also tag her page on I will also

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tag her on the social media post where I post

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those I'm so excited for this art. Lux was amazing

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worked with me, was super transparent every step of the

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way in producing this new art. So I'm so excited.

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It's like the first two iterations of the Susto cover art.

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I designed them myself. Yet you know, I dabble in

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graphic design and I did the best that I could,

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and I had finally gotten to this point where I

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was like, all right, this is the next it. We

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need to evolve again. It's time and I commissioned an artist.

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I commissioned Luxe, and she did a fantastic job. Just

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looking at the photo now is gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's

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so vibrant. It feels more me. I'm like, all right,

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I feel like I'm like leaning into the What I

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feel is the character and the vibe and the aesthetic

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of Sustal. This feels more in line with that. So

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you let me know what you think. Let me know

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if you how much you love it, because I know

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you don't hate it, So let me know how much

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you love it, what you love about it. Make sure

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to check out Lux's page. And also, fun fact, I

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kind of like, I don't know if this counts as

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an Easter egg, but Lux and her husband also have

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a podcast called ghost Beast, and we did an episode

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swap with them a few months ago. They do they

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their their mission over at ghost Beast is to watch

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every single horror film and they do such fun retellings

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of them. It's it's in line with wikio which is

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another one of my favorite podcasts, and you know that

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weikyoa covers all Latin American horror films. Ghost Beast they

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are watching, they listen, they say that they're that they're

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doing it. They've got a long list to watch every

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horror movie. So go check them out. I love their podcast,

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and I love the art that that lux developed for us.

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It's it's I can't stop looking at it. It's so beautiful.

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I'm so excited to share the art with you. So

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hopefully it didn't confuse anyone and people were like, what

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the hell is that? But it's pretty clear, you know

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the titles front center it is. It's I just I'm

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gushing about it. I love it so much. Anyway, we're

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gonna move on. Those are I think all the major

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announcements for the show. You can support Sustal by following

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along for any and all updates like the ones that

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I just shared here on at Sustal podcast on every

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social media platform, Engage wherever you were listening as well.

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That's one of the easiest ways to support it's free

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as well by leaving positive and rating reviews, by leaving

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comments comments like this one from Sheila on the original

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Dancing with the Double episode, Sheila said, yes, I read

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that story in the book Stories That Must Not Die. Sheila,

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I'm not sure if you've caught up, if you've seen it.

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But I did. Well.

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First of all, I have that book and it is

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the it's the actual physical hardcover copy of the book

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from my elementary classroom. I talk about it all the

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time on here, and I have it. The sword on

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the cover of that book. I have it tattooed on

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my right forearm. I'm sure it's been on social media

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of course. So yeah, I love this book. I love

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talking about this book. It has been such a huge

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influence on my life and on the work that we

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do hear at SUSTO. So yes, I was so excited.

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I get I always get excited when people are like,

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I know that book. I know what you're talking about

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because I got it. I love it, and thank you

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for Imy. It seems like you may be listening through

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the episode, so I don't know from the beginning, so

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I don't know when you'll get to this one, but

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hopefully that'll be soon, and thank you for listening. I

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hope that you're enjoying it so far. Daphne, however, on

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the other hand, on the River of Death episode, commented, wow,

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this has been the most upsetting episode, Daphne, Marie, just

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you wait. Unfortunately it gets worse in other episodes too.

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They continued, and they said, this was heartbreaking and infuriating.

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Good episode, Daphne, thank you so much. That River of

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Death episode was that one. It's like an ecological horror

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if we had to classify it, it's definitely about environmental

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racism and pollution and climate change, which it truly is horrifying.

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It really is. We're in the think of it. It's happening.

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Look at what happened in Paris recently. Speaking of you know,

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Pride Month just ended recently, although it's Pride Year every

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day three six five on Super Gay however, speaking of

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Paris is burning, they were like burning up in Europe,

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which is like unprecedented temperatures.

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I'm not gonna go into it.

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If you want to hear more about ecological horror, you

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can listen to the Rivert of Death episode. Those two

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will be tied in the description below. Of course, and

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as always, please make sure that you send in your

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stories using the Submit story button on sustalpodcast dot com.

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It doesn't have to be just a written story. You

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can also send in a video, a photo, an EVP

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if you happen to grab one, and they will be

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featured either on social media or on a Letters from

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the Beyond episode. So again, make sure to click that

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button and send in your stories. And as always, as

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I mentioned earlier, you can sign up for exclusive and

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bonus content on Sustal plus dot com.

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Let's get on.

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With today's episode. I hope that you enjoy it. We

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will be speaking about the Isla de Mescala. There is

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an island in the middle of Mexico's largest lake that

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has been soaked in blood for hundreds of years. The

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small island sits in Lake Chappella in the state of Jalisco,

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about twenty minutes by boat from the shore. On a

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clear day, you can see it from the waterfront of

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the town of Mescala, rising dark and quiet out of

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the water. The ruins of a stone fortress are still visible.

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There are no permanent residents. The island has been officially

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abandoned for over a century and a half, but locals

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will tell you it's not empty. The people who live

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on the lake shore, the fishermen, the guides, the families

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who have called this region home for generations, will tell

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you that the island remembers everything that has ever happened

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on it, and what has happened on it is enough

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to keep the dead from resting. Long before the Spanish arrived,

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long before the land was called Mexico, this island was

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already considered sacred. The people who first claimed the island

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around twelve EIGHTYCEE were connected to the same civilization that

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built the Guacimontones, the great circular pyramids of Hallisco that

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still stand today, rising in perfect concentric rings from the earth.

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These were sophisticated people, engineers and astronomers, and deeply spiritual,

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and to them this island was not simply a piece

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of land in a lake, a threshold, a place where

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the world of the living pressed up against something else.

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There was a structure on the island still called the

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Torre del Gabalero Alto, or the Tower of the High Night.

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It is an ancient yellow structure just visible from the water.

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Most recently used as a watch tower. Locals say this

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was a center of torture in Prehispanic times, a place

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where sacrificial rites were performed. The obsidian blades found buried

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in the soil of this island were not for cutting vegetables.

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They were ritual instruments, the kind used in ceremonies where

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the boundary between a human life and whatever came after

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it was deliberately ceremonially crossed. The island was, by every

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account an altar blood had spilled here in the name

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of the divine. The lake received those offerings, and in

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the cosmology of the u S indigenous peoples of the region,

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a place that receives the dead becomes a kind of door.

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When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, they built

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a Catholic chapel on the island. This was not unusual.

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The strategy of the colonial church was to construct Christian

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buildings directly on top of indigenous sacred sites and to

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overwrite them, to replace one spiritual presence with another. But

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on this island, the chapel was built on the exact

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spot where sacrifices had been made to the old gods

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and ancestors. Their idols were thrown into the lake. Every

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ritual tool, every carved stone face, every figure that had

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been venerated for generations cast into the water. Whether or

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not you believe such things carry weight, it's worth considering

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what it means to the spirits of a place when

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you drown their gods. By the early eighteen hundreds, the

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indigenous people living along the shores of Lake Chappala had

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00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.799
been living under Spanish colonial rule for nearly three centuries.

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The cruelties imposed on them were not abstract. They were

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daily physical and grinding, forced labour, land seizure, violence with

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00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:25.440
no consequence for those who inflicted it. In eighteen twelve,

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00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:30.399
a young fisherman named in Carnacion Rosas had enough. He

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00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.519
was not a politician or a trained soldier. He was

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00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:36.159
a man who pulled fish from this lake for a living.

241
00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:42.279
He gathered about sixty men, fishermen, farmers, indigenous villagers, armed

242
00:14:42.279 --> 00:14:48.559
with lances, sticks and rocks, and initiated an uprising. The

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00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:53.039
Spanish sent troops to crush the rebellion, and Carnacion Rosas

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00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:58.360
and his men defeated them, killing sixty word spread and

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00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:04.279
the uprising Guru, a former Catholic priest named Marcos Castellanos,

246
00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:08.039
a man who had already renounced his allegiance to the

247
00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:12.440
colonial order and joined the independence movement, arrived on the

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00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:18.639
island with more insurgents. Together they did something extraordinary. They

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00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.720
turned this small floating altar on the lake into an

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00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:29.600
impenetrable fortress. They worked with remarkable ingenuity. They built defensive

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00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:34.720
walls right at the waterline, just beneath the surface, invisible.

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To approaching boats.

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00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:39.000
They built a second set of walls at the beach's edge.

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00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:44.559
A third ring of fortifications protected the interior structures. They

255
00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:48.879
positioned cannons on a tiny adjacent island, an outer defensive

256
00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:53.960
platform set just off the main shore. Spanish ships came

257
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.159
to break the siege. They were not ordinary vessels for

258
00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:02.519
the lake. Some were dismantled from the ocean and reassembled

259
00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:07.600
peace by piece on the lake, specifically to retake this island.

260
00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:11.600
But then they ran aground on the submerged walls. The

261
00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:16.600
rebels watched them flounder from the shore and recovered weapons, canoes,

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00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:21.840
and ammunition from the wreckage. For four years, a few

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00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:26.080
hundred indigenous men and women held off the full military

264
00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:28.600
force of the Spanish colonial government.

265
00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:32.320
The people in the.

266
00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:36.440
Lakeside villages secretly supplied the rebels at night by rowing

267
00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:40.799
out under the cover of darkness with food, ammunition, tools,

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00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:41.879
and medicine.

269
00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:43.480
They knew the risk.

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00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.600
When the Spanish discovered this network of support, their response

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00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:51.960
was medieval in its brutality. They burned every crop along

272
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.320
the shores of Lake Chappala, every field, every garden, every

273
00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.360
store of grain. They starved the rebels from the outside in.

274
00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:08.240
By eighteen sixteen, eight thousand Spanish troops surrounded the island.

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The defenders were sick and starving. Their wounds were infected.

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00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:18.039
Disease moved through the fortress, and people died. But none

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00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:23.880
of them surrendered, not one. They refused every offer, every demand,

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00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.640
every ultimatum.

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00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:27.519
When the end finally.

280
00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.920
Came in November of eighteen sixteen, it came not from

281
00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:34.920
defeat in battle, but from the slow murder by starvation

282
00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:40.640
and illness. Marcos Castellanos and the Spanish commander Jose de

283
00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:45.920
la Cruz agreed on terms. The rebels would surrender. In exchange,

284
00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:49.480
they would be pardoned. They would be allowed to return

285
00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:54.240
to their homes freely. When the Spanish entered the island,

286
00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:59.559
they found sixteen cannons, stockpiles of weapons, and approximately eight

287
00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:06.920
hundred men barely alive. The Spanish commander, by all historical accounts,

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00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:07.960
was moved.

289
00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:10.119
He ordered food.

290
00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:13.599
Brought to the island to feed the malnourished warriors. He

291
00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:17.240
upheld the terms of the surrender, He let them go.

292
00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:21.599
Historians note that this was the first time in the

293
00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:25.680
entire Mexican War of Independence that the Spanish had granted

294
00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:30.359
a conditional surrender. This was the first time in years

295
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:34.559
of exterminating and pitiless war that they had not executed

296
00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:40.519
their prisoners. It seemed for a moment like grace, but

297
00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:44.319
it was not. Jose de la Cruz was not a

298
00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:47.599
merciful man. He was known throughout New Spain for his

299
00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:51.799
cruelty and bloodthirsty methods. He had let the rebels go,

300
00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:56.759
but he had not forgiven them. In eighteen seventeen, one

301
00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:00.359
year after the surrender, he ordered a new structure built

302
00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:04.720
on the island. Not a monument to the brave indigenous defenders,

303
00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:07.640
not a memorial to what had happened here.

304
00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:08.960
A prison.

305
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.000
The message was simple and deliberate. You wan the battle,

306
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.480
but we own this island, and if you ever think

307
00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:20.440
of taking it back, this is what waits for you.

308
00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:26.359
The fortress the rebels had built was repurposed. New construction

309
00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:30.559
was added of a moat, drawbridges, embrasures for weapons, and

310
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:35.279
firing ranges. The structure that emerged was called El Bresilio.

311
00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.640
It was the only work of formal military architecture ever

312
00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:43.519
built in the territory of Jalisco. It was designed to

313
00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:48.240
be inescapable. It was designed, above all, to be a warning.

314
00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:52.480
The prison received its first inmates in eighteen twenty six

315
00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:57.480
and continued operating until eighteen fifty five. The facility had

316
00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:02.519
four wings arranged around a central cobbleston courtyard, twenty eight cells,

317
00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:07.839
two circular watch towers, a drawbridge over a deep perimeter mote,

318
00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:11.039
so that even reaching the entrance required crossing a gap

319
00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:14.920
over open water, the lake visible below you on all sides.

320
00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:20.039
The dormitories held twenty to thirty prisoners per room, but

321
00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:24.279
locals who know this island's history say the dungeons were different.

322
00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:27.680
The deep cells could hold up to two hundred and

323
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:32.799
fifty people in a single enclosure. Two hundred and fifty

324
00:20:32.839 --> 00:20:36.920
people in one cell on an island in a lake.

325
00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:42.279
There is no kindness in that number. That is not incarceration,

326
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:46.880
that is something else. The prisoners sent to Mescala were

327
00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.839
drawn from the communities along the shores of Chappala and

328
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:54.119
Michua Gun, the same communities that had once supported the rebellion.

329
00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:58.160
They were people who had stepped out of line, who

330
00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.559
had defied the colonial order, who had committed the crime

331
00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:05.559
of challenging the authority of those who ruled them, the

332
00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:09.759
most common offense recorded in the prisons. Official documents covered

333
00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:13.839
a wide range of crimes against the social order, including

334
00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:16.960
any act perceived as a violation of the rights of

335
00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:22.440
the powerful. The prisoners lived in what contemporary accounts describe

336
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:26.920
as extreme and repugnant conditions. There was no adequate food,

337
00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:31.119
no clean water, no medical care. Disease moved through the

338
00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:37.200
cells constantly. People died slowly of illness, of starvation, of

339
00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:42.359
infected wounds, of despair. Others died attempting to escape by

340
00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.559
throwing themselves from the walls into the lake, only to

341
00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:51.079
be pulled back or drowned. There was no appeal, There

342
00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:54.799
was no recourse. You were on an island. The water

343
00:21:54.920 --> 00:21:58.680
surrounded you on every side. The Spanish garrison held the

344
00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:03.119
only boats. The chapel on the island, built on the

345
00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:06.640
site of the old sacrificial ground, took on a new

346
00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:11.079
and terrible meaning. During these years, prisoners went there not

347
00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:16.000
just for prayer, but for penitence, for formal physical punishment

348
00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:20.279
in the name of God. The most common voluntary penants

349
00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:24.279
performed in that chapel was a three day fast. Starving

350
00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:27.480
men chose to go without food for three days to

351
00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:33.279
demonstrate their contrition. In that context, the word voluntary deserves

352
00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:37.920
a long look. The chapel also served as a burial ground.

353
00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:42.720
People were interred there inside and around it. Beneath the

354
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:46.599
stones where prayers were said. Bodies were laid into the

355
00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:52.119
island's soil. When Brasilio finally closed in eighteen fifty five,

356
00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:58.119
the island fell quiet. The Spanish military's presence dispersed. The

357
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.880
prisoners who were there had all either been sent away

358
00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:06.640
or died. The island was abandoned. But here's the thing

359
00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:10.400
about a place where this much suffering has accumulated. The

360
00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:14.680
suffering does not leave just because the people do. The

361
00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:18.039
island has been essentially uninhabited for over one hundred and

362
00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:22.880
fifty years. The ruins are still there, the stone walls,

363
00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:27.039
the moat, the towers, the chapel with its collapsed.

364
00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:30.000
Roof, the Quardo Viejo, or the old barracks.

365
00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:32.680
Where cannonballs were cast from molten metal during the war,

366
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:36.519
its quadrangular walls still standing in their Baroque style, though

367
00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:42.440
crumbling now. The Tori de gaveroalto ancient and yellow, watching.

368
00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.480
The lake and the stories.

369
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:49.880
Talk to the people at the pier in Mescala, the fishermen,

370
00:23:50.440 --> 00:23:53.799
the boat operators who carry tourists out to the island

371
00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:57.200
during the day and who do not linger past sunset.

372
00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:01.599
Ask them what they've heard, what they've seen, what their

373
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:05.759
elders told them about this place. They will tell you

374
00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.039
about the sounds from the old barracks. Late at night,

375
00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:12.079
when the lake is still and the tourist boats have

376
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:19.720
long since returned to shore. You can hear it, a knocking, rhythmic, deliberate,

377
00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:26.480
like something chipping stone, like someone still working. The people

378
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.119
who live closest to the island say it has been

379
00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:34.240
heard for generations, always the same sound, always coming from

380
00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:38.000
the same ruined walls where the prisoners once broke rock

381
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.319
and cast metal for cannons. They would eventually be killed

382
00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:45.960
by who is still working in those ruins alone in

383
00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:46.759
the dark.

384
00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:48.960
They will tell you about the child.

385
00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:52.599
There is a child who cries on the island, not

386
00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:57.279
in one place, everywhere, in every corner, in every passage,

387
00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:03.359
through every ruined room, a child voice, weeping, never finding comfort,

388
00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:07.559
never stopping. No one has ever found a source for it.

389
00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:10.640
The locals say it is the spirit of a child

390
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:14.079
who died there, and given the history of this place,

391
00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:17.920
the question of which child or how many is not

392
00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:21.039
a comfortable one to sit with. They will tell you

393
00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.680
that the cells of the old Brasilio feel different. They

394
00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:28.039
remain cold and empty, but there is always a sense

395
00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:32.319
that something else occupies the space with you. That walking

396
00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:36.160
through the dormitories, through the tight corridors between the ruins,

397
00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:39.240
you have the sensation of being watched by something that

398
00:25:39.319 --> 00:25:41.920
does not want you there. That the air in the

399
00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:46.720
cells has a quality of pressure, of presence, of accumulated

400
00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:51.240
anger that has nowhere to go. The island operates nighttime

401
00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:54.279
tours now. The local guides who lead to them have

402
00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:57.680
their own stories. They talk about things they have heard

403
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.480
while walking the grounds after dark, shapes they have seen

404
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:05.440
in the towers, movement when the hair rises on their arms,

405
00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:09.480
and they know with a certainty. They cannot entirely explain

406
00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:14.880
that something is aware of them. The souls of the prisoners,

407
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.000
the legends say, have not left. They are still in

408
00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:24.079
those cells, still in those corridors, still doing pennants for

409
00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:27.839
sins they may have not committed, still trapped on an

410
00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:31.880
island they could not escape in life. In one of

411
00:26:31.880 --> 00:26:34.920
those nighttime tours, they warn you not to stare at

412
00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:39.400
the walls for too long. Dark pained faces will appear

413
00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:43.119
on the wall between the flickering of lights, the pain

414
00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.160
of those prisoners forever trapped in the stone walls of

415
00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:51.559
the dungeon. And deeper, still, beneath the prison layers, beneath

416
00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:56.920
the colonial chapel, beneath the insurgent fortress, are the older presences,

417
00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:00.519
the ones who were there on the island before the

418
00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:05.880
Spanish arrived, before the rebellion, before the prison the ones

419
00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:10.000
whose idols were thoughtlessly thrown into the lake, the ones

420
00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:14.200
whose blood fed this soil, those who performed the rites

421
00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:17.640
at the Torre del Gabalo Alto, when the world was

422
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:21.000
younger and the lake was a threshold between one world

423
00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:25.279
and another. This island has been a site of killing

424
00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:29.519
for seven hundred years in Mexico, people know that the

425
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:32.480
dead are not entirely gone, and the world of the

426
00:27:32.519 --> 00:27:35.119
living and the world of the dead are not as

427
00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:38.839
separate as we might prefer. A place like this does

428
00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:45.960
not empty out. It fills layer upon lair, blood upon blood.

429
00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:50.279
The lake holds it all, the island sits in the

430
00:27:50.279 --> 00:27:54.279
middle of it. And at night, when the last boat

431
00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:59.000
has gone and the water goes dark, and still something

432
00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:07.079
on Islamiska is still awake, knocking, weeping, waiting for what

433
00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:12.799
we don't know, maybe for an apology that will never come, maybe.

434
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:14.319
Just to be heard.

435
00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.519
Welcome back, well friends, thank you so much for listening

436
00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:42.480
to that episode. Let's go ahead and jump into our

437
00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:45.839
sources here first. I do want to address though there

438
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:49.880
were not super concrete sources, so there was a bit

439
00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:52.839
of creative writing, as we do here on the show,

440
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:54.839
and I just want to clarify it as to not

441
00:28:54.920 --> 00:28:57.960
perpetuate any sort of like stereotypes or anything.

442
00:28:58.200 --> 00:29:00.359
There were a few sources.

443
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:05.000
That mentioned that there was in fact some form of

444
00:29:05.559 --> 00:29:10.799
blood letting or ritual sacrifice that happened specifically on this

445
00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:15.759
island and with the indigenous people that lived on what

446
00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:18.920
is now known as Khalisco or Mexico, right, so that

447
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:22.799
that did happen. However, it did not happen at the

448
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:26.240
same frequency as it did with other peoples. And I

449
00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:28.240
think we're going to talk about them here, but I

450
00:29:28.279 --> 00:29:31.039
want to say that the main indigenous group, or the

451
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:34.160
main indigenous group of peoples that inhabited this area were

452
00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:36.440
known as the Coca people, and we will be talking

453
00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:38.359
about them in a source here. I just wanted to

454
00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:41.319
clear that up that yes, some form of blood letting,

455
00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:46.359
some form of ritualistic human sacrifice happened, but it was

456
00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:49.440
very rare, if at all, so just laying the foundation

457
00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:52.400
for that. Speaking of laying the foundation, our first source

458
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:56.559
is from Maya Comunication dot com dot MX and this

459
00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:00.640
is about Mescata Island, the mysterious destination and you must

460
00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:03.799
visit in Khalisko. And this is sort of a condensed

461
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.880
history of the island, and we're going to be getting

462
00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:09.240
into a more thorough history, but I want to give

463
00:30:09.319 --> 00:30:14.079
the condensed version. So this is a very historical episode.

464
00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:17.480
This is very much based on true events on a

465
00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:20.160
real place. And this says in the heart of the

466
00:30:20.200 --> 00:30:26.079
imposing Lake Chappala, Mexico's largest lake lies the enigmatic Mescala Island,

467
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.720
a destination that blends history, mystery, and authentic flavors. Though

468
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:33.519
its atmosphere is steeped in legends and ghost stories, the

469
00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:36.599
island has become a perfect attraction for those seeking a

470
00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:40.119
unique family getaway, which is very interesting considering the history

471
00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:42.279
of this place. Right, as we just heard in the

472
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.599
story was there was, there's war that happened here, there's

473
00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:49.240
death that happened here, all the way to pre Columbian times.

474
00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:53.799
So bring the family right, but this continues. Mescala Island,

475
00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:57.880
just fifty minutes from the picturesque magic town of Ahihik,

476
00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:02.200
covers less than twenty hectares but holds centuries of history

477
00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:06.839
and secrets waiting to be discovered. Also known as Patassilio Island,

478
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:10.720
it was founded in twelve eighty and became an important

479
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:15.640
center of worship during the fourteenth century. So what like

480
00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:20.599
over eighteen hundred years ago, that's crazy. Archaeological remains found there,

481
00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:24.039
such as of citium points and ceramic pieces, suggest that

482
00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:27.039
the island may have been inhabited by the same civilization

483
00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:31.480
that built the famous guacies in Jalisco and I will

484
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:34.359
be talking about the Gauci mones in their own source.

485
00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:36.640
But as mentioned in the story, it's this kind of

486
00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:40.119
like pyramid structure, but the pyramid is built of like

487
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:44.440
circular layers, and the ones like if you look them

488
00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:46.599
up now online, I'll post a picture on the social

489
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:49.920
post for this episode. Is they're covered like they look

490
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:52.279
like hills because they're covered by grass. I don't know

491
00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:54.440
if they've always been covered by grass, if they were

492
00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:57.119
built that way, or if that's just like nature took over,

493
00:31:57.440 --> 00:31:59.759
and there may be. But it also looks like from

494
00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:02.799
the side as if they're made from rock. So you

495
00:32:02.839 --> 00:32:04.400
can check out a picture of that online. And we're

496
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:06.279
going to talk about those more in a second, but

497
00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:09.039
this continues. One of the most significant moments in the

498
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:13.039
history of Islam, Mescala occurred during the Mexican War of Independence,

499
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:17.079
when it became an insurgent stronghold. For four years, the

500
00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:22.519
rebels valiantly defended their fortification against royalist attacks. Over time,

501
00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:27.279
the military structure, known as Elfuerte was transformed into El Presidio,

502
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:32.279
a prison for the region's most dangerous criminals. Today, Mescala

503
00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:35.720
Island is a destination steeped in tales of terror and legend.

504
00:32:35.880 --> 00:32:38.359
It is said that the souls of former prisoners will

505
00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:40.960
still wander the halls and cells of the old prison.

506
00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:45.359
So definitely haunted, a haunted place, and as we say

507
00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:48.920
almost every episode, where there is history, there is haunting. Ooh,

508
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:50.279
I don't think I've said it like that before, but

509
00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:52.880
that's really good. Where there is history, there is haunting,

510
00:32:53.400 --> 00:32:55.559
and a lot of history happened here, and a lot

511
00:32:55.599 --> 00:32:59.079
of intense history war literal war, lots of death, and

512
00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:03.599
then prison which are of course, as we know, just prisons,

513
00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:08.119
our structures of torture, and so yeah, of course there

514
00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:11.559
has to be this traumatic impact on this space. This

515
00:33:11.640 --> 00:33:15.680
continues furthermore. The island features a small cave that serves

516
00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:18.359
as a shrine dedicated to our Lady of San Juan

517
00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:21.839
de los Lagos, and a chapel built with unusual materials

518
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:25.559
such as volcanic rock and animal remains, where ancient religious

519
00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:29.519
rituals were performed For adventure lovers, islam Uscala offers much

520
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.559
more than history. The Old Barracks, a collection of ruins

521
00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:35.359
once used for weapons manufacturing, and the Tower of the

522
00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:38.279
Tall Night, a yellow structure that served as a torture

523
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:42.400
center in pre Hispanic times are must see attractions again

524
00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:45.680
like Musty Attraction, torture center and all this and that.

525
00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:49.000
But there are photos here from and around the island,

526
00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:52.359
and it does look beautiful. It's an island, right, It's

527
00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:54.599
hard for an island to not look beautiful, especially with

528
00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:57.359
the sunset in the background. But yeah, we have another

529
00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:00.960
source here from Wikipedia, and this is also more history

530
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:02.599
about the island. So there's a lot of what we

531
00:34:02.799 --> 00:34:05.640
just read in the Mayako Municacion source. But I want

532
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:07.559
to talk more of the Virgin of the Tree of

533
00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:12.199
Life and the specific structures on this island. So this

534
00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:15.239
one it says on Mescala Island there is a very

535
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:18.559
representative sculpture of a virgin known as the Virgin of

536
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:21.239
San Juan de los Lagos or the Virgin of San

537
00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:24.280
Juan of the Lakes, Right, that's what that's what that

538
00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:28.400
translates to, Yes, located under the Tree of Light, which

539
00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:31.920
represents with its roots and trunk, the figure of an elephant.

540
00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:35.280
So yeah, it's just this big tree that is said to.

541
00:34:35.239 --> 00:34:36.159
Look like an elephant.

542
00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:38.079
I don't I think I kind of see. I think

543
00:34:38.119 --> 00:34:40.039
I see the one branch over on the left of

544
00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:43.320
this photo that looks like an elephant's trunk. But yeah,

545
00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:46.840
apparently this is a structure. This is a shrine to

546
00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:49.440
the Vehican that is on this island. And it says

547
00:34:49.519 --> 00:34:51.880
it is said that this Virgin Mary statue was made

548
00:34:51.920 --> 00:34:54.960
by the indigenous people who inhabited the island during the

549
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:57.960
colonial era. The ribbons represent the colors used in the

550
00:34:57.960 --> 00:35:01.440
traditional clothing worn by the women of Escala for their dances.

551
00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:04.559
Then it talks about the chapel. It says the chapel

552
00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:06.719
on the Mescala Island was the original site of the

553
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:09.280
Virgin of San Juan de Oslagos, where people prayed and

554
00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:13.760
where they performed voluntary penances. Again, the voluntary penances, which

555
00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:15.679
me or may not have been super voluntary, the most

556
00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:18.119
common being a three day fast. It is said that

557
00:35:18.239 --> 00:35:21.719
some people were buried there. The island's inhabitants were considered

558
00:35:21.800 --> 00:35:24.519
very devoted to the Vitan of San Juan delos Lagos.

559
00:35:25.079 --> 00:35:27.599
Then it talks about the fort. The fort, the island's

560
00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:30.960
main attraction, has a drawbridge at the entrance. Since under

561
00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:33.159
the bridge and around the entire fort, there is a

562
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:36.119
double sloped perimeter moat, so essentially it's like a moat,

563
00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:38.840
but it's like a v so each side is at

564
00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:41.280
a slope, it's at an incline. So if I guess,

565
00:35:41.280 --> 00:35:43.079
if people fall in, it's hard for them to climb

566
00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:45.599
out right, or if you go in trying to climb

567
00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:47.039
the wall, it's gonna be hard to get out. And

568
00:35:47.079 --> 00:35:49.440
then one side of it it goes like all the

569
00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:52.519
way up to a wall, and so it's like you

570
00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:54.679
really cannot climb over if you get into this moat

571
00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:57.239
unless you had like you know, like if from the

572
00:35:57.239 --> 00:36:00.079
cartoons there's like that rope with it looks like a giant.

573
00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:01.159
Fit show throw it over the wall.

574
00:36:01.239 --> 00:36:03.880
It's very loney Tune style what I'm imagining, but that

575
00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:07.559
sort of thing. And again the moat was installed after

576
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:11.800
the not the surrender, I guess the surrender, but like

577
00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:14.440
you know, after that they made their agreement to end

578
00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:17.000
the battle. There that four year battle this continues. The

579
00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:19.800
fort has four wings as we mentioned, and twenty eight

580
00:36:19.880 --> 00:36:23.000
cells surrounding a central paved courtyard, as well as two

581
00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:26.480
circular watchtowers, one of which is known as San Juan Batista.

582
00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:29.159
It was in this area that the prisoners were housed

583
00:36:29.199 --> 00:36:32.119
in dormitories that could accommodate approximately again, as we said

584
00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:35.000
in the story, twenty to thirty people per room, which

585
00:36:35.159 --> 00:36:37.760
I'm like, how okay, exactly how big were the cells?

586
00:36:37.960 --> 00:36:40.400
We don't see that detail here, but twenty to thirty

587
00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:42.960
people in one room has got to be a big room.

588
00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:46.800
If not, that's really like inhumane. But again, prisons, this continues.

589
00:36:46.840 --> 00:36:50.280
The fort also included a kitchen and punishment cells in

590
00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:53.360
addition to a central courtyard. Then the last structure listed

591
00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:56.000
here are the Old Barracks. The Old Barracks is a

592
00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:59.920
quadrangular building with a central courtyard which still retains wing

593
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:04.480
rooms and buttresses, as well as vestiges of a staircase.

594
00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:07.119
There's some sort of oven in the courtyard that I

595
00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:08.519
think may or may not have been a part of

596
00:37:08.519 --> 00:37:11.679
the kitchen, and some baroque influence in the windowsills and

597
00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:15.400
ornamental details. So yeah, as you can imagine, it is

598
00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:18.880
just a very very old structure, a very old place.

599
00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:21.800
With that, we're gonna go ahead and take a quick break.

600
00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:38.880
Welcome back. So this next source that I want to

601
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:41.519
get into with you, This is a pretty lengthy one,

602
00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:43.880
but this was one of those where as I mentioned

603
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:46.119
last time, I'm like, oh, this is a lot if

604
00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:48.360
you want to read it whatever, whatever. I again highly

605
00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:51.679
recommend checking it out reading it for yourself. But I

606
00:37:51.800 --> 00:37:55.320
did do a breakdown of the timeline because this goes

607
00:37:55.360 --> 00:38:00.320
like into a really detailed timeline of the nut the

608
00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:02.599
history of the island itself, but the timeline of the

609
00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:04.960
of the battle, the four year battle that took place here.

610
00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:10.079
And this is from Chappala dot com. It's called the

611
00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:14.480
Battle of Mescala Island by Robert M. Burnett. And again

612
00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:16.679
you can find direct links to the sources on the

613
00:38:16.760 --> 00:38:20.079
sustol Google docs on sustoplus dot com. But we're gonna

614
00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:22.280
go through this timeline that I took notes on, so

615
00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:26.119
for the background and the uprising in eighteen twelve, as

616
00:38:26.159 --> 00:38:29.280
mentioned in the story in Garnacion, Rosas, which I think

617
00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:32.880
is a beautiful name in Garnacion, it's so cool and

618
00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:36.920
unique at least timmy right, But it says that in Garnacion,

619
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:41.079
a fisherman from Lake Chappala recruited about sixty men and

620
00:38:41.199 --> 00:38:44.760
rebels against the Spanish rule. It says that his forces

621
00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:48.960
reinforced by insurgents under Jose Santana, which was someone who

622
00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:53.199
joined him defeated the Spanish troops near Mescala, killing sixty

623
00:38:53.320 --> 00:38:56.039
Spanish soldiers. So the Spanish got wind of this happening,

624
00:38:56.119 --> 00:38:58.239
of this uprising, and they were like, let's go stamp

625
00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:00.199
that out before it gets worse. But they were not

626
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:03.159
ready for these people to put up a good fight.

627
00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:06.960
So then the rebels win further battles at San Pedro,

628
00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:12.239
Itzikan and Bon Citlan, capturing firearms, cannons, and ammunition. So

629
00:39:12.280 --> 00:39:15.079
you're gonna notice in this timeline is that they're having

630
00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:18.440
these smallish battles throughout these four years, and each time

631
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:20.840
it's kind of a success for them. Not only are

632
00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:24.480
they killing off the Spanish soldiers, but each time they're

633
00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:29.239
also acquiring goods. They're getting like loots, right, So they

634
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:33.039
win further battles they end up also capturing firearms, cannons,

635
00:39:33.079 --> 00:39:36.960
and ammunition. It says that both Rosas and Santaana gather

636
00:39:37.079 --> 00:39:40.760
nearly one thousand men and fortify Mescala Island as a

637
00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:45.360
rebel stronghold, led spiritually and militarily by And this is

638
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:47.719
exciting to read. I'm sure you heard the name the

639
00:39:47.719 --> 00:39:52.519
former priest, Don Marcos Castellanos. Is that my uncle that

640
00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:56.440
is my last name, which I don't think growing up

641
00:39:56.440 --> 00:39:59.960
in Texas, it's not an extremely last name. I don't.

642
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:01.840
I think I've met a ton of people with the

643
00:40:01.920 --> 00:40:04.719
last name Castellanos, and when I do, it's always like, hey,

644
00:40:04.719 --> 00:40:06.559
oh my god, well I hardly see that. I remember

645
00:40:06.599 --> 00:40:08.800
one time a few years ago, after I think like

646
00:40:08.840 --> 00:40:11.039
a five k that I ran, this guy walked out

647
00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:13.440
to me. He's just said, no way. He pointed out

648
00:40:13.480 --> 00:40:17.159
my bib y'all. I kid you not. His name was

649
00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:20.079
my name too, John Jacob Jingo Harbersmith. No, his name

650
00:40:20.119 --> 00:40:23.360
was Adrian Castellanos, And I was like, holy fu, I

651
00:40:23.400 --> 00:40:26.880
had registered for that run as Adrian Castillanos and we're

652
00:40:26.920 --> 00:40:28.719
just pointing at each other like the Spider Man meme.

653
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:31.159
I was like, hold on a minute. So anyway, in

654
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:36.599
these early stages, around eighteen twelve, Lomacos Castianos, who was

655
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:40.480
a former priest, renounced that and maybe not renounced his

656
00:40:41.119 --> 00:40:45.480
Catholic belief or his Christian belief, but he renounced I

657
00:40:45.519 --> 00:40:50.719
guess maybe the Spanish government's actions, and like he fought,

658
00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:53.880
he was also fighting for the independence of Mexico, right which,

659
00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:57.119
so here is where the siege really begins at the

660
00:40:57.239 --> 00:40:59.920
end of December eighteen twelve, Spanish Governor Don Jo said

661
00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:04.480
la Cruz orders Lieutenant Colonel and Lenadis to attack the island.

662
00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:07.960
So again, Spanish Governor don Jose de la Cruz, he's

663
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:10.599
an important player in this. He's kind of calling the

664
00:41:10.599 --> 00:41:14.000
shots on behalf of the Spanish government and the Spanish

665
00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:19.119
army to try and take down the forces at Isla Mescala. Right,

666
00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:22.039
So at the end of December eighteen twelve he sends

667
00:41:22.519 --> 00:41:27.000
anhel nadus to go and battle with them. Around February

668
00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:30.320
eighteen thirteen is when the actual battle happens. Lenatis's assault

669
00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:35.800
fails disastrously and he and his men are captured and later,

670
00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:40.360
of course, reportedly executed. So not only did Lenatis, who

671
00:41:40.440 --> 00:41:43.800
was sent over by Don Jose de la Cruz, did

672
00:41:43.800 --> 00:41:46.440
he lose this battle, but him and his men were

673
00:41:46.519 --> 00:41:51.440
captured and they were executed prisoners of war. I don't

674
00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:53.119
know if that counts as account is a prisoner of war,

675
00:41:53.239 --> 00:41:55.280
but if they were executed, but they were so, then

676
00:41:56.119 --> 00:41:59.079
defenders of the island. They strengthen it again because each

677
00:41:59.119 --> 00:42:01.639
time they want a bat they just got to keep

678
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:05.119
whatever they captured from those forces. So with le Natus's

679
00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:09.599
men they also capture seventeen cannons and weapons. Josela Carus

680
00:42:09.639 --> 00:42:12.039
again the guy calling the shots for the Spanish military.

681
00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:16.239
This says Goruse reported the action to Viceroy Don Francisco

682
00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:20.599
Javier Venegas, then governor of New Spain. In part quote,

683
00:42:20.599 --> 00:42:23.960
when Lenadis embarked with his seven canoes, he came too

684
00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:26.320
close to the island and was surrounded by more than

685
00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:30.360
seventy canoes, and in spite of giving glorious resistance, according

686
00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:34.559
to him, was finally the victim of imprudent and unnecessary rashness,

687
00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:39.760
unnecessary rationists. Pop kettle right, This continues. I cannot please

688
00:42:39.800 --> 00:42:42.800
myself with thinking that any of the unfortunate officers and

689
00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:46.239
troops are prisoners, because I know the fierceness of those

690
00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:51.119
quote Indians. We saved only three canoes. Grus pleaded with

691
00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:54.480
Viceroy Venegas to send men to replace those lost in

692
00:42:54.559 --> 00:42:58.199
his first attack on the island. So again, as mentioned,

693
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:00.679
their first attack, there was a RepA. He did Spanish

694
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:04.039
attack and fell. In June of eighteen thirteen, Spanish Colonel

695
00:43:04.119 --> 00:43:08.519
Pedro Celestino Negrete leads twelve hundred troops against the island,

696
00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:12.559
repelled by cannon fire and rocks thrown by the defenders. Again,

697
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:19.000
you could imagine that the Colonel Celestino Bedro Celestino Ningrata

698
00:43:19.079 --> 00:43:22.719
was sent by Don Jose de la Cruz. Again the

699
00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:25.079
guy calling the shots. I'm repeating this to hopefully I'll stick.

700
00:43:25.639 --> 00:43:30.440
But Bedro Celestino Negreta, he leads twelve hundred men. They

701
00:43:30.840 --> 00:43:34.320
are repelled by canon fire and rocks. So these people

702
00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:37.920
were fighting like I would say, literal tooth and nail

703
00:43:37.960 --> 00:43:40.079
if they needed to, but they were using whatever they

704
00:43:40.119 --> 00:43:45.079
could at their disposal, so literally using rocks, throwing rocks

705
00:43:45.079 --> 00:43:48.679
at them. Negreta, disheartened and embarrassed by the failure of

706
00:43:48.800 --> 00:43:51.719
the campaign, asked to be relieved of command of the

707
00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:55.079
Spanish forces and was replaced by Jossein Navarro. So there

708
00:43:55.079 --> 00:44:00.519
were multiple military leaders who led fights at this island

709
00:44:00.519 --> 00:44:03.280
who like just could not they couldn't win. They kept losing,

710
00:44:03.400 --> 00:44:05.800
and this guy probably saved his own life and was

711
00:44:05.840 --> 00:44:08.039
like I cannot do it. He was disgraced and he

712
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:11.559
was swapped out by Jossen Navarro. Then Spain shifts their

713
00:44:11.559 --> 00:44:15.519
strategy to a blockade instead of direct assault, and still

714
00:44:15.719 --> 00:44:20.039
the rebels here at Mescala, they defiantly refuse their surrender.

715
00:44:20.119 --> 00:44:20.800
So instead of.

716
00:44:20.760 --> 00:44:24.159
Doing like we're okay, we're gonna we're gonna actually fight,

717
00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:26.440
they're like, okay, well how about we just surround the

718
00:44:26.440 --> 00:44:30.199
island and we try and wait it out, essentially because

719
00:44:30.199 --> 00:44:31.760
they knew they were on an island, so they're like

720
00:44:31.800 --> 00:44:34.320
somebody has to be bringing them food at the very least,

721
00:44:34.599 --> 00:44:37.719
like how can we you know, basically smoke them out,

722
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:40.000
starve them out. But there's a quote here that I

723
00:44:40.039 --> 00:44:42.400
thought was really Quill wanted to read. From this source,

724
00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:45.360
it says they established a rigorous blockade of the island

725
00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:47.719
in the hope that the lack of food and supplies

726
00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:51.199
would force the insurgents to surrender without further losses of

727
00:44:51.239 --> 00:44:54.199
Spanish soldiers and sailors, because they had already lost a

728
00:44:54.199 --> 00:44:56.519
bunch of battles and a bunch of people. Grouse then

729
00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:59.639
sent an emissary to the island, inviting the defenders to

730
00:44:59.679 --> 00:45:03.320
surrend under or face the certainty that quote much blood

731
00:45:03.360 --> 00:45:06.159
would run if they did not accept the offer. To

732
00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:09.360
a man, the brave and defiant Indians shouted to their

733
00:45:09.400 --> 00:45:15.639
reply quote, let the blood run, which a that's gaggy.

734
00:45:15.800 --> 00:45:18.559
I read that, and I was like, I that would

735
00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:22.199
make a cool tattoo, like a really cool historical badass tattoo.

736
00:45:22.679 --> 00:45:26.599
These rebels they were presented with, they were threatened, and

737
00:45:26.639 --> 00:45:28.719
they were like, if you don't give up, the blood

738
00:45:28.760 --> 00:45:30.079
is gonna run. They were like, all right, let the

739
00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:33.760
blood run, like they said, really do it, I dare you,

740
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:38.320
which is so badass. Anyway, this continues ongoing resistance. From

741
00:45:38.360 --> 00:45:41.960
eighteen thirteen to eighteen fourteen, Santa Anna and Rosas slipped

742
00:45:41.960 --> 00:45:46.559
through the blockade nightly to raid Spanish positions. So again

743
00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:52.760
the two of the leaders of this rebellion, Santa Ana Rosas,

744
00:45:53.039 --> 00:45:57.199
they are being blockaded nightly. They are not only trying

745
00:45:57.199 --> 00:45:59.519
to sneak food and supplies back into the island, but

746
00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:02.119
they're also doing raids at night. They're being really sneaky

747
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:04.719
and they're succeeding. Then we jumped to April of eighteen

748
00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:08.880
fourteen and there is a bloody naval crash near Lushqueca.

749
00:46:09.039 --> 00:46:12.280
Over one hundred insurgents were killed slash wounded. Again, this

750
00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:16.280
is because of those underwater stones and walls that they

751
00:46:16.280 --> 00:46:18.679
had built that they could could not see from above

752
00:46:18.719 --> 00:46:20.559
the water, but if the ships ran into it then

753
00:46:20.599 --> 00:46:23.320
it would damage their ships. Right then in May of

754
00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:27.360
eighteen fourteen. In the next month, Santa Anna leads thirty

755
00:46:27.400 --> 00:46:31.400
canoes and a successful attack on Jcotopec, then defeats Spanish

756
00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:35.559
troops at Chappala. Seventy Spanish troops were killed. Ucuotepec is

757
00:46:35.559 --> 00:46:40.880
like it was nearby city. I want to say, yeah,

758
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:43.199
this says more successful for the Islanders was the May

759
00:46:43.239 --> 00:46:46.719
twenty fifth, eighteen fourteen, attack on Jcuotepec. Santa Anna led

760
00:46:46.760 --> 00:46:49.400
a fleet of thirty canoes against the Spanish forces there,

761
00:46:49.440 --> 00:46:51.920
forcing them to seek refuge in the church. Learning of

762
00:46:51.960 --> 00:46:54.760
a strong Spanish contingent en route to the aid of

763
00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:58.559
the besieged Hocuo Deepec garrison, Santa Anna withdrew, but the

764
00:46:58.599 --> 00:47:01.760
following day attacked the royal attachment at the town of Chippota,

765
00:47:01.840 --> 00:47:04.440
killing seventy of its members. So they were relentless and

766
00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:06.400
they weren't even just waiting for the fight to come

767
00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:07.760
to them. They were like, we're going to go meet

768
00:47:07.800 --> 00:47:09.280
them where they're at. We're gonna get ahead of this.

769
00:47:09.519 --> 00:47:12.360
So not even showing like defense, but they were showing

770
00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:15.960
really their their force and their fierceness. As was mentioned earlier,

771
00:47:16.199 --> 00:47:18.199
then the Spanish pretty much around this time have had

772
00:47:18.320 --> 00:47:19.960
just like they've had it, they've had enough. They're like,

773
00:47:20.119 --> 00:47:22.639
we really need to do something about this, like really,

774
00:47:22.760 --> 00:47:25.400
just they keep defeating us every time, right, They're embarrassed,

775
00:47:25.480 --> 00:47:29.360
so their forces swell to around two thousand troops at

776
00:47:29.559 --> 00:47:32.760
La Chichico, and by eighteen sixteen, eight thousand troops are

777
00:47:32.800 --> 00:47:37.239
surrounding the lake, so they just completely outnumber them. So

778
00:47:37.280 --> 00:47:40.239
now it's really a standoff. In the mid eighteen sixteen,

779
00:47:40.559 --> 00:47:43.880
this is when disease and starvation start to ravage the islanders,

780
00:47:43.960 --> 00:47:47.960
but again they continue to refuse surrender. And each time

781
00:47:48.039 --> 00:47:50.599
they're given the option like just give up, it's done,

782
00:47:50.679 --> 00:47:53.480
you're done, you're cooked, but they're like, no, we don't surrender.

783
00:47:54.039 --> 00:47:58.159
Even with disease and starvation running rampant on the island,

784
00:47:58.320 --> 00:48:01.840
they would not give up. Our former priest and probably

785
00:48:01.840 --> 00:48:06.079
my uncle and Gruse eventually negotiate surrender terms. They wanted amnesty,

786
00:48:06.159 --> 00:48:09.119
they wanted into the return of lands and homes they wanted.

787
00:48:09.199 --> 00:48:14.000
They also factored in into the surrender terms oxen and

788
00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:17.920
seed and free sacraments like religious sacraments. So they were like,

789
00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:21.920
all right, you've seen how how far we're willing to go,

790
00:48:22.239 --> 00:48:25.519
how successful we've been, and we're small, small but mighty.

791
00:48:25.880 --> 00:48:29.199
We're willing to surrender, but only on these conditions. And

792
00:48:29.320 --> 00:48:30.960
I think by that point the Spanish was just so

793
00:48:31.079 --> 00:48:34.679
frustrated and embarrassed that they were like, fine, and they

794
00:48:34.679 --> 00:48:38.440
hand it over. They met their terms. In November twenty

795
00:48:38.440 --> 00:48:42.119
fifth of eighteen sixteen, Gruse took possession of the island

796
00:48:42.320 --> 00:48:45.119
and when he was I guess doing the sweep of

797
00:48:45.119 --> 00:48:47.920
the island finally on there they found sixteen cannons and

798
00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:51.119
around eight hundred starving survivors. What was really interesting here

799
00:48:51.199 --> 00:48:53.920
is people were so confused, I guess confused. Really they

800
00:48:53.960 --> 00:48:57.760
were taken aback because he fed the survivors and he

801
00:48:57.840 --> 00:49:00.199
honored their the surrender terms. As I mentioned, which which

802
00:49:00.199 --> 00:49:02.079
is kind of unheard of at the time, is there

803
00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:05.239
were it's the Spanish army. It's Spanish military, right. They

804
00:49:05.280 --> 00:49:09.639
were known for being really really merciless, especially against indigenous people.

805
00:49:09.719 --> 00:49:13.159
But this guy, I maybe he had by this point

806
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:15.760
he had respect for them. I feel like that's that's

807
00:49:15.760 --> 00:49:18.199
really what it was. And this again, this marks the

808
00:49:18.239 --> 00:49:21.440
first time in the war that Spain granted a true

809
00:49:21.480 --> 00:49:25.360
pardon rather than executing its captured insurgents, and this was

810
00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:28.079
considered a major training point in the Spanish treatment of

811
00:49:28.159 --> 00:49:33.440
rebel prisoners. So that is the full timeline of this

812
00:49:33.679 --> 00:49:37.320
battle of or this is it a battle because it's

813
00:49:37.400 --> 00:49:39.760
part of the war, right, but it was a four

814
00:49:39.880 --> 00:49:43.079
year in like separate kind of thing or thing that

815
00:49:43.119 --> 00:49:45.559
was happening with the I don't know, I'm gonna say battle.

816
00:49:45.559 --> 00:49:47.800
I don't know battles last that long. If you know

817
00:49:48.320 --> 00:49:50.679
that stuff. If you're a military buff or history buff,

818
00:49:50.719 --> 00:49:52.559
please let me know what this would be considered. It

819
00:49:52.599 --> 00:49:55.920
was part of the war for independence from Mexico, but

820
00:49:55.960 --> 00:49:59.519
it was happening in this one island for four years. Okay,

821
00:49:59.559 --> 00:50:15.760
we're going to take another quick break. Welcome back, girlfriends.

822
00:50:15.800 --> 00:50:18.599
The next ross that we have here, this one. It's

823
00:50:18.639 --> 00:50:22.719
another recounting of the history of Mescala. I'm not going

824
00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:25.920
to go super deep into this because this is it's

825
00:50:25.960 --> 00:50:28.159
a lot of the information that we've already given with

826
00:50:28.199 --> 00:50:30.920
these earlier sources. However, I wanted to include it because

827
00:50:30.960 --> 00:50:34.840
this was written by Heronimo Balomarees, who is an ethnographer

828
00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:38.800
and from reading this source, what I understand is that

829
00:50:38.920 --> 00:50:42.360
Heronimo also a really cool name, is that Heronimo is

830
00:50:42.760 --> 00:50:47.519
actually from Mescala or from the area around Mescala. I

831
00:50:47.519 --> 00:50:49.760
think I believe he uses the word like Mescalero, like

832
00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:53.119
he identifies that way, which is also super neat. But

833
00:50:53.199 --> 00:50:56.519
this is on a website called CLO, so it's s

834
00:50:56.599 --> 00:50:59.639
C I E l O dot org dot MX. And

835
00:51:00.199 --> 00:51:04.079
this is titled and this has an iss N number,

836
00:51:04.159 --> 00:51:10.079
which I believe ISSN numbers are meant for publications. Yeah,

837
00:51:10.119 --> 00:51:13.519
publications like journals, magazines and newspapers. And this is titled

838
00:51:13.599 --> 00:51:18.519
Mescala the Untamed Island or Mescala the Indomitable Island. I'm

839
00:51:18.519 --> 00:51:21.000
going to read the first couple sentences of this and

840
00:51:21.239 --> 00:51:23.840
it says, as a member of the Mescala community, I

841
00:51:23.880 --> 00:51:27.360
have studied the struggles of our native ancestors originally from

842
00:51:27.400 --> 00:51:31.559
Mescala de la Zon Jalisco, in the fight for independence.

843
00:51:31.639 --> 00:51:35.000
Our ancestors, our ancestors, led by our fellow indigenous man,

844
00:51:35.079 --> 00:51:38.639
Jose Santana, a native of Mescala, clashed many times with

845
00:51:38.719 --> 00:51:41.360
the forces of the Spanish government. It is important to

846
00:51:41.440 --> 00:51:45.039
highlight that the insurgent forces of Mescala were victorious in

847
00:51:45.119 --> 00:51:48.639
more than twenty five engagements and lost only one battle,

848
00:51:48.639 --> 00:51:52.960
in which one hundred Mescaltecos died. Mescaltecos. There you go,

849
00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:55.320
that's the word. These battles took place in the heart

850
00:51:55.320 --> 00:51:59.320
of Mescala, its islands, where the insurgents maintained a victorious

851
00:51:59.400 --> 00:52:02.840
resistance for four years from eighteen twelve to eighteen sixteen,

852
00:52:02.960 --> 00:52:05.599
and on the lake and its surroundings, in the town

853
00:52:05.679 --> 00:52:10.039
and countryside of Mescala, on the hills of the Visado

854
00:52:10.119 --> 00:52:15.239
and San Miguel, at Angostura and the Guito Pass, and

855
00:52:15.320 --> 00:52:18.440
at the ports of La Beagna and Lavahilla. I'm going

856
00:52:18.480 --> 00:52:20.559
to jump a little bit ahead. This finishes this first

857
00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:25.719
paragraph and says our brave mescal Decks were called Indians, rebels, revolutionaries,

858
00:52:25.719 --> 00:52:29.159
and insurgents by the Spanish and the population that opposed

859
00:52:29.199 --> 00:52:33.159
independence from Los Reus. The insurgents brought thirteen cannons to

860
00:52:33.199 --> 00:52:37.000
the island. There they established gunpowder workshops and prepared the

861
00:52:37.119 --> 00:52:40.519
territory with everything necessary for survival. And then this goes

862
00:52:40.519 --> 00:52:42.760
on to talk about the battle. And again this is

863
00:52:42.800 --> 00:52:45.519
from an ethnographer who is from the community, and there's

864
00:52:45.559 --> 00:52:49.000
also these really beautiful pictures here from the community I'm

865
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:51.800
assuming in the surrounding area, and I do want to

866
00:52:51.840 --> 00:52:54.280
talk more about Heronimo himself. At the bottom here there's

867
00:52:54.280 --> 00:52:57.679
a short bio and it says Heronimo Bartomatis holds a

868
00:52:57.719 --> 00:53:01.760
degree in ethnology from the National School of Anthropology and History.

869
00:53:01.840 --> 00:53:04.719
He has participated in group exhibitions at the Museum of

870
00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:08.599
Mexico City, the National School of Anthropology and History, the

871
00:53:08.599 --> 00:53:14.239
School of Gastronomy, and the thirteenth Guadalupana Biennial at the

872
00:53:14.320 --> 00:53:17.039
Sun and Headcultural Center. His work has been featured in

873
00:53:17.039 --> 00:53:19.760
several publications, and in two thousand and six he won

874
00:53:19.880 --> 00:53:23.559
third place in the National Anthropological Photography Contest. He is

875
00:53:23.599 --> 00:53:28.719
currently working on a photographic project entitled Wandering Pilgrimages. When

876
00:53:28.800 --> 00:53:31.920
was this written because this is currently but this was written,

877
00:53:32.639 --> 00:53:34.320
I don't see a date of when this was written

878
00:53:34.400 --> 00:53:37.639
or published, Oh, twenty ten, twenty ten, he was working

879
00:53:37.719 --> 00:53:41.440
on that project, that photo project, which is I'm assuming

880
00:53:41.639 --> 00:53:44.159
what these photos are from, because these are all his

881
00:53:44.239 --> 00:53:46.519
photos here as well. But yeah, I just thought it

882
00:53:46.559 --> 00:53:50.400
important to include that because that is directly from someone

883
00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:53.880
in the community. Then our next source here is from

884
00:53:54.079 --> 00:53:57.559
El Universal. There's a section of this that is about

885
00:53:57.559 --> 00:54:00.559
the hauntings that I wanted to talk about. This is

886
00:54:00.599 --> 00:54:03.320
titled what to Do in Mescala, The island with Ghosts

887
00:54:03.400 --> 00:54:06.639
in Lake Chappala. It says petroglyphs have been discovered on

888
00:54:06.639 --> 00:54:09.320
the island and the walls of its forts have many

889
00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:12.960
stories to tell. And a petroglyph, by the way you

890
00:54:13.039 --> 00:54:16.960
think of those, what are they but their scratchings or

891
00:54:17.039 --> 00:54:21.000
carvings on in rocks on their surfaces, and it exposes

892
00:54:21.039 --> 00:54:23.840
a lot lighter layer beneath, so it's like an etching almost,

893
00:54:24.079 --> 00:54:27.519
But they can be really big or really small. Okay,

894
00:54:27.599 --> 00:54:30.079
there's a section of this that talks about like things

895
00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:32.440
to do, where to visit on the island. And then

896
00:54:32.480 --> 00:54:35.400
if we scrolled down here it talks about the prison

897
00:54:35.559 --> 00:54:38.280
right and it says it was an old dungeon where

898
00:54:38.320 --> 00:54:41.599
indigenous prisoners were held during the War of Independence and

899
00:54:41.679 --> 00:54:45.079
in subsequent years. The island's inhabitants say that up to

900
00:54:45.119 --> 00:54:48.679
two hundred and fifty people could be crammed into each cell.

901
00:54:48.880 --> 00:54:52.880
The prisoners lived in extreme and repugnant conditions. Little by

902
00:54:52.920 --> 00:54:56.280
little they succumbed to disease, lack of food or water,

903
00:54:56.360 --> 00:54:59.719
and filled escape attempts because of the terror that took

904
00:54:59.719 --> 00:55:03.320
place there. They say that souls haunt the presidial. Guides

905
00:55:03.360 --> 00:55:06.119
offer nighttime tours for those who enjoy hearing ghost stories.

906
00:55:06.159 --> 00:55:08.760
They even say that you can see demonic faces on

907
00:55:08.800 --> 00:55:11.760
the walls or feel chills as soon as you set

908
00:55:11.800 --> 00:55:16.000
foot in the fortress. So yeah, I mean, obviously, as

909
00:55:16.079 --> 00:55:18.800
you mentioned earlier, lots of trauma in this space, lots

910
00:55:18.840 --> 00:55:23.079
of injustice, so I would assume that yes, there's some

911
00:55:23.119 --> 00:55:25.559
sort of haunting happening. There's another part of this that

912
00:55:25.639 --> 00:55:28.639
says in the ruins of the old barracks, locals claim

913
00:55:28.679 --> 00:55:31.960
that at night they hear knocking sounds like someone chipping

914
00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:35.119
away at stone. Some have also heard a child crying

915
00:55:35.199 --> 00:55:38.360
throughout the area. The locals believe these are the spirits

916
00:55:38.360 --> 00:55:41.639
of the former inhabitants who refuse to leave. People on

917
00:55:41.679 --> 00:55:44.039
the mescalap here are the ones who approach you to

918
00:55:44.119 --> 00:55:48.119
tell these kinds of stories. So all kinds of hauntings

919
00:55:48.159 --> 00:55:50.960
on this island. Then there's a couple of like touristy

920
00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:53.039
posts that we thought to include for fun for the

921
00:55:53.039 --> 00:55:55.360
people who have access to the Google docs. I will

922
00:55:55.360 --> 00:55:59.519
say though. One of them is from Ecijudando, Jalisco, dot MX,

923
00:55:59.559 --> 00:56:03.480
and it's an entry called Mescala, an island trouted in legends. Actually,

924
00:56:03.519 --> 00:56:05.280
I'm going to read through this one, but we're going

925
00:56:05.320 --> 00:56:07.840
to take one final quick break and then come back

926
00:56:07.840 --> 00:56:24.559
with these last two sources. Okay, welcome back, girlfriends. So

927
00:56:24.639 --> 00:56:26.760
I wanted to read through this one because I saw

928
00:56:26.800 --> 00:56:28.920
something I was like, yes, I remember now this we

929
00:56:29.039 --> 00:56:31.599
know a lot about I think, like the post Colombian,

930
00:56:31.679 --> 00:56:34.519
the post Spanish history, once the battle started and stuff.

931
00:56:34.559 --> 00:56:37.159
We talk a little bit about the indigenous people that

932
00:56:37.199 --> 00:56:40.519
were there. So this says Muscala was founded in the

933
00:56:40.719 --> 00:56:45.159
eighteenth century, primarily by the Nahwa people who inhabited Halisco

934
00:56:45.280 --> 00:56:48.159
at the time. While this has not been officially confirmed,

935
00:56:48.440 --> 00:56:53.400
various artifacts have been found at the site, including obsidian points,

936
00:56:53.400 --> 00:56:57.159
ceramic pieces, and ornaments. The area was the site of

937
00:56:57.239 --> 00:57:00.400
several battles, as we talked about extensively. It is said

938
00:57:00.400 --> 00:57:03.440
that during the early stages of the independence movement, Mescala

939
00:57:03.519 --> 00:57:06.760
Island was the insurgent stronghold as we know. So I

940
00:57:06.800 --> 00:57:08.719
wanted to bring up the people because it talks about

941
00:57:08.800 --> 00:57:11.440
Nawa people and I think that's more of a general term.

942
00:57:11.519 --> 00:57:15.519
But there's also the Goca people. And we have a

943
00:57:15.679 --> 00:57:18.480
Wikipedia entry here that's about the Goca people, and it

944
00:57:18.480 --> 00:57:20.559
says that they are an indigenous people of Mexico who

945
00:57:20.639 --> 00:57:24.960
inhabit parts of the state of Halisko, particularly around Lake Chappala,

946
00:57:25.079 --> 00:57:28.440
which is the lake that Mescala is in, such as

947
00:57:28.480 --> 00:57:31.480
the small town right here of Mescala in the municipality

948
00:57:31.599 --> 00:57:32.679
of Bonsitlan.

949
00:57:32.920 --> 00:57:33.440
John R.

950
00:57:33.480 --> 00:57:37.119
Swanton considered the Goca to be a branch of the Gushkan,

951
00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:42.559
alongside the the Sushe and the Gushkan proper. So the

952
00:57:42.559 --> 00:57:46.039
Goca people are part of a branch or they are

953
00:57:46.079 --> 00:57:48.280
a branch of I think what is a larger group

954
00:57:48.320 --> 00:57:51.880
of indigenous people, the Gushkan. And it says that the

955
00:57:51.880 --> 00:57:54.760
Goca language it's now extinct and it's probably documented, but

956
00:57:54.960 --> 00:57:57.800
the most common hypothesis is that it belonged to the

957
00:57:57.920 --> 00:58:02.559
Udo Stekan family, so there's relation there. It's adjacent to

958
00:58:02.679 --> 00:58:05.960
the Nahuat languages. Right. The History of the Coca people

959
00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:09.320
says that before colonization, the Gorcas also lived in the

960
00:58:09.400 --> 00:58:12.679
vicinity of modern day Guadalajara. When the Spanish invaded the

961
00:58:12.760 --> 00:58:16.519
territory of the Gorca, their leader, Titlali, moved them away

962
00:58:16.559 --> 00:58:19.400
to a small valley surrounded by high mountains, a place

963
00:58:19.519 --> 00:58:23.519
they named Gokolan. Goca people live in an area known

964
00:58:23.559 --> 00:58:28.000
today as Cocula, Jalisco. So something really recent that happened

965
00:58:28.239 --> 00:58:31.000
was a land dispute in twenty eighteen. September twenty eighteen,

966
00:58:31.079 --> 00:58:34.440
Goca people hoped to recover their seized lands in Mescala,

967
00:58:34.559 --> 00:58:37.679
the target of large scale real estate projects for US immigrants,

968
00:58:37.719 --> 00:58:41.320
resulting in many indigenous lands being illegally seized. After nineteen

969
00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:45.800
years struggling against Aguillermo Moreno Ivara. So, I mean, as

970
00:58:45.800 --> 00:58:49.159
we know, this shit really never ends, right, It's it

971
00:58:49.360 --> 00:58:53.199
never ended. It's still happening. There's all this shit is

972
00:58:53.199 --> 00:58:58.400
stolen basically almost everywhere, but definitely in the Americas. And

973
00:58:58.440 --> 00:59:01.760
so yeah, as recent as a team, there are disputes,

974
00:59:01.760 --> 00:59:04.639
official disputes that are happening about this land. The last

975
00:59:04.679 --> 00:59:07.599
few things I wanted to talk about were the Guachimontones.

976
00:59:07.679 --> 00:59:12.639
This is another Wikipedia entry. Aguachimontone is the largest Late

977
00:59:12.760 --> 00:59:16.719
Formative to Classic period pre Columbian archaeological site in the

978
00:59:16.760 --> 00:59:20.000
state of Jalisco, situated in the hills above the town

979
00:59:20.119 --> 00:59:24.000
of Diuchitlan that provides the namesake for the culture that

980
00:59:24.079 --> 00:59:27.679
built the site. Los Guachimontones is part of the Agavid

981
00:59:27.760 --> 00:59:32.400
Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila UNESCO World Heritage

982
00:59:32.440 --> 00:59:35.440
Site and a major tourist attraction within the within the

983
00:59:35.440 --> 00:59:39.039
the Quila Valleys. Los Guachimontones is one of several dozen

984
00:59:39.239 --> 00:59:43.159
Diuchtitlan culture sites within the Tequila Valleys, though it is

985
00:59:43.199 --> 00:59:45.079
by far the largest site in terms of both the

986
00:59:45.159 --> 00:59:48.519
number and size of its ceremonial buildings. These buildings, called

987
00:59:48.519 --> 00:59:53.440
Guachimontones singular Gauachimonton after the site name, are bullseye shaped

988
00:59:53.599 --> 00:59:58.320
buildings or structures consisting of several distinct architectural elements that

989
00:59:58.400 --> 01:00:02.559
constitute a whole structure. These unique buildings are found primarily

990
01:00:02.599 --> 01:00:05.519
in the again the Quila Valley, with other examples found

991
01:00:05.519 --> 01:00:09.400
in northern Halli School near Bolanos Guano to the east

992
01:00:09.480 --> 01:00:12.199
and Glima to the south. And so we're bringing this

993
01:00:12.280 --> 01:00:15.599
up because they're found in northern Hahalischool, which is very

994
01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:20.039
near to the Chapala Lake and Mescala Island. And again,

995
01:00:20.079 --> 01:00:22.000
the reason that this was brought up is because some

996
01:00:22.079 --> 01:00:25.679
of the artifacts that were found on Mescala Island point

997
01:00:25.800 --> 01:00:29.719
to the peoples who built the Guachi Mount Bunez and

998
01:00:29.760 --> 01:00:32.519
who put these structures up, right, But it's just an

999
01:00:32.599 --> 01:00:34.920
interesting kind of fact of like who do who were

1000
01:00:34.920 --> 01:00:37.079
the people that were here on this island, Like who

1001
01:00:37.119 --> 01:00:39.119
may have they been? Because I mean, to be honest,

1002
01:00:39.119 --> 01:00:42.679
there's a lot of assumptions being made right now. Right, Yeah,

1003
01:00:42.679 --> 01:00:47.760
we're we're using as listen, We're not professional researchers like that, right,

1004
01:00:48.159 --> 01:00:50.840
I'm just a person on the Internet trying to piece

1005
01:00:50.880 --> 01:00:53.119
together what I can for you all. But yeah, it's

1006
01:00:53.199 --> 01:00:57.239
very interesting to see those connections within like different indigenous

1007
01:00:57.239 --> 01:01:00.320
groups of people. And the last source here, this is

1008
01:01:00.480 --> 01:01:05.360
from ahihik trinity dot com and this is just an

1009
01:01:05.480 --> 01:01:07.920
entry that was actually uploaded two years ago called like

1010
01:01:08.079 --> 01:01:11.840
Isla del Presidio or prison Island. Also, by the way,

1011
01:01:12.239 --> 01:01:16.559
I'm pretty sure presidio translates to prison. Yeah, different translations

1012
01:01:16.559 --> 01:01:19.880
for it could be penetration, different translations for it could

1013
01:01:19.880 --> 01:01:24.079
be penitentiary or garrison, penal servitude. So yeah, prison island.

1014
01:01:24.199 --> 01:01:26.199
And this one it's short, but I thought it was

1015
01:01:26.239 --> 01:01:29.400
important because it brings up an aspect that we talk

1016
01:01:29.440 --> 01:01:31.199
about in the story of course, but this says most

1017
01:01:31.199 --> 01:01:34.000
people know or have heard of, like Isla Deranez or

1018
01:01:34.039 --> 01:01:37.000
Scorpion Island, but there is another island not everyone has

1019
01:01:37.039 --> 01:01:40.320
heard about. Prison Island, also known as Mescala Island, is

1020
01:01:40.360 --> 01:01:44.519
a testament of long history where culture's legends and ghosts collide.

1021
01:01:44.639 --> 01:01:46.760
It is believed that it was a center of worship

1022
01:01:46.800 --> 01:01:50.719
for the civilizations of Halisco or Prehalisco. Since it's founding

1023
01:01:50.760 --> 01:01:53.840
in the year twelve eighty, there have been pre Columbian

1024
01:01:53.920 --> 01:01:56.960
traces found on the island, such as obsidian points, ornaments,

1025
01:01:56.960 --> 01:01:59.519
and ceramic pieces. So again, the types of artifacts that

1026
01:01:59.559 --> 01:02:03.519
are found are what are telling us that this was

1027
01:02:03.559 --> 01:02:05.519
a place of worship. This is a place where certain

1028
01:02:05.719 --> 01:02:09.320
rituals and rights were performed. This continues later. This island

1029
01:02:09.360 --> 01:02:12.159
was not only used as a strategic point by the

1030
01:02:12.159 --> 01:02:15.599
colonial army, Whorri Fort had been built to house defense troops,

1031
01:02:15.599 --> 01:02:18.039
but it also participated in the War of Independence as

1032
01:02:18.079 --> 01:02:22.079
an independence movement that sympathized with Hidalgo. Finally, the space

1033
01:02:22.199 --> 01:02:24.840
was used as a prison in the nineteen eighties. Today,

1034
01:02:24.880 --> 01:02:27.119
it is used as a historical point of interest and

1035
01:02:27.159 --> 01:02:30.199
welcomes all visitors. The island still has a standing structure

1036
01:02:30.239 --> 01:02:33.480
and ruins that you can walk through and explore, and

1037
01:02:33.599 --> 01:02:48.960
with that, we are at the end of our sources.

1038
01:02:49.719 --> 01:02:53.800
Ghoul friends, thank you so much for listening to today's episode,

1039
01:02:54.000 --> 01:02:57.719
and thank you for being with me, by my side

1040
01:02:57.840 --> 01:03:02.000
and supporting me through every change that happens around Sustal,

1041
01:03:02.079 --> 01:03:05.760
whether we are building, evolving, or scaling back. As I

1042
01:03:05.880 --> 01:03:09.800
mentioned earlier, once more, you can follow online on social

1043
01:03:09.800 --> 01:03:13.000
media that's at Suostal podcast, on every social media platform

1044
01:03:13.039 --> 01:03:14.280
to keep up with the things.

1045
01:03:14.119 --> 01:03:16.280
That I'm reading. We will no longer be.

1046
01:03:16.280 --> 01:03:18.880
Hosting the book club, but I will definitely share what

1047
01:03:18.920 --> 01:03:21.719
I'm reading, and I will be taking people's recommendations, and

1048
01:03:21.880 --> 01:03:25.280
we can have conversations about that in various ways, but

1049
01:03:25.719 --> 01:03:28.960
it's not going to be formalized. I think I've gotten

1050
01:03:29.000 --> 01:03:31.679
back into the habit of just enjoying reading for enjoying it,

1051
01:03:31.760 --> 01:03:33.519
and that's probably a good thing. I think I've come

1052
01:03:33.559 --> 01:03:37.400
to this place because I have found the joy of

1053
01:03:37.440 --> 01:03:39.719
reading again and I don't need to be pressured to

1054
01:03:39.760 --> 01:03:41.320
do it, and so I don't want to keep that

1055
01:03:41.360 --> 01:03:43.239
pressure on myself, if that makes sense.

1056
01:03:43.400 --> 01:03:44.039
But either way.

1057
01:03:44.360 --> 01:03:47.039
Aside from that, another part of scaling back is that

1058
01:03:47.639 --> 01:03:51.679
we are reverting back to audio only. Moving forward, video

1059
01:03:51.800 --> 01:03:54.960
content will probably still happen from time to time. I'm

1060
01:03:54.960 --> 01:03:56.960
not going to make you any promises because, as I

1061
01:03:56.960 --> 01:03:58.519
mentioned at the top of the episode, I don't know

1062
01:03:58.559 --> 01:04:00.480
what it is about me. I have granted ideas and

1063
01:04:00.519 --> 01:04:02.440
I'm like, great, let's do it, and I get started

1064
01:04:02.480 --> 01:04:07.679
and I'm like, hold on wait. Also, I don't think

1065
01:04:07.679 --> 01:04:11.440
I mentioned this earlier. I'm still going to be producing

1066
01:04:11.559 --> 01:04:14.480
out of Austin Public. This space is amazing. I'm still

1067
01:04:14.480 --> 01:04:16.519
going I'm going to stay in the producer program. I

1068
01:04:16.559 --> 01:04:19.280
will still be uploading my content to their channels. And

1069
01:04:19.760 --> 01:04:22.519
this also gives me the opportunity for when I do

1070
01:04:22.639 --> 01:04:25.199
want to do video stuff, I still have access to

1071
01:04:25.239 --> 01:04:28.360
this space. So yeah, I'm here right now. Actually, I

1072
01:04:28.360 --> 01:04:30.920
will continue to produce out of here because it's a

1073
01:04:30.920 --> 01:04:34.880
gorgeous space. So the possibility and the potential for video

1074
01:04:35.039 --> 01:04:37.559
still exists. I'm not like I'm no longer going to

1075
01:04:37.639 --> 01:04:39.239
do it because I can't. I just cannot do it

1076
01:04:39.280 --> 01:04:41.559
for every single episode the way that I've been doing

1077
01:04:41.639 --> 01:04:45.079
this entire year, which is honestly, I was like shocked

1078
01:04:45.079 --> 01:04:46.679
that I did this song. I was like, well, pat

1079
01:04:46.719 --> 01:04:48.719
myself on the back for doing it alone, like the

1080
01:04:48.960 --> 01:04:51.639
production side of it, because holy shit, it's a lot

1081
01:04:51.679 --> 01:04:54.079
of work. But that being said, we're scaling things back

1082
01:04:54.119 --> 01:04:57.920
a bit and that is okay. However, once more check

1083
01:04:57.960 --> 01:04:59.760
out than you are let me know how much you

1084
01:04:59.800 --> 01:05:02.199
love in the comments. Make sure to check out and

1085
01:05:02.239 --> 01:05:06.079
follow lux Fatale online. All of her links to her

1086
01:05:06.119 --> 01:05:08.519
socials and stuff will be on her website, and that

1087
01:05:08.559 --> 01:05:10.639
website is linked in the description of the video. It's

1088
01:05:10.679 --> 01:05:14.480
Luxfatale dot card dot co. Check out Ghostbeast, which is

1089
01:05:14.559 --> 01:05:16.880
her podcast with her husband where they are watching every

1090
01:05:16.880 --> 01:05:18.880
horror movie. It's a great show and I really enjoy

1091
01:05:18.920 --> 01:05:21.800
it myself. And aside from that, as always, you can

1092
01:05:21.840 --> 01:05:24.599
support the show by following along for any updates on

1093
01:05:24.639 --> 01:05:27.320
social media. You can engage whatever you are listening, leaving

1094
01:05:27.360 --> 01:05:30.800
positive ratings, reviews, and comments. You can submit your stories

1095
01:05:30.800 --> 01:05:33.280
to be featured on a Letter from the Beyond episode

1096
01:05:33.400 --> 01:05:36.119
or if you have photo, video or EVP by visiting

1097
01:05:36.119 --> 01:05:39.239
sustalpodcast dot com and hitting that submit story button, and

1098
01:05:39.599 --> 01:05:43.159
you can receive exclusive and bonus content like early and

1099
01:05:43.280 --> 01:05:47.079
ad free episodes and when video content does happen, that

1100
01:05:47.119 --> 01:05:50.639
will be for only specific tears and ad free on

1101
01:05:50.920 --> 01:05:55.119
sustal plus dot com and as always, huge thank you

1102
01:05:55.239 --> 01:05:59.519
to the patron saints on Patreon on sustal plus dot com.

1103
01:05:59.559 --> 01:06:03.119
The support orders of this episode you are Liza Rachel,

1104
01:06:03.159 --> 01:06:09.840
Alejandra Luther, April d Josette, Mandy, Lori, Genie Doesira c Ashes, Nedessa,

1105
01:06:10.039 --> 01:06:18.000
rachel A, Asusenna, Marlene Laney, desire A, Ricardo, Vanessa, Mariza Manormal, Iris, Floor,

1106
01:06:18.159 --> 01:06:23.599
Selina Nightingville, Clint, Rachel w Armani, Bianca and Leo. Thank

1107
01:06:23.639 --> 01:06:25.679
you so so much for your support. It means the

1108
01:06:25.719 --> 01:06:28.400
world to me. Thank you all so so much. I

1109
01:06:28.400 --> 01:06:31.800
will talk to you in the next one and until

1110
01:06:31.920 --> 01:07:02.800
then not as bye. St