Same Wooden Beam For 3 Husbands

Old obituary Of A Witch ~ Cosma Blata, supposedly the witch of Artal, got married the first time in 1941. That her man hung himself on a windy night at the end of a decade didn't constitute news. In fact, until recent times, the suicides, on windOy days, were rather common round the Pyrenees areas. Including it's said to be of solid tradition like that certain locality, in which an iron beam across the landing of a staircase in a deserted building stirred up so much fame, that a group of people had chartered a van, taking advantage of a neat and accessible installation, to take practicers there. Later on, with the democratic town halls, they first had the entrance blocked up then they demolished the building. But the case of Cosmo Blata (Artal 1919 - Zaragoza 1981) has an added interest: the expectation and fascination had provoked her 2nd husband to suicide too, followed by the 3rd. The expectation of finding clues, with hope of closing the case, and extreme fascination by the place of sacrifice. The empty hall, ventilated and illuminated, the wooden beam polished and extended, the accessories - rope and stool - discreet and opportunely placed in the visible corner, within reach of the hand ... Julio Munoz Salgado, the judge in charge of the reopening the case of the 2nd and 3rd husbands, asked to be moved. He later wrote a book, memories which are now published (he died in 1993) in which he put footnotes in the 3 scenarios: the hall in the house of the witch of Artal, the landing of the staircase, and the 3rd, of great sentimentalism. Memories of a public servant of the law and justice, detailing the process of the suicides. One footnote sends chill and shiver up my spine: 'Often, those unfortunate and desperate died not by hanging, but by jumping numerous times to knock their heads against the floor, by fault of the insufficient height of the branch or bough chosen, and by their flexibility. It's not strange to dig out more than one body in the same day, all with heads badly bumped and thickly cover with blood.'   Costa Blata and her 1st husband Tags:necrology,witch

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