Pale Horse of Paloma Azul

There are stories from around the time of the Black Death about hooded figures who would use scythe-like instruments to spray pestilential mists into the air and poison the populaces of afflicted villages. These anomalous reports are discussed by William Bramley in his 1989 book '*Gods of Eden*' - but it seems that there was a more modern outbreak caused by an entity very similar to the Grim Reaper-types reported in the Black Death era. This bizarre and terrifying outbreak took place in the Autumn of 1876, in a small Mexican town in the state of Jalisco.

## El Paloma Azul

The town of Tequila, Jalisco is now famous for being the alleged birthplace of the renowned alcoholic beverage that bears its name. It was founded in 1530, and was also actually the site of a particularly bloody event which took place in 1541 in the Mixtón War. The Caxcanes and other indigenous peoples who had lived in the area which had become the autonomous Spanish kingdom of Nueva Galicia rose up against their Spanish oppressors in the area which would eventually become the town of Tequila. The rebels established their base atop Tequila Mountain (yes that's seriously what it's called) and made their stand against the Spanish. In a poorly-thought-out attempt to negotiate peace between the Christian Spanish and the defiantly pagan indigenous people, one Friar Juan Calero (who ran a nearby monastery) ventured up onto the mountain only to be swiftly killed by a barrage of arrows and rocks. His body was then allegedly stripped of its clothes and hung atop the stone statue of an unnamed pagan god (the source for this tale seems to be rather anti-pagan), horrifying the Spanish and leading them to desperately request assistance.

Over 300 years later, Tequila had become a relatively peaceful little Mexican town - but it seemed that its gory past wasn't quite yet ready to leave it. It was the Autumn of 1876, and a strange figure appeared at the edge of town. It was a mysterious man riding atop a pale horse. He approached the town, his frightful steed now galloping through the muddy streets. The townspeople were dumbfounded and likely more than a little scared when the unidentified man started to scream '*¡Ejecución! ¡Ejecución!*' - (Execution! Execution!) - as the horse sped through the village. When it reached the other edge of the village, the horse slowed to simple trot before both it and its rider promptly vanished from sight.

However, the terrifying phenomenon was only just getting started. Almost as soon as the Pale Horseman had left the village, a strange mist began to roll into the town - thickly covering the streets until visibility had been cut down to just a few feet. The fog crept into houses through crevices and open windows, beginning to suffocate the particularly young and elderly. The sun had been obscured from view, and the moon and stars weren't visible behind the impenetrable fog that evening. Luckily, the fog only stayed over the town for that night - and was gone by the time the sun rose the next morning. This fog, however, had done something insidious to the inhabitants of the village. Soon after the fog had left, an outbreak of virulent sickness took ahold of the village. This was an extremely rare disease known as *Paloma Azul* (probably referred to as something else in English - I cannot find any other reference to it), and within a week hundreds had lost their lives to this foul pestilence. The town would take decades to fully recover from the devastating outbreak.

Nobody knows who the mysterious horseman was, or how he could've spread a lethal disease throughout the town. Some believe that it was payback for the Friar Juan Calero, while others conclude that the pagan deities of old decided to take revenge on the people who had stolen their land hundreds of years ago. I, however, would like to draw attention back to the so-called Plague-Bearers known from world mythology and Forteana.