The Mad Aristocrat of Venice

**The Mad Aristocrat of Venice** was a mysterious figure seen throughout Venice during the 17th and 18th centuries. It is unknown if he was really an aristocrat, but it was assumed so due to his ornate costumes. The Mad Aristocrat was never seen without his famous Bauta mask, which was decorated with fine jewels and appeared to be made out of ivory.

## History of Sightings

### Early Sightings

The first sightings of The Mad Aristocrat date to late 1654, with various sightings over the course of 4 to 5 months. Early sightings describe him as "a man dressed in a large dark cloak, wearing an ornate Bauta mask, and keeping to the shadows". On February 3, 1655, He was sighted standing atop one of the buildings at light, watching the city. When authorities arrived, he had vanished.

As the year 1655 wore on, more and more sightings of this man were reported, and the authorities were pressed to do something, but could find nothing to charge him with. On May 8, however, a report came in that claimed he had hung a dead badger on a pole and left it sticking out of the water. Sure enough, when authorities investigated, they found the charred remains of a badger floating near the pole. The people of Venice became wild in the following weeks, claiming that The Mad Aristocrat was a threat and needed to be dealt with. Even the mayor publicly declared that The Mad Aristocrat must be brought to justice, but the police could find nothing to charge him with.

#### The Riot of November

On November 15, a bounty hunter named Dagger Vince brought a man dressed as The Mad Aristocrat to the police station and demanded payment. While the police questioned the suspect, a crowd of people brought a man that they claimed was The Mad Aristocrat. The police tried desperately over the night to attempt to understand what was going on, but the crowd demanded both suspects be hanged.

By the morning of November 16, the city had come to a standstill as most of the citizens were camped in front of the police office. The police had come to the conclusion that both of the suspects were innocent of any crime, but the crowd grew more infuriated and refused to let anyone leave the police office. By evening the crowd had grown out of control and began to storm the police office, killing many officers and dragging the suspects into the Piazza San Marco where they covered them in tar and set them alight.

Suddenly, several members in the crowd began to claim that they saw The Mad Aristocrat and a frantic, chaotic search began across the city. Citizens went door to door, grabbing people at random and dragging them to the Piazza San Marco to be burned. Others began ransacking homes and businesses, destroying statues, and killing police officers in the street.

When the morning of the 17th had arrived, nearly 60 charred corpses lay in a giant pile in the center of the Piazza and few police officers remained. The mayor himself was nowhere to be found, and the city stayed in a state of anarchy for weeks, until the former police chief took on the role as mayor and begin to set things back to normal. He outlawed the very mention of The Mad Aristocrat.

#### Further Sightings

Despite the illegality of mentioning The Mad Aristocrat, rumors and sightings continued to spread for years. It was claimed that he was an evil spirit, a demon, a cruel wizard, or even a vampire. There would be occasional periods of panic when citizens believed an attack was imminent.