The Angel of Promise, The Angel of The Thames

In 1665 the filthy city of London was exposed to the Black Death, with the city being the hub of world trade it was impossible to keep the disease out.  the Bubonic plague had been present in Britain since medieval times. The Plague carried by fleas that lived on rats that would survive on the trading ships, would flare up at the height of summer and 1665 was one  hot summer.

One year later after another hot summer three quarters of London would be destroyed by a Great Fire, the fire which raged for five days miraculously led to only six human deaths but thankfully the fire effectively wiped out the rat population ending the Black Death.

The six victims of the fire were buried at  Jubilee Gardens, King Charles 11 himself attended the funeral service, indeed Charles is credited as having carried water buckets during the fire to help extinguish the blazing inferno.

In the weeks following the fire ” Holy apparitions ” were being reported by workers rebuilding the ruins from the ashes of the city, altogether there were six documented sitings and they were seen as a good omen by the populace reeling from the combined tragedies of the Plague and the Great Fire , one of the sightings was commented on by the famous diarist Samuel Pepys. Sightings of Angelic appearances continued throughout both world wars although from Plague times the sightings seem unconnected to any particular event but always seem to appear in sixes, in 1918 seven accounts were recorded but one was proved to be a hoax.

In September 2006 British TV celebrity David Grant was filming on the banks of the Thames for a new talent show when he spots something hovering above the Thames, unless Grant is an incredible actor he certainly believes he sees an unusual vision, in fact at one point during the video he mentions the word Angel and his bewilderment is plain to see.  Youtube – David Grant Angel.

In recent times there has been a spate of Angel sightings, with modern mobile phones having the capability to also act as a camera and video sharing sites such as Youtube being available on the internet more images are being captured and shared.

Theories of what the apparition is abound, some believe it is the ghosts of the six people killed during the Great Fire, others believe it is an Angel, strangely sightings of the vision are always accompanied by feelings of happiness and peace and an expectation of good times to come hence it is known to some as the Angel of Promise, you could argue that it does not matter what the ” Angel ” is , the fact that it brings hope to many people is all that matters and in today’s troubled times that cannot be a bad thing.