A Son de Marvídeo
118. Fermín Mayorga. Ghost ships, between history and legend.
8 de enero de 2026 · 1h 0m · 13 visitas
Lighthouse beam cuts through fog over winter sunset bay.
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Fermín Mayorga, a researcher with more than 30 years of work in the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid, discusses the historical and anthropological roots of ghost ship legends in maritime culture.▶ 5:46 Most ghost ship stories, he argues, trace not to the supernatural but to documented historical realities — chiefly the Spanish Inquisition's use of vessels to transport accused heretics, where prisoners endured overcrowding, disease, and torture.▶ 7:10 A 1796 inquisitorial proceeding in Gijón against a French consul who refused inspection of French ships in port illustrates how the Inquisition policed coastal arrivals for prohibited books and Protestant ideas.▶ 8:01 Lighthouses and coastal towers functioned as surveillance points, and their lights carried symbolic weight — guiding ships but also exposing them to ecclesiastical authority.▶ 11:05 Mayorga extends the pattern beyond Spain: Islamic maritime cultures generated parallel legends tied to violations of Quranic law, and drifting ships disabled by disease were interpreted through whatever religious framework the observer held.▶ 13:37 Taboo words aboard ships — "shipwreck," "drowned," "devil" — and the prohibition on whistling (believed to summon bad winds) reflect the same fear-driven logic.▶ 19:05 The episode also includes a meteorological segment by Javier Suárez tracking the Mini Globe Race and a historical segment on Don Cayetano Valdés by Joshua Jiménez.▶ 3:28
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