In the city of Leeds in England in the early 19th century, there lived a woman named Mary Bateman, who was famous for having a special hen.

This hen regularly laid eggs on which apocalyptic omen was inscribed: “Crist is coming!” (as it literacy was not inherent in the hen). There were a great many people who wanted to look at the unusual hen. Mary took a penny from each so that they could satisfy their curiosity. The hen became known as the Hen of Judgment Day, the Doomsday Hen and the Prophet Hen of Leeds.

But one day, someone spied on Mary Bateman taking a fresh hen’s egg, writing on it and stuffing it back into the hen. As was written in “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” by Charles Mackay:

“Some gentlemen, hearing of the matter, went one fine morning, and caught the poor hen in the act of laying one of her miraculous eggs. They soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced up again into the bird’s body.”

It later turned out that the corrosive ink was concentrated vinegar.

A great scandal erupted, the reputation of the hen was reduced to zero, but not the reputation of the hen’s owner. She sold the bird to a neighbor, and it stopped laying “unusual” eggs.

Mary also managed to sell some Seals before she was exposed. Those Seals assured admission into Heaven and were just pieces of paper with the letters “JC” on them.

The story is very funny, but the fate of Mary Bateman was not so funny. Although she got away with the Doomdsay Hen, she still ended up being hung for her other misdeeds. She was known as the Yorkshire Witch, altough she was not a witch.