The Hapsburg Dynasty’s Harbingers of Death
stabbing her in the heart with a shoemaker's awl. Sisi was dazed. After she boarded the steamer, she fainted. A few drops of blood oozed from a tiny triangular wound. Sisi died of an internal hemorrhage.
The turnfalkens had been seen on other occasions, foretelling tragedy.
They were there when Marie-Antoinette, a Hapsburg, was led to the guillotine. Marie-Louise saw them on her journey to France to marry Napoleon. She had also seen the White Lady. They were seen when the Duchess d'Alencon, a Hapsburg, burned to death during a fire at a bazaar and when Franz Josef's niece died in a fire at Schonbrunn.
The turnfalkens were seen when Sophia connived the abdication of senile Emperor Ferdinand in favor of her son, Franz, and handed him his crown.
Turnfalkens were seen at every battle that was a defeat for the Austrians.
One night, ravens flew in the direction of Mayerling Forest where the married Crown Prince Rudolph, Sisi's only son, was having his last tryst with his mistress. They had a murder-suicide pact. There is official record that the White Lady was seen that night.
The birds were sighted before Archduchess Charlotte and her husband, Maximilian, left for Mexico. His life ended by firing squad. She lost her sanity. The White Lady was seen at Schonbrunn immediately before his death. .
In 1894, they were seen when Archduke Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek. The marriage took place on July 1, 1900. Although the turnfalkens had been sighted, it looked like the curse was broken. Franz and Sophie were happily married for fourteen years.
On a June day in 1914, Sophia was touring Vienna when she felt strange excitement mixed with terror. A crowd gathered and looked skyward. There were whispers, "Turnfalken!"
Sophia rushed to Konopischt where Franz was in a military conference. She interrupted the meeting. Franz planned to go to Sarajevo. She pleaded with him not to go and told him about the turnfalkens. He laughed at the silly superstition and was adamant about going there. The rest is history. Both Franz and Sophia were assassinated which triggered the beginning of World War I.
Turnfalken and the White Lady.... Coincidence? Omens?
FATE Presents: Psychic Pets and Spirit Animals, ISBN: 1-56718-299-2
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