Welcome listener. I'm glad you're here. Take a seat next to the fire.

Welcome to Obscura, where we shine a light on the dark. So,

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. . . . . . . Oh, man, man, my life.

My Lille You're listening to Alessandro Moraaki singing Ave Maria. He's frequently cited as the last Castrato.

A Castrato was a centuries old practice of castrating vocally talented boys boys while before puberty.

The child was mutilated by doctors, so the larynx wouldn't be transformed by normal physiological

events of puberty.

Women were banned from singing in the Catholic Church.

So young boys were castrated in their place.

The boys were given a warm bath, drugged with opium, and then their necks were squeezed until they passed out.

From there their testicles were either removed entirely,

where the correct blood vessels were simply slashed.

Some boys even died during the castration process.

Eventually, after much criticism, Kistrato were reasonably banned from the Catholic Church.

But let's say there was a supposed accident if a child allegedly fell and their testicles were injured or perhaps they got a hernia,

then the church would happily accept new kastradi into their fold with open arms.

These new children were operated on much the same way of course.

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