Mind Games

[jakesi]

Please can someone help with this mind game. Betty and lucy were touring the west country on holiday. lucy was particularly fond of old country churchyards,and in one found an extraordinary gravestone.It was that of a child who,according to the inscription, was born on 15 May 1658 and died, aged eight months, on 24 January the same year! is this possible?...................................................Any ideas its doing my head in. Thanks.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Does this date by any chance correspond with the change over from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars? That might explain it!

[JohnPPotts]

The switch from the Julian to the Gregorian callendar led to the "loss" of ten days, but didn't affect the year. I suspect the answer to be either: 1. It was simply a typo (or whatever the equivilent is in Monumental Masonry) 2. Weathering had caused the 9 of 24 January 1659 to look like an 8.

[jonnyrushton]

being an old country graveyard one could say that it took a while for the child to be certified alive (birth certificate). if this is wrong then it must be something to do with the old country graveyard part of the game!!