Oubliette

An oubliette was a presumed form of dungeon which was accessible only from a hatch in a high ceiling. To exit an oubliette was impossible under any circumstances, without outside help. The word comes from the French oublier, "to forget," as it was used for prisoners whom it was desired to forget about.

Related Topics:
Dungeon - French

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The earliest reference to an "oubliette" was Benvenuto Cellini's famous renaissance era autobiography. In this he states a distinct fear of an oubliette. "i thought that they were going to throw me down the oubliette of Sammabo. This was the name given to a fearful place which had swallowed many men alive; for when they are cast into it, they fall to the bottom of a deep pit in the foundations of the castle." Another reference is Scott's Ivanhoe in 1819: "The place was utterly dark?the oubliette, as I suppose, of their accursed convent." (OED) There is no reason to suspect that this particular place of incarceration was more than a flight of romantic elboration on existing unpleasent places of confinement during the Gothic Revival period.

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One example of what might be popularly termed an "oubliette" is the particularly claustrophobic cell the prison of Warwick Castle, in central England. The access hatch consists of an iron grille secured by a hasp and (now) padlock.

Related Topics:
Claustrophobic - Warwick Castle - England - Padlock

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Oubliette is also used to refer to ice formations over lakes or other large bodies of water. As ice crystals formed, and air was introduced in the movement of the tides, tunnels would form under the ice. Presumably if one fell into the tunnel, one would surely be forgotten by spring's thaw.

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