The Mad Moche (the Baron)

The Mad Moche (the Baron)

(The Executioner from Chan Chan) He made ceramic replicas of all the men he executed, the Executioner of Chan Chan, in what is known now as Northern Peru, by Trujillo. His pottery has been found in the sands near and in the Valle of Sipan, Chan Chan, and in the Andes around Cusco, as well as in the Mantaro Valley of Peru, near Huancayo.

The Executioner (or Moche, contracted Moche) was a great artist in his own right. The devil had his soul, and an angel had his spirit, and he lay in a place in-between called, ‘The Shadowlands,’ or as we might call it as Christians, purgatory, for he was neither bad nor good, he just liked what he did, execute the condemned, under the rulership of the kingdom, in the 2ND Century after Christ. I shall call this so called Mad Moche, (as he was known) El Baron (the Baron), for he was a magnet in watching the death of his condemned comrades, it was his high, his delight, his vice, his lust, his drug, wine, all these addictive things rolled in one.

Legend says, upon his death bed, the devil was fighting with Gabriel, the Archangel, for his soul. Gabriel wanted to bring him to paradise, and the Devil wanted to bring him to Hades, the land of the dead. Thus, God made a resolution, saying, if the Executioner could find each and every one of his carefully carved, sculptural faces on the ceramics he made of his sufferers, he would go to paradise, and of course destroy them once found, for it was out of some kind of lust he created these ceramics. Should he give up, or not find these relics, by the time of the New Age, which was to be ten-years past the Age of Aquarius, (or the turn of the 20th century, unto the 21st there about), he would be bound to the hip of the Devil, and his, the devil’s, to do with as he please.
And to every legend there is truth to some degree, wouldn’t you agree? It would commence after his death, and he lived to a ripe old age, of 103, years. Thus started his long and ghostly journey across the world, and in particular Peru, for the 103, relics he made and sold, each of a person he had executed, each for one of his years of life.

Let me enlighten you about the Baron, I have named him that simply because we must jump ahead of time now, and for him to be called an Executioner would be out of date, 1750-years out of date. But I must tell you why he was given that second chance, I mean besides his case being a tinge complicated, God wanted to rid the earth of those relics, and for a good reason. Now we all know God can do it with the click of a finger, but seldom does he do things that way, He normally uses the forces He has already put into focus. And this is no different.

Each face of the ceramics, or potter was of course different. People who owned them throughout the centuries have claimed they held some kind of supernatural cause and effect, on people who owned them. When the Baron created these pieces of art, he gave complete attention to their expressions. This of course produced feature of breath. He revealed such a life of force in his figures, it was astonishing; people felt his residue within them. Excavations have found some of these spectacular pieces; if anything, this was or is his legacy you could say.

The origin of this story really takes place, a decade or more, when I first had come to Peru, now being February, of 2008, when I first took a tip to Northern Peru, and to the grave site of Sipan, and visited Chan Chan, and other spots around Peru.

I had gotten my piece, my relic, my Moche ceramic by the Mad Moche, from the guide who knew an old lady, during my visit at the pyramids of Sipan, the old lady had a number of these so called aged ceramics in a bag underneath her vegetable stand; she really didn’t know what she had, sold it to me for fifty soles, or seventeen dollars, American money. These pieces are highly valued. Some go between $2500 to $8000 a piece, but one by the Executioner, would be, or could be (depending on its expressions) triple, if indeed you could find one and have it verified. I have several pieces of Moche ceramics in my home in Peru, and I know archeologists throughout the world, one who knows of the Chimu, and Moche cultures, who has authenticated this to be exactly what it is, a piece by the Mad Moche himself.

Putting this aside for the moment, the Mad Moche, as he was known in the 15th and 16th centuries, was himself, I would guess a warrior, or his family had been acquainted with this part of life, for he knew their expressions quite well. Each piece is said to evoke a most unsettling spell, aura (sensation of some kind) in and around it. I know mine does; I even get the chills when I’m staring at it—too long, as if it wants to devour me whole, execute me.

The pottery is so expressive, so fine, you can even see on one ceramic, the tattoos on a character’s face. The piece I have would cost $8,000-dollars, minimum, and perhaps more. There was a sale recently in San Francisco, and a few pieces of this style poetry went for $50,000-dollars.

But there was an owner of a certain piece of this pottery, in the year 1555 AD, he had found it buried in the sands at what is known as Chan Chan (so he told his comrades), an ancient site in Peru, thus making the legend more plausible. The face of the Moche was very realistic, its nose came to a peak, like a birds beak, its eyes wide like an owls, a hat firmly over its head, and around its chin was a strap, and on his shoulder, he carried an ape like creature, some say, it is, or was a replica of the devil himself, the one that made the deal with Gabriel. The piece is supposed to represent the Mad Moche himself, it was the only self portrait he did, or made. This piece was sold for $20,000, in San Francisco last year. The year of 2010, will be the end of the old age, and the beginning of the new era, hence, for the Mad Moche, yes, ten-years after the Age of Aquarius (his deadline), behind what man calls the new century which started in 2000 AD. And until the last piece of poetry is found, 103 pieces in all, and destroyed, the Mad Moche, walks a think line between the devil and Gabriel, he will not get that creature off his shoulder neither, it is watching him, keeping an eye on his investment, so it is said.

This relic was found and sold recently in this person’s house who bought it not long ago at the sale, or auction, he was found dead and the piece broken into a hundred pieces, and some pieces missing so that it cannot be rebuilt. My piece is hidden in my garden, so if the ghost of the Mad Moche visits me, he can simply dig it up, I will not get into his way. I think my piece may be the last piece.

But in 1555 AD, this piece that was broken up, or is broken up now, was among a collector’s items, in Trujillo, said to have been an astronomer and cartographer; upon his arrival home one evening, he noticed a monkey in his house (so it was described as in the court documents), trying to hide the ceramic, even told the owner, if he had a good hiding place because the ghost of the Mad Moche was coming. And in haste, the host, simply told the ape like creature to hide it himself, and went and drew a map. Upon the arrival of the Mad Moche, and the little devil on his shoulder, the Baron asked, “Where have you hid the ceramic I am looking for,” for he knew the astronomer had hid it, not sure how, perhaps the little devil told him. You know how these imps and devils, and demon lie all the time.

Well, the astronomer simply said, “Ask your little helper on your shoulder, and he will tell you, since he hid it.”

The little ape looked shocked at the statement, said to his companion,
“He’s out of his head, how on earth would I know? I was with you all the time (all in Spanish of course).”

Well, the truth is that a likeness of the creature, was left on the shoulder of the Mad Moche I would expect, for such creatures cannot be at two places at the same time, unless the Mad Moche fell to sleep, and I am not sure if ghosts can sleep, nonetheless, the Mad Moche, got very mad, and tore his house apart, brick by brick—and the last thing he did, by suggestion of the imp, was to reach down into the mouth of the astronomer, and pulled his heart from its pumps, and roots, and watched him shrink to jelly onto the extremely hot bricks that lay all about now—and this was of course done, which proves the mending soul of the Mad Moche, did not indeed mend, he simple hid his anger until that moment.

But where was the ceramic? It was wrapped inside a dead rat’s carcass, one the ape like evil spirit found under the brick floor of the house. He had dragged him out of his den by his teeth, and opened his insides like cutting open a watermelon with his long talons, and placed the ceramic tightly within the corpses frame, and quickly placed him back where he had come from.
Well, it goes without saying, but I shall say it anyway, he did not pass his test, fulfill his part of the deal, and so the devil won this battle, but I think Gabriel was happy he lost, in the long run, it was to his advantage, he would have simply had to throw him out of heaven sooner or later anyhow. I must also add, to my understanding, the Mad Moche immediately was taken down yonder, to Hades, in fear, a new deal might be struck.

Written at EP’s Café, in Miraflores, Lima, Peru, today, around 2:30 PM, while waiting for my Lasagna to be done, over a hot cup of coffee; dedicated to Ben Szumskyj. (Title inspired by Ben.)