King John of England was not a man to be trifled with, yet in the 13th century, a small village in Nottinghamshire managed to outwit him without lifting a sword.
The story of Gotham is one of history’s most peculiar acts of civil disobedience, where an entire community collectively decided that the only way to save their home was to lose their minds. When royal messengers arrived to prepare for the monarch’s arrival, they found a scene of such utter absurdity that it forced the King to abandon his plans entirely.
The Cost of a Royal Visit
In medieval England, a visit from the King was rarely a cause for celebration for the common people. It was a logistical nightmare. King John intended to travel through Gotham to reach his hunting lodge, a route that would have legally converted the village’s quiet farm track into a “King’s Highway.” This designation meant heavy taxes, the constant traffic of royal entourages, and the financial burden of maintaining a road fit for a monarch.
The villagers of Gotham, fiercely protective of their independence and their coin, gathered to discuss a solution. They knew they could not fight the King’s army, so they devised a plan based on the superstition of the time: madness was believed to be contagious. If they could convince the King that Gotham was a village of lunatics, he would surely keep his distance.
Rolling Cheese and Drowning Eels
When the King’s scouts arrived to secure the route, the performance began. The soldiers encountered a group of villagers standing atop a hill, busily tumbling round cheeses down the slope. When asked what they were doing, the villagers earnestly explained that they were rolling their cheese to the Nottingham market to sell, reasoning that the cheeses would find their own way there.
Further into the village, the confusion deepened. The scouts found a dozen men dragging heavy farm carts onto the roof of a large barn. Their explanation was simple: they wanted to shade the wood shingles from the scorching sun to prevent them from drying out. Nearby, another group stood around a pool of water, vigorously attempting to drown an eel. The scouts watched in bewilderment as the locals tried to punish the fish by holding it underwater, apparently unaware of the creature’s natural habitat.
The Cuckoo in the Bush
The most famous display of this orchestrated insanity occurred at what is now known as Cuckoo Bush Mound. The King’s men discovered a large group of villagers constructing a fence around a small bush where a cuckoo bird had perched. The villagers whispered that they had captured the bird that brought the spring weather. They believed that if they could fence the cuckoo in, spring would never leave Gotham, and winter would never return.
The King’s Retreat
The royal messengers fled back to King John, reporting that Gotham was populated entirely by fools and imbeciles. They warned that the madness seemed rampant and that the village was unfit for a royal presence.
King John, unwilling to risk his dignity or his health among such unpredictable subjects, immediately altered his route. He bypassed Gotham entirely, saving the villagers from the taxes and the highway they so despised. Once the dust settled, the “mad” villagers returned to their normal lives, boasting that “more fools pass through Gotham than remain in it.”
In the 13th century, a tiny village defeated King John without a single weapon.
When the monarch planned to turn their quiet road into a royal highway, the people of Gotham didn't fight back.
Instead, they devised a brilliant, bizarre plan to save their home… pic.twitter.com/499d8Yp3sc
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) December 19, 2025