Shawn Woods built this finely crafted 600-year-old trap Merode mousetrap and set it up in his barn. And boy, is it deadly! Mouse pancakes, anyone?
I love it when Shawn Woods crafts things on his YouTube channel like deadfalls, knives, arrowheads and other primitive items. This time he reproduced a copy of a 600-year old Merode mousetrap.
He did an exceptional job in building this trap. The craftsmanship is superb. According to Woods, this trap has the most sensitive trigger stick of any trap he's ever seen.
Woods sets the trap up in his barn, which always seems to be overrun with mice and rats, and puts motion cameras on it. It doesn't take long for some hapless rodent to become a pancake. Just watch this contraption put the hammer down on a mouse.
What I also like about these Shawn Woods videos is that he shares his interest in history with the viewer.
This trap dates back to before the year 1427, as the mousetrap can be clearly seen in a painting from that era by Flemish master Robert Campin. I believe Woods misidentifies the painter as Merode, but Merode was actually one of the aristocratic families that owned the triptych from which this scene comes.
In the far right panel, Campin portrays Joseph, husband of Mary and the father of Jesus, at his workbench. Without going too deep into the iconography of the painting, some consider the mousetrap to be a symbol for the cross.
The cross is deemed to be a trap set for the devil, with Christ's flesh as the bait.
That's a very brief art history lesson, but I thank you for allowing me to refer back to my days as a university art history instructor!
For our purposes, it's enough to know this mousetrap is a highly effective killing machine.
It's not, however, the oldest trap Woods has made. A short while ago, he reconstructed an 8,000-year-old mousetrap. Check that video out here.
Like what you see here? You can read more great articles by David Smith at his Facebook page, Stumpjack Outdoors.
NEXT: THE BEST TRAP MONEY CAN BUY FOR MICE, RATS and SQUIRRELS
