Bartholomew Barebone was an American No-Maj who lived during the 18th century.[1] Descended from one of the Scourers who escaped justice, he had an intense hatred of witches and wizards, and his desire to expose the existence of the wizarding world propelled one of the largest ever breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy.[1]
Biography
Bartholomew Barebone was born sometime in the 18th century.[1] Although no one in his family was magical, he was descended from one of the Scourers who married No-Majs and assimilated into non-magic society in order to escape punishment for their crimes, and, as such, had an intense belief in the existence of magic and the inherent evilness of witches and wizards.[1][2]
Bartholomew met Dorcus Twelvetrees at a neighbourhood picnic one day.[1] The young witch immediately became infatuated with the handsome No-Maj and performed "little tricks" to impress him.[1] Feigning innocent interest, Bartholomew plied Dorcus with questions, and was thereby able to extract information about the wizarding world from her.[1] She readily told him the locations of both Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, as well as details about the International Confederation of Wizards and the manners in which wizards endeavoured to hide their world.[1]
After getting as much information out of Dorcus as possible, Bartholomew stole her wand.[1] He showed Dorcus's wand to as many newspaper reporters as he could, and some of them took him seriously enough to publish pictures of it, describing how it "had a kick like a mule" when waved.[1] He printed and disseminated leaflets listing the wizarding addresses Dorcus had revealed to him and wrote letters to important No-Majs.[1] Some of the recipients of his letters were motivated to investigate whether his claims of "evil occult parties" were true.[1]
Not satisfied with simply making his fellow No-Majs aware of the existence of the wizarding world, Bartholomew banded together with some gun-wielding friends, and set out to persecute and kill all witches and wizards who lived in the area.[1] He planted himself outside of a building and opened fire when a group of people he assumed to be MACUSA employees exited.[1] However, the people were in fact No-Majs unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.[1] None of them were killed.[1] Bartholomew was arrested by No-Maj authorities and imprisoned for his crime.[1]
The Barebone affair prompted the passage of Rappaport's Law in 1790.[1] This law banned witches and wizards from marrying or befriending No-Majs, and led to the complete segregation of the No-Maj and wizarding communities in America.[1]
Appearances
- Pottermore (Mentioned only)