"...we should pass over all biographies of 'the good and the great,' while we search carefully the slight records of wretches who died in prison, in Bedlam, or upon the gallows."
~Edgar Allan Poe

Friday, March 27, 2020

Weekend Link Dump

"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn

This week's Link Dump features skilled musical accompaniment!




Who the hell is (was?) the Long Island serial killer?

Famous left-handers from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Imagine winning a game show and finding out your prize is a date with a serial killer.

The lawyer who helped build the modern entertainment world. Does he deserve thanks, or a bit of spitting on his grave?  Discuss.

Ruined castles are being digitally reconstructed.

Those fishy Neanderthals.

A Danish West Indies governor comes to a bad end.

Remembering the Battle of Cheriton.

Haunted Melrose Abbey.

Witchcraft trials in British India.

A banished unwed mother finally returns home.

The last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade.

The bigamous Arthur Wicks.

The Victorian fondness for romanticizing female suicide.

The weirdness of German puppetry, and other theatrical links.

Hey, God, where's a good lightning strike when you need one?

A history of hand washing.

Black Charley of Norwich.

The 18th century fondness for eye portraits.

A General with strong opinions.

That time a Brazilian island was attacked by aliens.

Ancient history and a bronze cat.

The murder of a champion racehorse.

Tudor political intrigue and the Pearl of York.

How a pauper got a proper funeral.

Einstein in Bohemia.

In praise of marginalia.

Reexamining Alexander von Humboldt.

The plagues of Old London.

A murder is finally solved, albeit a bit too late.

I'll see your English Stonehenge and raise you one Scottish crannog.

The difference between Canadian and American whiskey.

Some timely reading from the 18th century.

The Spitalfields Nippers.

Vanity and the grave-robbing vampire occultist.

The Arian Vandals; or why early Christianity was a hot mess.

The Romanovs and the Windsors go on holiday.

Restoring Notre Dame.

How Tibetan yogis upgrade their brains.

The curious case of Typhoid Mary.

The massacre of the Knight family.

The real "Sound of Music."

Red Cross, the kitten of Bellevue.

Photos of 19th century Constantinople.

Did plague doctors really wear those bird masks?

The magical Davenport Brothers.

Equinox and the Sphinx.

A teenage murderess.

The Mississippi Company and the birth of the millionaire.

The notorious Rugeley poisoner.

Celebrating Lady Day.

An archaeology student just found a 5,000 year old sword.

The Cat Lady of Bedford Street.

The fight over Alexander the Great's tomb.

The Victorian language of flowers.

The serial killer who disappeared.

That's all for this week!  See you on Monday, when we'll look at a particularly weird ghost story.  In the meantime, be safe, everyone.  Strange times, indeed.


4 comments:

  1. Thank you for linking to my article!

    Jonathan (BS Historian)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for the weekly run-down. My favorites this time: the ancient sword and the Sound of Music story. I read Maria von Trapp's memoir over and over when I was in junior high and a Sound of Music freak, so I knew most of the distinctions. Even began a stage play based on "the real story." In those days my chief dramaturgical influence was W. S. Gilbert, so. . . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. General Jacob seems typical of the many British eccentrics who lived, worked and soldiered in India during the time of British rule. Despite current perceptions, the majority laboured hard and well for the people under their rule. The fact that the city named after Jacob is still named after Jacob attests to that in his case.

    And the pictures of the Spitalfields children are fascinating. Little Adelaide Springett nearly broke my heart: such a tearful expression, wearing her best clothes, but with dirty feet and no shoes...

    ReplyDelete
  4. The "Sound of Music" story was good, too. I read about Trapp in a naval history of World War One. He was a successful submarine captain in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

    ReplyDelete

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