"...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, January 22, 2021

Weekend Link Dump

 

"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn


One of Strange Company HQ's crack research team is busy selecting next week's Newspaper Clipping of the Day.



What the hell is the difference between a shanty and a sea song?

For the millionth time: what the hell is the Shroud of Turin?

Why the hell are there so many Regency romance novels?

Why the hell are Alaskans called "Sourdoughs?"

How the hell do butterflies fly?

Watch out for those cursed ferries!

The mysterious railway death of a Scottish baronet.

A teenager's unsolved murder.

Tudor England and the laws concerning sanctuary.

The world's rarest pasta is in danger of extinction.

There are times when I think scientists have way too much time on their hands.

Our planet's oldest living lifeforms.  I resisted the impulse to add a joke about the Rolling Stones.

How a case of rape was thrown out of court.

A brief history of plastic surgery.

The trees of Celtic folklore.

The challenging life of Isabella Frend.

Well, they finally managed to come up with a gin I refuse to drink.

Some tips for being a successful pickpocket.

Abe Lincoln, true crime writer.

The link between Horace Walpole and the East India Company.

What ancient DNA teaches us about the Ice Age.

James Buchanan's close call.

The star knowledge of the First Australians.

Multitasking tips from the 19th century.

Tales of tribes of headless men.

How to fake your own death for fun and profit.

A side note to the first link: the 1920s sea shanty craze.

An 1825 travel diary.

RIP, Doris Hobday.

How some people can communicate with the dead.

Why technology isn't always the answer.

A reminder that the nurse's monologue in "Romeo and Juliet" is...a bit weird.

If you want to spend your weekend learning how to write cuneiform, here you go.

A doctor commits a particularly heinous murder.

The tomb of an ancient Roman baker.

The latest Egyptian archaeological discoveries.

The "Siberian Tutankhamun."

An encounter with a phantom ship.

Ulysses S. Grant's first inauguration.

The maidservant and the Walworth robbery.

Kelly the Cat's strange voyage.

A controversial death sentence.

The Wizard of Marblehead.

19th century residential care.

Yet another stone-throwing poltergeist.

A look at Battlefield Stalingrad.

History's earliest known businesswomen.

A love letter from beyond the grave.

The dead signs of Spitalfields.

That's it for this week!  See you on Monday, when we'll examine a little-known Alabama disappearance.  In the meantime, I'll let Elvis Costello have the last word.


2 comments:

  1. The article on the popularity of the Regency romance can be, I think, boiled down to the fact that, unlike real (or realistic) Regency stories (in the true vein of Jane Austen), popular Regency romances are costume dramas with modern characters in fancy dress.

    Your comment on the oldest lifeform and the Rolling Stones made me think of a visual joke: God creates man, and man, pointing to Keith Richards in a corner asks, "Who's that?" God replied, "I don't know; he was here when I got here."

    ReplyDelete

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