Weekend Link Dump

Strange Company urges you to take a chair and settle down.

Assuming you can find one that isn't already occupied.

Grab a plate for this week's Link Buffet:

What the hell is happening to UFO experts?

What the hell happened to the megafauna?

What the hell is the Blarney Stone?

What the hell is this cloud?

What the hell happened to Grand Duchess Anastasia?

What the hell happened to Rose Cole?

What the hell hangs around Norwegian observatories?

Canada is still really humming!

Florida is still really booming!

Rescuing Edgar the raven.

Pasadena's Damned Devil's Gate:  this ain't the Rose Parade.

Isaac Newton, alchemist.

Century-old film of a now-extinct hen.

A 14,000 year old oral tradition?  Hard to believe, you say?  Hey, don't underestimate those aborigines...

Enjoy camping?  Don't care for bathing or haircuts?  Have a taste for dressing like a Druid?  May I suggest a career as an ornamental hermit?

Man's best felonious friend.

Ancient Egyptians may have been Crazy Cat People even earlier than we thought.

Alexander III of Scotland, who met his death under what I've always thought were highly suspicious circumstances.

Ching Shih, Chinese Pirate Queen.

1783:  The real year of living dangerously.

England's first private execution, 1868.

The first photo of earth from space.

The swastikas of England.

More details about the amazing ancient city of Petra.

Because around here, we love our historical trash-talk.

Descriptions of England's great storm of 1703.

Is this a photo of the Bronte sisters?

The execution of the Earl of Kent: a key incident in a fascinating historical soap opera/royal mystery.

Ikea meets Ed Gein.

The sad tale of Lillie Hoyle, who never got justice.

An eerie missing airplane mystery...this one from 1965.

Some musings on the Siberian Empire of the Sasquatch.

Now, this is what I call soldiering:  swords, longbows, and bagpipes.

More proof that circuses are really secret portals to Hell.

Salisbury's oldest pub, complete with hidden tunnels and severed hands.

Why there are times when I'm very glad I'm not an archaeologist.

Thirsty UFOs?

The Green Man:  secret anti-Norman symbol?  William the Bastard is among my least favorite people in history. I rather like the idea that England is to this day filled with hidden slogans dissing him.

A Different Drum, indeed.

Some handy tips on how to stay buried when you're dead.

"Dead aliens"--deliberate government hoax?  And if so, why?

Setting the record straight about Giordano Bruno.  Good luck with that one, gang.

The puzzling Richard Meinertzhagen.

Stealing daylight.

And, finally, our wise piece of advice for the week, courtesy of the Tower of London's Ravenmaster:

A Raven can recognize a human face, so if you treat one badly you loose a friend for life. pic.twitter.com/sESnji9qpr
— Ravenmaster (@ravenmaster1) March 19, 2014

Incidentally, the same goes for all other animals, as well.  And we're done for yet another week. See you on Monday, when I will be looking at the puzzling unsolved murder of the founder of one of America's most prestigious universities.