"...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, September 9, 2016

Weekend Link Dump



This week's Link Dump is sponsored by the Cats Who Are Ready For the Weekend!






Who the hell killed the Princes in the Tower?   Could it have been...the woman who went on to become their sister's mother-in-law?

Watch out for the Portrush Merman!

Watch out for those haunted swords!

Watch out for those seagoing poltergeists!

This week in Russian Weird: It's still the 17th century in a corner of Alaska.

Oh, and their rivers are turning red.

Scotland's famed Gretna Green.

How the rest of the world saw the Great Fire of London.

Well, no, we haven't actually found Black Shuck.  Sorry.

Mysteries hidden in old documents.

The kind of thing that happens when a medieval scribe has a hangover.

The kind of thing that happens when the Devil visits Wales.

The first British WWI deserter to be shot.

How to go from India to Mars.

Artifacts of 9/11.

A "buy one, get two free!" fossil.

A "buy one get one free!" Fortean combo.

Caricaturing Napoleon.

Jamestown's mail order brides.

Pig Clubs and the Donkey Express.

The death of George IV.

A beloved sailor cat came to an unlucky end.

Fortune telling via moles.

Ancient Egyptians collected fossils.

Some 18th century female felons.

A pioneer in forensic ballistics.

The dark side of Smithfield.

A malicious prosecutor gets his comeuppance.

Some wonderful names of ancient prostitutes.

An intuitive spy.

The Victorian "Cult of Death."

Let's talk Bog Bodies, shall we?

Or would you prefer to discuss Emily Bronte's coffin?

If not, there's the always-lively topic of fatal royal hernias.

How about a detailed history of the world's worst rock song?

Give this pianist a hand!  Uh, a finger, at least.

The "fearefull and dreadfull fire."

The shark of the Thames.

Canada's WWII "Oopsie!" moment.

How the September Massacres influenced fashion.

How they watched YouTube videos at home 100 years ago.

The history of wedding rings.

19th century thrift.

Somebody stole this pub owner's ghost, and he wants it back.

This week's Advice From Thomas Morris:  Buy a flyswatter.

And...that's that for this week.  See you on Monday, when we'll be visiting Canadian poltergeists. In the meantime, how about some German brass?


6 comments:

  1. Always a treat to check out the Friday Link Dump.

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  2. Though I tend to fall into the revisionist camp regarding Richard III's reputation, his innocence in the deaths of the Princes in the Tower still founders, for me, on the fact that he did not say anything about their fate. If someone else murdered the boys, why did he not state it? Was he afraid that he would be blamed no matter who did it, so he simply said nothing?

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    1. I suspect they were not murdered at all. There are some tantalizing hints here and there that Richard sent the boys abroad (probably to the court of his sister Margaret of Burgundy.) If he wished to keep them as "out of sight, out of mind" as possible, it makes sense that he would want to keep people guessing about their fate and whereabouts.

      Audrey Williamson's book "The Mystery of the Princes" has some intriguing details about this theory.

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  3. I like to browse the link dump on Sunday morning(ish), and I have come to think of it as "The First Church of 'People Are So Bad.'" ;)

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    Replies
    1. That wouldn't be a bad title for this entire blog.

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  4. Greatly appreciate the bog bodies, fatal hernia and Emily's coffin stories - brightened up my whole week.

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