tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74937120846061109712024-03-18T19:45:16.460-07:00Strange CompanyA walk on the weird side of historyUndinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.comBlogger1755125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-39661153466400361812024-03-18T04:39:00.000-07:002024-03-18T04:39:39.295-07:00The Ghostly Strangler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFXZWYgnIwtS6havpyZVxjTPYLSo7HfMrchwh4NfLa7voi1pTDZhmv4e3QSNk-9zh1mBsFSusG0Z762CaSOEacmPYm1VXR7JojPdp1tCvuOP-8IKrhEhl9q5AaGqWVBvBQkAi8hVeO72ii5VvktXCWwWyJDcSl6tpLELahopuGivwNsk6-vKjPj3E/s1024/strangling%20ghost.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFXZWYgnIwtS6havpyZVxjTPYLSo7HfMrchwh4NfLa7voi1pTDZhmv4e3QSNk-9zh1mBsFSusG0Z762CaSOEacmPYm1VXR7JojPdp1tCvuOP-8IKrhEhl9q5AaGqWVBvBQkAi8hVeO72ii5VvktXCWwWyJDcSl6tpLELahopuGivwNsk6-vKjPj3E/s320/strangling%20ghost.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Encountering a ghost may be a strange, possibly terrifying experience, but fortunately they are rarely harmful. However, every now and then there is an account of a spirit that is not just malevolent, but physically dangerous. One such story was told by folklorist Mary L. Lewes in the December 1912 issue of “Occult Review.” It concerns a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Caxton. At the time of Lewes writing her story, the Caxtons had recently moved to Wales after spending some years farming in South Africa. As Lewes showed, they had very good reasons to emigrate.</p><p>The Caxtons’ South African farm had previously been owned by a man with an evil reputation--so evil, that he finally met his end when one of his many enemies poisoned him. Thereafter, the farm was considered to be cursed: livestock died unnatural deaths, crops would not grow, and so many other unlucky things happened that most people refused to go near the place.</p><p>The Caxtons, however, were strong-willed, fearless, and determined to make a go of the farm. When they would periodically hear a horse galloping to the house, followed by the sound of someone jumping off the animal and banging on the door, only to find no one there when they looked outside, the couple shrugged it off as just part of life’s little oddities.</p><p>On one occasion, the Caxtons gave shelter to a passing traveler. As it was a small house, the man had to sleep in the parlor. The next morning, the terrified stranger announced that “someone” had tried to strangle him while he slept.</p><p>Even this news failed to dissuade the Caxtons. In the end, it was not ghosts that finally convinced the couple to give up the farm, but their simple inability to make a decent living from the place. While they were moving out, Mr. Caxton spent one night on a mattress he placed on the parlor floor. Suddenly, he was awakened from sleep by something that jumped on him and began clawing at his throat. After a long and violent struggle, Caxton managed to roll against the wall. As soon as he did so, his invisible attacker disappeared. When dawn finally came, Caxton found that his throat and chest were covered with large red finger-marks that lingered for days afterward. The shock was enough to give this normally stoic farmer a nervous collapse.</p><p>The friend who sent Lewes the story commented, “My theory about this is that the previous owner, being a very wicked man, was earth-bound and having been hurried prematurely out of life was extra strong, and was simply trying to get hold of a new body…That room was most likely the one he died in, and as he was strongest there, a sleeping person would of course be the very thing for him.” Neither Lewes nor her informant could explain why Caxton touching the parlor wall caused the evil force to vanish.</p><p>All I can add to this eerie little tale is that when people tell you a certain place is cursed, it’s usually wisest to take them at their word.</p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-48516829437336422992024-03-15T04:50:00.000-07:002024-03-15T04:50:30.976-07:00Weekend Link Dump<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2pA6XpvCy7zGQiKETfkSKnVi4chfinBfZz7Ti88ICw-tDOMQizBslE08kg_LCF315W_xeYElc6DGEvVIE7WfeK0IXp0ZxAo2C4SxfP_1O3K-YsRo4ZQ9s70bvY2IkOYn1xY_nMk0Krd_FmwcpK9nJZOF_Y11f7QT-UuI7VPo3LajLutCFH8lv8SUG/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2pA6XpvCy7zGQiKETfkSKnVi4chfinBfZz7Ti88ICw-tDOMQizBslE08kg_LCF315W_xeYElc6DGEvVIE7WfeK0IXp0ZxAo2C4SxfP_1O3K-YsRo4ZQ9s70bvY2IkOYn1xY_nMk0Krd_FmwcpK9nJZOF_Y11f7QT-UuI7VPo3LajLutCFH8lv8SUG/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Welcome to our pre-St. Patrick's Day Link Dump!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmt0BjTDsaR60sVKvdcy-YAqs0xOY0PuBnK8F0h8O087LW5nnPIwadBbf44Z0q17qeZC5iQNpqzPjldYTTZcyckliCFbN7lu6mo3EgQnxhijovgP_yZRzAiLrj3d8qLqAQ7h7YngxYyHmlwRTOStIjYNe3yWnpb9BSZBmawnrQaNh_bRSaGrm1mIl_/s811/caturday%20st%20patrick's%20day.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="811" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmt0BjTDsaR60sVKvdcy-YAqs0xOY0PuBnK8F0h8O087LW5nnPIwadBbf44Z0q17qeZC5iQNpqzPjldYTTZcyckliCFbN7lu6mo3EgQnxhijovgP_yZRzAiLrj3d8qLqAQ7h7YngxYyHmlwRTOStIjYNe3yWnpb9BSZBmawnrQaNh_bRSaGrm1mIl_/w400-h261/caturday%20st%20patrick's%20day.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>What the hell were the <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/life/2024/03/13/phoenix-lights-ufo-history/72630635007/" target="_blank">Phoenix Lights?</a></p><p>An iconic tree is getting a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68497720?fbclid=IwAR235YSGk7dp82itGINdjzo0qx7J92uvcqs6WubOiM7KjA2Eh24vlCV6aFs" target="_blank">second chance at life.</a></p><p>It's oddly depressing to realize that the ocean's depths are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/12/radioactive-waste-baby-bottles-and-spam-the-deep-ocean-has-become-a-dumping-ground" target="_blank">filled with cans of Spam.</a></p><p>The great monkey chase <a href="https://singulardiscoveries.substack.com/p/chasing-a-monkey?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=365734&post_id=141424617&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=n4kg0&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">at Bishop Auckland.</a></p><p>A brief history <a href="https://www.messynessychic.com/2024/03/14/a-comforting-snackable-history-of-the-lunchbox/" target="_blank">of the lunchbox.</a></p><p>Elizabeth I's Swedish <a href="https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/elizabeth-is-swedish-lady-of-the-privy-chamber-helena-ulfsdotter-nee-snakenborg-marchioness-of-northampton/" target="_blank">lady of the privy chamber.</a></p><p>Why you would not want to be a <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mesopotamia-human-sacrifice-assyrian-substitute-king" target="_blank">Mesopotamian stand-in king.</a></p><p>Merchantman <a href="https://dawlishchronicles.com/2024/03/14/merchantman-vs-a-french-privateer-1811/" target="_blank">vs. a French privateer.</a></p><p>In which we meet <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/03/15/cockney-cats-i/" target="_blank">some Cockney Cats.</a></p><p>The time the Nazis tried to bomb a <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/altoona-curve-nazi-plot-hitler-20240313.html" target="_blank">Pennsylvania Railroad.</a></p><p>The darker side of<a href="https://thelondondead.blogspot.com/2024/03/death-at-zoo-murder-suicide-and-drunken.html" target="_blank"> London's Zoological Gardens.</a></p><p>The explosion of the <a href="https://murdersinhistory.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-natchez-drug-company-tragedy.html" target="_blank">Natchez Drug Company.</a></p><p>The excavation of a <a href="https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/69681" target="_blank">Neolithic site.</a></p><p>The manhunt for <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-apple-tvs-manhunt-and-the-search-for-abraham-lincolns-killer-180983943/" target="_blank">John Wilkes Booth.</a></p><p>A poltergeist <a href="https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/zimbabwean-family-claims-to-be-plagued-by-unrelenting-poltergeist-activity/" target="_blank">in Zimbabwe.</a></p><p>The notorious <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-most-dangerous-woman-in-the-world/" target="_blank">"Chicago May."</a></p><p>Why we call them<a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/cottage-industry-meaning?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank"> "cottage industries."</a></p><p>UK's <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68518623?fbclid=IwAR0gVP5cXc00OqiNUst-7smZuMX3p-NcxAvmN8Qq1otoep1GvDzs0Hd8cR8" target="_blank">giant redwoods.</a></p><p>Mysterious <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240307-the-160-year-mystery-of-the-stone-age-venus-figurines" target="_blank">Ice Age "queens."</a></p><p>A 3,300-year-old description of a <a href="https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/3300-year-old-tablet-from-mysterious-hittite-empire-describes-catastrophic-invasion-of-four-cities" target="_blank">catastrophic invasion.</a></p><p>Hearing the <a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/03/13/the-cry-of-the-banshee-1887/" target="_blank">cry of the banshee.</a></p><p>The beginnings of the <a href="https://blog.newspapers.com/guinness-world-records-how-a-brewery-launched-a-book-on-records/" target="_blank">Guinness World Records.</a></p><p>Predicting eclipses in <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/dragon-swallows-the-sun-predicting-eclipses-in-china/" target="_blank">ancient China.</a></p><p>The man who spent nearly his whole life <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/polio-infected-man-who-spent-70-years-inside-an-iron-lung-dies-5230523" target="_blank">inside an iron lung.</a></p><p>Shropshire <a href="https://nearlyknowledgeablehistory.blogspot.com/2024/03/whispers-from-grave-folklore-of-death.html" target="_blank">death folklore.</a></p><p>The enslaved boy who revolutionized the<a href="https://nautil.us/the-boy-who-was-king-of-vanilla-522772/" target="_blank"> vanilla industry.</a></p><p>A murder-for-hire case featuring <a href="https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/strange-death-spell-scheme-revealed-in-kentucky-murder-for-hire-case/" target="_blank">death spells.</a></p><p>The only woman to be <a href="https://murdersinhistory.blogspot.com/2024/03/murder-of-stanislaus-bilansky.html" target="_blank">executed in Minnesota.</a></p><p>The "Bold Defiance" of 18th century<a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/03/11/the-bold-defiance/" target="_blank"> journeymen weavers.</a></p><p>A Russian princess in the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-russian-noblewoman-beloved-by-catherine-the-great-and-benjamin-franklin-embodied-the-age-of-enlightenment-180983910/" target="_blank">Age of Enlightenment.</a></p><p>Applications for <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2024/03/applications-for-trinity-house-pensions-.html" target="_blank">Trinity House pensions.</a></p><p>The mystery of the<a href="https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/2017/12/7/mathias-group-from-yuba-city" target="_blank"> Yuba City Five.</a></p><p>The mystery of a <a href="https://www.historicmysteries.com/history/charles-shelton/39309/" target="_blank">Vietnam "lost pilot."</a></p><p>The mystery of the <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/byward-tower-hand" target="_blank">Byward Tower Hand.</a></p><p>In search of the site of a <a href="https://paoddities.blogspot.com/2024/03/antique-maps-and-search-for-thomas.html" target="_blank">19th century murder.</a></p><p>The life of <a href="https://historytheinterestingbits.com/2024/03/11/guest-post-margaret-of-austria-by-rozsa-gaston/" target="_blank">Margaret of Austria.</a></p><p>How witches came to be associated <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-witches-fly-a-historian-unpacks-the-medieval-invention-and-skepticism-of-the-witch-on-a-broomstick-222472" target="_blank">with broomsticks.</a></p><p>The life of <a href="https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2024/03/12/a-kings-sister-buried-in-a-shropshire-church-elizabeth-of-lancaster-sister-of-henry-iv-at-burford/" target="_blank">Henry IV's sister, Elizabeth.</a></p><p>Rethinking George Washington's<a href="https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/03/08/in-defense-of-fort-necessity-why-its-time-to-rethink-george-washingtons-notorious-1754-defeat/" target="_blank"> 1754 defeat.</a></p><p>The kayaker and the<a href="https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/watch-mystery-creature-menaces-kayaker-on-amazon-river/" target="_blank"> "mystery creature."</a></p><p>Sudden deaths and <a href="https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2024/03/john-and-maria.html" target="_blank">foul suspicions.</a></p><p>A <a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/03/08/guest-post-by-lynda-okeeffe-a-curious-herbal-elizabeth-blackwells-pioneering-masterpiece-of-botanical-art/" target="_blank">curious herbal.</a></p><p>That wraps it up for another week! See you on Monday, when we'll meet a particularly dangerous ghost. In the meantime, here's Patsy Cline.</p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/imxGOKJMxho?si=nnPFGzKXV52Naa-X" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-26994579143205224352024-03-13T04:38:00.000-07:002024-03-13T04:38:55.677-07:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxM1NF9CEk5bJUBuoCzT1C-zWZjrsKsA1aDL1jRN4klkX9tZx77rgR-XosJjZiX6Mtl5SQ82i2Z9IUwCuKoxX5MS063IDBvyiUm8DdYhkbjTWkkVGjd0NV8McjicX4kASSYVu4OjhVLXLoZ7vguHeyP06nOSh_reUCwEThR42MIFNGnpgGQIyjHtc/s1024/fireball%20ufo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxM1NF9CEk5bJUBuoCzT1C-zWZjrsKsA1aDL1jRN4klkX9tZx77rgR-XosJjZiX6Mtl5SQ82i2Z9IUwCuKoxX5MS063IDBvyiUm8DdYhkbjTWkkVGjd0NV8McjicX4kASSYVu4OjhVLXLoZ7vguHeyP06nOSh_reUCwEThR42MIFNGnpgGQIyjHtc/s320/fireball%20ufo.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This account of a UFO (or, if you prefer, “something weird that came down from the sky”) appeared in the Fort Myers “News-Press,” July 28, 1984:</p><p></p><blockquote>BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) A spark-tailed fireball splashed down Friday off Lummi Island, sending a plume of water 100 feet high before it sank and bubbled, a fishing boat crew reported. The Coast Guard investigated but found no debris. Checks with other authorities revealed no missing planes or space junk crashing in the area and the object remained an "unknown flying object," said Petty Officer Gene Hoff in Seattle.<p>"It depends on what you care to believe. I have personally never seen a UFO, but anything is possible, I guess," he said. </p><p>The Coast Guard has no plans to investigate further. The object apparently sank in water 270 feet deep in an area of intense currents in Rosario Strait and it would be "difficult to do a survey down there," said Rich Rogala, the officer in charge of the Coast Guard station at Bellingham, which sent a boat to the scene. "A white and orange fireball trailing sparks was observed by the fishing vessel 'Steeva Ten.' It was traveling west to east and dived into the water," he said.</p><p>"The observation was very brief. The impact sent a plume of water about 100 feet in height." The incident was reported at 3:45 a.m. Friday about 1,000 yards south of Lummi Island, about eight miles south of Bellingham In the inland waters of north west Washington. The splashdown was reported to the Coast Guard by the "Steeva Ten," a 42-foot fishing vessel tender. A flash in the sky was noticed at the same time by a tugboat at Anacortes about five miles to the south, Rogala said.</p><p>He speculated it could have been a meteorite. But there are a couple of other mysteries in the Coast Guard report. "The crew of the fishing vessel said the object dropped straight down and just before it hit the water it did a 'U' and came back up, then went down," Hoff said. </p><p>And a crewman aboard the Coast Guard vessel that found no debris noticed an "object, white in color, in the sky at the south end of Lummi Island," Rogala said. The crewman saw the object while his vessel was searching for debris from the earlier "flash." </p><p>The Coast Guard vessel searched the area for more than an hour with the master of the fishing vessel, Richard Dale Hartman of Port Orchard, and found no debris, Rogala said. The Coast Guard checked with the nearby Whidbey Island Naval Air Station and nothing unusual had been sighted on radar there, Hoff said.</p></blockquote><p></p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-15671020416013798592024-03-11T04:37:00.000-07:002024-03-11T04:40:20.237-07:00The Strange Deaths of Ruby Bruguier and Arnold Archambeau<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj308aUUqi09DATmiqjnDrcqklWnXKc7oL1CUbkiPynYfmtcUm2M3o_mdmv_jCiAfSh3n3k0TftqDtU7AaFL069kTWSHmLqtplNpMXfGXGdFoPyp_Fv-UrxLZm6-AzOgYYxgL7MOVxgKJPpStXxKyF8lL3QyxNt5p2piiRTG5U2DiyXoQZ5k-Ged7dF/s618/ruby%20and%20arnold.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="618" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj308aUUqi09DATmiqjnDrcqklWnXKc7oL1CUbkiPynYfmtcUm2M3o_mdmv_jCiAfSh3n3k0TftqDtU7AaFL069kTWSHmLqtplNpMXfGXGdFoPyp_Fv-UrxLZm6-AzOgYYxgL7MOVxgKJPpStXxKyF8lL3QyxNt5p2piiRTG5U2DiyXoQZ5k-Ged7dF/w400-h358/ruby%20and%20arnold.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sioux Falls Argus-Leader," February 12, 1994, via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In this blog, I have written about people who die under highly mysterious circumstances--so mysterious, that it is impossible to say whether or not their deaths were the result of foul play. Other times, there are stories of corpses simply being found in places that make no sense. The following tale involves both these elements.</p><p>Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Ann Bruguier were members of the Yankton Sioux tribe. They knew each other since childhood, as they both grew up on the reservation in Charles Mix County, South Dakota. When Arnold’s mother died not many years after his 1972 birth, the boy moved in with an aunt, Karen Tuttle. Ruby, born in 1974, was one of the eight children of Quentin and Myrtle Bruguier. Arnold was said to be something of a “party animal,” but he and Ruby were both considered to be “nice kids,” well-liked, close to their relatives and not the sort to get into any serious mischief. </p><p>When Arnold and Ruby were in high school, their long friendship turned into romance, a relationship which resulted in Ruby giving birth to their daughter, Erika Marie, in 1991. After the baby’s arrival, the new mother and her child also moved in with Arnold’s aunt. Arnold worked at Fort Randall Casino, where he was considered to be a good employee.</p><p>On the night of December 11, 1992, the young couple decided they needed a break from the duties of parenthood. They left little Erika in the care of Ruby’s uncle, Charlie Dion, and went out for a night on the town. Accompanying them was Charlie’s 17-year-old daughter Tracy.</p><p>When the trio returned to the uncle’s house early the next morning, it was obvious that all three were drunk. Tragically, instead of insisting that they sleep it off before driving anywhere else, the uncle merely advised them that he would continue to look after the baby until they had sobered up. For whatever reason--perhaps she wished to avoid a fatherly lecture--Tracy left with her friends.</p><p>Around 7 a.m., their car, with Arnold at the wheel, paused at a stop sign. As the car moved on, it hit some black ice, which led to Arnold losing control. The car flipped over into a ditch by the side of the road.</p><p>Tracy had only vague memories of what happened next. Arnold was no longer in the car. Ruby was able to get her door open wide enough to squeeze her way out. Although Tracy begged her not to leave her there, Ruby also walked away. As Tracy was upside down and still in the car, she could not see where her friends went, but she did not think they were badly injured. Tracy, shaken and confused, remained in the car until an ambulance and police arrived on the scene. These authorities found no sign of Arnold and Ruby. When Tracy explained what happened, a search was launched in the area of the crash, but no trace was found of the missing couple. Police quickly concluded that the pair, fearing that Arnold would face drunk driving charges, were merely in hiding. (Although authorities considered it highly unusual that Ruby would voluntarily disappear, considering that she was still breastfeeding her baby.) The police reported that a witness had seen Arnold and Ruby get into another car immediately after the crash, but we know nothing more about this claim.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWy9r5TZ6FT8L-p7K3QAAWr4jUT9aI5y2QQKD1kDX6i9bcLLMJu2Mg92usJ9nhL9mNUsvkInDrURxlIaYBrjD1ePDjGhkiZ4IAeYMvRl2fMvxe5CJT2eBBfnB3u3WlX7CWqzK7I0zcRGvEoRA9I7p44BQaeF7Ce1-cdQrCLDWcpo9zR9CylJ4uTCxX/s819/ruby%20and%20arnold%20site.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="819" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWy9r5TZ6FT8L-p7K3QAAWr4jUT9aI5y2QQKD1kDX6i9bcLLMJu2Mg92usJ9nhL9mNUsvkInDrURxlIaYBrjD1ePDjGhkiZ4IAeYMvRl2fMvxe5CJT2eBBfnB3u3WlX7CWqzK7I0zcRGvEoRA9I7p44BQaeF7Ce1-cdQrCLDWcpo9zR9CylJ4uTCxX/w400-h281/ruby%20and%20arnold%20site.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sioux Falls Argus-Leader," March 13, 1993</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>There were subsequent alleged sightings of Arnold. A woman who knew him well stated that she had seen him on New Year’s Eve. Other witnesses claimed to have seen both him and Ruby, but these reports were all uncorroborated. </p><p>The whereabouts of the couple remained a mystery for three months. Then, on March 10, a motorist saw a body floating in the ditch where the accident had occurred. (Although the ditch had been dry at the time Arnold crashed his car, it now contained a few feet of water.) The body was so badly decomposed, an autopsy and dental records were needed for it to be identified as the remains of Ruby Bruguier. When the ditch was drained, Arnold’s body was also discovered. Curiously, his corpse was much less decomposed--in fact, he looked as if he had died soon before his body was discovered. While Ruby was wearing the same clothes from the morning of the accident, (although her shoes and eyeglasses were missing,) it’s unknown whether or not Arnold was wearing the outfit he had on when he disappeared. Strangest of all, Arnold had three keys in one of his pockets. Investigators were unable to find the homes or cars they belonged to. A clump of hair was found on the edge of the road about 30 feet from where Ruby’s body was discovered. Forensic testing determined the hair was hers. However, it was believed impossible that the hair had remained there for the three months she had been missing.</p><p>The coroner determined that both Arnold and Ruby had died of hypothermia. However, he could not say when or where either of them passed away. Investigators--citing the failure to find either of them during the initial search, or in the weeks following their disappearance--thought it was almost certain that both of them died elsewhere, with an unknown “someone” subsequently returning their bodies to the scene of the accident. If such was the case, that leads to some very obvious questions: Where did Arnold and Ruby go? Did they really die of exposure, or were they murdered? Who placed their bodies in the ditch, and why? No one could say. </p><p>The FBI eventually took over the case, only to close it four years later due to the lack of evidence suggesting foul play. In the words of Special Agent Matt Miller, “All we know is that they appeared in the ditch and that was it.” In the years since then, no information has emerged to help change that bleak verdict.</p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-64833020158486941672024-03-08T04:48:00.000-08:002024-03-08T04:48:34.865-08:00Weekend Link Dump<p> <br /><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5sBEHEiuVyr9RjpYJBR-erWh4FWd4gfjh-g_RniNXxzKSbzw7aV6AF5jPk5Q3KaqiOh1rf4sDVJGFfwPuvuk5dWg0tGF46N3DJ6cXaWT3Mx61CL3keEDTNUaJiId2SR753LRMeWgBLSzNIw2N5QEJwbKxOuiGGsI3XQt0xhDnCYlQd3VGGBCPuZEG/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5sBEHEiuVyr9RjpYJBR-erWh4FWd4gfjh-g_RniNXxzKSbzw7aV6AF5jPk5Q3KaqiOh1rf4sDVJGFfwPuvuk5dWg0tGF46N3DJ6cXaWT3Mx61CL3keEDTNUaJiId2SR753LRMeWgBLSzNIw2N5QEJwbKxOuiGGsI3XQt0xhDnCYlQd3VGGBCPuZEG/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Enjoy this week's Link Dump!</p><p>And then feel free to join the Strange Company HQ staffers for some winter fun!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifbFulHHleCpo77UHl7B2i5iQPoBSefVm32OL9JaNa8tbN8w553QAURed0Ty4W_XWEnkHDXDKNGfDK_dSbR8MnB7I_bbBVA2_vPmBfUif4zyNx_X8bahRmZhr8k4PVReZEYmkkfBwS4yGUy610HWvev4vnouEtgXE_gQn6FESmPcVT1meTIJjhNBo/s600/blog%20snowball%20fight.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="600" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifbFulHHleCpo77UHl7B2i5iQPoBSefVm32OL9JaNa8tbN8w553QAURed0Ty4W_XWEnkHDXDKNGfDK_dSbR8MnB7I_bbBVA2_vPmBfUif4zyNx_X8bahRmZhr8k4PVReZEYmkkfBwS4yGUy610HWvev4vnouEtgXE_gQn6FESmPcVT1meTIJjhNBo/w400-h250/blog%20snowball%20fight.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>The <a href="https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/adam-worth-the-man-behind-sir-arthur-conan-doyles-professor-moriarty?utm_source=damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=damn-history-issue-76-march-2024" target="_blank">real-life Moriarty.</a></p><p>History's biggest <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/inside-biggest-art-fraud-history-180983692/" target="_blank">art fraud.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sublime-society-of-beefsteaks" target="_blank">Sublime Society of Beefsteaks.</a></p><p>That ongoing debate about whether King Arthur was a <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/was-king-arthur-a-real-historical-person-73141" target="_blank">real historical figure.</a></p><p>The father of <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/thomas-hopkins-gallaudet-father-american-sign-language?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank">American sign language.</a></p><p>The miser <a href="https://hatchingcatnyc.com/2024/03/08/wealthy-miser-hoarded-money-cats-midtown/" target="_blank">and his cats.</a></p><p>A vagabond <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mughal-princess-gulbadan-begum-author" target="_blank">Mughal princess.</a></p><p>The sisters who got us all <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-forgotten-sisters-behind-happy-birthday-to-you-180983885/" target="_blank">singing "Happy Birthday."</a></p><p>Some of dentistry's <a href="https://secondglancehistory.com/say-ahhh/" target="_blank">weirder moments.</a></p><p>A <a href="https://thelondondead.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-mysterious-barclay-grave-elizabeth.html" target="_blank">puzzling grave.</a></p><p>The oldest known human <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/ukraine-human-ancestors-oldest-europe/?utm_source=Cosmos+Master&utm_campaign=c9bcedd3d0-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6828fba71f-c9bcedd3d0-181320681&mc_cid=c9bcedd3d0&mc_eid=e75f57437e" target="_blank">presence in Europe.</a></p><p>The election of an <a href="https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2024/03/07/not-voting-at-all-the-election-of-an-imprisoned-mp-in-1769/" target="_blank">imprisoned MP.</a></p><p>An American GI's <a href="https://kidnappingmurderandmayhem.blogspot.com/2024/03/gi-lost-all-four-limbs-at-battle-of.html" target="_blank">remarkable survival story.</a></p><p>Rabies and <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mad-stones-rabies-cure-eerie-feeling" target="_blank">the mad stone.</a></p><p>Bog bodies as <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/a-body-in-the-bog/" target="_blank">archaeological cold cases.</a></p><p>The ever-popular <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/magazine/younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis-comet.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aU0.6cq9.ejvSzT3Z3yvJ" target="_blank">Comet Strike Theory.</a></p><p>A Swedish <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sweden-female-adventurer-aina-cederblom" target="_blank">female adventurer.</a></p><p>The treasures found in a 1,300-year-old <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/dazzling-gold-treasures-found-in-1300-year-old-tomb-in-panama-73233" target="_blank">Panamanian tomb.</a></p><p>A mysterious <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monsieur-de-new-york-celebrity-hangman" target="_blank">celebrity hangman.</a></p><p>The women of the <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/women-to-the-front" target="_blank">ancient Roman military.</a></p><p>A case <a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/03/06/the-tooth-snatcher/" target="_blank">of tooth-snatching.</a></p><p>How gardens <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/gardens-murder-mysteries/" target="_blank">can be murder.</a></p><p>The real <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/freeing-birdman-of-alcatraz/" target="_blank">"Birdman of Alcatraz."</a></p><p>The <a href="https://www.amusingplanet.com/2024/03/john-stringfellow-and-worlds-first.html" target="_blank">first powered flight.</a></p><p>The Denisovans <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/science/denisovan-neanderthal-dna.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aE0.cxH1.zt8pbrtz_tSN&smid=tw-share" target="_blank">really got around.</a></p><p>Surviving Antarctica <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/antarctica-book-and-newspapers" target="_blank">with silly stories.</a></p><p>The East India Company and the <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2024/03/what-about-the-east-india-company-women-emma-roberts-and-the-spinsterhood-of-india.html" target="_blank">"spinsterhood of India."</a></p><p>The life of <a href="https://historytheinterestingbits.com/2024/03/03/hildegard-of-bingen/" target="_blank">Hildegarde of Bingen.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-flour-war/" target="_blank">Flour War.</a></p><p>The horrors of <a href="https://about1816.wordpress.com/2024/03/03/so-its-the-georgian-era-and-you-have-dropsy/" target="_blank">Georgian-era dropsy.</a></p><p>The history <a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/03/04/guest-post-by-jim-symington-catherine-clements-and-selina-diana-catherine-milner/" target="_blank">behind a portrait.</a></p><p>Some early <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/specialfeatures/miss-scarlet-and-the-duke-meet-historys-early-female-detectives/#" target="_blank">female detectives.</a></p><p>The face <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13130347/man-hell-Scientists-reconstruct-face-Dante.html" target="_blank">of Dante.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://www.dailygrail.com/2024/03/from-folklore-to-global-politics-the-strange-story-of-molly-leigh-the-witch-of-burslem/" target="_blank">Witch of Burslem.</a></p><p>The story behind a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68452333?fbclid=IwAR1F2CKjEvV3uzoFD9Ee1bM1rvqfNfHAY72cnkVBg3QetL9cZCAcylPR9QQ" target="_blank">200-year-old jumper.</a></p><p>The legacy of <a href="https://victorianparis.wordpress.com/2024/03/01/the-illuminating-legacy-of-louis-braille/" target="_blank">Louis Braille.</a></p><p>A case of <a href="https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2024/03/his-house-his-castle.html" target="_blank">"justifiable homicide."</a></p><p>That's it for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at the bizarre deaths of a young couple. In the meantime, here's what happens when Vikings meet the Rolling Stones.</p><p><br /></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SjjtDFqsb-A?si=u2NucJ6rFFELp2L1" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-49149616822785738022024-03-06T04:28:00.000-08:002024-03-06T04:29:03.351-08:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQz6CWnVVH0KKtBVGBOoo6U0u0lrODJnqasvVUa5YUuf7ezjHeDN87QQWYyM4_WOqjkmLYG-jhr8vXxOhfDlx0T4-MFvRvVJD6Ig8Y83wIIpWcQH3ldJvVrP1XupONSP-1Q9ryTGRExM4RP88dktIpahcrS-67ynfduujTpb3MU84yHIsK9I5S7oc/s1024/flying%20coffins.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQz6CWnVVH0KKtBVGBOoo6U0u0lrODJnqasvVUa5YUuf7ezjHeDN87QQWYyM4_WOqjkmLYG-jhr8vXxOhfDlx0T4-MFvRvVJD6Ig8Y83wIIpWcQH3ldJvVrP1XupONSP-1Q9ryTGRExM4RP88dktIpahcrS-67ynfduujTpb3MU84yHIsK9I5S7oc/s320/flying%20coffins.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This odd little story appeared in the “Burlington Republican,” March 20, 1884. It is a reprint from the “Gatesville (Texas) Advance.” (Via Newspapers.com)</p><p><blockquote>Last week Mrs. Reneau, who with her husband and family lived on Coryell Creek, some five miles from Turnersville, died rather suddenly. At the time of her death several neighbors were present, together with the attending physicians, Dr. J. D. Calaway, of Turnersville, and Dr. Toland, of Jonesboro.<p>When the spirit had parted from the body and wended its way to the home above, a sight was seen which, to the faithful ones who were watching by the couch, was as startling as it was real. The spectacle presented itself just above the house and was frightful in the extreme. Six coffins of different sizes were seen to come and hover immediately above the house. The night was dark, and ordinary objects at any distance were invisible, but the coffins were as plainly seen as they would have been in broad daylight. When the gaunt and ghastly coffins had been visible for some time they disappeared, and as they seemed to glide gently upward sounds of the sweetest and most melodious music were heard, and seemed to accompany the dark omens in the journey toward the skies.</p><p>We did not see any of the parties who saw the strange phenomenon, but no doubt can be entertained of their veracity, or the facts regarding the strange sight as herein stated. The phenomenon was indeed a curious one and we do not remember to have ever chronicled such a rare occurrence before.</p></blockquote>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-16639705465159379582024-03-04T04:38:00.000-08:002024-03-04T04:38:17.882-08:00All Shook Up: A Case of Louisville Witchcraft<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8uLMfhVwDGI-RSW1JNT_lI0JDZy7GqnSa3qsjwKiE4-N2gpqu0H2h9nPWPIe0-fwXW04wh1KkaUx4Dy5XZqbs714kaDJdMk6iEBro1FtWnROhuuxQO96DMcYs9CQMYUxOEMfPIKKKTfh4w1bY7dp8hud2OaEF5-ceWIdkEXzanUT3VtHPTgZahEi/s810/sallie%20morton.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8uLMfhVwDGI-RSW1JNT_lI0JDZy7GqnSa3qsjwKiE4-N2gpqu0H2h9nPWPIe0-fwXW04wh1KkaUx4Dy5XZqbs714kaDJdMk6iEBro1FtWnROhuuxQO96DMcYs9CQMYUxOEMfPIKKKTfh4w1bY7dp8hud2OaEF5-ceWIdkEXzanUT3VtHPTgZahEi/s320/sallie%20morton.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>For a period during 1894-5, the “Louisville Courier-Journal” covered--in a remarkably matter-of-fact way--a series of bizarre occurrences taking place in the city. It is a tale of witchcraft and paranormal phenomena that sounds more like something out of medieval Europe than late 19th century America.</p><p>The fun started in November 1894, when Sallie Morton, the proprietor of what the “Courier-Journal” euphemistically called a “disorderly house,” found salt sprinkled in her yard. Subsequently, Morton found that someone had hidden in her bed a bundle of red flannel containing human hair and three severed human figures. Folklore says that all these items would bring death upon the unfortunate recipient. </p><p>Clearly, someone was not overly fond of Ms. Morton. Sallie believed that “someone” was her next door neighbor Alice Tucker, who managed a rival establishment. It is not clear whether Tucker targeted Morton out of a desire to snag some of her customers, or because of simple personal spite. Whatever the reasons for Tucker’s witchery, it proved highly effective. On January 18, 1895, Morton obliged her enemy by suddenly dying of angina pectoris.</p><p>Morton’s demise was the kickoff for things really getting weird. After the coroner had examined her corpse, the body was carried upstairs to be prepared for burial. While this sad task was going on, everyone present in the house heard “four pieces of mournful music” emanating from the piano in the parlor.</p><p>No one was near the piano at the time. Or, to be more accurate, no one <i>among the living</i> was near the piano.</p><p>That night, the bed holding Morton’s corpse began shaking. Then, the entire bedroom started quaking, to the point where “a glass of water could not be kept on the dresser or mattress without a weight being placed on it.” A mirror on the wall swayed back and forth. Several women in attendance fainted, most notably Alice Tucker, who was probably shocked by the potency of her curses. The shaking continued all the following day, attracting a crowd of some 1,500 Louisvillians with nothing better to do. Policemen were summoned, but all they could conclude was the unhelpful statement that the floor was shaky.</p><p>The funeral took place in Morton’s home/bordello on January 20, although there was no preacher in attendance. A quaint touch was provided by a fellow known only as “Slippery Bill,” who had the brilliant idea of charging people ten cents each for the privilege of entering the house and gazing at the still-shaking bed. These looky-loos apparently provided the only burial ceremony. Bill’s entrepreneurial spirit earned him about ten dollars until the police shooed him off.</p><p>Even after Morton was buried, she was apparently not resting in peace. Days after the funeral, Alice Tucker--no doubt unnerved at the possibility of Sallie seeking revenge from beyond the grave--repeatedly called the police complaining of the eerie noises coming from Morton’s now-empty house. Some of the neighbors were so terrified, they moved away.</p><p>As late as 1904, the “Courier-Journal” reported that Morton’s long-deserted home was still believed to be haunted. The owner was unable to find anyone willing to live there, due to “the taint of the hoodoo.”</p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-66599624389909594612024-03-01T04:36:00.000-08:002024-03-01T04:36:24.870-08:00Weekend Link Dump<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAcciDaBcgx69XxmBoTK9OZ_QbiYVEWETWem4UT13Cx5jbb3ZvFqrQP52QLwRS_75EnV-RTgD8MDQVokkKPVeOiFnhNRw5yHiPMpQ3y9-4ZMVoTbQdmsOotP7g5nT3q8pMlE0gmwCg-2PAeBHUq6AZeEfxoOPhpoEgl3Og6oYEL3KE9OyLuf_2JyFH/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAcciDaBcgx69XxmBoTK9OZ_QbiYVEWETWem4UT13Cx5jbb3ZvFqrQP52QLwRS_75EnV-RTgD8MDQVokkKPVeOiFnhNRw5yHiPMpQ3y9-4ZMVoTbQdmsOotP7g5nT3q8pMlE0gmwCg-2PAeBHUq6AZeEfxoOPhpoEgl3Og6oYEL3KE9OyLuf_2JyFH/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Welcome to this week's Link Dump!</p><p>The Strange Company staffers are busy reviewing next Monday's post.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg35dFYoO3a8JJOs1At6IdSMHq0UVKsT012cOo0Uc8C9nmmqNDf6O2rvhbHvVX3CFuX4dxZgM47gRekf0Ts8KIKnNtMrtFC4hCjr7RA1t5VQIpGsbXAf6reGnoh3y8E_P-vw9mQ-JdAqf7XnWR1BJfZPfZLBRIih2IJ9svpcEgIfPOCL2Lxuvj94k-f/s570/blog%20ghost%20story.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="570" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg35dFYoO3a8JJOs1At6IdSMHq0UVKsT012cOo0Uc8C9nmmqNDf6O2rvhbHvVX3CFuX4dxZgM47gRekf0Ts8KIKnNtMrtFC4hCjr7RA1t5VQIpGsbXAf6reGnoh3y8E_P-vw9mQ-JdAqf7XnWR1BJfZPfZLBRIih2IJ9svpcEgIfPOCL2Lxuvj94k-f/w400-h274/blog%20ghost%20story.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Watch out <a href="https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/video-mysterious-thundercow-becomes-local-legend-in-oklahoma/" target="_blank">for Thundercow!</a></p><p>What the hell is the <a href="https://twistedsifter.com/2024/02/why-the-eye-of-the-sahara-is-a-geological-mystery/" target="_blank">Eye of the Sahara?</a></p><p>The last years <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/introduction-michelangelo-last-decades" target="_blank">of Michelangelo.</a></p><p>Queen Charlotte's <a href="https://numberonelondon.net/2024/02/an-account-of-queen-charlottes-drawing-room-1818/" target="_blank">Drawing Room, 1818</a>.</p><p>A chapel's <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/02/29/at-gods-convenience-i/" target="_blank">Victorian restrooms.</a></p><p>This may be the world's <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/3700-year-old-red-lipstick-unearthed-in-iran-may-be-oldest-ever-found-73073" target="_blank">oldest known lipstick.</a></p><p>A scandalous<a href="https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2024/02/27/so-far-out-of-order-the-scandalous-career-of-henry-2nd-viscount-howard-of-bindon/" target="_blank"> Elizabethan viscount.</a></p><p>Sailing craft <a href="https://dawlishchronicles.com/2024/02/29/sailing-craft-against-u-boats-in-world-war-1/" target="_blank">vs. WWI U-boats.</a></p><p>The bizarre story of the <a href="https://burialsandbeyond.com/2024/02/13/the-strange-tale-of-the-gold-leaf-lady/" target="_blank">Gold Leaf Lady.</a></p><p>The women of the <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/roman-empire-women-ancient-rome" target="_blank">Roman Empire.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://nautil.us/the-groundhog-watchers-514825/" target="_blank">groundhog watchers.</a></p><p>Mourning as <a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/02/28/corsets-and-beer-wagons-floral-vulgarities-1891-1904/" target="_blank">"floral vulgarities."</a></p><p>A look at naval commander <a href="https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/02/27/oliver-hazard-perry-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-americas-iconic-naval-commander/" target="_blank">Oliver Hazard Perry.</a></p><p><a href="https://shannonselin.com/2024/03/what-was-napoleons-goal/" target="_blank">Napoleon's goals.</a></p><p>Julius Caesar's <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240227-how-julius-caesar-made-the-longest-year-in-history-and-brought-us-leap-years" target="_blank">Year of Confusion.</a></p><p>Why Leap Year <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-leap-year-is-february-29-not-december-32-due-to-a-roman-calendar-quirk-and-fastidious-medieval-monks-224433" target="_blank">is in February.</a></p><p>The rock band that literally <a href="https://www.dailygrail.com/2024/03/the-klf-discordianism-robert-anton-wilson-and-the-burning-of-1000000-in-cash/" target="_blank">burned up all its cash.</a> They really could've given it to me instead.</p><p>The old courtship tradition <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/bundling-an-old-tradition-on-new-ground/" target="_blank">of "bundling."</a></p><p>More evidence suggesting Neanderthals were <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2024/february/did-neanderthals-use-glue--researchers-find-evidence-that-sticks.html" target="_blank">more advanced than we've thought.</a></p><p>A winter afternoon in <a href="https://thelondondead.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-winter-afternoon-in-brompton-cemetery.html" target="_blank">Brompton Cemetery.</a></p><p>The wonders <a href="https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-future-of-silk/" target="_blank">of silk.</a></p><p>Remembering <a href="https://lithub.com/ufo-or-unidentified-female-observer-kirsten-bakis-on-the-undersung-life-of-anna-fort/" target="_blank">Mrs. Charles Fort.</a></p><p>A pregnant woman's <a href="https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2014/03/the-webster-mystery.html" target="_blank">mysterious death.</a></p><p>Princess Poniatowski <a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/02/26/princess-poniatowskis-visit-to-england-1767/">visits England.</a></p><p>Mark Twain and <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/mark-twains-obsession-with-joan-of-arc/" target="_blank">Joan of Arc.</a></p><p>The life of <a href="https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2024/02/23/claude-de-valois-duchess-of-lorraine/" target="_blank">Claude de Valois.</a></p><p>The Great Wall <a href="https://scitechdaily.com/the-great-wall-of-mongolia-scientists-unearth-405-kilometer-enigma/" target="_blank">of Mongolia.</a></p><p>That's it for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at some witchy doings in Louisville. In the meantime, here's something you don't find every day: Chinese bluegrass!</p><p><br /></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Du0ixRrr0iQ?si=oMsGRGa0-uXSHHVG" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-32835445539420396462024-02-28T04:22:00.000-08:002024-02-28T04:22:12.144-08:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKyMPks4KLYQ46nJyo2xVATvHTKzA1C8XVXfehR6_emy8027CtMS_WJTVc5i8LKIgEgc-X_-3pzVlgWgjJ_7vaa6OIOzP_dT0VDBVpWsEm2paKJ5NmjXHoS8VJ2pLHby0DoFQ-lY6A-DX8mNgLIY2xC2ex9T3H14TR80m-FWz3pG7l7Qf2nbLV0zKG/s1269/phantom%20coach.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1269" data-original-width="602" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKyMPks4KLYQ46nJyo2xVATvHTKzA1C8XVXfehR6_emy8027CtMS_WJTVc5i8LKIgEgc-X_-3pzVlgWgjJ_7vaa6OIOzP_dT0VDBVpWsEm2paKJ5NmjXHoS8VJ2pLHby0DoFQ-lY6A-DX8mNgLIY2xC2ex9T3H14TR80m-FWz3pG7l7Qf2nbLV0zKG/w190-h400/phantom%20coach.jpeg" width="190" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Phantom stagecoaches are always fun (especially when they generate manic headlines.) The “San Bernardino News,” December 7, 1914:</p><blockquote><p>Have you seen the phantom coach that dashes madly, silently, down the steep, rugged mountain trail near Pilot Rock? It is a weird story, this. It deals with the apparently supernatural. Possibly it isn't that at all, maybe it is simply some peculiar, unanswerable vision that floats in nonchalance down tho gloomy mountain trail when the shadows of night are appearing. </p><p>The first report of the vision that has all the ear marks of a specter, was brought to San Bernardino by Driver Herfert, of the San Bernardino Mountain Auto Stage line, who declares that on at least three different trips he has seen the weird thing.</p><p>Only yesterday, when approaching the famous Pilot Rock on his return trip to this city with his big mountain auto stage, Driver Herfert again saw the uncanny performance of the phantom stage.</p><p>A great bulk, it suddenly appeared in the crooked mountain trail hardly fifty yards in advance of Herfert's big car. For a moment it remained motionless, only the lines of the body of the stage being clearly seen. A second later it began to move rapidly, its momentum increased, and it moved on and on like an Ignis-fatuus, the fluorescent, will-o'-the-wisp of the desert. As the strange vehicle took the turns in the trail, Herfert could more clearly make out its lines. It was drawn by six galloping steeds, that roared and plunged with a terrific madness. The coach sped like a rocket down the mountain side.</p><p>Having before caught a glimpse of the stage, Driver Herfert determined to follow it yesterday with as much speed as possible. And, when he caught sight of it, crammed in as much speed as he could consistently without wrecking his car on the heavy car on the grade. But he was no match for the vision. It seemed to travel with almost lightning speed and finally disappeared, silhouetted against the gray mountain slopes. </p><p>Driver Herfert declares that the first time he saw the strange apparition he heard many shots fired, whereupon he sped toward the stage, believing that a holdup was in progress. But neither on this occasion was he able to get close to it. It vanished as it came, like an unearthly thing that came from nowhere and went back with the same uncanny similarity. "Seemed to bore right into the mountain side," said Driver Herfert.</p><p>The apparition always appears near Pilot Rock, according to the driver, and each time at practically the same time, when twilight is nearing. "I can't make out for the life of me," said the driver, "what the blamed thing is. The first time I saw it I thought it was some immigrants traveling through the mountain. But the thing wasn't a wagon or anything like they use nowadays. It looked like the pictures of the old stage coaches.</p><p>"The coach was almost a black thing; there was nothing white about It at all except that when it was tearing down the road so fast, I thought I saw something white leave it as though a woman had jumped. But when I reached the place there was nothing to be found. </p><p>"It simply gets me and I can't for the life of me figure out what anyone would want to play jokes for. It makes me awfully creepy and I dread to make the trip back alone."</p></blockquote><p></p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-43399030725499354942024-02-26T04:26:00.000-08:002024-02-26T04:26:40.514-08:00Tales of the Headless Valley<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcpZPL_d6zUfzjcwCIcJ-bkmFNc0OboIlUWM-39SB9NUUZxfrw93H7rzeoDuqXIYeOODjbuFn2RUO87u1xT7rNNxO0YmbKY-THNH2VCcGlVG4mlLRQf_1UV5xZ0Ix0K5rWStYHxrdUTCDk0GsFRjt9v4tH3vzzIcCw-FW8aCY4Ks_REhaNhQcRWGW/s1280/lossy-page1-1280px-Tufa_in_Nahanni_National_Park_Reserve_Canada.tif.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcpZPL_d6zUfzjcwCIcJ-bkmFNc0OboIlUWM-39SB9NUUZxfrw93H7rzeoDuqXIYeOODjbuFn2RUO87u1xT7rNNxO0YmbKY-THNH2VCcGlVG4mlLRQf_1UV5xZ0Ix0K5rWStYHxrdUTCDk0GsFRjt9v4tH3vzzIcCw-FW8aCY4Ks_REhaNhQcRWGW/w400-h266/lossy-page1-1280px-Tufa_in_Nahanni_National_Park_Reserve_Canada.tif.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahanni_National_Park_Reserve#/media/File:Tufa_in_Nahanni_National_Park_Reserve_Canada.tif" target="_blank">Via Wikipedia</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Many wilderness areas have disconcertingly ominous names: "Devil's ____," "Death _____, "Skull ____," "Lost _____,"etc., etc., etc. Pretty ordinary, really. But when you come across a place that has acquired the nickname of "The Headless Valley," it's worth sitting up and taking notice.</p><p>And maybe canceling that camping trip.</p><p>The Nahanni Valley is located in Canada's Northwest Territories. It is a beautiful area, boasting waterfalls, hot springs, a whitewater river, and impressive forests. It is also very remote, (parts of it are still virtually unexplored,) very hazardous, and--if even a quarter of the legends about the place have any basis in fact--very, very creepy.</p><p>It's not too often that you find a place where the presence of Bigfoot is the <i>least</i> strange thing you can say about it.</p><p>The most notorious story associated with the valley began--as so many awful things in life begin--with a hunt for wealth. One summer day in 1900, an Indian named Little Nahanni walked into Fort Liard, Yukon Territory, bearing a satchel filled with gold nuggets. After a bit of coaxing, he revealed that he had made his find in the valley of the South Nahanni River.</p><p>As much as everyone in Fort Liard longed to strike it rich, they sincerely wished Little Nahanni had found a different place to do so. The Nahanni Valley was a tough, inhospitable region with a remarkably sinister reputation. The natives believed ghosts of dead warriors stalked the land alongside magical lost tribes and giant man-eating beasts. Although the white visitors professed to scoff at such tales, few of them showed any desire to test the truth of these legends for themselves. The area was largely avoided.</p><p>Although a close watch was put on Little Nahanni, in the hope that he would lead someone to the exact source of his windfall, he never returned to the valley. After his gold ran out, he went back to trapping. For reasons he kept to himself, he did not care to make a second tour of the Nahanni Valley, which really should have told everybody something.</p><p>In 1903, a second native appeared at the fort, also bearing an impressive number of gold nuggets. He was close friends with Murdoch McLeod, the factor at the Hudson Bay trading post, and to him the Indian confided where he had found the gold: Bennett Creek, a tributary of the Flat River in the South Nahanni Valley. McLeod's three young-adult sons, Willie, Frank, and Charlie, were all experienced outdoorsmen eager for adventure, not to mention wealth. They resolved to mount an expedition to the valley and find some of this gold for themselves. In January 1904, the McLeod brothers set off on the long, arduous trek to the Nahanni Valley. By the spring of that year, they had arrived at the Flat River and set up a sluicing operation, where they found modest success, enough to encourage them to try again the following year. Charlie McLeod, fortunately for him, declined to make this second journey. In his place, Willie and Frank enlisted a Scotsman--whose name has been lost to history--and the trio set off for the valley. They were never seen alive again.</p><p>The fate of the three men remained a mystery until 1908, when the remains of the McLeod campsite was discovered upstream from Fort Liard. Nearby were the skeletons of Frank and Willie. It was believed they had been shot to death. Accounts differ on what became of the Scotsman. Some stories claim he fled to Vancouver, carrying a suspiciously large amount of gold. Others state that his body was found not far from those of his companions. Rumors that all the bodies were found decapitated soon gave the area the charming nickname of "Headless Valley."</p><p>In 1910, a prospector named Martin Jorgenson chose to ignore the valley's increasingly evil reputation, and went alone into the area to hunt for gold. The next anyone knew of him was two years later, when his skeleton was found near his burned-out cabin near the mouth of the Flat River. He had been shot and decapitated.</p><p>In 1928, a venturesome woman named Annie Laferte made her own solo trek into the valley. She never returned. Her body was never discovered, so it is unknown what happened to her. However, the natives told a story of seeing a naked woman running up the mountainside, screaming. "The spirits had taken her," they explained. Around that same time, a man known as "Yukon Fisher," who had found success prospecting in the valley, also disappeared. His bones were eventually discovered near Bennett Creek.</p><p>The following year, one Angus Hall ventured into the valley and never came out. All that was ever found of him was one boot print.</p><p>In 1931, a fur-trapper named Phil Powers made the questionable decision to go hunting in the valley. The following spring, four RCMP officers found what was left of Powers in the burned remains of his cabin. It was never known who killed him, and why.</p><p>A few years after Mr. Powers' fiery end, two men named J.H. Mulholland and Bill Epler ventured into the valley hoping to find gold. It's anyone's guess what they discovered, but it could not have been good, as no trace of either man was ever seen again. However, during a search for them, the body of another man was discovered. Lacking his head. This luckless person's identity remains a mystery.</p><p>In 1946, a man named Walter Tulley went to the police stating that while he was in the valley, he had stumbled upon the corpse of a missing prospector named Ernest Savard. The body was in a sleeping bag, with the head nearly cut off. As it turned out the corpse was <i>not </i>that of Savard--he turned up alive and well in Yellowstone. So, who was this latest victim of the Nahanni Valley? We will never know. By the 1960s, it was believed that over forty people had vanished in the area.</p><p>This was hardly the only weirdness associated with the valley. It has been said to be home to Bigfoot, as well as a carnivorous bear-like creature scientists believe went extinct in the Pleistocene era. Some years ago, an ice cave was discovered containing the skeletons of over 100 sheep dating from around 2500 B.C. (The cave is now known as "The Gallery of Lost Sheep.") The valley is also reputed to be a hotspot for UFO activity.</p><p>The string of gruesome murders and disappearances has led to a host of differing theories about who might have been responsible. Did a single serial killer stalk the valley for over forty years? Were UFOs to blame? Or Bigfoot? Or ghosts of Indians, determined to protect their land from intruders? Were all these fatalities completely unrelated? Or, could the Nahanni Valley simply be, as many still assert, cursed?</p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-80601814301596728592024-02-23T04:47:00.000-08:002024-02-23T04:47:30.882-08:00Weekend Link Dump<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-9aw_ECx6caHjaIehWqi1CDphdTpD_WDCd_tJFwbF_y4Y4FMXPNOc8vZQwOFcUpHfilRDKxzDcqNwrzS_hgpjvM-oYYK852cxOr13ccbwjNSC0mID9eJ4rqd793aWzemwRBGOIOV8QrrRW_lsFpW8jB6gpIe0KSVF7O5STdKVFKwX1Gpctn4he6Q/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-9aw_ECx6caHjaIehWqi1CDphdTpD_WDCd_tJFwbF_y4Y4FMXPNOc8vZQwOFcUpHfilRDKxzDcqNwrzS_hgpjvM-oYYK852cxOr13ccbwjNSC0mID9eJ4rqd793aWzemwRBGOIOV8QrrRW_lsFpW8jB6gpIe0KSVF7O5STdKVFKwX1Gpctn4he6Q/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Welcome to this week's Link Dump! </p><p>As you can see, the Strange Company Art Department is busy with the illustrations for next week's posts.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdr0eeZ7H2D_RmZUm4VJUrSNVOkVLgOJQ-wm92IuLjq3FPkbbORTXk1HW4N0cupOXOBvlC60RLMOyYPr5owzwEftzaZFZIn40ei546UFk2F9PQ12P2w5dvq1G6ndZdhonAQKI8RvzhpgKXe7faOMrskVTTacL-xOooLjoXk3BFuo4vw9k3DRcwWOro/s570/blog%20artist.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="466" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdr0eeZ7H2D_RmZUm4VJUrSNVOkVLgOJQ-wm92IuLjq3FPkbbORTXk1HW4N0cupOXOBvlC60RLMOyYPr5owzwEftzaZFZIn40ei546UFk2F9PQ12P2w5dvq1G6ndZdhonAQKI8RvzhpgKXe7faOMrskVTTacL-xOooLjoXk3BFuo4vw9k3DRcwWOro/w328-h400/blog%20artist.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The working lads of Whitechapel, <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/02/17/working-lads-of-whitechapel-i/" target="_blank">circa 1900.</a></p><p>A human leg has been found on the New York subways, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/20/human-leg-found-new-york-subway" target="_blank">and I'm betting that's not the worst thing you'd find there.</a></p><p>A brief history of <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-sweet-story-of-condensed-milk/" target="_blank">condensed milk.</a></p><p>The cryptids <a href="https://jazmaonline.boards.net/thread/2902/iceland-cryptids" target="_blank">of Iceland.</a></p><p>The mysterious <a href="https://paoddities.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-dalmatia-mystery.html" target="_blank">deaths of three children.</a></p><p>The only black man <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/joseph-laroche-only-black-man-on-titanic?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank">on the Titanic.</a></p><p>The first <a href="https://archaeology-world.com/blue-eyes-originated-10000-years-ago-in-the-black-sea-region/" target="_blank">blue eyes.</a></p><p>A very <a href="https://thelondondead.blogspot.com/2024/02/every-unhappy-family-is-unhappy-in-its.html" target="_blank">unhappy family.</a></p><p>A walk through <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/02/22/a-walk-through-dickens-i/" target="_blank">Dickens' London.</a></p><p>Why a Midshipman's 1815 death is<a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/02/22/preserving-the-memory-of-midshipman-richard-sutherland-dale/" target="_blank"> still remembered today.</a></p><p>A man who'd rather die <a href="https://secondglancehistory.com/clips-of-the-week-february-21-2024/" target="_blank">than pay his debts.</a></p><p>A Victorian <a href="https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2024/02/22/wheelbarrow-influencer-of-the-victorian-age/" target="_blank">wheelbarrow influencer.</a></p><p>HMS Venerable <a href="https://dawlishchronicles.com/2024/02/16/hms-venerable-1804-cool-heads-in-crisis/" target="_blank">faces a crisis, 1804.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://derangedlacrimes.com/?p=13498" target="_blank">Red Lipstick Murder.</a></p><p>Everyone do the <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-scottish-people-love-hurkle-201000520.html" target="_blank">Scottish Hurkle-Durkle!</a></p><p>One of those murders that is <a href="http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2024/02/katie-and-albert.html" target="_blank">"officially" unsolved.</a></p><p>California's <a href="https://curiosmos.com/is-there-a-submerged-ufo-base-off-the-coast-of-california/" target="_blank">"submerged UFO base."</a></p><p>The mysterious <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/the-strange-klerksdorp-spheres-found-in-3-billion-year-old-rock-72987" target="_blank">Klerksdorp Spheres.</a></p><p>A pirate's <a href="https://www.amusingplanet.com/2024/02/olivier-levasseurs-lost-treasure.html" target="_blank">lost treasure.</a></p><p>The cats and dogs who are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/13/200-cats-200-dogs-one-lab-the-secrets-of-the-pet-food-industry" target="_blank">professional food tasters.</a></p><p>When <a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/02/21/the-wrong-bundle-1875-1870/" target="_blank">undertakers blunder.</a></p><p>Britons really know how to talk <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/20/sloshed-plastered-and-gazeboed-why-britons-have-546-words-for-drunkenness" target="_blank">about drunkenness.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://legalhistorymiscellany.com/2024/02/21/betrayed-seduced-trepanned-or-cruelly-driven-into-sin-the-london-female-penitentiary/" target="_blank">London Female Penitentiary.</a></p><p>Rock art from the <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/rock-art-featuring-ice-age-giants-proves-humans-settled-the-amazon-12600-years-ago-73017" target="_blank">first Amazon settlers.</a></p><p>The diversity of <a href="https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2024/02/20/dutch-diet-diversity-comparing-seventeenth-century-dutch-provincial-assemblies-diets-in-east-asia-north-america-and-the-dutch-republic/" target="_blank">Dutch diets. </a>(It has nothing to do with food.)</p><p>The origins of <a href="https://hauntedpalaceblog.com/2024/02/19/will-you-marry-me-february-29-a-leap-into-the-unknown/" target="_blank">Leap Year proposals.</a></p><p>The evolution of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/presidents-day-washington-lincoln-explainer-1dfed24d0e7e920f9004727b5218dcdb" target="_blank">President's Day.</a></p><p>The nurse who invented the <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/letitia-mumford-geer-inventor-one-handed-syringe?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank">modern syringe.</a></p><p>A tale of heroism and chivalry <a href="https://carolinefurlong.wordpress.com/2023/10/13/review-a-higher-call-an-incredible-true-story-of-combat-and-chivalry-in-the-war-torn-skies-of-world-war-ii-by-adam-makos/" target="_blank">from WWII.</a></p><p>When everyone thought California<a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/california-island-maps" target="_blank"> was an island.</a></p><p>DNA and <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-dna-reveals-a-tragic-genocide-hidden-in-humanitys-past" target="_blank">ancient genocide.</a></p><p>That's it for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll visit one of Canada's more Fortean areas. In the meantime, here's something by a now largely-forgotten composer.</p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GSbADnFB0uA?si=kfOXjL2dyr9W0BRX" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-74241362241478723562024-02-21T04:35:00.000-08:002024-02-21T04:36:03.890-08:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg50a5SmyDNy3i78-4Dox1EgcMM0tg-wimC1TJqAH9_vorU5DYGX8USPrbJypBIWADTUBfwx5hxkWMVrqOJPQ9lqLUNTXthQmcxObL9ewM6qvu52OqSWMYGqGhvzQmPEDU7b4jEGM5apQC0OBgmku29I3mx9zltfDlL3HKBdhQUEXDdEsMaxDG30Lz/s1024/suicide%20ghost.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg50a5SmyDNy3i78-4Dox1EgcMM0tg-wimC1TJqAH9_vorU5DYGX8USPrbJypBIWADTUBfwx5hxkWMVrqOJPQ9lqLUNTXthQmcxObL9ewM6qvu52OqSWMYGqGhvzQmPEDU7b4jEGM5apQC0OBgmku29I3mx9zltfDlL3HKBdhQUEXDdEsMaxDG30Lz/s320/suicide%20ghost.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Sometimes, the briefest ghost stories are the most unsettling ones. The “Evansville Journal,” March 11, 1873:</p><p></p><blockquote>A Lebanon Ky. correspondent of the Courier-Journal of the 6th solemnly assures us as follows: <p>It is currently reported that Marion is delighting herself and the adjoining counties with the unusual sensation of the appearance of a ghost or a something which none of the "ologies” in these parts has so far satisfactorily explained. </p><p>Our readers will remember the appearance in print some three months ago of the death of Bland Ballard of that county, who committed suicide three days previous to the one that he should have married a Miss Rhodes of the same neighborhood. </p><p>The alleged cause of his self-destruction at the time was his father’s opposition to his marriage. For a time after his burial his remains appeared to rest quietly in the grave, but of late he has made frequent visits to the paternal mansion, at each time of which he was recognized by his father, brother, and sister. </p><p>He comes at night and brings with him a light by which he is distinguished and recognized. He familiarly opens the door, proceeds to his former room, and while there employs himself in rummaging through his trunk. His father has spoken to him, but so far has failed to elicit an answer. He makes no attempt to molest anyone. Of course there are many incredible rumors afloat in regard to it, and hence many speculations. Of the latter, one is that Thomas Ballard’s farm being a desirable one, some wily speculator has taken this means of personating the son to compel the unhappy father to dispose it at a sacrifice. Others place it among the occurrences which no one can satisfactorily explain.</p><p></p></blockquote>I was unable to find any more about this story, so I have no idea for how long young Ballard continued to visit his earthly home--or, for that matter, what he was looking for in that trunk.<p></p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-19793632134671226212024-02-19T04:35:00.000-08:002024-02-19T04:35:50.659-08:00The Taking of Joan Gay Croft<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPj5iyAWqHZcO46NuLItcHZVkmJUWnRUZHsOmgBLvG9T_EpNutuVfU2UljZfoutv3akN4wSQ1XyZAJtL855sZIy0FdIlx47MdQrU6OPXxAKTk91ArLErr8FjrDzq_z0UU5lY920Cz9pHuAFr2KvIO-tLcJHI8YdN-2jtMeNNEx1ZxsYdgm5vnbY6r6/s1848/joan%20croft.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1848" data-original-width="770" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPj5iyAWqHZcO46NuLItcHZVkmJUWnRUZHsOmgBLvG9T_EpNutuVfU2UljZfoutv3akN4wSQ1XyZAJtL855sZIy0FdIlx47MdQrU6OPXxAKTk91ArLErr8FjrDzq_z0UU5lY920Cz9pHuAFr2KvIO-tLcJHI8YdN-2jtMeNNEx1ZxsYdgm5vnbY6r6/w266-h640/joan%20croft.jpeg" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Tulsa Tribune," April 9, 1948, via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>On April 9, 1947, the town of Woodward, Oklahoma, (population 5500) was slammed by a monster tornado. What made the disaster even worse was that a telephone strike meant that the outside world was unable to give the town any advance warning. Woodwardians literally did not know what hit them.</p><p>That night, the two-mile wide tornado destroyed the town. Almost instantly, more than a thousand people were injured, over a hundred of them fatally. However, the Woodward tornado is still remembered today not just for the death and devastation, but because of a haunting mystery associated with the event.</p><p>Hutchinson “Olin” Croft was a successful sheep farmer; a man of some importance in his area. He lived in Woodward with his wife Cleta and their two children, Joan and Geri. The tornado flattened their home, killing Cleta instantly. Olin was seriously injured. Four-year-old Joan and eight-year-old Geri, on the other hand, were only slightly hurt. The three survivors were brought to Woodward’s only hospital. As they weren’t in need of emergency care, the two girls were sent to wait in the hospital’s basement while staff looked after those in need of immediate help.</p><p>Later that night, as the Croft girls lay together on a cot, two men wearing khaki Army-style clothing came into the hospital basement announcing that they had come for Joan. As one of the men picked her up, the child protested that she didn’t want to leave her sister. The men reassured her that they would be coming back for Geri. The men told hospital staff that they were friends of the Croft family, and were taking Joan to Oklahoma City Hospital, where relatives were waiting for her. It was a plausible enough story, and the hospital workers, overwhelmed by the injured and dying tornado victims, were too busy and too exhausted to ask any more questions. The men, who appeared to be rescue workers or officials of some sort, were allowed to depart with the girl.</p><p>Soon after Joan was taken away, Olin's sister Ruth was told that her brother's name was listed in the local newspaper as being among the deceased. She rushed to the hospital to find her orphaned nieces and take them to her home. When she got there, she was told that Olin was alive and would recover. He had been confused with one "Olan Hutchinson," who had died in the tornado. When Ruth went to the hospital basement to check on the girls, Geri told her what had happened to Joan. When Ruth called Oklahoma City Hospital, she was told not only that Joan was not there, but wasn't expected to be transferred to them. The increasingly panicked Ruth called all nearby hospitals, the morgue, and an orphanage, without result. The police were called in, but were unable to find any trace of the girl. Despite the wide publicity the case received, it was as if she and her two kidnappers vanished into mist the moment they left the hospital.</p><p>No one has ever seen Joan again. To date, it’s a complete mystery who the men in khaki were, how they knew the Croft girls were in the basement, and why Joan was targeted for abduction. Over the years, several women came forward in the belief that they were Joan, but these claims were all proved to be incorrect. </p><p>There was one intriguing postscript to the mystery. Robert E. Lee, a reporter for “The Oklahoman,” wrote a number of articles about the Croft kidnapping. In April 1999, he received an email from an anonymous writer asking if he would like to know “what really happened to Joan Gaye and where she has been this past 54 years?” The writer continued, “She has been and is living in OKC off and on since 1956 under a different name with the full knowledge of her father, Orlin Croft! She even graduated from an OKC high school under her different name.” The writer provided an email address where, they claimed, Joan could be contacted. </p><p>The newspaper’s computer technicians could not trace the email address. Lee wrote back to his mysterious informant, who replied, “I know this time of year there are many people who crawl out of the woodwork claiming to be the ‘lost’ girl, but I was never physically lost. My immediate family(s) knew where I was. I just didn’t know who I was.</p><p>“Until just lately I never faced the fact that Cleta Croft, my mother died upon me. I buried this information deep within my long term memory and refused to accept.</p><p>“Joan” provided an email address where she could be contacted, adding “We will arrange to meet in person to discuss the details. I propose we meet at Penn Square for the first meeting. I would like to meet in public, but not publicly and without photos. Please let me know a time and date convenient for you. I am on the internet on most MWF between 9 and 10:30 a.m. As to compensation, I would prefer none!”</p><p>Lee wrote back agreeing to meet his correspondent, but never received a reply. The email address “Joan” had provided soon stopped accepting messages.</p><p>Was this really the missing girl? Or--as seems more likely--just another of the many warped hoaxers who insert themselves into high-profile crimes? If Lee was the victim of a cruel prank, that leaves us back to Square One: Who took little Joan Croft, and why?</p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-44671340389624589242024-02-16T04:44:00.000-08:002024-02-16T04:44:28.974-08:00Weekend Link Dump<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKDoTWTBM3dTPMVogveLYTNTEGtNfeQl5GCxUv5cqsUW27jvPmSfzqMGYirkDUoTfmuuaIsPzaQIwzzx1Y8FcUkq0Lm5M00Bq0rSvrYb1tl7DIoDhCaT1y_S8upSDxwCehaEt-69FUTy1b6Sg9CjEf9UR_c8tTOcYICxxoRxquGFVbz_5G_qtI9nM/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKDoTWTBM3dTPMVogveLYTNTEGtNfeQl5GCxUv5cqsUW27jvPmSfzqMGYirkDUoTfmuuaIsPzaQIwzzx1Y8FcUkq0Lm5M00Bq0rSvrYb1tl7DIoDhCaT1y_S8upSDxwCehaEt-69FUTy1b6Sg9CjEf9UR_c8tTOcYICxxoRxquGFVbz_5G_qtI9nM/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Enjoy this week's links!</p><p>There'll be a winter skating party afterwards!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh058w839W9mNizWtKPbT8QNKeaeyAerF7rBSeF7mCUUvkmwBk-CyyiKdzn4pWcBwhzHZ6d83dqNLsof25FNWzn99QIsDZnNnAjrr5QvjvdkxlstEJy5qVZi8M8ofeSozvpZYyLs48NtzOtEASPY8euR5s6PfbAT0KdsrhlUzCEmzz5tVAAgnzVKtX7/s1100/blog%20skating%20party.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1100" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh058w839W9mNizWtKPbT8QNKeaeyAerF7rBSeF7mCUUvkmwBk-CyyiKdzn4pWcBwhzHZ6d83dqNLsof25FNWzn99QIsDZnNnAjrr5QvjvdkxlstEJy5qVZi8M8ofeSozvpZYyLs48NtzOtEASPY8euR5s6PfbAT0KdsrhlUzCEmzz5tVAAgnzVKtX7/w400-h291/blog%20skating%20party.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I don't care what they say; <i><a href="https://twistedsifter.com/2024/02/why-its-safe-to-eat-this-79-year-old-soup/" target="_blank">I refuse to eat soup that is older than I am.</a></i></p><p>The "Old Shakespeare" <a href="http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2024/02/east-side-story.html" target="_blank">murder case.</a></p><p>A very well-traveled <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/first-viking-woman-america" target="_blank">Viking woman.</a></p><p>A <a href="https://dralun.wordpress.com/2024/02/16/the-troublesome-gibbet-of-john-haines-the-wounded-highwayman-of-hounslow/" target="_blank">troublesome gibbet.</a></p><p>Some new photos of <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/amazing-new-photos-of-saturns-moons-have-to-be-seen-to-be-believed" target="_blank">Saturn's moons.</a></p><p>When you think you have a mysterious 280 million year old fossil but you find that <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/its-a-fake-mysterious-280-million-year-old-fossil-is-mostly-just-black-paint/" target="_blank">all you have is a bunch of black paint.</a> Bummer.</p><p>The last place you want to go for a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/drake-passage-rough-sea-scn/index.html" target="_blank">pleasure cruise.</a></p><p>This may be <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/an-ancient-human-story-about-the-seven-sisters-may-have-survived-from-100000-bce-72937" target="_blank">our oldest story.</a></p><p>The legends surrounding a <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/murphy-ranch-nazi-bunker-hike-18649347.php" target="_blank">Los Angeles bunker.</a></p><p>The history of <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/muffin-man-nursery-rhyme-meaning?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank">"The Muffin Man."</a></p><p>The <a href="https://www.historicmysteries.com/history/cato-street-conspiracy/39181/" target="_blank">Cato Street Conspiracy.</a></p><p>A 12-year-old just <a href="https://csfjournal.com/volume-6-issue-4-1/2024/1/7/the-power-of-the-archimedes-death-ray" target="_blank">invented a death ray, </a>which should ensure him the title of Schoolkid Least Likely to Be Bullied. I'll bet he gets a raise in his allowance whenever he wants, too.</p><p>A human fossil discovery that <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/news/human-fossil-discovery-upends-history-of-palaeolithic-europe/?utm_source=Cosmos+Master&utm_campaign=13570d7d6a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6828fba71f-13570d7d6a-181320681&mc_cid=13570d7d6a&mc_eid=e75f57437e" target="_blank">helps prove we really don't know jack about our history.</a></p><p>Bang Go, the dog of<a href="https://hatchingcatnyc.com/2024/02/14/bang-go-mascot-fdny-engine-56/" target="_blank"> FDNY Engine 56.</a></p><p>The codpiece, that fashion fad which <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240202-what-happened-to-the-codpiece" target="_blank">inspired a million smutty jokes.</a></p><p>The birth of the <a href="https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/eugene-francois-vidocq-and-the-birth-of-the-detective/" target="_blank">modern detective.</a></p><p>How we came to say, <a href="https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/02/dont-sweat-the-small-stuff.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dont-sweat-the-small-stuff" target="_blank">"Don't sweat the small stuff."</a></p><p>The <a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/john-macdonald-and-the-queen-of-scots-soup/" target="_blank">"Queen of Scots" soup.</a></p><p>The significance of an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-68247184" target="_blank">ancient Roman egg.</a></p><p>A reclusive <a href="https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/the-story-of-a-reclusive-heiress-and-what-she-saw-outside-her-fifth-avenue-window/" target="_blank">New York heiress.</a></p><p>The <a href="http://paoddities.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-dietrich-axe-murders-of-1930.html" target="_blank">Dietrich Axe Murders.</a></p><p>America's oldest legible, <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ephraim-huit-grave" target="_blank">dated tombstone.</a></p><p>The lesser-known side <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/remarkable-untold-story-sojourner-truth-180983691/" target="_blank">of Sojourner Truth.</a></p><p>Why we <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/sweat-like-a-pig-meaning?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank">"sweat like a pig."</a></p><p>An <a href="https://dnyuz.com/2024/02/13/who-kissed-first-archaeology-has-an-answer/" target="_blank">archaeological love story.</a></p><p>Peru's <a href="https://www.amusingplanet.com/2024/02/the-ransom-room.html" target="_blank">Ransom Room.</a></p><p>Owls are weird. Probably even <a href="https://www.dailygrail.com/2024/02/the-owls-are-not-what-they-seem-a-conversation-with-mike-clelland-author-of-the-unseen/" target="_blank">weirder than you think.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2024/02/14/charles-frederick-worth/" target="_blank">first couturier.</a></p><p>A post for everyone who <a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/02/14/valentines-day-its-murder/" target="_blank">hates Valentine's Day.</a></p><p>Florence's <a href="http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/69476" target="_blank">last Medici heir.</a></p><p>The adventures of an <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/douglas-preston-q-and-a" target="_blank">archaeological journalist.</a></p><p>A mysterious <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/canary-islands-saint-brendans-phantom-island" target="_blank">phantom isle.</a></p><p>A Scottish monkey is vanquished <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/01/missing-monkey-trapped-by-yorkshire-pudding-in-scotland" target="_blank">by Yorkshire pudding.</a></p><p>In search of the lost aviators <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/recovering-lost-aviators-world-war-ii-180983690/" target="_blank">of WWII.</a></p><p>The priest who invented<a href="https://www.amusingplanet.com/2024/02/casimir-zeglen-priest-who-invented.html" target="_blank"> bulletproof vests.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://londonhistorians.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/titan-of-the-thames-the-life-of-lord-desborough/" target="_blank">"Titan of the Thames."</a></p><p>A history of <a href="https://www.vintag.es/2024/02/short-history-of-toilet-paper.html" target="_blank">toilet paper.</a></p><p>A history of Leap Year <a href="https://blog.newspapers.com/leap-year-marriage-proposals-that-turned-tradition-on-its-head/" target="_blank">marriage proposals.</a></p><p>The life of <a href="https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2024/02/09/cecily-of-york-viscountess-of-welles/" target="_blank">Cecily of York.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://www.historicmysteries.com/videos/war-of-the-bucket/39131/" target="_blank">War of the Bucket.</a></p><p>How Carnival is celebrated <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-how-carnival-is-celebrated-around-the-world-180983771/" target="_blank">around the world.</a></p><p>That's all for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at a particularly odd kidnapping of a child. In the meantime, here's some Handel.</p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DUDhxZKUvEg?si=QI301ulDCG9s5fe9" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-13515999813362206042024-02-14T04:34:00.000-08:002024-02-14T04:34:47.483-08:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9eL1YNZm2EAZ-C0G2JrzplqnDvpb4RqBokOBRx5C64tNARzuMfAC4-iXtNy4EsEoBGnOlGXi-J_wO6oZ5mlnmEpEFXAVOGOZJwQo3KZzIU5tUwt3XjLl5qbEJ4kcL4VQ_Jh2y-KM6SAvBDEXAdeYi01_K-QSNKZvItNkFpeEjfc5s4PAAQVTHKNV/s824/ghost%20with%20coffin.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="824" data-original-width="819" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9eL1YNZm2EAZ-C0G2JrzplqnDvpb4RqBokOBRx5C64tNARzuMfAC4-iXtNy4EsEoBGnOlGXi-J_wO6oZ5mlnmEpEFXAVOGOZJwQo3KZzIU5tUwt3XjLl5qbEJ4kcL4VQ_Jh2y-KM6SAvBDEXAdeYi01_K-QSNKZvItNkFpeEjfc5s4PAAQVTHKNV/w398-h400/ghost%20with%20coffin.jpeg" width="398" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The following colorful ghost story appeared in the “Philadelphia Times,” September 4, 1892:<blockquote><p>Marion Junction, Ala., August 29</p><p>That there are such things as ghosts even the more intelligent portion of the community about here is beginning to believe. This belief comes from the singular occurrences that are taking place on what is known as the old creek road leading from this town to Uniontown, and which is a well-nigh abandoned roadway, having been superseded in use by the country people by a new turnpike. It is said that the old creek road is haunted by the ghost of a man who is to be seen nightly pulling after him his coffin.</p><p>This phantom is thought to be that of a tramp who was lynched near here in 1889, and who was thought to have committed a murder, the victim being an old lady living on the creek road. This woman, one Nancy Pratt, was found in the creek with various marks and wounds on her head, and it was thought that she had been killed before she was thrown into the stream, and the tramp, who behaved in a suspicious manner, was captured and hung for the crime. This much is certain, that he was found in possession of some jewelry that was identified as having belonged to Mrs. Pratt, though in defending himself he declared that he saw the old lady run out of her house and throw herself into the creek, with her head all bleeding from wounds that were self-inflicted, and that, satisfied that she was drowned, he entered the house and robbed it.</p><p>This story, however, won no credence, and he was hanged to a tree not far from the spot where the body of his victim was removed from the water. But it subsequently developed that the old woman had threatened time and again to take her life, and doubts began to assail the lynchers as to the justice of the deed, though no measures of reparation were possible. A story was soon in circulation that the ghost of the tramp had been seen on the road, though little faith was put in it by the intelligent country people, and the road soon becoming deserted for the new turnpike, the whole affair was forgotten. But recently the story of the ghost has been revived by the experiences of a number of responsible citizens and farmers of the vicinity, who are ready to vouch for the strange sights they have witnessed on the old road, which has of late been traveled owing to work being begun on the other.</p><p>The first to renew the old tale was Dr. Hardeman, of this place, who, returning from the bedside of a patient late one night, was amazed to see issue from a clump of trees just ahead of him the figure of a man. The night was a very dark one and the doctor wondered at his being able to see the man so plainly, for he was able to make out the figure's dress and features. It was clad in a dark suit and wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, but no coat and vest, while about its neck was coiled a rope which trailed behind it several feet and which was so tightly drawn about the throat as to swell it to three times the natural size and to give the face a horribly bloated appearance. This struck the doctor as most remarkable, though as he was a newcomer in the neighborhood, and had never heard of the tramp's death, he did not take a supernatural view of the figure, but hailed it several times.</p><p>The figure looked back at him with a sort of unearthly light in its puffed out eyes, but made no reply. The doctor whipped up his horse in an endeavor to overtake the phantom, but the horse began to rear and snort as if in mortal terror and refused to go forward, and on being whipped and spurred by his rider finally threw him into the middle of the road and galloped off in the opposite direction, leaving the doctor to walk home. The phantom vanished from view in the timber that bordered the road, and, unnerved by the terrible appearance it had presented, the physician decided not to follow it, but proceeded to go home, though resolved to find out the mystery the next night. So, arming himself well with both shotgun and revolvers, together with a bull-dog and a young man named Loosman, he took up his stand close to the spot where the ghost had issued the night before, and waited until the hour for it to make its appearance. But this it did not do, though the watchers heard a loud moaning or lamentation coming from a large tree growing close to the road, and from which the figure had come the previous night.</p><p>The dog evinced the same terror the horse had, and at last made a frantic dart at some invisible body, which sent it flying back head over heels, but the animal, returning to the attack with every appearance of uncontrollable rage, finally was thrown at the feet of the watchers, who on looking closely at the animal saw that it was dead with a broken neck. Nothing was to be seen, however, and at daylight the doctor and his companion returned home, resolved, though, to keep watch again that night. This they did, and were rewarded on this occasion by seeing the ghost glide from the clump of trees before referred to, this time dragging after it its coffin. The doctor called on it to halt, but there was no response whatever, though the phantom turned and looked at him with a grin, which increased the horror of its appearance. Young Loosman gave it one glance, and broke and ran toward the town, leaving the doctor alone with the ghost.</p><p>Lacking the courage to accost it at a nearer distance, he also turned about and made for home, arriving there breathless and full of his story, which was received with ridicule. But on his persisting in it a party of townspeople was made up to go and watch the spot for the ghost.</p><p>These, comprising Colonel Nugent, John Young, George Fuller and several other well-known citizens, repaired to the haunted locality on the next evening armed with guns and pistols, as from the doctor's earnestness in relating his narrative it had come to be thought that a hoax at any rate had been attempted on the young men, and it was resolved to ferret out the jokers. As the night advanced the watchers dispersed themselves along the road so as to command its length, and, weapons in hand, waited the coming of the hoaxers.</p><p>It was a little after midnight when the moaning sound was heard from the tree. The sound increased into a sort of bellowing or tremendous crying that resounded through the woods, striking terror to all that heard it. But, resolved to stick it out to the last, the crowd hung about for nearly an hour longer, and at last saw the ghost come walking past them carrying its coffin on its shoulders this time. The rope was twined about its neck and trailed along the ground. Seeing this, Colonel Nugent stepped forward and placed his foot on the length, only to be violently thrown to the ground the next moment insensible. It was some hours before he recovered sufficiently to describe the sensation he had experienced on stepping on the phantom rope. He says that he was thrilled through and through with a shock something like an electric current, and which was severe enough to deprive him of consciousness. He declined to meddle any further with the phantom, which he is persuaded is a ghost. On the Colonel falling insensible the others of the crowd fired upon the figure, which vanished in the smoke with a loud laugh of derision, and was seen no more that night.</p><p>These stories are confirmed by the experience of Judge Blackmore, of this neighborhood, who is a noted skeptic about spiritualism and who accepted a wager that was made him that he could not face the phantom of the creek road without fear. The Judge, who is perfectly fearless, armed himself well and took up his station early a few nights ago to watch for the spectre, which he defied to frighten him. He soon found that his horse was very restive, and kept starting at every sound, so as to compel him to keep a tight rein on the animal. Had it not been for this the horse would most certainly have thrown him by the sudden start it gave when the Judge saw almost under its forefeet a man looking up at him. The man's face was swollen fearfully by the rope it had about its neck and was grinning up into the Judge's with a hideous sort of mirth. The Judge started in spite of himself, reined his frightened horse back and struck at tho figure with his riding whip, but his arm fell to his side well-nigh paralyzed by the stroke. The figure then walked alongside of the Judge's horse, continuing to grin and snicker to itself as if mightily amused at the Judge's attempt to solve the mystery of its being. At length the Judge made another cut at the phantom, which he refused to believe to be such, when the spectre threw its long arms about the gentleman, dragging him from his horse, which broke away down the road whinnying in terror. The Judge fell to the earth with the ghost, which clasped its fingers around his throat in an endeavor to choke him, but the Judge, being a very powerful man, grappled with the fiend or whatever the thing may be called, kept its talons from his throat, and finally threw it off. It returned to the charge, however, and laid hold of him once more, but, stumbling over the coffin that it dragged after it, fell to the ground, when the Judge, who had had enough of the affray, ran down the road in the direction of the town. Pursued by the phantom, he ran all the faster, until he came to the first house, against the door of which he fell panting and half fainting. The inmates opened the door and received him into the house, though the spectre is said to have hung about all night peering into the windows and knocking loudly at the doors.</p><p>It vanished at daylight, however, and has not been seen since. The Judge will not talk about his adventure, though he has paid his wager, and no longer holds in open derision the belief of the country people in their ghost.</p></blockquote>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-58145468010717940212024-02-12T04:34:00.000-08:002024-02-12T04:34:41.411-08:00The Mystery of the "Sarah Jo"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiupYNPHrvoRzeFA9SY7ig-GS06ENaMjszRlwp8qx1RRXlxSmKS0LmF4hvRotXXfC3ktwiZfjAuVvrHhX-la6OzFjPICJIV2zOQiuJW6-KDBBR_nxBdOIuFKqB-0EwrtE-6knvk_nVtH0IJqzfappUtQyROLv1-ZCvI3pqnI8WQc594J4eU989MKAU/s787/scott-moorman-mug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiupYNPHrvoRzeFA9SY7ig-GS06ENaMjszRlwp8qx1RRXlxSmKS0LmF4hvRotXXfC3ktwiZfjAuVvrHhX-la6OzFjPICJIV2zOQiuJW6-KDBBR_nxBdOIuFKqB-0EwrtE-6knvk_nVtH0IJqzfappUtQyROLv1-ZCvI3pqnI8WQc594J4eU989MKAU/s320/scott-moorman-mug.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott Moorman</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The tale of the last voyage of the "Sarah Jo" is a short, simple one, but at the same time it is one of the strangest sea mysteries I know.</p><p>On February 11, 1979, 27-year-old Scott Moorman, a native Californian who had moved to Maui, set out on the 17-foot Boston Whaler for a day-long fishing trip. He was accompanied by four friends--Ralph Malaiakini, Pat Woessner, Benny Kalama, and Peter Hanchett. The weather was good when they set out, but two hours later, the sky darkened, gale-force winds blew in, and the sea became dangerously turbulent. And the "Sarah Jo" vanished. </p><p>The Coast Guard spent nearly a week searching the area for the boat. Friends and family of the missing men continued the hunt for another month. Not one trace of the boat or her passengers could be found.</p><p>It seemed to be the end of the story.</p><p>Fast-forward nearly a decade, to September 9, 1988. A Marine biologist named John Naughton Jr. was researching green turtles on the Marshall Islands, about 2,300 miles southwest from where Moorman and his friends disappeared. On a bleak, uninhabited atoll called Taongi, Naughton found something very unexpected: the battered remains of the "Sarah Jo." By an amazing coincidence, Naughton, a member of the National Marine Fisheries Service, had helped in the original search for the boat. Nearby was a pile of stones topped by a crude driftwood cross and a human jawbone. Under the stones was more of the skeleton. Dental records were able to identify these bones as all that was left of Scott Moorman. A search of the atoll found no further clues.</p><p>There was no way of knowing when Moorman was buried in this shallow grave, but Naughton and his crew believed it was a relatively recent burial. Also, a government survey of the atoll done six years earlier would surely have found the boat and the grave. The boat--and Moorman--must have arrived on the atoll sometime after 1982. Where were they before that time?</p><p>Adding to the eeriness of the scene was something found buried with Moorman: a stack of unbound, partially burned blank papers 3" by 3" and about 3/4" thick. Between each of the papers was a small square piece of tin foil. The meaning of this strangely ritualistic touch remains uncertain.</p><p>This partial "solution" to the disappearance only raised even more puzzling questions. How did Moorman and his small motorboat manage to travel 2,300 miles? How did he die, and when? The pathologists could not say. Who buried him? What became of Moorman's four companions? As Moorman's sister said, "All this is like the Twilight Zone."</p><p>Speculate away. Your guess is as good as anyone's.</p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-34089637001044606492024-02-09T04:47:00.000-08:002024-02-09T04:47:50.164-08:00Weekend Link Dump<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_se0vm6qHN9bo6J631reCOK9Bx7bGnlXS-sSBgQkqTL-z17xOFaq8MooNQSek9PSKv-_LrgJizw-QPWIAW08sR7OUvpTcL9SCKniLMpw4AiTOY0GmMzXkoGGD7GtX2aCdy7bnHDIGlxcEHUYVz3_5G53G7dmjhcwgXToRka4DFVaRAXpcQKM-qsh/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_se0vm6qHN9bo6J631reCOK9Bx7bGnlXS-sSBgQkqTL-z17xOFaq8MooNQSek9PSKv-_LrgJizw-QPWIAW08sR7OUvpTcL9SCKniLMpw4AiTOY0GmMzXkoGGD7GtX2aCdy7bnHDIGlxcEHUYVz3_5G53G7dmjhcwgXToRka4DFVaRAXpcQKM-qsh/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Step on in for this week's Link Dump!</p><p>Don't be a wallflower!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVl2nsknLUaAM7WkuTxqJHQzDTTPZkpPFgmp0KSeLtSBCHlfLmWfMeMwJbL5sepPenIzkRs7gZJr23WTvYHZYaRPT4BXYJ89ndpsbEM8QfrTllphM4GeEx1MvadijkVFjrMMOHkBxg9kNL8gMX6XhWRLZh5ps_aLRY7RAvlXJFolXsvev3e2syEXnE/s563/blog%20wallflowers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="563" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVl2nsknLUaAM7WkuTxqJHQzDTTPZkpPFgmp0KSeLtSBCHlfLmWfMeMwJbL5sepPenIzkRs7gZJr23WTvYHZYaRPT4BXYJ89ndpsbEM8QfrTllphM4GeEx1MvadijkVFjrMMOHkBxg9kNL8gMX6XhWRLZh5ps_aLRY7RAvlXJFolXsvev3e2syEXnE/w400-h254/blog%20wallflowers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A brief look at <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/an-epitaph-for-fido/" target="_blank">pet cemeteries.</a></p><p>The bison of San Francisco's <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-surprising-story-of-the-10-bison-roaming-golden-gate-park" target="_blank">Golden Gate Park.</a></p><p>Those famed <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/column-hopkinsville-goblins-spielberg" target="_blank">Hopkinsville Goblins.</a></p><p>Scientists have found oozing black eggs and <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-mysterious-oozing-black-eggs-almost-4-miles-below-the-oceans-surface" target="_blank">nobody knows what in hell they are.</a> Great.</p><p>A photography studio <a href="https://secondglancehistory.com/clip-of-the-week-february-7-2024/" target="_blank">that turned matchmaker.</a></p><p>Life in Hong Kong <a href="https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/life-and-death-in-hong-kong-during-the-second-world-war/" target="_blank">during WWII.</a></p><p>The origins of the expression, <a href="https://bshistorian.wordpress.com/2024/02/03/an-answer-for-the-whole-nine-yards/" target="_blank">"the whole nine yards."</a></p><p>In which we meet fairies <a href="https://malcolmsanomalies.blogspot.com/2024/02/balloons-of-fairies.html" target="_blank">riding around in a balloon.</a></p><p>A visit to <a href="https://thelondondead.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-sad-abode-of-dead-greyfriars.html" target="_blank">Greyfriars Kirkyard.</a></p><p>The days of <a href="https://blog.newspapers.com/utilizing-unclaimed-letter-lists-in-the-newspapers/" target="_blank">unclaimed letter lists.</a></p><p>The days when upper Manhattan <a href="https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2024/02/05/the-great-upper-manhattan-sleigh-races-that-thrilled-the-wintertime-city/" target="_blank">had sleigh races.</a></p><p>Aerial photos of <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/02/08/looking-down-on-old-london-i/" target="_blank">old London.</a></p><p>Crime and <a href="https://legalhistorymiscellany.com/2024/02/08/gon-in-pilgremage-good-for-the-soul-great-for-the-criminal/" target="_blank">medieval pilgrimages.</a></p><p>Life in the <a href="https://dawlishchronicles.com/2024/02/08/life-in-the-imperial-german-navy-1902/" target="_blank">1902 German Navy.</a></p><p>Victorian <a href="https://reynolds-news.com/2024/02/04/electoral-fraud-victorian-era-reform-act/" target="_blank">electoral fraud.</a></p><p>The possibility that art existed <a href="https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/did-art-exist-before-modern-humans-new-discoveries-raise-big-questions" target="_blank">before modern humans.</a></p><p>A meeting with <a href="https://www.strangehistory.net/2024/02/05/the-wood-diva/" target="_blank">a wood fairy.</a></p><p>The saddle that's rewriting the <a href="https://scitechdaily.com/discovery-of-ancient-mongolian-saddle-rewrites-the-history-of-horse-riding/" target="_blank">history of horseback riding.</a></p><p>A Gilded Age <a href="https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2024/02/before-taylor-and-travis-there-was-helen-and-john/" target="_blank">celebrity power couple.</a></p><p>Puffing for <a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/02/07/puffing-white-bronze-monuments-1886/" target="_blank">bronze monuments.</a></p><p>The Greek site that has seen a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/millennia-after-leonidas-made-his-last-stand-at-thermopylae-a-ragtag-band-of-saboteurs-thwarted-the-axis-powers-in-the-same-narrow-pass-180983705/" target="_blank">whole lot of battles.</a></p><p>Perhaps we all could <a href="https://www.dailygrail.com/2024/02/could-we-all-be-psychic-research-suggests-our-brain-acts-as-a-filter-that-limits-our-psi-abilities/" target="_blank">be psychic.</a></p><p>A colonial <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/colonial-masquerade-convict-pirate-gentleman-con/" target="_blank">con man.</a></p><p>A "lost" fragment of the New Testament has been <a href="https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/news/new-testament-fragment-of-1750-year-old-translation-discovered" target="_blank">found in the Vatican Archives.</a></p><p>Yet another spurned lover <a href="http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2024/02/a-fool-and-his-folly.html" target="_blank">reaching for a gun.</a></p><p>The pigeon <a href="https://bigthink.com/the-past/teslas-pigeon/" target="_blank">that Tesla loved.</a></p><p>A destructive <a href="https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/terrifying-true-case-of-13-year-old-polish-girl-who-controlled-a-destructive-poltergeist-retold-in-new-english-translation-43805" target="_blank">Polish poltergeist.</a></p><p>That's all for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at an eerie sea mystery. In the meantime, here's a trip back to 1963.</p><p><br /></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-XYVXGFX24g?si=mgRyLc3vtbEoiF-X" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-68162948088110217992024-02-07T04:31:00.000-08:002024-02-07T04:31:41.853-08:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjss_WfOQVI4qZHzDZBH5AyVyJhSWKL80gXzO8Coxem318bDJqiKqrw2wUGA68w1GjfvCwZUK76MwWZBDBiHRmD64eItde6C8th_Pho0G4s_3O-Ev1rX5j0ghA9sbQ3zilBkNFbxloYiL4I1nnQH8TE4JeqhuYM8GVRBUUknFyX6BHI_ClnVHbjDCye/s1024/fiery%20ghost%20eyes.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjss_WfOQVI4qZHzDZBH5AyVyJhSWKL80gXzO8Coxem318bDJqiKqrw2wUGA68w1GjfvCwZUK76MwWZBDBiHRmD64eItde6C8th_Pho0G4s_3O-Ev1rX5j0ghA9sbQ3zilBkNFbxloYiL4I1nnQH8TE4JeqhuYM8GVRBUUknFyX6BHI_ClnVHbjDCye/s320/fiery%20ghost%20eyes.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This little story--which is weird even by the standards of this blog--appeared in the ”Hillsboro News Herald,” November 18, 1875. It’s a reprint from the “Mechanicsburg (Pennsylvania) Journal.”</p><p><blockquote>Mechanicsburg is in Cumberland county, but the scene of this ghost story is laid in Warrington township, York county, and the plain, unvarnished tale is unfolded to the editor of the Journal by one for whom he vouches as "one of our most reliable and truthful citizens, and an unbeliever in all things supernatural." Several weeks before the story opens there came to the house of a Mrs. Nesbit, living in the county and township aforesaid, a woman with a burned arm, who asked to be allowed to stay all night Mrs. Nesbit declined to grant the request, whereupon the woman asked her how she would like it if she should not be allowed to rest? Mrs. Nesbit replied that she did not know, with which truthful, though not entirely novel remark, the interview appears to have terminated.<p>Shortly after the above conversation, Mrs. Nesbit discovered in an old hut adjoining the house they live in, and also in their own house, the face of a human being, with large eyes, resembling balls of fire, moving around from room to room in both houses. Pleasant, was it not? Did she scream? Did she faint? History is silent on this point, but shortly after she was stricken with rheumatism so badly she could not rest in any position, and thus became a fine example of retributive justice. After a time the rheumatism left, but not so the ghost. It was a most persistent as well as disagreeable intruder, and unlike most ghosts, which content themselves with scaring their victims out of their wits, resorted to personal violence. As the conditions grew more favorable it materialized a full, but naked human body, the eyes still fiery, and in this shape it would visit Mrs. Nesbit's bedside nightly, pick her up, bed-clothes and all, and fling her into a corner, where she would either faint or go into convulsions. What Mr. Nesbit was about all this while does not appear. It is only incidentally that we learn of the existence of such a man, and it is tolerably safe to presume that while the above tragedy was being enacted he was under the bed.</p><p>Of course nobody could stand such treatment long; and so Mrs. Nesbit called the neighbors in, and on their arrival the house was too small to hold them. Promptly on time the ghost appeared, apparently gratified at having so large an audience. All in the room could see the fiery eyes, but only Mrs. Nesbit could see the human form.</p><p>Still the witnesses beheld the two large balls of fire roiling back and forth, approaching the bed where the lady was, and grasping the bed-clothes. The lady fainted, and several going to her assistance, the balls of fire moved away from her and grasped the child in the cradle, but it was also released by persons standing by, and the balls disappeared, leaving all very much frightened and disconcerted. This was dreadful, surely. We cannot blame the people for being frightened.</p><p>But now comes the strange part of our story, an expression which suggests the alarming possibility that such performances as have already been described are quite a matter-of-course in York county. In the neighborhood lived Dr. Gusler, famous for his many cures in witchcraft, another extraordinary character. He being called in, pronounced it a clear case of bewitchery, and instructed the afflicted lady to heat a sickle red hot at a certain hour next night and pass it several times down her arm as close as possible without burning herself. Also, if anybody should appear and ask her for anything, nothing was to be given on any account. The instructions were obeyed, and, sure enough, next day appeared the woman with the burned arm and asked for some lard to grease it. This being refused, she asked for a cloth to tie it up, and then for a pin; but nothing was given her. and she went off. Here the interesting narrative breaks off. The editor says a complete cure was effected, but does not say whether or not the ghost was laid. Neither does he give us the key to the mystery, and we can only conclude that York county is a highly undesirable place to live, or else that Cumberland county whisky must be of a peculiarly virulent quality.</p></blockquote>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-28043329967328450492024-02-05T04:41:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:41:45.418-08:00The Case of the Missing Maidservant<p>Annie Hommel was the daughter of poor German immigrants living in Saugerties, New York. Around 1870, fourteen-year-old Annie went "in service" for the household of Moses Schoenfeld, a wealthy merchant tailor.</p><p>Annie grew up into a strikingly pretty young woman who was considered one of the town's leading belles. Life went on in an unremarkable fashion until 1877, when Mrs. Schoenfeld fell ill, and began spending most of her time in New York City for medical treatment. During her absence, Schoenfeld's neighbors began noticing that Annie was dressing very stylishly: her wardrobe suddenly seemed far too expensive for any mere servant girl. They also took note of the fact that Annie and Moses had become very, very friendly--gossip even reported that they had been seen kissing.</p><p>At this point in our story, you are probably coming to some suspicions about the relationship between master and maid. The residents of Saugerties were entertaining the same suspicions. Suspicions which seemed to have been confirmed when Annie's waistline began expanding. She insisted--you dirty-minded people, you!--that she was suffering from "dropsy."</p><p>On December 15, 1877, Annie told her parents she was going to New York or Philadelphia to see physicians about her mysterious malady, and disappeared. No one ever saw her in Saugerties again. She was spotted in Tivoli, where she boarded a train for New York. Some reports stated that she was in the company of an older woman, who claimed to be the wife of a doctor. After her departure, Schoenfeld also began acting strangely. He too departed for places unknown, and after his return to Saugerties, continued to make unexplained and frequent trips to New York.</p><p>A few days after Hommel's disappearance, letters were sent to Annie's parents, purportedly from the missing young woman, although they appeared to be written in a man's handwriting. The letters stated that Annie was under the care of a physician, and was satisfied with her place. One of the letters contained five dollars. The postmarks were from various locations in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. </p><p>George Hommel was convinced that Schoenfeld was behind his daughter's strange vanishing. He believed there was something very sinister about the whole business, and he was not at all shy about saying so. Schoenfeld tried to counter such unpleasant talk by bringing Mr. Hommel to Brooklyn to search for Annie, and he offered a reward for any information about her whereabouts. Neither effort did anything to uncover Annie--or to still the talk that Schoenfeld knew more than he was willing to say.</p><p>On August 19, 1878, Annie's parents received a shocking letter. It was postmarked from Philadelphia, and it carried the news that their daughter was dead. The writer claimed to be a physician who had treated Annie for "dropsy," but in spite of all his medical help, she had "gone to the better home." It was signed merely "M.D." Soon after the Hommels received this message, it was reported that two strangers called upon Schoenfeld, asking to have a private interview with him. Schoenfeld emerged from this meeting "deathly pale." Annie's sister Mary lived in Philadelphia, and she stated that she had not seen any sign of the missing girl, and had no idea who "M.D." might be. She was, however, convinced Annie had been murdered.</p><p>So did a lot of people. And they all had the same suspect in mind. Schoenfeld was considered to be a material witness in Annie's disappearance, but his high social position and previously good reputation saved him from being arrested, although such was the public disgust with him, some feared he might be lynched. For his part, the merchant rallied the support of his prominent friends, and made a big show of his continued trips to New York, where he claimed to be conducting his own investigation of the mystery.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMc_s9cR18H8Qm1cPCUCiI8MgJNw7X8jlfKAC5XyXSct77749gRZBFgFei-1YZQkaPHAP3nyRl8z9DKzH21sH57ZE_QdV54aOXh2VdKlonbAhz_RoX5JErE00vq5hUR3d_Gr1uNR21B4vJ_XGw-H-8_9cuENuiaIL7ZwkJMUcL0pNYMjAMSSQxdN8Q/s780/annie%20hommel.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="780" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMc_s9cR18H8Qm1cPCUCiI8MgJNw7X8jlfKAC5XyXSct77749gRZBFgFei-1YZQkaPHAP3nyRl8z9DKzH21sH57ZE_QdV54aOXh2VdKlonbAhz_RoX5JErE00vq5hUR3d_Gr1uNR21B4vJ_XGw-H-8_9cuENuiaIL7ZwkJMUcL0pNYMjAMSSQxdN8Q/w400-h384/annie%20hommel.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Brooklyn Eagle," September 24, 1878, via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>Several days after the Hommels received the tragic letter from "M.D.," there was more bad news. Boys herding cattle near Staten Island's Silver Lake Cemetery came across a barrel that had been partially buried. Inside was the badly decomposed corpse of a heavily pregnant woman. After a few weeks of fruitlessly trying to determine the woman's identity, local authorities had her buried in a potter's field. When news of the gruesome find reached Saugerties, residents immediately suspected that Annie Hommel had finally been located. The corpse was of medium size, with dark brown hair and good teeth, which perfectly matched Annie's description. The body was exhumed, and George Hommel, on the basis of the hair and teeth, identified it as his daughter. However, the clothing the woman had been wearing did not match any the missing woman had owned.</p><p>Schoenfeld--accompanied by his attorney--also arrived in Staten Island. Unsurprisingly, he insisted that the corpse was not that of Annie Hommel, explaining that the hair was too short to be that of his former servant. (It did not seem to occur to him that hair can be cut.)</p><p>The body was reburied, but later exhumed again in order to see if the body showed signs of the fractured wrist Hommel had suffered when she was seven years old. In rather Grand Guignol fashion, doctors cut off the corpse's arms and enlisted "an insane pauper" to boil the bones clean of whatever flesh remained on them. (The "New York Times" added that when this revolting task was completed, the pauper "served them up to the doctors with a grin of ghastly satisfaction.") When the arm bones were examined, it was determined that the wrists had never been broken, and that the corpse was probably of a woman over the age of thirty. (Annie was about twenty when she vanished.) In short, Annie Hommel's disappearance was suddenly back to being as big a riddle as ever.</p><p>After investigating all the missing-persons cases in the area, police eventually determined that the corpse was that of one Mary Ann Degnan. Her husband, Edward Reinhardt, was eventually convicted of her murder. </p><p>Unlike the Degnan case, the fate of Annie Hommel was never determined. Faced with an almost total lack of clues to her whereabouts, the missing maid eventually faded from public memory. By the time Moses Schoenfeld died in 1914, rich, accomplished, and respected, the fact that he had once been at the center of a disturbing mystery was completely forgotten. </p><p>If the merchant had any guilty little secrets, he kept them very well hidden indeed.</p><p><i>[Note: There is, of course, an obvious possible solution to the mystery: After Annie became pregnant, Schoenfeld sent her out of town to have an abortion. She died as a result of the operation, and her body was secretly buried somewhere. Unfortunately, we'll never know if this scenario is correct.]</i></p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-33772378930763674132024-02-02T04:50:00.000-08:002024-02-02T04:52:44.492-08:00Weekend Link Dump<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbSSyDuyGvNe9SGfAECkv0Ud5b8DfmtKyDPGy4OKD84SvG2sAB0tgBwsLpp0fQcjxI__OOPoCSNzhMGfc8xsxBlQo5u_fjlkrjdQhX7LI6WmO1nWQ5mDw6n2f7uVK7oedBCruYvLto-wxiEDV22KNBcf95iTWhBNPlML5yZ-6kQqJ3wFwl68HfwsT/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbSSyDuyGvNe9SGfAECkv0Ud5b8DfmtKyDPGy4OKD84SvG2sAB0tgBwsLpp0fQcjxI__OOPoCSNzhMGfc8xsxBlQo5u_fjlkrjdQhX7LI6WmO1nWQ5mDw6n2f7uVK7oedBCruYvLto-wxiEDV22KNBcf95iTWhBNPlML5yZ-6kQqJ3wFwl68HfwsT/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Welcome to this week's Link Dump!</p><p>I hope you enjoy the show.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdbMAjFiys94wnxbRHFznENVGNRuzN0alPa-rEnNJsWywUmKYvbIVJFcrq3fmrWb-8AGrCV4neWYXfKIZ5rIkl933arlR5kFihWVKqfKMKL_g5mjkcN7sVuakA755uZud82kX5jeUFlvqs7SjYFTvA1dk0l9QZ5BlD22WNTfg34wAnwIl2NJRH3Zr3/s1200/blog%20at%20the%20play.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="1200" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdbMAjFiys94wnxbRHFznENVGNRuzN0alPa-rEnNJsWywUmKYvbIVJFcrq3fmrWb-8AGrCV4neWYXfKIZ5rIkl933arlR5kFihWVKqfKMKL_g5mjkcN7sVuakA755uZud82kX5jeUFlvqs7SjYFTvA1dk0l9QZ5BlD22WNTfg34wAnwIl2NJRH3Zr3/w400-h230/blog%20at%20the%20play.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A love triangle <a href="https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2024/01/robert-and-kate.html" target="_blank">ends <i>very </i>badly.</a></p><p>St. Thomas Becket's <a href="https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2024/01/26/silesian-sainte-chapelle-st-thomas-beckets-chapel-piast-castle-raciborz-guest-post-by-katarzyna-ogrodnik-fujcik/" target="_blank">chapel in Poland.</a></p><p>Using lasers to <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/what-relief-revealing-roman-craftsmanship" target="_blank">examine ancient art.</a></p><p>Archaeologists keep finding weird things, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy3jpx/ancient-roman-dodecahedron-discovered-in-norton-disney" target="_blank">and everyone has questions.</a></p><p>A look at the construction of the <a href="https://blog.newspapers.com/february-1890-construction-underway-for-vanderbilts-biltmore-estate/" target="_blank">Biltmore Estate.</a></p><p>A noted French <a href="https://victorianparis.wordpress.com/2024/02/01/honore-daumier-the-king-of-caricature/" target="_blank">Victorian-era caricaturist.</a></p><p>The oldest surviving <a href="https://www.vintag.es/2024/01/margery-brews-valentine-letter.html" target="_blank">English-language Valentine's letter.</a></p><p>Packing for<a href="https://dralun.wordpress.com/2024/02/01/creams-clothes-and-cases-the-material-culture-of-pre-modern-travel/" target="_blank"> pre-modern travel.</a></p><p>An American Revolution soldier who just couldn't <a href="https://allthingsliberty.com/2024/02/charles-turner-one-soldier-three-armies/" target="_blank">make up his mind which side he was on.</a></p><p>How Truman Capote turned himself <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-feud-capote-vs-the-swans-180983681/" target="_blank">into a social pariah.</a></p><p>Scientists are boring humpback whales with the usual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-have-20-minute-conversation-with-a-humpback-whale-named-twain/" target="_blank">tedious social small talk.</a></p><p>A discarded <a href="https://archaeology-world.com/discarded-neolithic-meal-identified-in-germany/" target="_blank">Neolithic meal.</a></p><p>Amelia Earhart's plane <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/30/travel/amelia-earhart-missing-plane-pacific-ocean-scn/index.html" target="_blank">may have been found.</a> Or not.</p><p>Noah's Ark <a href="https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/international-team-of-scientists-may-have-discovered-noah-s-ark" target="_blank">may have been found.</a> Or not.</p><p>The eeriness of a winter garden <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/02/01/in-the-winter-garden/" target="_blank">during lockdown.</a></p><p>The twilight of <a href="https://dawlishchronicles.com/2024/02/01/the-twilight-of-the-pre-dreadnoughts-1915/" target="_blank">the pre-dreadnoughts.</a></p><p>A church that was <a href="https://paoddities.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-luzerne-county-church-founded-by.html" target="_blank">founded by a murderer.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://counteverymystery.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-lane-bryant-murders.html" target="_blank">Lane Bryant murders.</a></p><p>Some of the oldest <a href="https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/90000-year-old-human-footprints-found-on-a-moroccan-beach-are-some-of-the-oldest-and-best-preserved-in-the-world" target="_blank">human footprints.</a></p><p>A statue memorializing a <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pilt-carin-ersdotter-statue-stockholm-sweden" target="_blank">beautiful milkmaid.</a></p><p>When beer c<a href="https://daily.jstor.org/how-beer-came-to-asia/" target="_blank">ame to Asia.</a></p><p>The disappearance of the <a href="https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/why-scotland-lost-its-tongue/" target="_blank">Scots language.</a></p><p>How Ireland came to be the <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/ireland-emerald-isle-history?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank">"Emerald Isle."</a></p><p>The treasures found in an <a href="https://archaeology-world.com/ancient-treasures-found-in-massive-tomb-of-wealthy-family-in-china/" target="_blank">ancient family tomb.</a></p><p>In other news, a pigeon has just been exonerated f<a href="https://m.economictimes.com/news/new-updates/pigeon-suspected-of-spying-soars-free-after-8-months-of-investigation-details-inside/amp_articleshow/107287283.cms" target="_blank">rom suspicions that it was a Chinese spy.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-town-wales-convinced-ufo-31972428" target="_blank">"Welsh Roswell."</a></p><p>The shipboard murder <a href="https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2024/01/24/the-murder-of-gay-gibson/" target="_blank">of Gay Gibson.</a></p><p><a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/01/31/pigeons-of-doom-1700/" target="_blank">Pigeons of Doom!</a></p><p>Thomas Hardy got on better with his<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/22/hardy-women-by-paula-byrne-review-thomas-hardy-brilliant-writer-of-women-very-bad-husband" target="_blank"> fictional women than the real ones.</a></p><p>England's got a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68132688?fbclid=IwAR0TV4_r7u0S4q7ztpYzJlQxZztOHTICco824wwn0PopmG_5BXKoBoJdn4U" target="_blank">heck of a lot of hedges.</a></p><p>A tragic <a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/forgotten-in-life-the-desperately-sad-tale-of-benjamin-surr-1784-1820/" target="_blank">early 19th century life.</a></p><p>The epizootic <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/civilization-without-horses-the-epizootic-of-1872/" target="_blank">of 1872.</a></p><p>Wilkie Collins and <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-sensation-novelist-who-exposed-the-plight-of-victorian-women-wilkie-collins-180983649/" target="_blank">women's rights.</a></p><p>A (possibly) <a href="https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2024/01/30/richard-ingoldsby-reluctant-regicide/" target="_blank">reluctant regicide.</a></p><p>A non-haunted <a href="https://bshistorian.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/least-haunted-kelvedon-hatch-bunker/" target="_blank">nuclear bunker.</a></p><p>A fun Twitter thread proving that the universe is a <a href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1750952860131729544.html" target="_blank">really weird place.</a></p><p>The first known <a href="https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2024/01/exclamation-point-2.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=exclamation-point-2" target="_blank">exclamation point.</a></p><p>The baronet's wife who was<a href="https://hauntedpalaceblog.wpcomstaging.com/2024/01/27/lady-janet-anstruther-jenny-fall-siren-of-land-and-sea/" target="_blank"> "Queen of the Gipsies."</a><br /></p><p>A WWII <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dutch-ww2-treasure-map" target="_blank">treasure map.</a></p><p>A Victorian <a href="https://archeologyworldwide.com/135-year-old-message-in-a-bottle-found-in-floorboards-amazing-victorian-time-capsule/" target="_blank">time capsule.</a></p><p>That's all for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at a young maidservant's sinister disappearance. In the meantime, here's a blast from the 1970s past. It's hard for me to fathom that this was from <i>fifty years ago.</i></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-y2NXDa9970?si=Eo__2-AkIcZ5c7Np" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-26949645180180053902024-01-31T04:15:00.000-08:002024-01-31T04:16:13.576-08:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60Fa-hMcZ6FQk8RgjCCJ6Q2POFaFXT7xhTf4ay08UmMENsRHKE5E1O3o0yJxUOLfD7C5gKyDM952V4iEov_4AxaR8SoIaiiOcDPfF3JH4tQoqELv_CocIr_00GSxmI42TJKCrV1RB-GJig-E5oGcU1DkLovWSYDsFpvI8vlfNafWEHj_lzMSXlpqG/s1024/strange%20experience.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60Fa-hMcZ6FQk8RgjCCJ6Q2POFaFXT7xhTf4ay08UmMENsRHKE5E1O3o0yJxUOLfD7C5gKyDM952V4iEov_4AxaR8SoIaiiOcDPfF3JH4tQoqELv_CocIr_00GSxmI42TJKCrV1RB-GJig-E5oGcU1DkLovWSYDsFpvI8vlfNafWEHj_lzMSXlpqG/s320/strange%20experience.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This unsettling little story--which definitely belongs in the “Odd Stuff That's Impossible to Categorize” file--appeared in the “Louisville Courier-Journal” on July 30, 1876:</p><p></p><blockquote>One of my neighbors has had a very mysterious experience lately. He went out to plow about sunrise a short time since, and he saw, as he thought, one of his neighbors walking among his wheat shocks, thinking at the same time that he acted rather queer by keeping his back toward him all the time, though quite near; but he paid no particular attention to him, only casting an occasional glance to see what he was at. On getting to the far side of the field, he turned his team and started back, and again saw the man very plainly; he was still walking about without any apparent object in view, but, on getting near enough to clearly note the movements of the figure, it was observed to take three long strides, throw up its hands, and then float in the air near the surface of the earth for a distance of fifteen or twenty feet, and suddenly vanish into nothingness. Such is the tale my neighbor tells me, and he entirely believes it. He is neither superstitious nor timid; is about twenty years old, and of undoubted courage and coolness. Mr. Starr, the name of the gentleman who saw the vision, will convince anyone who will talk to him of his own honest belief in the apparition. On one of two occasions he was within twenty feet of it, and it could not possibly have been an optical illusion.<div><br /></div></blockquote><p></p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-59636660742893217102024-01-29T04:31:00.000-08:002024-01-29T04:31:19.639-08:00The Burial of William the Conqueror: A Comedy of Errors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmaymYuo78IAhxbyQGoZYwcSo3OwpWo0QUfRLO3GFi6wxMYgF2FZj2mxwwCMeH9ZGqVwCh6tchkqz5O8Z89HE9_ocObtug6opf0mYwyEhGXYZJuQs5DLVgvdYCuhTLuBiAAx_m5pgcPVNPkOGzUUZEJNs-sT3Cszt64XajJ_FJ7GKKar8JIJZmnLm/s1127/King_William_I_('The_Conqueror')_from_NPG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1127" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmaymYuo78IAhxbyQGoZYwcSo3OwpWo0QUfRLO3GFi6wxMYgF2FZj2mxwwCMeH9ZGqVwCh6tchkqz5O8Z89HE9_ocObtug6opf0mYwyEhGXYZJuQs5DLVgvdYCuhTLuBiAAx_m5pgcPVNPkOGzUUZEJNs-sT3Cszt64XajJ_FJ7GKKar8JIJZmnLm/s320/King_William_I_('The_Conqueror')_from_NPG.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>William the Conqueror is one of those historical figures who need no introduction. Thanks to his famous victory at Hastings in 1066, he dramatically changed England’s future. (Whether he changed it for good or ill is a topic for another time.)</p><p>However, what this post is about is not William’s life, but his death. William likely expected to have a dignified end, surrounded by grieving family and respectful courtiers. This would be followed by the solemn, but impressive funeral due a king of his fame and achievements.</p><p>Things didn't quite go according to plan. In fact, this grim man left this earth in true Strange Company style, as the center of a grisly comedy skit.</p><p>In his later years, William had become quite obese, which bothered him. He was particularly self-conscious about his round, protruding belly. In 1087, in an effort to lose a few pounds, the fifty-nine year old king resorted to secluding himself in his castle at Rouen, where he took to his bed--a sort of medieval fat farm. When the French king Philip I heard of this, he laughed, “The king of England is lying-in at Rouen, and keeps his bed, like a woman after her delivery!"</p><p>When this mockery reached William’s ears, he was infuriated. He leaped from his bed, yelled for a horse, and set out to teach Philip a lesson in manners by invading the French town of Mantes.</p><p>While he watched Mantes burn, disaster struck him. His horse, perhaps frightened by the flames, suddenly leaped in the air, throwing the king against his pommel. The blow was violent enough to rupture William’s internal organs.</p><p>William was carried from Mantes back to Rouen, but the medical science of the day could do nothing for him. As his condition deteriorated, William, looking back on the many acts of wholesale cruelty he had perpetrated, naturally grew increasingly fearful of what awaited him in the afterlife. He confessed his sins, asked for forgiveness, and begged everyone to pray for him. He had gifts sent to the local churches and to the poor, “so that what I amassed through evil deeds may be assigned to the holy uses of good men." Some of his wealth also went to the clergymen of Mantes, so the churches he had destroyed could be rebuilt. According to the historian Orderic Vitalis, William moaned on his deathbed, "I treated the native inhabitants of the kingdom with unreasonable severity, cruelly oppressed high and low, unjustly disinherited many, and caused the death of thousands by starvation and war, especially in Yorkshire....In mad fury I descended on the English of the north like a raging lion, and ordered that their homes and crops with all their equipment and furnishings should be burnt at once and their great flocks and herds of sheep and cattle slaughtered everywhere. So I chastised a great multitude of men and women with the lash of starvation and, alas! was the cruel murderer of many thousands, both young and old, of this fair people." William did not have an easy death, either physically or mentally.</p><p>Two prominent members of William’s family were missing from the scene: his eldest son Robert had allied himself with Philip I, and the king’s half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux was in prison for treason. When William was asked to forgive them, the suffering king, probably feeling that he was past caring about such earthly matters, agreed. Odo was released from custody, and Robert was given the duchy of Normandy. William’s second son, William Rufus, was given control of England, and immediately left Rouen to take on his new responsibilities across the Channel. (William’s youngest son, Henry, was given only five thousand pounds in silver, but he had small reason to complain. When William Rufus died soon after becoming England’s king--in one of history’s most suspicious “hunting accidents”--Henry succeeded him.)</p><p>William’s death on September 9, 1087 was the cue for a mad rush to the exits. The aristocracy in attendance, naturally anxious to protect their properties, fled before the dead king was even cold. Orderic wrote that the remaining household servants “seized the arms, vessels, clothing, linen, and all the royal furnishings, and hurried away leaving the king's body almost naked on the floor of the house."</p><p>It had been decided that William would be buried in Caen, in the church of St. Stephen in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes. (William had founded this church in penance for marrying his cousin Matilda of Flanders, in defiance of the Pope’s objections.) However, with all his nearest and dearest having done a bunk, there was no one around to make the necessary arrangements. Finally, an ordinary knight--out of his own pocket--had the body transported to Caen. Unfortunately, a fire broke out in the town just as the abbots and monks were coming to meet the bier. Everyone rushed away to deal with the blaze, leaving the monks to conduct the funeral service on their own.</p><p>Afterward, in the middle of William’s eulogy, it was interrupted by a heckler. A man stepped forward angrily declaring that the church was built on land that William, as duke, had seized from his father. He added, "Therefore I lay claim to this land, and openly demand it, forbidding in God's name that the body of this robber be covered by earth that is mine or buried in my inheritance." In order for the rest of the funeral to take place in peace, the man was given sixty shillings on the spot. (Henry later gave him a hundred pounds.)</p><p>The funeral festivities were just beginning. The disconcerted mourners realized that the stone sarcophagus made for William’s burial was way too small. As by then his corpse was, shall we say, well past its sell-by date, it was decided that there was nothing to be done but cram the body in and hope for the best.</p><p>Unfortunately for everyone in attendance, the result was that (in Orderic’s words) "the swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the by-standers and the whole crowd." The burial rites were cut <i>very</i> short.</p><p>After this debacle, William’s remains were left alone until 1522, when a French cardinal, apparently out of mere idle curiosity, had his tomb opened. The spectators got their eyeful, and the coffin was reinterred. Forty years later, a Calvinist mob ransacked the tomb, in the belief that it contained treasures. When the ghouls realized their mistake, in a fit of pique they scattered the bones and left. Whatever jumbled parts of William that could be found were put in a new monument, but that was destroyed during the French Revolution, and his remains thrown in the River Orne.</p><p>All that is left of William is a thigh bone, which now lies under a marble slab in front of the altar in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes. Hopefully this last bit of him will forever rest in peace. However, considering William’s track record, I wouldn’t count on it.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aqSzdWeK6MIDebL9FqB_QRSs03oFi3LfsRfsCuycNa24TdCM4ORZueUDPgUU_q667ghH32g6Dut5zUPYFFM_I4XmHU17GWkHJJbgI9K3uB_MVSNk7cja_kSYaLy88mAM325N3mUKQFPOtdws9eAQlcBmmeMLWab9Dt_y3YLkyecncYUYST6pAMG2/s1200/1200px-Church_of_Saint-%C3%89tienne_interior_(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aqSzdWeK6MIDebL9FqB_QRSs03oFi3LfsRfsCuycNa24TdCM4ORZueUDPgUU_q667ghH32g6Dut5zUPYFFM_I4XmHU17GWkHJJbgI9K3uB_MVSNk7cja_kSYaLy88mAM325N3mUKQFPOtdws9eAQlcBmmeMLWab9Dt_y3YLkyecncYUYST6pAMG2/w640-h426/1200px-Church_of_Saint-%C3%89tienne_interior_(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The site of William's sort-of burial, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_Saint-%C3%89tienne_interior_(2).jpg" target="_blank">via Wikipedia</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-16140420048225998532024-01-26T04:44:00.000-08:002024-01-31T04:13:51.724-08:00Weekend Link Dump<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_HMwnkAsCd9x0-jBO3RKMBuelmKEK0-Re_APtn23t7P7GLbtEaJP7l1_bqMbwDOJRVh-U-y8oARxSbVNWdQm-a_bjwbC6SViBO2SSH_g6INFfMMn8BvEKx4EtsPxZ5cndKexwM4jLxJRDTY2Btp38_lOlFbB3jtZFybH9L7lG3RRN3QxfeJGZUyE/s799/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="799" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_HMwnkAsCd9x0-jBO3RKMBuelmKEK0-Re_APtn23t7P7GLbtEaJP7l1_bqMbwDOJRVh-U-y8oARxSbVNWdQm-a_bjwbC6SViBO2SSH_g6INFfMMn8BvEKx4EtsPxZ5cndKexwM4jLxJRDTY2Btp38_lOlFbB3jtZFybH9L7lG3RRN3QxfeJGZUyE/w640-h310/blog%20the%20witches%20cove%20follower%20of%20jan%20mandijn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Witches' Cove," Follower of Jan Mandijn</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Welcome to this week's Link Dump!</p><p>After you've finished reading, feel free to join the staffers in the Strange Company HQ bowling alley.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcrcxdyrbZyh2_JPSIh0njpbdx-OwbimYbk_yNOhTtEdmdgVkn5ROaQcVXJKG2iVgIeDRTbpi-NlARFEp_IxVFfL8-rX3-jpVOxZv9pL7qR7Gg3wPPTrAvmt1yx1vgeRRNGLdt_t1bBe3ezt41tvC-NrVM4qHjYLcXpdMRSoNa15R10fSWcTpnoYp/s1600/blog%20bowling%20alley%20alfred%20mainzer.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcrcxdyrbZyh2_JPSIh0njpbdx-OwbimYbk_yNOhTtEdmdgVkn5ROaQcVXJKG2iVgIeDRTbpi-NlARFEp_IxVFfL8-rX3-jpVOxZv9pL7qR7Gg3wPPTrAvmt1yx1vgeRRNGLdt_t1bBe3ezt41tvC-NrVM4qHjYLcXpdMRSoNa15R10fSWcTpnoYp/w400-h256/blog%20bowling%20alley%20alfred%20mainzer.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Alfred Mainzer)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>A look at medieval <a href="https://reynolds-news.com/2024/01/20/stephen-basdeo-rebellion-unrest-global-medieval-world-thematic-overview/" target="_blank">peasant rebellions.</a></p><p>A burglary? Or a <a href="https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2024/01/a-suspicious-burglary.html" target="_blank">pre-planned murder?</a></p><p>The mysterious murder of a <a href="https://www.mysteryconfidential.com/2024/01/the-goldilocks-killer-of-japan-family.html" target="_blank">Japanese family.</a></p><p>A brief history of the <a href="https://subscribe.forteantimes.com/blog/the-fairy-investigation-society/" target="_blank">Fairy Investigation Society.</a></p><p>Pigs <a href="https://secondglancehistory.com/this-little-piggy/" target="_blank">gone wild!</a></p><p>Solving a <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/medieval-murder-maps-london" target="_blank">medieval murder mystery.</a></p><p>The sort of thing that happens when you explode<a href="https://www.amusingplanet.com/2024/01/the-braamfontein-explosion.html" target="_blank"> 60 tons of dynamite.</a></p><p>A privateer <a href="https://dawlishchronicles.com/2024/01/25/privateer-action-the-ellen-1780/" target="_blank">in action.</a></p><p>The Russian famine<a href="https://creativehistorystories.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-great-russian-famine-of-1921.html" target="_blank"> of 1921.</a></p><p>A brief history of <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/why-do-we-call-them-bobby-pins?utm_source=RSS" target="_blank">bobby pins.</a></p><p>Solving a baby's <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/the-puzzling-case-of-a-baby-who-wouldnt-stop-crying-then-began-to-slip-away/" target="_blank">medical mystery.</a></p><p>The countess and<a href="https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2024/01/22/guest-post-elaine/" target="_blank"> the cello player.</a></p><p>A romance in a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-couple-who-fell-in-love-in-a-nazi-death-camp-helen-spitzer-david-wisnia-auschwitz-180983603/" target="_blank">Nazi death camp.</a></p><p>Aberdeen's <a href="https://www.aberdeenlive.news/news/aberdeen-news/aberdeens-most-haunted-bar-punters-9042412" target="_blank">most haunted pub.</a></p><p>A fifth-century Hun warlord <a href="https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/01/24/khushnawar-meet-the-fifth-century-hun-warlord-who-surpassed-even-attila/" target="_blank">not named Attila.</a></p><p>The glory days when Alaska <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cat-mayor-talkeetna-alaska" target="_blank">had a cat mayor.</a></p><p>How to go on <a href="https://www.noemamag.com/a-single-small-map-is-enough-for-a-lifetime/" target="_blank">a microadventure.</a></p><p>Stone Age <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/stone-age-gum-ancient-food" target="_blank">chewing gum.</a></p><p>When did the Greek gods <a href="https://greekreporter.com/2024/01/16/greek-gods-stop-interacting-humans/" target="_blank">go away?</a></p><p>Yet another <a href="https://www.futilitycloset.com/2024/01/22/diy-8/" target="_blank">historical hoax.</a></p><p>History's most prolific mathematician was also probably <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-nomadic-eccentric-was-the-most-prolific-mathematician-in-history/" target="_blank">history's weirdest mathematician.</a></p><p>The life of a successful <a href="https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2024/01/23/the-tomb-of-sir-richard-and-eleanor-croft-in-croft-church-herefordshire/" target="_blank">15th century politician.</a></p><p>There's something weird on the surface <a href="https://thedebrief.org/something-anomalous-on-the-moons-surface-is-exhibiting-unique-magnetic-and-reflective-properties/" target="_blank">of the Moon.</a></p><p>The "suicide jockeys" <a href="https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/01/23/suicide-jockeys-why-americas-glider-pilots-were-the-unsung-heroes-of-wwii/" target="_blank">of WWII.</a></p><p>The mystery of the <a href="https://www.historicmysteries.com/kashmir-princess/" target="_blank">Kashmir Princess crash.</a></p><p>Coin-<a href="https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2024/01/24/the-corpse-counted-the-coins-1892/" target="_blank">counting corpses.</a></p><p>The true story behind <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-masters-of-the-air-and-the-100th-bomb-group-180983629/" target="_blank">"Masters of the Air."</a></p><p>Good news! Here's your big chance to own <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/you-can-own-a-set-of-winston-churchills-false-teeth-180983638/" target="_blank">Winston Churchill's dentures!</a></p><p>High Strangeness in an <a href="https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/indian-village-on-edge-over-shadow-entity-sightings-and-strange-home-disturbances/" target="_blank">Indian village.</a></p><p>The <a href="https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-hideous-hodag-history-of-hoax.html" target="_blank">Hideous Hodag!</a></p><p>In which we learn that Martin Luther King Jr.<a href="https://flashbak.com/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-was-a-trekkie-who-convinced-nichelle-nichols-to-stay-on-the-show-465896/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dr-martin-luther-king-jr-was-a-trekkie-who-convinced-nichelle-nichols-to-stay-on-the-show" target="_blank"> was a Trekkie.</a></p><p>The "vanishing star" mystery <a href="https://thedebrief.org/the-vanishing-star-enigma-and-the-1952-washington-d-c-ufo-wave/" target="_blank">and UFOs.</a></p><p>A continent that <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/lost-continent-lemuria" target="_blank">never existed.</a></p><p>If you ever visit Pompeii, <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/tourist-returns-stones-to-pompeii-explaining-i-didnt-know-about-the-curse-72525" target="_blank">don't take home any souvenirs.</a></p><p>A night at <a href="https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2024/01/22/a-night-at-mrs-astors-january-ball-the-crowning-event-of-the-gilded-age-social-season/" target="_blank">Mrs. Astor's ball.</a></p><p>Were there prehistoric <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/did-humans-ever-inhabit-antarctica-what-about-prehistoric-visits-72523" target="_blank">humans in Antarctica?</a></p><p>That's it for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at a royal burial gone very, very wrong. In the meantime, here's baby goats in slo-mo, which is an oddly hypnotic sight.</p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iT1oRCNiuk0?si=jVbw5RDpWiZEQw11" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-67710963679560121962024-01-24T04:33:00.000-08:002024-01-24T04:34:02.754-08:00Newspaper Clipping of the Day<p>It never pays to turn a cemetery into a playground. The permanent residents don’t like it. As an example, I present this story from the “Shreveport Journal,” August 29, 1897:</p><p><blockquote>MADRAS India, July 10 — The best ghost story that has come to light in years has just reached here from Ooty, a small town in the presidency of Madras, and it is of such a character that it has been deemed worthy of discussion by some members of the London Society of Psychical Research. <p>The authenticity of the happenings are vouched for by numerous persons who actually observed them, and to clinch the matter two of the spectators have made their statements in the form of affidavits. These latter are Dr. James L Kelly, the surgeon in charge of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Madras, and Capt. W. H. Burchell, a retired sea captain living in the town of Ootacamund. </p><p>The victim of the ghost was a native young lady, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. According to her native friends she was possessed with devils, but some English people attributed the strange happenings about her to the ghostly supernatural. </p><p>It seems that with a friend who was about to be married the young lady paid a casual visit one evening to the Roman Catholic cemetery in Ooty. Three days previous to their visiting the graveyard a man had committed suicide and was buried there. Being light-hearted and not over-scrupulous the young people made the graveyard their playground for that evening and both of them carried their mischievous temperament so far as to dance and jump over the grave of the man who had committed suicide, and brought matters to a climax by even digging out the cross that was imbedded in the grave. </p><p>When they returned home they fell ill. They were restless, looked at every one with fiery eyes, and became so uncontrollable that they had to be safeguarded within the precincts of a room. They would tear their clothes, and if women crossed their way in the house or held them they would be sent reeling to the ground, but if men constrained them from doing anything hurtful or injurious they would partially yield to their threats. </p><p>A native woman who held some reputation as a devil-driver was called in and prepared a dish of cut fowl, flowers, and limes, which they consumed, and having faith in the treatment seemingly recovered. The elder of the two was married shortly after and went away to live with her husband.</p><p>Several days after this event there were curious happenings in the home of the unmarried girl, and this is where the ghostly doings come in. From 6 to 12 at night, showers of stones seemed to drop out of the sky into the house, smashing many panes of glass and breaking articles of furniture, but injuring none of the inmates. </p><p>A police station is located near the house, and the matter was reported there as it was first presumed to the work of mischievous persons. A dozen constables and a number of unofficial watchers were accordingly detailed to surround the house and detect if possible the throwers of the stones.</p><p>This precaution had no effect whatever. Each night the stones crushed against the windows, splintering them to tiny pieces. The girl who was supposed to be possessed of devils seemed in her normal health except for the natural nervousness of living in a house subject to such queer attacks. But it was noticed that in whatever room she happened to be, the windows of that apartment suffered more than any of the others. What increased the mystery was that on the third night great panes of glass were splintered without being struck by stones. This happened several times and in portions of the house which could not be reached by stones thrown from the outside. </p><p>Later on this same night, when the stones began to fly again, a large piece of granite after passing through a pane of glass fell at the girl’s feet while she was on her way to her bedroom. This seemed to unnerve her and while lying on her cot she fell into a deep swoon. The chief constable who was summoned found her breathless, speechless, and stiff. A physician who was also called succeeded in restoring her after much trouble but she fell into another faint soon after. She was again restored but fainted again and this happened several times during the night. </p><p>It was noticed that while she was in a swoon not a glass was broken in the house, but that as soon as she was restored the smashing began again. </p><p>The next morning she seemed to have recovered and was sitting in a chair conversing with several visitors when she again swooned. Then she became very restless and five men could barely hold her in the chair. Once she succeeded in throwing all five to the floor, but she was seized again and carried to her room where she was placed in her cot and held down. A couple of minutes later a broad pane of glass in the room door fell to the ground and was smashed to atoms. This glass was not facing the street or compound but was the centre glass of the room and the latter was the centre room of the house. </p><p>The constables who were again called in decided to try the superstitious cure of the country and sent for a Malayali devil-driver. It was some time before he could be found, and in the meantime the girl kept crying out that she wanted to go to the graveyard. Finally the Malayali devil-driver came into the room, and as soon as he approached her cot the young lady who all the while had had her eyes closed opened them and made an attempt to pounce upon him. The Malayali spoke to her in a loud and angry tone in Malayalam and while he was speaking the girl had her eyes fixed on him. The Malayali, named Kunjini Gandhu, at once began writing something on a long slip of paper and then prepared with ghee, pepper, etc. a kind of cigarette. He first rolled the long slip of paper and placed it in her hair. She stretched out her hand to take it away, but the man quickly knotted it with her hair. The young lady then commenced to spit on him. When the Malayali, with a malacca cane which he claimed had power, pointed it to her, and boldly going before her asked her in Malayalam to spit on him. She did not attempt this again. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAPqpZpzN4N-1eVf2S2H-n3aWMjKqSJWlyh_E-EgBghzjvKVeVwqeQfAYez9GJWYojaEiCqmK8qhZ6GCBSPpk1ih5I964m9QebDUN_m2CUGY3yGd0-qG7StodN5aypFId4dTzE3t6gox9i5vox9o7LIG9r5kN56HlVyaYlp0a3qSUxQ_qtnijvW-G/s903/india%20ghost%20story.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="819" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAPqpZpzN4N-1eVf2S2H-n3aWMjKqSJWlyh_E-EgBghzjvKVeVwqeQfAYez9GJWYojaEiCqmK8qhZ6GCBSPpk1ih5I964m9QebDUN_m2CUGY3yGd0-qG7StodN5aypFId4dTzE3t6gox9i5vox9o7LIG9r5kN56HlVyaYlp0a3qSUxQ_qtnijvW-G/w363-h400/india%20ghost%20story.jpeg" width="363" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Via Newspapers.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>After igniting the tip of the cigarette affair, the devil-driver gave it to her brother and told him to hold it under her nostrils so that she would inhale the smoke. Then he left and the girl became calm, probably from the effects of the narcotics used by the Malayali in making the mysterious cigarette.</p><p>At intervals after that, the glass breaking occurred and the girl became violent but the smoke of the cigarette invariably calmed her. Finally her father decided to move her to Goodalun, thirty miles from Ooty. After her departure the stone throwing and window smashing in the house ceased and nothing of the kind has happened in her new home in Goodalun. There is no doubt a psychological explanation of these queer occurrences but it is a mooted question whether the scientists can locate it. R. CHEEVER HAMILTON.</p></blockquote>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7493712084606110971.post-27207743188151915732024-01-22T04:51:00.000-08:002024-01-22T04:51:26.085-08:00Guest Post: "C" of the British Secret Service<p> <i>[John Bellen, known in the feline blogosphere for <a href="https://ihavethreecats.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">"I Have Three Cats,"</a> has recently published on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inductions-Dangerous-John-Bellen/dp/B0CR5NQ9V3/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0ZvHaITiRpcKtMWAo59Cpug2CZmNd6DbneJqxoRYxv8.9i2J0y1TO7eZ50RzgqKke74LGnqU37CB78yxey0-mlM&dib_tag=se&qid=1705587383&refinements=p_27%3ABellen&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">"Inductions Dangerous,"</a> a collection of short stories centered around the adventures of a fictional British Intelligence agent during the 1920s. I so enjoyed the book that I asked him to provide a relevant real-life story for this blog. He kindly responded with this following account about a man who played an important role in the development of Britain's modern Secret Service. Take it away, John!]</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>I have sometimes read that the British Secret Service traces its descent back to Elizabethan times. Alas, such an association is untrue. Certainly, Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I’s highly capable secretary of state, organised an excellent secret service, but that is what it was: A secret service, not THE Secret Service. A personal system, Walsingham ran it, largely paid for it and placed it at the service of his monarch and country. It died with him.</p><p>John Thurloe, secretary to the Council of State during the Cromwell’s regime, also directed an efficient secret service – aided no doubt by his duties as postmaster-general – in order to support the Commonwealth government. His organisation, like Walsingham’s, was personal, and did not survive the Restoration.</p><p>It was not until the Victorian era, when Britain began to take the responsibilities of empire seriously, that the seeds of a real secret service were planted. In 1873, the War Office appointed its first Director of Military Intelligence. Though this officer’s department was to collect information of value to the government and army, there was not much thought of secret work. Indeed, to this day, much, if not most, worthwhile intelligence is gathered openly, through newspapers and other media, handbooks and reports issued by foreign governments and, of course, through military, naval and air attachés. These officers, working out of embassies, attend by invitation foreign army and navy manoeuvres, dinners, conferences; in other words, there is nothing covert about their business. The British have usually tried to maintain that openness, to guarantee their attachés’ continued availability.</p><p>Impetus for the creation of a genuine espionage service came with the ‘spy scare’ of the later Edwardian era. Novelists, adventurers, journalists and eventually politicians in Britain started demanding that something be done about the hordes of German spies allegedly in the country. One stated that the 50,000 German waiters in Britain were spies, while another asserted that 350,000 German soldiers (half the strength of that country’s peace-time army) were secretly resident in England. This led to a spate of ‘invasion literature’. As often happens, each piece of hysteria became evidence for the next.</p><p>But the government felt it had to do something, not least because, behind the hysteria, there was a serious and growing concern regarding German intentions. The problem was given to the Committee of Imperial Defence to solve. In October, 1909, it created the Secret Service Bureau. Thus, the modern British Secret Service was born.</p><p>Divided into two sections, military and naval, the former was given to a thirty-six year old half-pay army captain named Vernon Kell to run. For the latter, the choice fell on a fifty year old Royal Navy commander on the retired list, Mansfield Smith Cumming, or C, as he came to be called.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmK4Eu0aa3KseM4oFQdR4YO8RULpuBoB4oC_0FQaT_uq6orcKMUUlNsG2qmc6MuqW14vnBoTZ0tpmFCuyp2bJg22Wp-X8-dwuLrX0cOMpf59aDQqUGsqvAIt5sC4Ll0HyQ3FHTEBfr01hwlNlXsdrY0Oe5Hj3K43sTOynZ7fJvZuO79_zJU_Q0wGa/s1750/secret%20service%20guest%20post.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1750" data-original-width="781" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmK4Eu0aa3KseM4oFQdR4YO8RULpuBoB4oC_0FQaT_uq6orcKMUUlNsG2qmc6MuqW14vnBoTZ0tpmFCuyp2bJg22Wp-X8-dwuLrX0cOMpf59aDQqUGsqvAIt5sC4Ll0HyQ3FHTEBfr01hwlNlXsdrY0Oe5Hj3K43sTOynZ7fJvZuO79_zJU_Q0wGa/w179-h400/secret%20service%20guest%20post.jpg" width="179" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Why was C selected? He had joined the Royal Navy as a twelve year old cadet and, until 1885, led the normal life of a good but undistinguished officer: several ships at sea and participation in a naval brigade (sailors used to supplement artillery or infantry on land). Then, at only twenty-six, he retired “(unfit) on Active Half Pay”. This is the first mystery of C’s life. There is no indication why he was ‘unfit’; family tradition suggests sea-sickness, but his subsequent enjoyment of small boats, on lake, river and ocean, counters this.</p><p>A smaller mystery asks what C did for the next thirteen years, though we know he spent some, if not all, of that time as first, private secretary to the Earl of Meath, then, as agent for that aristocrat’s estates in Ireland, where C’s kindness and humour won him friends among a people with no reason to like a landlord’s man.</p><p>Then, he was returned to the navy. His ‘unfitness’ may have been cured, or it may be that his new posting – Superintendent of Boom Defences (maritime barriers) at Southampton – did not need complete health. But stories of his agility – climbing rigging and masts, and diving into the sea in winter to clear a fouled propeller – indicate a man even healthier than his age should allow. In any case, C, though reduced in rank so that he could be re-employed, seemed to enjoy his time immensely. His joviality was a characteristic.</p><p>Also characteristic was his boyish sense of adventure, often with a disregard for danger. C loved mechanics, and, along with boats, had a fondness for motor-cars, becoming an early member of the Royal Automobile Club. The early days of motoring were filled with hazards but he happily raced cars in speed and endurance tests and reconnoitered routes for the RAC over roads that had never heard internal combustion. Not content with conquering the land and sea (he had helped found the Royal Motor Yacht Club in 1905), he was a founding member of the Royal Aero Club in 1906, though he didn’t obtain his ‘aviator’s certificate’ for seven years – when he was 54.</p><p>This was the man plucked from the south coast of England and plopped into Whitehall to run the Secret Service. Why C? It’s true that a member of the Committee of Imperial Defence was one of his old captains, now an admiral. It’s true that he knew Winston Churchill, by that time a cabinet member. C had also toured Europe examining the possibilities afforded by small-boat engines (then more advanced on the Continent than in Britain); it may be that his report and observations had been remembered. Aside from these clues, the mystery of his selection remains.</p><p>Once established, however, the Secret Service Bureau grew but slowly. Kell (‘K’) and C shared one clerk, but were alone in their respective departments; the British Secret Service, feared and envied by the great powers of the world, was, in reality, one middle-aged naval officer.</p><p>Though his responsibilities were initially stated as providing information to the Admiralty, his boss was the War Office: C was administratively under the War Office’s Directorate of Military Operations’ fifth branch (MO5). This created problems, as MO5 favoured K, and handed over to him a number of agents already being run; this, despite the clarified division of labour that put foreign espionage into C’s hands. He was initially even refused permission to view War Office records. He spent most of his first months waiting in his office in Victoria Street to be contacted – even though only his bosses knew he was there. At one point, he seriously considered resigning from this vaguely Kafka-esque situation, thinking he would leave government service ‘discredited’.</p><p>With encouragement from some in the Admiralty, C persevered, and, slowly, managed to wrest some control for his tiny department from others. He started meeting agents alone – previously, he had to have a colleague present – learned German to better understand some contacts, and gradually built a respectable position for himself. That others valued him is seen in his being made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, on the eve of the Great War.</p><p>This is no place to describe the large and complicated history of the Secret Service in that gigantic conflict. It’s sufficient to note that at the war’s start, headquarters comprised four officers, four clerks, and five others. By 1917, there were more than forty officers, while staff abroad had increased ‘out of all bounds’. The number of agents must have been staggering. C was knighted in 1919. (For those – such as myself - who keep track of such things, the service became officially known as MO5j in 1914; MI1c in early 1916; MI6 in 1920 – when that designation was left empty by the war-time censorship department that had used it was disbanded. But by then, its members just called it the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).)</p><p>C rightly deserves the overused term ‘legendary’, for there are actual legends about him. They often concern his love of speed, inherited, with tragic results, by his son Alaister. The younger Cumming was an officer in a Highland regiment when the Great War broke out, and his father went to France to visit him. Alastair was behind the wheel of a Rolls Royce, with his father as passenger. The young man lost control of the car when a tire blew and there was a horrible wreck. Alastair received mortal injuries, while C was trapped under the car. Hearing his son mutter in discomfort, C used a penknife to cut off the remains of his leg, freeing himself to go to his boy. Whether or not the last part is true, it was believed even by so cynical a man as Compton Mackenzie, then chief of C’s Aegean Sea operations, and later a best-selling author. The actions attributed to C were viewed as perfectly credible by all who knew him.</p><p>There were many stories told of him, such as how he had his missing leg replaced by one of cork; he would unnerve guests by absent-mindedly sticking a letter-opener into it. He used a child’s scooter to propel himself around the corridors of Secret Service headquarters. He was a ‘gay dog’ who ‘put up his eyeglass [monocle] at the ladies’. Indeed, he was probably the source of the Secret Service tradition of having the prettiest secretaries in Whitehall. He collected motor-cars, having at one time, six, along with a motorcycle with sidecar, and a Great War tank, on which he would take children for rides. C was a favourite with youngsters, whether related by blood or marriage, or just proximity. He never lost his sense of fun, and would sometimes tell a field operator that after the war, the two of them would go spying together in disguise, as it was ‘capital sport’.</p><p>Certainly, he could be ruthless; one didn’t manage a world-wide espionage organisation otherwise. He was also efficient and intelligent: it was he who first divided an espionage service into different collection and analysis departments, so that those who gathered the information passed it on to cooler, disinterested parties for study. It may be too that he coined the term ‘station’ for secret service units permanently based abroad. In the navy, a station referred to a squadron of ships permanently assigned to a particular location (eg. the China Station, the South America Station.)</p><p>But the weight of running his one-man show, which eventually employed thousands, took its toll, and Sir Mansfield Smith Cumming died in 1923, still ‘in harness’, passing away while sitting in his office, at 64; younger than many, older than most, at the end of a very busy life. C probably would have been happy with that.</p>Undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16214242522330278662noreply@blogger.com8