Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog

Brits just released from one of the Stalags. Gloriously recoloured.

Busy day here so Beach will just offer this short piece about the origin of the word ‘canard’. If true this is really a late eighteenth-century urban legend; if false it is a canard about a canard. First the basics, canard, the French for duck, came to mean any false story in nineteenth-century English. But […]

Anne Sebba, Les Parisiennes Been reading up on liberation Paris, this is the natural complement…

Marshal Ney was Napoleon’s greatest general and even those who, like Beachcombing, loathe old Boney, feel some regret when they read of how Ney was executed 7 Dec 1815. The great man stood in front of the firing squad and himself gave the order to fire after telling his soldiers: ‘I have fought a hundred battles […]

Stanley Nelson, Devil’s Walking Racial murders in the deep south…

  This wrong pocket story sounds like an urban legend though there are a worrying number of exact facts. Beach is going to try and turn up the story elsewhere and see if it is repeated. Any help? drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com During the running at the Cartmel (North Lancashire) Steeplechases Meeting on Whit-Monday, Mr. Ratcliffe. […]

Statues for the Berlin olympics: notice the flags in the background.

Crimea is the Ukrainian or Russian peninsula that stretches down into the Black Sea and whose large bays make it resemble a famished fish about to eat a smaller prey. Crimea’s geography has made it a natural place for enclaves. In ancient times, the Greeks and Romans held colonies here, as did the Byzantines and Genoese in […]

This experience from early twentieth-century Canada combines an unlikely set of the criminal and paranormal elements: sailing, wrecking and fairies. We are in Labrador and Beach has previously referenced this source – the autobiography of a local doctor – in a sasquatch post. On one occasion, as late in the fall we were creeping  up […]

This dates to 1870 and an event supposedly from Venice. An out of control automaton broke a man’s skull.

Gonzalo Guerrero was an obscure Spaniard who played several interesting roles in his life. He was, in chronological order: a poor Andalusian; a servant of the Spanish crown; a Mayan sacrificial victim; an escapee; a Mayan slave; a Mayan war leader; a Mayan father and husband; and, finally, (if we can believe the stories) food […]

This technological breakthrough could carry 2.2 megabytes!  

Dear Reader, A great October with a visit from a friend and children (early 5 Nov bonfire tonight) and, on a less positive note, a very large bill from a bastardly continental organisation: several tens of thousand dollars. The long awaited audit. There follow the most interesting words sent in to StrangeHistory. Thanks to all […]