Bowing to Horses and Dragon’s Blood! November 20, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernTwo magic horse stories recently, one modern and one medieval. This further example of horse witchcraft comes from the second half of the nineteenth century in Retford in the English Midlands. The story begins with a classic example of witch striking, though look out for an unusual addition, dragon’s blood! At Retford, the other day, […]
The Wessel Coins #4: The Article November 18, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, ModernThe Wessel Coins, for those who did not read earlier posts, were a series of medieval Kilwan coins (Kilwa = the east coast of Africa) and modern Dutch India Company coins that were found in 1944 on a beach on the Wessel Islands off the coast of northern Australia. Their presence in Australian sand, particularly […]
Dreaming Murder in Parliament #11: A Conclusion November 17, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern***Dedicated to all those, who have helped Beach with this series, particularly Bob S*** A couple of comments before driving on to a general conclusion on the Perceval murder [for all previous posts follow this link], comments that will surprise no one who reads this blog regularly. Beach is a hoary old sceptic. He […]
How Islam Created the Italian Renaissance November 16, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval, ModernThe Renaissance! What’s not to like: Leo flying; Micky chipping at marble; men in tights and women in bodices; the pop, snap, crackle of Kultur; and cherubs falling from the sky like hailstone. According to the textbooks fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italians, more particularly the urban Italians of northern Italy rediscovered the Greek and Romans and […]
The Last Single Combat? November 15, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Medieval, ModernSingle Combat is not strictly the same as a duel, where two individuals meet to settle a matter of honour. In single combat a member of one army and a member from another meet before battle, either to warm up the ranks or, better still, to settle the affair pacifically without any one else having […]
The Last Stoning in Ireland November 13, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernOk this title is a provocation. Saying the last stoning in Ireland is a bit like saying the last blizzard in Saudia Arabia or the last vegetarian meal in France. The early Irish left behind detailed law codes and there is no record of anyone being stoned at any time. Their medieval heirs had many […]
Dreaming Murder in Parliament #10: John Williams, the Dirt (and Tin) November 12, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernSurely the most important player in the Perceval dream is the dreamer himself, John Williams. Read most modern reports about the murder and you will assume that JW was a member of the Cornish upper middle classes, a squire with clay and fox blood on his hands. In fact, John Williams was a major Victorian […]
Chinese Pied Pipers? November 8, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernBeach ran into this weird little text in the depth of the archives of a book quoting a book quoting a book. It is dated to 1820 but reported almost sixty years later in a discussion of horse whispering (a recent obsession on this blog). It does not appear in any newspaper database that we […]
Crypto Fairy Hippo Cow in Scotland and Ireland?! November 6, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Contemporary, Modern, PrehistoricFairy cows are occasional adjuncts to fairy legends and in the Gaelic world, particularly in the Irish west and the Scottish highlands there is the fairy water cow, a creature that comes from out of the water to land to graze. A little legend illustrating this from Limerick in Ireland, more specifically Lough Guir (aka […]
Dreaming Murder in Parliament #9: Mr Fox Speaks (or Lies)! November 5, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern***Many interesting comments on the Perceval case, particularly from Bob S who has done far better at digging out rare sources than Beach. Here is one that passed Strange History by completely but that Bob happily picked up*** Here is yet another source for the Williams dream from The autobiography of Sir John Rennie by […]
Dumb Duels #1: Finn vs O’Hara November 4, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernDuelling? What an absolutely charming idea. Two men and occasionally two women resolve problems with recourse to combat. But doesn’t this make for rather boring history? After all, the two meet, the two shoot/cut and one apologies or dies. There just isn’t that much potential for things to go bizarrely wrong? Well, apart from that […]
Review: The Ghost Wore Black October 30, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernThe Ghost Wore Black: Ghastly Tales from the Past is the latest in Ghosts of the Past series by Chris Woodyard. Anyone familiar with CW’s style will know by now what to expect. There are half a dozen thematic chapters, which takes us from devils, to wild men, to spring-heeled jack wannabees: ‘ghosts’ has to […]
A Russian Prince in Seventeenth-Century Rural England? October 29, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernWoolley is a rural parish in what was once Huntingdonshire and what is now Cambridgeshire. Its has provided one very worthwhile episode for the annals of bizarre history and that concerns its seventeenth-century rector Mikipher Alphery. Poor old Alphery was kicked out in 1643 during the Civil War when Cromwell and his devils were getting […]
Dreaming Murder in Parliament #8: Abercrombie and a Friend from Madras Speak! October 27, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernBeach began thinking that there was just one account of Williams dream, his own (1832). He then learnt there was a second earlier account (dating to 1828), which shows signs of not being written by the author. However, since then – in great part thanks to Wade and Bob – he has realized that there […]
The Law and Cauls October 25, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Medieval, ModernLong-time readers of the blog may remember several posts on cauls (the membrane that sometimes sticks to a child as he or she exits the womb). ‘Hooded’ children or caulbearers are often said to have psychic gifts. But there is also a tradition of excellence in law: the reason for the connection between these two […]