Daily History Picture: WW1 Crater May 25, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesThis picture is from Messines, Flanders, 1917. A massive crater created by 19 British mines under German positions. ‘The Image Works’. The blast was allegedly heard in London: memories of the audible Somme bombardment.
Contacting Mars in the Late Nineteenth Century May 25, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernIn the nineteenth century humans noted a series of unusual lights from different planets and moons. In the very late nineteenth century some speculated that these lights might be attempts to contact the earth: we have previously looked at an example involving the moon and Charles Fort. This was particularly true with the sighting of […]
Death by Bell Ringing May 24, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval, ModernIn a moment of divine madness, a couple of years ago, Beach asked a question about knights and lightning: basically were sardine cans on horsebacks with long lances natural lightning rods? He has been inspired today to ask another lightning question. The following passage is taken from Wikipedia page on bell-ringers, one of Wiks less […]
Daily History Picture: Family Murdered May 24, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesA Poxy Invasion of Europe: 1340s May 23, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : MedievalSo here’s the thing. A month ago StrangeHistory put up a post asking what would have happened had Europeans arrived in the New World in the fifteenth and sixteenth century without viruses being involved. The question was would Europeans have managed to conquer American real estate? There were lots of interesting answers from readers: all […]
Daily History Picture: French Special Forces May 22, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : History RoundupsCredulity and Animal Lore in Italy May 22, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, ModernBeach has recently been enjoying serpent folklore. This study has led him to question, as often happens to inadequate human beings when new information comes along, ‘facts’ that has been fed him in his time living in Italy: almost a decade now. Here are six involving reptiles and their relatives. Some of these Beach discounted […]
Daily History Picture: Medieval Mind May 21, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesTwo Monmouth Moments May 21, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernThe Duke of Monmouth was the illegitimate son of Charles II and a bit of a ‘tosser’ to use the northern vernacular: he looks, in the portrait above, like an underwear model trying to be ‘hot’, or a nineteen year old who has just made it into a boy band. There is no question that he was […]
The Greene County Wild Man May 20, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernWhen we think wild men most readers will think sasquatch and yeti: when people in the nineteenth century (and before) thought wild men they thought lunatics or hermits who had gone to live in the wood and who had lost touch with humanity. Perhaps in mythic terms there is not that much difference? However, this […]
Daily History Picture: McCartney and Jagger May 20, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesThe Durham Serpent May 19, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernHere is a weird little story that allegedly appears in St Nicholas’ Parochial Register, Durham for 1568. Mdm. that a certain Italian brought into the cittie of Durham, the 11th day of June, in the yeare above sayd, a very great strange and monstrous serpent, in length sixteen feet, in quantitie and dimentions greater than a […]
Daily History Picture: Murder in the Caribbean May 19, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesThe Mysterious Erich von Richthofen May 18, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ContemporaryThe King and Country debate has been described previously on this blog. It was a talk at Oxford Students’ Union 9 Feb 1933, which saw 275 to 153 students vote for the motion ‘that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country’. This surprisingly pacifist stance from a major British institution attracted […]