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  • Chasing Off Demons in Roman Slovenia April 6, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient
    Chasing Off Demons in Roman Slovenia

    Beach is coming back to the Battle of the Frigidus in 394, by all means click the link if you need to refresh your memory. As Theodosius is bringing his army up to fight Eugenius’s army something rather strange is described by the historian Rufinus. But the pagans [Eugenius’ army], who are always giving fresh […]

    Daily History Picture: The Calendar and British Summertime April 6, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: The Calendar and British Summertime

    ‘The clocks go back…’

    Daily History Picture: German Uboat on a British Beach April 5, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: German Uboat on a British Beach

    Wow…

    Victorian Urban Legend: Pickpocket and Boa Constrictor April 5, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Victorian Urban Legend: Pickpocket and Boa Constrictor

    This is a lovely tale. An elderly chap meets a young man in a tram car who confesses that he was once a pickpocket. He gives the story of his conversion. I was lounging about, when in came a gentleman with a long basket. It was the most curious basket I had ever seen, with two […]

    Evans-Pritchard and the Witch April 4, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Evans-Pritchard and the Witch

    Beach wants to induct E. E. Evans-Pritchard into his Rogue Researchers club for an experience that befell the great British anthropologist during his field work in Africa. This passage comes from his famous first chapter in Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (1937). The experience is probably from 1925 or 1926: I have only […]

    Daily History Picture: Titanic Survivors April 4, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Titanic Survivors

    Allegedly Titanic lifeboats…

    Daily History Picture: Stalin, Truman and Churchill April 3, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Stalin, Truman and Churchill

    Truman: ‘what have I got myself into here?’

    New History Books: Schutt, Cannibalism April 2, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : New History Books
    New History Books: Schutt, Cannibalism

    Bill Schutt, Cannibalism Always try and keep up with men eating men.

    The Mason’s Worst Task April 2, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    The Mason's Worst Task

    This story has haunted Beach more than any other in the last month. Is it true, fiction or an inspired urban legend? In either case it would be a brilliant detective story. Beach was reminded of Sherlock Holmes and the Engineer’s Thumb (pub 1892). It appeared in 1894 in the Wicklow People (11 Aug). Enjoy […]

    Beachcombed 82 April 1, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Beachcombed
    Beachcombed 82

    Dear Reader, Sad month, the suicide, on another continent, of one of Beachcombing’s old and beloved aupairs: she sat in a car and gassed herself. No words. You haven’t lived in the twenty-first-century until you’ve read a memorial board on Facebook. ‘I once met ‘Jenny’ for an hour in a youth hostel in Paris…’ The […]

    Index Biography 40: Prize a book March 31, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    Index Biography 40: Prize a book

    ***Solved after quite a wait by Peter G: scroll down for the answer*** The Index Biography is a quiz pioneered by this blog and introduced in a previous post. The creator must find a biography of a famous individual from history, they must turn to the index and write down eight peripheral facts about the individual’s […]

    Daily History Picture: Young Stalin March 29, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Young Stalin

    Such a nice young fellow.

    In Search of the Anomaly Gap, 1700-1800 March 29, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    In Search of the Anomaly Gap, 1700-1800

    Beach has noted before on this site the way that in the enlightenment there is an ‘anomaly gap’. It becomes, from about 1700 to 1800, unfashionable to speak about the paranormal, even in jesting terms. Actually this is a very approximate rule. In Beach’s experience some forms of the supernatural are acceptable. For instance, ghosts […]

    Daily History Picture: Snogging Death March 28, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Snogging Death

    The horror…

    Nude Ghosts March 28, 2017

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Nude Ghosts

    We looked recently at the phenomenon of ghost larks, young men and women, pretending to be ghosts for various motives. On that occasion the sub category of nude ghosts were missed out entirely, but as bizarre history is an exercise in completion here goes. An interesting number of ‘ghosts’ turned out to be local streakers. […]