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  • New History Books: Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms December 26, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : New History Books
    New History Books: Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms

    Another book that passed me by… The lost religions of the near east. Gerard Russell, Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms  

    Daily History Picture: Isolate Yourself! December 25, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Isolate Yourself!

    Lost technology….

    Christmas: Waking Up to Liberation December 25, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    Christmas: Waking Up to Liberation

    Happy Christmas to all readers. This was Strange History’s photo of the year. A teen (Jewish?) girl photographed by British or Dominion (Canadian?) troops at the liberation of Bergen Belsen’s hospital, 15 April 1945. Frighteningly thin, she has just survived the worst war in human experience, on one of the most dangerous acres of European soil. […]

    Daily History Picture: Kennedy Trio December 24, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Kennedy Trio

    The three brothers….

    Supernatural Truce on Christmas Eve December 24, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Supernatural Truce on Christmas Eve

    This is a beautiful idea, but evidence for it is difficult to find. Essentially all supernatural beings agree not to haunt or terrify humans on Christmas eve. Can anyone supply any other evidence? drbeachcombing At yahoo DOT com Beach has got it back to the 1880s. Enjoy the beautiful late Victorian writing… We remember now […]

    Daily History Picture: Unicorn Raising December 23, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Unicorn Raising

    The Ravenhearts raise a unicorn…

    Magician Almost Lynched in France December 23, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Magician Almost Lynched in France

    Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin is often said to be the father of modern conjuring. But like many pioneers his innovations brought him difficulties and even the threat of physical violence: The great magician of the Palais National possesses at St. Gervais, in the vicinity of Blois, a pleasant domain where he spent the last summer. There, […]

    Daily History Picture: Communists on Holiday December 22, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Communists on Holiday

    The Rosenbergs on holiday in happier times.

    Folklore Snake Exaggerations from the US December 22, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Folklore Snake Exaggerations from the US

    Beach has often written on the myths created by American newspapers: and the (deliberately?) naive recycling of the same by British newspapers. Here is a nice example which is making fun of tales concerning snakes: the only surprise perhaps is the absence of the ‘monstrous snake’. True to form this was taken by a Lancashire newspaper (20 […]

    Daily History Picture: Amerindians against Conquistadors December 21, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Amerindians against Conquistadors

    Image from the Tlaxcalan Cortez. What are the animals?

    Ilse Koch: The Skin Harvester of Buchenwald December 21, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    Ilse Koch: The Skin Harvester of Buchenwald

    Ilse Koch, ‘the bitch of Buchenwald’, seems to have been an unpleasant human being. She was a sadist, and she was, as a matter of record, – something almost as serious in the 1940s and 1950s when her reputation was made – ‘promiscuous’: she had opportunities to sate both desires as the wife of the […]

    New History Books: The Spies of Lanikai December 20, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : New History Books
    New History Books: The Spies of Lanikai

    Donald Crandell, The Spies of Lanikai This book covers the question of pre 11 Dec spying for Pearl Harbor. Always been curious about this. Read a couple of bad chapters elsewhere… Hope this fills the gap.

    ‘God, I Hate That Field’ December 20, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval, Modern
    ‘God, I Hate That Field’

    You are a modest farmer in one of the English shires and you have twenty fields to your name. Note that these fields are not the ‘quarters’ of the North American prairies, from Manitoba to Iowa. These are the irregularly shaped bits (often very small bits) of arable land begged from the landscape and from […]

    New History Books: Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires December 19, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : New History Books
    New History Books: Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires

    This is the book I’m most excited by this month. Richard Sugg (who was planning a book on poltergeists?) Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires  

    Pre Dating Naked Emma in the Pool December 19, 2015

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Pre Dating Naked Emma in the Pool

    This description from Judge, Some West Surrey Villages, 34, introduces us to the ghost of the Silent Pool at Albury near Guildford (Surrey, Southern England) and also some of the problem associated with it. When we quit Albury Park and the old church, we are within a few yards of the Silent Pool, which is said […]