Daily History Picture: Tea Drinking Brit Soldier December 18, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesMorris Dancers from Hell December 18, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, ModernImagine that you have a problem in your west African village. A witch is believed to be among you, or worse still someone has been indulging in cannibalism. How do you deal with such miscreants: there is no police force with the resources, and the local chief is at the end of his tether. Well, […]
Daily History Picture: Squirrel Love December 17, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesDaily History Picture: Time Square December 16, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesReview: Atlas of Countries that Don’t Exist December 16, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern***Thanks to Ricardo for sending this one in*** One of the most heart-breaking aspects of the rise of ISIL/ISIS/DAESH is the way the Daeshites have butchered their way through the brilliantly coloured mosaic of ethnic, linguistic and, of course, religious tiles, in northern Iraq. In twenty years when the Caliphate has been consigned to the […]
Daily History Picture: The Phallus Tree December 15, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesInteresting folklore here… A phallus nest or a phallus tree? Usually connected with witchcraft not nuns…
Black Rock Knocking Ghost December 15, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernLots of ghosts knock, but this one was monotonous in technique and timetable. We are in Black Rock just outside Dublin. During the last four or five weeks, the residents in Blackrock have been kept state of excitement the constant nocturnal visitations of a rival of the ancient spectral denizen of Cock Lane. The place […]
Daily History Picture: Waiting in the Trenches December 14, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesHistory, Ignorance and American University Students December 14, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ActualiteHow well do American and European secondary schools train children in history? Beach is a world-weary type and so is rarely surprised by just how badly his students do: but he does sometimes find himself wondering whether we couldn’t do better. Here is a nice example of the low levels of general knowledge among university […]
New History Books: In Search of Japanese Christians December 13, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : New History BooksThe First Toothache and Tooth Worms December 13, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : AncientTry and decode this Babylonian text from the seventh century B.C. After Anu [a god] had created the heaven Heaven had created the earth The earth had created the rivers, The rivers had created the marsh And the marsh had created the worm. The worm went weeping before Shamash [god of Justice] His tears flowing […]
New History Books: The Wise King December 12, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : New History BooksWitch Blood Scratching and Keeping? December 12, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernBeach has over the years collected, particularly with the help of readers, a number of stories of blood spilling and witches. The idea is that by spilling blood, typically taken with a bramble, you can cure the witch’s overlooking. There are though some variations on this theme, including to judge by this report from 15 […]
Daily History Picture: Postwar Courtship December 11, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesTwo Centuries of Historical Memory? December 11, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, ModernIn the 1980s Beach read an article on Ronald Reagan that described the then President (born in 1911) talking to veterans of Gettysburg as a child. It was a spark on kindling for the historic imagination. Here is a striking nineteenth-century equivalent that has given Beach much pleasure today. It was recorded in 1851 in […]