Daily History Picture: Stonehenge from the Air May 8, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesGreek Hot Air Balloon? May 7, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : AncientThis little tale appears in a vaguely sceptical Aulus Gellius, whose Attic Nights provides some very enjoyable reading for those wishing to travel back into the ancient world. that which Archytas the Pythagorean [obit 347 BC] is said to have devised and accomplished ought to seem no less marvellous, but yet not wholly absurd. For […]
Bodies in Elm, 1760? May 6, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernBeach has recently been searching for records of bodies within trees. There is a lot ill-informed nonsense about such tree burials (in a living tree) as being part of a British magical tradition. Here is one quoted reference from the Gentleman’s Magazine, 30 (1760), pp. 346. The problem is that the text does not live […]
Daily History Picture: Stoning Stephen May 5, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesThe society where this picture this manuscript was illuminated clearly had an embarrassing lack of experience with actual stoning…
Daily History Picture: German Uboat at Hastings May 4, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesPresumably the same uboat as a couple of weeks ago… She came afloat as she was being towed away for scrap.
Evans Wentz and Sex May 4, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernBeach has had talked about Walter and his thesis, Walter and the fairies, Walter and money, now is it is time for Walter with no clothes on: Walter Yeeling Evans Wentz’s sexual habits. At this point we better recite the ritual ‘not that there is anything wrong with that’. Beach has absolutely no interest in […]
Daily History Picture: Parade May 3, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesEvans Wentz and Money May 3, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, ModernRegular readers will know that over the years Beach has confessed to a fascination for Walter Yeeling Evans Wentz, the American mystic and sometime fairy writer. Beach is interested, above all, in Walter and the fairies. However, there are a number of other aspects of Evans Wentz’s life that are intriguing and that help to […]
Daily History Picture: Austrian Suicides May 2, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical PicturesEvans Wentz’s Quest for Fairies May 2, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernBeach has recently become interested in Walter Yeeling Evans Wentz (or Evans-Wentz as he became)* the American mystic who in his late twenties and early thirties researched Breton, British and Irish fairies, before running off to India to become a guru. Many readers will know Evans Wentz for his Fairy Faith In Celtic Countries, the […]
Beachcombed 83 May 1, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : BeachcombedDear Reader, semester winding down and lots of sleep. Evidently some dream poison to sweat out. There follow the most interesting words sent in to StrangeHistory. Thanks to all contributors and linkers… Enjoy May and live and prosper. Beach A Duel in the Middle of Battle: Fred finds a Japanese-German sword fight and Bruce speculates… […]
Index Biography #41: Prize a book April 30, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient***Stephen C got this*** 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 life. We offered up […]
The Coalville Lioness April 29, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : ModernYou wake up at 2.00 AM and you hear an eerie moaning outside in the garden. You get out of your bed and walk over to the window and lift the glass. The cold of an English winters rushes over you and there, in the dark, between the W.C. and the geraniums, you spot a moving […]
The One Percent Victorian Style April 28, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Actualite, Contemporary, ModernA phrase that has recently gained more and more currency: even to the point where undergraduates shout it out in class discussion, is ‘the one percent’. It is an offhand, contemptuous way of referring to the internationally wealthy.* Beach was delighted, the other day, to come across, in a ghost story no less, to the […]