August 2011
111 posts
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Pyramid in the Balkans?
A pyramid has been discovered in Bosnia-Herzegovina that is larger, older and more perfectly oriented than Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza. Located near the city of Visoko, not only is it the first pyramid to be discovered in Europe, but it is also the largest valley of pyramids in the world.
The pyramid in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been dated at over 12,000 years old, and it also features the...
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Eliza Battle: Steamship, Pleasureboat, and Grave
Launched in Indiana in 1852, the Eliza Battle was a luxury wooden-hulled paddle steamer. It was regularly used to entertain Presidents and other VIPs. Disaster struck on a cold night in February 1858, when the steamer navigated the Tombigbee. A fire started on cotton bales on the main deck and the strong winds that night helped the fire quickly spread out of control. Unmanned, Eliza Battle...
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Weirdly Prophetic Prophecies
Ursula Southeil (Mother Shipton, 1488–1561) is a relatively famous English prophetess. There is much modern debate about the veracity of her predictions, but whether or not she wrote the most famous one attributed to her, she was known as a prophetess at the time of Samuel Pepys, as he wrote about the Royal family discussing her predictions. Here are some of her more interesting prophesies:
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Yoshitsune, Japanese Badass
A famous Japanese hero, son of Yoshitomo who was murdered by a member of the Taira clan. Intent on avenging his father, Yoshitsune went into the woods where he was instructed in all the martial arts by the King of the demons. When he returned to society, he annihilated the Taira clan and lived happily ever after.
(I would like to point out, an awesome nickname is in the middle of his name, too....
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The Woman Who Birthed Rabbits
Mary Toft was an English woman from Godalming, Surrey, who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy when she tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits. According to contemporary reports, “[Male midwife John Howard] delivered “three legs of a Cat of a Tabby Colour, and one leg of a Rabbet: the guts were as a Cat’s and in them were three pieces of the...
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Which one is the real St. Valentine?
There are actually multiple St. Valentines.
The third St. Valentine was in Spain. Both his sister and brother were also canonized. Their parents must have done something right. This Valentine was martyred in 715 by invading Moors.
The second was a missionary bishop (i.e. his job was to convert people) in Rhaetia, the area on the border of modern Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. He died in 470...
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“The enraged Turkish soldiers … gave no quarter. When they had massacred...”
– a observer describes the sack of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453
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Kellogg, Eugenics Enthusiast
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg created the first cereal with his brother, inventing for us modern humans the bountiful (and sugary) breakfast we can enjoy on a small budget. But the reason he created it was because he thought it would help keep little boys from masturbating.
See, Dr. Kellogg believed — and was backed by some interesting experiments — that young masturbation caused, among...
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Alexander The Great's Dad Was Assasinated?
I was really surprised I had not heard of this before. Here’s the facts:
Philip II of Macedon was Alexander the Great’s father, and he started the conquering by taking the Greek cities of Thessaly and Olynthus, the area of Hebrus, the Thracian Eumolpia, and some other less important places.
He was killed by Pausanius, a Macedonian nobleman and his bodyguard.
Motive: Some believe...
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Emperor Kangxi of China
Kangxi became emperor during the Qing Dynasty
He ascended the throne at the age of 8, and ruled for 61 years (1661 to 1722)
Kangxi took five tours of South China, paying special attention to conservancy projects. He would also promote local officials known for being incorruptible.
Kangxi’s reign and that of his successor are known as “Kang Qian Sheng Shi” (Kang and Qianlong)...
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Magical Map of North America! →
The colors, boundaries, and time changes as you watch! Completely historically accurate, too! Your’s for just a click!
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The Bombing of Guernica
The first bombing on a major scale was at the town of Guernica, during the Spanish Civil War. It happened April 27th, 1937, and was carried out by German soldiers in German planes working for the fascist dictator Francisco Franco at Hitler’s behest. (Germany used this war basically as a training program for their inexperienced soldiers. It was just a bonus that Franco won.) The air attack...
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Geography Created History →
This is really a shortened version of Guns, Germs, and Steel, which I consider essential reading for any true history buff. But if you’re not tough enough to handle the extremely long (and heavy) tome, this is a nice summary of the big stuff.
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Salem Witch Trials
Since today in 1692, eight people were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, here is some factoids about Salem.
The Salem witch executions actually began with Goody Glover, in 1688. Following an argument with laundress Goody Glover, Martha Goodwin, 13, had begun exhibiting bizarre behavior. Days later her younger brother and two sisters also started acting strangely. Glover was arrested,tried, and...
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“You have acted quite properly, Pliny, in examining the cases of those Christians...”
– Emperor Trajan’s reply to Pliny the Younger, who enquired about how to persecute Christians in his province
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“It is my rule, Your Majesty, to report to you anything that worries me, for I...”
– Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, asks advice from the Emperor Trajan about the Christians there
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This Day In History
Hawaii became the 50th state in the United States, giving the flag it’s 50th star and tourists everywhere a new “exotic” vacation spot that was still in the country.
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Now I Know Why Peter Called Himself That
Demosthenes, the Athenian statesman, used his first legal speech at the age of 20 to literally talk his guardians out of his inheritance. Other statesmen were promoting appeasement when Philip II of Macedon started conquering Greece, but Demosthenes, unconcerned that Phillip was a dirty ruthless bastard, wrote scathing attacks on Phillip’s motives and character. Thebes was harshly punished for...
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Mummy's Mysterious Medicine Murder?
(Sorry for the title, I just couldn’t resist.)
Hatshepsut, self-proclaimed Pharaoh of Egypt, may have died from skin treatments - kind of like all the skin cancer tanners get today. The contents of a flask she was buried with have recently been analyzed, and besides containing oils that would have helped relieve Hatshepsut’s eczema, there was an aromatic to make the concoction...
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Ancient Eastern Europeans Magically Disappeared
The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture (say that five times fast) was a late Neolithic culture that flourished between 5500 BC and 2750 BC in Eastern Europe. At their height, the Cucuteni-Trypillian society built the largest Neolithic settlements in Europe, with some housing up to 15,000 people. One of the biggest mysteries of this culture is that every 60 to 80 years they would burn their entire...
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“Another time he called of a morning and was taken into the Cabinet; as he sat by...”
– the journal of Margaret Bayard Smith, newspaper owner’s wife and friend of Jefferson
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“This woman [Mary Latham], being rejected by a young man whom she had an...”
– John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts colony, 1641
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““There was in my monastery a certain monk, Justus by name, skilled in...”
– Pope Gregory I (the Great) writing on when he was the abbot of a Benedictine monastery. One of the rules St. Benedict had created was that all property was to be held in common in his monasteries, and personal possessions were forbidden.
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History of India on a Map →
This is a flash map of India’s history. It lets you choose the time (for example, the medieval period) and the type of maps (for example the Mughals, or the modern states). My only issue was that is doesn’t explain some of the maps. If anyone knew the Harshavardhana Empire before checking this map, brag a little in my questions. And let me know what it was, too, please.
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How WWII Could Have Ended
On 17 September 1944 thousands of paratroopers descended from the sky by parachute or glider up to 150 km behind enemy lines. Their goal: to secure to bridges across the rivers in Holland so that the Allied army could advance rapidly northwards and turn right into the lowlands of Germany, hereby skirting around the Siegfried line, the German defence line. If all carried out as planned it...
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THE US STANDARD RAILROAD GAUGE IS 4 FEET, 8.5...
The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. How did this happen?
Well, the US railway gauge came from the English gauge, brought over by some expats who built the first US railways.
The English built them like this because the first rail lines were the same gauge as the pre-rail tramways.
The...
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Roanoke Loved August 18th
I was going over a list of thing that happened on this day in history, and surprisingly two had to do with Roanoke.
In the Roanoke Island colony, Ellinor and Ananias Dare become parents of a baby girl whom they name Virginia, the first English child born in what would become the United States. (1587)
John White, the leader of 117 colonists sent in 1587 to Roanoke Island (North Carolina) to...
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“If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just...”
– Sojourner Truth (On this date in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote.)
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The Pony Express
The pony express was never actually a viable mail route, it was simply too expensive for ordinary people. It was actually one of the first companies to be created entirely to get government contracts; the owners thought the federal government would use them for war news. At the time, there were multiple wars with Native Americans, as well as tensions across the Mexican border. In the end, the...
