#February 28, 1874: the curious case of the “baronet” from Wagga Wagga
Arthur Orton, who became known as the Tichborne Claimant, was found guilty of perjury on this day, February 28, 1874, after the longest trial in English history. The bizarre case, […]
Silver City Cemetery: all that remain of a once-booming mining town.
The Silver City Cemetery looks as if it were pulled directly from a Western movie: worn headstones, scraggly trees, and peeling picket fences which create a beautiful, yet nostalgic, portrait […]
Treadwell: the ruins of an Alaskan gold mine that form a gorgeous ghost town.
Treadwell, just south of Douglas, Alaska, has seen better days: the former mining town was a company mining town for the workers and their families for up to four mines […]
#February 24, 1825: Thomas Bowdler, the man who Re-wrote the “Offensive” Shakespeare
Thomas Bowdler, a doctor and philanthropist, popular to be the man who took all the naughty bits out of Shakespeare, died on this day, February 24, 1825, even if he […]
#February 18, 1966: the casket that carried assassinated President John F. Kennedy buried at sea.
Dallas, Texas, USA. The casket used to carry the body of assassinated President John F. Kennedy from Dallas to Washington was, on this day, February 18, 1966, parachuted into oblivion. […]
#February 16, 1923: A deadly bite, or King Tut’s revenge?
Cairo, Egypt. February 16, 1923, and a discovery that would have made Indiana Jones himself envious: archaeologist Howard Carter opened the sealed doorway leading to the burial chamber and sarcophagus […]
#February 14, 1779: Captain James Cook’s last adventure
Captain James Cook, the legendary British explorer, was savagely murdered on this day, February 14 (but in 1779!) after a confrontation with islanders at Hawaii who had mistaken him for […]
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall
On a day usually set aside for romance and sweet lovers, despite its dark origin, a trap was set that ended the crime careers of seven men and launched Al […]
#February 13, 1945: Ancient Dresden reduced to rubble
February 13, 1945. On this day, waves of British bombers began reducing one of the Germany’s (and world) most beautiful cities to rubble. Thousands were to die in the ensuing […]
25 Great Insults From 18th Century British Slang
For history enthusiasts and linguists, “You jerk” just doesn’t have the same ring as “You unlicked cub,” an insult from Georgian England. And there’s more where that came from if […]
The dark origins of the fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most famous (and appreciated) fairy tales in the world, first related in 1812 when the Grimm brothers published their collection […]
“Leatherman”: the mystery man who walked along the same path for 30 years
The Sparta Cemetery in Ossining, New York, at the crest of an undulating ridge overlooking the Hudson River, is old enough that many of the marble headstones dates before 1900. […]
Don’t touch the Royals: the absurd death of the Queen of Siam in the 19th Century
Life is known to have a common destiny for everyone: death. There have been, throughout history, really lot of famous people who died in the most absurd ways, and there […]
Ramesses II: the first (and probably the last) mummy to receive a passport!
Ramesses II is often considered the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt: he reigned for over 60 years and his achievements were not matched by the pharaohs who preceded or succeeded […]
Baldpate Inn in Estes Park: the curious inn that houses 30,000 keys
In the middle of the Rocky Mountains it may seem like you couldn’t be farther away from London, Frankenstein’s Castle, or Nazi Germany. However, at the historic Baldpate Inn in […]
Today is 02/02/2020: the first palindrome day after 909 years
Today is a very special day: it is not only the day on which Christians celebrate Candlemas, or Super Bowl Sunday and Groundhog Day, but the date is also a […]
29/30/31 January: the Merla days (hen blackbird), according to tradition are the coldest days of the year ~
It was a very, very cold Winter. That year the month of January put every effort to live up to his reputation as a freezing, windy month. The snow was […]
La Giubiana: a curious tradition linked to the last Thursday of January in Northern Italy
A great fire that will illuminate the darkness, with the hope that it will burn well and quickly so as to drive away the winter and propitiate the year that […]
The “anomalous” burial of a child in a 5th century Umbrian cemetery
Lugnano in Teverina is a small village, located in the region of central Italy Umbria, surrounded by green hills that descend towards the valley of the Tiber river. At the […]
A forest of pillars, recalling the Holocaust: the controversial Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin
In the 15 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the nation, Germany has struggled to come to terms with its Nazi past. Nowhere has […]
Chinese New Year 2020: the year of the Golden Rat. History and traditions of a millenary festival.
Two days ago, on January 25, the new year began according to the traditional Chinese calendar, a holiday period that will end on February 8, with the start of the […]
Macuti Lighthouse and Shipwreck – Mozambique
We are in Beira, Mozambique. Macuti Beach is along the main coast road between Beira city and the airport. If you find yourself there, a visit to the beach it’s […]
Inez Clarke, the haunted statue of Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery that lives again whenever there is a thunderstorm
At Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois, a statue stands out among the tombstones, protected behind glass. But this statue, as ordinary as it may appear, is unlike the others. Some […]
Fort de la Chartreuse: the fort that was never used…as a fort!
The Fort de la Chartreuse is an about 150-year-old fortification that once should have been defend the Amercœur neighborhood of Liège in Belgium, but is now an abandoned big ruin […]
Cemitério de Navios – The Angolan Ship Cemetery
We are in Angola. Sitting on the Western Coast of Africa, the port of Luanda is the capital and largest city in a nation that has been one of Africa’s […]
Udre Udre’s Grave: in Fiji islands, the resting place of the most prolific cannibal of all time.
Everybody loves a good horror story, even if it’s about cannibals. If Udre Udre doesn’t enjoy the same popularity as Issei Sagawa, the Japanese man who, while living in Paris […]
Paris through a Nazi’s lens: Propaganda pictures of Occupied France in 1940’s
André Zucca (1897-1973) was a French photographer and Nazi collaborator, popular thanks to his work with the German propaganda magazine Signal. Born in 1897 in Paris, son of an Italian […]
Al `Arish: an abandoned fishing village in pre-oil Qatar.
We are in Qatar. Abandoned villages once inhabited by fisherman and pearl drivers speckle the northern coast. They’re usually small, and at times boasting no more than five or six […]
“Half-Hangit” Maggie Dickson: the woman who survived the hangman’s noose.
Maggie Dickson was consigned to the gallows on Edinburgh’s historic Grassmarket on September 2, 1724. So, it was unlikely that anyone attending her public execution thought they would see her […]