Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog

Headless bears must be one of the strangest of all British bogeys. Where do they come from, what do they mean? This is a question for another day. But here is the single most detailed account of an encounter with one. The events described too place 9 May 1584 in the house of one Stephen […]

13 cent?

Captured in an eighteenth century book

Every culture in history has had its own unique take on dreams from Viennese voodoo to Zhuang Zhou dreaming of butterflies, from the Aboriginal dream quest to lucid ‘shamanic’ dreaming, looking at your life line on your left hand as you gently snore. However, Beach has recently become intrigued by the Ancient Egyptians and dreams. […]

John Brooks on what promises to be a very good CUP book on The Battle of Jutland! It was time…

Here is a nineteenth-century version of a modern internet scam. The gentry who have more brains than money, and less honesty than either, are now, it seems, calling in the services of the telegraph to promote their purposes. A gentleman writes to the Times showing the modus operandi, which appears to be altogether new. The […]

It is a WIBT moment from the Middle Ages. At the centre of his court, the highest of the lords of the earth, Sultan al-Kamil, nephew of Saladin and protector of the holy places; and before him, an unkempt Christian holy man with a reputation for doing unpredictable things, St Francis of Assisi. The meeting took […]

Drag the reader in… Like the ‘not for weak hearted’ at cinemas.

Here is a fairy reference that is worth spending some time over. In 1919 a northwestern English scholar published this short note. In academic terms it translates into, ‘look I don’t have time for this nonsense but somewhere out there someone will be interested and, God knows, this is out of the ordinary’. No one […]

One of the most sinister figures in the Victorian countryside

As he reported in an earlier post Beach has recently been looking through the various volumes of medieval armour and arms, particularly those of Guy Francis Laking (all online and all free if you have time and inclination). Last time he did crests. This time he thought that he would try silly hats. It goes […]

Dear Reader, Two weeks of relative rest and two weeks of maps, nineteenth-century manuscripts and joy with a very small teaching load. Thanks, as always, to the multiple linkers: Amanda, Invisible, Chris S, Joan, Ricardo, Wade and others. I’ve put the very best contributions below to the posts from this month: the cream follow here, […]