Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog

Extraordinary shot of Clinton with two other presidents.

Extraordinary map showing birth out of marriage. Very complex but fascinating patterning.

A childhood scene from the middle ages.

The Coker Hill haunting is unusual, first, in that we know that the locals believed it was a case of ‘overlooking’ or witchcraft (rather than a ghost); and, second, in that we know two of the spells employed against this malicious use of witchcraft. Spell One Matters were beginning to look serious and it is […]

Young girl in Pittsburgh, 1950s: hopefully well and in her 70s today.

The journalist himself arrived once the haunting had officially come to an end. However, he found one individual, ‘a well-to-do, respectable, intelligent man’, who had been in the building on Sunday 13 June when as many as three hundred neighbours had gathered to hear the noises. When I got in the sound seemed to be […]

The haunting began after the resident mother had a fit 4 June 1880. Noises started up immediately around the house. This went on for several nights – the knocking performances commencing shortly after midnight, in the orthodox fashion. The woman became somewhat alarmed these singular visitations, she could not sleep, the children were frightened, and […]

1920s fairy sketch from British magazine.

Beach has recently become interested in a nineteenth-century ghost case from Somerset in southern England that has it all: there are witches, there are sprites, there are magpies, there are spells and counter spells, there is a spirit that rolls around the room, and there is a magic lantern.  There are unfortunately few sources: only […]

Dear Reader, a weird end to February with a sudden blizzard that has covered our Italian village. Biggest snowfall I’ve seen here in ten days, so we are all here at home. There follow the most interesting words sent in to StrangeHistory. Thanks to all contributors and linkers… Note that the new email address is drbeachcombing […]

***Tineke gets it, 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 previously […]

German tank costs in WW2: nice graphic

Did you hear the one about the tenth-century robot created by a pope no less? Several books and authors credit the invention of a talking, walking machine by Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II, obit 1003) and the source is interesting. But, of course, there are no microchips, no nuts and bolts and, in fact, […]

This little report was printed in the Daily Telegraph in November 1886. The article in question gives a series of classic mermaid sightings, but starts with one that the journalist had personally heard of and that had purely local interest. The problem is: where are we? A boatman lately told me that about two years […]

Soviet nuclear advice: duck before the mushroom cloud. 28 Feb 2018, Nathaniel S: ‘For years I had a puzzling memory that during the first grade (1962 – 63, age 6) in my hometown near Seattle, we kids were taught “a new kind of fire drill”. The familiar type of fire drill involved forming a line […]