Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog

Introducing the Magic Mersey Between 9 March 1857 and 22 June of the same year the Liverpool Mercury ran a series of thirteen articles on ‘fortune-tellers and their dupes’. I’ve just published these articles (about 30,000 words) in a pamphlet entitled: The Wizards, Astrologers, Fairy Seers and Witches of Victorian Liverpool.*  Taken together they are […]

1873, 2 women see a weird humanoid on the road between 2 Bedfordshire villages. Was it a ghost, a fairy, death or an itinerant tramp?

In nineteenth century Britain we have several references to ghosts and fairies attacking newly constructed railways…

I have had a couple of years off from the Beachcombing Blog and thought that it was time that I got to work again. When I started this blog ten years ago I was at a crossroads in my life. I’d just had a ‘bothersome’ medical diagnosis and I realised that I could no longer […]

There are several reports from early twentieth-century Ireland of crowds of boys chasing leprechauns. This is the best attested of what we might call ‘leprechaun riots’ (named for ghost riots): Belief in the fairies, the ‘good people’ is still prevalent in many of the country districts in Ireland. During the past few days the superstition has been revived in […]

Dear Friends, many of you have written over the past months to ask me how I am and whether Beachcombing will return. I can’t answer that yet: though if it comes back it will be in a different form – there is muttering for example about a podcast. For now thanks for your interest and […]

Events have unfortunately overtaken the Beachcombings and this blogger is about to travel around the world to see a sick relative. Beachcombing is suspended until better weather. Might be a week might be a month…

Marijuana facts…

Peace signature in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

British soldiers after battle of Mareth Line 1943

Messing around with numbers for the great European cities over the last two hundred years: I’m not interested so much in the biggest cities as the capitals of the most important countries. Can these be taken as barometers for the successes and failures of their countries? A few things stand out. First, growth is constant […]

1963, dragon killed in puppet show in Paris.

Some crappy days in London now, sigh. Here in any case, while I’m away, is an American mermaid case that washed up in an Irish newspaper in 1873. The original sources was supposedly the Provincetown Advertiser. We are at Brewster in Massachusetts. A supposed mermaid was seen upon the beach at Brewster last Thursday by […]

German Space program: sorry…

This is an account of a legendary meal (perhaps too legendary?) that took place in the 1860s in Paris. The host and the subject of the meal was Cora Pearl a British courtesan based in the French capital. Her cuisine was legendary for the quality and quantity of the food that was served. Indeed a […]