jump to navigation
  • ABCs: When and What April 17, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    ABCs: When and What

    ABCs (alien big cats) is the useful acronym given to descriptions of exotic felines that allegedly live wild in the British and Irish countryside. Between April 2004 and July 2005 the British Big Cats society recorded some 2,123 sightings of ABCs from pumas to lynxes. What is going on here? Well, there are a couple […]

    Daily History Picture: WW1 French soldiers April 16, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: WW1 French soldiers

    French soldiers in WW1, beautifully colorised.

    Mermaid Monday: Killed with Sticks April 16, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Mermaid Monday: Killed with Sticks

    This record is dated ‘Exeter, November, 1737’, presumably it appeared in some local newspaper. It is rather rare to find a two legged mermaid, though they are not unprecedented. Some Fishermen near the city, drawing their Net ashore, a creature of two legs, having human shape, leapt out and ran away very swiftly. Not being […]

    The Mysterious Case of the Falkland Toothpaste Tube April 15, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    The Mysterious Case of the Falkland Toothpaste Tube

    Introduction The spring of 1982 was a time of some tension in the South Atlantic and would climax with Argentine troops landing on Falklands, and the subsequent battles between the British taskforce and the Argentinean army and navy. However, as so often when the gods in Olympus are still deciding which side to back, farce […]

    Die of the Pox or on the Gallows? April 13, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Die of the Pox or on the Gallows?

    Pox or the Gallows The lines are certainly old ones. A mighty aristocrat offended by some commoner asks whether the man before him will die of the pox or on the gallows tree. The commoner shoots back ‘that depends whether I embrace your Lordship’s mistress or your principles’. No question that it’s memorable. But where […]

    Daily History Picture: Germany Invades Britain April 13, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Germany Invades Britain

    New York newspaper imagines invasion Sep 1940.

    York-London Horse Race April 12, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    York-London Horse Race

    This story comes out of Kirby’s Wonderful Museum, vol IV, p. 359. Kirby claimed to have extracted it from a 1618 publication, The Abridgement of the English Chronicle. We are back to stupid sport bets. In this moneth [but which year?], John Lepton of Kepwick, in the county of Yorke, Esquire, a gentleman of an […]

    Daily History Picture: German Patrol in Alsace April 12, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: German Patrol in Alsace

    German patrol in Alsace before WW1

    Daily History Picture: Ice Cold Drinks April 11, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Ice Cold Drinks

    Ice cold drinks in 1940s New York

    Daily History Picture: German WW1 Toys April 10, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: German WW1 Toys

    British cartoon about German Christmas presents in the war.

    Daily History Picture: Ghost Illusion April 9, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Ghost Illusion

    Ghost illusion

    Mermaid Monday: Lough Swilly Mermaid Encounter April 9, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Mermaid Monday: Lough Swilly Mermaid Encounter

    This is an 1851 report from Lough Swilly, a long sea inlet on the coast of Donegal. This was a very poor area in the nineteenth century. A correspondent has solemnly assured us that the crew of a boat in Lough Swilly, on the 4th inst. [October], saw, within twenty yards of them, a real […]

    Victorian Urban Legend: Doppelganger April 8, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Victorian Urban Legend: Doppelganger

    Doppelganger and Familiar Robber This is a very unusual story and has two acts. Note that it is put here for the familiar robbers story in the second part: the subject of two previous posts, one from the US one from Spain. But is the doppelganger tale also an urban legend? The story is messy. […]

    Iron Key to a Lost World April 7, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Medieval
    Iron Key to a Lost World

      Leaving Spain In 1492 Spain’s Jews were given an awful choice. They were, by royal fiat, to convert to Christianity or they would be kicked out of the country. The majority half-halfheartedly took on the new religion. However, a minority of as many as 100,000, loyal to the God of their fathers, took, instead, […]

    Daily History Picture: Headless Ghost April 6, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Headless Ghost

    Headless ghost glimpsed at crossroads…