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THE TERRIBLE USE OF DEADLY GAS BY THE GERMANS DURING THE BATTLE OF YPRES.
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Today 108 years ago, on April 22, 1915, the Second Battle of Ypres began, marking the first use of poisonous chlorine gas in warfare. Since 1914 the Germans had been experimenting with chlorine gas and its potential of breaking the trench stalemate on the Western Front. They planned to use…
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On a sweltering day in 1937, there was nothing quite as satisfying as enjoying a cool treat to beat the heat.
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For many children, a simple pleasure like eating ice was the perfect way to cool down. Whether it was a block of ice from a local vendor or a homemade snow cone, the refreshing chill was a moment of relief and delight. These small moments captured the essence of summer—where…
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Garrote Execution.
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The garrote is a device thatstrangles a person to death. It very common once, is no longer sanctioned by law in any country though training in its use is still carried out in the French Foreign Legion. It was widely employed in 17th and 18th century India as an assassination…
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John Smith – who po!s0ned his fiancée.
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On Monday the 15th of March 1824, 25 year old John Smith climbed the steps of Lincoln Castle’s Cobb Tower to the gallows erected on the flat roof. He was to hang for the murder of 24-year-old Sarah Arrowsmith, who was his fiancée. A large crowd had assembled to…
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John Lee – “The man they could not hang”.
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One of hangman James Berry’s most famous (non) jobs was the strange case of John Lee at 8.00 a.m. on Monday the 23rd of February 1885 at Exeter prison. All the normal preparations were made on the gallows, set up in the coach house, but when Berry operated the lever,…
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The Apache Woman Warrior Who Helped Lead Resistance to European Invaders.
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Lozen fought against Mexican and American forces for 30 years, earning the nickname ‘Apache Joan of Arc.’ Native American warriors like Sitting Bull (Lakota), Tecumseh (Shawnee) and Geronimo (Apache) have long been celebrated as defenders of Indigenous territories. Their courageous resistance to foreign invaders helped to ensure cultural survival. One…
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Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon The Hidden Disabled Cousins of Queen Elizabeth.
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Nerissa Jane Irene Bowes-Lyon (18 February 1919 – 22 January 1986) and Katherine Juliet Bowes-Lyon (4 July 1926 – 23 February 2014) were two of the daughters of John Herbert Bowes-Lyon and his wife Fenella (née Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis). John was the brother of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother, so the…
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Gordon Frederick Cummins – the “Blackout Ripper”.
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A serial killer stalked the streets of London in February 1942. He murdered four women over a six day period. The first victim was 40 year old Evelyn Hamilton whose body was discovered in an air raid shelter at Montagu Place in Marylebone on Sunday the 7th of February. …
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One of the worst Nazi concentration camps uncovered by Allied troops during liberation was in Wobbelin, Germany.
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Soldiers of three Allied units––the 82nd U.S. Airborne Division, the Eighth Infantry Division of the Ninth U.S. Army and airborne troops of the Second British Army––entered the camp on May 4, 1945 and found sick, starving inmates barely surviving under indescribable conditions of filth and squalor. It’s estimated that at…
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Ghost Ship” Called The Ss Ourang Medan.
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In the 1940s, an eerie story about a mysterious “ghost ship” called the SS Ourang Medan began appearing in newspapers around the world. Each version of the tale varied slightly, but most agreed on a few key points. The Dutch vessel was traveling through the Strait of Malacca near Indonesia…