A Brief History On February 14th, many of our readers celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day, a day associated with the martyrdom of the famous saint who was allegedly sentenced by a Roman emperor to be beaten with clubs and beheaded for refusing to renounce Christianity. The execution possibly occurred on February 14, 269. Valentine’s brutal demise is but one of numerous unusual deaths that are covered on History and Headlines. This article will be unlike most every other article on our site, because it will be periodically updated to provide a comprehensive, albeit not exhaustive, list of history’s more unusual deaths.…
Author: Dr. Zar
Dr. Zar
Dr. Zar graduated with a B.A. in French and history, a Master’s in History, and a Ph.D. in History. He currently teaches history in Ohio.
A Brief History Fans of the film Braveheart may recall the heir to England’s throne, future king Edward II, having eyes for men rather than his French wife, Isabella the She-wolf. One of these men, Hugh Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (c. 1286 – November 24, 1326), became a victim of that vengeful woman in one of history’s all-time most brutal executions, because as they say, well, sort of, “Hell hath no fury like a she-wolf scorned”! Digging Deeper Earlier on our site, we presented an article on hanging, drawing, and quartering. As that article mentioned, the process took multiple steps…
A Brief History On Wednesday, November 20, 2013, the cable network, FX, aired the second episode of American Horror Story: Coven to feature Danny Huston as The Axeman of New Orleans, the nickname given to a never identified serial killer responsible for at least eight unsolved murders! Digging Deeper As already covered in an earlier article on our site, an previous incarnation of American Horror Story featured two characters based on mysterious historical figures. One later episode introduced yet another: the Axeman of New Orleans. The Axeman of New Orleans has never been identified or as far as we know even…
A Brief History On November 19, 1941, HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran sank each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen. The battle was Australia’s all time largest loss of life in its entire naval history and the largest Allied warship lost with all hands in World War II. For conspiracy theorists, what really happened has remained a controversy for over sixty years! Digging Deeper When we think of World War II’s naval battles, we tend to envision German submarines in the Atlantic or the epic battles pitting Japanese…
A Brief History Contrary to Pat Robertson’s beliefs, on November 18, 1803, Haitians won their independence, not with the Devil’s assistance, but with their victory at The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution. The victory lead to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. Digging Deeper After the Haitian Earthquake of 2010 took over 100,000 Haitian lives, Pat Robertson (Chancellor of Regent University and Chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network), proclaimed on television that Haiti, while under the heel of Napoleon III, had made a pact with…
