Browsing: The Bizarre

A Brief History On May 18, 1926, the most famous radio evangelist in the country disappeared from a public beach, and no one noticed. For 5 weeks there was no sign of her until she staggered out of the desert in Mexico, with the real story of what happened a mystery. Every so often people or things disappear. A jet liner, a ship, an entire colony, anything is fair game when it comes to mysterious disappearances. Here are 10 of the intriguing ones. Which ones would you add to the list? (Please, the disappearance of your car keys does not…

A Brief History On May 18, 1926, radio evangelist preacher Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach in southern California. No witnesses came forward and her secretary with whom she had gone to the beach did not report any unusual events. She just was there, and then gone. Digging Deeper Believed to have drowned, her enormous following and celebrity created a stir. Her mother offered $25,000 (a lot in those days!) for information of her whereabouts. A diver and a swimmer both died trying to find her body in the surf, and police were without a clue. Shockingly, 5 weeks later…

A Brief History On May 17, 1943, RAF Squadron 617, later known as The Dambusters, embarked on Operation Chastise, a plan to bomb and destroy two dams to flood the Ruhr Valley in Germany. They were successful, largely because of the wacky weapon they used, a barrel like bomb that was rotated on a carriage under the bomber and then dropped to skip across the water to the dam, and then roll down the face of the dam to blow up right against the structure. Many times in wartime nations will stretch the limits of the imaginations of their inventors…

A Brief History On May 17, 1536, King Henry VIII of England had his marriage to Anne Boleyn annulled, although she had borne him the future Queen Elizabeth I. He then had her decapitated two days later for treason and adultery, which even then was a pretty harsh parting of the ways. Divorce is rarely a happy and light hearted thing, but some divorces are stranger or more vicious than others. Here are 10 more divorces or break-ups that were either shocking or particularly acrimonious. Of course in Anne Boleyn’s case, one is left asking how she could have committed…

A Brief History On May 16, 218, Elagabalus was proclaimed the true emperor of Rome by his mother and grandmother. After plots, intrigues, and some battles, Elagabulus captured and executed the previous emperor, Macrinus, and had the throne to himself at age 14. Digging Deeper If you think, “hey, a 14 year old emperor of Rome, what could go wrong?” then you would be thinking along the right track. After initially making peace with the Senate by granting amnesty for those who opposed him, and promising to obey the laws of Rome, Elagabalus went right off on his own, cracked…