Browsing: The Bizarre

A Brief History On May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, erstwhile Emperor of the French died on the lonely island of St. Helena, whispering his last word, Josephine. Digging Deeper The great man, a shell of his former self, in ill health served his exile on a desolate island. Little did he know, things would get worse. When Napoleon died in the custody of the British military, an autopsy was performed and the doctor snagged a souvenir for himself, the dead emperor’s penis. Apparently you could get away with that sort of shenanigans in those days. Napoleon is certainly not alone…

A Brief History On May 4, 1970, Kent State University in Ohio became famous as the scene of a tragic anti-war protest gone wrong, with 4 students dead and 9 wounded. Do you know what Kent State sports teams are known as? Hint: it has nothing to do with this infamous incident. They are known as The Golden Flashes. Many schools have teams named for ferocious animals or some sort of warrior people, but many others have names that leave others to wonder what the heck image they are trying to project. Since the NCAA forced schools to lose derogatory…

A Brief History On May 3, 752, the Mayan King Bird Jaguar IV began his reign.  Not only do we not know what the heck a bird jaguar is, but there were three of them before this one!  On April 23 we told you people used to have goofy names.  Well, they still do, coming up with new ones all the time.  Here are 10 of our favorites from more modern times.  (Honorable mention: Yahoo Seriously.) Digging Deeper 10. Elton John. A name he made up for himself, Elton was born Reginald Dwight. Known for a time as The King,…

A Brief History On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines flight 243 was on the way to Honolulu from Hilo when a huge portion of the upper part of the fuselage blew off the airplane. Digging Deeper The 19 year old Boeing 737, named Queen Liliuokalani was one of the most common jet liners in the world. Flying at about 24,000 feet 23 minutes into the flight, the ceiling above the passengers just aft of the entrance door suddenly and explosively ripped off, leaving an open sun roof about one quarter the length of the airplane! Flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing, age…

A Brief History On April 27, 1945, Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans and shot the next day, his body hung up in public and pelted with stones, spat upon, and generally scorned, an inglorious end to a strutting peacock of an egomaniac.  Many other leaders of countries have met humiliating and gory ends, sometimes deserved and sometimes not. Here are 10 examples of how far the mighty can fall when bloodthirsty enemies can get a hold of them. Digging Deeper 10. Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (1967). Holt disappeared while swimming in the ocean and…