Browsing: The Bizarre

A Brief History On January 26, 1905, the South African earth gave up the largest gem-quality diamond in history! Digging Deeper Digging deeper (no, really, digging deeper!), we find the Premier Number 2 mine producing an enormous diamond of over 3,106 carats! Named the Cullinan Diamond, this gemstone was over 4 inches long before it was cut and polished into gems.  The largest of those cut gems is the 530.4-carat “Great Star of Africa” which currently has a home on the royal sceptre of England.  The Star remained the largest cut and polished diamond in the world until 1985 when…

A Brief History On January 23, 1897, Elva Zona Heaster, about 24 years old, was found dead, later proven to have been murdered by her husband through her own ghost’s testimony! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find a West Virginia couple married less than a year, Zona having been an unwed mother prior to the wedding and Erasmus Shue a divorcé and widower. Zona’s body was found by a boy who had been sent on an errand by Shue, and Shue was summoned to the scene.  Prior to the arrival of the local doctor (who doubled as coroner), Shue had moved the body…

A Brief History On January 20, 1885, LaMarcus A. Thompson patented his version of the modern roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, which became the first roller coaster at Coney Island in New York! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find that versions of the roller coaster had existed earlier, but this patent was the big step toward what has been the premier attraction at amusement parks for well over 100 years now. Obviously, starting long ago, people got thrills going downhill quickly.  Sleds on winter slopes and wheeled vehicles racing down a road courtesy of gravity were not purpose-built thrills but…

A Brief History On January 19, 1913, the Holly Hotel in Holly, Michigan burned for the first time!  Called “the most haunted historic building in Michigan” on the hotel’s own website, the Holly Hotel burned again 65 years later to the day and hour! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find many more reasons for the “haunted” reputation of the Holly Hotel. The haunting has been confirmed by numerous investigators such as Professor Norman Gauthier.  Photographic evidence and the sheer volume of persons reporting ghostly phenomena are hard to casually disregard. Many people unfamiliar with the history of the hotel or the previous reports…

A Brief history On January 12, 1998, 19 European nations agreed to prohibit the cloning of humans. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find those 19 nations disappointed and dismayed that the two most powerful European countries, Germany and the United Kingdom, refused to sign the agreement! Does this refusal mean we shall soon see human clones?  Not from Germany.  They claimed their national laws were more restrictive than the agreement and they therefore did not need to sign.  It seems they have some national angst as a result the genetic experiments of the Nazi era.  (See the History and Headlines article on…