A Brief History On October 6, 1945, Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat were ejected from Chicago’s Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series thereby (allegedly) cursing the Chicago Cubs for at least the next sixty years! Thus, one of the greatest of sports curses was born. Digging Deeper First off, while those in Chicago are probably more apt to be familiar with this story than our many followers from outside of Chicago, please dear non-Chicagoans rest assured that we are not making up this entry in our daily reporting on cracked events in world history!…
Browsing: The Bizarre
A Brief History On October 3, 1283, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd in Wales, became the first nobleman executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered. Digging Deeper The drawing above shows the “drawing” of William de Marisco in the mid-thirteenth century. The horrific fate of this man who was not only executed and subsequently dismembered but also tortured en route to the place of execution was a fate perhaps most famously shared by Scottish hero Sir William Wallace in 1305. The Oscar-winning film Braveheart depicts some of what Wallace endured for defying Edward Longshanks (“Long legs”) the Hammer of…
A Brief History On October 3, 2012, a National Geographic explorer announced the discovery of a new species of dinosaur, one with vampire-like fangs! Digging Deeper For this entry, we hearken back to prehistory. In fact, waaaay back to some 200 to 190 million years ago during the early Jurassic Epoch. During this time period a creature now known as Pegomastax (“strong jaw”) africanus lived with a parrot-like head and an enlarged canine-esque tooth on its lower jaw. Although believed to be a plant-eater, it may have used its intimidating looking fangs for self-defense. Paleontologists first collected the creature’s remains…
A Brief History On September 30, 1888, unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper killed his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. The incident known as the “double event” is the only such instance of the Ripper committing two murders on the same night. Digging Deeper Without any doubt, Jack the Ripper has been for over a hundred years now the world’s most well-known unknown serial killer. The amount of books, graphic novels, and films on the murderer far surpass any other, although his real identify remains a mystery. The number of suspects offered are legion and tickle…
A Brief History On September 29, 522 B.C., following two years of bizarre and bloody political intrigue, King Darius I the Great of Persia killed a Magian (think of the magi or wise men of the Bible) usurper, thereby securing Darius’s hold as great king of the Persian Empire. Digging Deeper Most westerners know of Darius as one of the two Persian monarchs who attempted and failed to conquer Greece. Darius’s forces were those who suffered the iconic defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. Yet, this invasion happened over thirty years into Darius’s reign and just four…
