Browsing: February

A Brief History This article presents a calendar of historical paranormal events that allegedly occurred in March!  Please click on the dates below to learn more information about that date’s paranormal history. Digging Deeper: The Month of February in Paranormal History On February 2, 1887 (or 1886), the first Groundhog Day celebration took place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and such celebrations have been taking place over and over again ever since (on each February 2nd)! On February 2, 1959, 9 Russian university students hiking and skiing in the wilderness of the Ural mountains died mysteriously. On February 2, 2014, New York City Mayor…

A Brief History The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968). Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. Perhaps his main goal in exposing the meat industry and working conditions was to advance Socialism in the United States; however, most readers were more concerned with his exposure of health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, greatly contributing to a public outcry which led to reforms including the Meat Inspection Act. Sinclair famously said of the public…

A Brief History On February 28, 1939, the Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition accidentally included a goofy meaningless word among the thousands of legitimate words found in the esteemed text. Digging Deeper When it was pointed out that the apparently new word, “dord,” had been included in the dictionary, defined as “density,” an investigation ensued.  The explanation was that the entry that should have been included was simply a capital D, followed by the word “or” followed by a lower-case d.  That is, it should have looked like this: D or d. Chemists, engineers, physicists and the like use…

A Brief History On February 27, 1902, a British firing squad carried out the execution of convicted war criminal, Australian Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant.  A rare thing indeed for the British Army to prosecute one of their own for war crimes in those days, Morant and fellow soldier Lt. Peter Handcock stood accused of the murders of several South African (Boer) prisoners of war and civilians. Digging Deeper The Second Boer War between the British and Dutch settlers of South Africa (Boers) started in October of 1899 and was near its end when Morant and Handcock were tried and executed. …

A Brief History On February 26, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, aka Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, escaped from his forced exile on the island of Elba and made his way back to France, seeking to regain his throne. Digging Deeper Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Corsica, had parlayed his spectacular military successes during and immediately after the French Revolution to becoming a General by the age of 24, and seizing the opportunity to mount a coup and take virtual control of France in 1799.  Never bashful, Napoleon crowned himself L’ Empereur in 1804 and led his Empire in a series of…