A Brief History On January 13, 1842, the lone survivor of a British army in Afghanistan staggered into Jalalabad! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Dr. William Brydon along with a British army consisting of 4,500 soldiers and about 12,000 tag along civilians (family and camp followers) leaving Kabul under pressure for the safety of another British stronghold in Jalalabad on January 6, 1842. One week later, only Dr. Brydon was spotted by lookouts at Jalalabad, and he did not look so good! A portion of his skull had been lopped off by an Afghan with a sword and he…
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A Brief History On January 11, 1960, by killing his own mother, serial murderer Henry Lee Lucas committed his first known murder of 3,000 he later confessed to! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find drifter and loser Henry Lee Lucas leading a life of crime that he blamed on his miserable childhood. Lucas’ father had died young leaving a bizarre, abusive wife to raise the kids. Lucas’ mother once shot a mule that had been a gift to Lucas and also severely beat him for accepting a teddy bear from a school teacher when he was a boy. (Apparently, he was not allowed to accept…
A Brief History On January 7, 1948, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot met his death trying to intercept a UFO! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find another well documented close encounter, this time of the deadly kind. Captain Tom Mantell flying his P-51 Mustang was a World War II veteran, not a civilian or some rookie. Mantell and 3 other Mustang pilots were directed to intercept a huge round white object, perhaps a football field across! Multiple witnesses from spots in Ohio and Kentucky, including a sergeant at the Fort Knox control tower and members of the Kentucky Highway…
A Brief History It is January 6th, Merry Christmas! Or wait, is it just Christmas Eve? Digging Deeper Christmas is an annual festival, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. Although currently in the United States of America, Christmas is mostly celebrated on December 25th, it is not the case with various Christians elsewhere in the world. While of course Roman Catholics and Protestant denominations are almost universal in naming December 25th as the big day, Armenian Christians celebrate Christmas day on January 6th, while most Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate it on January 7th. Why the confusion and different days to celebrate…
A Brief History On January 4, 1903, Thomas Edison’s company filmed the execution of Topsy the Elephant, the largest purported casualty in the “War of the Currents”! The big argument over whether to use alternating current as championed by Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse or direct current as championed by Thomas Edison had already been decided in favor of alternating current a decade before Topsy became an afterthought and legend of the Current Wars. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Edison, the most prolific inventor of all time (electric light, phonograph, motion pictures, etc.) had been engaged in a bitter struggle with rival…
