A Brief History On October 15, 1863, The H. L. Hunley, a Confederate (the South!) submarine, sank during a test, killing its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley. Digging Deeper The Hunley was NOT the first submarine ever invented and certainly not the first one ever used for military purposes.  The first military submersible was most likely the Turtle invented by David Bushnell in 1775 for use in the American Revolutionary War.  Robert Fulton, another American inventor, invented the leaky Nautilus in 1800 and thus tried unsuccessfully to entice First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte of France to make use of the…

A Brief History On October 14, 1912, a certain badass former U.S. president was shot while giving a speech…and he continued to speak!? Digging Deeper Without any doubt, T.R., or “Teddy” Roosevelt, was just about one of the most manly of American presidents.  A war hero and big game hunter, T.R. had a forcefulness about him that few other presidents really matched.  Maybe George Washington who campaigned in fierce conditions in the French and Indian and American Revolutionary wars, Andrew Jackson who fought in duels, or Abraham Lincoln who was an accomplished wrestler merit recognition as physically imposing and brave…

A Brief History On October 13, 54 A.D., Roman Emperor Claudius was poisoned to death, possibly by his wife, via tainted mushrooms! Digging Deeper Claudius is most famous for being Roman Emperor when the Roman Empire added Britain to its territory.  As such, he is generally remembered for his expansion of Roman control over a territory that would remain in Roman possession for centuries.  Yet it is with his personal life, particularly in his marriages, that we find all sorts of less impressive accomplishments. His first marriage was to Plautia Urgulanilla (try saying that five times fast!).  This marriage ended…

A Brief History On October 13th, 2010, roughly thirty years after the famed Rendelsham Forest incident, thousands of eyewitnesses reported seeing shiny, circular objects in the skies above New York City – validating the mass UFO sighting predicted by Stanley A. Fulham, a former NORAD officer and relatively well-known author, a few months earlier. Digging Deeper Many people scoff at the idea of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.  In fact, just mentioning the words “I believe” along with “UFOs” in the same sentence will often discredit anything else the person might have to say.  A man as shrouded in mystery…

A Brief History On October 12, 1216, King John of England lost his crown jewels! Digging Deeper England has had only one king named John for a good reason: their only king who had that name was quite possibly the country’s worst monarch in its entire over 1000-year-long history! John “Lackland” or “Softsword” (December 24, 1166 –  October 19, 1216) reigned as England’s king from April 6, 1199 until his death on October 19, 1216.  He succeeded the famed crusader-king Richard the Lionhearted on England’s throne and experienced one debacle after another.  Even before John’s reign officially began, he tried…