A Brief History On August 22, 1880, The London Telegraph published an allegedly true story claiming that, believe it or not, people can be buried alive and still survive! Digging Deeper To support the article’s claims, they provided an example concerning the fakir Haridas.  A fakir is a holy man, usually a Muslim. In 1835, at the maharaja’s palace in Lahore, India, Haridas spent 40 days locked in a sealed chest.  It is said that Haridas fasted for seven days before the big moment.  He also swallowed and then reproduced a 27 meter long strip of linen to clean out his stomach.…

A Brief History On August 20, 1977, the United States space probe, Voyager 2 was launched with the mission of studying the outer portions of our solar system and then becoming the first (with its sister ship, Voyager 1, actually launched 2 weeks later) man made object to enter inter-stellar space. Digging Deeper These Voyager spacecraft have sent back information about Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter and Neptune and the moons of those planets, and are expected to continue to send back data (including images) until about 2020 when their Plutonium powered generators run down, with perhaps another 5 years of weak…

A Brief History On August 20, 2008, the results of the internet voting of which top locations should be included in Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition were announced.   Of those selected, the Polish city of Gdynia was especially notable.  The original Monopoly game is famously believed to have been created by Charles Darrow, but this was simply not the case.  Here we list 10 people believed to have done something they did not do.  (Note: These are mostly mistaken historical beliefs of laypeople, not historians.) Digging Deeper 10.  Al Gore Claimed He had Invented the Internet.  Often ridiculed for…

A Brief History On August 14, 1893, some idiot in France dreamed up motor vehicle registration.  I wonder how long it took for someone to dream up long irritating lines… Digging Deeper Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: How long have you had to wait in line when registering a motor vehicle? If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons! Your readership is much appreciated! Historical Evidence For more on this topic, please…

A Brief History On August 10, 1628, the brand new Swedish warship, the Vasa, set sail for the first and last time, sinking all by herself with no help from any enemy after traveling less than a mile!  She was not the largest ship in the world at the time, nor did she carry the most guns, but because she had the most shot, she was the most powerful. Digging Deeper History and Headlines has featured stories about military disasters and “Naval Oops Moments,” and the sinking of the Vasa ranks right up near the top of those blunders.  Built at a time when naval…