Monthly Archives: December 2011

Witchcraft and Crosswords in WWII

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Rhys

In 1941, medium Helen Duncan conducted a séance in which she revealed that the battleship HMS Barham had been sunk, which was true – it had been torpedoed by a U-boat earlier that year. The problem was that the public … Continue reading →

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The Long and Short of War

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Rhys

Although Second World War hostilities in Europe ended in 1945, peace was not formally established between Germany and the Allies until September 12, 1990. On that date in Moscow the foreign ministers of East and West Germany and those of … Continue reading →

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John Tyler’s Descendents

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Rhys

John Tyler was born two months before the French Revolution. In 1841 he became the tenth president of the United States and the first to succeed a president who died in office (William Henry Harrison). Tyler died in 1862 during … Continue reading →

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Giants

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Rhys

If you look carefully at the image above, you might notice something odd. The man on the right is not just the shorter of the two, he also has a proportionally smaller face, head and hands, almost as though he’s … Continue reading →

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Prophets, Futurists and Illusionists

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Rhys

In 1793, at the height of the French Revolution, three soldiers came across the tomb of Nostradamus. With nothing better to do, they decided to dig up the corpse of the great seer. Buried with the body was a plaque … Continue reading →

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The Taman Shud Mystery

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Rhys

The facts of the Taman Shud case read like a cold war thriller but without the neat resolution. On December 1 1948, the corpse of a middle-aged man was found at Somerton beach near the city of Adelaide. No identification … Continue reading →

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