The Magical "Today in Weird History" Thread

[Suzanne]

2 September 1666 - The Great Fire of London

Ship of Fools says:

The Great Fire of London started today in 1666. Although its religious significance is not immediately obvious, it started in Pudding Lane and stopped at Pie Corner, and so was widely held to be a judgment on Londoners' sins of gluttony. Pie corner is now marked by the statue of an obese child.

Daily Rotten says:

A kitchen fire breaks out in Thomas Farynor's bakery on Pudding Lane, unleashing four days of destruction. 436 acres in the city are converted to ash, including 13,200 homes. 200,000 residents are rendered homeless by what comes to be known as the Great Fire of London.

ForteanTimes says:

The Great Fire of London started in 1666 at Farriner's bakery, Pudding Lane. The diarist Evelyn said that 'All the skie was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning oven, the light was seen above forty miles around for many nights ... a resemblance of Sodom.' The fire ended four days later at Pie Corner. Two-thirds of London was burned down, including the old St Paul's cathedral, built on top of a temple to the goddess Diana. It is probably mere coincidence that the wedding of a latter-day Diana, to Prince Charles, took place in the present St Paul's.

[Suzanne]

10 September

The Daily Chronicle reported today in 1906 that Mrs Mary Glover of Hoops, Devon, who had just become 100 years old, became 'naturally possessed of a third set of teeth during extreme old age.' Third dentition is a rare, but well authenticated medical phenomenon. Fortean Times has records of over 40 cases, the most famous being the Countess of Desmond, mentioned in Ralegh's History of the World (1614). In 1979 Alec Marriott of Postland, Lincolnshire, cut a new tooth at the age of 64, which was 42 years after all his teeth were extracted.

(via ForteanTimes)

[Suzanne]

1 October

In 1978 Presley Bishop came home depressed to Littleton, Colorado, and retired to bed, where he stayed for three years till his sister had him removed to a nursing home in Denver. In the first three years, he lost nine stone, grew a beard down to his stomach and six-inch nails and wore a hole in the bed. A more dramatic example of the 'Oblomov syndrome' was the young Russian woman in England who came down with the flu in 1932. Her doctor told her to stay in bed and rest until he returned; however he forgot to return and the woman was still in bed 40 years later.

(via FT)

In 1968, horror film Night of the Living Dead is released in theaters. The low-budget movie, directed by George Romero, centers around a farmhouse surrounded by the walking dead. Romero's early zombies lurch uncomfortably across the countryside, stopping occasionally to snack on humans unlucky enough to escape, otherwise banging on boarded windows demanding snacks. Many sequels follow as well as new generations of zombie movie madness. Haven't seen it? Watch it here.

(via DR)

[Suzanne]

Oct 9 1951

RKO Pictures asks Marilyn Monroe to wear panties while working.

Oct 9 1995

The Hebrew edition of Penthouse magazine is released. Kosher pornography!

(via DR)

[Suzanne]

Oct 15 1917

Dutch spy H21, also known as Mata Hari, is executed in Paris by a 12-man firing squad. The dancer, born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, had slept with a number of high-ranking military officers from around the world and passed secrets along to the German high command. After death, her body is given to the University of Paris medical school for dissection.

(via DR)

[Suzanne]

28 January

In 1985 the press reported that Yilderay Abdullah, 18, who was doing time for impersonating a police officer, walked out of Winston Green Prison in Birmingham by impersonating another prisoner due to be released. Thirty-six hours later he turned up at the prison and asked to be re-admitted.

(via FT)

[Suzanne]

May 27 anno 1977 in Rotten History

After the pressing plant initially refuses to duplicate the record and the printer refuses to make the covers, Virgin finally releases "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols in time for the monarch's Jubilee celebration.

(via DailyRotten)

[Morpheal]

June 22

The Council of Ephesus

The Council of Ephesus opened today in 431, to sort out whether Christ's human and divine natures were independent. Nestorius, the Bishop of Constantinople, said yes, but his men turned up nine days late due to traffic problems to find they'd already been excommunicated. They set up a rival council next door.

An interesting problem that I wrestled with, as to the historic basis that would provide a logical and credible historic account forming the basis of myths.

Here is the sin-op-sys.

Herod was elected "king of the jews" by the Roman senate.
Herod, like many royals in that time, could choose any woman for sex that he wanted to. If she was of lower status she could never speak of the act publicly. Herod's guards were the "angels" that came to Mary. Herod had sex with her. Thus an "immaculate conception". The act never happened. He was king and she was of low birth.

Herod made a habit of this. So he had too many illigitimate heirs to his throne. Something Rome would not have liked. Herod decided to dispose of as many as possible. Thus we explain another peculiar event. Jesus survives this purge of royal blood covered up by mass slaughter of infants.

Now we have stories of privilege. John treats Jesus differently. Jesus reputedly learns to read and write. He is initiated into secrets such as those held by the Essenes. He is treated as being a prince of the realm, ie. Herod's son. (We must assume the Roman's keep a close watch on him.) Jesus is so privileged that he can overturn the money changer's table in the temple and not get killed for it. Very privileged in those days. Only someone of royal blood could get away with it without dying for his actions.

Jesus teaches his followers NOT to rebel against Caesar and Rome. He says "give unto Caesar". That becomes the cornerstone of his preaching. "Live as the lilies of the fields" and pay what you have to, to Rome. Don't become upset about Rome. It's the basis of the whole of it. The Romans help out. The wine, loaves and fishes did not come from nowhere.  A little Roman magic was appropriate. The Romans had some to spare when no one else had anything. So we have Roman miracles to help Jesus along on his mission to secure Palestine for Rome.

You remember that Rome's legions were spread too far and wide to hold any territory and the Roman censors had created about 60 messianic figures to preach peace and non violence throughout the mid east and beyond it. Jesus was simply the most successful of those. It was not a unique instance. Jesus was chosen because of being Herod's son. A logical choice considering Herod was put into power by Rome.

Judas has connections with the Jewish rebels against Rome. He is spying on Jesus. So now we have the betrayal. Judas was probably killed by the Romans to make it look like a suicide, and the silver left as proof. After all there was a need to cover it up. The Romans could not afford the people looking on Jesus as being pro Roman and Judas as being loyal to the Jewish cause for liberation from Roman occupation. That would spoil everything.

So, now it gets worse. Jesus is taken and humiliated in front of the crowd. Remember "king of the jews" is Herod's title. It reappears as an attempted mockery to get sympathy for Jesus. That fails. Word has gotten around that Jesus is on the side of the Romans. The crowd chooses Barabas. What to do now ?  Roman surgeons knew anatomy. they could nail Jesus up quite safely to prevent his dying from those wounds. Now how did they get him off the cross in time, during an eclipse of the sun, and revived enough to have him appear to his followers ?  Easy. The vinegar on the sponge. Remember John Allegro's "Sacred Mushroom and the Cross" ? Well, amanita muscaria and deadly nightshade Belladona, or another source of atropine, were well known to the Roman's to induce a near deathlike condition. The Roman cults, of which every legion had its own, practiced near death experiences to prepare soldiers to face possible death in battle. So Jesus was drugged. Removed to the hillside tomb, whichw as a storage bunker with a complicated mechanism built by the Roman engineers allowing it to be closed by a boulder, Jesus would revive soon enough. The Romans had numerous such storage facilities for weapons and food in case of insurrection. The angels who opened the tomb were again soldiers. Same as those who accompanied Herod.

So then Jesus appears for a short while, after which he is whisked away to Rome and to a tour of the Roman empire. He is now Caesar's spiritual son, and has the authority of Caesar wherever he goes. As long as he stays out of Palestine nothing can go wrong.

Children in France ?  Maybe. It could have happened.


Robert Morpheal

Copyright (some years ago) on the internet.

[Suzanne]

Have you collected any archaeological evidence at all to underline this theory?

Oh, and welcome to our little forum.