Unruly History in the News #40
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Hey everyone,
Welcome to your favorite historical roundup! This week’s theme is, clearly, Halloween and creepy tales of historical ghosts and goblins (metaphorically).
Now is also a good time to let y’all know that I will be on vacation for the next few weeks! (In fact, as you read this I already am on vacation!) There will still be an episode on October 31, but instead of the next episode falling on November 14, it will be on November 21. I wanted to try to get the episodes done in time but life just got in the way over here.
Okay, on to how history has been acting unruly in the news…
First up: Four historians talk about their ghostly encounters in the archive and elsewhere.
A ~ghostly scene~ captured by photographer photographer W. S. Hobson, in 1887 or so. Credit: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. History’s biggest hunt for the Loch Ness Monster occurred last month in what was called Quest Weekend. Hundreds of people descended on Loch Ness for the 90th anniversary of the 1933 sighting of the ~monster~ to see if Nessie would reappear again. Unclear if they found anything, but watch this space for more.
How a simple yoga class turned into a murderous Japanese cult determined to kick off the apocalypse.
10 real moments from history that sound like the plotline of a horror movie.
For me, this is the most terrifying news on the list: Scientists are reanimating spiders and making them into robots. 😭 Whhyyyyyyyy? These are the two scariest things on earth, why would people combine them?
The Black Death probably originated in Central Asia (and then caused millions of hauntings around the world). Recent genetic testing of people buried in Kara-Djigach cemetery (Kyrgyzstan) eight years before the Black Death reached Europe revealed an ancient strain Y. pestis.
If you prefer conspiracy theories to hauntings: What’s up with the myth of Freemason symbols being hidden in everything? Here’s a list of things that you’ve been told are Masonic but are definitely not. (This isn’t actually Dan Brown’s fault, but doesn’t it feel like it is?)
Who really assassinated John F. Kennedy? Was it secretly a coup? Or maybe Cuban dissidents? For people who can’t believe a lone gunman theory, the possibilities abound.
And, of course, 20 conspiracy theories that people still believe in.
