History Schmistory: October 29. Evil Opera
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
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1787: Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni is performed for the first time in Prague, a show chock-full of murder and mayhem, masquerade parties, demon choruses, graveyards, ghostly statues, and ultimately a first class ticket to hell. Top it off with an appropriate moral; he who lives wickedly, dies wickedly, and you’ve got yourself a fulfilling Halloween experience, wouldn’t you say?
History Schmistory: October 28. “This one’s for all the ladies out there.”
Monday, October 28, 2024
1886: In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the beautiful bronze Statue of Liberty. Always ahead of her time, Lady Liberty went green long before the rest of us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:POTD/2009-10-28
GO THERE! A Truly Haunted Mansion!
Sunday, October 27, 2024
We mentioned this place a while back, and if you haven’t been there yet, Halloween is your golden opportunity!!!
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The Winchester Mystery House is the former home of widow Sarah Winchester, who in 1881, upon the death of her husband, inherited 50% of the Winchester Repeating Arms company. Mrs. Winchester believed her family was cursed and that her Northern California mansion was haunted by all the victims who died at the muzzle of a Winchester rifle. So she began adding rooms to the property in order to accommodate all of them. By the time she died in 1922 the house had 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens, along with plenty of secret passageways, trap doors, and stairways leading to nowhere. Plenty of ghost stories up in this crib.
History Schmistory: October 27. One Philly to go!
Sunday, October 27, 2024
1682: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded. Eventually followed by the cheesesteak, because honestly, how could we not mention it?
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History Schmistory: October 26. …it was OK.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
1881: The famous gunfight at the OK Corral takes place in Tombstone, Arizona, lasting only 30 seconds. A shame Kevin Costner’s movie wasn’t that short.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona#/media/File:Allen_Street_Tombstone.jpg
(GO THERE!) The well-preserved town still stands as a major tourist attraction.
-And Val Kilmer still stands as Doc Holiday, in our book.
History Schmistory: October 25. Priceless.
Friday, October 25, 2024
1993: The master of macabre, classic horror film actor Vincent Price, well known for his creepy characters and distinctly chilling voice, dies of lung cancer. And Halloween just wasn’t the same without him.
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History Schmistory: October 24. Steel Widow.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
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1901: With her only child dead and her only husband killed in the Civil War, aging schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor feared she was destined to end up in the poorhouse. But then she came up with a brilliant plan. First, she would pay professional coopers to construct a heavy duty, elongated and well-cushioned barrel. Then, on October 24th, her 63rd birthday, she would climb inside and ride it over the edge of Niagara Falls, a feat that would hopefully bring enough publicity and wealth to carry her comfortably into senectitude.
The stunt is a resounding success, and Annie becomes the first person ever to accomplish it, emerging from the certain-death-capsule with only a small gash on her head, though she made it clear she would rather “walk up to the mouth of a cannon” than ever try it again. Unfortunately, the story ends with Annie spending most of her earnings on private detectives in a futile search for the missing barrel, no doubt sold by her concurrently absent manager. Still, Annie Edson Taylor remains one of the most gutsy people in the history of daredevilry.
History Schmistory: October 23. Smurfin USA?
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
1958: The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves, appear for the first time in a weekly French comic-strip by Peyo called Johan and Peewit.
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That’s right, the Smurfs are actually French.
History Schmistory: October 22. “I wasn’t ready!”
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
1926: Smarty-pants J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches legendary magician, escapologist and stunt performer Harry Houdini in the stomach several times, rupturing his appendix. Houdini refuses medical attention and goes on to perform what would be his final show, collapsing several times in the duration. He dies a few days later in a Detroit hospital on Halloween. And this time it was no trick (or treat.)
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Cryptozoology Break! Ahool.
Monday, October 21, 2024
Deep in the rainforest of Java, Indonesia, lurks a creature called the Ahool, first described in 1925, by Dr. Ernest Bartels, as a bat-like primate with claws, red eyes, grey fur, a 10 ft wingspan and a distinctive call; “AhOOOoool!” The Ahool is a beast that apparently prefers fish but would gladly devour some human flesh, as it was reported to have done in Zambia in 1956 to a poor, unsuspecting engineer who barely made it out alive. Stay out of the rainforest folks!
