History Schmistory: October 18. Happy Alaska Day!
Friday, October 18, 2019
1867: The United States moves in with Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for 7.2 million clams. They live together for 92 years before finally making the relationship official in 1959. Meanwhile, Canada insists they are carrying Alaska’s baby.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Alaska_purchase.jpg
History Schmistory: October 17. Flow this way!
Thursday, October 17, 2019
The manor house of Toten Hall, where the flood began http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/The_manor_house_of_Toten_Hall_-_1813.gif
1814: The London Beer Flood occurs in, you guessed it, London, killing nine and inebriating several others.
GO THERE!
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
To get your share of Halloween spooks, look no further than The Stanley Hotel in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. This hotel and its ghostly inhabitants, which inspired Stephen Kings novel/movie The Shining, go the extra mile during haunting season. So book a room on the fourth floor, the most paranormally active floor, and don’t expect to sleep a wink. No better way to spend Halloween! Which in Marco’s case means curled up in the fetal position, crying for mommy.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Stanley_Hotel,_Estes_Park.jpg
History Schmistory: October 15. Quick, name a hockey player!
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
1989: Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading scorer in the NHL, and remains the only hockey player NBA fans can name on the spot.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Wgretz3.jpg
History Schmistory: October 14. Poor Steve.
Monday, October 14, 2019
2003: 95 years (to the day) after the Chicago Cubs won their last World Series title, fan Steve Bartman does his part to make sure it doesn’t happen again, in what has become known as the Steve Bartman incident. Should be a holiday in Florida. Though, in all fairness, he was really just the unfortunate scapegoat for the Cubbies monumental choke-fest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bartman_seat_heckler.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Foul_ball_alou.jpg
History Schmistory: October 13. Speaking of Galaxies…
Sunday, October 13, 2019
1773: The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier (‘s awesome telescopes.)
![By NASA and European Space Agency [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://www.teammarcopolo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/800px-Messier51_sRGB.jpg)
By NASA and European Space Agency [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
History Schmistory: October 12. Do you know where your towel is?
Saturday, October 12, 2019
1979: The greatest book in the history of the galaxy is published. Within its pages lies the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything…
![By User:Drozd (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://www.teammarcopolo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Hitchhikers_gesture.jpg)
By User:Drozd (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Common5
History Schmistory: October 11. “Doing It Right”
Saturday, October 12, 2019
1929: JC Penney opens store #1252 in Milford, Delaware. But this was not just any ordinary JC Penney, this was THE JC Penney that officially put them in every state in the US, a first for any American chain store. Many Delaware state officials later confessed that they were just tired of doing it wrong.
By the way, did you know the C in JC Penney stands for Cash? As in founder, James Cash Penney… That was his real name. Seriously, this was the Great Depression, pennies could get you a lot back then. Today, he would be the equivalent of Donald Trump being named Donald Cash Money.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/James_Cash_Penney_%28ca._1902%29.jpg
GO THERE! But don’t tell them we sent you.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Though you will have to find a way to get permission to enter, if ghost towns are your fancy, this is likely the scariest one of all. Nicknamed Village of the Damned; Dudley Town, Connecticut, was once a prosperous town, but a series of odd occurrences, including ghost sightings, inexplicable murders and suicides, mass hysteria, and demonic manifestations ultimately caused the remaining townsfolk to run away screaming. Dan Aykroid calls it the scariest place on Earth. That’s right, even Ghostbusters won’t go near it.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dudley_Town_station_platform_buffers_2011.jpg
Cryptozoology Break! The Kraken
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Once the most feared creature in the Nordic Seas, the Kraken was often described by bewildered fisherman as a disproportionately large squid, or octopus, or other ferocious tentacled sea monster. The stories were usually scoffed by landlovers until the Kraken was popularized by French science fiction author, Jules Verne, in his classic novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Eventually, in the late 19th century, the not quite so giant, giant squid were being discovered washed up on the shore, some at 40+ feet in length, confirming at least in part the nautical horror stories of the past. The giant squid remains an incredibly elusive creature, having only recently been documented alive, but the tall tales of the Kraken, a gargantuan ship-swallowing sea monster, have gradually been adapted into medium tales of a pretty darn big squid who dukes it out with whales.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Giant_octopus_attacks_ship.jpg
