Monthly Archives: October 2024
HISTORIC SPOOKINESS: WORLD’S MOST HAUNTED PLACES
Years ago, I read an English woman’s account of sinister happenings at a house her family had just bought. Happenings she described in detail, and said, “Then, on the second night …”. Second night? I wouldn’t even have been there for the second half of the first night! As for the world’s most haunted places […]
HISTORIC SPOOKINESS: INVISIBLE FRIENDS
According to my mother, I used to chat away to … someone … when I was very small, but she and my dad just thought it was a phase some little kids that age go through. As regards ghosts being attracted to children, when my nephew and I were staying at Ruthin Castle in Wales, […]
HISTORY SHARE: WHISTLES AND WHISTLING
Happy 77th birthday to my big brother, who, in his youth, was quite a whistler. Anytime, anywhere. So much so that, on a coach trip to the seaside, the driver threatened to put him “under the bonnet’ if he didn’t stop. http://www.thewhistleshop.com/beginners/history/history.htm https://www.acmewhistles.co.uk/stories/musical-orchestral-whistles https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/25/could-whistling-shed-light-on-the-origins-of-speech-aas-shepherds-language https://www.mastersofwhistling.com/worlds-biggest-whistling-directory
MOVIE TIME: FAMILY-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN MOVIES
A little personal history in which I recall how, some years back, the spooky parish Halloween Party almost got a little too spooky. Returning from the video store with what the clerk had assured him was a scary movie, the priest handed the co-ordinator The Blair Witch Project. After a pause, she said, “Yes, well, […]
TRIVIA TRAIL: WORLD’S SHORTEST PLACE NAMES
Question: How many letters do the world’s shortest place names have? Answer: One. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-shortest-place-names-in-the-world.html
HISTORIC INACCURACY: FIRST PERSON TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE THE GLOBE
The first circumnavigation of the globe has long been credited to the Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, but that is now in dispute since, having perished along the way, he wasn’t actually the one who completed the task. https://www.history.com/news/was-magellan-the-first-person-to-circumnavigate-the-globe
Time Travelling With Kids 