KNOW YOUR WORLD (past and present)

A very badass death, to say the least: Back in the 1690’s a bunch of people were accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. The penalty was various forms of death. One didn't have to be green and fly on a broomstick to be accused. Martha Corey did not attend the trials. That was enough. Neither did her husband, Giles. Charged with witchcraft, Giles’ hands were tied behind his back during the arraignment to prevent any hocus-pocus. If he pleaded guilty, his sons-in-law could not inherit his property. Giles didn't say a word. The judge ordered that Giles be crushed with heavier and heavier stones placed on his chest until he entered a plea by either admitting or denying the accusations brought against him.  Giles was stripped naked. A board was placed over his body. Rocks were placed on top. More were added. Giles remained mute except to say “more weight” when asked to enter a plea. One full day passed. Giles tongue was protruding out. The judge took his cane and pushed it ba...

A king of the Mara meets his match This lion, named Sikio Kali, is one of the Mara’s famous four Musketeers. He recently got on the wrong side of a warthog’s tusks during a predation attempt, leaving him with a deep wound to his forehead.  Taking down prey is not without risk for lions, as warthogs can inflict nasty gashes with their tusks (as can buffalo and wildebeest with their horns).  In this case, Masai Mara Reserve rangers spotted Sikio's plight just in time, as his wounds were septic and covered in maggots. After receiving the call for help and rushing to the scene, the SWT/KWS Mara Mobile Vet Unit found the lion lying in the shade, trying to shield his face from flies.  The intervention came not a moment too soon for Sikio, as vets manually cleaned and disinfected his wounds, before administering drugs to aid healing.  Subsequent sightings have shown him recovering well, although this battle-worn fellow – who is already missing most of his left ear – will lo...

Corporal Jackie was a baboon in the South African army during World War I. He was the official mascot of the 3rd Transvaal Regimen when his owner, Albert Marr was drafted into war, and would not leave Jackie at home. He asked his superiors if Jackie, too, could join the army and they said yes.So Jackie was given an official style uniform with a cap, a ration set, and his own pay book. Jackie would salute to superior officers and light soldiers' cigarettes. He would even stand at ease in the style of a trained soldier. Due to his heightened senses, Jackie was useful to sentries on duty at night. The baboon would be the first to know when an attack was coming or enemy soldiers were moving around nearby. Jackie and Marr survived a battle where the casualty rate was 80%, in Delville Wood, early in the Somme Campaign. When Marr was serving in Egypt he was shot in the shoulder at the Battle of Agagia, 26 February 1916, while Jackie was with him, licking the wound as they awaited h...

In 1957, Marlon Green, an Air Force pilot, applied to be a Continental Airlines pilot. Green had applied to other airlines but was rejected each time.  When he filled out his application for Continental, he left the “race” box unchecked.  Green made it to the final round of interviews but was not hired, even though he had more flight time than the other candidates who were white. Green filed a complaint with the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission, a landmark case that ended up in the United States Supreme Court which ruled in Greens favor and helped dismantle racial discrimination in the American passenger airline industry. While David Harris was the first Black pilot hired with a major airline, Marlon Green’s fight for the right to be in the flight deck cleared a path for generations of Black pilots to come. In 2010, Continental dedicated a 737 named for Captain Marlon Green. The aircraft, N77518, still flies for United today. Thank you, Marlon Green for your contributio...

The Banco Central do Brasil Bank Robbery, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. The bank robbery was pulled off by a gang of 25 people. They rented a property very close to the bank and made the people believe they were running a landscaping company. They distributed free promotional baseball caps and even ran some adverts. Within a space of three months, they dug an 80-meter tunnel, fitted with electric lights, wood-paneling, and improvised air-conditioning systems The entrance to the tunnel was about 70 cm square and four meters beneath the surface. The vault that weekend was filled with brand-new notes and used notes that had been withdrawn from circulation. The robbers took only the used notes because the bank had kept no record of their serial numbers. This was one of the wisest decisions they made. None of the money they took was traceable. They disabled the bank's alar ms and sensors and were able to drill through one-meter steel-reinforced concrete to the vault and made away with...

In 1979, 16 year old Brenda Ann Spencer killed 2 people at a public elementary school in San Diego, eight children and a police officer were injured. Her answer as to why she did it? “I don’t like Mondays.” Age 16, she was 5'2" (157 cm) and had bright red hair. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, Wallace Spencer, in poverty. Although Spencer showed exceptional ability as a photographer, winning first prize in a Humane Society competition, she was generally uninterested in school. In early 1978, staff at a facility for problem students, into which Spencer had been referred for truancy, informed her parents that she was suicidal. A psychiatric evaluation arranged by her probation officer recommended that Spencer be admitted to a mental hospital for depression, but her father refused to give permission. For Christmas 1978, he gave her a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle with a telescopic sight and 500 rounds of ammunition.  Spencer later said, ...

In March 1941 it had been about a year and a half since the outbreak of World War II, but there were still eight months before Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States entered the fighting. That’s why Collier’s Weekly, one of the most important and widely read weeklies in the country at the time, published a two-part essay with a rather striking title:  My patient, Hitler . Its author, as can be deduced, was one of the Führer’s doctors, but what is really curious is that he was Jewish and the Führer himself helped him to leave Germany. Eduard Bloch was born on 30 January 1872 in the Bohemian town of Frauenberg, now called Hluboká nad Vltavou and belonging to the Czech Republic but then to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the youngest of five children from a family that was not rich but well-off: his grandfather Joachim worked for Prince Jan Adolf II of Schwarzenberg and his father was one of the first Jewish university graduates in philosophy from Charles University...

in 1981 Ken McElroy was an adult man and bully in Skidmore, Missouri. He had been accused of assault, child molestation, statutory rape, burglary, and hog and cattle rustling. He avoided conviction for all of these crimes and was released each time. Speaking of statutory rape, he met his future (and 4th) wife Trena McCloud when she was 12 years old. He statutorily raped McCloud repeatedly, also burned her house down and shot the family dog to force her parents to agree to their marriage.  She became pregnant when she was 14. After Trena gave birth to their child, she fled to her mother's house, but McElroy brought her back and burned down her parents house again and shot their dog again. As was common for McElroy, one day he got into an arguement with a town resident and shot him. Luckily the man didn't die. McElroy was arrested then released again. Eventually he also shot a 70 year old grocer who was sitting outside on a smoke break because the grocer had earlier accused McElr...

A Virginia woman has been charged with indecency after police caught her naked with a missing 15-year-old boy – whose twin brother she is also accused of abusing. Ashleigh Watts was initially caught when cops came to her Chesapeake home in July looking for the teenager, the  New York Post  reports. The 37-year-old asked them to wait outside while she put on a bra and let her dogs out. Officers advised several minutes later that Watts returned to the door with her two dogs still in the residence, allowing them to enter,” court records obtained by Law & Crime state. “As officers removed the mattress in an upstairs bedroom, they were able to see a white male juvenile hiding in a small space that was only wearing boxer briefs. When asked by officers if he was [the runaway boy], he advised he was and presented his Learner’s Permit.” At the time, Watts was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but her crimes have since been updated to include th...

Robert Hobby and Marcus ReevesMarion County Sheriff's Office These two men have earned the dubious distinction of being named Florida’s dumbest thieves of the week. Robert Hobby, 41, and Marcus Reeves, 23, are clearly not the sharpest tools in the shed – making it a cinch for cops to track them down by leaving a few items behind after their alleged crime spree. “Now being a thief already makes you dumb, but that isn’t why they are this week’s ‘Dumbest Criminals,’” the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page. Robert Hobby and Marcus ReevesMarion County Sheriff's Office These two men have earned the dubious distinction of being named Florida’s dumbest thieves of the week. Robert Hobby, 41, and Marcus Reeves, 23, are clearly not the sharpest tools in the shed – making it a cinch for cops to track them down by leaving a few items behind after their alleged crime spree. “Now being a thief already makes you dumb, but that isn’t why they are this week’s ‘Dumbest Crimi...

16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln seated, 5 February 1865. Credit: Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain The tallest President of the United States was Abraham Lincoln. He stood at 6 feet and 4 inches (1.93m) which is 9 inches (0.22m) taller than the average American born in the 1800s.  (5 ft 7in /1.71m)! Lincoln is only 0.5in taller than the second tallest President, Lyndon B. Johnson who was 6ft 3.5in (1.92m). Abraham Lincoln towering over Allan Pinkerton (left) and General John A. McClernand (right) in Antietam, Maryland, October 1862. Credit: Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain While Abraham Lincoln is the tallest US President ever, he is not the tallest to ever run for office. Winfield Scott, who ran against Franklin Pierce in 1852, was taller than any person that has ever run for President.  Scott was 6 feet and 5 inches tall (1.96m) making him an inch taller than Abraham Lincoln. John Kerry who ran against George W.  Bush in 2004 was the same height ...

The  Leatherman  1839–1889; aged 49–50) was a vagabond famous for his handmade leather suit of clothes who traveled through the northeastern United States on a regular circuit between the Connecticut River and the Hudson River from roughly 1857 to 1889. Of unknown origin, he was thought to be French-Canadian because of his fluency in the French language, his "broken English", and the French-language prayer book found on his person after his death. His identity remains unknown, and controversial. He walked a repeating 365-mile (587 km) route year after year, which took him through certain towns in western Connecticut and eastern New York, returning to each town every 34–36 days. The Leatherman survived blizzards and other foul weather by heating his rock shelters with fire. Indeed, while his face was reported to be frostbitten at times during the winter, by the time of his death h...

Girl in the Basement is based on the true story of Elisabeth Fritzl, a young Austrian woman who was imprisoned by her father, Josef Fritzl, from 1984 to 2008.  According to Oxygen, on August 28, 1984, Josef lured Elisabeth to the basement of their home and placed an ether-soaked rag on her face; after she passed out, he handcuffed her and locked her in the underground prison.  Josef then coerced Elisabeth into writing a letter to her mother, Rosemarie, stating that she had left her hometown of Amstetten, Austria and did not want to be found. Over the next 24 years, Josef sexually assaulted Elisabeth almost every day. In 1988, she had her first child, Kerstin, and subsequently gave birth to six more children — Stefan, Lisa, Monika, Alexander, Michael, and Felix — but unfortunately, Michael died three days after birth. As the years passed, Josef removed some of the children from the basement and told Rosemarie that they had been sent by Elisabeth, who needed help to raise them. ...

When Kim Jong-nam  was a boy, his father, the dictator of North Korea, sat him on his office chair and said, “When you grow up, this is where you'll sit and give orders.” If the child had fulfilled that promise—if his half brother, Kim Jong-un, had not ultimately usurped his throne—he would have tyrannized 25 million people. His pudgy finger would have caressed the launch buttons of nukes. America and China would have debated how to manage him. But as Jong-nam glanced up at the departures board in the international airport of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the jostling crowd ignored him. He had become just another overweight 45-year-old, the bald spot that he usually hid with a cap showing through his remaining hair like a bull's-eye. When Kim Jong-nam  was a boy, his father, the dictator of North Korea, sat him on his office chair and said, “When you grow up, this is where you'll sit and give orders.” If the child had fulfilled that promise—if his half brother, Kim Jong-un, ha...

Iran's judiciary has said that the stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery will not be carried out – for now.  But the fate of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, which has generated huge international concern, remains uncertain. Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the senior judicial official in East Azerbaijan province, where the mother-of-two was convicted, told the Irna state news agency yesterday the sentence "will not be implemented for the time being." Ajdar Sharifi added that the sentence would still be carried out if the judiciary wanted, despite protests from the west. Mohammadi Ashtiani's crimes were "various and very serious" and not limited to adultery, he insisted. "Although the verdict is definitive and applicable, it has been halted due to humanitarian reservations and upon the order of the honourable judiciary chief." Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, was found guilty of having an "illicit relationship" with two men in 2006 but her lawyer and ...

The Japanese invasion of China immediately before and during World War II lasted from the early 1930’s to 1945. During this dark period in modern Asian history, the Japanese military machine was motivated by an uncontrollable desire for aggression, expansion and imperialism. The brutalities and atrocities committed by the Japanese military in China and elsewhere in Asia finally ended with destruction on Japanese soil — the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. The victims of the Japanese militarists’ aggression included the innocent and peace-loving peoples of China, Korea, the Philippines, other south east Asian countries, United States, and Japan herself. In the past forty-five years, China and other countries have allowed the Japanese war crimes to be forgotten. In fact, the only constant reminders of the victims of World War II in Asia were the events commemorating the Japanese who were killed by the atomic bomb dropped by the United States. The young ...

Lynching  is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an extreme form of informal group social control, and it is often cqonducted with the display of a public spectacle (often in the form of a hanging) for maximum intimidation.  Instances of lynchings and similar mob violence can be found in every society. The origins of the word  lynch  are obscure, but it likely originated during the American Revolution. The verb comes from the phrase  Lynch Law , a term for a punishment without trial. Two Americans during this era are generally credited for coining the phrase: Charles Lynch (1736–1796) and William Lynch (1742–1820), both of whom lived in Virginia in the 1780s.  Charles Lynch is more likely to have coined the phrase, as he was kn...

A pilot who crashed his microlight into a tree and was skewered by a giant branch through his shoulder brushed off the serious injury by telling the doctors "I am Groot!". Lying in hospital with a gigantic piece of wood thrust through his shoulder, Ivan Krasouski, joked that he was the Guardians of the Galaxy character Groot, a walking tree. The 36-year-old from Belarus was flying his paratrike, a kind of microlight, in the countryside when he crashed into a forest. In the remarkable footage he tells the viewers to look at the gory images of his injury. "Everyone already knows anyway, doctors spread the pictures, so there’s nothing to hide. Look!” “I looked and it was a giant log there,” he said. “I tore my shirt and there was a branch in my arm, thick as a watermelon.” One of his ex-classmates arrived at the scene and helped him get out of the crash by sawing off each end of the branch. He was then taken to the emergency ward at the local hospital with the gigantic log ...

Most people can trace their family tree back at least a few generations, while the more serious ones are able to accomplish many centuries.  But imagine being able to trace your loineage back to a 5,300-year-old mummy. That is exactly what has happened after scientists performed DNA tests on ‘Ötzi the Iceman’ and found 19 living male descendants in Austria. Ötzi the iceman, who was discovered by some German tourists in the Alps in 1991, was originally believed to be the frozen corpse of a mountaineer or soldier who died during World War I.  Tests later confirmed the iceman dates back to 3,300 BC and most likely died from a blow to the back of the head. He is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy and, remarkably, his body contained the still intact blood cells, which resembled a modern sample of blood.  They are the oldest blood cells ever identified. His body was so well-preserved that scientists were even able to determine that his last meal was red deer and herb bread, ea...

The Pump Of Death See these people come and go at the junction of Fenchurch St and Leadenhall St in the City of London in 1927. Observe the boy idling in the flat cap. They all seem unaware they are in the presence of the notorious “Pump of Death” – that switched to mains supply fifty years earlier in 1876, when the water began to taste strange and was found to contain liquid human remains which had seeped into the underground stream from cemeteries. Several hundred people died in the resultant Aldgate Pump Epidemic as a result of drinking polluted water – though this was obviously a distant memory by the nineteen twenties when Whittard’s tea merchants used to  “always  get the kettles filled at the Aldgate Pump so that only the purest water was used for tea tasting.” Yet before it transferred to a supply from the New River Company of Islington, the spring water of the Aldgate Pump was appreciated by many for its abundant health-giving mineral salts, until – in an unexpec...