history
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The Assault on Fort Seybert, April 1758
The palisaded stockade known as Fort Seybert was built atop a bluff on the South Branch of the South Fork of the Potomac River, in present-day West Virginia. , by Jacob Seybert, soon after he purchased the 210-acre plot of land on which it was constructed in May 1755. The French and Indian War (The… Continue reading
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‘Blood in the Snow”: The Wolves of Turku
By User:Mas3cf – This file was derived from: Eurasian wolf.JPG, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95523086 Beginning in 1880, a series of wolf attacks brought terror to the countryside north of the city of Turku, in south-west Finland. Continuing into the latter part of the following year, reports suggest that 22 children were killed by a trio… Continue reading
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The Ordeal of George Elmes
Leavenworth Daily Commercial, Thursday, 15 July 1875. In the summer of 1875, George Elmes, a German-born resident of Hays City, Kansas, ‘an honest, hard working fellow,’ loaded up a wagon with goods purchased from a sutler’s store and started on a trek from Hays City to Trinidad, New Mexico, where he planned to sell his… Continue reading
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Resurrectionists at Merrion Churchyard
By Hablot Knight Browne – https://archive.org/stream/chroniclesofcri01pelh#page/n317/mode/2up, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24087051 On a Thursday evening early in December 1828, several men, including four brothers named Ryan, gathered at the Merrion churchyard, Dublin, to watch over the grave of the brothers’ recently deceased sister. Around the same time that Miss Ryan was buried, Arthur Flaherty, a painter of… Continue reading
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Robert Thorley and the Footpad
On a Saturday afternoon in November 1812, Robert Thorley was riding from London to his home at nearby Petersham, along the Wandsworth road, when he noticed a woman dressed like a Quaker. Following the woman along the footpath was a man with an apron folded round him in the style of a carpenter. As Thorley… Continue reading
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Turnip Theft
Published in Jackson’s Oxford Journal, Saturday, 13 January 1855 Sarah Field and Elizabeth Langford, both of the parish of Saint Thomas, Oxford, were convicted of stealing turnip greens, the property of William Carey Faulkner, and were fined the sum of 7s. each, including costs. A week was allowed for payment. © Mark Young 2026 source… Continue reading
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The Mysterious Case at Balby
On Tuesday, 22 March 1852, an inquest was held in the South Yorkshire village of Wadworth, on the body of 19-year-old Hannah Adams, ‘who had come to her death under circumstances of a very extraordinary and painful nature.’ Hannah Adams was employed as a housemaid by Mrs. Shepphard, in the village of Balby, a short… Continue reading
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A Case of Avunculicide: The Murder of Giovanni Kalabergo
Portrait of John Kalabergo. Engraved by E. Jewitt of Camden Town. The original was in the possession of Mr. Craddock, of Banbury, Oxfordshire. On Saturday, 10 January 1852, Dr. Harris’, a surgeon at the Queen’s Hospital, Birmingham, visit to his father’s house in the north Oxfordshire hamlet of Williamscote (now Williamscot), was disturbed by the… Continue reading
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Ambush at Cooke’s Canyon
Cooke’s Canyon is a valley located in the Cooke’s Range, a southern continuation of the Mimbres Mountains, in present-day Luna County, New Mexico. The canyon was named for Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, the commanding officer of the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican War (1846-48). He later served in the Union Army during the… Continue reading
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An Extraordinary Event at Cracow: From the Newspaper Archives
The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday, November 1, 1865. I discovered the following stories in the Hamilton (Ontario)Spectator published on Wednesday, 1 November 1865. The Hamilton Spectator was first published on July 15, 1846, as The Hamilton Spectator and Journal of Commerce. An Extraordinary Event at Cracow An extraordinary event is reported at cracow. On the 13th… Continue reading
Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men 