Tag: History Unleashed

Before science revealed the mysteries of the seas, superstitions and lore reigned the lives of mariners. One example is ghost ships, which have been plaguing seamen since the dawn of sailing. The most famous of these is undoubtedly the glowing spectral schooner called the Flying Dutchman. Throughout history, strange sightings resulted in eerie legends that explain why sailors feared the phantom ship as an omen of impending death.

Variations of the Legend

Pirates of the Caribbean

There have been many versions of the Flying Dutchman story throughout history. Most recently, Pirates of the Caribbean popularized the tale around the world. In the movie, the Greek goddess-nymph Calypso gave Davy Jones (her lover) the ship called the Dutchman to transport to the afterlife the souls of dead men lost at sea. When Calypso didn’t meet Jones after ten years, he became overwrought with grief and stopped ferrying the dead. Instead, he roamed the earth doing whatever he wished. For this, Davy Jones and his crew suffered a terrible curse that turned them into hideous mixtures of human/sea creature. As time passed, they became less and less human.

Early print versions of the legend from the late 18th century say that the Flying Dutchman sank in a terrible storm off the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). It had tried but failed to enter the port, and all men on board perished with the ship. Subsequently, the ghost ship would appear to other vessels as a messenger of doom. Then it would vanish as suddenly as it appeared.

George Barrington, 1795

George Barrington from London served time in Botany Bay, Australia, in the late 1700s for pickpocketing. He later became a pioneer and author and wrote about the legend he heard regarding the Flying Dutchman. In his story, two Dutch ships sailed together toward the Cape of Good Hope when a storm overcame them. One made it to shore, while the other one sank along with all of its crew. When the surviving ship left the Cape to head back to Europe, it encountered another storm. In the dark clouds, crew members believed they saw their companion vessel that sank. When they arrived at the port, they told everyone about their ghostly sighting and called it the Flying Dutchman.

[blockquote align=”none” author=”George Barrington”]Some of the people saw, or imagined they saw, a vessel standing for them under a press of sail, as though she would run them down: one in particular had affirmed it was the former ship that had foundered in the former gale, and it must certainly be her, or the apparition of her; but on its clearing up, the object, a dark thick cloud, disappeared.[/blockquote]

John Leyden, 1803, & Others

Later, other ideas about the phantom ship followed. For example, in author John Leyden’s write-up, the sailors aboard the vessel had committed some crime. God punished them with a dreadful disease, and because no port allowed their entry, they had to sail the seas until judgment day. Sir Walter Scott connected the vessel to piracy and great treasures and said that a crewmate murdered another on board. Thomas Moore introduced the concept that the ship speeds along with full sails, even though there is no wind. Many variants of the tale say the captain swore to sail the seas forever, and the devil obliged him.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was a long poem written by the Englishman Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797-1798. It possesses a few elements of the Dutchman and is a great story. In it, a mariner, who is now living onshore, stops another man on his way to a wedding ceremony. He tells the man a tale about a strange experience he had on the sea long ago. During this sea voyage, the mariner shot an albatross. This resulted in a curse that sent the ship and crew into the Doldrums near the equator. For days and days, they were stuck and unable to go anywhere.

Then the mariner’s vessel encountered an old dilapidated ship, and aboard, two scary characters, “Death” and “Life-in-Death” were playing dice for the souls of the men on the mariner’s ship. “Death” won the souls of the crew, but “Life-in-Death” got the better prize, the mariner, who needed to suffer for his crime against nature. The crew all dropped dead, and eventually, the mariner wandered the earth in guilty penance having to tell his story over and over again to everyone he met.

Blackwood Edinburgh Magazine, 1821

Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine published a full story, Vanderdecken’s Message Home, about the Flying Dutchman in 1821. This version claimed that the Dutchman had left Amersterdam 70 years prior on its way to the East Indies for trade. Its commander, Captain Vanderdecken, brought a curse upon himself (and the crew) during an angry outburst in a storm as he tried to round the Cape of Good Hope. The devil heard his exclamation that he would “beat about here till the day of judgment” and damned him to remain in those seas. In the following excerpt, the Dutchman comes near the witnesses’ ship and makes contact:

“The next flash of lightning shone far and wide over the raging sea, and showed us not only the Flying Dutchman at a distance, but also a boat coming from her with four men. The boat was within two cables’ length of our ship’s side. . . . One of the men came upon deck, and appeared like a fatigued and weather-beaten seaman, holding some letters in his hand. Our sailors all drew back.

The chaplain, however, looking steadfastly upon him, went forward a few steps, and asked, ‘What is the purpose of this visit?’ The stranger replied, ‘We have long been kept here by foul weather, and Vanderdecken wishes to send these letters to his friends in Europe.’ Our captain now came forward, and said as firmly as he could, ‘I wish Vanderdecken would put his letters on board of any other vessel rather than mine.’ The stranger replied, ‘We have tried many a ship, but most of them refuse our letters.’”

The Opera That Popularized the Flying Dutchman

Richard Wagner’s opera, Der fliegende Hollandermade, made the story of the Flying Dutchman famous. In his rendition, the Flying Dutchman is not the ship, but the captain. The scene takes place off of Norway rather than the Cape of Good Hope. He also adopted some of Heindrich Heine’s version. This added the idea that every seven years, the captain could go to shore to search for a woman who could set him free through her endless love.

Origin of the Dutchman’s Story

The original story of the Dutchman may stem from the 17th century. Though many sources attribute the term, Flying Dutchman, to a spectral ship, other historians believe the inspiration was one of the Dutch East India Company’s real captains. Bernard Fokke is one possibility. He became legendary for his record-fast trips between Holland and Java, via the Cape of Good Hope. People didn’t think that anyone could accomplish such a feat and said that he must have made a deal with the devil.

The other possibility is someone by the name of Hendrick Van der Decken, who supposedly captained a Dutch East India Company ship that disappeared in 1641 somewhere between Holland and Asia. Some authors also used the name Captain Phillip Vanderdecken in some iterations of the story.

Sightings of the Flying Dutchman Ship

King George & Prince Albert Victor

One of the most significant sightings of the ghost ship came from King George V of the United Kingdom. In 1880, he and his brother Prince Albert Victor were on a three-year voyage. On July 11, 1881, the Prince recorded a strange vision that appeared to them in the Bass Strait while aboard the HMS Inconstant.

He wrote that an encounter occurred at 4 am when the Flying Dutchman crossed their port bow. They saw “a strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars, and sails of a brig 200 yards distant,” according to George’s description.

The officer on watch and several other sailors initially spotted the ship, but the vessel quickly disappeared. It didn’t end there, though.

George wrote that at 10:45 am, the sailor who had spotted the apparition suffered a gruesome fate. He fell from the masts onto the ship’s forecastle and died instantly. Naturally, everyone thought the phantom ship had been a supernatural warning of doom.

Bystanders at Glencairn Beach, South Africa

Although many sightings of the famous ghost ship have come from sailors out at sea, people on the shores also glimpsed the apparition. In 1939 and 1941, crowds of people at Glencairn Beach, South Africa, saw the Flying Dutchman under full sail on a collision course with the land.

According to a contemporary news report from the 1939 incident, the ship sailed on with “uncanny volition,” heading towards the shores of Strandfontein. Bystanders had a long, unobstructed view of the vessel before it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The 1941 report mirrors the first, with the phantom vessel heading towards rocks before abruptly vanishing.

Gulf of Suez, Red Sea

The most recent sighting of the phantom ship occurred during the Second World War. The ship’s log of a U-Boat reported that crew members spotted the Flying Dutchman.

What became of the U-Boat and whether it ended up at the bottom of the sea is uncertain. Although the legend places most sightings off the Cape of Good Hope, this took place in the eastern half of the Gulf of Suez in the Red Sea.

What Causes Sightings of the Dutchman?

Phantom ships have contributed much to nautical lore for centuries. Naturally, scientists have attempted to investigate the phenomenon to determine what may be the cause. The most common and well-researched explanation is one type of mirage known as a Fata Morgana.

When atmospheric conditions are just right, the refraction of light causes a reflection of a ship or other object beyond the horizon. From afar, the mirage can seem like it’s floating above the water or in the sky, sometimes upside down and often with an eerie glow.

Because atmospheric conditions are volatile, the mirage can quickly disappear. This would explain why witnesses have said the Flying Dutchman vanished right before their eyes. The following video explains this phenomenon well.

So, what about the close-up sighting by King George? Why did it fool U-boat submariners? How does it account for the ill-fortune suffered by some of those who have seen the ship?

Three Hundred Years of the Evolving Dutchman

Although most people believe that there is probably no such thing as a ghost ship, this was not the case three hundred years ago. The men who spotted the Flying Dutchman believed that it was otherwordly and were truly frightened. For them, it meant certain peril in already frightening and mysterious waters. What they saw at sea became their tales on land, and their stories spread across the world. Throughout history, the fantastic legends profoundly touched the human imagination and inspired hundreds of pieces of art, literature, and entertainment. Today, the story of the ghostly vessel continues to evolve. For most of us, it is a story to enjoy, but for the still superstitious mariner, it is a phenomenon to steer clear of.

The Great Sphinx of Giza is one of the most recognizable man-made objects in the world. Despite this, it is also one of the most mysterious man-made objects in the world. Even if you accept the general consensus of who built the Sphinx, how was the Sphinx built, you are still left with many questions that have not been, or cannot be, explained. However, not everyone accepts the general consensus and therefore, the Sphinx is even more of an enigma to them. One of the mysteries of the Sphinx that has possibly been answered, but often disputed, is how old is the Sphinx.

The head of the Sphinx emerging from the sand in 1867.

When Was the Great Sphinx Built

If you deny the general consensus of the age of the Sphinx, you are left with the question of who built it. However, for the purposes of this article, we will ignore that question, as it is still disputed within the realm of general consensus. In other words, even if you do accept that the Sphinx was built when most Egyptologists say it was, there is still the question of in which pharaoh’s reign it was built. That question may be answered as well, but it doesn’t answer who built it. We have the tomb of the pyramid builders. We have no such evidence of who built the Sphinx.

According to translations of the “Dream Stela” at the foot of the Sphinx, King Thutmose IV came across the head of the Sphinx when he was still a prince. The rest of the statue was buried in the sand. He took shelter from the sun in the shadow of the great head. While there, he drifted off to sleep and dreamed that the Sphinx wanted him to dig out the rest of the statue in exchange for making him king. When he awoke, the prince remembered the dream and the deal was completed on both sides. If we are to believe that Thutmose IV unearthed the Sphinx, then we know the Sphinx dates back much farther than his reign, which began around 1400 BC.

A photo of the Great Sphinx taken in 1895.

Dr. Zahi Hawass and the Old Kingdom

According to Egypt’s premier archaeologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Great Sphinx of Giza was built during the Old Kingdom in Egypt (2649-2150 BC). There is quite a bit of evidence to support this, but the most obvious is the style of the statue. The features of the face, the headdress, and the shape of the head are reminiscent of the 4th Dynasty (2613-2494 BC). Theories that go against Hawass’s findings put carving of the Sphinx thousands of years before the 4th Dynasty. That begs the question, why would artistic style have remained the same in Egypt for so many thousands of years? Of course, it begs many other questions as well. Dr. Hawass has said that none of these theories (regarding an earlier date) “has any basis in fact.”

Dr. Robert Schoch and Sphinx Water Erosion

One of the prevailing arguments for the Great Sphinx being older than the Old Kingdom is that some of the erosion on the Sphinx appears to have been caused by water. Dr. Robert Schoch of Boston University studied the Sphinx water erosion and says that it appears to have been made by heavy rainfall. He claims that the sort of rainfall that has occurred in the Giza Plateau since 5000 BC would not have been enough to cause this sort of damage. Much heavier rains occurred before 5000 BC, making a date around or before then more feasible to him and others. He has also found that similar erosion does not exist in other monuments in the area dating from the Old Kingdom.

Dr. Schoch has hinted that wet sand could have caused the erosion on the pyramid. We do know that the Sphinx has been buried for the better part of its existence. In fact, it was only unearthed again in 1936. This being the third time that we are aware of, including Thutmose’s tale. However, we have no way of knowing if it was buried in wet sand. Even if we did, we still have the fact that others have credited blowing sand with the Sphinx’s erosion.

Problems in Determining How Old is the Sphinx

If you accept that the Great Sphinx of Giza was carved during the Old Kingdom, you still have to wonder exactly when. Some experts believe that it was built during the reign of Khufu (2589-2566 BC), the man for whom the Great Pyramid was built. Others believe that it was built during Khafre’s reign (around 2500 BC). Khafre is the man for whom the second largest of the Great Pyramids was built. The difference is only that of a few hundred years.

It is impossible to use most modern scientific methods to learn how old is the Sphinx. Because it is carved out of stone, carbon dating is out of the question. The only methods available to us are those of observation and deduction. Who could have possibly carved the Great Sphinx before 5000 BC? Why would it appear to be an Old Kingdom structure thousands of years after it was built? Observation and deduction tell us that no one could have carved the Great Sphinx that long ago. Additionally, the idea that the style of art would have remained the same in Giza for all that time is absurd. However, concrete evidence cannot be applied to the Sphinx, as there is none. There is no record of it being carved and there is no way of dating it conclusively.

First released in 2019 and with two seasons currently on Netflix, The Witcher has been a major success. Starring Henry Cavill and based on the books and short stories of Andrzej Sapkowski, the fantasy series is steeped in eastern European traditions and folklore.

Like many other creatures seen in the universe of the Witcher this was not an invention but based on a real tradition in Slavic mythology. The Leshy, a god of the forests and of hunting, was a wild and malevolent entity who roamed the deepest and most inaccessible backwoods of eastern Europe.

The Leshy  was most often depicted as a huge and gaunt male, colored gray and green and bearded. But he was known as a shapeshifter and could take any form as he sought to trick the unwary who walk through his forests, leading them to their doom.

Sometimes, he is also portrayed to have horns and is surrounded by packs of bears and wolves, the wild and dangerous animals of the forest. In a number of accounts, he is also said to have a wife named Leschachikha, and children.

According to the fairy tale, his wife is a cursed woman who either left or was forced from her village and lives in the deep forest with Leshy. Their children, mischievous like their father, are lost in the forest and are rarely seen.

Old Man of the Forest

When Leshy takes the shape of an old man, he appears to be extremely wizened. Tangled green hair covers his body from head to toe, and his skin is rough, like tree bark. As he walks, he causes the winds to blow through the trees.

His blood is said to be blue, adding a tinge of that color to his skin and allowing him to disappear easily into the woodland background, being very rarely seen. Most of the time it is his voice that is heard by people in the forest. He can be heard singing, laughing, or even whistling.

On spotting Leshy, he can be identified easily. While he appears like a man, his right ear, eyelashes, and eyebrows are missing. His head is also pointed, and he doesn’t wear a belt or a hat.

When in his native forest, he is a giant as tall as the trees. However, the moment Leshy steps out of the forest, his size shrinks and becomes as small as a single blade of grass. A number of stories also describe Leshy as having cloven hooves and horns. He wore shoes on the wrong feet to confuse trackers, and does not cast a shadow.

Slavic Mythology

Leshy is capable of changing his shape and taking the form of different animals such as bears and wolves. According to the beliefs of the Slavic people, he is a protector of the forests as well as the animals that live in the marshes and forests.

People who were kind to the forest spirit used to receive gifts from him. In the folk tales, the poor peasants received cattle. In some stories, princes would seek out the guidance of the Leshy to help them find their ideal princess.

Shepherds and farmers even made a pact with the Leshy in order to protect their sheep and crops. It was said that people who became friends with a Leshy could learn the secrets of magic.

However, Leshy is also considered untrustworthy and sometimes even an evil entity, who would trick women into the forest. Leshy also had a reputation for abducting children who were not baptized, and would even abduct children entering the forest to catch fish or pick berries.

In the forest, he would also lead travelers astray to such an extent that they felt hopelessly lost. The intent of Leshy isn’t always evil in such cases: he is more a mischievous being who enjoys misguiding humans from their path. He is even known to visit a wayside tavern, drink vodka, and lead a pack of wolves back to the forest.

For people who were lost in the wood or have annoyed Leshy, it was recommended that they made Leshy laugh. In order to do so, people could try tricks like taking off their clothes, wearing shoes on the wrong feet, to try and confuse the spirit.

Another way of driving away the forest monster was to recite prayers alternatively with curses. Applying salt to fire was considered yet another means of getting rid of Leshy.

The Living Forest

At times, more than one Leshy is believed to live in the forest. According to some folk tales, these Leshen lived in an enormous palace, along with beasts and serpents of the forest. During the winters, they would hibernate here. However, once spring arrived, the entire tribe of Leshen went running through the woods, yelling and screaming.

In the summer times, the Leshy was most active and most commonly played tricks on humans. However, those tricks were rarely known to cause any harm to humans at this time.

During the autumn, they tended to be more quarrelsome. They looked for opportunities to frighten and fight with other creatures in the forest as well as with the humans. During the final cold days of the year, when leaves start falling from the trees, the Leshy disappeared and went to hibernate once again.

The Leshy clearly represents a personification of the mystery and the dangers of the Slavic forests to the unwary. Silent in winter and safer, if disorienting, in the summer, the old wizened tree-man is a summation of what can befall you if you step into the forest unprepared.

This monster finds its analogue in the Scandinavian trolls, or the Wendigo of Native American myth. Maybe there once was an old man of the forest, some human or creature who inhabited the dense and inaccessible wilderness of eastern Europe.

Maybe, somewhere in the leafy darkness, he is out there still, ready to snatch unwary children who venture too deep into the woods. But at least, this time, we have Henry Cavill to save us.

Top Image: Common depiction of the Leshy. Source: Н. Н. Брут / Public Domain.

by Bipin Dimri

Throughout her extensive reign, Queen Victoria valiantly overcame seven assassination attempts, demonstrating remarkable fortitude. Faced with adversaries such as Edward Oxford, a bold 18-year-old who disrupted the tranquility of Buckingham Palace with gunfire, and John Francis, who twice attempted to harm her in a single weekend, Queen Victoria confronted each incident with unwavering resolve. The assailants, ranging from a disgruntled ex-actor to a newsstand worker with a hunchback, each harbored unique yet misguided reasons for their actions. Despite these continuous threats, Victoria’s composed response, including her prompt appearance at the opera after being struck by Robert Pate’s iron-tipped cane, not only showcased her bravery but also cemented the public’s deep respect for her. The varied motives of these attacks, from political zeal to personal distress, never compromised her safety. Instead, these repeated attempts only seemed to elevate her esteem among her subjects, affirming a strong bond between the monarch and the people. In navigating these relentless dangers, Queen Victoria stood as a beacon of resilience and a beloved figure of public reverence.

Top image: Left; Franz Xavier Winterhalter – The Young Queen Victoria in 1837. Right; Older Queen Victoria photograph. Source: Left;  Gandalf’s Gallery/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Right; Wellcome Images/ CC BY 4.0

By Robbie Mitchell

In the late 1900s, the British worked to build a railroad from Uganda to the Indian Ocean at Kilindini Harbour in Kenya. In March of 1898, a crew was working on constructing a railroad bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya.

The bridge was to span eight miles (13km), and several camps of workers were spread across the area. Two days before the project’s leader, Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, arrived in Tsavo, workers began disappearing.

Over nine months, two apex predators stalked, dragged, and ate construction workers at night while asleep. This is the story of the Tsavo Maneaters, and how humans are not at always the top of the food chain as we like to believe.

The Terror of Tsavo

The Tsavo Maneaters were a pair of man-eating, mane-less lions who terrorized the crew building the bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya. While most male lions are seen with manes, not all males will have them.

This might be due to polymorphism, which in biology is the occurrence of two or more visibly different forms of phenotypes in a population of a species of animals. Unlike most lions in Africa, “Tsavo male lions generally do not have a mane, though coloration and thickness will vary. There are several hypotheses as to why this occurs.”

One idea is that mane development is closely related to climate as manes can help reduce heat loss at night, but during the scorching days in the desert, it can lead to dehydration and excessive panting. Another reason the Tsavo lions lack manes might be an adaptation to the thick, thorny vegetation in the Tsavo region, which would interfere with a lion’s hunting abilities.

Once Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson arrived at the building site, he and his crew went to bed at night, fearing they would be taken as prey before the sun would rise the next day. At one point, the attacks seemed to stop; however, this was not the case.

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The Tsavo Maneaters simply moved to other camps and ate workers there. The Maneaters returned to the main camp, and their attacks became more intense and frequent. Men were being killed and devoured daily, and the crews tried to keep the pair of lions away however they could.

The workers would build large fires, hoping the smoke and flames would keep the lions out, but when this failed to stop the Tsavo Maneaters, they tried another method. The men built thorn fences known as bomas from the branches of the whistling thorn trees that surrounded their camp. This also failed to slow down the Maneaters; the lions would jump over or crawl under the thorny fences to feed.

Most of what we know about the Tsavo Maneaters came from letters from workers and John Henry Patterson’s semi-biography The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. According to Patterson’s writings, at first, only one lion would enter the camps and snatch a victim, but as time passed, both lions became bold enough and would enter the camps to feast together.

As the Tsavo Maneaters ate more and more men, hundreds of workers fled the area, which caused the construction of the bridge to be put on hold. By this point, “colonial officials began to intervene” to get construction back on track. Patterson alleged that the District Officer, Mr. Whitehead, almost fell victim to the Maneaters shortly after reaching the Tsavo train depot in the evening. Sadly, Mr. Whitehead’s assistant, known only as Abdullah, was killed while Whitehead himself barely escaped, with significant claw scratches along his back.

The Hunt

The Tsavo Maneaters kept eating workers, and officials decided that the beasts should be hunted to protect the builders and get the construction back on track. Patterson was said to have set several traps and tried to surprise the Tsavo Maneaters by attacking them from a tree at night.

After countless failed efforts to kill the Tsavo Maneaters, Patterson was finally victorious and shot the first lion on December 9, 1898. The first Maneater was a perfect example of how large the Tsavo lions can be.

This lion was huge, measuring 9 ft 8 in (2.95m) from the tip of its nose to its tail. Eight men were needed to return the lion’s remains to the camp. According to Patterson’s book, the first Tsavo Maneater had been shot in the back leg earlier that day but escaped. Upon the lion’s return to the camp that evening, he was shot “through the shoulder, penetrating its heart.”

The second Tsavo Maneater was taken down with nine shots over several days. The first shot came from Patterson, who was perched on a scaffold he built near a goat also killed by the lion. Eleven days after the first shot, the lion was shot two more times but escaped.

The following day, Patterson shot the lion three times, which severely injured the beast but didn’t end its life. Patterson then shot it another three times, which finally killed the last Tsavo Maneater.

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The exact number of victims of the Tsavo Maneaters is questionable. Some sources claim that 35 people lost their lives, while others place the death count at 135 people.

Patterson gave different numbers of victims each time he spoke about it, which further puts some of his claims in his biography into question as well. All we can really confirm is that a pair of mane-less Tsavo lions killed and ate more than ten men who were working on the bridge construction over the Tsavo River.

What Triggered Man-Eating Behavior?

When it comes to human deaths caused by animals, lion attacks resulting in death are relatively low, averaging around 100 deaths per year. This may sound like a lot, but hippos kill about 500 humans per year, Ascaris roundworms kill about 2,700 people, with mosquitos taking the lead with around 830,000 fatalities a year due to transmission of illnesses like malaria, Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever, and dengue fever.

Unprovoked lion attacks where humans are eaten are relatively rare. Several scientists have studied man-eating behavior in lions and have suggested some of the following theories.

One theory was that it was due to an epizootic cattle plague (rinderpest) outbreak in Africa in 1989. The plague impacted the lion’s usual prey source, possibly forcing them to turn to humans as an alternative food source.

Another theory for why the Tsavo Maneaters ate men might have been due to the lions growing used to finding dead humans in the Tsavo River. Back at the time of the attacks, East African slave trading ships coming from Zanzibar had to cross the river, and the bodies of dead enslaved people would be discarded in the lion’s territory.

An often contested theory was that one of the lions had a damaged tooth that would hinder its ability to kill prey like usual. Patterson claimed he damaged the lion’s tooth with his gun; however, in 2017, Dr. Bruce Patterson (no relation to Colonel Patterson) found one of the lions had an infection in the base of its canine tooth, which would have made it hard for it to hunt. If you want to see the skulls of the Tsavo Maneaters, they were purchased by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in 1924 and remain there to this day.

Top Image: It is believed that the Tsavo Maneaters developed their taste for human flesh from the slaves who were force marched through the area. Source: Sean Nel / Adobe Stock.

By Lauren Aguirre

Just after Christmas in 1956, two sisters, Barbara and Patricia Grimes decided to go to a movie theater and see an Elvis Presley film. They never returned to their home located on 3634 South Damen Avenue. After almost a month of searching in one of Chicago’s largest missing person’s investigation, their nude bodies were discovered in a rural ravine. The double murder of the Grimes Sisters remains unsolved.

(L) Barbara Grimes, 15 and (R) Patricia Grimes 13 in 1956.

Watch a Movie at Brighton Theater

On December 28, 1956, 15-year-old Barbara Grimes and her 13-year-old sister Patricia went to the nearby Brighton movie theater to see the Elvis Presley movie Love Me Tender. Several reliable sightings at the theater determined the two did arrive safely at the cinema. A friend sat behind them during the film, and this same friend later spotted them in line to purchase snacks at 9:30 PM.

The Brighton Theater, located at Archer and 42nd, Chicago, as it appeared in 1956.

The two sisters apparently stayed for the second show of a double-feature. Then they vanished.

When they did not arrive home by midnight, their mother, Loretta Grimes, became worried. She sent out two of her other children to the bus stop closest to the house to wait for the two girls. Several buses passed by, but the sisters were not on them. At a little after 2:00 AM on the morning of December 29, their mother called the police. Within a week Law enforcement authorities determined it was unlikely the two girls ran away on their own.

Police Investigation

In the subsequent days, police officers fanned out across the Chicago areas. They found people who eagerly reported having seen the two girls. It became a headache for the police to keep up with all of the alleged sightings:

• Several people claimed they witnessed two young girls matching a description of the Grimes sisters get on a bus heading east into the heart of Chicago. However, nobody saw these two girls get off the bus at any stop on the route.
• Similarly, a train conductor claimed to have seen them on a train near the Chicago suburb of Glenview.
• A night security guard claimed he was asked for directions by two young girls the night of their disappearance.
• On the evening of the 29th, a fellow student of Patricia reportedly saw her walking past a restaurant in the company of two other girls — neither of which was Barbara.
• A restaurant worker reported a sighting early on the morning of the 30th. He said they were in the company of a man at this point, and that one of the girls acted sickly or drunk and needed assistance when walking.
• A hotel clerk stated the girls briefly stayed at his hotel. A clerk at another hotel claimed he refused them a room due to their young age.
• Several days later, employees of a department store reported seeing the Grimes sisters in their store, listening to Elvis Presley records.
• Most mysteriously, roughly two weeks after the girls’ disappearance, a classmate of Patricia’s received two puzzling phone calls near midnight. During the first call, the party on the other line was silent. During the next call, a voice the mother was sure was Patricia’s said: “Is that you, Sandra? Is Sandra there?” The caller then hung up.

Discovery of the Bodies

The fate of the sisters become known before the month was up. On January 22, 1957, Leonard Prescott, a day laborer found, the bodies of Barbara and Patricia Grimes in a ravine off German Church Rd and County Line Rd in Willow Springs. They appeared to have been dumped or thrown there by someone in a passing car.

Police and reporters at the crime scene. Image: YouTube.

The search for the killers became complicated when the autopsy pathologists and the chief investigator of the county coroner’s office could not agree on a time of death. Similarly, an apparent cause of death remained uncertain due to the puzzling wounds on the bodies.

Suspects in the Murder of Grimes Sisters

The police conducted a massive search for possible culprits and finally focused on three likely suspects:

• Edward “Bennie” Bedwell, a homeless man from Tennessee. He initially admitted to the murder of the Grimes sisters. He later recanted, saying the police forced him to issue a false confession.
• Max Fleig, a young man in his teens, admitted to the murders in a polygraph test. Unfortunately, Illinois law considered it illegal to polygraph a juvenile. The police released him. Fleig later murdered a young woman and went to prison.
• Walter Kranz, a man in his early 50s who considered himself a psychic. Before the discovery of the bodies, Kranz called the police stating he dreamed of their location. The location he disclosed proved to be remarkably accurate. Police grilled the man but were unable to come up with enough evidence to proceed.

Despite a lengthy investigation, the crime remains unsolved. The police interviewed approximately 300,000 individuals with no credible suspects identified.

Ray Johnson Investigation

Retired West Chicago Police Officer Ray Johnson became interested in the case in 2010 and began his own unofficial investigation. He believes the cold case is solvable.  According to Johnson, Charles Leroy Melquist murdered 15-year-old Bonnie Leigh Scott in 1958. Johnson noted the similarities in the murders, but police never questioned Melquist about Barbara and Patricia Grimes. Ray Johnson thinks public assistance can help crack the case and made this video linked below.

Historic Mysteries updated this article on April 4, 2020.

D-Day was one of the most pivotal moments in history. An enormous invasion force risked everything to gain a toehold in continental Europe, cracking the Nazi stranglehold on France.

This was not an easy task, and the Allies realized the tantamount importance that this battle not only was won, but stayed won. D-Day was an enormous logistical undertaking, and perhaps the least known part of this was Operation Pluto.

This covert operation, often dubbed “D-Day’s Greatest Secret,” played a crucial role in the success of the Allied forces in Europe. Its mission was to supply the Allied war machine with the fuel it needed as it marched ever onward toward Germany by laying pipelines down beneath the English Channel.

Logistics wins wars and Operation Pluto was one of the greatest logistical missions ever undertaken.

A Covert Engineering Marvel

Operation Pluto, also known as the Pipeline Under the Ocean or Pipeline Underwater Transportation Oil, was a clandestine engineering project conceived by the British government during World War II. It was designed to solve a logistical conundrum the Allies were facing having successfully completed the D-Day landings in 1944.

The Allies were making significant advances into German-occupied territory and needed a reliable and efficient means of transporting fuel across the English Channel. Without a supply line, the invasion was on borrowed time.

Up until this point the Allies had been reliant on coastal tankers which came with several severe drawbacks- they were vulnerable to harsh weather, attack from the air, and had to be offloaded into vulnerable shoreside tanks. Operation Pluto on the other hand centered around the construction of an ingenious network of pipelines laid on the seabed, connecting the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg in Normandy, France.

These pipelines, comprising both flexible Hais and rigid Hamel types, were engineered to withstand the harsh conditions of the ocean floor. The flexibility of the Hais pipelines allowed them to be wound onto large drums for easier transport and deployment, while the Hamel pipelines were designed for more challenging terrains.

Outside of wartime, this would have been an impressive engineering feat, during wartime it was a marvel. For the operation to succeed it had to be carried out under complete operational secrecy. This wonder of covert engineering played a pivotal role in sustaining the momentum of the Allied advance into enemy territory.

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In essence, Operation Pluto was intended to be a lifeline, a hidden artery feeding the Allied war machine and ensuring sustained pressure on the Axis powers. The success of this covert mission would determine the ability of the Allied forces to outmaneuver and ultimately defeat the German forces on the European front.

The success of Operation Pluto hinged not only on its engineering brilliance but also on those involved keeping the operation’s existence hidden from enemy forces. The secretive nature of the operation was paramount to its success, requiring meticulous planning and strict security measures.

Like any secret operation, the pipeline plan needed a codename, and Operation Pluto was chosen. Why Pluto? Probably because in Roman mythology Pluto was the god of the underworld and these pipes were going deep under the ocean’s surface.

The engineers working on the design of the pipelines referred to the project as Operation Tombola, simply because tombolas have nothing to do with pipelines (unlike “pluto” which literally stood for “pipe line under the ocean”). The development and deployment of the pipelines were classified at the highest levels, with access limited to those with a need-to-know basis.

The problem with secrets is that the more people who know about them, the more likely it is for a leak to occur. Operation Pluto wasn’t just an engineering feat, there was a lot of construction needed too. Construction sites were strategically chosen, and workers involved in the project were often unaware of the broader context of their efforts.

The flexible Hais pipelines were wound onto large drums and transported under the guise of other military supplies, further concealing their true purpose. As for the rigid Hamel pipelines, their deployment required specialized equipment, which was transported discreetly to the chosen locations.

The laying of the pipelines, which required an incredible degree of precision, was carried out under the cover of darkness to avoid detection. This was no easy feat when one considers the challenges of working on the ocean floor. Surveillance and reconnaissance efforts by both air and sea were intensified to detect any signs of suspicious activity that could reveal the operation.

It’s amazing to think they managed to complete the operation without the enemy realizing. In this cloak-and-dagger world of wartime secrecy, Operation Pluto’s construction unfolded behind a curtain of strategic misdirection and careful concealment.

Success or Failure?

There is some disagreement between historians as to whether Operation Pluto was truly a success. Some claim that Operation Pluto succeeded in its primary mission: to establish a reliable and efficient means of transporting fuel across the English Channel to support the advancing Allied armies.

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The undersea pipelines played a crucial role in sustaining the momentum of the Allied offensive by providing a steady and secure source of fuel for vehicles, tanks, and aircraft. This ensured that the Allied forces could maintain their push into German-occupied territory without the logistical hindrances that had plagued previous military campaigns.

These historians would say that the impact of Operation Pluto on the overall war effort was profound. By circumventing the need for traditional fuel supply routes, which were vulnerable to disruption by enemy forces, Pluto provided a strategic advantage to the Allies. The operation contributed to the flexibility and mobility of the Allied forces, allowing them to outmaneuver the German defenses and exploit weaknesses in the enemy lines.

Others, however, are less convinced that Operation Pluto had such a profound effect. The operation was plagued by a series of delays and technical difficulties. Of the two lines, Bambi and Dumbo, Bambi was the most troublesome to get working.

The laying of the pipelines across the Bristol Channel and Solent had been carried out by expert technicians guided by the designers. Laying the pipeline on the French end, however, came down to naval laying parties who weren’t as experienced. Repeated setbacks even led to the Allies considering abandoning the operation completely.

In the end, Bambi only ran from 22 September 1944 to October 3, 1944. Just 3,300 long tons (3,400 t, 4,250,000 L) had been pumped. Dumbo, on the other hand, ran for much longer and managed to carry 180 million imperial gallons (820 million liters) of petrol, a much more impressive feat.

A Solid Foundation

The ultimate success of Operation Pluto was evident in its ability to meet the critical need for a secure and reliable fuel supply for the advancing Allied forces. By surmounting the logistical challenges that had hindered previous military campaigns, Pluto became a silent architect of victory, enabling the Allies to maintain their offensive momentum and press further into enemy territory.

Top Image: Pipe lengths stored for Operation Pluto. Source: Official Photographer / Public Domain.

The state of King Tut’s burial chamber raised concerns in 2012, and these prompted conservationist Adam Lowe and his team to embark on a groundbreaking mission. Faced with the challenge of decay, they harnessed technology to create a meticulous 3D model spanning 860 square feet (80 square meters).

This innovative approach allowed for the preservation of intricate details beneath the surface, previously unseen by the naked eye. By sharing the high-resolution scans with the academic community, Lowe facilitated unprecedented scrutiny of Tut’s burial chamber.

Dr. Nicholas Reeves, captivated by the surface scan’s revelations, made a remarkable observation—an indication of two potentially concealed doorways on the north wall. Stripped of paint, the scans exposed faint lines that Reeves believes outline hidden passages.

Astonishingly, these subtle markings, overlooked since Howard Carter’s discovery in the 1920s, hint at the possibility of undiscovered spaces within the iconic tomb.

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Top image: Tutankhamun’s tomb which may contain secret doors. Source: Sergii Figurnyi / Adobe Stock.

In 1836, three boys were out hunting for rabbit holes and found a puzzling group of 17 dolls in a small niche near the rocky structure called Arthur’s Seat at Holyrood Park. Oddly, each doll lay securely in its own coffin. Later, people named them the Burke and Hare Murder Dolls because they assumed the strange figurines were related to the 17 murder victims of William Burke and William Hare in Edinburgh, Scotland, during the late 1820s. However, whether or not this was true, and who made the dolls and hid them in the nook, or why, is still a mystery.

This image from the National Museum of Scotland shows five of eight figurines and their coffins with intricate metal details.

Discovery of the Burke and Hare Murder Dolls

As the boys looked for rabbit burrows, they spotted a strange opening about one foot wide and one foot deep in the rocky hillside. A few pieces of slate stones were stuffed into the opening and protected the coffins from the weather.

Initially, the Burke and Hare Murder Dolls, also known as the “Lilliputian coffins” and the “Fairy Coffins”, didn’t appear to be anything special. Even the children who found them did not realize their value. The youngsters supposedly pitched the dolls at one another and destroyed about half of them. Only eight unopened coffins made it down from the hillside, which sat about 820 feet high overlooking the city of Edinburgh.

Arthur’s Seat, where three boys purportedly found 17 figurines interred in coffins. CC3.0 David Monniaux

Descriptions of the Dolls and Coffins

The number of dolls appeared to represent the bodies sold to Dr. Knox (including the one that died of natural causes). Dating of the fabrics used for the burial cloths and the threads places their origins around the same time as the murders. However, whoever made the dolls and stashed them may have done so numerous times between 1800 and 1830. According to author Charles Fort, someone had placed the dolls and their coffins one-by-one in the cave in three levels. The bottom level of eight had the most decomposition in the coffins and their contents. The next level up, consisting of another row of eight dolls, was in slightly better shape. There was only one doll on the upper level. This one seemed the newest and lead many people to believe that more dolls would have followed in that row at some future time.

Most people assume the varying degrees of decomposition reflect different times of placement. However, it is possible that some dolls may have been more exposed to weathering than others. Analysis of the figurines indicates that they probably started out as toys or something other than corpses. None of the figures had closed eyes, and they all had black feet as if they were wearing boots. One figure had its arms removed before it could be fit into its coffin. Apparently, someone then repurposed the figures into corpses after building the coffins.

Report in the Scotsman

According to Mike Dash from Smithsonian, the Scotsman newspaper reported that each coffin:

“contained a miniature figure of the human form cut out in wood, the faces in particular being pretty well executed. They were dressed from head to foot in cotton clothes, and decently laid out with a mimic representation of all the funereal trappings which usually form the last habiliments of the dead. The coffins are about three or four inches in length, regularly shaped, and cut out from a single piece of wood, with the exception of the lids, which are nailed down with wire sprigs or common brass pins. The lid and sides of each are profusely studded with ornaments, formed with small pieces of tin, and inserted in the wood with great care and regularity.”

The coffins were made from Scots pine. There are some inconsistencies about their construction. Therefore, experts believe two different people may have created them. The maker carved out one solid piece of wood for the coffin and then placed another piece on top for the lid.

Brief Story of Burke and Hare

As their name suggests, the Burke and Hare Murder Dolls are related to the sinister deeds of two men: William Burke and William Hare. Both were Irishmen who met in Scotland and became close friends in the 1820s. Hare ran a boarding house with his wife. There, one of the tenants died of natural causes. Burke and Hare sold the body of the man to a doctor at Edinburgh University for use as a medical school cadaver.

William Burke (L) and William Hare (R), as they appeared in court. George Andrew Lutenor, c. 1829.

At the time, the medical schools had a shortage of bodies to use for dissection. They were only allowed to use executed criminals. The problem was, however, that criminals were facing execution less frequently. To supplement their needs, anatomists began purchasing corpses from body snatchers.

Edinburgh’s Underground City

Dr. Knox, of the University of Edinburgh, relied on Burke and Hare to furnish his anatomy school with plenty of fresh cadavers. After they sold the deceased tenant’s body for 7 pounds — a significant amount in those days — Burke and Hare realized that they could make a sizeable living in corpses. Future fresh corpses went for 10 pounds.

After 17 victims, police caught the duo, and Hare made a deal to turn King’s evidence in exchange for his freedom. He testified against Burke, who died by execution, and in a morbid twist of fate, the judge sentenced him to public dissection. Anatomists saved several of his body parts, including a death mask of his face. Hare walked. No one knows what happened to him.

Burke’s death mask and Hare’s life mask. Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh University. Image: Kim Traynor

Theories About the Murder Dolls

One theory is that one of the murderers may have felt such guilt about the victims who never got a proper funeral, that he made coffins and gave the victims a symbolic burial. Others theorize that they represent sailors lost at sea or that Celtic magic or Voodoo rituals were their true purpose.

If someone made the Burke and Hare Murder Dolls before the murders became public knowledge, only a handful of people could have carved them. There was Dr. Knox, who likely knew the corpses he was purchasing were murder victims. There were Burke and Hare, Hare’s wife, and Burke’s wife. Dr. Knox’s brother possibly knew as well. One of these people could have made the dolls out of guilt or for religious reasons. Alternatively, one of the killers could have made them as souvenirs and stashed them in the cave. Theoretically, Hare could have made them after Burke’s murder trial and put them there as well. However, he fled town rather quickly to avoid the angry public.

Some theorists suggest that Burke couldn’t have made the dolls since there are 17, and he would not have had the time after police found their last victim. The arrest happened too quickly for him to stash the last doll. However, it is possible that Burke and Hare actually had an additional victim. If this is the case, he may have stashed the last figurine before police stopped them. People who knew Burke claimed that he was a very religious man. Although scientists collected DNA from Burke’s body, they were unable to acquire DNA from the dolls and look for a match.

The main issue with the theory that the dolls resulted from the Burke and Hare murders, also called the West Port Murders, is that at least 12 of their victims were women. The figurines are clearly all-male wearing men’s burial attire. (Emery 2014).

If someone placed them in the niche to give a group of people a proper burial, was it due to some disaster in which people perished? Author Jeff Nisbet believes they resulted from the populist uprising Radical War of 1820. Rather than the Burke and Hare Murder Dolls, he calls them the Arthur’s Seat Coffins. He states:

Authenticity of the Dolls

Many people have accepted that the figurines and their coffins are genuine. However, there are those who believe they are a hoax. None of the children gave any first-hand testimony about them. What happened to the other nine dolls? When the boys realized that people seemed interested in the wooden objects, wouldn’t they have gone back to find the “remains” of the other figurines up on the hillside? Not knowing the truth adds one more dimension to the mystery.

According to Smithsonian, the boys’ schoolmaster acquired the set. He then took it to his archaeological society, and the set amazed the group. Oddly, it wound up under the ownership of a jeweler, who displayed the objects in his personal museum until he retired and sold the set at auction for 4 pounds around 1845. Private collectors maintained the Burke and Hare Murder Dolls for the remainder of the century. In 1901, Christina Couper donated the entire set of eight to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. But the mystery of Edinburgh’s coffin dolls endures.

Every day, five times a day, Muslims across the globe face Mecca and pray. When they face Mecca, it is not Mecca that they are truly facing, it is a cube-shaped building known as the Ka’aba or simply Kaaba. This building is also known as Baitullah or “The House of Allah.” On the east corner of this revered building, there is a cornerstone known as the Black Stone of the Ka’aba. It is steeped in mystery, legend, and speculation.

Close-up of the Black Stone or Hajar al-Aswad. Photo credit: makkahmadeenah on Instagram.

The Ka’aba resides in Makka or Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It stands in the relative center of the Al-Haram Mosque, where millions of Muslims flock every year to see this building and walk around it seven times. Most of the year, it is covered in black cloth. Beneath the black cloth is a stone building that may date back as far as 2030 B.C.E. Each side of the cube measures about 60 ft. across. There is a gold door on the southeast side. Inside, there is a polished marble floor and three pillars.

Muslims believe that Allah himself ordered that the Ka’aba be constructed. The story is that Abraham built the mosque with his oldest son, Ishmael. The building is said to be the likeness of Allah’s home in heaven. It is supposedly the oldest mosque on Earth. Historians believe it was once used by pagans, before Islam came into being. Likewise, the Black Stone is said to have been placed there and used by pagans, who were worshipful of such natural things. Islam forbids idolatry, so the Black Stone is not revered by them. They tell a completely different story about what the rock is and why it is so important.

There are various, slightly different, versions of the following story regarding the significance and origin of the Kaaba Black Stone. All are similar. When Adam was banished from Paradise or The Garden of Eden, he was filled with sin. The Black Stone was given to Adam to erase him of this sin and give him entrance into heaven. It is said to be from Heaven. At the time it belonged to Adam, it was white. Now, it is black because it has absorbed so much sin.

Muslims believe that the prophet Mohammad kissed the Black Stone and so, they kiss the Black Stone, if it is possible, during their obligatory, at least once a lifetime, trip to Ka’aba. If they are unable to kiss the stone, they point to it every time they pass on their seven-circle journey around the Ka’aba. This is a story steeped in religion and important religious figures. Therefore, the Black Stone has great importance as being linked to Allah, Adam and Mohammad. However, those outside of the Muslim faith have little to go by.

Another closeup of the Black Stone: Image: By Amerrycan Muslim (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0]

The Black Stone of the Ka’aba has been described as somewhere around 2 ft. in length. It is broken into roughly seven pieces, which are held together in a silver frame. The surface is certainly a blackish color, but there is some speculation that the color derives from all of the hands and mouths that have touched it, as well as the oils with which it is anointed. Not knowing the true color for sure makes it difficult to say just what it is. There is also a problem with getting a sample. Taking a sample would be extremely disrespectful. It might even be dangerous. There are stories about people being killed for messing around with the stone and the Ka’aba.

Thus far, speculation about the Kaaba Black Stone regard it being old and placed there by pagans. Those interested have postulated that the stone may be glass, agate or meteorite. It may also be glass from a meteorite. It is obviously brittle or it has been damaged by something very strong, which is certainly possible, considering it has been stolen and in the midst of a war in its history. Evidence pointing to any of these theories is slim, though the meteorite theory is the most popular. In the end, the stone holds much less importance to non-Muslims. The mystery of its origins will have to be left to myth and legend for now.