History Schmistory: October 31. Wait a minute, where’s Joe?
Thursday, October 31, 2024
1961: In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin’s body is removed from Lenin’s Tomb. OR WAS IT?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Vladimir_Lenin_and_Joseph_Stalin,_1919.jpg
History Schmistory: October 30. Syke!
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
1938: Orson Welles broadcasts an adaptation of War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, performed as the Halloween episode of a radio drama series called Mercury Theatre on the Air. The first two thirds of the story is retold through a series of fake news bulletins, informing listeners that Martians have attacked the Earth and will probably kill all of us. This causes a majority of listeners to completely freak out. The hoax is basically what made Orson Welles a household name.
![By CBS Radio and photographer unknown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://www.teammarcopolo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Orson-Welles-Show-1941.jpg)
By CBS Radio and photographer unknown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Not your everyday zombies…
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Every year around this time, Marco has the dreaded “zombie dream”, specifically, zombie emperors from ancient Rome. Yeah, totally weird. Hopefully it’s not some kind of doomsday premonition. Sweet dreams!
History Schmistory: October 29. Evil Opera
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/1920-Don-Giovanni-B.jpg
1787: Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni is performed for the first time in Prague, a show chock-full of murder and mayhem, masquerade parties, demon choruses, graveyards, ghostly statues, and ultimately a first class ticket to hell. Top it off with an appropriate moral; he who lives wickedly, dies wickedly, and you’ve got yourself a fulfilling Halloween experience, wouldn’t you say?
History Schmistory: October 28. “This one’s for all the ladies out there.”
Monday, October 28, 2024
1886: In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the beautiful bronze Statue of Liberty. Always ahead of her time, Lady Liberty went green long before the rest of us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:POTD/2009-10-28
GO THERE! A Truly Haunted Mansion!
Sunday, October 27, 2024
We mentioned this place a while back, and if you haven’t been there yet, Halloween is your golden opportunity!!!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Winchester_House_910px.jpg
The Winchester Mystery House is the former home of widow Sarah Winchester, who in 1881, upon the death of her husband, inherited 50% of the Winchester Repeating Arms company. Mrs. Winchester believed her family was cursed and that her Northern California mansion was haunted by all the victims who died at the muzzle of a Winchester rifle. So she began adding rooms to the property in order to accommodate all of them. By the time she died in 1922 the house had 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens, along with plenty of secret passageways, trap doors, and stairways leading to nowhere. Plenty of ghost stories up in this crib.
History Schmistory: October 27. One Philly to go!
Sunday, October 27, 2024
1682: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded. Eventually followed by the cheesesteak, because honestly, how could we not mention it?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Cheesesteak_Hamburg_Opole.jpg
History Schmistory: October 26. …it was OK.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
1881: The famous gunfight at the OK Corral takes place in Tombstone, Arizona, lasting only 30 seconds. A shame Kevin Costner’s movie wasn’t that short.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona#/media/File:Allen_Street_Tombstone.jpg
(GO THERE!) The well-preserved town still stands as a major tourist attraction.
-And Val Kilmer still stands as Doc Holiday, in our book.
History Schmistory: October 25. Priceless.
Friday, October 25, 2024
1993: The master of macabre, classic horror film actor Vincent Price, well known for his creepy characters and distinctly chilling voice, dies of lung cancer. And Halloween just wasn’t the same without him.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Vincent_Price_in_House_on_Haunted_Hill.jpg
History Schmistory: October 24. Steel Widow.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Annie_Taylor.jpg
1901: With her only child dead and her only husband killed in the Civil War, aging schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor feared she was destined to end up in the poorhouse. But then she came up with a brilliant plan. First, she would pay professional coopers to construct a heavy duty, elongated and well-cushioned barrel. Then, on October 24th, her 63rd birthday, she would climb inside and ride it over the edge of Niagara Falls, a feat that would hopefully bring enough publicity and wealth to carry her comfortably into senectitude.
The stunt is a resounding success, and Annie becomes the first person ever to accomplish it, emerging from the certain-death-capsule with only a small gash on her head, though she made it clear she would rather “walk up to the mouth of a cannon” than ever try it again. Unfortunately, the story ends with Annie spending most of her earnings on private detectives in a futile search for the missing barrel, no doubt sold by her concurrently absent manager. Still, Annie Edson Taylor remains one of the most gutsy people in the history of daredevilry.
