WTF! Stranger than fiction facts.

[FWJ]

1 hour ago, Lone Striker said:

Abraham Lincoln's coffin was moved 17 times to different locations - and in 5 of those, the coffin was opened to check that the correct body was still inside !!     In some cases it was due to poorly chosen  mausoleum sites.  Another reason was that several (failed or foiled) attempts had been made to steal his coffin by criminal gangs as a ransom, either to  obtain big money for its release or official pardons for criminal associates in prison. 

 

This is a great thread, btw. Second only to the Edinburgh History one.  

 

 

 

 

A eyewitness to Lincoln’s assassination, Samuel J. Seymour,  appeared on a TV panel show in the US ( I’ve Got a Secret ).

[Tazio]

54 minutes ago, That thing you do said:

Pancho Villa, famous as one of the key people in Mexicos war of independence most hated adversary was a northern Mexico Scottish Landowner from Edinburgh.

 

Said landowner not only refused to allow the division del norte batallion villa was in to seek shelter but he was hated for levying taxes on his land for locals to live there. Crofting and private land ownership not being a concept mexicans had heard of.

 

After the war was won Villa had him buried up to his neck  in the desert, run over by horses, then shot and buried.

 

In the book "The life and times of Pancho Villa" he described the Scottish landowner "the vilest scum to walk the face of the earth".

 

 

Aye, the Scot’s around the world at that time were an ambitious bunch. I can’t remember the exact wording but JM Barrie said something like “There are few things as impressive as a Scotsman on the make”. Though how much of a compliment he meant it as is up for debate. 

[JudyJudyJudy]

1 minute ago, FWJ said:

A eyewitness to Lincoln’s assassination, Samuel J. Seymour,  appeared on a TV panel show in the US ( I’ve Got a Secret ).

Yes I read about that . I always find it odd that those adults around the Victorian era lived to see television . It was an immense technological change but then I think of pretending I had a mobile phone ( a la Star Trek ) in whilst playing in the 1970s and then it actually becoming a reality . Similar to face time etc . I recall eagerly awaiting phone calls from my then bf in 1986 when he was working in the USA and would phone me every Saturday morning . In a way it was very sweet and that kind of excitement / anticipation is now gone . Everyone is easily contract able which at times isn’t the best I feel . 

[JudyJudyJudy]

59 minutes ago, That thing you do said:

Pancho Villa, famous as one of the key people in Mexicos war of independence most hated adversary was a northern Mexico Scottish Landowner from Edinburgh.

 

Said landowner not only refused to allow the division del norte batallion villa was in to seek shelter but he was hated for levying taxes on his land for locals to live there. Crofting and private land ownership not being a concept mexicans had heard of.

 

After the war was won Villa had him buried up to his neck  in the desert, run over by horses, then shot and buried.

 

In the book "The life and times of Pancho Villa" he described the Scottish landowner "the vilest scum to walk the face of the earth".

 

 

Oops don’t mention that to the rabid nats 😂😂 just a wee joke . 

[Lone Striker]

10 minutes ago, FWJ said:

A eyewitness to Lincoln’s assassination, Samuel J. Seymour,  appeared on a TV panel show in the US ( I’ve Got a Secret ).

Quite astonishing "lifetime link" between 2 totally  different ways of life.     

 

A while back, I read a medical/surgical opinion on the actual cause of Lincoln's death - it wasn't the bullet, but the primitive (for that time) attempt  to remove it.   The opinion reckoned he would have survived if they had just left it alone.    It  did also  qualify that "survival" would have included  debilitating brain damage.  😲

 

 

[Maple Leaf]

3 hours ago, hughesie27 said:

Certainly more interesting that the JFK chat 😁

I agree. 

[Pennywise]

George Washington didn't know dinosaurs existed, but he probably thought giants were real. America's first president died in 1799, and science didn't prove the existence of dinosaurs until 1841. Before then, fossilized dino bones were often thought to belong to an extinct race of giant humans.

 

I copy & pasted this so I got it right 😂

[Lone Striker]

The first man to orbit the Earth was Yuri Gagarin in April 1961. He came from a humble background and started work as an apprentice metal worker, but joined a flying club as a hobby.  That led to him joining the Soviet Air Force, becoming a test pilot, and ultimately being selected as the  solo cosmonaut  in the Soviet's  attempt to beat the USA in the "Space Race" by one month.

 

The landing back through the Earth's atmosphere hit a problem and  might have killed him if he hadn't ejected before the capsule crash-landed.

 

He became a national hero, but succumbed to alcohol for a while before eventually re-joining the Soviet Air Force as a test pilot.

 

In 1968 - less than 7 years after his historic space flight - he was killed when his MiG jet fighter plane crashed near Moscow.

 

The official explanation for the crash was that the jet had hit a bird or weather balloon, causing  it to swerve & spin  uncontrollably  to the ground.   However some experienced pilots didn't believe that explanation. 

 

 The crash was investigated again 10 years ago by one of Gagarin's  cosmonaut  friends - he was able to unearth  a secret classified report which revealed that a much bigger  aircraft was being tested that day around the same time in the same area, and that it had deviated from its planned altitude  so that it was likely to have been very close to the smaller MiG, and the turbulence  from it would have been capable of destabilising the MiG  with a catastrophic outcome.

 

 

Its a remarkable story with a tragic ending.

[Lone Striker]

10 hours ago, FWJ said:

A eyewitness to Lincoln’s assassination, Samuel J. Seymour,  appeared on a TV panel show in the US ( I’ve Got a Secret ).

 

[Ked]

Don't know if correct thread but it's got to be close.

Marina Abravomic 1974 art where she stood still with various tools for others to use on her.

 

 

 

Some people can only be described as fascinating.

[Carl Fredrickson]

1 hour ago, Ked said:

Don't know if correct thread but it's got to be close.

Marina Abravomic 1974 art where she stood still with various tools for others to use on her.

 

 

 

Some people can only be described as fascinating.

https://www.thecollector.com/rhythm-0-by-marina-abramovic/

[Ked]

2 minutes ago, Carl Fredrickson said:

https://www.thecollector.com/rhythm-0-by-marina-abramovic/

It' was such a I don't know how to describe it ...concept.

 

Would the same happen today I wondered and even spread my thought to other politic.

I couldn't help but appreciate the art of it .

We forget how important opposite thought and being strange is important.

 

[Carl Fredrickson]

2 minutes ago, Ked said:

It' was such a I don't know how to describe it ...concept.

 

Would the same happen today I wondered and even spread my thought to other politic.

I couldn't help but appreciate the art of it .

We forget how important opposite thought and being strange is important.

 

 

My thoughts are that some folk shouldnt be allowed outside unsupervised. Sounded nuts. 

 

I love this thread (other than too much JKB.FBI chat) as it encourages me to read up on things I didnt know about.

[Ked]

2 minutes ago, Carl Fredrickson said:

 

My thoughts are that some folk shouldnt be allowed outside unsupervised. Sounded nuts. 

 

I love this thread (other than too much JKB.FBI chat) as it encourages me to read up on things I didnt know about.

Aye its good that way for me otherwise I'm healthy conspiracy. 

Which I've got to say still holds truths beyond ......sorry 😄

 

[Spellczech]

28 minutes ago, Carl Fredrickson said:

https://www.thecollector.com/rhythm-0-by-marina-abramovic/

TBF that was probably the only time a "social experiment" has ever actually been a social experiment...Turns out people are sht

[Tommy Brown]

On 03/01/2024 at 09:06, Carl Fredrickson said:

Cecil Chubb went to an action in 1903 to buy dining furniture that his wife liked. Instead of the dining furniture, he bought the Stonehenge monument for £6,600. 

 

In 1918 he gifted the site to the nation.

 

This is what I was told and I am happy to be corrected. Also, if anyone has a record of his wife's response when he told her, please let me know.  

It was a question on The Chase this week.

[Section Q]

On 02/01/2024 at 00:03, periodictabledancer said:

Tam Hart, one time owner of Hibs, was actually a  Jambo.

Not too sure about that.

[Section Q]

On 03/01/2024 at 23:23, Tazio said:

Aye, the Scot’s around the world at that time were an ambitious bunch. I can’t remember the exact wording but JM Barrie said something like “There are few things as impressive as a Scotsman on the make”. Though how much of a compliment he meant it as is up for debate. 

Scots make good criminals and good cops. Prison wardens and rebels. Such a diverse bunch....

[Carl Fredrickson]

3 hours ago, Tommy Brown said:

It was a question on The Chase this week.

 

 Havent seen the Chase in a long time. Is Bradley Walsh still hosting it?

 

The fact showed on my FB last week and it stuck in my mind but I didnt save the post. 

[Ribble]

You may know them as the bunch of heroes that broke box office records with their movies. But "The Avengers" was also a group of Jewish assassins who hunted Nazi war criminals after World War II. They poisoned 2,283 German prisoners of war!

 

Did you know Abraham Lincoln is in the wrestling hall of fame? The 6'4" president had only one loss among his around 300 contests. He earned a reputation for this in New Salem, Illinois, as an elite fighter.

 

The University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire. The University of Oxford first opened its doors to students all the way back in 1096. By comparison, the Aztec Empire is said to have originated with the founding of the city of Tenochtitlán at Lake Texcoco by the Mexica, which occurred in the year 1325.

 

Tablecloths were originally designed to be used as one big, communal napkin. When they were first invented, guests were meant to wipe off their hands and faces on a tablecloth after a messy dinner party

 

46 BC was 445 days long and is the longest year in human history. Nicknamed the year of confusion, this year had two extra leap months inserted by Julius Caesar. This was in order to make his newly-formed Julian Calendar match up with the seasonal year.

[Ribble]

Also, Thomas Edison is the reason Hollywood is in LA and not New York, Filmmakers moved to California to find a judge less favourable towards the 1000+ patents Edison held in New York, including most of the cutting edge film making technology of the time 

[Dennis Reynolds]

There are more trees on Earth than stars in the milky way.

[Ron Burgundy]

9 minutes ago, Dennis Reynolds said:

There are more trees on Earth than stars in the milky way.

That is fiction surely.

Edited January 5 by Ron Burgundy

[henrysmithsgloves]

When you take a deep breath in through your nostrils and breathe out, what you don't realize is that you breathe out of only one nostril at a time. This is true for 85% of all humans. Breathing switches from one nostril to another in about four hours. The body also reacts differently depending on which nostril we breathe out of. Using the right one may increase alertness and concentration, while the left one may help reduce stress.

[milky_26]

2 minutes ago, Ron Burgundy said:

That is fiction surely.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trees-stars-milky-way/

 

 

[JWL]

A chicken called Mike once lived for over two years with its head cut off.

[Ron Burgundy]

17 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trees-stars-milky-way/

 

 

Cool, although it is an educated guess. 

I was originally thinking of the universe and not the tiny little insignificant speck of it which is the milky way.

 

That fact should cheer up wee Greta.

[highlandjambo3]

Not quite on thread topic but I found this interesting.  We passed through this location whilst in Canada last year and we stopped off at Rogers pass memorial park.  We spent a bit of time there reading the tributes.  
 

The bell you can see commemorates those that died and you are invited to ring the bell (which makes a serious noise) then rake the gravel around the bell…..found it very therapeutic and I can honestly say I had a tear in my eye.

 

 

“Many of the dead were found standing upright, frozen in position”

 

https://www.revelstokemuseum.ca/blog/2016/3/4/overwhelmed-remembering-the-march-4-1910-avalanche-at-rogers-pass

 

 

[Ked]

32 minutes ago, JWL said:

A chicken called Mike once lived for over two years with its head cut off.

🤣

[Ron Burgundy]

6 minutes ago, Ked said:

🤣

It's true, I've seen the photos. It left just enough brain stem for it to live and was fed with a wee dropper thing I think right into it's throat.

[periodictabledancer]

9 hours ago, Section Q said:

Not too sure about that.

100%.

My late dad in law worked with him just after the war and then for him as part of Hart Builders (then Crudens) and knew him very well. 

My dad in law was site agent for Hart's house build in Ravelston.

[leginten]

1 hour ago, highlandjambo3 said:

Not quite on thread topic but I found this interesting.  We passed through this location whilst in Canada last year and we stopped off at Rogers pass memorial park.  We spent a bit of time there reading the tributes.  
 

The bell you can see commemorates those that died and you are invited to ring the bell (which makes a serious noise) then rake the gravel around the bell…..found it very therapeutic and I can honestly say I had a tear in my eye.

 

 

“Many of the dead were found standing upright, frozen in position”

 

https://www.revelstokemuseum.ca/blog/2016/3/4/overwhelmed-remembering-the-march-4-1910-avalanche-at-rogers-pass

 

 

The late, great Michael Marra wrote a song called Farlow and in his live intro mentions how the town of Revelstoke got its name. Apparently the locals in what had been called Farlow ran out of funds to complete the building of the town and had to go cap in hand to a certain Lord Revelstoke, who agreed to provide them with the money they needed on condition that they changed the name to Revelstoke.

 

 

Edited January 5 by leginten

[Lone Striker]

Slightly different angle on the topic.  

 

Scotland's recently uncovered  WTF moment, when  Brian McKinnon (calling himself Brandon Lee) hoaxed his way into a  Bearsden Academy class as a 30 year-old  pretending to be a 17 year-old .......after having previously left the school as an actual  17 year-old .    A film  was made, starring Alan Cumming 

 

 

 

[That thing you do]

The Country of Belize was once known as Scottish Honduras (yep was new to me as well when i went there).

 

The Baymen of Belize were famous for their daring rebellion against Spanish rule in Mexico and modern day honduras and Guatemala.

 

They were taught combat by Scottish soldiers and fought in Kilts.

 

My guess is Pancho Villa would've liked these guys alot more.

 

[That thing you do]

9 hours ago, Ribble said:

You may know them as the bunch of heroes that broke box office records with their movies. But "The Avengers" was also a group of Jewish assassins who hunted Nazi war criminals after World War II. They poisoned 2,283 German prisoners of war!

 

Did you know Abraham Lincoln is in the wrestling hall of fame? The 6'4" president had only one loss among his around 300 contests. He earned a reputation for this in New Salem, Illinois, as an elite fighter.

 

The University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire. The University of Oxford first opened its doors to students all the way back in 1096. By comparison, the Aztec Empire is said to have originated with the founding of the city of Tenochtitlán at Lake Texcoco by the Mexica, which occurred in the year 1325.

 

Tablecloths were originally designed to be used as one big, communal napkin. When they were first invented, guests were meant to wipe off their hands and faces on a tablecloth after a messy dinner party

 

46 BC was 445 days long and is the longest year in human history. Nicknamed the year of confusion, this year had two extra leap months inserted by Julius Caesar. This was in order to make his newly-formed Julian Calendar match up with the seasonal year.

Aztec part is true.

 

The Aztecs settled where a eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. That happened to occur at Texcoco. It's depicted on the Mexican flag and Tenochtitlan was possibly the most beautiful city on earth comparable to Venice until the Spanish knocked it down and built over it as well as filling in the rivers.

 

The result is what is now Mexico City.

 

It was recently restored in 3D imagery. It truly was stunning. The mountains and volcanoes remain.

 

The Spanish have alot to answer for.

Edited January 5 by That thing you do

[Maple Leaf]

12 hours ago, Section Q said:

Scots make good criminals and good cops. Prison wardens and rebels. Such a diverse bunch....

The famous Pinkerton security and detective agency in the United States was founded by Scottish-born Allan Pinkerton.

[Tazio]

2 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

The famous Pinkerton security and detective agency in the United States was founded by Scottish-born Allan Pinkerton.

Not forgetting the roots of the KKK as well for the other side. 

[WDJ87]

On 31/12/2023 at 19:48, Spellczech said:

Was watching the excellent Vietnam War series on the Documentary Channel today and realised that JFK was pretty much a bumbling fool like Boris Johnson - history has been very kind to him because he was assassinated...

Mayor Quimby in the Simpsons is based on JFK isn't he? Womanising, bumbling idiot etc

[WDJ87]

On 01/01/2024 at 17:48, stirlo said:

I would argue that even more incredible than the story quoted by the OP, is the fact that Helen Viola Jackson, the last widow of a veteran of the US Civil War, died in 2020 - that's 155 years after the end of the war! Her husband was born in 1843.

 

Another one that seems quite surprising is that the father of the ex PM John Major (who is 80) was born in 1879.

A 17 year old marrying a 93 year old... 🤢🤢🤮🤮

[Tazio]

1 minute ago, WDJ87 said:

Mayor Quimby in the Simpsons is based on JFK isn't he? Womanising, bumbling idiot etc

And in a knowing nod must surely be named after Fred Quimby the producer of Tom And Jerry. 

[Carl Fredrickson]

5 minutes ago, WDJ87 said:

A 17 year old marrying a 93 year old... 🤢🤢🤮🤮

 

If I remember correctly, on QI they said it was due to him wanting her to get her military pension. 

[redjambo]

1 hour ago, That thing you do said:

The Country of Belize was once known as Scottish Honduras (yep was new to me as well when i went there).

 

 

I don't want to be that guy, but evidence please.

[JWL]

According to a German historian called Heribert Illig, the current year is only 1727 as there were 297 years added to the calander during the Holy Roman Empire in order for Otto III to be Emperor at the first Millenium of 1000 AD. 

[Section Q]

6 hours ago, periodictabledancer said:

100%.

My late dad in law worked with him just after the war and then for him as part of Hart Builders (then Crudens) and knew him very well. 

My dad in law was site agent for Hart's house build in Ravelston.

I knew him too, and he never mentioned it.

[Sydney]

Wyatt Earp (of Gunfight at the OK Corral fame) became a consultant in Hollywood for early cowboy films.

[stirlo]

Interesting one in the press today - which some may already know, but I must confess I didn't. You may have seen the story about Russell Crowe being related to the last man to be beheaded in the UK, Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat. I never realised that the phrase 'laughing his head off' was coined as a result of Fraser's execution, due to the fact that he was laughing as he was beheaded.

 

On a completely different note, I learned today that the centre of the Earth is around the same temperature as the surface of the Sun - and possibly even slightly hotter.

[stirlo]

1 hour ago, Carl Fredrickson said:

 

If I remember correctly, on QI they said it was due to him wanting her to get her military pension. 

 

Yes that rings a bell - and if so, it turned out to be quite a prudent piece of financial planning! 

[FWJ]

6 hours ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

When you take a deep breath in through your nostrils and breathe out, what you don't realize is that you breathe out of only one nostril at a time. This is true for 85% of all humans. Breathing switches from one nostril to another in about four hours. The body also reacts differently depending on which nostril we breathe out of. Using the right one may increase alertness and concentration, while the left one may help reduce stress.

And there’s a fair chance that every breath you take will will contain an atom of Caesar’s last breath.

 

[Tazio]

15 minutes ago, Sydney said:

Wyatt Earp (of Gunfight at the OK Corral fame) became a consultant in Hollywood for early cowboy films.

And if I remember correctly refereed a world heavyweight championship fight. 

[milky_26]

3 minutes ago, Tazio said:

And if I remember correctly refereed a world heavyweight championship fight. 

not only that people believe that he helped fix the result of that fight in 1896