Today in history, The Sixth Crusade ends when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilates the Frankish army at Gaza in 1244.
Today in history, English forces defeat the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville’s Cross, Scotland in 1346.
Today in history, Henry VIII of England strips Thomas Wolsey of his office for failing to secure an annulment of his marriage in 1529.
Today in history, Maine and Plymouth are incorporated in Massachusetts in 1691.
Today in history, Composer and pianist Frederic Chopin dies in Paris of tuberculosis at the age of 39 in 1849.
Today in history, General Ulysses S. Grant is named overall Union Commander of the West in 1863.
Today in history, Due to rising anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism in Hitler’s Germany, Albert Einstein (see picture below) immigrates to the United States in 1933. He makes his new home in Princeton, N.J.
Today in history, The U.S. destroyer Kearney is damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland in 1941; 11 Americans are killed.
Today in history, Peace talks between Pathet Lao and Royal Lao government begin in Vietnam in 1972.
Today in history, Taipei 101 (see picture below) is completed in Taipei, becoming the world’s tallest high-rise in 2003.
Here’s this week’s today in strangeness. Hope you enjoy!
April 12th/13th:
Today in strangeness, The covert mind control program, MK-ULTRA was launched on this day in 1953, by CIA director Allen Dulles. The project ran at least until the late 60’s and notoriously tested drugs such as LSD on unwitting subjects.
Today in strangeness, On this day in 1894, Thomas Edison demonstrated the kinetoscope, a viewing device that was a precursor to the film projector. The 1999 Sydney Hailstorm turned out to be one of Australia’s costliest natural disasters, with 500,000 tons of hailstones, some as large as 3.5 inches in diameter, hitting New South Wales.
Today in strangeness, On this date in 1912, Albert Einstein referred to time as the 4th dimension, while the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, after hitting an iceberg. The first Walk Across America Backwards took place on this day in 1931.
Today in strangeness, On this date in 1866, a leaking crate of nitroglycerin in San Francisco exploded, leveling a Wells Fargo office and all surrounding buildings. And on this day in 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic effects of LSD.
Today in strangeness, According to the Daily Bleed, in Scotland on this date in the year 618 AD, 53 monks were burned alive by a gang of armed women seeking revenge for being cheated out of their pasture rights. On this day in 1970, the crew of Apollo 13 safely returned to Earth, in spite of a severe malfunction that occurred in their spacecraft on their way to the moon.
Today in strangeness, On this date in 1906, San Francisco was shaken by an earthquake measuring close to 8.0 on the Richter scale. City blocks crumbled, fires erupted, and when it was all over the quake had claimed hundreds of lives.
Here’s this week’s today in strangeness. Hope you enjoy!
March 8th/9th:
Today in strangeness, On this date in 1934, Yuri Gagarin was born. Gagarin would go on to become the first human to both enter space and orbit the Earth. Seven years following his historic achievements, Gagarin died in a helicopter crash, the cause of which remains a mystery to this day.
Today in strangeness, It was known that on this date in 1982, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn would all be on the same side of the Sun, within a 95-degree wide interval. In 1974, authors John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann published the bestseller The Jupiter Effect, which wrongly predicted that this planetary alignment would cause a number of catastrophes including a huge earthquake on the San Andreas fault on March 10, 1982.
Today in strangeness, On this date in 1619, it was curtains for the Flower sisters who were burned at the stake on charges of witchcraft in England. It seems their mother, who was also on trial with them, sealed their fate when she picked up a piece of bread and declaimed on the witness stand ‘May this cake choke me if I am guilty.’ She then proceeded to drop dead after a bite. The Great Blizzard of 1888 wreaked havoc across the Northeast US with some areas receiving as much as 50 inches of snow.
Today in strangeness, On March 12, 1894, the first bottles of Coca-Cola were sold. Invented by an Atlanta pharmacist, the original formula included lime, cinnamon, and coca leaves. On this date in 1928, the St. Francis Dam Disaster took place (the second-worst disaster in California history), and in 2002, Homeland Security unveiled their color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale.
Today in strangeness, It was on the night of March 13, 1997, that the ‘Phoenix Lights‘ were seen in the night skies over Phoenix and beyond. This huge triangular formation of lights was reported by countless witnesses, some who called in to Art Bell that night. Gov. Fife Symington, who initially made fun of the incident, belatedly publicly admitted he, too, saw the lights.
Today in strangeness, On March 14, 1879, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany. Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity radically altered the view of the universe. His work in particle and energy theory led to breakthroughs in quantum mechanics and, ultimately, the atomic bomb.
Today in history, The Roman Emperor Nerva names Trajan, an army general, as his successor in 0028.
Today in history, Henry VIII of England dies and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Edward VI in 1547.
Today in history, Ahmed Shah, the first King of Afghanistan, occupies Delhi and annexes the Punjab in 1757.
Today in history, Surrounded by Prussian troops and suffering from famine, the French army in Paris surrenders. During the siege, balloons were used to keep contact with the outside world in 1871.
Today in history, The German navy attacks the U.S. freighter William P. Frye, loaded with wheat for Britain in 1915.
Today in history, The U.S. Coast Guard is founded to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea in 1915.
Today in history, Albert Einstein startles Berlin by suggesting the possibility of measuring the universe in 1921.
Today in history, The Japanese attack Shanghai, China, and declare martial law in 1932.
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