The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

"Series 14"

medium Helen Duncan "manifests ectoplasm"

Deeply Impressed

Helen Duncan goes on trial

Helen Duncan was the last person persecuted in Britain for being a witch. Except she wasn't the last, she wasn't a witch, and she wasn't exactly persecuted either...

Categories: Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 14

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a detail of George Gray Barnard's "The Burdern of Life: The Broken Law" depicting one of Two Brothers, facepalming

Cloud Dongs

George Grey Barnard's Pennsylvania Capitol sculpture groups

In August 2023, my cousin Tim and his fiancee Bonnie were getting married in Lancaster. As #7 and I made our travel plans, we realized that even though she has spent a large chunk of her adult life in Pennsylvania she had never visited many of its most famous historic sites. We decided to make […]

Categories: Arts & Culture, Feats of Building & Engineering, Series 14

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a woodcut depicting the Confederate raid on St. Albans, VT

Rapscallions!

"surprised and excited"

A grab bag of Confederate plots: Fake peace conferences! Robbing banks! Burning down cities! Kidnapping the vice president!

Categories: History, Series 14

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John Yates Beall

Rapscallions!

"Resist at Your Peril!"

The only thing standing between John Yates Beall and Johnson's Island was the USS Michigan... that and a terrible con man and the cowardice of his own men.

Categories: History, Series 14

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Thomas Henry Hines

Rapscallions!

"Patience is Sour"

Thomas Henry Hines had a cunning plan to free Confederate prisoners-of-war and establish a "Northwest Confederacy." Too bad it was doomed to fail.

Categories: History, Series 14

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