The history of the United Kingdom is full of all sorts of weird and wonderful stories. Here are a few.
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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...
Legend says Lord Cornbury was New York's worst governor: a nepo baby failson, a bully, a bigot, a corrupt spendthrift, a sex pest. Was he all that awful?
The story of Borley Rectory, the most haunted house in England. Just remember that the most and least haunted house are the exact same amount of haunted...
In 1835 Maria Monk claimed that Montreal's Hôtel-Dieu convent was a vice den. She was making it all up... but Americans desperately wanted to believe her.
the most curious incident in the life of James McNeill Whistler
This one has it all: sibling rivalry, country club politics, adultery, duels, the Civil War, Spanish colonial policy, and three giant piles of bird poop.
In 1864 the Confederacy sent a privateer to destroy the whaling industry. It succeeded beyond their wildest dreams... but not until after the war was over.