Even More Interesting Stories From the Past! - History Compilation 3

History is filled with no end of intriguing stories and interesting people in this compilation we explore a variety of absorbing and thought-provoking tales sure to make you say well I never We Begin this compilation with a gripping mystery one that has persisted for over 100 years the Elan Moore lighthouse was only the second structure ever built on the largest of the seven Flannan aisles a remote Rocky group of small Islands in Scotland's outer hdes enan Moore also known as the big island of the seven Hunters had been largely avoided for as long as anyone could

remember for centuries the only inhabitants were sheep stored on the island by Shepherds to keep them safe from poaches the only sign of human life was the crumbling ruin of a small chapel and the remains of an ancient cross dating Back to the 7th Century it's unclear when or why these superstitions about the flann and Isles began but the place has long been believed to be home to unusual Supernatural Powers with many believing it was an intersection between the world of the living and the dead visitors to the modile described becoming overcome with a deep

sense of for boing and those who dared Mount its rocky shores were quick to fall into prayer and superstitious ritual to Prevent the gloomy feeling of the place from taking hold of them superstitions aside there was no denying that the flan and Ales were dangerous for ships weather conditions in outer herdes changed quickly and drastically with winds and tide catching many captains off their guard and condemning countless vessels to Doom upon the jagged rocks in 1896 the Board of Trade approved the building of a light on illmore and on December the 7th 1899 the lamp

blazed for the first time its signal visible for 20 miles the 75 ft tall White Tower sits on a towering 200t cliff overlooking the steel gray Waters of the Atlantic though the lighthouse was a brand new Outpost few Keepers were eager to take on the role while the duty of a Lighthouse Keeper was seemingly simple it was far from an easy life Keepers lived for months in clamped isolated conditions the days were spent cleaning Painting and maintaining the building while the their nights were spent in rotation with other Keepers always watching to ensure the lamp

never went out some lighthouses were situated near a town or Village While others were in areas of remote Beauty abundant in nature and Wildlife Ellen Moore was neither of those apart from a thriving seabird population there was little of interest on the remote Wild Island and during Their shift Keepers were utterly cut off from the outside world there was no Telegraph no radio and definitely no postmen there was not even a boat for emergencies the closest neighbors were on the aisle of lewiis across 16 miles of choppy Seas with no way to reach them James

Ducker was a seasoned keeper who served at several lighthouses including a nearly 8year stint at Ren of in the inner herdes when he agreed to take the job a 43-year-old father of four had Recently earned a promotion to principal keeper but he was hesitant about the Ellen Moore posting Ducket felt the remote island was a poor location to send someone with a young family and had heard plenty of rumors about the area's reputation duket was joined by assistant keeper Thomas Marshall an unmarried 31-year-old with several years of Lighthouse keeping and Maritime experience under his belt

and Donald McArthur a 40-year-old occasional Light Keeper filling in for assistant keeper William Ross who was on sick leave mathur was a father of Two and a tailor by trade who served in the Royal Engineers the last of their Forman crew was Joseph Mo as assistant keep keeper the crew worked in shifts three each man spending two weeks at the Lighthouse and two weeks at the shore station in baset on Le Mo was on leave in December and due to be back to relieve one of his fellow Keepers on boxing day when he arrived on

the hpus he had no idea that no light had been seen coming from illmore in over a week 11 days earlier the SS arcta had passed the flann and Islands on its typical route between Philadelphia and leaf the captain noticed the lighthouse was not in operation and noted the anomal in his log when the northern Lighthouse board was notified of the AR's report the hesperis was already on route to the island it was eily quiet When Joseph Moore entered the Keeper's Quarters at the Lous on December 26th the fireplace in the kitchen was cold and

the Clock Was stopped the beds were empty but nothing was out of place it simply looked as if the keepers had walked away Moore ran back to the hesperis to report what he discovered and was sent with two crew members to conduct a more thorough search a slate board used to note weather conditions and general notes to Be recorded in the log later was last updated on December 15th the lamp had been cleaned and the oil fountains and cantens were filled the pots and the pans from breakfast had been washed and the kitchen tided only

one set of oil skins and Boots hung by the door it appeared that the keepers had completed their morning duties on December the 15th but what happened after was a complete mystery Captain Harvey left Moore and Two of his crew to attend the lighthouse and conduct a search of the island while Hesperus returned to bascal to inform the northern Lighthouse Board of the bizarre disappearance the next day a thoroughly terrified Mo and his colleagues ventured to the West Landing to look for Clues like the landing where the hesperis had birthed the West Landing consisted of

little more than a spit of Beach and a long zigzagging Stone staircase carved Into the Cliffside a platform about halfway up the cliff housed the crane and ropes the keepers used to hold supplies up from the shore below here M discovered the first evidence of what may have transpired on illan Moore that December a box of parts and coils of ropes had been tossed across the Rocks snagged in crevices and Tangled around the legs of the crane the iron railings around the platform and near the steps Had been pulled from The Rock and twisted a

large block of stone weighing at least one ton had been dislodged from its position higher up on the cliff side and tossed down to the path a life boy fastened to the railings had been ripped away the kind of damage observed at the West Landing was not man-made storms were not uncommon in the flannan and the small Isles often bore the brunt of the most severe ones but the damage extended 110 ft up The cliff side as if a towering wave had crashed into the Rock with Godlike strength it appeared as though the keepers had

been washed away Northern Lighthouse board superintendent Robert mad who arrived at almore on December the 29th AG greed in his report he concluded quote I am of the opinion that the most likely explanation of The Disappearance of the men is that they had all gone down on the afternoon of Saturday December the 15th to the proximity of the West Landing to secure the box with the muring ropes Etc and that an unexpectedly large roller had come up on the island and a large body of water going up higher than where they were and coming down

upon them had swept them away with resistless Force end quote with that the matter was considered officially closed a replacement crew was hired and the Families of the Lost men were told their loved ones had died in a terrible Act of nature on El Moore however many were unsatisfied with the official conclusion there were too many Loose Ends most glaringly it was strictly against the rules for all three Keepers to be a away from the Lighthouse at once if Keepers had Commandments the first was without question Thou shalt not leave thy light unattended no matter

what was unfolding Around them the Keepers were expected to keep the light going at all costs so why had duok MacArthur and Marshall all gone to the West Landing together then there was the matter of the oil skins still hanging by the door it was determined that Marshall and ducas oil skins were missing meaning they had been wearing them at the time of their disappearance what could have compelled three Keepers to isue all rules and rush out into a storm with one leaving his Oil skins behind in the years after the strange disappearance a magazine

would publish what it claimed was the log book from the Ilan warke Keepers in the days leading up to their disappearance the entries allegedly written by Marshall spoke of terrible storms Despair and Ducket and MacArthur praying and crying though most certainly a fabrication the entries only fueled speculation that the true cause of The Disappearance remained unknown many theorized that MacArthur a Man with a reputation for having a temper had gone mad and thrown the other two keepers over the cliff before plunging to his own death in another version macarther had gone to the West Landing

to jump and Marshall and Dua had tried to stop him but had been pulled over or pushed from the Edge by a gust of wind modern theories focus on meteorological factors rather than psychological ones the coastline of elen Moore is indented with Deep narrow gullies called GEOS the West Landing was situated in one such Geo and terminated in a cave in Stormy Weather or high seas the water would rush into the cave cause air compression and then explode out again with enough Force to sweep a man away many believe that mathur had been Manning the

light while Marshall and duket went to The Landing to ensure the crane and Equipment were properly secured Marshall had received a fine for Failing to do just that on a previous occasion and may have been anxious about the approaching weather it's believed that MacArthur spotted large waves approaching the island and rushed to warn his colleagues but was washed away too this Theory explains why he'd left his oil skins behind but does not account for him taking the time to close the door and latch the gate in 1900 waves towering above 100 ft with the stuff

of rumors and legends so rare it Was laughable to think one could have materialized near Ilan Mo while the false log book led many to believe the area was being hammered by Fierce storms there was no evidence at the time of such weather but an illmore Keeper in the 1950s took over 30 roles of film to prove that such waves were possible even common on the island while the largest rogue wave ever officially recorded was just 58 ft tall it's believed that such A wave combined with the spray it could produce in the Geo of

West Landing could reach the top of the cliff with such Force three men could be swept away even with improved research many believe that what unfolded on alen Moore in 1900 was Supernatural in origin is it possible possible that the Wildland believed to be a doorway Between Two Worlds shook The Interlopers from its Shores later there were rumors about Subsequent Lighthouse keepers at Elmore hearing strange voices in the wind calling the names of the three dead men was it a warning reminding the keepers they were not welcome if so the supernatural forces of el Moore

finally got their wish the flann and Lighthouse was automated in 1971 and the island is once again entirely uninhabited a hay pad was installed near the structure so maintenance workers can Complete their tasks without venturing far from the shelter's walls I wonder does the wind of illan Moore still call to them Wilfred Wilson Gibson wrote a poem titled flan and Isle about the Occurrence at the Lighthouse it read in part though three men dwell on flann and aisle to keep the lamp light as we steered under the Lee we caught no glimmer through the night

a passing ship at dawn had brought the news and quickly We set sail to find out what strange thing might ail the keepers of the deep sea light poems and Rhymes have served as a way of preserving stories throughout history in our next case we explore just a few of them ringer ringer roses pocket full of poses a tissue a tissue We All Fall Down chances are you've heard ringer ring of roses or Ring Around the Rosie as they say in stat has ties to the black plague Or the Great Plague of 1655 which is

responsible for the deaths of 15% of the population of London but that claim has been widely debunked by both folklorists and historians there is no evidence that the rhyme existed in English until the late 19th century and the plague theory about its Origins wasn't introduced until the 1960s the more likely history can be traced to religious bands on dancing among many Protestants in the 19th Century youth found a way around such bands by attending play parties that consisted of ring games which differed from Square dancers only in their name and lack of musical accompaniment the

Rings in the rhyme reference the Circle in which the children are playing in and the tumbling down references the jumble of bodies When the Children let go of each other as for ashes ashes that was likely a degradation of the phrase haser haser Which referenced how the game fell silent at the rhyme's conclusion though this origin story is a 20th century myth fear not many nursery rhymes have no shortage of Doubt Beginnings ba ba black sheep have you any wool yes sir yes sir three bags full one for the master one for the Dame and

one for the little boy who lives down the lane the history behind this popular Nursery Ryme becomes a bit easier to spot if we revert back back to The original final line of the verse which up until the late 16th century was and none for the little boy who cries down the lane the origins of Baa Black Sheep can be traced to Medieval England where the wool trade was Big Business the need for wool to produce cloth resulted in nearly everyone who owned land from rural peasants to wealthy estate holders raising flocks of sheep land

owners like Lords Abbotts and Bishops even began to count their wealth In terms of how many sheep they owned with some flocks totaling in the tens of thousands the wo business was incredibly lucrative for all at least for a while after returning from the Crusades in 1272 King Edward I imposed new taxes on wool to pay for his military conquests 1ir of the price of each bag sold was allocated to the king or Master another third was allocated to the monasteries and churches or the Dame which meant That only onethird of the revenue generated went

to the landowner as a result most began paying the Shepherds who tend did their lucrative flocks a fraction of the wages they'd once earned these Shepherds or little boys who cried down the lane were left penniless in an updated version of the rhyme everyone walks away with a bag of wool but in reality the wool tax left many a Shepherd Destitute baar Black Sheep isn't the only Nursery rme whose Roots reflect economic inequal qualities chances are you've heard of this one half a pound of tap rice half a pound of tre that's the way the

money goes pop goes the weasel up and down the city road in and out the eagle that's the way the money goes pop goes the weasel there are two popular origin stories to this nurser Rhyme with the first being that it's about the Hugo Weavers who lived and worked in an area of East London called spittle Fields they measured yarn on a spinner called a weasel which made a popping noise when it measured the right amount because weaving was tiring monotonous work the Weaver's mind wandered or went up and down the city road with their

Daydreams interrupted by the pop of the weasel machine but Pop Goes the Weasel Is a nursery rhyme indigenous to London and many believe it was written in cocky rhyming slang and if that's the case the meaning of the rhyme changes dramatically for those unfamiliar with Cockney rhyming slang weasel refers to weasel and sto by which coat and pop refers to pop shop by which we would understand a porn shop so when the poorest of London are singing that rhyme they are making reference to the tough economic conditions they're Living under by which they need to

pour their clothes to get some money the eagle might refer to the Eagle Tavern a pub on the corner of City Road we're hardworking londoners parted with their wages to forget their woes for a few hours whether the nursery rhyme refers to the Daydreams of sweat shop workers or the porning of a Sunday coat to buy food the origins of this rhyme are far removed from the Cheeky Monkey chasing the weasel that most children are now Familiar with Britain is a very hilly and mountainous place and the town of kesden claims to have a mound

that inspired a very famous Dy Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after while some folklorists and historians have tied this rhyme's origin to a Norse Legend and the rejection of a liquid tax using measurement called Jacks and jills gills Kil mden locals prefer a different origin story according to local Legend the rhyme refers to a pair of secret lovers who snuck up the hill to meet one day Jack went up the hill to collect water when he was

struck by a boulder dislodged from the nearby Quarry the stone hit Jack in the head killing him Jill who was carrying a secret pregnancy died in childbirth of a broken heart Jack and Jill's son was then Raised by the villagers of kilmon and while there's no proof that such a couple existed the surname gillson is still common in the area speaking of names I'm sure you're very familiar with this next one Mary Mary Quite Contrary how does your garden grow with silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row some historians believe

that this Mary may be Mary Queen of Scots the tragic heroine became Queen at just six days of age in 1542 and ruled until 1567 when she was forced to abdicate her throne to her infant son after 19 years as a prisoner of her cousin Elizabeth I of England Mary was executed after her own son secretly Allied himself with Elizabeth proponents of the origin story believe that the cockal shells and Silver Bells were ornaments on a dress given to Mary by her first husband the Doan of France the pretty maids in a row maybe a

nod to the Queen's notorious Ladies in Waiting known as the four Mares but many believe the Mary in this nursery rhyme is less tragic heroin and more well Bloody Mary the first was Britain's first queen regent or woman to rule the country as the primary Monarch rather than simply the wife of a king Mary gained the throne after the death of her half brother Edward V 6th unlike her father and predecessor Mary was a Catholic in an effort to maintain Protestant hold over the throne the Lords of Somerset and North umberland altered the line of

succession to place Henry V 7's niece Lady Jane gray next in line to the throne but Mary quickly gathered enough support to ride to London and claim the throne for good measure Jane gray and her husband Lord Dudley were both executed Mary's determination to restore English Catholicism didn't stop there in 1554 she announced her intention to Marry Prince Phillip of Spain the following year she revived England's heresy laws and began burning Protestants at the stake starting with Thomas cranmer the Archbishop of Canterbury under Mary 5year rule nearly 300 convicted Heretics were burned and dozens more

died in prison almost a thousand fled to Germany and Switzerland despite her murderous rampage that earned her the nickname Bloody Mary Mary's campaign to convert the nation to Catholicism didn't last after she died in 1558 Mary's Protestant half sister Elizabeth became Monarch those who believe Bloody Mary to be the inspiration for the now Famous Nursery Rhyme think that contrary points to Mary's Catholic faith as it was at odds with the general populace as for the cockal shells Silver Bells and maidens in a row they are not flowers or ornamentation but tools of Torture used to

tend her Garden Silver Bells were another term for thumb screws torture devices designed to crush victim's fingers until they confest to their crimes cockal shells were even more heinous as their use involved the mutilation of a victim's genitals the pretty maid all in a row refers to the gutin like maiden execution instrument likely an odd to Mary's mass execution of Protestants in another jab at the bloody Queen the Rhymes taunting Question how does your garden grow refers to Mary's inability to produce a Catholic air despite two supposed pregnancies poking fet Royals is quite common in

nursery rhymes like this one which is believed to refer to King George I 4th Georgie POI Pudin and pie kissed the girls and made them cry when the boys came out to play Georgie poy ran away Georgie was a tad heavy weighing nearly 300 and boasting a 50in Waistline hence the pudding and pie when he was Prince Regent George gained quite a reputation for his romantic rumps which resulted in a string of illegitimate children when he was 23 he fell in love with Maria and Fitz Herbert had secretly married the Roman Catholic commoner while Maria

believed she was the princess canonical and true wife the marriage was never legally binding since George failed to gain his father's approval but during his reign as King George IV turned violently against her claiming that she'd forced him into the secret marriage Maria Fitz Herbert wasn't the only girl Georgey kissed and then made Cry he despised his legitimate wife Caroline Brunswick so much that he had her banned from his coronation ceremony George married his cousin because he was in debt and if he contracted a suitable marriage Parliament would increase his allowance the pair met for

the first time just Before their wedding and each was disappointed in the match George found Caroline unattractive and unhygienic and Caroline found George to be nothing like his portrait and a drunk to boot somewhat miraculously the couple did manage to parent a single child Charlotte and then quickly separated Caroline sh show up at George's coronation in 1821 hoping to obtain her crown but was denied entance and died shortly After George was not remembered for his bravery or courage but did enjoy bare knuckle boxing it said that during one illegal prize fight a boxer was knocked

to the floor and died of his injuries terrified of being discovered at the scene the prince quickly fled leaving his future subject to deal with the authorities on their own and inspiring the final line of the nursery rhyme Georgie pori ran away in the sing song world of nursery Rhymes innocence often cloaks Tales of intrigue tragedy and even political satire while these Rhymes have been cherished for Generations their Origins often reveal a darker more complex narrative from the playful antics of Georgie POI masking a troubled Royal life to the ominous imagery of Mary Mary Quite

Contrary hinting at a bloody Reign each verse holds a hidden history waiting to be uncovered so let us sing on and embrace Both the light and shadows cast by these enduring nursery rhymes our following stories all feature people that either have or should have such Rhymes made about their lives we begin with the story of Daniel Lambert Daniel Lambert was born on March the 13th 1770 in the Parish of St Margaret Lester his father once a huntsman for the Earl of Stamford was now the local jailer while Young Daniel did have an aunt and Uncle

on his father's side who were quite large his mother and father were of average size as were his siblings a brother who died young and two sisters who lived until adulthood the young Lambert was raised in a sporting family and grew up strong and healthy with a love for hunting horse racing fishing and dogs he was a terrific swimmer to the extent that he was entrusted by local parents to teach the other children how to swim long before he was Renowned for his impressive weight Daniel was admired for his sheer strength and bravery it's said

that as a teenager he wandered across a performance of dancing bears while walking with one of his favorite dogs the dog lunged at one of the Bears and the showman irritated by the disruption unmuzzled the great Beast so it might do as it wished with the dog Lambert beat the bear back with a pole and knocked it off its feet with a Mighty Wallop of his bare hand frightening the beasts and the showman so much that they did not return to the area for several years at 14 he was sent to Birmingham to train at

the diecasting manufacturer Taylor and cor the business was destroyed in the Priestly Riots of 1791 and unable to find other work Daniel was sent back to leester a 20 W he took over his father's job as the local jail keeper for the first time in his life Daniel was confined to a Smaller indoor area no longer spending his days strolling the fields riding horses or swimming in the local River he began to put on weight by 1793 he weighed 448 lb but remained remarkably strong and agile he was known to still live LIF up to

560b of Timber and could carry two men on his back as he swam his Shear size made him something of a local Legend and many visitors to Lester stopped by the Jail or the Lambert house to look at him despite his intimidating appearance Lambert was a kind man he took remarkable care of the prisoners in his charge and it claimed most left the jail with teary and heartfelt thanks to their Jailer but in the early 1800s the prison was closed and the prisoners were put to work in local manufacturing businesses instead as a parting gift

for his family's years of dedicated service Daniel was awarded an annual annuity and A certificate of recognition by this time his weight was moving steadily closer to £600 and he found himself the object of fascination each time he left his home and though the annuity provided some comfort it was less than his annual income as a jail keeper Daniel had never particularly enjoyed the attention his weight brought but he saw that it may provide him an opportunity to supplement his finances in the spring of 1806 he Commissioned the construction of a custom Carriage large enough

to accommodate his now 700 frame and move moved to London once in the city he settled into an apartment in Picadilly and took an advertisement in the times that read exhibition Mr Daniel Lambert of Lester the greatest curiosity in the world who at the age of 36 weighs upwards of 50 Stone to the stone Mr Lambert will see company at his house number 53 Picadilly Opposites in James's Church from 12: to 5:00 admittance one shilling and so for 5 hours each day Daniel Lambert entertained visitors for a shilling a piece this was no Sideshow act

or roadside gimmick he simply sat and visited with his curious patrons those drawn in by their curiosity were astounded at his size but they returned for his personality Daniel was a sparkling conversationalist who could spend hours discussing dog breeds Hunting or other outdoor interests one Banker in the city came so often to visit Daniel that he joked he had paid for at least a pound of them and enormous weight a group of 14 came all the way from gery crossing the English Channel for the sole purpose of seeing Lambert after hearing about him from their

neighbors and a Frenchman tried to convince him to accompany him back to France for a tour of the continent one of Daniel's favorite visitors was count Yoseph borasi the famous polish-born dwarf and favorite of the European Royals like Daniel balasi had submitted to being an object of curiosity out of financial necessity and the two men found a strange kinship in their physical extremes Lambert was also granted an audience with King George III though the details of that meeting are sadly lost to history had Daniel Lambert lived a 100 years later his size would have been

An object of mockery and ridicule but in the early 19th century Daniel was treated as a Marvel and many people from London's middle and upper classes sought out his companionship if only to be included in the sphere of his endearing personality along with his fashionable visitors Lambert also attracted the attention of London's medical professionals eager to examine the heaviest man in recorded history an article in the medical and Physical Journal confirmed that Daniel weighed 50 Stones and measured 5' 11 in tall he was described as mentally alert well read and with an excellent memory he

appeared to be an ex excellent health and told Physicians he could walk at least a quarter of a mile without difficulty doctors found taction now known as edema or fluid retention in his feet legs and thighs but reported that his normal speaking voice showed no signs of pressure on the Lungs Lambert claimed to eat normal quantities of ordinary food and said he had drank nothing but water for the past decade though Daniel enjoyed a certain degree of respect and admiration not all his visitors were polite he disdained the constant questions about the size and cost

of his clothing finding the inquiry overly personal and rude one man claimed that he had a right to know about it since his Shilling Entrance fee was paying for said clothing a frustrated Daniel replied sir if I knew what part of my next coat your Shilling would pay for I can assure you I would cut out the piece he had little patience for rudess and was known to turn visitors out as quickly as they entered if they were uncivil after 5 months of entertaining up to 400 visitors daily Daniel's Pockets were bulging with coin and

he was ready to return home back in Leicester he resumed his lifelong passions now is a very wealthy man he was a skilled dog breeder and the list to purchase a sporting dog from Lambert's line was long he was now a Bonafide celebrity and even an outing to attend the races earned a mention in the local news which read among the distinguished characters upon the turf we are glad to see our old friend Mr Daniel Lambert in apparent High health and spirits though Daniel had grown Dispirited Inland and the public was more eager than ever

to see the man of mythical proportions so after an enjoyable reprieve he began touring around the country attracting massive crowds wherever he appeared by 1809 Daniel weighed £739 and could no longer climb stairs many would later theorize that his summer tour that year would be his Last a final push that would earn him enough money to retire for good he arranged for his tour to conclude in Stanford Lincolnshire so that he might view the Stanford races before returning home he arrived on June the 20th taking a ground floor room at the wagon and horses in

on High Street he took a meeting with a printer from the Stanford Mercury to arrange an order of advertisements and hand bills and went to bed early The following day he rose at his usual time in apparently good health but began to complain of shortness of breath while shaving minutes later the mountain of a man collapsed to the floor and died he was 39 years old Daniel Lambert's death was undeniably sad but those who attended him had more pressing worries the massive corpse began to purify quickly C in the warm summer air and there was

no chance of moving him to Leester a window and part of a wall were disassembled so Daniel's body could be removed from the inn and a massive Elm coffin measuring over 4 ft wide was made for his burial the Cabbage siiz Box made of 156 square ft of wood was constructed on wheels on June the 23rd 20 men rolled the casket from town to a burial ground in St Martin's and it's claimed it took nearly half an hour to lower the box down a gradual slope into the grave Though buried some 30 mil from his

home Daniel Lambert was not given a Popa funeral dozens of people gathered at the churchyard many of whom had expected to see Daniel alive at the final stop of his tour his Tombstone paid for by his many friends and admirers read in remembrance of that Prodigy in nature Daniel Lambert a native of leester who was possessed of an exalted and convivial mind and in personal greatness had no competitor he measured 3T 1 in round the leg 9t 4 in around the body and weighed 52 Stone 11b he departed this life on June the 21st 1809

aged 39 years as a testimony of respect the stone is erected by his friends in leester Daniel Lambert was not easily forgotten months after his death John dard released the First full biography of his life pubs across England were renamed in his honor and his clothes and Possessions were sold at Oak the term Daniel Lambert became part of common English speech as a reference to any overweight man and eventually to anything exceptionally large a life-size waxwork of Lambert was shown in the United States and later bought by Sherman PT baram for display at his New

York museum Barnum visited Stanford several times to use Lambert's belongings and publicity City stunts during one visit The 40in tall Charles Sherwood Stratton better known as general Tom Thumb was tied up inside one of Lambert's stockings in 1866 baram brought for dwarfs to Stanford to pass through the knee of Daniel Lambert's Brites side by side it remains unknown what may have caused his extreme weight since no autopsy was conducted before his burial and there are no records that indicate he had exhibited symptoms common to endocrine Or genetic disorders Daniel Lambert's title as world's heaviest man

didn't outlive him for long American Mills Darden topped the scales at over 1,000 in the 1850s today the title is still held by John broer Minik a taxi driver from Seattle Washington who was recorded as weighing ,400 in 1978 but Daniel certainly remains Leer's favorite rotund Rakontur a set of his clothes along with his armchair walking stick and prayer book at on permanent display at the New York House's Museum and in Stanford the local football team is nicknamed the Daniels after their folk hero to those who knew him or are familiar with his story Daniel's

massive imprint on local history comes not simply from his size but his Pleasant disposition next up we have the tale of Helen Duncan one of the last women to be Charged under the Witchcraft Act Midway through World War II Helen Duncan was born Victoria Helen McCrae McFarland in calendar perthshire Scotland on November the 25th 1897 she came from a workingclass family and was one of eight children of Builder and Slater Aral McFarland and his wife Isabella as a small child Helen earned the nickname hellish nil for her tomboyish way of Behaving her occasional hysterical outbursts

and Sinister Predictions indeed her youth is filled with stories of strange events from her hearing disembodied voice is receiving warnings about friends and loved ones and seemingly passing out while sitting a test in school only to come around to find her work finished and all questions answered correctly all this much to the shagrin of her devoutly Presbyterian mother as a teenager Helen started working in dunde first in a jute Mill and later as a Nurse she had decided to turn her hand to nursing after suffering a bout of tuberculosis after receiving care in a sanatorium

she felt that her future lay with caring for others she would eventually meet with first world war veteran Henry Duncan after he was sent home from the Army after suffering romatic fever there are claims that each had seen a vision of the other before they had met with Helen stating she was told he would be the man she marries on May 27th 1919 that is exactly what happened Henry then began working for a cabinet maker and while not without their struggles life seemed to be going well but as is often the case tragedy was lurking

around the corner at just 13 months old the couple's third child Henrietta sadly died of pneumonia this sent both parents into a deep depression eventually resulting in Henry suffering a heart attack thankfully he survived but was left too weak to work this heaped pressure on Helen who had to juggle working in a bleach Factory while caring for her husband and growing family as the years passed she had not neglected her supposed powers and was now hosting weekly meetings and seances with friends and others who claimed to have paranormal capabilities is each sitting would start with

the group saying a Prayer or reading from the Bible after a previous attempt to summon Spirits apparently led to a fireplace being destroyed when a not so friendly Spirit came through often during these seances it's claimed that the spirit of a doctor Williams would instruct Helen and her husband on ways to improve her connection with the spirit world these included fastening a curtain across one corner of the room and using a red light and trumpet to increase the volume of The spirit's voice and help in producing physical manifestations eventually Dr Williams was replaced by another

Spirit Donald who instructed those present to begin inviting others to the meetings as word of Helen's s's grew she quickly came to the attention of the London psychic Center home of the the psychic Union after undergoing a series of tests she was awarded a diploma and as a newly certified medium she visited Many of the Union's churches up and down the country it was during this period that Helen had her first brush with the law when she was charged with fraud after a woman apparently caught her trying to hide a bowl of material under her

clothes she believed this would then be used to produce a supposed manifestation her trial began in Edinburgh on May the 3rd 1933 and lasted several days while some sources state that it Eventually ended in a verdict of not proven with h and simply being fin1 for swearing newspapers from the time state that she was in fact found guilty of fraud with the fine being in place of spending a week in prison whatever the verdict may have been the news coverage only served to grow the demand for Helen Services the second world war brought many visits

from anxious relatives especially those who had lost close family during the Conflict one phenomenon or Tre depending on your point of view that Helen was famous for was producing ectoplasm this very curious and shocking practice took place during her medium sessions Duncan would enter a trans-like state and it was claimed a paranormal substance known as ectoplasm would emanate from her body often from her mouth or nose these expulsions would often form figures sometimes even with faces though She was a major proponent of the practice Duncan wasn't the only medium that displayed this bizarre Talent quote

in the early 20th century spiritualist photography took a curious turn suddenly mediums were photographed grappling with strange fibrous materials that emerged from their mouths noses and ears or Twisted out from Corners like ring tentacles unquote the practice was eventually Proven to be faked with people managing to take Snippets of the material to be tested in laboratory analysis there it was revealed as being created using a mixture of cheesecloth egg whites and various chemicals to fake the appearance of a supposed ethereal being these tricks and practices may all seem very silly looking back at the photographs

from that time but remember that this was happening nearly 100 years ago and her clients were often grief Stricken people who were so affected by the death of a loved one that they simply did not care sometimes needing to cope with the loss will make you do things you wouldn't normally do and believe people who may not be trustworthy while the ectoplasm phenomenon may be easily dismissed one of Helen's psychic predictions proved more difficult to discredit in fact the details of her pressage were so specific And involved something so secret that it would bring her

practices to the attention of the British Navy in November 1941 Helen Duncan held a seance in Portsmouth England where she reportedly made several accurate statements regarding a naval disaster the sinking of the HMS baram a British Battleship was Top Secret at the time due to wartime censorship however Duncan apparently described the sing in detail including The fact that the ship had been hit by three Torpedoes before it exploded these details what apparently passed to her from a sailor who had died in the attack whose mother was present during the Seance in the book The Two

Worlds of Helen Duncan written in part by one of Helen's daughters it stated that the mother of the Sailor confronted Naval authorities who then began looking into Helen's practices it's believed that they were concerned that Duncan might Have obtained classified information through Espionage rather than through Supernatural means during another sales in 1944 two naval officers were in attendance when Helen stated that a figure claimed to be one of the officers Lieutenant Worth's dead Aunt another claimed to be his deceased sister but he had no dead aunt or sister and was disgusted by what he had

seen and heard worth then reported the events to the Police on January 19th 1944 Helen Duncan was arrested and initially charged under the vagrancy act but this would later be changed to a charge of fraudulent spiritual activity under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 between the 16th and 18th centuries in Scotland the public and rulers of those times such as King James I 6 became increasingly concerned about magical practices and people dealing with malevolent forces the Witchcraft Act of 1563 made witchcraft practices or even consulted with so-called witches punishable as capital offenses this had a strong

impact on Society for the next couple of centuries many people took advantage of this law for their own gain it was estimated that nearly 4,000 people were tried for witchcraft during this time with some 2,500 of them being executed between 1563 and 1727 the majority of those who were were killed over 80% were women and most likely innocent in 1735 a new Witchcraft Act was passed which made it a crime to claim a person had magical powers or were guilty of practicing witchcraft this was a near complete reversal of the 1563 act and reflected a

wider move away from Witch Trials and executions the last execution for witchcraft having taken place just a few years earlier in 1727 so in actuality Helen Duncan wasn't charged with being a witch but with claiming to have magical powers fraudulent witchcraft this detail did nothing to quell the public and media outrage that would ensue the UK like much of the rest of the world had witnessed many shocking and tragic occurrences during the war and now the mention of Witchcraft was thrown into the mixer despite the public outcry and Duncan offering to demonstrate her supposed abilities

to the court on April the 3D 1944 she was found guilty of contravening the Witchcraft Act of 1735 and sentenced to 9 months in prison after the verdict was read she cried out out I didn't do anything oh God is there a god while it's believed that her trial and imprisonment Were Somehow orchestrated by the government and or Military who feared she could reveal more secrets days after the trial Winston Churchill wrote a letter to the Home Secretary stating he believed that the whole debacle had been a waste of resources he went on to describe

the charges as obsolete Tom fullery despite this Helen Duncan would not be the last to stand trial under the Witchcraft Act later that same year in September of 1944 a 72-year-old woman named Jane York from Forest Gate East London was charged Under the same act she faced seven counts of pretending to conjure up spirits of the Dead her punishment was simply to pay5 pound and be of good behavior for 3 years as for Helen though an appeal saw nearly 40 Witnesses testify that what they saw at the seances had convinced them of life after death

it was ultimately rejected and she would serve out her entire sentence being released in 1945 though she promised never to hold a Seance again she was arrested for doing so in 1956 there would be no threat of a second trial under the Witchcraft Act as it's theorized in no small part due to the negative reaction to her initial trial the ACT had since been repealed and replaced with the fraudulent mediums Act of 1951 the repeal of this Witchcraft Act was part of broader legal reforms and reflected changing attitudes towards Superstition and belief in the Supernatural

the this did not of course mean there was a definitive end to beliefs and Witchcraft or occult practices but it did Mark a significant shift in how these beliefs were viewed in the law it was a recognition of the increasing secularization of society and a move towards more rationalistic approaches to Law And Justice as she awaited charges under this new law Helen Duncan passed away on December the 6 1956 her supporters claim this was due to ectoplasm violently receding into her body after the police knocking at the door Disturbed her while she was in a

trance Helen's Legacy is a complex one that still causes discussion and controversy to this day the spiritualist is still used as an example of a famous fraudulent medium however there are also still some people who believe that her powers were Real whichever side of the debate you land on it does seem like her Services did relieve some anxiety and bring a form of closure to a number of people who lost members of their family in the war in an age where treating mental health was uncommon she managed to bring them a kind of Peace however

many would still say that she actually took advantage of those who were in mourning and gave false hope to people who wanted proof that there was something tangible Out there after death a bust created in her honor was presented to her hometown of kalender in Scotland but backlash from those with strong religious views who objected to its public display LED to it being moved to a museum in nearby Sterling despite her detractors there has been an ongoing campaign to Pardon Helen in 2008 the Scottish Parliament rejected a petition for this to happen there were controversies

around the reasons for Which she was convicted with people saying that the reasons were mostly political a website set up by the Helen Duncan Foundation part of the international Society for scientific mediumship and parapsychological investig a States they don't want a pardon instead they want those who they believe wrongly convicted her to apologize and admit she was a remarkable medium who served the people but what do you believe do you think that it's Possible for people to converse with the dead I mean how could she have known about the sinking of the HMS bom several

answers to the latter question question have been posited over the years one theory states that while the sinking wasn't public knowledge many family members received letters of condolence asking them to keep the sinking secret until the official announcement others point to a professor who had been told about the sinking and Believed it had already been revealed to the public whatever you stand on the controversial issue of mediumship the case of H Duncan is a notable chapter in Britain's legal history and again shines a light on how primarily women have faced persecution over the years for

being witches and for not being witches another woman who led an intriguing life though with a tragic end was Elizabeth Tabor better known as baby Do baby do was born Eliz Elizabeth Lizzy mccort in Oshkosh was constant sometime in the 1850s she was the fifth child in a string of 13 to Irish Catholic immigrant parents Lizzy's father ran a local clothing store and owned a theater the first of its kind in Oshkosh the mccort family enjoyed a comfortable upper middle class lifestyle until a series of files burned down both their home and places of business

Leaving them impoverished Lizzie had long been prized for her striking Beauty and she used it to her Advantage when she entered a local skating contest wearing a costume that allowed a glimpse of her bare legs a daring choice for the time but it captured the attention of Harvey doe Jor the local mayor's son much to his mother's displeasure Irish Catholic Lizzy married the Protestant Harvey in 18 77 and traveled West with him to look after his family's mining investment the newly we settled in Central City Colorado where Harvey owned half of the Fourth of July

mine Lizzy was enchanted by the rugged beauty of the mountains and those she encountered there were Charmed by her beauty and easy flirtatious manner which earned her the nickname baby do Harvey proved less capable than Baby D had imagined and struggled to manage the mine having little success but baby do Was determined to make their Venture prosperous and provide for her family and Oshkosh so she became one of the first women to take to the mine herself Dawning men's clothing and a pickaxe and disappearing into the Earth for hours at a time while the first

gold had been discovered through the relatively simple Act of sifting rocks and sand through a pan The Venture had become much more laborious by the time the Doe's arrived in Colorado the veins of gold had been traced from riverbeds deep into the Rock where miners toiled in Pitch Black shafts chasing the ever dwindling gleam of Fortune Harvey who had been raised in a world of comfort and ease quickly became disenchanted with the mine and turned his attention to women and drinking the pair limped along unhappily for a while moving from dwelling to dwelling before Harvey

abandoned baby do after She gave birth to a stillborn son undaunted baby do tracked her husband to Denver and was able to obtain a divorce when she caught him in the act with a local sex worker she Then followed a friend to Leadville to work at a habit asery at the time Leadville was Colorado's second largest city follow of by Banks saloons and Mining money and no one had more mining money than Horus tabber who noticed baby Do's Beauty and charm almost immediately Horus taba grew Up on a family farm in rural Vermont but joined

the wave of pioneers West In 1855 while he found little success farming in Kansas territory his Firm Stance against slavery saw him elected to toa's Free Soil alternative legislature and he was able to marry his sweetheart Augusta Pierce and move her to Kansas after a few years of hard living the couple followed the Gold Rush further west in 1859 Horus and Augusta settled in modern day Golden Colorado and had a son named Maxie Horus tried his hand at prospecting while Augusta baked took can laundry and managed their small boarding house to keep the family afloat

Horus found a few decent claims but never the kind of gold nuggets he dreamed of eventually the tabers opened a store and post offers to supply local miners while Horus continued to dabble in local politics through their industrious hard Work the tabers became solidly prosperous and well respected in their Community but Horus hadn't dreamed of running a post office and found it hard to ignore the pool of sudden Fortune so when the silver Rush pushed deep into the Rockies he followed becoming one of four Commissioners who set up a new town he was elected mayor

and named the settlement Leadville but his big break came the following year in 1878 when he funded two miners providing Them with supplies in exchange for a third of whatever they discovered the miners H one of the biggest silver veins in the area making modest Rich overnight soon he'd purchased additional mines including the prosperous matchless mine which produced over $1 million of silver during the years he owned it with his new found wealth taba bankrolled a growing political career winning the race for lieutenant governor of Colorado He also established the bank of Leadville and helped

to build an opera house and Hotel Augusta table a refined New Englander loathed the Limelight and struggled to find the happiness in their new found fortune that came so easily to Horus her husband spent his money freely on drinking gambling and women while austa endured an increasing discomfort in 1880 she quietly moved to Denver to distance herself from her Husband baby doe had heard rumors about the man who owned most of Leadville and and his sharp tonged nagging wife and the pair met in a Leadville restaurant around the time Augusta moved to Denver the pair

quickly began a whirlwind romance 49-year-old Horus was eager to woo the beautiful 25-year-old baby do and moved her into a luxurious hotel suite after paying off all her debts once it was clear the couple were madly in love Horus moved baby dough to the Newly constructed Windsor Hotel in Denver while he moved out of the home he had shared with Augusta and tried to convince her to agree to a divorce after two years of trading insults with his wife who steadfastly refused to end their Union taba sought a secret divorce in Durango he and baby

do married in a legally questionable private ceremony in St Louis Missouri in September 1882 The following year austa sued Horus and finally settled for a legal divorce after he agreed to compensate her with real estate and stock in his Minds Augusta would invest her assets wisely becoming one of the wealthiest women in Denver and supporting several charitable causes before dying of pneumonia and Pasadena California at 62 Horus taba lost the race for a US senate seat but was a appointed to finish Henry tell's term when he was appointed Secretary of The Interior during their short

stint and Washington Horus and baby do married for a second time in a lavish public celebration attended by president Chester A Arthur baby do wore a dress spun with real silver worth $7,000 the equivalent of over $200,000 today the plunging neckline of the dress showed off baby's diamond wedding necklace rumored to have contained a jewel that Queen Isabella of Spain had Sold to finance Christopher Columbus's Expedition the coup's nups made national headlines but did not earn baby dough a place in respected Society though fabulously wealthy the newlyweds could not buy the approval of Augustus Stone

supporters or those who believed their made cember romance and double divorces were too scandalous for polite Society once back in Denver baby do filled her time with shopping Beauty appointments and her scrapbooking hobby Receiving no visits or invitations from the city's Elite she was generous with her money and provided free offices to the Colorado suff jet movement despite their repeated social snubs from many of its members in 1884 Baby G gave birth to the first of her and horus's two daughters Elizabeth bondu Lily tab Lily was christened in a $115,000 gown and her diapers were

fastened with an $800 Diamond solit pin At 3 years old the fabulously wealthy tot was featured on the front cover of Harper's Bazaar by all accounts her mother was loving and doting choosing to remain home instead of accompanying Horus on his NeverEnding business trips after a stillborn son the tabers welcomed a second daughter Rosemary Echo silver dollar table in 1889 by then the tabers were living in an opulent Mansion the size of a city Block on Denver's Capital Hill though she was not welcomed into society baby do taba was certainly known to all and the

there was no denying that the sight of her dripping in diamonds and flying through the streets in her private Carriage while nursing silver dollar was I catching to say the least it was hard to believe that she had once wielded a pickaxe in a mine wearing grubby coveralls in 1890 the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was enacted in response to Growing complaints from Miners and Farmers when the price of silver dipped the ACT increased their the amount of silver the government was required to purchase to back its currency the law required that the treasury buy the

silver with special issue notes that could be redeemed for silver or gold as a result the volume of circulating currency expanded substantially without a proportionate growth in Gold stock Horus had already Been forced to mortgage several of his real estate holdings when the price of silver declined but the 59er who wait did nearly two decades to strike it rich once wasn't eager to give up his stakes and the metal that made him wealthy he borrowed against his other assets to hold on to his Minds hoping that silver prices would rise again but by 1893 the

statutory limit of the minimum amount of gold in federal reserves was reached when people tried to redeem Their silver notes for gold as the price of silver continued to plummet sparking the Panic of 1893 president Grover Cleveland summoned an emergency session of Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and Horus taber's mining Fortune disappeared as quickly as it had arrived ever undaunted Baby D immediately pitched in to help pay her husband's massive debts she sold her jewelry and Opera gowns and ran tabers businesses While he was out of town when the electricity and their

mansion was turned off she turned it into a game for Lily and silver dollar to keep their Spirits High through it all baby doe remained enamored with her husband unlike Harvey doe horest tab was no slouch at age 65 he mounted a search for gold in South America while the family's har and contents was sold and the four tabers moved into a one room apartment in a boarding house house horus's Friends took pity on the once great businessman and rallied to arrange his appointment to the postmaster of Denver in 1898 during his Heyday taba had

donated an entire city block for a post office it was this massive establishment that the defunct millionaire presided over spending his final days exactly as he had started running a post office but just 15 months into his new appointment which provided a modest Salary and allowed the family to live in a simple room at the Windsor Hotel Horus tab died it's rumored that Horus believed in his silver Minds until the very end telling Baby D as he lay on his deathbed to hold on to the matchless mine it will make millions again when Silvera comes

back when the last of hess's money had run out doe followed his advice viice and took her two children to Leadville where she tried for several years to Find investors to bring the matchless Mind back into production it's unclear if the tabers even owned the mine at the time but baby do still only in her mid-40s with children was determined to claw her way back to success she even tried to work the mine herself but soon discovered that its shafts were flooded under conditions deplorable Lily tabber left Colorado as a teen to live with relatives

in Wisconsin unable to adjust to her new life of poverty following Lily's departure baby do and silver dollar moved into a Shack on the site of the matchless mine the single room dwelling was a former toolshed woefully inadequate for human habitation in Colorado's harsh Winters once old enough so dollar attempted to earn a living as a writer and Entertainer in Denver sending her mother whatever she could spare from her Poultry earnings after earning a less than Stellar reputation for her drunken Antics silver dollar sought a fresh start in Chicago where she tried to make a

name for herself in theater calling herself Ruth Norman in 1925 she was discovered dead in her Ellis Avenue apartment either from suicide or a terrible accident after she spilled a pot of boiling water on Herself mayy do never believed that the woman living as Ruth Norman was her daughter and held on to the hope that silver dollar was still alive living in a Convent alone and destitute she continued living in the shack at matchless mine eating only stale bread and Su but refusing to accept Charity she leaned heavily on her religion and began to believe

that her life of great wealth was a period of vanity for which she must pay Penance she wrote Prolifically in her later life keeping Diaries writing letters and recording random insights she called dreams and Visions she poured over her scrapbooks reliving her happy years with Horus and her daughters in the winter months Baby D wrapped burlap sacks around her legs and she was often seen wandering Leadville wearing a mix of men's and women's clothing most of it torn and dirty even in her poverty many refused to forgive her for her past Transgressions they believed she

deserved to suffer for causing the breakup of Horus and Augusta even though she and Horus were clearly very in love for that entire marriage many referred to baby do as the local Madwoman in reality she was likely just very lonely having been purposefully excluded from society and then left by herself when her family died and departed a ledville native later said She saw baby do at the post office every day leaning against the radiator for warmth and waiting for a letter from Silver Dollar while she had enjoyed just over a decade of extreme wealth and

luck luy she lived for over 30 years in squallor and hunger after a particularly severe snowstorm in the winter of 1935 neighbors noticed that no smoke had been seen coming out of the chimney of the matchless Mind cabin for several Days when they investigated they discovered baby do tabber dead and Frozen on the floor of the shack the 81-year-old had died of either a heart attack or exposure utterly alone and penniless beside the mind that she'd promised Horus to look after for one final time she graced the front pages of the newspapers across the country

her remaining possessions were auctioned off for a poultry $700 and baby do was buried beside Horus and mount Olivette cemetery near Denver unappreciated in her own time time baby do taba has grown into a larger than life figure in Colorado history in years since her death she has moved far beyond the superficial caricature of a gold digger and has now remembered for her brave if unconventional Life Choices baby do was a woman who was unafraid to roll up her sleeves pull on her coveralls and sink Below the Earth to toil in the mindes she was

equally unafraid to leave an unhappy marriage during a time when few would dare to divorce she pursued the man she loved unafraid of Scandal Society or scorn and when the love of her life died leaving her destitute she did not seek refuge in another marriage instead she chose to live on her terms and if not comfortable was at least entirely in control of her Circumstances baby Do's remarkable life story has been portrayed in a Hollywood film immortalized in Opera and used as inspiration for a string of western themed restaurants called Baby Do's matchless mine she

was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985 at several Colorado sites incl including matchless mine share her story with visitors each year her possessions and writings eventually made their way To the Colorado historical society and have been lovingly cared for and studied after her mother died Lily tab began to deny any relation to her perhaps she was ashamed that the woman who had once pinned her diapers on with diamonds had died alone and impoverished but despite her denial Lily tabber could not prevent Colorado from loudly and proudly claiming baby do as one

of its most beloved mothers onx story takes us to Georgian Britain and an Escapist who would make his mark down under gaining the Monica Mundy Joe for nearly two decades a convict known as Mund Dy Joe thwarted British Authority in Western Australia again and again the man seemed capable of escaping from any prison no matter how fortified or well guarded and was capable of melting into the wild Australian bush for months or years at a time his remarkable escapades made him the best known Bush Ranger in the region And a folk hero who now has

an annual Festival named in his honor on the first Sunday of May each year locals and visitors in the town of 2J or 2i participate in reenactment tours of an old prison cell and mock trials the event attracts between 5 and 10,000 Festival goers each year all eager to celebrate the life of a particularly persistent convict but long before he was the stuff of Australian Legend Mundy Joe was a British miner named Joseph Btho John whose story began with bread and bacon JNS was working as an iron or Miner in Wales in 1848 when he

and an associate named John Williams were stopped by a police Sergeant who found the men's presence on an open road at 2:30 a.m. a tad suspicious it was discovered that John's and His companion had stolen from a house nearby not money or valuables but some cheese three loaves of bread two Pieces of bacon some mutton and a piece of s such a crime would usually be punished by only a few weeks in prison but both men refused to admit their guilt a frustrated judge hellbent on teaching the petty thieves a lesson instead sentenced the pair

to 10 years of penal servitude after serving parts of his sentence in several prisons and prison hulks in the UK John's was transferred to the Pyrenees a ship Bound for what Was then the British penal colony of Western Australia his accomplice Williams had been sent to Van Demon's land modern day Tasmania the year prior the Pines set sail in February of 1853 arriving at freem manle on April 30th as he stepped from the ship John's held in his hand a ticket of leave granted to prisoners who displayed good behavior the ticket allowed him to find

employment purchase land and even bring Family members across if he wished in many ways he was now free except he could not carry firearms board a ship or leave the area without permission once Jon's completed half his sentence under these conditions he was entitled to a conditional pardon that removed all rest itions save one the right to leave the colony on paper these conditions seemed much better than what he may have endured in England but in reality his Transportation was a life sentence the Social stigma remained with convicts throughout their lives they rarely married into

settler families and obtaining paid work other than unskilled manual labor was difficult still JN completed his probation and was freed and conditionally pardoned In 1855 he then settled in the aen Valley West of tuj the Aboriginal name for the rugged area was mundine and it was there that John's settled into his new occupation of stock trapping John's Erected a series of gates and fences near Mundy Springs to capture escaped horses and livestock Upon returning the creatures to their owners he was often granted a reward and for several years he managed to avoid trouble carving out

immedate existence through stock trapping and other odd jobs then in 1861 JNS caught an unbranded stallion likely a Brumby a free roaming Wild Horse JNS branded the horse with his own Mark and was arrested for horse stealing He was jailed in the Newcastle convict hiring Depot this dilapidated and conv vict arrivals in the colony a year prior fancing his chances Joe escaped in the night taking the Brumby with him which had been brought along as evidence for his trial to add insult to injury he also stole the Magistrate's new saddle and Bridal the skp was

on the run for two days before he was tracked down and rearrested by which time he had killed the Brumby and removed his brand from Its hide destroying the evidence of his thievery which carried a sentence of 10 years instead he was sentenced to three years of penal servitude for the Lesser charge of prison breaking and transferred to the convict establishment at freem manle there JNS bided his time with good behavior earning him a second certificate of freedom in 1864 but in January 1865 an ox named bright was killed with Joe being accused of killing

the Beast and sentenced to Another decade of penal servitude he maintained his innocent of the crime during the trial and would continue to insist on it for the rest of his life while JNS had humbly served his time for his prison escape he could not abide this miscarriage of Justice he escaped with a fellow prisoner from a work party and the je remained on the run for a month committing small robberies along the way Joe was finally recaptured 23 3 m 37 km East of York and sentenced to 12 months in irons for the escape

in July of 1866 he received another 6 months for trying to cut the lock out of his door in August he escaped again cut off his irons and met up with three other escaped convicts near Perth when the newspapers run the story about his Escape they dubbed him Moon dying Joe a nickname that remained with him for the rest of his life while roaming the bush Near Perth mundine Joe hatched a plan to escape to south Australia by traveling Overland on September the 5th he and his gang broke into a store in 2J stealing boots

blankets guns ammunition knives and rations to equip themselves for the arduous track they traveled East making it nearly 200 mil before they were recaptured near present day where Estonia Joy received 5 years of hard labor on top of his existing sentence and was returned to freem manle prison Where a custom escape proof cell was prepared for him the room was reinforced with jarw paneling and long nails to prevent the convict from digging his way out three layers of bars were put on the window making it nearly pitch black even at midday for good measure Joe

was handcuffed wore leg irons and was Shackled to an iron ring in the center of the cell's floor Western Australia's Governor John Hampton inspected the cell himself and was so pleased with its Fortifications that he told mundine Joe if you get out again I'll forgive you after several months of this severe confinement in the darkened room Joe's Health began to deteriorate on the advice of the prison doctor he was set to work breaking stone in a corner of the prison yard under constant supervision The Rock broken by Joe was not removed by his guards at

the end of each day as was procedure and before long the pile grew until it obscured him From the waist down as he worked unseen he would occasionally swing his hammer at the Limestone wall of the prison instead of the rocks on March the 7th 1867 mundine Joe escaped through a hole in the prison wall and fled into the bush despite a massive Manhunt he was not recaptured for nearly 2 years on February 25th 1869 Joe broke into Horton's Vineyard in the Swan Valley to steal supplies Unbeknownst to him the local police were investigating a

drowning nearby with the help of the vineyard's owner when the owner returned and Joe made a dash past him in Escape he found himself and a group of police officers who'd come to the sellers for a drink Mundy was promptly returned to prison and sentenced to an additional 12 months in irons for escaping and 3 years for breaking and entering but Joe had remembered John Hampton's promise and Petitioned the new governor Frederick weld to uphold it amazingly Joe was released in 1871 and gained a conditional pardon in 18 73 after his release Joe worked various

jobs across the colony and married a young Widow named Louisa Hearn he remained something of a scoundrel for the rest of his days committing minor offenses but avoiding imprisonment Mundy Joe was well into his 70s and 1900 when he was found wandering The streets of South Perth taken into custody for being of unsound mind and ordered to the mount Eliza invalid Depot for care perhaps unsurprisingly despite his age he escaped three times likely believing he was imprisoned once again he died at the freemantle lunatic asylum on August 13th 1900 making his final Great Escape from

walls built by convict labor the same year he absconded From newcastle's lock up with a stolen horse and saddle D Joe was buried in a popa's grave in freemantle Cemetery his headstone Bears the name of three other men along with the image of a pair of broken handcuffs and the Welsh word rid which means freedom if the man in our final story had gotten his hands on moon dine he may not have had a chance to make any of his daring escapes John Clarence Woods never had the makings of a man you expect to Grace

the pages of a history book born in witor Kansas in 1911 Woods was raised by his grandmother after his parents divorced he dropped out of high school after two years and joined the US Navy in 1929 after a few months of service Woods went awall and was eventually dishonorably discharged following a general court Marshal a psychiatric board deter that Woods suffered from Psychopathic Inferiority without psychosis and was unfit for service following his discharge Woods returned to Kansas and worked his way through a string of manual labor jobs for the next decade when the US entered

World War II he sought to regain his military career in 1943 he enlisted in the Army and was assigned to Company B of the 37th engine engineer combat Battalion fifth engineer special Brigade after landing at Normandy on dday in 1944 Woods decided he'd seen enough combat and began seeking ways to get as far from the front line as possible before that point American Military executions in the European theater were carried out by British Personnel Often by Thomas pitpoint aided by his nephew Albert but with plenty of their own men now on European soil and with

executions set to take place in Paris the Americans began seeking their own executioner in late 1944 the US Army posted a job listing asking for experienced executioners Woods saw it as his ticket away from the front lines and applied he told the recruiters that he'd hanged two criminals in Texas and another two in Oklahoma a check on these claims would have revealed that the two states had switched from hanging to the electric chair many years earlier with their last Gallows based execution taking place when Woods was just 12 however his Li worked and earned him

a spot as a hangman at paris's disciplinary training center for his trouble he received a generous raise and a promotion for the next year Woods executed at least 37 American soldiers in France bungling at least 11 of these hangings Matthew clay an American GI who was just 18 years old dangled at the end of woods rope for an agonizing 17 minutes before finally passing away in 1945 Woods began executing Germans first First he hanged three for the murder of an American Lieutenant then he executed five more who were involved in the Russel's Heim massacre in

which six American Airmen were lynched and killed by the town's people the following year Woods oversaw the execution of 14 men convicted of committing concentration camp atrocities at daow but it was his hanging of German policeman Justice gerstenberg at lansburg prison that attracted the attention of leftenant Stanley tills who had been tasked with organizing the executions at the Newberg trials during gasten BG's hanging he was hit in the face by the trap door of the Gallows the 100 kgam Door broke gomberg's jaw and knocked out several of his teeth but that didn't stop woods from

being tusked with executing the high ranking Nazi officials recently sentenced to death at Newberg 12 men were sentenced to hang for war crimes including Martin Borman the head of the Nazi party chancell who was still at large after being tried an absenta Woods built and painted The Gallows stretched the ropes and demonstrated the execution process to Russian delegates the hangings were scheduled for the early morning hours of October the 16th 1946 but one of The Condemned Herman Goring skirted his appointment with the hangman by ingesting cyanide in his cell just hours before the remaining 10

convicted War criminals were hanged on two sets of gallows in the bomb blasted gymnasium of the prison while the US Army has consistently denied claims that erors and woods techniques caused the men to die slowly and agonizingly there are enough witness account to reveal the truth the NES did not die quickly from broken necks after suffering injuries similar to gerstenberg they dangled dying slowly of strangulation with Woods being forced to Tug on the bodies behind the trap doors to finish the process Wilhelm kitel chief of the high command of the Armed Forces took a reported

28 minute to die outad never mind following the botched executions wordss told the Sous City Journal 10 men and 103 minutes that's fast work he would later say I hang those 10 Nazis at Newberg and I'm proud of it I never saw a hanging go any better the condition Woods had previously been diagnosed with Con institutional Psychopathic inferiority is now known as antisocial personality disorder this often challenging condition is on a spectrum with those at the severe end said to display impulsive irresponsible and criminal Behavior they may also lack guilt remorse or concern for others

often being manipulative and quick to anger it seems that words had fallen into the perfect job but it has left some to wonder what his story may have Been if he had not gotten the role of executioner and was simply left in a quiet town in Kansas John remained with the Army after the trials and his work as a combat engineer eventually took him to the nuclear testing site at inat talk atle in the South Pacific on July the 21st 1950 Woods was preparing an engineer lighting set when he was electrocuted and killed his death

was ruled as an accident but some speculate that it was Carefully planned by former Nazi scientists working on the ATL as part of Operation Paperclip whether execution or accident John sea Wood's death was certainly faster and less painful than that of most of the 92 men who died at the end of his rope during his time as an executioner thank you for watching right then take care and I'll see you next time with another story to make you say well I never