Crooked forest. (7alaskan / Wikimedia Commons)

The Crooked Forest near Gryfino in Western Poland is a bizarre and eerie woodland formed of a dense grove of potbelly shaped pine trees. A profound mystery surrounds the existence of this forest. The town of Gryfino was majorly devastated in the Second World War and the truth of the forest was lost with it.

Notwithstanding the countless diverse theories contemplated throughout the years, nobody genuinely knows what made the trees assume this distinctive shape.

Morphology of the Crooked Forest

This curious cluster of trees comprises of 400 curved pine trees that bend 90-degree towards the North, a few feet above the ground level. It then swerves upwards with a sideway digression.

Crooked pine trees. (maxpixel)

Because of their admirable resilience, the trees continued to thrive. Strangely, the forest also envelopes a more expansive growth of straight developing pine trees bereft of the curve distinctive to their siblings.

It is believed that the trees have been planted sometime around the 1930s. Despite their arched beginnings, all the trees have grown quite tall, mostly touching 50 feet, unbridled by their unique C shaped curves.

It is estimated that they were roughly 7 to 10 years old when they encountered some inexplicable force or damage that incurred their odd trunk curvature. This would have happened before the Second World War reaching Poland.

So what could have engendered these trees to display the freakish “C” shape? Heredity? The weather? The War? Or the Local foresters? Here are some of the widely known speculations behind the crooked forest.

Heavy snowstorm

A somewhat more conceivable, yet at the same time genuinely far-fetched hypothesis is that an enormous and destructive snowstorm could have flattened the trees for a prolonged timeframe.

This coupled with an extended spring melt, might have moulded the trees permanently. When the trees experienced a spurt in growth during the spring, a concrete layer of snow might still have existed on the top of their trunks.

In any case, this theory appears to be unlikely as the Crooked Forest also accommodates regular-shaped pine trees as mentioned before. It would in this way be exceptionally abnormal for a snowstorm to have an impact in just one particular territory of the woodland and leaving the rest unscathed.

Enemy tanks mowing down the forest during Second World War

Another mainstream conjecture is that adversary tanks plundered and ploughed through the budding forest and levelled the trees to such a degree that triggered the unusual curvature while growing.

Similarly, in this case as well, one can debate as to why only this particular stretch got affected. It appears to be highly improbable that the traumatic run over by the tanks would outcome such an oddity with uniform bark-covered bellies.

Gryfino was ravaged during the war. When a new power plant came up in Gryfino in the 1970s the town observed a resurgence. The Crooked Forest is found close to this power plant, called the Dolna Odra power plant. This would adequately explain why the vast majority of the locals do not have the foggiest idea as to why the trees look like this.

Erratic gravitational pull

Some theories surmise that the gravitational force fluctuations or a strange gravitational draw in the area might have caused this phenomenon. Yet there is no evidence to endorse this ludicrous theory. The power of gravity pulls down objects. It does not stretch them sideways.

Genetic disorder

Twisted aspen tree in Saskatchewan, Canada. (Turgan / Wikimedia Commons)

William Remphrey, who was a retired plant scientist from Manitoba University, had discovered a distinctive genetic mutation. This malady caused the striking curvature and drooping of aspen trees in Canada over their years of development, resulting in the formation of twirled and twisted trees.

However, he professed that if the origination of the abnormality of Poland’s Crooked Forest is genetic, he would have expected the curves to extend beyond the base as were observed in the aspen clan. Taking into account the extent to which they are smooth, he stated that some unnatural environmental phantasm might have caused this deformity of sweeping curves.

The man-made angle

The final hypothesis tossed around and appears to have garnered the maximum acceptance is likely the most humdrum of them all. It suggests that the queer curves are nothing but man-made.

This explanation would bode well given the fact that the trees have exhibited a consistent growth. The theory proposes that amid the 1930s, the native farmers took to planting and manipulating the trees to secure their ultimate use as construction materials.

For instance, household items, pieces of furniture or transport carrier building. The foresters might have employed certain tools or techniques to achieve the unmistakable bending.

Oakwood from the territories of Northern Europe was used to manufacture straight and long planking. However, the gnarled Hedgerow Oakwood from England was best utilized as naturally curved timbers to fortify the ship interiors.

Crooked forest trees, Nowe Czarnowo. (Kengi / Wikimedia Commons)

Trees were intentionally bent in specific manners for generating a required arrangement of curved timbers otherwise called the compass timber.

When Poland was invaded during the Second World War, this manufacturing and development activity, in most plausibility would have been disrupted. This kept the farmers from having the capacity to finish their job and deserting the forest, only to be discovered today with its peculiar spectre.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Bristlecone Pine: The Oldest Trees of Our Planet“.

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Aero Spacelines Super Guppy. (NASA)

The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy is a mammoth and commodious cargo transport aircraft that is used to haul oversized cargo components. Super Guppy is the ideal successor to its erstwhile avatar called Pregnant Guppy.

Aero Spacelines manufactured their first flight Pregnant Guppy in August 1965. The aircraft was named for its striking resemblance to a pregnant guppy fish. The company later released five such flights in two versions. Both the variants were colloquially called the “Super Guppy”.

Features of Super Guppy

The original Super Guppy, aka “SG”, was built straight out of the fuselage of a Boeing C-97 named Turbo Stratocruiser. It was the military edition of the “Stratocruiser” Boeing 377 passenger plane that operated in the 1950s.

Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. (US Air Force)

The main body of the original aircraft was extended to 141 feet in length. It was inflated to a diameter as big as 25 feet. The inner cargo compartment had a length of 94 feet 6 inches. The fuselage was tapered down to a width that measured 8 feet 9 inches. The nose could open sideways to provide entry to bulky cargos.

1969: Apollo 11 being loaded inside the aircraft. (NASA)

Apart from the modifications carried out in the fuselage, the aircraft was borne with Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7 turboprop engines for more power efficiency and a longer travel range. It also had remodelled surfaces for its wings and tail. Super Guppy has a maximum payload capacity of 24,494 kilograms and can cruise at a maximum velocity of 300 miles per hour (480 kilometres/hour).

The key differentiator that sets Guppy apart, from other gigantic aircraft is its enormous and extra-wide cargo bay that allows transportation of military jet aircrafts having wingspans up to 7.6-meters. Therefore, although the Super Guppy is now obsolete, its unprecedented and perfect track record has proven its veritable merit.

Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft inside super guppy cargo compartment. (NASA)

Second guppy versions and its enhanced benefits

Super Guppy Turbine (SGT) was the official second variant of the original. It made use of Allison 501-D22C turboprop engines, unlike the first one that was powered with Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7 turboprop engines. However, in contrast to the original, the 2nd version had the prime segment of its fuselage developed from scratch.

Only the cockpit, main landing gear, wings and tail of the original were retained. The swinged-out nose part, now rotated by 180 degrees, was dispossessed from a Boeing 707.

This slightly lowered the front portion of the aircraft, making the cargo-bay floor more levelled for an easier and streamlined loading mechanism. 

It was possible to increase the width of the cargo bay floor to 13 feet. The aircraft was further lengthened to 111 feet 6 inches.

Because of these amendments in design, coupled with a uniquely created atmospheric-pressure-tolerant crew cabin, SGT facilitated a smooth non-interfering higher-altitude cruising. Also, the newly built aircraft could carry more freight up to 24700 kilograms, marginally more than what its predecessors did.

During the initial years of the 1970s, Airbus was using the twin Super Guppy Turbines to move aeroplane parts from local production depots to the central assembly plant in Toulouse.

From 1982 to 1983, two more Super Guppy Turbines were manufactured in France by UTA Industries after Airbus purchased the rights to build the aircraft.

Why was Guppy aircraft so indispensable to NASA?

The Super Guppy had a pivotal role to play in the transportation of crucial components for a lot of NASA’s important missions. President Kennedy was the one, who had announced NASA’s pioneering project to conquer the moon before 1970.

But during the initial phase, the only way, the Apollo rocket stages could be transferred from California to Florida was by shipping the constituent parts with the help of frustratingly slow boats. These used to ply across the Panama Channel. These harrowing journeys used up a lot of travel time which consequently delayed NASA’s plans.

It was NASA who then approached Aero Spacelines to help find them an aircraft solution capable of transporting a huge bulk weighing more than a few thousand kilograms in a single trip. The perfect response came in the year 1962 with the planning and the eventual deployment of Pregnant Guppy that once endured and carried some of the biggest payloads.

Pregnant guppy (1962) ready for its first test flight. (NASA / DFRC)

Since the first version Super Guppy has traversed more than three million kilometres for NASA. It efficiently and safely carried tremendously enormous yet incredibly fragile components and concentrated hardware for NASA’s prominent programs like Apollo, Gemini and Skylab. If not for Guppy, NASA’s endeavour towards sending astronauts to the moon by 1969 would not have fructified.

Still NASA’s favourite even after 53 years

Right up to the present time, NASA has consistently relied on Guppy to deliver gargantuan components meant for use by the International Space Station or other recent extra-terrestrial projects.

Though the original aircraft have now retired, NASA’s superbly improved and modernized Super Guppy (377SGT-F) still conducts flights all across the world. The grand flying machine is even used by different industries to convey massive consignments when not in use by NASA.

Currently, Super Guppy has been utilized for NASA’s ambitious Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) to transfer the Orion crew module pressure vessel. The module is expected to be launched on board the Space Launch System which till date is the world’s biggest rocket ever built.

The pilot test flight is scheduled to be conducted sometime in 2018. In the course of the actual mission, Orion is believed to be travelling thousands of kilometres, far off the moon.

Current whereabouts of the five Guppies

Variants

1. Aero Spacelines B-377-SG Super Guppy
2. Aero Spacelines B-377-SGT Super Guppy Turbine

Flights

1. Super Guppy N940ns – Statically displayed at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Arizona, US.
2. Super Guppy Turbine F-BTGV – Statically displayed at the British Aviation Heritage Centre, United Kingdom.
3. Super Guppy Turbine F-BPPA – Statically displayed at the Musée Aeronautique Aeroscopia, France.
4. Super Guppy Turbine F-GDSG – Statically displayed at the Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport, Germany.
5. Super Guppy Turbine N941NA – Is currently in service with NASA at the El Paso International Airport in Texas, US.

Super Guppy’s contenders

Since Guppy’s debut in 1965, various other planes have been in the reckoning that could carry unbelievably huge loads. Amusingly, there has been a fierce battle amongst rival aircraft builders since the genesis of Guppy to construct an aircraft with the heaviest cargo payloads. Some of the other prominent planes of Guppy’s ilk are

1. The Antonov 225 Mriya
2. Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy
3. NASA’s shuttle carrier aircraft
4. The Airbus Beluga

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Aerial Refuelling: The Inspiring Account of the KC-135 Stratotanker Military Aircraft“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

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Project Riese: Unfinished tunnel in Owl mountain range. (chained / Wikimedia Commons)

Project Riese refers to a mammoth network of unfinished underground tunnels in Lower Silesia region of Germany (now under the modern day territory of Poland). The construction work was flagged off on Hitler’s order in the month of April 1943.

The underground structures lie eighty kilometers towards the south of Wroclaw in mountainous ranges of Poland’s Owl Mountains. There are many unanswered questions and myths associated with the series of tunnels concerning the reason behind the construction, the manpower behind it, the engineering expertise and why it was left unfinished in 1945.

Project Riese: A giant venture

‘Riese’ is a German word for giant – the name itself suggest the magnanimous stature of the world famous construction project. Project Riese comprises – a series of fortified tunnels spread over 5.5 miles (9 km) close to the Walbrzych, a town in Poland built inside the Owl Mountains.

The tunnel has seven large underground structures located in the hard rocky landscape of Owl Mountains among which Ksiaz Castle was supposed to be one of the prime headquarters of the Nazi supremo.

Książ Castle. (Jar.ciurus / Wikimedia Commons)

The tunnel network was probably built to move armaments, important offices and official documents to underground places safe from the sudden aerial attacks of the Allied Forces.  Documentations have been lost or destroyed to justify this intention.

Who spearheaded the project?

The secret venture was assigned to the efficient leadership of Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments and War Production. A new company called the Silesian Industrial Company was created to carry forward the project that comprised of the 7 bunker complexes:

• Książ Castle
• Complex Wlodarz
• Complex Sobon
• Complex Osowka
• Complex Sokelec
• Complex Rezeczka
• Complex Jugowice

Albert Speer showing the project to Adolf Hitler. (German Federal Archives)

Out of all the tunnels, Complex Wlodarz has the highest number of tunnels bored underneath. Few have a concrete finish but most of them have been left abandoned in its natural state. The longest and the most fascinating complexes available for tourist’s viewing is in Osowka. The plan was to convert Osowka into a city that could house more than 20,000 Nazi troop members and workers. Out of the 7, only 3 are open for public viewing – they include Osowka, Wlodarz and Rezeczka.

Map of the tunnel. (Les7007 / Planiglobe)

The accounts of the workers at underground shelter construction sites

Project Riese took the lives of many– the workers were forced to work in wretched condition. Prisoners of war (POWs) from Italy, Russia and Poland, prisoners of Auschwitz concentration camps and also children were forced to work as labourers.

There were 13,000 labourers appointed to do the digging job and the tasks of building roads and air ventilation systems. Many succumbed to death due to exhaustion, malnutrition and typhus endemic disease. The death count was 5000 and 14 were executed since they made an attempt to escape.

The construction work was highly exhausting because the Owl Mountains is made of impenetrable, hard rock gneiss.

So what exactly have researchers found?

Seven underground sites is not an easy task to excavate. In fact, only 1,00,000 cubic meters of the total 2,13,000 cubic meter space of Project Riese has been found so far. Some of what was found has been left open for public display for tourists in Walim-Rzeczka, Włodarz and Osówka.

Complex Rzeczka. (Przykuta / Wikimedia Commons)

Complex Włodarz. (Dariusz Cierpiał)

Complex Osówka. (Chmee2 / Wikimedia Commons)

Amongst the many things, archaeologists found an abandoned painted gate that was supposed to trick people, a gun, and a giant hall with a construction track. To top that an old winch, munitions carts, a paint inscription that read “Riese”, solid arches, barracks and other wrecks in a basement.

This is just a gist of the number of things that have been dug out. A structure known as the Fly Try was also found in an external above ground area. The existence of this structure has also been backed by a number of theories. The one theory that received a lot of limelight was that it was meant to produce an anti-gravity state.

Abandoned places now turned a museum

The charm of the abandoned places attracts adventure lovers. The primitive paint, although showing signs of peeling out, camouflages the entrance of the bunkers. The design of the underground bunkers preserves the unfinished look and feel. The guns and munitions carts on primitive, narrow gauge railways tracks are kept as it is, giving the place an eerie feel. The old pipes and ventilators are still there. People are amazed to witness such measures that prepared Nazi men to safeguard themselves against possible poison gas attacks by the Allied enemies.

Tourist at Complex Osówka. (Chmee2 / Wikimedia Commons)

The changes have been kept nominal with the addition of health and safety measures for the tourists who come to visit once-a-tunnel-complex-turned-museum. But, not all bunkers are accessible; only a few of them have been concretized, proof of the fact that the project came to an abrupt halt in the month of May 1945 due to the approach of the Red Army. Interestingly, Adolf Hitler died the month before by committing suicide. The death of the commander drove the nail in the coffin. 

The 73-year-old underground bunker complexes of Riese seem to hold within itself some of the top, secretive stories of one of the largest, secret construction projects of the Nazi.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Schwerer Gustav: Why the Largest Artillery Gun Turned Out to Be a Flop During World War II?“.

Recommended Visit:
Underground City Osówka | Poland

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Aerial photo of an excavation site in Oak Island. (Richard McCully / McCully Nova Scotia Archives)

The story of the Oak Island is replete with elements of mystery, enchantment and even tragedies. However, it’s not the island in its actuality that people are inquisitive about. It increasingly centres on the inexplicable treasure and unexplained objects that are seemingly stockpiled and concealed somewhere inside the island.

Be that as it may, does the conundrum allude as to why no one has figured out how to discover this hidden treasure trove, or whether the fortune even exists by any stretch of an imagination?

Oak Island is an expansive plot of land sprawling over 140 acres is situated along Canada’s Atlantic drift off the shores of Nova Scotia. Treasure hunters intrigued by the enigmatic island are lured to what has been famously dubbed as the “money pit.”

Oak Island Treasure: Anecdote on the hidden fortune

These confident fortune seekers were also beady-eyed about the Nolan’s Cross which is presumably a gigantic cross that pinpoints to the place of the secret treasure that supposedly consisted of artefacts like Marie Antoinette’s jewels and gems, Shakespearean manuscripts and other religious artworks. It’s an enormous and distinct cross formed of huge boulders that brought forth hordes of speculations and theories about its inception and what it reflects.

The razzmatazz over the likelihood of wealth enshrouded in the Oak Island is relatable to the “Golden Age of Piracy” of theft and piracy which happened between 1690 and 1730. Many European settlements did not exist in Nova Scotia at the time.

Pirate Kidd’s treasure trove

This made the Oak Island a favoured destination stop-over for freebooters who arrived from the Boston frontiers because of the island’s plenitude of unexplored landmass and natural resources. Also, in light of the fact that the zone was far away and secluded, it was considered an ideal location to reserve their booties.

Painting of Captain Kidd. (James Thornhill / Wikimedia Commons)

According to early theories, the pit accommodated a pirate treasure that was interred by Captain Kidd, a rover who reportedly hatched a conspiracy with Henry Avery and made Oak Island their community bank.

Early settlers recounted an account of a moribund sailor Gordon Chase from Captain Kidd’s crew who claimed that a fortune worth £2 million was buried in the island. However, his attempts to unravel the riches ended abruptly after he was assaulted and wounded by a different treasure stalker, Micheal J Whynot.

Early accounts of Daniel McGinnis

Most of the accounts exhibit concurrence that the first suspicion about the treasure was conjectured in 1795. According to a widely-known story, a young boy named Daniel McGinnis observed flashing lights from a far-off island in Nova Scotia.

When he visited the island to conduct some exploration at the sight, he discovered an extensive circular depression on the ground. The island was densely forested. However, in the zone around the depression, it was evident that a few oak trees had been felled.

As the legend goes, McGinnis convinced and recruited some friends identified as John Smith and Anthony Vaughn to start excavating the land. After burrowing, McGinnis and his mates ran over massive oak timber platforms at every 10 feet, trenching down no less than 30 feet. They noticed specific and ambiguous “marks” at each of these intervals.

They could surmise that something of paramount significance was buried. Yet they left the spot as there a requirement of a bigger and better-financed campaign to reveal whatever was hidden underneath.

The very next year they returned, yet they could never go deep beyond 108 feet. For, at whatever point they touched that mark, water mysteriously used to inundate the pit.

200 years after that first expedition, innumerable treasure hunters have dared to venture into the Oak Island. From adventurists to businessmen to explorers, irrespective of all the past endeavours that fizzled out and still undeterred, came to the island, being convinced that they would be able to uncover the hidden valuables. Strange peculiarities found en route, just added fuel to the fire to disentangle the mystery and temptation to explore the Oak Island.

Onslow and Truro dig ups

Ongoing excavation during the 19th century. (www.unmuseum.org)

Around eight years after the failed McGinnis dig, Onslow Company cruised to the Oak Island from the central Nova Scotia. They proceeded with the excavation work down to a depth of 90 feet and discovered charcoal layers, coconut fibres and a large stone engraved with symbols. The excavation project was later discontinued without any fruitful end-result, when the pit was flooded with water and safeguarding became inadequate.

In 1849, the Truro Company was formed by investors who started the excavation work again. They could drill to a depth of 98 feet when the pit was flooded again. At the end of their pursuit, they could drill to hit oak layers, a spruce layer and few metal pieces yet, without any substantial outcome.

First casualty

In 1861, the first incident of death and tragedy struck the island when a man was fatally wounded and later succumbed to the injuries after a boiler was detonated and blown up.

Oak Island Association

In the same year, a newly formed company, Oak Island Association, comprising of hopeful treasure trove hunters, attempted new ways to secure the treasure but in vain. Water surged into their digging up and the “money pit” plunged further to a depth of more than 15 feet.

Various other techniques were attempted consistently to discover the Oak Island treasure that included efforts to block the water flow and separate drilling activities in different parts of the island.

Old gold salvage and Roosevelt’s endeavours

Even Franklin Delano Roosevelt needed to partake in the action and monitored the island’s activity closely. In 1909, he enrolled for affiliations to the Oak Island Association and Old Gold Salvage, another fortune chasing group. In spite of the fact that the groups departed from the island that same year, Roosevelt pursued to keep tabs on the Oak Island news during his entire presidency tenure.

Photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his associates at Oak Island in 1909. (National Archives and Records Administration)

Excavation by American Industrialist

Between 1928 and 1939 William Chappell and Gilbert Hedden undertook exhaustive excavation projects none of which were successful. At a depth of 127 feet, William Chappell could unearth a few artefacts that included a fluke anchor, an axe, and a pick. Other than that, there was no trace of any worthwhile treasure.

Discoveries by Erwin Hamilton

Alongside the mishaps and disappointments, revelations were also made that sustained the Oak Island treasure chase and kept it alive. In 1939, amid drilling, gravels and rocks were chanced upon by Erwin Hamilton.

He professed that they were very much unfamiliar to the area which hinted at the possibility of some foreign encroachment. He likewise asserted that he came across a layer of natural limestone deep down at 176 feet, beyond which he found wood.

Death of Robert Restall and his son

On August 17 1965, disaster struck once more. Robert Restall, his accomplice Karle Graeser and his 18-year-old son were excavating the island when Restall was grossly dazed by noxious hydrogen sulfide fumes and succumbed to death.

Restall’s son, who followed him alongside Graeser and two other workers, Andy DeMont and Cyril Hiltz, eventually lost consciousness. None of them, except DeMont, survived the spurious fumes and returned alive at the end of that fateful day.

Indications of the existence of a treasure

Those looking for the treasure have had their reasons to believe that it does exist with the ample indications and findings of the ruffled surfaces of the earth and sand, oddly carved stone plaques and wood and the hypothesis that the inevitable flooding is an intricate booby trap.

Cynics, beside the conspicuous fact, that no treasure had ever existed in the island also claim that the artificial “flood tunnels” which every time obstructed the uncovering of the treasure too have no proven evidence. They likewise state that the Oak Island is bestrewn with natural sinkholes.

Treasure finally uncovered?

Ultimately, the treasure has been unearthed from the cursed Oak Island. It’s a brooch that is believed to be a morsel from the lost whopping treasures of Marie Antoinette, who was the last Queen of France. The brooch contained a 500-year-old multi-faceted and uneven red-coloured rhodolite garnet gemstone.

The breakthrough discovery was carried out by brothers Rick Lagina and Marty Lagina along with metal-detecting expert Gary Drayton, all of who forefront the treasure hunt down in Oak Island. The brooch’s uncovering came minutes after Gary Drayton and Rick Lagina also discovered an ancient military cuff button that could have dated back somewhere between 1780 and 1820.

Apart from the gemstone, other worthwhile discoveries made by the Lagina brothers include a Roman sword and Portuguese carvings which have lineage to the Aztecs. In 2010 the Oak Island Treasure Act was passed prohibiting any further attempts to hunt for the treasure.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Fascinating Tale of the Lost Treasure of the Beale Ciphers“.

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Ceres, dwarf planet. (Justin Cowart / Ceres – RC3 – Haulani Crater)

All through a major portion in the elaborate and intricate realms of history, astronomers, stargazers and celestial object experts have put their extensive focus on the principal stellar bodies like the Sun, Moon, Planets and Comets. They happened to be the extraterrestrial objects located in the easy nearness to Earth and were effortlessly spotted in the sky.

With gradual advancements in technology and research, other intriguing objects hovering around the solar system came into the limelight. They were anything but planets, comets or moons. They were small and compact objects orbiting in a plain-sailing manner amid the cosmos. They came to be known as “minor planets”.

What is a minor planet?

A minor planet is a celestial object that revolves around the Sun and does not fall into the category of either a planet or a comet. The origin of the term minor planet dates back to the 1800s. Several other nomenclatures like asteroids and planetoids have been used in a perplexing blend with minor planets.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) committee made this situation even more complicated when they came up with another round of classification with the inclusion of more celestial bodies like “dwarf planets” and “small solar system bodies”. Simultaneously the IAU redefined the planet with amendments and Pluto was demoted to the rank of a dwarf planet.

The scientists from IAU assert that it is hydrostatic equilibrium which measures the capacity of a heavenly object to maintain a nearly spherical shape. It is also this distinctive feature that differentiates dwarf planets from the asymmetrically outlined small solar system bodies.

The labelling adds to further confusion as the IAU still maintains to recognise and use the term minor planet. Thus to be branded as a dwarf planet, the heavenly object should have enough mass to mould itself into a spherical form through a gravitational pull.

How are minor planets grouped?

Minor planets can be classified into several major categories namely asteroids, Trans-Neptunian objects, Trojans and centaurs. The asteroids reside within the asteroid belt which is the spatial territory between Mars and Jupiter. Astronomical bodies which are found to be orbiting beyond Neptune fall into the Trans-Neptunian class. Trojan is also a minor planet that ideally co-orbits with a planet or a moon and keeps up a stable and steady axial position at a definite place in relation to the larger object. And finally, centaurs are stellar objects that rotate in unsteady orbits between Jupiter and Neptune.

Minor planets are commonly prevalent orbiting at their own pace within the boundless expanse of the solar system. As of 2018, nearly 757626 minor planets have been identified and registered, 516386 have been officially numbered and 21264 minor planets have formal names.

Ceres – the smallest dwarf planet

Ceres is one of the dwarf planets and is the only celestial body of its kind to be situated within the innermost ranges of the solar system. The other siblings of Ceres are located on the exterior peripheries inside the Kuiper Belt (the extraterrestrial region beyond the orbit of Neptune). Although Ceres is considered to be the smallest of all the discovered dwarf planets, it is the biggest entity within the asteroid belt. Ceres is devoid of any resident moons.

Our solar system representation with the asteroid belt and Kuiper belt. (Rursus / Wikimedia Commons)

Discovery and early history of Ceres

Sometime in the latter half of the 18th century, some astronomers predicted the mere existence of a tiny planet between Mars and Jupiter through mathematical computations. On 1st January 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi, a Sicilian astronomer stumbled on what was then used to be appraised as a planet. It was named Ceres after the Roman deity of corn cultivation and harvests.

Although Ceres was downgraded to an asteroid years later because of its minuscule size and unworthy gravitational features, in 2006, Ceres was again promoted and it attained the ranking of a dwarf planet. It could not touch the full planetary status as it failed in clearing its surrounding debris through gravitational effects. However, it is oftentimes categorised as an asteroid as well.

Being the largest asteroid and the smallest dwarf planet, the expanse of Ceres is a paltry 590 miles. The radius of Ceres is 296 miles. The duration of a typical day in Ceres is 9 Earth-hours. The planet takes 1,682 Earth-days or 4.6 Earth-years to complete one revolution around the sun.

The marked nearness and tiny mass have prompted a few scientists to recommend Ceres as a prospective serving site for operated landings and a launch pad for the profound utilization of space missions.

What is a Dwarf Planet? (Jelly / NASA / JPL-Caltech)

Ceres is an oblate spheroid just like Earth

Ceres has the distinctive shape of an oblate spheroid unlike most of the different rocky objects existing in the asteroid belt. Ceres also has a convoluted protrusion all over its equator. Researchers profess that Ceres also has a lodged ocean and an intrinsic wafer-thin atmosphere primarily formed of water vapour.

The water vapour supposedly gets generated either by ice volcanoes or by ice in the vicinity of the sublimating surface when a conversion from solid to gaseous form takes place. The latest findings have uncovered some of the underlying facts about Ceres. However, many other secrets still lie unravelled.

All about luminous spots and lonesome mountains

A total number of 130 identical spots of wavering brilliance were found on the planet’s surface. Ceres has an inherent reflective surface that reminds of layers of fresh asphalt. The luminance of the spots varied from anything between the dull and dreary to the sparkle and shine. The most irradiant portion, called the Occator Crater, having a width of almost 56 miles, houses the most prominent and stunning assembly of beaming spots on the celestial surface.

Occator Crater on Ceres. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / PSI)

Initial conjectures centering on the spots hinted at the probability of the existence of ice volcanoes covering large-scale portions of the dwarf planet. However, Dawn’s probe unearthed a solitary and lonely mountain shooting directly upwards from the surface. The mountain takes the contour of a pyramid and has an altitude of 6,437 metres. The mountain surprisingly exhibits no sign of any volcanic or geological activity that could at least offer some clues about its origin.

Ceres is found to contain hydrated minerals carrying ammonia, carbonates, water, ice and the recently revealed organic specimens. Therefore, this fresh finding suggests that Ceres has all the indispensable components to generate and preserve life.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Gliese 581g: A Habitable Exoplanet or Just Another Celestial Object Orbiting a Star?“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post What are Minor Planets and Dwarf Planets? appeared first on .

Beale Papers. (Wikimedia Commons)

If the Beale Ciphers are to be believed, it is prime time to rewrite American history. The Beale Papers narrate a captivating story that has become an integral part of the Virginia legend. A thrilling tale of adventure, lost treasure trove, early bonanza and secret codes that significantly remain obfuscated till current times.

Discovery of the vast treasure trove

In the year 1817, Thomas Jefferson Beale, who was a Virginian native, along with the comradeship of thirty other adventurous companions set out for hunting buffaloes and grizzlies in the western part of America.

Quite by an accident, in the following year, Beale’s party unearthed a fabulous and massive treasure of silver, gold and jewels about 300 miles north of Santa Fe. This discovery happened thirty years prior to the great gold strike in California. The buried treasure is estimated to be worth more than US $54 million as of currency value in January 2018.

Beale and his compatriots decided to work together and distribute the treasure equally. With the thought of protecting the huge reserve of wealth and ensuring their own safety, they chalked out a comprehensive plan to hide the treasure.

The concealment strategy comprised of three ciphertexts. The first ciphertext described the location of the treasure. The second one contained information about the constituents of the treasure. The third ciphertext tabulated the treasure owners’ names and details about their next of kin.

The fortune was then transported by wagons in two episodes to Virginia. It was then concealed and fortified in a rock-made vault dug up in the ground.

Sequence of events

The decision to hand over the documents to a confidante

Beale’s comrades were worried that if they would meet with an accident and die, the secret treasure would never find its way to their loved ones.

Therefore, they urged Beale to solicit the service of a reliable person who could be entrusted to fulfil their wishes in the eventuality of their unforeseen death. And for Beale, Morris was the only chosen one.

Handing over the box to Robert Morris

Beale secured the ciphertexts of three encoded letters and a few other confidential papers inside an iron box. In the spring of 1822, he handed over the box to a certain Mr. Robert Morris, who was a Lynchburg innkeeper.

Beale vouchsafed the locked box and categorically informed to Morris that the box contained documents of immense value and significance.

Morris safeguarded the box dutifully and waited for Beale to return and collect it. But the saturnine mysterious man did not come back to Lynchburg. He vanished leaving no trace and never returned again.

Promise to send the key to crack the cryptograms

Beale had instructed Morris not to unbolt the box. He informed that he or one of the group members would return from the voyage within 10 years. A few months later Beale wrote a letter to Morris from St. Louis.

Beale apprised and promised Morris that his friend would dispatch the key to disentangle the cryptograms. But the friend never made any appearance.

Opening of the box in 1845

When Beale did not return even after 23 years, Morris’s inquisitiveness overshot to the roof. He assumed that Beale by then might have been dead. His unrelenting curiosity got the better of him and he broke open the locked iron box.

He was astounded and exhilarated by the box’s content. There was an inscription in plain English written by Beale and three sheets replete with numbers. The note elaborately described Beale’s several adventures and escapades and the discovery of the mammoth quantity of the valuables.

Morris’s attempt to decode the ciphers

Morris began to decrypt the three ciphers right away. Unfortunately, even after decades of painstaking attempts, Morris had no luck in solving the mystery.

In 1862, when Morris realized that his days were numbered, he discerned the urgency to pass on the conundrum of the Beale ciphers.

At the age of 84, Morris died, but not before giving the box and its top-secret contents to an unidentified friend. The friend also put in decades working on the deciphering of the messages.

Progress in the deciphering of the messages

Utilizing a version of the United States Declaration of Independence as a potent means, Morris’s anonymous trusted young friend could manage to decrypt successfully the second of the three ciphertexts components.

It provided a depiction of the huge reserve of the buried wealth. However, he was unable to comprehend the interpretation of the remaining two texts, including the most important one that incorporated the cipher offering information about the location of the treasure.

The friend eventually made the story about the Beale ciphers public in a pamphlet named “The Beale Papers” that was published by another friend, James B. Ward, in the year 1885. It has created an enormous level of controversy ever since. And the press has been agog in reporting innumerable claims of the codes being deciphered and made intelligible, often with some head-twisting outcomes.

Information about Morris’s friend

Only a couple of simple and straightforward information could be gathered about Morris’s friend. Firstly, he published The Beale Papers pamphlet, where he chronicled the entire account of Beale including the Beale ciphers. It also enclosed the narrative of Morris’s efforts and events to find an answer to the undisclosed mystery. Secondly, the unnamed pamphleteer made the first headway in decoding one of Beale’s encrypted papers.

Unknown identity of the author of The Beale Papers

Who actually wrote The Beale Papers still continues to be a topic of hot debate and dispute. The introductory piece of the pamphlet offers a prelude of Ward sharing anecdotes about how the author became an indispensable part of the baffling Beale Papers. It also included the reasons as to why he resolved to divulge all the details of whatever he could comprehend through the pamphlet.

It is speculated how the author took over the mantle of unearthing the veiled ciphertexts from Morris and writing plain and explicit accounts in the form of The Beale Papers. From that time onwards, he frequently engaged in solving the puzzle of the Beale ciphers that eventually led to his financial and emotional demise.

Vague identity of James B. Ward and the Masonic aspect

Although very little is known, James. B Ward was believed to be a Freemason – a member of an international order developed to foster mutual help and comradeship and which holds intricate unofficial ceremonies.

The Beale Papers are surmised to have used a few Masonic descriptions or figurative languages and terms. Conjectures specify that the text required to decode and use the 1st and the 3rd Beale Papers could be a quintessential Masonic Text.

This is assumed to be one of the reasons why the text could not be discovered, as Masonic Texts are confidentially held. Therefore, it is often suggested that the successful decryption of the Beale Papers might not result in finding a physical treasure but one that is truly spiritual, somewhat similar to exploring the Lost Word in Masonic Lodges.

Are the Beale ciphers real or just a hoax?

The absence of any progress or a hint of success could imply that the Beale papers are an elaborate and convoluted scam. Cynics have hunt down flaws and inconsistencies in the Beale story.

For instance, the letter of Beale that was ensconced inside the box along with the ciphers was assumed to be written in 1822. Surprisingly the letter contained the word “stampede” that was unavailable in print until 1844.

In any case, it is quite conceivable that the word could have been commonly used in western America from a much earlier time which Beale might have come across during his expeditions.

There also have been shreds of evidence in favour of the veracity of the ciphers. These originate from the historical records which can be utilized to corroborate the tale of Thomas Beale.

A local historian named Peter Viemeister, extensively looked for sufficient documentation to evince that Thomas Beale existed. He used the census of 1790 and other anecdotes to identify numerous Thomas Beales born in that era in Virginia. Some of their backgrounds are in sync with a few familiar facts gathered so far.

The points of interest we have about Beale is his talks about his journey to Santa Fe. And there is sound proof to substantiate his uncovering of the gold booty.

For instance, Jacob Fowler, who was an explorer between 1821 and 1822 mentions in his chronicles, about the existence of the Pawnee and Crowe tribes who were believed to be in friendly terms with around 35 number of White men, a group size that was similar to Beale’s gang.

Also, a Cheyenne legend that dates back to the 1820s recounts the incident of gold and silver being transported from the western part and interred somewhere in the eastern mountains.

Also to an extent, the Masonic perspective hints at the purpose and meaning of the treasure as not being one like a physical monetary stash of gold, but the precious esteem that lies within, or a clandestine and esoteric understanding of wisdom that would be unfolded through the solution of the last two codes.

Treasure hunters. Codebreakers. Cryptanalysts.

Countless people who have ardently believed that there is a considerable fragment of truth and authenticity in the Beale Treasure story address the issue primarily in two major ways.

They either embark on a physical exploration of the fortune subsequent to probing and analyzing with however much as could reasonably be expected from what is provided. Or, they spend their endeavours in attempting to unknot the codes. Throughout the years many people have physically hunted down for the treasure but met with no success.

Until the point when more confirmation and evidence can be found to either prove or disprove the incredibly legendary Beale Treasure, the search for these lost valuables will proceed on. The allure, fame and popularity garnered by the person who accomplishes this hugely complicated task and acquires the wealth alongside are sufficient to keep people inquiring about. It is a paradox that beckons the daring and the intrepid to accept the challenge.

Research Material: NSA Declassified Documents

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Baffling Oak Island Treasure Trove Mystery“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post The Fascinating Tale of the Lost Treasure of the Beale Ciphers appeared first on .

Death mask of Napoleone Bonaparte. (Rama / Wikimedia Commons)

A resemblance of a person’s face, made either from a wax or a plaster cast, subsequent to death and directly from the dead body is essentially what a “death mask” is all about. Death masks have been used in large-scale as an effective means to consign the dead individual to an ever-lasting memory.

Death masks have found a prominent niche either as keepsakes of the dead or for the making of portraits. Sometimes, during the course of the making of the masks, the eyes were slightly tweaked to infuse a hint of aliveness on the subject. To retain the natural humanly elements, these casts brought the actual features out into the open by doing away with any kind of perfections.

Two men in the process of making a death mask. (Bain News Service)

Origin and history of Death Masks

Mask of Tutankhamun. (tdittmar75 / Pixabay)

The tradition of creating a replica of the visage of a dead person is primarily an ancient practice that dates back to the times of the Egyptian Pharaohs and Roman kings.

The death masks were originally used by the Egyptians and Africans to perform some spiritual rituals. The Egyptians used to create the death masks as they had a firm faith that it was imperative to do an appropriate preservation of the dead body as the soul needed to find a refuge to live on, post the demise. Preservation was performed through embalming and mummification.

The most well-known mask belongs to Tutankhamun, the celebrated Pharaoh. His mask was positioned on the body to strengthen the escaping spirit and stand guard over the soul against any evil as a pivotal element in the mummification rite.

The ancient death masks were prepared from wood. Later the Egyptians made use of cartonnage; a special type of material derived from papyrus doused in plaster and finally moulded it on a wooden cast. Royal death masks had engravings of precious metals like gold and bronze.

Most of the death masks were created with marginally enlarged eyes and an imperceptible smile. They displayed the in-vogue fashion with apt relevance in makeup and jewellery. These death masks were afterwards opened out as full body human-shaped coffins with identical decorations and adornments.

Why did people need death masks?

Since the beginning of the Medieval Ages, death masks were put to use as memorials dedicated to the dead. Among a few tribes, death masks found use in ceremonies to offer homage to the departed. These rituals primarily solemnized the creation of the universe and the upheld concept of death as an eternal truth. In others, where there was a sacred connection with the ancestors, they facilitated the transition from the dead to the next ascendant of the family.

Death masks were also used as an instrument to help the soul of the deceased pass effortlessly to the other world. The respect of the burial service customs of mask dancing was also speculated as a means of protection from a likely retaliation from the dead, thereby fending off the risk of a meandering soul.

Death mask of Isaac Newton. (The Public Domain Review / Flickr)

In a few cultures, especially in African and Native American societies and among the Oceanic tribes, death masks were looked upon as vital components of religious and social life. They used to believe that death masks opened the door for a medium of communication between the departed and the living in funerary rituals.

Even before photography was invented, death masks found their useful applicability by law enforcement agencies to register the traits of unclaimed bodies with expectations to identify them. Furthermore, death masks came to the aid and abet of the scientific studies of physiognomy.

The procedure of preparing a death mask

It is imperative to complete making the death mask within a few hours after the passing away of a person. This is necessary so as to evade the bloating of the body which in all probability distorts the body characteristics.

The first step involves applying grease on the facial surface to maintain the unscathed nature of the face and easily remove the cast. In the second step, the doctor wraps the face of the deceased with a double layered plaster bandage.

Death mask of Abraham Lincoln. (Internet Archive Book Images / Flickr)

The primary layer would define the subtle elements of the face. The secondary layer would reinforce and make the cast strong. The plaster covering requires a couple of hours to be put down and settle. After removing the plaster, the cast would often be infused with wax or metallic substances to create the illusion of a three-dimensional portrayal.

How Madame Tussaud perfected the art?

It calls for no astonishment to discover that Madame Tussaud was one of the most renowned death mask artists of all times. She made her debut in this art by creating masks of people who perished in the course of the French Revolution.

Nevertheless, later on, she gravitated (although not by her own keenness) to the business of mask creation for executed aristocrats. This implies that most of her subjects were decapitated. Even Marie Antoinette became the model for Madame Tussaud shortly after her passing away.

Bernard Tussaud the Great-grandson of Madame Tussaud finishing up the wax figures of Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Scott in 1935. (Derzsi Elekes Andor / Metapolisz Images)

Death masks of 7 famous personalities that are on display at various museums

Death masks were made to conserve the visages of the illustrious and historically noteworthy people, from kings, rulers and conquerors to authors, artists, composers and poets.

• Napoleon Bonaparte: Emperor, military and political leader
• John Keats: Poet
• Mary Queen of Scots: Queen of England, Scotland and France (briefly)
• Dante Alighieri: Poet and philosopher
• William Blake: Poet and artist
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Music composer and pianist
• L’Inconnue de la Seine: An unidentified young woman who supposedly committed suicide in the Seine River.

Conclusion

The prevalence and popularity of the death masks have significantly receded in the present times. Nonetheless, people still outstretch considerable efforts to safeguard the memories of their late loved ones with tombstones and custom celebrations.

In spite of the fact that death masks are mostly for the reminiscence of the bygone days, the ritual commemoration of the deceased individuals will live forever beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Recommended Visit:
Madame Tussauds | Museum in London

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post The Morbid History of Death Masks appeared first on .

Cardiff Giant, shortly after being exhumed. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Cardiff Giant, an enormous ten-foot tall stone man-made an astonishing and newsworthy emergence out of the ground on October 16, 1869. The structure was excavated with the aid of a few workers while digging a well at the back of the barn of a farmer named William “Stub” Newell in Cardiff, New York.

Formation of the Cardiff Giant

The Cardiff Giant was the brainchild of George Hull, a dynamic and resourceful tobacconist and get-rich-quick con artist. To reap huge financial gains, the idea of the Cardiff Giant, its subsequent burial and eventually a much sensational exhumation bloomed in his mind during the course of a business trip to Iowa.

In 1867, amid a business trip, Hull got embroiled in an argument with a Methodist revivalist preacher Reverend Turk while venting opinions on a theological debate focusing on a biblical passage. Hull, being a resolute atheist, was thoroughly asserted that the Holy Bible should not be taken seriously.

On the contrary, the revivalist minister believed that the literary significance of the Bible is undeniable. He went on insisting Hull that even the phrase which says “there were giants in the earth in those days” should be thought about as nothing but factual.

This incident sparked off Hull’s vivid imagination. He conjured up the figure of a gigantic stone-made human in his mind which he could pass off in the garb of a petrified man. If executed right, he pondered, the rip-off might permit him to strike a blow against religion. He realized that he could not just use the dummy mammoth to scoff at the Biblical literalists, but make immense wealth out of the undertaking as well.

Making of the behemoth

Cardiff Giant. (Wikimedia Commons)

In the subsequent two years, Hull expended almost $3,000 to bring the mock-up into being. He started out in 1868 by visiting Fort Dodge, Iowa, wherein he secured a massive five-ton block of gypsum by way of claiming that it would be used for a statue of the late Abraham Lincoln.

Hull then transported the block by ship to a Chicago marble supplier and stonecutter who had agreed to assist with the scheme in barter for a chunk of the earnings. He created the giant statue after being sworn to maintain secrecy.

Hull posed as the model while a couple of sculptors spent the late summer of 1868 fabricating the gypsum slab into a bogus anthropological marvel. The statue evolved into a naked man lying on his lower back with his right arm clasping his stomach. His one leg intersected the other and face flaunted a puzzling half-smile.

The workers covered the exterior of the sham with sulfuric acid to give an aged, rugged look. Hull even inserted pins into the frame to give the impression of skin pores. When completed, the pseudo giant stood over 10 feet tall and weighed almost 3,000 pounds.

The giant’s faux graveyard

The figure was then shipped to the village of Cardiff in New York through a secret mission. It was positioned in a pit and blanketed with soil. The property belonged to William “Stub” Newell, a farmer and distant relative of Hull.

On 16th October 1869, Newell, who too was tightlipped in an outright greed of the imminent riches, employed two unsuspecting workmen to dig a well. He ordered them to dig the ground closely at the spot wherein the giant was buried, and the workers thus made their startling discovery.

Discovery of the interred giant and subsequent euphoria

As the news of this discovery spread, hundreds of spectacle-watchers and amateur archaeologists started rushing to the discovery site to seek a glimpse of the giant and understand what the confusion was all about.

And despite the fact that the giant was downright a poorly finished creation, people were wonderstruck with sheer amazement by a way of the probability that it was real. Throughout the entire social prism ranging from farmers to the pre-eminent truth seeker like Ralph Waldo Emerson (American philosopher), everyone expressed admiration and astonishment while looking at the huge stone sculpture.

Controversy and exchange of views on the giant’s veracity

Archaeological surmised that the superhuman bust was a complete faux. A few geologists even discerned that they could not gather any appropriate and exact motive to attempt in digging a well precisely at that specific spot from where the giant was uncovered. Some of the theologians and preachers, on the contrary, vindicated its authenticity.

In Syracuse, the monstrosity was subject to a careful and focused scrutiny. Othniel C. Marsh, a palaeontologist from Yale, called on the statue and declared it an inept and phoney object. He further mentioned that the chisel marks were still visible on it. These should have eroded if the giant had been cloistered within the ground for a considerable length of time. However, the public appeared to care little about the fact that it was, in reality, a fake. They continued coming in numbers to witness it anyway.

Replica of the Cardiff Giant

The mammoth structure was auctioned off to a team of businessmen headed by David Hannum for $23,000. From then onwards, the giant embarked on an expeditious tour around Syracuse in New York. Soon, the ever-burgeoning popularity of Cardiff caught the attention of famous circus stage manager and showman P.T. Barnum. He engaged in many rounds of discussions and negotiations with the businessmen to purchase the gypsum-made cash cow for $50,000. But eventually, the deal did not happen. Barnum mustered up the courage to fabricate a replica of Cardiff Giant.  

He commissioned a sculptor and started showing it off to the general public at a Manhattan museum as the bonafide piece. He amassed deep fortunes in the arrangement. He claimed that the actual Cardiff Giant owned by the syndicate was a counterfeit entity.

Cardiff Giant resting in peace at the Farmers’ Museum

Cardiff Giant at the Farmers’ Museum. (Martin Lewison / Flickr)

The Cardiff Giant was put on display at the Pan-American Exposition held in the year 1901. However, it attracted very little attention and the response was much less impressive than expected.

Later, Gardner Cowles, Jr., an American businessman bought the statue to enhance his recreational room. In 1947, he sold the structure to the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Therefore, after spending nearly 79 years rambling through the United States like a vagrant, the Cardiff Giant finally returned to its roots on 18th May 1948 and was redeemed as a museum showpiece. The ‘petrified man’ is currently on permanent display at the Farmers’ Museum following its acquisition by the New York State Historical Association for $30,000 and the Barnum’s replica is an exhibit at the Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Spaghetti Tree Hoax: When BBC Convinced a Million Viewers That Spaghetti Came from Trees“.

Recommended Visit:
1. The Farmers’ Museum | Cooperstown, New York, USA
2. Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum | Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Cardiff Giant: The Colossus That Charmed and Mislead America appeared first on .

Preserved rat king from 1895 Dellfeld, Germany. (Edelseider / Wikimedia Commons)

A visit to the Mauritianum Museum in Altenburg, Germany might give you an absolute shudder of fear and revulsion at the spectacle of a mummified assembly of 32 rats conjoined at their tails and forming a large entanglement of a gargantuan turbo-rat.

The phenomenon popularly coined as the “rat king” survives in its malformed and outrageous intermixing until being killed or devoured by a predator. Surely rat kings are not like the cute and lovable pet rats in a go-as-you-like contest. In actuality, whatever we are aware of rat kings is the stuff that all bad dreams are made of.

Initial sightings

The earliest sightings of a rat king (25 rats) happened in the year 1564 and predominantly from Europe in countries like France, Netherlands, Poland and Belgium. Germany though was a specific hotspot, for no good reason. The disparaging German term “Rattenkonig” was plentifully used all through the next couple of centuries to denigrate people who were looked upon to be parasites.

Back in those days, rats were vilified as the harbingers of plague. They had been condemned for the devastating Black Death that originated in Medieval England and killed nearly 1.5 million people.

The occurrences might have plummeted with the displacement of the black rats (R. rattus) by the brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) sometime in the 18th century. Most existent specimens of rat kings are found to be formed from black rats or ship rats. Moreover, the happenings of black rats forming rat kings are widely documented all over the world. The only other small mammal species to have exhibited a kindred phenomenon are the squirrels.

Samples corroborating the existence of rat king

Rodent experts refuse to acknowledge the theory of the rat king, claiming it to be only a myth. However, there is a possibility that a huddle of ace and clasping tails could get themselves entwined. With the presence of a binding substance like sebum, which is oily and sticky and gets secreted from the skin of the rats, the knot might become inseparable. Even urine or faecal matter could have aggravated this fusion.

A rat king is on display at New Zealand’s Otago Museum. It was discovered in the 1930s by some clerks at a shipping facility when a mass fell onto them from the overhead roof beams. One clerk struck the twitching mass with a fork and killed it. The dead specimen eventually made its way into the museum where it is safeguarded in a big jar that contains the eight rats floating in a yellowish preserving liquid.

Another rat king is on display at Mauritianum Museum, Altenburg, Germany. The demonstration has an embalmed assembly of 32 intertwined rats. The specimen was reportedly discovered close to a miller’s fireplace sometime in 1828 in Buchheim, Germany.

Rat king on display at Mauritianum Museum. (Naturkundliches Museum Mauritianum Altenburg / Wikimedia Commons)

Recent Sightings

In a more recent sighting, a rat king consisting of 16 rats was allegedly discovered on 16th January 2005 by an Estonian farmer inside a pit. By the time he located the twisted interlacing, half of the rats were already dead.

Discovery of a squirrel-king

In 2013, in a similar discovery, a “squirrel king” comprising of a dray of six squirrels generated a lot of hullabaloo in Saskatchewan, Canada. This time researchers blamed the pine tree sap juice as the fixative. The squirrels were unravelled by veterinary doctors. In 2018, five squirrels that were chanced on connected by their tails in Wisconsin were successfully separated by veterinarians.

How do rat kings form?

If conjectures about the real existence of the rat kings are to be trusted, rats simply conjoin together while getting confined in a little space like a burrow or congested dwelling quarters. Another theory surmises on the rodent cohorts attempting to keep themselves warm during the winter season and thronging together thereby yielding the union.

Rat king at Natural History Museum of Nantes., France. (Selbymay / Wikimedia Commons)

Although the sightings of rat kings are debatable to a certain measure, the notion that the tails of an army of rats could get adjoined and entangled is true. As mentioned earlier, the sebaceous glands ooze a glutinous binding agent to keep their skin moisturised. The substance also enables their steady and fast movement amid the tight confines by greasing up the surfaces. The tails remain equally hydrated and ultimately become shackles for the rats thriving in the close vicinage.

Sometimes dirt, blood, urine or faeces are also believed to jointly bind the tails. Also, black rats can climb up and hence their tails have enhanced grasping ability which engenders a strong collaborative hold inside their nests.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Goblin Shark: The Alien Shark of the Deep Sea, with a Slingshot Mouth“.

Recommended Visit:
Mauritianum Museum | Altenburg, Germany
Otago Museum | Dunedin, New Zealand
Natural History Museum of Nantes | France

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Rat King: The Horrendous Wheel of Animal Suffering appeared first on .

1896 Summer Olympic opening ceremony. (Wikimedia Commons)

The first Olympics, the quintessential sports and athletics carnival was held between 6th April and 15th April in Athens, Greece, in the year 1896.

Pierre de Coubertin, also known as the father of modern Olympics. (Dutch National Archives / Wikimedia Commons)

The extravagant event was organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), whose founder was Pierre de Coubertin. Although the first Olympic event was a pretty modest affair, today the events are all but multibillion-dollar propositions that entail years of meticulous planning and shrewd politicking.

As many as 241 male athletes from 14 nations participated in the inaugural games. Some of the biggest delegations came from Greece, France, Germany and Great Britain. There were in all 43 events that encompassed sports such as track and field athletics, swimming, cycling, wrestling, weightlifting, tennis, shooting, gymnastics and fencing. Amid an all-pervasive celebratory and high-spirited ambience, the foreign athletes were ushered in with numerous parades and banquet parties.

Earlier anecdotes about Olympics

A high-level meeting was held in Paris by the IOC where they zeroed in on Athens as the venue for the modern and maiden Olympiad. The genesis of the Olympics dates back to 776 B.C. where a place called Olympia in Greece hosted the ancient games at the Panathenaic Stadium. It was built originally sometime around 330 BCE. In this time-honoured spectacle, the athletes participated in only one event and that was a foot race.

With the passage of time, other playdowns like chariot racing, wrestling, boxing and pentathlon were included in the Games programme. All the participants were young men in good physical shape with well-developed muscles from various cities and colonies of Greece who regularly fought it out as a means to salute the human body. The winners of each competition were awarded olive branches. The final ancient Olympics are conjectured to have occurred in A.D. 393.

The revival of the modern Olympic Games in 1896

During the 1800s, many European nations used to host a good number of festivals that were coined after the Olympics and upheld the legacy of the Games. After some time, the organizers of these festivals teamed up with an aim to take the lead in creating a unified platform for various games influenced by the same sense of honour as the archetypal Ancient Olympics. They envisaged a forum comprising of several nations that would federate and compete. In this way, the panel laid the foundation of the IOC and the subsequent inception of the 1896 Summer Olympics.

Dr William Penny Brookes. (Wikimedia Commons)

Sometime in the 1850s, Wenlock, a nondescript village in Shropshire took to presenting its own local Olympics annually. The concept which was formulated by a native doctor William Penny Brookes is even hosted in the current times. It was Coubertin who paid a visit to the town during the flow of the event in 1890 and was immensely motivated while looking at the enthusiasm of the townspeople who were participating in the Games. This inspirational discovery persuaded him to form the IOC and contribute towards conceiving a novel form of the Olympic Games at gaps of every four years.

How were the date and the city chosen?

Pierre de Coubertin assembled a group of sports enthusiasts on 18th June 1894 at Sorbonne, in Paris. His prime intent was to illuminate his plans to the sports society representatives from 11 countries. Once his comprehensive proposal was accepted by the conglomerate, a date for the commencement of the first modern Olympic Games was required to be fixed.

Coubertin wanted the Games to converge with the Universal Exposition of Paris slated in 1900. However, the members instead pitched on 1896 apprehending the possibility of a rapid dwindling of public interest with a six-year gap.

Once the date was frozen, the debate then turned to select the host city. Since the ancient Olympics had its birth in Greece, Athens became the most favoured choice to host the inaugural modern Games. Demetrius Vikelas a Greek businessman was the maiden president of the newly formed IOC.

The International Olympic Committee of 1896 summer Olympic with Vikelas seated in the centre. (Albert Meyer / Bulgarian Archives State Agency)

The opening ceremony

A massive crowd of more than 80000 spectators were present in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympiad that was held at the Panathenaic Stadium. The royal family of Greece, King George I, his wife Olga, their sons and other associated members played a significant part in organizing and managing the Games. In addition, they were regular attendees at various gatherings over the 10-day span of the Olympics.

The majority of the contenders were grouped by their respective nations and aligned in a well-ordered array on the infield. Following an introductory speech by the president of IOC, Crown Prince Constantine officially announced the beginning of the Olympic Games with a proclamation spoken in Greek words.

The first day of the 1896 Summer Olympic. (History of the Greek Nation)

Later, a group of musicians comprising of 150 choir singers and nine bands performed by belting out an Olympic Hymn that was composed by Spyridon Samaras with lyrics by poet Kostis Palamas.

From there on, an assortment of melodious renditions offered the inaugurations for each of the Opening Ceremonies until 1960. Since then the composition of Samaras and Palamas has turned into the official Olympic Anthem, a decision brought into existence by the IOC in the year 1958.

Only Hungary could put together a national team. Most of the non-native athletes were either college students from affluent and well-to-do families or members from sundry athletic clubs who were enamoured by the newness and the creativity which the Olympics had set forth.

Panathenaic Stadium

The track-and-field competitions for both athletics and cycling had taken place at the Panathenaic Stadium. The primaeval stadium that was originally put up in 330 BCE had been dug out. Yet it was not reconstructed for the once proposed 1870 Greek Olympics.

It lay untouched until the 1896 Olympics when the renovation work with marble was completed under the supervision and capital funding by a wealthy Egyptian Greek Georgios Averoff. The old track was exceptionally elongated with very sharp turns which often were deterrents to the runners as they had to appreciably slow down to stay around in their lanes.

Men’s high jump at the 1896 Summer Olympic. (Wikimedia Commons)

The track-and-field events were completely overpowered by the athletes from the United States. Out of the 12 contests, they won 9. The Bay of Zea hosted the swimming competition. Out of the four swimming races, ace Hungarian swimmer Alfréd Hajos won the silver in the 100m and 1200m events.

Alfréd Hajós won medals in two categories; sport and art competitions. (Wikimedia Commons)

The longer swimming races were conducted by transporting the swimmers out to the mid sea by boat and allowing them to swim back the earmarked distance to the shore. French cyclist Paul Masson bagged the silver for three cycling races. On the opening day itself, James Connolly from the United States won the triple jump and created a record of sorts over the past 1500 years. He performed exceedingly well earning the second and third in other high jump and long jump events respectively.

The countries that boasted of the largest number of teams were Greece, Germany, France and Great Britain. Nonetheless, it was the United States that came to the forefront by picking off the highest number of first-place finishes with 11 medallions. Greece with 10 medallions and Germany with 6 medallions finished off in the second and third places respectively.

100-meter race. (Benaki Museum of Greek Civilization)

The first marathon

One of the major highlights of the 1896 Olympics was the first marathon. The then unique race was the brainchild of a Frenchman Michel Bréal. The marathon followed the mythical unending route of Pheidippides. As the legend prevails, an adept runner, who was sent as a messenger from the Marathon plains to Athens, Pheidippides declared the vanquishment of a Persian army who attempted to invade Greece in 490 BCE.

Because of its incredible historical significance, the race garnered the prominence of being the most outstanding feature of the first Olympic Games. Spyridon Louis, a Greek triumphed in the race by a lead of over 7 minutes which gained him an ever-lasting adulation among the nationals. He was also awarded a commemorative cup by Michel Bréal for his tour de force.

The medals

Unlike the present times, there was no concept of gold medals. The winners of the first-place were awarded silver medals, an olive branch and a diploma. The winners of the second-place received copper medals, a twig of laurel and a diploma.

1896 Olympic medal. (Wikimedia Commons)

The front side of the medal had the engraving of the face of Zeus with his hand clasping a globe having a winged triumph emblem on it, with an inscription in Greek that read “Olympia”. The back side featured the miniature view of the Acropolis site with the inscription in Greek that read “Worldwide Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.”

1896 Olympicsclosing ceremony

On 12th April 1896, a banquet was arranged for the officials and athletes by King George. He was categorical in his address speech about his intent to hold the Olympic Games permanently in Athens. The official closing ceremony was held on 15th April. The royal family was in full attendance.

A short time later, the king gave away the prizes to the winners. A procession by all the medal holders was also orchestrated, spearheaded by Spyridon Louis much to the ecstasy of the hometown crowd. The king officially announced the culmination of the first Olympiad amid the playing of the Olympic Hymn as the crowd cheered in sheer revelry.

The elaborate and spectacular extravaganza drew to a close with Greece’s national anthem being played followed by a lyrical poem composed in classical Greek by a British scholar and athlete George S. Robertson.

Panathenaic stadium today. (bk / Flickr)

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “What Happens to the Olympic Venues in the Host Countries After the Olympic Games End?“.

Recommended Visit:
Panathenaic Stadium | Athens, Greece

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Belmez Faces: A blurred face on the wall inside the house of María Gómez. (Cesar Tort / Wikimedia Commons)

The first sighting of the Belmez Faces is reported to have occurred on 23rd August 1971. It is believed that María Gómez a Bélmez resident observed the emergence of an uncommon stain in a spur-of-the-moment on the concrete floor of her kitchen. The stain assumed the shape of a human face and began appearing at different locations.

Petrified by this eerie and paranormal happening, María tried to get rid of the ominous formation by vigorously scrubbing and cleaning the floor. But all her efforts were in vain. Even her husband Juan Pereira and son Miguel attempted to destroy the image with the help of a pick-axe and later replacing the concrete floor.

But, as the legend goes, new faces started reinforcing on the floor a week later and the occurrences showed no sign of abatement. As the news of the strange appearances started gaining ground among the local people of the small town, numerous visitors began thronging the place to watch this inexplicable phenomenon. The canards about the “house of faces” did the customary rounds in every household.

The family informed the matter to the mayor of Bélmez who in turn disallowed the destruction of the newly formed faces. Instead, a specimen of the floor was taken for study. Parapsychology experts from the world over went hotfoot in paying visits to the house. Nevertheless, they were unable to detect and reveal the exact cause of this peculiar experience.

Discovery of skeletons

The family approached the local council to seek support in unearthing this mystery. When the surveyors visited to inspect the property, they decided to excavate the floor of the kitchen area. At that moment, this was the only option which the councillors found worthwhile and potentially insightful. Thankfully, it did not take too long for the workers to identify a probable hint supporting the evil exposition of the Belmez Faces.

Eventually, the narrative recounts the horrific discovery of skeletons nearly 10 feet underneath the property when it was quarried during the course of the examination. Some of the skeletons were even devoid of their skulls. They were surmised to be over 700 years old.

After the findings, the dug pit was refilled and a new concrete floor was cast. This time everybody expected the appearances to vanish into obscurity. However, much to everyone’s disbelief, another face, dissimilar from the previous ones resurfaced.

Intermittent visitations of the Belmez Faces

The most notorious Belmez Faces “la Pava” protected behind a glass pane. (Degeefe / Wikimedia Commons)

This time around, the episodes were distinctive. Rather than a solitary face becoming visible and declining to subside, a multitude of faces came into existence on the floor. One facial expression would come into a conspicuous exhibition only to be substituted by another in a cyclic fashion.

Now and then these appearances would crop up through the span of a few hours. Some of the displayed Belmez Faces belonged to women and children. On the off chance that the local council board had done anything for the Pereiras, it actually worsened the situation for them.

The hue and cry about these occurrences spread like wildfire across national and international stretches. Well-known paranormal investigator Dr. Hans Bender from Germany announced the Belmez Faces as an instance of paramount significance and the biggest supernatural event of the 20th century.

All that the Pereiras wanted was to liberate themselves from the clutches of the spirits that had assumed total control over their lives and the town. And now, they were compelled to persevere through another trepidation which was the overflowing curiosity among the general public that almost engulfed their privacy. The surge of visitors in the form of researchers, priests, students, journalists, police officers and doubters kept on burgeoning with every passing day.

Laboratory tests and media coverage

With the rumour mills running overtime about how the family had deliberately engaged in creating faces to win everlasting fame and money, the need for a clear and sound testing method became imperative. A large-scale investigation was initiated. The concrete samples were sent for a thorough study to the Instituto de Ceramica y Vidrio (ICV).

Much to the sceptics’ disappointment, the ICV could not collect any notable evidence of any paint or dye and subsequently ruled out the possibility of a fraud. The remaining floor was shot in fragments and enveloped with a jacket sealed at the borders. Ultimately the door and the windows were all occluded with wax.

A television crew from a German media company photographed every such precautionary measure amid the attendance of the local dignitaries. This time the team expressed satisfaction over making their effort completely foolproof. They were convinced and dismissed a possible tampering of the scene without any clear-cut detection.

The kitchen was sealed for three months. The grand revelation, three months later, spotlighted yet another marked upshot. Once the kitchen door was unbolted the Belmez Faces were indeed still there but had shifted and evolved.

Was the Pereira family a group of imposters?

House of María Gómez. (Degeefe / Wikimedia Commons)

It was believed that the Pereira family perpetrated the humbug to amass sizeable financial gains. A few tests that were performed remained indecisive. Others suggested the absence of any trace of paint material on the floor surface.

Research on the facial expression of the faces asserted that a large number of the features were comparable to the face of María. Another intimation that went against her hovered on the fact that the faces would only manifest amid the presence of María. The visitations would dwindle when María was away.

Sceptics also speculate that María’s son played a part with a ruthless joke on her. Whereas others were firm of the opinion that there was indeed a supernatural activity that could never be fathomed or expounded. Even today, the mugs allegedly, still continue to come into sight in her Bélmez home in Spain.

The aspect of thoughtography

One of the key contributors to the investigation involved a method known as Thoughtography. This defines a psychokinetic ability that capacitates a person to demonstrate images onto a surface either purposefully or coincidentally. Thus, for all these idiosyncrasies to be swallowed, María Pereira would make a bonafide suspect.

The ill-fame of the Belmez Faces gathered momentum

María’s house started earning an unprecedented amount of good coverage and noticeability in Bélmez among the tourists. It came to be widely recognised as La Casa de las Caras which meant The House of the Faces. From 1972 onwards, María’s home turned into a veritable crowd-puller.

Over the next 30 years or so, the Pereiras continued with their claim to have come across a consistent apparition of faces, both male and female, in diverse shapes, sizes and expressions. Unfortunately, in 2004, María Gómez Cámara passed away at the age of 85.

Yet the bizarre splattered trails still continued to spring upon the bare stone floor, probably with even more distortions.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Paranormal Sightings in England: The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall“.

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Topsy the elephant being electrocuted in Luna Park. (www.timetoast.com / Wikimedia Commons)

Topsy was an elephant that belonged to the herd of performers in the Forepaugh Circus for a major part of her life. The tragic story of Topsy began sometimes around 1875. The elephant traders in Southeast Asia seized the baby elephant weighing 200 pounds. She was later smuggled into America by Adam Forepaugh, the owner of Forepaugh and Sells Circus, who dishonestly used to bill her as the first elephant born in America.

Historical accounts of Topsy’s errant behaviour

In those days, like other circus animals, Topsy was a victim of human-inflicted brutality and abuse. She used to be tormented no ends during the course of her training and performances. It was because of this stocked up pain and agony she became infamous as a rogue elephant.

She had developed a penchant for rampaging circus resources, frequently going berserk and smacking against people, especially the cruel circus handlers when they tried to hurt or cage her up.

As indicated by different sources, she supposedly killed by trampling two circus workers in Texas. In 1902, she killed James Fielding Blount, a spectator from Brooklyn, in utter anguish, who instigated to extremely trouble her by throwing a lit cigar into her mouth.

After this much-hyped incident, Topsy was disposed of Coney Island’s Sea Lion Park. A year later, when the park was distressed with bankruptcy, its proprietor Paul Boyton leased it out to Frederic Thompson and Elmer Dundy who were then developing the Luna Park. Naturally, Topsy was turned over to her new owners.

Life became worse for Topsy after her entry to Luna Park. For whatever was left of her short-lived and pitiful life, she continued pulling massive building materials for construction and development. Frederic and Elmer termed it as her atonement pursuit for being so audacious and belligerent.

Topsy the elephant, here as well, was embroiled in several widely reported error incidents, mainly attributed to the inhuman actions meted out by either her unruly drunken handler or the park’s public attention-grabbing owners.

Topsy the elephant’s electrocution

Luna Park originally had plans to hang Topsy for her disruptive behaviour. However, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) stepped in and quickly squashed that idea citing reasons that hanging was unpardonably spiteful.

Based on information from prior instances of electrocutions of animals using alternating current, Luna Park officials decided on electrocution as the preferred and more humane alternative to killing Topsy the elephant.

On December 13, 1902, a press release from Luna Park issued a statement in newspapers that Topsy would be euthanized within a few days through electrocution.

Topsy being escorted to cross the bridge for her execution. (Louis Republic article / Wikimedia Commons)

Finally, the elephant was executed on January 4, 1903, at the Luna Park construction area in Coney Island. Since such an incident of electrocution of an elephant was never attempted before, a sizeable crowd drew in to watch the event at the recently opened park.

As the electrocution of an elephant was hitherto unknown, Topsy’s executioners made sure to complete the act successfully through a technique that combined all; electrocution, poisoning and strangulation. Topsy was fed poisoned carrots with her feet being strapped into copper sandals to apply the electric shock.

Dead Topsy. (www.metrolic.com / Wikimedia Commons)

Hugh Thomas, who was the chief electrician of Luna Park, performed the electrocution. It sent shivers of 6,600 volts through Topsy’s body. The current application was switched off after 10 seconds.

There was a huge blaze of fire and stench of burning flesh. Her body violently underwent a tremor before tumbling to the ground. And, if she was really a ferocious, unmanageable beast, Topsy unquestionably didn’t demonstrate it on her last day.

The Thomas Edison angle behind Topsy’s death

Many people trust that Topsy was a casualty of the purported “War of the Currents” the scientific battle that was fought between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla over the concepts and viability of alternating and direct currents.

Fred and Elmer swung into action with Thomas Edison. He was then in strong contention with the alternating current strategy of Nikola Tesla. He was trying hard to uphold the direct current theory in the United States as the ideal standard of electricity provision.

In his endeavours to prevent and dissuade the general public from using AC owing to its increased potential dangers, Edison had been orchestrating numerous public demonstrations by electrocuting stray animals. Apparently, he couldn’t forgo the opportunity to electrocute Topsy and prove the heightened perils of AC once more.

The identity of a certain individual who apparently filmed the electrocution and consequent death of Topsy the elephant could not be revealed. The SPCA and Edison Electric Co. are surmised to have both contributed towards the planning and execution of the electrocution method. According to a rumour, an entire part of the persistent propaganda to devalue AC and foster Edison’s own predilection, direct current.

Numerous reports and sites allege that Thomas Edison not only recorded the entire event but also masterminded the killing. Sources like Rutgers University are of the impression that a film crew which represented the Edison Electric Illuminating Co shot the video in all likelihood.

The film was believed to be an opportunity for Edison to bespeak the pernicious nature of the abhorrent alternate current on a mammoth animal. It was a great man’s frustration and wrath at being confronted with getting an upper hand over and showing off his real worth as the true boss. But it hardly made any impact. Edison eventually lost the War of the Currents to his opponent Nikola Tesla.

Lack of evidence in Thomas Edison’s involvement

However, there is a lack of corroboration in this matter and contemporary historians have put this information away as a grossly fallacious one. According to them, Edison’s involvement is mostly dubious with newspaper accounts having no mention of it. There is also no evidence that Thomas Edison was in attendance during the course of the action.

The fact that any of the extant correspondence of Edison doesn’t mention about Topsy or an electrocution incident of an elephant at Luna Park is also worth noting.

Some people deviate, stating that Topsy, in many ways, was doomed to die. Edison’s electrocution was simply observed as a conducive and compassionate way to accomplish her death. And even, the War of the Currents drew to a close in the 1890s, while Topsy’s execution came much later. It has been conjectured that Topsy the elephant was not a pawn of the war of the currents, but of the “elephant wars” among the circus proprietors.

And for Topsy, who was a member of a species with profound intelligence and emotions, kept in bondage for such an extended period of her life, the feud between Edison and Tesla couldn’t have made much of a difference.

A few assessments report that nearly 1,500 onlookers and 100 photographers attended Topsy’s electrocution. Around then, an occasion like this generated a lot of buzz and curiosity among the general public. The execution, since then has been the subject matter of various books, articles and television documentaries.

Topsy’s electrocution being a massive disservice to animal welfare

Today, in any case, people introspect and consider this event as an absolutely deplorable and unforgivable moment that went down the chronicles as an extreme act of heinous crime and outrage against animal well-being.

With American society becoming increasingly sensitive to the affliction towards animals, Topsy’s execution has been portrayed as a quintessential example of indescribable cruelty to animals.

Topsy’s passing away ended up being stale news decently not long after the episode, however, on the grounds that a video documentation of her demise still exists today, she has returned into the public appearance as an exemplary image of how to show care and respect to animals.

A century later, at the Coney Island Museum, a memorial was unveiled, not only to commemorate the life and death of Topsy the elephant but also pay heartfelt tribute to a soul that contributed significantly to the scientific advancements in that period.

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HeroRATs: Rats trained by APOPO on field detecting landmines. (© APOPO)

APOPO which stands for “Anti-Personnel Landmines Removal Product Development” is a world-renowned non-governmental organisation founded by Bart Weetjens, a Belgian rat-enthusiast. The Tanzanian based NGO is involved in several humanitarian pursuits; one of the most noteworthy being the training offered by them to giant-sized pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) to detect spots of landmines and outbreak of tuberculosis (TB). These are the two primary menaces that have plagued the African landscape since long.

There are more than 60 countries where gruesome disasters and accidents take place because of life-threatening landmines and other explosives in war-torn areas. These occurrences impede the nation’s progress and development besides precipitating untold casualties and injuries.

On an absolutely different spectrum, inaccurate and time-consuming methods to detect tuberculosis make it one of the world’s most infectious and lethal diseases. Statistics show an average annual TB contraction of 10 million people out of which around 1.8 million succumb to the disease whereas approximately 3 million cases remain undiagnosed.

The APOPO rats which are extremely sensitive to smell have earned the much-deserving byname ‘HeroRATs’. These rats give back a safe and secure land to the communities congenial for growth and development.

The inception of APOPO

Founder Bart Weetjens stood firm in looking for an all-encompassing resolution of a local problem with the help of locally generated resources. His prime objective was to fix on an agreeable and affordable solution which communities could put to use rather than taking recourse to expensive techniques with integrated foreign technology.

According to Weetjens, the principal advantage of using rodents lies in the fact that they can be trained and procured aplenty in a cost-effective manner.

Each sniffing Apopo rat comes at an average price of $7,600, inclusive of administrative and operating expenses. On the contrary, a sniffer dog might cost more than three times as much only to train.

Advantages of employing the southern giant pouched rat

HeroRats undergoing field training. (© APOPO)

Feather-weight to tread on the landmines: The pouched rats have an average lifespan of 8 years. So they turn up as a pretty good investment. Furthermore, the critters are excessively lightweight to walk over the landmines without triggering them. They apply their nasal hunch to find out the precise location of the explosive. As of date, Apopo has amassed the goodwill of zero casualties.

Rapid detection of landmines: On the counter, one giant pouched rat can forage an area of more 2000 square feet in a time span of 20 minutes. A similar human action would take up to four days to accomplish.

Attuned to climatic variations: The rats are native species of the Sub-Saharan tropical zone of Africa. They are accustomed to the prevailing weather and resilient to pandemic diseases. Minimal resources are required to train and raise a rat to its adulthood.

Lightning fast pace to check Tuberculosis (TB) bacteria: In the case of detecting TB, the major advantage is the speed at which the rats execute the task. Standard examining procedures at public clinics involve the use of a microscope to detect TB, which is slow and sometimes incorrect. As per records set by APOPO, a trained rat can assess 40 samples in 7 minutes.

Training the rats

Training the rats to detect landmines is not an easy process. Firstly, the rodents, just at their infancy, need to pick up the learning acumen to be in the vicinage of humans. Secondly, these gnawing animals do not possess the ability to fling back to verbal instructions. Hence, the trainers uniquely teach them with a clicking sound which implies their earnings in the form of food rewards (usually peanuts or bananas). Finally, the rats are trained to cling on to trappings and harnesses and walk over tight ropes suspended between two handlers across the fields.

Rats intended for mine-detection are initially shifted to a sandbox where they are made accustomed with the scent of explosives by sniffing out TNT-suffused tea balls. Ultimately, they are drilled on a test field that accommodates both active and inactive mines.

At the time of discovering a potential landmine, the trained skilful rats break off and scratch the TNT-scented location. The human de-miners then put a mark on the spot and later return to excavate the area. If they discover a landmine underneath the spot, they detonate it immediately.

The overall training takes nearly nine months for each rat. Since the animals live for only eight years, it becomes burdensome for an animal with a fairly short lifetime to receive this elaborate training and perform to the finest standards of excellence.

It is to be noted that rats only form a component of an integrated demining operation. Pieces of equipment like metal detectors and mechanical demining gears still remain indispensable. Till 2016, the HeroRATs surveyed over 270 square miles of farmlands in Mozambique. The rodents’ uncovered 13,826 mines, discovered 29,031 small-sized ammunitions and 39,601 unexploded ammunition.

Training rats to diagnose tuberculosis

HeroRats undergoing training to detect TB. (© APOPO)

In this scenario also, the rats undergo nine months of training. The rats are given lessons to recognise the odour of typical molecules that indicate the existence of the tuberculosis germs. Sputum samples that are already examined through conventional tests are rechecked by the rats. They sniff through a series of holes in an enclosed glass chamber that houses the sputum samples. When a rat becomes aware of TB, it signals by brushing its nose against the particular sample aperture or scratching on the floor of the cage.

Future prospects of HeroRATs

At the present time, the United States is analyzing the usage of the rats to curb unlawful trafficking of wildlife. Detection of commonly occurring cancer ailments and other degenerative neurological maladies such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s can be accomplished with the help of these smart rodents. In disaster-struck zones, HeroRATs can serve to locate and save victims buried under the rubble.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Insects from Hell: Mecoptera, the Fly with a Scorpion Tail“.

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Historic photo of Secretariat at 1973 Belmont Stakes. (© Bob Coglianese / Used With Permission)

Fondly known as Big Red, Secretariat was the fastest and the greatest thoroughbreds that American racing history ever produced. A stalwart in speed and agility the champion rose to national fame when he won the Horse of the Year award as a two-year-old colt in 1972 followed by a thumping victory as Triple Crown winner (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – in the first two new track records were set and in the latter a new world record), in the year 1973.

So, what’s the secret of a stalwart stallion? What made the world-famous horse a champion of champions?

The X-factor

Secretariat, fondly known as Big Red. (James Wood / Flickr)

Born on March 30, 1970, his distinctive features were his three white socks and a big white blaze on his face. Secretariat had a Big Heart (two and a half time larger than a regular horse) – due to a rare genetic mutation. This particular gene is often dubbed as X-factor because the gene is located on the X-chromosome. Genetically, he was well-disposed.

His parents were Bold Ruler (his sire) and Somethingroyal (his dam), daughter to Princequillo (a thoroughbred Ireland born horse known for his successful stints in long-distance races and his ability to sire many strong successors). Since the gene sits on X-chromosome, Somethingroyal who foaled the champion passed on the genetic trait to her son.

More than anything else, the big heart gene link can be traced back to the 1830’s. It is said that 1837 born Pocahontas had been the prime source of large heart gene that passed on to her progeny; for the last 180 years, this gene has been the secret behind equine genetics and all the champion racers of today.  

Heart of Secretariat horse

Bold Ruler (Secretariat’s sire) at Belmont Park after his victory in 1956 Futurity. (Internet Archive Book Images / Flickr)

The heart of Secretariat was two and a half times the size of a regular horse. It weighed a massive 22 lbs (Approx.10 kg). A large heart has the capacity to increase strength and stamina.

Secretariat’s stamina was due to a tremendous cardiovascular system; as if 4 big engines pumped together to win the race. Many other physical factors contributed to his victory (like his muscular built) but the big heart catapulted the agile movements of an equine athlete.

Immense track record

Till date, no other racehorse could match Secretariat’s track record. The legend started with a fourth spot but good performances sat easy on him. He debuted on the 4th of July in 1972. The same year he won seven of the nine races, earning him the most coveted Horse of the Year award. The path-breaking Triple Crown win that turned him into a legend was finished in less than two minutes, thereby setting an all-time high Derby record (he clocked a Derby time of 1:59:40).

He beat Twice A Prince (horse) by an astounding 31 lengths in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. Even his loss at Champagne Stakes was actually a win, disqualified to the second spot for interference. He turned into an instant sensation and till date, he is remembered and admired by many.

Apart from Triple Crown wins, the thunderous horse leapt to several memorable wins in the span of 16 months racing career:

• Sanford Stakes
• Hopeful Stakes
• Belmont Futurity
• Laurel Futurity
• Garden State Stakes
• Bay Shore Stakes
• Stakes
• Arlington Invitational
• Marlboro Cup
• Man O’ War Stakes
• Canadian International

His track record of producing race winners has been impressive – out of the 653 sired, 57 went on to earn the reputation as the Stakes winners. 

Accounts of people with Big Heart

Secretariat, the handsome chestnut racehorse was close to a few privileged people. Two names of repute include Penny Chenery – the breeder and the owner and Ron Turcotte – his jockey.

Penny Chenery bred Secretariat at her family-owned Meadow Stable in the American state of Virginia. Her father Christopher Chenery’s death led her to take on the reins of the business and she went on to create history with the birth of a racing legend. Chenery had an aptitude for business. With all heart put in, she revived the Meadow Stable – her famous words quoted in a 2015 interview – “I love horses and I loved my dad” – justify once more why she could take effective decisions towards breeding and training an American racehorse legend.

The chestnut horse had a huge fan following and remained in the spotlight by appearing on the covers of newspapers like Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. Chenery had once written to The New York times that Secretariat was the answer for whole-hearted fun and admiration for people in America who were passing through state emotional downturn due to Nixon and Watergate scandal in the first of the 70’s.

Ron Turcotte is the man who rode Secretariat. He was the jockey who guided the Big Red to historical win and Horse of the Year award at a tender age. This feat was followed by the invincible Triple Crown win. They both earned a name in history and became legendary figures.

The summer of 1973 gave Ron an out-of-the-world experience when he rode a powerful, relentless horse determined to win. He remembered how he could sense the rhythmic beating of the heart of the ‘big’ horse and the feeling of floating on air.

The tale remains incomplete without naming Lucien Laurin, the trainer of the thoroughbred. Laurin was a fine jockey and a master trainer who saddled Secretariat and Sweat, the groomer who understood the temperament and need of the record making colt.

Monument of Secretariat at Kentucky horse park. (Ken Mist / Flickr)

Death of a Titan

It was indeed a sad day for horse lovers when Secretariat, who symbolized brilliance with beauty, breathed his last on October 4, 1989, at the bluegrass nursery. He died of laminitis a painful hoof disease.

He was not just a horse; he was a hero who brought sensation at the race track for endless horse lovers.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Diving Horse: Act of the Twentieth Century that Baffled the Audience“.

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NX913 Lockheed Vega 1 flying at Dole Air Race. (SDASM Archives / Flickr)

1927: In their quest for US$35,000 prize money and some chunk of popularity, fifteen single-engine aeroplanes registered for a chance to be the champion of flying from Oakland to Hawaii. That too, only a couple of months after Charles Lindbergh’s successful flight from New York to Paris. Eleven contenders qualified for the final race. And then the spate of direful mishaps broke loose as planes started crashing in rapid succession.

Eventually, eight out of the eleven qualified aeroplanes participated in the race. Two crashed during take-off and two went missing. Another developed snags and returned for a repair. It later again took off to search for the untraceable flights only to never come back again. Only two could ultimately touch the finishing point.

Line-up of aircraft before the race. (SDASM Archives / Flickr)

The Dole Air Race or the Dole Derby, a flight competition across the Pacific Ocean was mired in unfathomable tragedy and misfortune. The inspiring feat of a successful trans-Atlantic flight by Charles Lindbergh motivated pineapple business tycoon James D. Dole to announce the race to fly 3,870 kilometres from Oakland to Hawaii.

He offered cash prizes of US$25,000 and US$10,000 for the first and the second winning teams. The air race transpired on the 16^th of August in 1927.

Obviously, flying a plane in 1927 called for a certain flavour of insanity. The sundry planes that assembled to participate in the race were progressively a testament of the grit and mettle of the flight crews than the front line innovation. Shocking as it may sound, the planes, in those days were bereft of any real safety gear and lacked efficient navigational equipment.

Pre-race disasters

The race was tangled up in mishaps even before it started. Firstly, it was Lieutenants Covell and Waggener, who in their pursuit to win money, fame and reshape history embarked on the journey from San Diego to Oakland for participating in the race. Fifteen minutes after they took off, their plane veered into dense fog and slammed over a cliff by the ocean.

Crash site of Tremaine Humming Bird flown by Lieutenants Covell and Waggener. (SDASM Archives / Flickr)

The second tragedy struck when pilot Captain Arthur Rogers undertook a test endeavour. While landing, the aircraft plunged from a height of 125 feet and crashed resulting in his death. The reason for the crash is still unknown.

In a third disaster, another Dole participant crashed en route to the racing point and tumbled 100 feet into the water. Surprisingly both the pilot and the navigator survived.

Thus, by the time the Dole Race did not even commence, three lives were already claimed.

The motley assemblage of the final eight participating planes

• Pabco Flyer – a monoplane flown by Livingston Gilson Irving
• Woolaroc – a customized Travel Air 5000 led by Arthur Goebel and navigated by William Davis
• Oklahoma – a modified Travel Air 5000 with Bennett Griffin and Al Henley as the crew
• Aloha – a monoplane piloted by Martin Jensen and manoeuvred by Paul Schluter
• El Encanto – a monoplane with Norman Goddard and Kenneth Hawkins as the crew
• Golden Eagle – a prototype monoplane with Jack Frost as the pilot and Gordon Scott as the navigator
• Miss Doran – a civil utility aircraft that had Auggy Pedlar as the pilot, Vilas Knope as the navigator and Mildred Doran as a passenger.
• Dallas Spirit – a monoplane that was flown by William Erwin and steered by Alvin Eichwaldt

The Dole Air Race

The epoch-making day of 16^th August 1927 sprang up with a foggy morning. An estimated 100,000 onlookers had gathered at the Oakland Airport to watch the much-plugged race.

The initial departures were nothing but highly disruptive and troublesome. First, it was Oklahoma that took off around 11 AM. The crew, however, aborted the flight 45 minutes following the take-off. They suspected an overheated engine problem and returned empty handed.

Then it was El Encanto’s turn. The aircraft could not clear the runway. Because of fuel overloading, it swerved, crashed and had to abandon the race.

Pabco Flyer flew only for a few moments and then crashed around 7000 feet away from the airport runway. It had no other option but to withdraw from the field. Fortunately, the crew came out unhurt.

Golden Eagle had a smooth take-off and disappeared into the air. The aircraft along with the crew were misplaced amid the sea and could never be found.

Miss Doran had a successful take-off only to come back after ten minutes with its engine emitting splitting sounds. On its second attempt, it flew out of sight, went lost in the sea, and sank without a trace. 

Mildred Doran posing with her aircraft before the race. (SDASM Archives / Flickr)

Dallas Spirit had a failed trip and flew back to Oakland with a damaged fuselage. It was only Aloha and Woolaroc, which took off without any glitch and finally could realize the impossible mission.

In retrospect, it proves beyond doubt that all the aircraft were badly prepared for the dangerous intersection. The crew had minimal knowledge of the flying route and the climate at higher altitudes.

With only four aircraft having a radio transmission equipment and the crew with no survival gear, it was a tribute to all those who attempted this unthinkable and perilous feat, their fearlessness and a lot of good luck.

The finale and winners

Aloha and the Woolaroc were the only two planes that could reach their final destination. Woolaroc flew at an altitude of more than 4000 feet and traversed a great-circle flight path. Davis, who was the navigator, leveraged with smoke bombs and sextants for calculating the course and the wind drift.

When the plane reached Hawaii, the team was warmly greeted and escorted out of Wheeler Field by a Boeing PW-9. Goebel and Davis arrived in a period of in 26 hours and 17 minutes and won the race and the cash prize of US$25,000. The aircraft is currently on display at the Woolaroc Museum located in Oklahoma.

Aloha and the Woolaroc. (SDASM Archives / Flickr)

Aloha, which took 28 hours to clock, came in second and earned Jensen and Schluter, the prize money of US$10,000. Martin Jensen, who was the pilot kept all the money with him. He gave Paul Schluter, his navigator, a paltry amount of $25 much to the latter’s shock and anger.

At long last, only two planes, of the total 15 that registered in the first instance, could make it to Hawaii. By that time, already six planes were totally decimated and the casualty figure rose to 10. Going by these circumstances, the Dole Air Race was found to be less of a competition and more of a horrific event in Chicago.

The two untraceable planes

Nothing was ever heard about Golden Eagle and Miss Doran. An extensive search supported by three submarines USS S-46, USS S-42 and USS R-8 was soon arranged by the US Army and US Navy.

Martin Jensen flew around Hawaii in Aloha to look for the two missing planes. Simultaneously an Army plane crashed resulting in the casualty of two crew members.

Once the repair work of the faulty tail assembly of Dallas Spirit was finished, Alvin Eichwaldt and Bill Erwin also took off in their plane from Oakland for Honolulu in the dig endeavour. Both of them never returned. The last radio message from Dallas Spirit indicated that the flight was under the spell of a vigorous gyration.

The ill-fated Dole Derby ended up taking 12 lives. A sensible introspection of this hefty cost the encounter paid for, triggered widespread reservations on the idiosyncrasy of the wisdom that tried to achieve this gargantuan feat of bridging the oceans by air. In an embittered state of affairs, Charles Dole, the race’s chief sponsor, died on November 27, 1927.

The fate of all participants of 1927 Dole Air Race. (FlugKerl2 / Wikimedia Commons)

The turning point in November 1935

The concluding analysis of the Dole Race demonstrated the very fact that operating transoceanic flights was a critical activity. It needed well-ordered functional arrangements, genuine expertise, sufficient and comprehensive training, robust equipment in equivalence to the magnitude of the undertaking and last but not the least, with the reverence towards the boundless expanse of the ocean, it must be absolutely equipped with the ability to conquer the challenges.

Furthermore, it was not very long before others responded to the transoceanic dare. In the following year, Charles Kingsford-Smith from Australia flew from the same Oakland air terminal and jetted the distance back with stopovers at Hawaii and Fiji. After seven years a massive flight of the U.S. Navy patrol aircraft accomplished the trip.

Be that as it may, the real defining moment finally arrived in November 1935. Equipped with the aggregate involvement and experience of the individuals who had set the scene before, coupled with their expertise in acing the operations of transoceanic journeys, Pan American Airways, at last, addressed the concern revolving around flying over the Pacific Ocean as a feasible and consistent proposition. This year will mark their eighty-third anniversary and since then, they have never looked back.

More photos by SDASM Archives

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Recommended Read:
Race to Hawaii: The 1927 Dole Air Derby and the Thrilling First Flights That Opened the Pacific | by Jason Ryan

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Dole Air Race: The Daring and Pioneering Conquest Across the Pacific Ending in a Tragedy appeared first on .

Socotra dragon tree, native to Socotra Island. (Rod Waddington / Flickr)

Socotra is a small and compact archipelago in Yemen with an area of approximately 1,400 square miles. It is comprised of four islands and islets, off the coastal Horn of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It is situated around 350 km on the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.

The island is replete with more than 800 unique species of flora and fauna of which almost one-third are believed to be endemic. There are unquestionably numerous plant species that still need to be discovered. The most prominent of them are the mythical dragon’s blood trees that resemble flying saucers roosted on the tree trunks.

Geographical characteristics

The archipelago is characterised by narrow and confined coastal plans, pristine wide beaches, limestone plateaus and caves and the towering Hajhir mountain range that rises as high as 1,500 meters above the sea level.

Hawk cave in Socotra island. (Wikimedia Commons)

Socotra is flanked by its three siblings and relatively smaller islands of Samḥah, Darzah Al-Ikhwān, and Abd Al-Kūrī. Much akin to the Galapagos Islands, Socotra is famous for its boundless natural fortunes and endowments.

Hajhir mountain range. (Rod Waddington / Flickr)

Climate

The climate here is harsh and temperate with average temperature reaching 25°C with hardly any rainfall. Despite the hostile climate, the island is home to some of the most stunning and marvellous forms of vegetation and untamed life.

History

The name Socotra has a correlation with the Sanskrit term “dvipa-sakhadara” which means paradise or the abode of bliss. The island finds note-worthy mentions in different legends. The indigenous population were originally Christians. However, the 17th century was a marked spectator to the disappearance of the religion.

For several years, the Mahra sultans of Yemen reigned over the island. Their rule was disrupted after the Portuguese invasion and occupation of the island from 1507 to 1511.

In 1834, the British tried to buy the island but failed in their pursuit. However, sometime around the 1880s, the sultan took refuge under the British defence and dominance. The sultanate culminated in 1967 with Socotra becoming a part of the sovereign and unified Yemen. The island had also enchanted the likes of the swashbuckling Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, and the legendary Sinbad.

The foliage of the island

A standout amongst the island’s most astonishing plants is the “Dragon’s Blood Tree” (genetic name Dracaena Cinnabar). It is an unusual looking tree having the shape of umbrellas. As the legend goes, the purple-hued resins of the tree are nothing but the dragon’s blood. They are trusted to have therapeutic properties. In the medieval times, these resins found use in making violins. Nowadays, the locals use the resin to manufacture paints and varnishes.

Close up of dragon blood tree. (Rod Waddington / Flickr)

Another remarkable plant is the purported “Desert Rose Tree” (genetic name Adenium Obesium). The tree has a captivating shape like elephants’ legs that are trying to make inroads into the rocky soil.

Desert rose tree. (Rod Waddington / Flickr)

The tree also delivers wonderful and colossal pink blooms in April. The succulent trunks of the trees are precious water reservoirs in the arid desert climate. The tree grows up to a height of five meters and a diameter of three meters.

Other endemic plants of Socotra include the monstrous and succulent Dorstenia Gigas, the cucumber tree Dendrosicyos Socotranus, Moraceae, the Socotran pomegranate tree Punica Protopunica, Boswellia Socotrana, and Aloe Perryi.

Diverse fauna

The Socotra island chain also owns numerous distinctive fauna that includes bird species like starling, Sunbird, bunting, Cisticola, sparrow, Egyptian vulture, golden-winged grosbeak, and warbler. Some of these species are endangered because of predatory actions by foreign dogs and feral cats.

Egyptian vulture. (Rod Waddington / Flickr)

The reptiles include strange species of legless lizards, skinks and a unique chameleon, Chamaeleo Monachus. The island is home to the tarantula spider, Monocentropus Balfouri. It also enjoys the presence of the unique butterfly variety Bicyclus Anynana.

Socotra also enjoys a divergent marine life with over 250 species of reef-creating corals, more than 700 species of coastal fishes and around 300 species of crabs, lobsters, and shrimps. Like other isolated islands, the only native mammals of Socotra are bats.

Inhabitants

In contrast to the Galapagos Islands, Socotra is largely inhabited and currently boasts of a populace of over 50,000 people. The sedentary natives of Socotra are engaged in small-scale agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry, and pearl diving as their main sources of income.

Socotra starling. (Rod Waddington / Flickr)

Much interior, nomads occupy themselves in keeping cattle and growing a few crops. The island’s principal exports are fish, ghee or clarified butter and frankincense.

Hadīboh is the capital and largest town situated on the northern drift. In acknowledgement of its unmistakable plant and wildlife, the archipelago was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.

UAE’s attempt to seize the heritage island

The United Arab Emirates has positioned vast military troops in Socotra and captured its key location areas. The UAE has sought to transform the bizarre island into a holiday resort and a permanent military outpost.

This has engendered in widespread public outrage. Socotra, being a UNESCO world heritage site, is recognized as a Yemeni territory. The inhabitants are opposed to the idea of the island becoming an object of conflict.

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is the President of the current Yemeni government, is vexed at the recent developments. He is reported to have informed sources about his initial unawareness of the UAE’s action of military deployment and plans of plausible annexation.

Cyclonic storm Mekunu affects Socotra Island

A ferocious cyclonic storm Mekunu hit the Arabian Peninsula during the last week of May 2018 that affected several parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman.

It ravaged the Socotra Island extensively, sinking ships and watercraft which they usually used to carry food and essential supplies that the island primarily relies on.

The island stricken by the savage tempest is coming up against a huge shortage of food and basic necessities. This is also attributed to the major military deadlock between the local Yemen government and the UAE.

The impasse has delayed the reconstruction of the island because of the presence of the Emirati army. The UAE claims this endeavour to be humanitarian. On the contrary, the natives believe it to be part of the UAE’s strategy to overpower the country’s existing government and usurp the island.

Russian discovery of the supposed Garden of Eden

A Russian archaeological team, in the year 2010, discovered the relics of an archaic city in the island. It is expected to date back to the 2nd century. Socotra is also surmised to be the original location of the Garden of Eden.

Because of its isolated placement, large-scale biological diversity, and the way that it is situated on the ridge of Yemen’s Gulf of Aden, many associate Socotra with the ancient Sumerian stories of the kingdom of heaven called Dilmun.

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STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

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Tesla Tower in 1904. (Marc Seifer Archives)

Wardenclyffe Tower (1901– 1917), otherwise called the Tesla Tower, was an ancient but novel exploratory remote transmission station that was envisioned and established by Nikola Tesla in New York between 1901 and 1902.

Tesla’s prime intent was to put on the air telephony, messages and facsimile images to England across the Atlantic Ocean and to ships adrift. This was in the light of his speculations to conduct signals utilizing the Earth.

The genesis of Tesla Tower or Wardenclyffe tower

Nikola Tesla. (Napoleon Sarony / Wikimedia Commons)

Nikola Tesla made a dramatic and triumphant entry in the twentieth century, at the zenith of his career. Through his sojourn, still, at his acme, he aspired to bring to fruition, the Tesla Tower, the behemoth of all his historic inventions.

The tower promised to be a cutting-edge universal telecommunication system. His avant-garde theory was eventually shown the go-ahead in 1901. Yet in under a year’s time, the project ran into gloom and doldrums that ultimately wrecked Tesla both scientifically and economically. What really transpired during the year?

Financing of Tesla Tower

The splendid inventions of Tesla between 1856 and 1943 had ushered in the technology of alternating current. It made supplying power and illuminating big cities conceivable.

His experimental nerve centre at the high altitudes in Colorado Springs bears testimony to his countless entrancing achievements, which he had the privilege and resources to accomplish.

Tesla returned to New York in January 1900. There, he made several rounds trying to woo investors at the Waldorf-Astoria’s Palm Garden (where he then was put up), The Players Club and Delmonico’s whilst wining and dining with them.

He initially approached friend George Westinghouse who declined to put money into the project as he had a remarkable mind for business. He, however, lent Tesla $6,000. Westinghouse advised Tesla to pursue some wealthy venture capitalists.

Tesla consequently engaged in multiple talkfests with rich investors like Thomas Fortune Ryan, John Jacob Astor, and Henry Havemeyer. However, nothing worthwhile fructified.

American banker J.P. Morgan. (Pach Brothers / LOC)

In November 1900, Tesla picked up the attention of financing mogul J. P. Morgan. Tesla seduced him to sign a contract valued at $150,000 to build and develop the wireless station of the mammoth, futuristic and stupefying Tesla Tower in March 1901.

Morgan was actually fascinated by the grand slam of Guglielmo Marconi, Tesla’s rival that sent reports from America’s Cup yacht at Long Island to New York City by dint of wireless radio. Morgan had early doubts about the viability and patent priority of Tesla’s plan.

However, through several rounds of conversations, Tesla assured and convinced Morgan about the superiority of his proposed plan and how it superseded the patent of Marconi. He asserted that his wireless project would far outsmart Marconi’s.

Construction of Tesla Tower

After acquiring Morgan’s investment, Tesla began his work immediately. He purchased a 200-acre plot in Long Island. Large electrical transformers and generators were commissioned as was needed by the Westinghouse Electric Company.

Tesla promptly employed the prominent architect Stanford White who too was taken with Tesla’s idea. Both of them took to designing a gigantic wooden tower with a height of 187 feet and a metal hemispherical dome (known as cupola) of 68 feet diameter.

Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe wireless station. (Arthur B. Reeve / Tesla and his Wireless Age)

The architecture of the telecommunication station, inspired by the Italian Renaissance, housed the main premise, research laboratories and several other facilities.

In July 1901, Tesla briefed Morgan on some more prospective modifications in the project to generate an enhanced, awe-inspiring plan, a virtual quantum leap ahead of his competitors to garner significant profits. This was primarily to pick up a high ground over Marconi.

He professed that he would be able to dispatch Morse code messages transatlantic alongside simultaneously transmitting long-distance wireless electricity.

With Tesla essentially inviting a breach of contract, Morgan, point blank denied lending surplus funds. He rather demanded an explanation for the capital already expended.

Regardless of Morgan doling out no extra funds, Tesla proceeded with the venture. He broached upon the idea to build numerous smaller towers or a tower with a height range of 300 feet to 600 feet.

This would have transmitted the low-frequency waves which Tesla believed were necessary for resonance in the Earth. Then, White estimated that the proposed revamp of 600 feet would cost $450,000. The plan instantly was written off.

In September 1901, Tesla needed to commence the tower construction remaining consistent with the original plan. After two months, the project suffered another major setback.

Marconi by then had figured out how to send the alphabet “S” in Morse code over the ocean between England and Newfoundland in Canada. Tesla protested against the Italian’s alleged utilization of 17 of Tesla’s licenses.

However, finally, the prosecution supported Marconi and by that time the commercial damage was already rendered. In those times of financial vulnerability, funders preferred investing in the Marconi system, which being less resourceful had made notable progress.

Dereliction of Tesla Tower

In 1906, Tesla suffered a series of nervous breakdowns because of the mounting financial problems. He was exhibiting signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder and later became a potential high-functioning autistic.

Tesla’s chief manager, who supervised Wardenclyffe, left the job to find other employment opportunities. The neighbours around the tower found it to be deserted without any intimation.

In 1904, Tesla put the Wardenclyffe property on mortgage, for covering his staying expenses to George C. Boldt, the owner of Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. In 1908, Tesla secured another mortgage to further meet his expenses.

Around 1911, the facility was partially forsaken and the structure of the tower started disintegrating. From 1912 to 1915, Tesla’s financing details were disentangled. Much to their dismay and displeasure, when the financers enquired about the ways to recover their investments, Tesla was not able to give acceptable answers.

Demolition of Tesla Tower

Tesla’s total cumulative debt to Waldorf-Astoria was close to $20,000 by mid-1915. Because of severe negligence and financial setbacks, Tesla became completely incapacitated to make repayments for the mortgages.

It was Boldt who then decided to foreclose the Wardenclyffe property. Boldt found the property totally useless and ultimately made up his mind to demolish the tower and sell it as scraps. It was the Smiley Steel Company who began dismantling the tower by dynamite explosions on July 4, 1917.

The work was completed in the month of September and the razed tower was sold off as scrap at an estimated value of $1750. The main facility was breached and vandalized. It turned out to be a manufactory of photographic material, down to AGFA closing it in 1992.

Malicious rumour of German spies

However, in course of the World War I, a vicious rumour spread like a wildfire in most newspapers and different publications. It was conjectured that Wardenclyffe was decimated after receiving orders from the then US government.

The officials had apprehensions that German undercover agents were putting the tower to work as an observation post, a radio transmitter or as a marker for German submarines.

Tesla was highly dejected when he learnt about this rumour that questioned his layers of patriotism. But he avoided speaking out to the press and revealing the genuine reason for the demolition. This was because he kept his association with Boldt and the related accounts about the mortgage off from the public.

What happened after the dismantling?

Between 1980 and 2000, the hazardous wastes from the photographic age were cleaned up. The site was disposed of and green-lighted for a new development.

IndieGogo, a grassroots campaign by two Russian physicists, managed to succeed in purchasing and saving the property with the sole aim to build a museum in the memory of Nikola Tesla. In 2018, was site was registered as a heritage spot in the National Register of Historic Places.

Resurrection of Wardenclyffe

As per last reports from Reuters available in the records, in 2014, two Russian physicist brothers Leonid and Sergey Plekhanov started to raise funds for the revival of Tesla’s progressive project.

Subsequent to investigating Tesla’s journals and plans, the Plekhanovs believed that with the help of ultra-modern solar panels, lighter building construction materials and $800,000, they can reconstruct the Tesla Tower.

The Plekhanovs have conducted basic research and analysis, executed the computational models and composed every part of the test. They trusted that with the proposed architecture in place, they have the ability to transmit energy and measure the results.

The Plekhanovs’ exploration appraises that around 38,000 square miles construction of solar panels amid a desert close to the equator could produce adequate power to supply the world’s electricity requirements.

Tesla’s pinnacle could deliver electricity to the consumers, but the only means to accomplish this concept is to rebuild it and discover. As of the latest publication, they have successfully raised assets worth over $40,000 through crowdfunding, for the venture through the IndieGoGo kick starter campaign.

End of the line

Tesla’s ultimate wish was to generate electricity from the gigantic resources of the Power Plant adjoining the Niagara Falls and distribute all over the world. The project was sheer magnificence. But, sadly it never saw the light of the day.

Pioneering concepts of telegraph and telephone communications were spearheaded by Tesla at Long Island. They are still considered to be the bedrock of the present day’s rapidly developing advancements in the domain of wireless communications across nations and continents alike.

Had the Tesla Tower been completely constructed without any interruption, Tesla might have managed to change the pathway of history once again.

The facets of instant availability of information, power, pilfered phonograph cylinders and lascivious photographs of floozies with bare ankles might have inundated the “TeslaNet” ushering in the Information Age nearly a century ahead of its schedule.

It definitely would have made the world, in the present times, a different place to live in. Now is the time to appreciate the future that Tesla had envisaged, albeit somewhat behind the calendar.

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KC-135 Stratotanker refuelling F-15 A Eagle fighter aircraft. (TSGT Curt Eddings / The U.S. National Archives)

The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is a pioneering military aircraft that has the primary function of aerial refuelling. The aircraft was developed from the prototype of Boeing 367-80.

From 1957 to 1965, Boeing created nearly 732 KC-135 Stratotankers customized for use by the US Air Force. Initially, they were purposefully exploited to refuel strategic bombers.

The aircraft was widely used during the Vietnam War. Much later, it found its application in the Operation Desert Storm of the Gulf war. It was utilized to increase the range and resilience of the US fighter planes and tactical bombers.

Aerial refuelling strategies of the KC-135 Stratotanker

The tanker’s flying boom is the aircraft’s fuel transfer entry point. There is a fuel inflow operator situated at the backside of the fuselage. US Air Force have mainly used a boom and receptacle fuel refilling method.

Fuel operator in KC-135. (John E. Lasky / United States Air Force)

In addition, behind the boom, you can find a shuttlecock drogue as a trailing object. The drogue comes to play for refuelling aircraft that are fitted with probes. Aircraft equipped with drogue cannot be used for refuelling the boom and receptacle variety.

There are around forty-five KC-135R Stratotankers that are integrated with wingtip hose and drogue components or pods for air refuelling. They are used for refuelling aircraft for Navy and NATO. They do not use the boom and receptacle technique. When the receptor aircraft need a refuelling, it approaches the tanker of the donor KC-135. The probe of the tanker connects with a hose that reels out from the trailing end of the tanker thereby supplying the fuel.

Service history

Sometime close to the 1957s, the KC-135 was first purchased by the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to support their bomber aircraft. Between 1957 and 1992, the Stratotanker continued its service with SAC, primarily with its constituent units Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. 

KC-135 Stratotanker preparing to refuel Boeing B-52D strategic bomber. (US. Government)

In 1992, in the wake of a major US Air Force restructuring that saw the cessation of SAC, most of the KC-135s being reallocated to the just recently formed body Air Mobility Command (AMC).

As of May 2014, AMC operates and manages 414 numbers of KC-135 Stratotankers out of which 247 aircraft is flown by ANG and AFRC as part of AMC’s mission and strategy.

Application to research

The KC-135, in addition to its chief function as an aircraft refueller, was also used in various research programs. It was designated as NKC-135. It has assisted NASA at their Dryden Flight Research Centre, California.

Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter approaching the refuelling pod for aerial refuelling. (DVIDSHUB / Helicopter Air Refuelling Mission)

From 1979 to 1980, the aircraft’s service was utilized to design and develop winglets. Winglets are tiny and upright fins that are positioned at the tips of the aircraft wings. With the incorporation of winglets, the range of the aircraft was significantly increased. They also resulted in a drastic reduction in the drag.

Various KC-135 aircraft were also used by NASA without the tanker to serve as their eminent gravity-defying simulator Vomit Comet aircraft.

Modernisation with full-glass cockpit

The US Air Force authorized Rockwell Collins to spearhead and conduct the modernisation program of the KC-135 avionics system. The project was named KC-135 Pacer CRAG that included revamps of the Compass, Radar, and the Global Positioning System (CRAG).

In 2017, an upgraded version with Block 45 standard of KC-135R was launched. In this upgraded configuration, the tanker has cockpits completely made up of glass. It also consolidates a large and precise centrally placed digital display, reconditioned altimeters, digitally controlled flight directors, autopilots, and different customized computer units.

The Block 45 redesign depends tremendously on economically available frameworks to both lessen the cost and aggrandize the modification procedure. The adjustments make the aircraft more secure and reliable. In addition, they simply offer a decent opportunity to supplant outdated gear.

In particular, the enhanced KC-135s can associate flawlessly with civil navigation and aviation traffic control arrangements all across the world. Safely and seamlessly, it enables them to fly through civilian and military airspace alike with no undue danger of mishaps. The digital computer modules permit the ground crew to effortlessly introduce software updates to make the systems stay up with the latest, as well.

Over and above, the newness in the system allows the aircraft to assume control over a portion of the manual work that the KC-135 crews used to perform. The overhauled equipment likewise gives more precise maintenance alerts and information, accelerating the repair procedure if some fault is reported.

Performance

The KC-135 Stratotanker can propel at a climbing rate of 1,490 metres per minute. The maximum speed is 933km per hour and the cruise speed is 852km per hour. The maximum range of the aircraft is 2,419km. As part of its cargo handling capacity, the aircraft can carry passengers and freight weighing close to 37,650kg. The aircraft weighs an approximate 44,663kg.

Accounts of use during major wars

The Vietnam War that continued for nine years saw the use of KC-135s making 813,000 numbers of on-air refuelling of the combat aircraft. Also during the course of the Persian Gulf War, the tankers were reported to have made an approximate 18,700 number of hook-ups and a transfer of nearly 126 million kilograms of fuel.

Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 aerial refuelling in progress at the rate of 500 litres/minute. (Cpl Graham Taylor RAF / MOD)

Replacement of the KC-135 aircraft

According to reports from the US Air Force, the E and R variants of KC-135 have a maximum flying lifetime of 36,000 and 39,000 hours respectively. It was predicted that by 2040, only a few aircraft would clock these limits.

By that time, these aircraft are anticipated to be almost 80 years old. Currently, both the models have only 33% of flying lifetime remaining in them. From 1993 to 2003, the maintenance cost and the renovation cost doubled and trebled proportionately in that order.

In 2009, the US Air Force took the final decision to replace the fleet of their KC-135. In February 2011, Boeing officially announced receiving a contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the KC-46, the next-generation refuelling aircraft that were likely to replace 179 numbers of the aggregate of 400 tankers of KC-135 aircraft.

Aerial refuelling compatibility tests of the new Boeing KC-46. (Christopher Okula / U.S. Air Force)

Variants of KC-135 Stratotanker

The numerous models of KC-135 Stratotanker are listed below.

1. KC-135A – The original version equipped with Pratt & Whitney J57S turbojet engines.
2. NKC-135A – Test variant of KC-135A
3. KC-135B – Fitted with turbofan engines, this aircraft is primarily an airborne command post variant. EC-135C is the redesignated version of KC-135B
4. KC-135D – Similar to the KC-135A, but, only with the difference that they are powered by Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines and with a modified flight engineer’s position on the deck.
5. KC-135E – They are designed with Pratt & Whitney TF-33-PW-102 engines. They were operated by the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. They retired from their service in September 2009
6. NKC-135E – Test model of KC-135E
7.VKC-135Q – Reconditioned version of KC-135A designed in compatibility to carrying JP-7 fuel that powered SR-71 Blackbird aircraft.
8. KC-135R–Original KC-135R version produced in 1960. They were fitted with Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines and redesigned from the KC-135As. They were used for reconnaissance and assessment of on-ground nuclear tests. Later some KC-135As KC-135Es were renovated with CFM-56 engines. The approximate number of conversions is 361.
9. KC-135R (RT) – Variant of KC-135R endowed with receiver capability.
10. KC-135T – Modified version of KC-135Q integrated with CFM-56 engines.
11. KC-135Y – Equipped with Pratt & Whitney TF-33-PW-102 turbofan engines. Modified in 1984, it served as an airborne command post. Currently, it has retired.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Convair NB-36H: The only American Aircraft to Carry an Operational Nuclear Reactor“.

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Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on the left and his friends from Institut Le Rosey, circa 1931. (Wikimedia Commons)

Institut Le Rosey is famous as the world’s most expensive boarding school. Founded in 1880, it is located in Rolle, a town that is halfway between Geneva and Lausanne in Switzerland.

The institute boasts two campuses in different locations Rolle and Gstaad spread over a sprawling and splendid estate park of 28 hectares. This extraordinary ambience is home to the best-in-class educational, artistic, and sporting facilities.

The institute is regarded as the oldest international boarding school in Switzerland. The tuition fee per year costs around $175,000 (₹1,27,47,875 / A$,2,42,578). This, of course, excludes school excursions and trips. However, the student’s pocket money stipulated by the administration is included in the fee. The pocket money varies with the age of the student.

Prominent alumni

The preeminent alumni of Le Rosey include King Albert II of Belgium, Prince Rainier of Monaco, the Shah of Iran, New York rock band frontman Julian Casablancas, erstwhile CIA director Richard Helms, and King Farouk of Egypt.

Here the families send their children with the sole aim to continue their family’s legacy and unmatchable reputation. The institute enjoys the patronage and association of 5,000-strong alumni worldwide

Campus schedules

Spring-Summer campus

The Spring-Summer campus is situated in Rolle’s beautiful Château du Rosey that dates back to the 14th century. This is the location where the fall, spring, and summer terms are conducted. The playing grounds and the landscape look absolutely breath-taking and gorgeous.

The locale has indoor and outdoor swimming pools. It resembles almost a destination for a family holiday rather than a school. It is during the month of September that students start arriving at the campus. They get breaks for two consecutive months from October to December.

Winter campus

The winter campus is organised in chalets located in a well-known ski resort in the quaint town of Gstaad. It is only after Christmas that students go there for the commencement of the winter session. This tradition is being followed since 1916.

According to the school authorities, the winter term is quite a hectic one. Here the students spend two and a half months amid the cold and chilly climate of the Swiss Alps. Students have the option to ski four times per week. To compensate for this, the students attend extra Saturday morning classes.

The students return to the main campus in April after getting a break in March. The term continues until June beyond which they go for the summer vacation.

Student demography

There are presently 400 students at Institut Le Rosey with ages ranging from 8 to 18. They belong to 67 nations and the school exhibits the ideal gender split. The students are expected to be conversant and fluent in two languages.

At a time, they can study a maximum of four languages that include either Dzongkha or Swahili. They can choose either English or French as their preferred language for having the tuitions.

In spite of the exorbitant tuition fee, Institut Le Rosey attracts nearly four applications for each of its available vacancies. They usually settle on children who are academically brilliant, compelling and demonstrate exemplary growth potentials.

The overall education curriculum is divided into four levels. They are namely juniors, cadets, jeunes seniors, and seniors. The degree, which the high school offers, is either an International Baccalaureate diploma or Baccalauréat Français. The incredibly expansive library owns books in more than 20 different languages.

Accommodation facility

There is in total, 179 bedrooms (1 to 3 beds), and the majority of them have integrated ensuite bathrooms. Two students share a dormitory. They are allowed to change their roommates thrice per year. During their final year, students get to have individual rooms. The students are also permitted to decorate their own room to suit their needs and preference.

The views from some of the rooms are spellbinding. The girl students have their own separated campus that is situated in exquisite parkland. The school is co-educational. Nevertheless, the hostels render an easy-going intimacy and seclusion.

The faculty strength is 150. Around 90 teachers stay with the students. The junior students reside and study in the main campus. The families of the teachers reside with them. They give a lending hand to the day-to-day problems of the students, supervise discipline, maintain cleanliness and well-ordered administration, and track the student’s study time.

A student’s daily life at Institut Le Rosey

The average day of a student at the main campus starts with them being woken up at 7 AM. After cleaning up their rooms and taking a bath, they go straight to have a buffet breakfast.

Classes are conducted between 8 AM and 12:20 PM after which the students take their lunch. Classes resume at 1:30 PM and continue until 3:30 PM. With 150 teachers, the average strength of each class is even less than 10 students. The time between 4 PM and 6 PM is earmarked for arts and sports.

The school’s prime art and learning centre is the Paul and Henri Carnal hall. It comprises of orchestras, choirs, theatre groups, photography studios, and art and dance workshops.

More than 60% of the students engage in creative activities like singing, playing an instrument, and performing as rock bands. The Rosey concert hall has a maximum seating capacity of 600 people. The students are also encouraged to do gardening.

Students do a short study after 6 PM. At 7:30 PM, dinner is served. In-house chefs prepare the meals. The students work as waiters on a rotational basis. The time after dinner is assigned for another study session and homework. Many cultural events, debates, lectures are also performed during this time. Bedtime is between 9 PM and 11 PM. The weekends for students are also scheduled.

Uniform and dress code

During the course of the academic block, students wear the right and comfortable clothing essentials. Shirts should be properly tucked into pants. The girls are instructed to wear dresses that properly cover their shoulders and midriffs or the ones that have a reasonable length. Wearing denim, leather jackets, revealing clothes, high heels are strictly prohibited. Beyond academics and the formal dinner, casual clothes are allowed.

The uniform for boys consists of a blue or white shirt, grey trousers, a navy-blue blazer, black shoes, and a Rosey badge. Girls wear a white dress, scarf, navy-blue blazer, sandals, and a Rosey brooch. Not just amid the school timings, the students also wear the same dress for all formal school activities like parties, conferences etc.

Sports and recreation

Sports play an important and integral part in shaping up the life of every student at Institut Le Rosey. Every year, the school offers more than 25 sports. The campus boasts of some of the best football grounds, rugby pitches, basketball and tennis courts, athletics track, beach volleyball arena, golf course, and two fitness centres.

The school has a private equestrian centre that accommodates around 30 horses. The school also has a nautical hub on the Lake Geneva. It has facilities for sailing, rowing and water-skiing. There is also a spa for the students to relax and unwind. The spa, housing an indoor swimming pool and a sauna room, can be availed by students and teachers alike on Sundays.

Students can indulge in recreational and entertainment activities like going to watch movies, shopping in Geneva, bowling, go-karting when accompanied by their teachers.

Smoking and alcohol restrictions

Students are not permitted to consume alcohol inside the campus or during expeditions. However, wine tasting sessions are allowed in parties especially the ones organised under the supervision of teachers. Smoking is strictly disallowed on and off campus.

Safety and security

The students are extended absolute peace of mind while they study at the two serene campuses. They are protected by comprehensive surveillance mechanisms and security guards who meticulously patrol the premises. Those unlucky in hurting themselves have round-the-clock access to an experienced and expert team of medical professionals.

Charity work

The Swiss school is also involved in various charity and humanitarian pursuits that allow them to work during their holidays to build orphanages or pay donations, visit homes for the aged, hospitals, and other philanthropic undertakings.

The pupils from Le Rosey come from affluent backgrounds. But, the school has always upheld the cause of helping the underprivileged and giving the students an opportunity to have a normal life and upbringing.

Conclusion

It is plain and simple that Institut Le Rosey is substantially more than being just a school. It is the ultimate destination for learning where children become competent to bring to fruition their family’s expectations and responsibilities. There is an element of subtlety in this matter.

In addition, the school teaches its students the art and process of becoming rich, mindful, and independent in an unfair and prejudiced world. In order to achieve that, the students, in essence, are encouraged to believe that they are the creators of their own universe.

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1998 photo of an unidentified object by NASA taken during Space Shuttle mission STS-88. (NASA / STS088-724-66)

Developed in the year 1899, the Black Knight Conspiracy theory is something that has taken everyone aback with its mystery game. If the alien technologies and source materials are to be believed, this theory stands perfectly true.

Discovered by Tesla, the Black Knight satellite is an unidentified object captured on camera by NASA astronauts. The theory states that the satellite is around 13000 years old and is orbiting the earth surface in the adjacent polar orbit. The first instance of its origin can be dated back to 1899 when Nikola Tesla performed some radio experiments.

However, in 1954, once again a UFO researcher named Donald Keyhoe reported that two satellites have been traced to be revolving around the earth’s surface (the first man-made satellite was launched only in 1957).  In 1998, a space debris was photographed by NASA which appeared to be the same unidentified satellite. With so many speculations being rife about this conspiracy theory, you certainly might be curious to reach the truth. Here are all the facts we know about this theory.

Discovery of black knight debris

In the year 1901, Nikola Tesla talked about his experiments with electric current. He stated that while carrying out those experiments, he encountered some interferences in electric signals. He further concluded that these disturbances could be from an extraterrestrial source for establishing a communication.

After this incident, again a radio operator from Norway named Jorgen Hals detected long delayed echoes. However, the radio operator was unsure about the cause and reason of these echoes. If some theories are to be believed, these echoes were the same as discovered by Tesla.

Clyde Tombaugh’s ambiguous claim

During the Black Satellite appearance, the discoverer of Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh was at the University of New Mexico along with Lincoln Lapaz. Both of them were doing research on few unexplained phenomena and credibility of alien satellites. Though the discoverer denied any reports of seeing the Black Knight Satellite, his statement was reportedly quite cryptic.

Was it a Bracewell probe?

Both Tesla and Hals talked about signals which were supposedly coming from an intelligent source in space. In the year 1960, another theory was bought into the picture by Ronald Bracewell. Bracewell said that in order to establish a communication with earth, other life would likely feed a satellite with all the necessary information and then launch it into space.

Such probes should be capable of covering larger distances and hence can reach the planet it has been trying to communicate. If the facts are linked to each other, these transmissions could be the same as that discovered by Tesla and Hals.

The heated speculations

In February 1960, newspapers and magazines got flooded with yet another report of an anonymous satellite which was detected by the US military troop with unknown origin.

The popular TIME magazine came up with a news that the object was merely a retrorocket from a previously launched satellite. The year 1963 started with new claims about the satellite, astronaut Gordon Cooper saw a UFO cross the sky while he was orbiting Earth. Later, such reports continued to entangle the mystery of Black Knight satellite.

In the year 1974, Duncan Lunan, a Scottish science fiction writer claimed that LDE (long-delayed echoes) heard by Hals was from a star system Epsilon Boots. However, the only issue with this claim was that one of the stars from the Bootes constellation was said to be in the wrong place. He further claimed that the probe was nearly 13,000 years old.

STS-88 encounter-recent evidence

Though most of the evidence of black Knight Satellite has been dated back to the early 90’s. There has been a recent evidence from 1998 where the crew members of space shuttle named Endeavour captured an unusual object moving along the lower orbit of the earth.

These snapshots are considered as the most valid proof of the satellite presence. However, on the closer observation, the structure also bears an uncanny resemblance with space debris.

When the mission was conducted by Colonel Ross and Dr James Newman, they attempted to install some thermal blankets for storing the energy. However, as the blankets were linked to the spacesuit, one among them was gone. In actual, these objects are most supposedly a thermal blanket that got lost.

Close up photo of the space debris. (NASA)

Conclusion

Even after numerous claims about the Black Knight Satellite, there has been a major lack of evidence that can connect the LDE’s discovered by Tesla to the other discoveries made in 50’s and 60’s. However, it has become quite common for the conspiracy theorists to relate any unidentified object to the popular Black Knight satellite.

While some reports claim that the STS-88 sightings and UFO bear a striking resemblance with each other. Some other reports negate this claim and call it a mix of different reports about the Black Knight.

These myths about Black Knight Satellite is so confusing that it is now regarded merely a collection of random tales.

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A physician attempting to cure a patients stomach ailment. (Wellcome Collection)

The history of medicine is anything but pleasant. It is brimming with frightful and gruesome mischances, ambiguous ethics and inhuman behaviour. The chronicle of Alexis St. Martin and Dr. William Beaumont hits those low focal points to their nadir.

Irrespective of all the deplorable demerits, it radically altered the manner in which medicine is practised in modern times. A man whose gunfire wound created an opening into his stomach empowered scientists to comprehend the process of digestion.

On June 6, 1822, Alexis St. Martin, a healthy and strong 19-year-old who worked for the American Fur Company was shot in the stomach by accident. This incident happened on Mackinac Island, which is in present-day Michigan. In 1822, a stomach wound was virtually a death sentence. However, Alexis St. Martin did not die, yet his life was irrevocably changed.

The subsequent story of Alexis St. Martin, the youthful trapper and William Beaumont, a surgeon and physiologist, who was posted at the Fort Niagara in New York, represents a standout amongst the most exceptional episodes in the historical backdrop of American medicine.

The grisly wound

Martin was injured grievously in his ribs and stomach, by a sudden discharge from a shotgun. Dr Beaumont, who was treating his wound, expected Martin to succumb to his injuries.

Quite amazingly, Beaumont executed numerous surgeries, sometimes, even without the administration of antiseptics and anaesthesia over several months on St. Martin who eventually recovered. In spite of Beaumont’s woeful prediction, Martin survived with a tearing hole or fistula, right inside his stomach.

The stomach’s bizarre window

By then, St. Martin was completely exasperated with the series of surgeries inflicted on him. The bizarre window that formed in his digestive system never fully healed. Alexis Martin could also not continue with his job for the American Fur Company because of his permanent disability.

When Martin lost his job, he urged for community support. However, as Martin was not a Mackinac Island local, he was adjudged a pauper and commanded to return to his home province Quebec which was around 2000 miles away.

1825: Beaumont’s chain of experiments

Portrait of Dr. William Beaumont. (U.S. National Library of Medicine)

Apprehending the possibility that St. Martin would not be able to survive the venture, Beaumont predicted an unusual scientific opportunity to study and observe his digestive processes.

Beaumont relocated to Fort Niagara in New York, by August 1825, and Martin came along with him. He took St. Martin to his home and hired him as his handyman. He was made to work as a house servant during the day and a guinea pig for Beaumont’s experiments at night.

Dr. Beaumont started using the stomach of Martin to perform experiments related to digestion. His experiments focused on a piece of food, tied to a string that was inserted through the fistular window of the stomach.

At regular intervals, Beaumont used to remove the food from the stomach and examine the level of digestion. He also extricated samples of gastric acid from Martin’s stomach for analysis purpose. The two, thus, got engaged in an extensive and peculiar relationship as the “medicine’s oddest couple”.

In September, the same year, Alexis St. Martin fled from the clutches of Dr. Beaumont and shifted to Canada. Beaumont, who was left in the lurch, started focusing on his obligations as an armed force specialist.

But he caught hold of St. Martin again and resumed his experiments on him. Beaumont utilized the samples of gastric secretions which prompted a significant discovery.

Next nine years

Amid 1826 and 1827, Dr Beaumont was posted at Fort Howard in Wisconsin’s Green Bay. In 1828, he was issued a transfer order to St. Louis in Missouri. Beaumont, during his service tenures at three different forts, relentlessly pursued the fur companies trying to know the whereabouts of St. Martin.

 Eventually, in 1829, he could locate the truant in Canada. While on the way to St. Louis, Beaumont met Alexis St. Martin. As luck would have it, Martin was ordered to put the stopper on at Fort Crawford, Wisconsin, to fill in as Dr Beaumont’s proverbial “jack of all trades” once again

In mid-1831, Dr Beaumont performed another series of experiments on Martin’s stomach. These included monitoring the basic perceptible impacts which temperature, exercise and emotions have on the digestive process.

By that time, St. Martin was already married and father of two children. Beaumont transferred the entire family at his own expenses to Fort Crawford. Thus, after a gap of a few years, another round of experiments followed. This continued until the spring of 1831.

Martin and his family returned to Canada, assuring Beaumont of his availability in future whenever necessary. St. Martin came back, a year and a half later, on Beaumont’s request for the umpteenth time.

Beaumont was stationed at Washington, DC, at that time. Early in 1834, St. Martin, much to Beaumont’s dismay, asked for an exorbitant sum of money from Beaumont for another bout of experiment and the duo parted ways. He went back home to Quebec for the last time, where he lived till the age of 83.

William Beaumont’s observations on the human digestive system

Alexis St. Martin. (Jesse Shire Myer / Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont)

Beaumont asserted that the stomach performs squashing, pounding and squeezing with the help of its inherent juice. He also discovered how the gastric fluids could also digest the food and disintegrate it into minute pieces of nutrients suitable for the stomach to help the body assimilate.

In this way, Beaumont proved that digestion was basically a chemical process rather than being a mechanical one. Besides, he was a pioneer in observing the digestive system and its processes in real time.

Beaumont was also the first one to profess the striking link between the digestive processes and the presence of a resident disease in the body. He noticed a marked slowdown in St. Martin’s assimilation process when he was particularly sick or feverish.

The draconian approach to medical science

Led over a 9-year time span, with these intermittent experiments and investigations, Beaumont created the most crucial contributions at any point made in the field of gastric physiology.

Worth mentioning, at this juncture, is the fact that Beaumont was bereft of any formal education in medicine or the strategies for experimentation. The discoveries through his apprenticeship made ready for modern physiology, where perceptions directed the conclusions and not the other way round.

The investigations likewise ushered in a few controlled animal experiments and tests by physiologists who registered that they could make quicker headway by conducting several fistula operations in animals.

For example, Beaumont’s tests roused the well-known Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov to perform fistula operations in dogs. The window into assimilation inspired Pavlov to proclaim his widely acclaimed conclusion that classical conditioning could lead to dogs salivating on cues.

In December 1833 Beaumont officially published his observations in a book titled Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion. The book primarily covered areas related to the physiology of digestion and a comprehensive portrayal of the experiments. Although Beaumont’s book could never become a best-seller, it earned him a great deal of prominence, which interpreted into a busy practice.

The origin of the Holey Cow

The experiments on St. Martin’s fistula led to the occurrence of a large-scale practice of observing the digestive methods in living animals. This has continued over the past century. One such articulation led to the genesis of the cannulated cow or the fistulated cow, also colloquially called the “Holey Cow”.

The fistulated cows bear a permanent surgically created hole in their rumen (the biggest part of the stomach). The hole allows the insertion of the hand of a person to access the cow’s stomach and understand the extent of digestion of the food.

The fistulation procedure involves desensitisation of the animal with local anaesthesia and surgical creation of the fistula. Once the surgery is completed, the cow can resume normal activity. The artificial hole does not affect the day-to-day living or the lifespan of the cow.

Fistulated cow. (US EPA)

The Holey Cow plays a crucial part in the aspects of research and regular herd management. They enable researchers and scientists to examine the edibility of the different feeds and find out sustenance for cattle that diminish environmental effects. They additionally come to the aid of other sick animals through a procedure known as “rumen transfaunation.”

Rumen transfaunation allows the scientists to directly extricate the healthy gut bacteria and microorganisms from the rumen of the cow. The microbes are then transferred to the sick cows to kick-start their digestive tract and revive normal digestion.

The moral standpoint

There have been numerous debates centering on the ethical viability of this two-man relationship. Although Beaumont promised to seal the man’s stomach in due course, he actually never did it. How much diligent and conscientious was he and how painstakingly he worked to close the gastric fistula?

It was quite evident that although his experiments and findings led to an unmatched scientific opportunity, it also adversely affected Martin’s quality of life. Was the doctor really pretending a propaganda of mere intentions of philanthropy? Could he not simply have arranged for the man’s return back home once his condition normalized?

Notwithstanding, all the pain and discomforts associated with the experiments, for what reason did St. Martin sacrifice his stomach? Actually, he was extremely impoverished and the constant cash inflow helped him.

This was despite the fact that his mandatory presence for Beaumont’s experiments shielded him from seeking his vocation as a voyager or farmer. But more fundamentally, Martin most likely might have felt an obligation towards the doctor who saved his life.

Death of William Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin

In 1853, Beaumont died in St. Louis, Missouri, after an accidental slip while stepping on ice-covered steps. He was interred at the Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Alexis St-Martin died in 1880 at Saint-Thomas in Quebec. His family had to defer his internment in order to prevent the realization of the theory of his probable “resurrection” by doctors. Some of them even went to the extent of suggesting at autopsy. Martin was finally consigned to the grave at the Saint Thomas Parish Cemetery.

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Recommended Read:
Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont: Including Hitherto Unpublished Data Concerning the Case of Alexis St. Martin | By Jesse S. Myer

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The post William Beaumont: A Voyageur’s Open Wound That Revolutionised Gastric Physiology appeared first on .

Paul Anderson squatting with a cart wheel. (Andrea787878 / Vecchio giornale di body bulding)

He was there for the country when it needed him. A man with a gifted possession of not just the physical greatness, but also the valiant calibre and constitution of gentleness, kindness and good common sense.

When he appeared, standing tall at five feet ten and weighing around three hundred and seventy-five pounds, it was in the finest heroic tradition. The unmistakable Paul Anderson, an American strongman and weightlifter, barged into the scene virtually overnight. He played a pivotal role in recognizing powerlifting as a combative sport.

Early times

Paul Anderson, who was the only son of Robert Anderson and Ethel Bennett, was born on October 17, 1932, in Toccoa, Georgia. He started his weight training, early in his life, when he was just 14 years old. His uncle was the one who introduced him to weights. The family home’s backyard served as his weight training ground.

Paul had an upbringing that was not particularly noteworthy. He used to play football and displayed striking agility and speed. He took up his exercise regime with the sole intention to build his size and strength to play for the Toccoa High School football team. There he used to play in the back position.

He used to lift homemade weights which his father had made out of concrete and wood. Anderson exhibited exceptional skills as an athlete in high school. Later he attended the Furman University in South Carolina, on a football scholarship for one year.

The family shifted to Elizabethton, Tennessee afterwards. Gradually, Anderson started gravitating towards a group of individuals who also used to enjoy weight training. His mates later introduced Anderson to world-renowned lifter Bob Peeples. He used to write for the standout Iron Game magazine.

He was the one who greatly encouraged and inspired Anderson and introduced him into the then weightlifting arenas. The first reported citation of Paul’s exceptional strength came in the Iron Man magazine’s February 1952 edition where Bob Peeples prefaced Anderson and spoke about him.

Unusual as it may sound, Paul was short of having access to traditional weights at times. He created his own equipment which included drums loaded with concrete and iron wheels. He also put himself through a purposefully planned natural diet that boosted his strength and girth very much.

Paul used to believe that the squat was the foremost strength builder. He formulated his own training techniques and that included squats to a large extent. Methods like Anderson Squats, named after him have now become a regular practice.

Career and achievements

All through his twenties, Paul finished his preliminary strength competitions that included squatting of 605, 635, and 650lbs. he officially quashed a 30-year-old world record in squatting. He went on turning out to be one of America’s topmost competitors in weightlifting.

In 1955, when the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union was at its peak, Anderson travelled to Moscow for an international weightlifting competition. That time, he was the reigning title-holder at the USA’s National Amateur Athletic Union Weightlifting Championship.

There, Anderson performed a 402.5 lb (182.6 kg) press. He eventually broke the previous Olympic record of Alexey Medvedev, the Soviet champion who had earlier created history by lifting a 330.5 lb (149.9 kg) press.

At that juncture when Americans were thoroughly occupied in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, Anderson’s unbelievable power, his extraordinary tank-like image became a relationship revival call to all.

In October 1955, during the World Weightlifting Championships in Munich, Germany, Anderson went ahead clinching two more world records for 407.7 lb (184.9 kg) press. The victory in his weight category proclaimed him the world champion.

When he came back to the United States after winning the titles, he was received and applauded by the then Vice-President Richard Nixon for being such a phenomenal ambassador for amity and goodwill.

In 1956, Anderson picked up another gold medal in a lengthy, tough fight in the Melbourne Australia Olympic Games against Humberto Selvetti from Argentina in the super-heavyweight class.

Paul Anderson displaying his strength by lifting girl scouts in 1957. (Associated Press)

People in his hometown Georgia were too excited and ready to commemorate Anderson’s stupendous accomplishments. The then governor of Georgia declared 5tg July as “Paul Anderson Day”.

Anderson also garnered sundry notable mentions in the US Congress. The U.S. Government favourably deemed his commendable achievements as propaganda of America’s efforts to combat communism.

Paul had stated on a number of occasions as to how on his third and final try at Melbourne, he pulled the record weight up to his chest and realized all of a sudden that he could not lift it any higher. Alone. He told his audience in what way within a split second, he gave his voice to a lifetime affirmation to God.

Anderson could not be made eligible for the 1960 Olympics because he was no longer an amateur and was a declared professional weightlifter. By then, he had been accepting money every year with speaking sessions and strength exhibitions for numerous social services. All this, notwithstanding a persistent congenital kidney ailment he had that ultimately killed him.

His appearances offered him an opportunity to stimulate the audience to engage more in community services and embrace Jesus Christ. Time and again he would end his performance by reciting self-composed spiritual and patriotic poems.

He would execute magnificent stunts like hammering a nail with his bare thumb. He would also raise a platform carrying eight men on his back.

The Guinness Book of World Records in its 1985 edition listed his incredible deed of pulling up 6,270 pounds (2,850 kg) on his back “the greatest weight ever raised by a human being”. This comes to be the foundation for his unsurpassed eminence as the “World’s Strongest Man”.

Paul Anderson Memorial Park

The Paul Anderson Park, located in Toccoa is a chronicled and rousing tribute to the world’s strongest man. It is likewise homage to the humanitarian works he did for the society during his lifetime.

The only time when you do not get to see some blooming plants is during the winter when the fountain in the park remains frozen and assumes the form of a frigid and motionless blooming flower.

Paul Anderson Monument in Toccoa, Georgia. (Alex Cheek / Flickr)

The house of Paul Anderson is situated nearby and a monument stands in front of the yard. The recreation park is a brilliant spot for photo shoots, relaxation and an overall enjoyment site amid the peace-loving community of Toccoa.

Death, funeral, contribution and remembrance

Paul died at the age of 61 on August 15, 1994, because of complications arising from his chronic nephritis. He was a devout Christian and a teetotaler. Paul Anderson’s funeral was an intensely remarkable and unforgettable experience.

It may sound ironical, that the world’s strongest man had lived a life of only sixty-one years. The crowds who thronged his funeral came over not to recollect his Olympic performances or his feats that exhibited his enormous human strength. They came solely to speak about how the big man had changed the lives of several young individuals.

In the wake of attaining an exemplary level of non-professional success, Paul turned professional with an aim to exploit his talents and skills for raising funds to lend a helping hand to the troubled youth of the country.

In exchange of paid performances, he relinquished his amateur position and founded the Paul Anderson Youth Home in 1961 at Vidalia, Georgia along with his wife Glenda.

This decision was especially note-worthy keeping in mind the fact that Anderson could not qualify for the 1960 Olympics as an amateur status was mandatory in those times.

Anderson had also urged the country over to make generous donations for his Youth Home that offered shelter to thousands of distressed and dismayed teenage boys. By the time they left the house most of them had realized Anderson’s true source of power that motivated them to pick up the broken pieces of life and forge ahead.

The Youth Home still exists today and carries on with its mission of coming to the aid and succour of unsettled young men who might otherwise be incarcerated.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Eugen Sandow: The Child Who Became the Father of Bodybuilding“.

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Aerial photo of the Marree Man from 1998. (Peter Campbell / Wikimedia Commons)

Twenty years have passed since a pilot first spotted The Marree Man — a bewildering colossal artwork whittled into the desert sands in a dim and distant town of Marree in parts of southern Australia, nearby to the far-reaching military Woomera Prohibited Zone. Its origin and the people behind its formation are still nameless. It is extensively recognized as the second largest geoglyph (an enormous design etched on the ground) in the world.

Initial sighting of Marree Man

A charter flight was travelling over South Australia on June 26, 1998, between Marree and Coober Pedy, a town known for its opal mining. Its pilot Trevor Wright was the first person to spot the towering figure of an indigenous tall and naked man spread over 2.6-miles along the desert sand. His left arm was raised, ready to strike prey with a woomera (a hunting stick) or a boomerang.

The carving was coined the Marree Man after the non-descript outback town of Marree in whose vicinity it was discovered.

Satellite photo of Marree Man from 28 June, 1998. (Diceman / Wikimedia Commons)

The widely incised borderlines gouged out by 10 inches below the ground, could be visible only from the air above. However, despite the exact planning, precision and absolute intensity invested in making it, nobody approached to profess the geoglyph’s authorship and seemingly even no eye-witness was traced to corroborate its creation.

Unidentified press releases

Shortly after its revelation, between July and August 1998, the media and local businesses received sundry press releases from an unidentified source. Specific features of the writing highlighted the guesstimate of it being the handiwork of a foreign author and that the Marree Man was the creation of the natives from the United States.

To start with, the letter had measurements being cited in units of miles, yards, and inches. It was a strange drift from the metric system used in Australia. The releases further mentioned names and phrases like “your State of SA”, “local Indigenous Territories” and “Queensland Barrier Reef” that were queer terms hitherto not being used by Australians.

Outline of Marree Man. (Lisathurston / Wikimedia Commons)

The press release also had a reference to the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio, something which hardly had any cognition outside the US. There were widespread conjectures about these press releases being more of red herrings placed tactfully by an audacious eccentric to render the impression of an American authorship.

Discovery of a plaque and strange items

Adding to the puzzle, were a bunch of peculiar items discovered from a freshly dug out trough at the site. They comprised of a small glass jar that contained a tiny flag of the United States, a photo of Marree Man clicked from a satellite and a note which had remarks about the Branch Davidians, a Texas-based cult group that had its cult leader David Koresh and 82 other followers killed following a raid in 1993.

In January 1999, after receiving a fax message, officials surrendered to their curiosity, dug up the area and unearthed a dedicated plaque buried in close proximity to the figure’s nose.

The plaque was essentially the American flag with an engraving of the Sydney Olympic rings and bore the statement “In honour of the land they once knew. His attainments in these pursuits are extraordinary; a constant source of wonderment and admiration” which had its origin from a book titled “The Red Centre” written by Hedley H. Finlayson in 1946.

The quote was lifted from a page narrating about the poaching of wallabies with throwing sticks and included the photos of aboriginal hunters short of loin clothes that resembled very much the Marree Man.

It may be mentioned here that the book deals with the existence of the Pitjantjatjara tribal hunters. Investigators attempted to connect the dots with these weird accumulations of clues but all their efforts were in vain.

Conjectures about the creation

Rumours were running amok around the tiny hamlet of Marree. Some expressed their opinions about the geoglyph being the brainchild of an inhabitant flight operator, who pulled off this stunt to amass huge profits from the deluge of tourists who started visiting the place post its discovery.

Surely, the local charter flights were found to be plying overtime in meeting the burgeoning demand for joy rides to have a look at the amazeballs spectacle the ground below.

Different odd hypotheses that began doing the whirlwind rounds indicated at Marree Man being the creation of extraterrestrials who descended with an intent to throw caution to a politician named Pauline Hanson against his despicable racist remarks about Australian Aborigines.

Surveyors theorize that a bulldozer might have been used to sculpt the figure and taken a long time to finish, yet nobody could sense a hint of suspicion about seeing or hearing a thing or two. Just a single track was used as an entry and exit point from the site, however, no discernible footprints or tyre marks could be detected. Even a thorough-going police examination came up with nothing substantial.

Most suggested creator

Then there came Bardius Goldberg, who was an Australian craftsman and had expressed enthusiasm for creating a masterly work that could be visible from space. Goldberg, however, showed an inherent proneness towards being provoked. He also had a knack to concoct aboriginal dot paintings in the neighbourhood of the desert town of Alice Springs.

He incidentally got entangled in a hostile dispute with Herman Malbunka, a local landowner. He threatened Malbunka with dire consequences and borrowed a tractor along with a GPS to transmit him a vile notification containing the Marree Man’s silhouette. It had been reported by few of his friends that Goldberg was paid a hefty sum of $10000 to create the figurine.

When Goldberg was confronted about it, he neither affirmed nor denied the rumours on Marree Man’s creation. Unfortunately, Goldberg passed away in 2002 before this theory could even be totally investigated.

Others anecdotes have apprehended that Australian Army members or American soldiers who were positioned in Woomera had designed and fabricated Marree Man.

Revival initiatives of the abraded geoglyph

The monumental geoglyph of Marree Man quickly became an icon and made the township a largely popular tourist spot. But the famous carving was gradually fading into oblivion because of natural erosion by shifting sands and forceful desert winds and could gradually be seldom seen. It seemed only a matter of time before the prodigious illustration would cease to be visible evermore, confiscating the secrets of its creation alongside.

In 2013, through a landmark initiative, some passionate natives submitted a public plea, spearheaded by Phil Turner, a pub owner in Marree to plough back the outline into the sands and revive the geoglyph. According to Turner, it had everything to do with reinforcing the mystery and the myth.

Turner in a bid to strengthen the tourism business embarked upon the project costing half-a-million dollars along with the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation to enliven the artwork after its considerable dissipation into the sand.

The latest technological advancements made it convenient for them to locate the eroded Marree Man in 2016, with the support from a zealous and prolific restoration team and redefine the geoglyph using imaging data, a grader, GPS and satellite images.

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Recommended Visit:
Marree Man Historical landmark | Australia

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Product testing in an anechoic chamber. (Consumer Reports)

Everyone seemingly looks for a quiet, little place now and then to get some solace and respite from the clamour of the crowded and bustling world around us. Being in a quiet place for a while can almost seem like achieving Nirvana.

It is somewhat balmy for our jangled nerves. However, even such a sensible thought sometimes can immeasurably go awry. Orfield Laboratories in Minnesota is dubbed to be the quietest place on earth as per the Guinness World Records.

It has reported 99.9% sound absorption factor and decibel readings below -2.5. It is a nondescript concrete building, a 15-minute ride from Minneapolis. It is so unusually quiet that the maximum time a person can endure it is 45 minutes.

The characteristic uneasiness of the anechoic room

The room inside is uncannily silent with background noise measurements reaching average negative decibels of ~9.4 dBA. The founder of the laboratory is Steven Orfield.

He has, on multiple occasions challenged people to ensconce themselves in the dark anechoic chamber and try-out their degree of adaptability to quietude. Only a reporter is claimed to have sustained in the room for 45 minutes.

When a place is quiet, the ears adjust accordingly. The more the room is bereft of sound, the more one can start hearing things around. Precisely, in an anechoic chamber, the person becomes the sound.

The sound of different bodily functions like heartbeats, lungs calling out, blood rushing through the veins, the stomach babbling loudly, sounds of friction between your knees and elbows, bones brushing against one another – all of these can be heard.

Unexpectedly, far from being serene and peaceful a great many people find its ideal quietness very annoying. Being denied of the regular comforting ambient sounds can actuate fear. This explains why sensory deprivation is tortuous.

Industrial use of Orfield for sound testing

In any case, the room is meant not just for tormenting people. Many companies carry out the testing of their products to evaluate the loudness metric. These include testing of heart valves, the sound of a cell phone, the sound of a switch used on a car dashboard.

Motorcycle manufacturing giant Harley Davidson uses the lab to fabricate bikes that bear all the same voice like a Harley but quiet to a slight extent. Even products like LED displays are also tried and tested to ensure less loud volumes.

F-16 Fighting Falcon electronic systems being tested inside an anechoic chamber before being tested in open air. (Samuel King Jr. / U.S. Air Force)

Whirlpool, the incredibly reputed washing-machine maker uses the Labs to create metaphors like “for what sound should actually sound like”. Even NASA has utilized this space as a simulation platform to acclimatize their astronauts to the soundlessness of the outer space.

Encounters of bodily misalignments

Even the room is surmised to be a highly disorienting place and people often have problems to align themselves, stand straight or even walk. As the anechoic chamber is devoid of any signal it becomes burdensome to maintain balance and manoeuvre.

Cues are plucked off, consciousness becomes distorted, and your equilibrium and motion becomes nearly an unthinkable feat. Plonking oneself on a chair is the only way you can keep up inside this eerily silent space for as much the little time you bear to stay inside it.

Being confined in the anechoic chamber for more than 15 minutes is believed to engender outrageous symptoms like claustrophobia, nausea, aural hallucinations and panic attacks.

A violinist once attempted to wait inside the room. But, he started pounding the door after a couple of moments requesting to be let out of the place as he was so aggravated by its quietness. His perception of noiselessness was impaired by a scintilla of desperation.

Structure of the anechoic chamber

It is hugely insulated and its ultra-quietness is attained with double-walled layers of concrete and steel.  It also has in-built 3.3-foot-thick crosshatched fibreglass acoustic wedges of buffers that suck out all the sound.

The floor, formed with a suspended meshwork of hand-pulled and hand-tightened airplane cables is designed to arrest the resonance of footfalls. Underneath the cable web is a hollowed bottom stuffed with additional fibreglass taperings.

Close-up of an anechoic chamber wall in Dwingeloo. (© Bryan Tong Minh)

This fortifies all the six sides of the room to exclusively absorb all the sound waves.  Basically, there is a room inside a room, inside a room and which is why the place is extraordinarily quiet.

The anechoic chamber is reported to have degrees of quietness that is 1/16^th part of even the softest whisper measuring 20 decibels.

The former Sound 80 studio

Prior to the coming up of the Orfield Laboratories, the site was Sound 80 Studios. It was the place where Bob Dylan had recorded Blood on the Tracks. And perhaps, more worth mentioning is Lipps Inc putting “Funkytown” on wax.

Sound 80 was an erstwhile client of Orfield. When the Labs assumed the control and took charge over the building, they additionally put 3500 square feet of office space meant primarily for carrying out acoustic research.

This facility set-up then included this anechoic chamber and three other resonation chambers. There are two more fully functional recording studios in this historic building. These are currently put into service for standardized jury testing of sounds and sound quality.

The labs’ philanthropic benefaction

Orfield Laboratories, as a federally certified acoustic lab, is essentially involved with product development, architecture and office research. They have well-defined aims to improve the living and working conditions of the general mankind especially for the elderly, disabled and autistic spectrum.

Orfield Labs has spent almost a decade doing research in close association with Autism Speaks and The Autism Society of America for the elderly and people with limited sensitivity and augmented sensory complications.

They also have valued contribution in the therapeutic silence treatment of people suffering from PTSD, hypersensitivity and other mental ailments.

Tour of the Orfield Laboratories

The anechoic chamber is accessible to anyone who wants to take a tour and feel the silence themselves. It has been made open to visitors with the numbers of curious travellers gradually expanding over time.

They come to explore and experience what bona fide silence truly implies. According to the Steven Orfield, the facility runs two tours per week.

The visitors are mostly outsiders and not from Minnesota. It can be a little gathering of up to ten individuals or a solitary person. The tours are charged according to the number of visitors.

Think about all the sound that consistently infuses into your body. Noise is an inevitable perpetuity that frequently overshadows any peace and quietude.

Although the lab’s maddening quietness is good for business, it is terrible for sanity. At Orfield, it appears that the best diversion of all is not the clamour but actually the silence.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Vantablack: A Manmade Substance that is Blacker than the Blackest of Black“.

Fact Analysis:
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Mont Saint Michel. (David Iliff / Wikimedia Commons)

The world is full of several architectural beauties which will leave you amused by their intricate art and fine carvings. One such architecture stands tall in Normandy and has emerged as one of the major tourist sites in the world. This architectural grandeur is none other than Mont Saint Michel which got classified as a historical monument in the year 1874. In addition to this, it is also regarded as a UNESCO world heritage site since the year 1979.

Known as one of the best middle-age creation, Mont Saint Michel is an epitome of monastic architecture. It is situated 41 miles away from Rennes and 32 miles away from Saint-Malo. On the base of the monument, you can also find medieval towers and walls displaying the old style architecture.

A tiny tidy island perched on the north-western coast of France, this place witnesses the highest tides. It is also known for its quicksand and steep rocks. The water surrounding the coast can go 20 Km deep and 18 Km away. Initially, this fortress was called Mont Tombe. This was when Mont Saint Michel was not considered as an island. It was merely covered by dense forests which later got washed away due to ocean water.

Aerial view of Mont Saint Michel during low tide. (Fabos / Wikimedia Commons)

Experiencing Mont Saint Michel

This island is named after Archangel Michael. In the year 708, Archangel Michael asked the bishop of Avranches to construct a sanctuary on the rocky islet. But Bishop was not sure about the idea of building this sanctuary. After Archangel pushed the bishop to follow his orders, he built the sanctuary.

This place is popular for its Mont Saint Michel Abbey which is around 1000 years old. On your visit to Mont Saint Michel, you can’t miss out on the popular Carolingian church that was constructed during 966 by the Benedictine monks.

Apart from the abbey, you can also explore the vertical grounds in the mountain or enjoy the serene view and shop something from the souvenir store. If you are a foodie, you will love their scrumptious omelettes which are found in La Mere Poulard. The restaurant also provides other French delicacies at a very reasonable rate. Normandy is famous for the apple orchards. So, once you are here, don’t forget to taste the cider.

History of Mont Saint Michel before the revolution

Mont Saint Michel is circular shaped and comprises a granite outcrop which rises heavily out of the bay. It is normally surrounded by huge sandbanks which get converted into the island during high tides. A 300-feet causeway links the island to land. However, before its construction, it was tough to find a way because of the fast-tides and quicksand.

The prolonged history of Mont Saint Michel started in 708 after Bishop Aubert built a sanctuary as a tribute to Archangel. In 966. Benedictine monks took the responsibility of building a new monastery. In no time, Abbey became a prominent pilgrimage canter in the Christian West. In addition to this, it also got a name for storing a trunkful of manuscripts. Due to this, it was also being called as “City Of Books”. 

Situated on the borderline of Brittany and Normandy, Mont Saint Michel became a passage, as well as, a fortress. In the 14th century, the conflicts between England and France took a major turn and hence, there was a need for power fortification.

In the year 1421, the church’s chancel collapsed and its reconstructions went on for the next 100 years. Uptil 18th century, the Mount already lost its significance in religious, as well as, military terms. In 1622, a new religious order was being established at the Abbey which led to the redevelopment of the site.

Story after the revolution

During the war period of 100 years, Mont Saint Michel again turned into a fortress. Along with the inner wall, an outer wall was also added for the defence of the abbey. Both Valois and Plantagenets were claiming the French throne.

With the 1517 reformation, this site also lost its pilgrims. With the reduction in the number of pilgrims, the monks too disappeared. During the 1789 French Revolution outbreak, there were just a few monks in the residence and the Abbey turned into a prison. In the initial stage, it was home to clerics but later, they were replaced by political prisoners.

Visiting the island

To preserve the beauty of Mont Saint Michel, the car parking has been relocated to some other place. This new parking is situated 1.5 miles away from this island. After parking, people head for shuttle buses named Passeurs. These buses will take you to your destination, i.e, Mount. The Passeurs operate on a regular basis between 7:30 Am to 12:00 AM. Mont Saint Michel can be reached by car, as well as, tour or bus.

However there is no direct connectivity of train from Mont Saint Michel to Paris, but you can avail train service till Pontorson and use the bus for the rest of your journey. Many people also reach the place by bicycle. Parking for this ride is free of cost and one can easily cover the distance between Pontorson to Mount without facing any major difficulty.

Fall and spring seasons are comparatively less crowded and the weather also supports an outdoor trip. However, if you wish to see the castle’s reflection in the water, check the schedule of the tides and visit the place during the time of highest tide.

Mont-Saint-Michel during high tide. (Mathias Neveling / Wikimedia Commons)

Accommodating in the Island Destination

Mont Saint Michel comprises numerous small hotels which are perched on the island. In addition to this, there are several hotels opposite to the island too. A shuttle bus which runs till midnight links the island to these hotels. You can also find some decent hotels in the town near Pontorson. However, most of the visitors prefer to day trip as this island can easily be covered in just a few hours. The car park also allows the motorhomes for an overnight stay and charge it in the form of standing parking cost.

Mont-Saint-Michel is the most popular island in the world. Being the most unmissable site in Europe, this place witnesses a flock of tourist throughout the year. The place is a perfect blend of rich medieval history, opulent architecture, and serene surroundings.

The island is set in a splendid bay and it has captured the hearts of umpteen travellers. So, if you are planning a trip to Europe, don’t forget to include this miraculous site in your travel itinerary.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Neuschwanstein Castle: The Story Behind the Iconic Bavarian Castle That Inspired the Disney Castle“.

Recommended Visit:
Mont-Saint-Michel | France

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Kakapo parrot in Anchor Island, New Zealand. (Kimberley Collins / Flickr)

The Kakapo, is a unique species of gigantic, flightless, nocturnal and ground-dwelling parrot, endemic to New Zealand, might just be the world’s most enigmatic bird. It has got an owlish face contour that lives up to its widely proclaimed epithet “the night parrot”.

The flamboyant Kakapos emerge every night dashingly from their shrouded daytime roosts, trudging over the fern-laced timberland floor, flexing their robust feet to climb up the tree canopy looking for fruits, flowers, seeds, shoots, leaves and tubers.

During the austral summer (from December to February), the male Kakapos throng at the display sites called leks to go after mates, and their rumbling screams can be discerned resounding through the backwoods for miles around.

Those buoyant calls, which today are rarely being heard, might have been silenced completely, had it not been for the persistent and painstaking efforts of a trickle of scientists and volunteers frantically trying to save the species from the threats of dire extinction.

Near extinction

Similar to various other unique birds in New Zealand, the downright obliteration of Kakapo is attributed to huge destruction of natural habitats and reckless entry of predators.

Likewise, its slow-moving reproduction pace and elaborate mating process which most likely filled in as an effective and normal populace control when predators were non-existent, have only accelerated its extermination.

The ground-nesting bird, which was at one time, spotted frequently in New Zealand, has now been almost wiped out because of loss in their habitat and invasive animals and rodents like cats, stoats, possums, weasels and rats that were brought in primarily by the European and Polynesian settlers to New Zealand and made easily accessible meals of both birds and eggs.

The new entrants thus turned out to be a very big menace to the flightless Kakapo, which already had its evolution in a land that was devoid of mammalian predators. This also made them thoroughly long-lived, with the oldest Kakapo almost reaching 120 years.

Another factor that is closely related to the near extinction of the Kakapo is the fact that they breed very infrequently. This is due to the reason that the rearing of the chicks is largely contingent on the fruits of the native trees like rimu and pink pine that come to fruition every 2 to 6 years and Kakapos breed only during these occasions.

As for the lean times, the Kakapo’s normal eating regimen comprises of grasses, herbs and coarse leaves which unfortunately lack the sufficient nutrients essential for the nurturing of the chicks and therefore, a big number perishes.

The species nearly vanished from the scene by the end of the 1980s.

Conservation and extinction redressal approaches

The New Zealand Department of Conservation which is solely responsible for the management of national parks and other protected reserves had unveiled the ambitious Kakapo Recovery Program in 1989, basically to drive a colossal effort in boosting the Kakapo numbers to a healthy and stable level.

The project monitors and bands together for Kakapo care and safekeeping in three specific offshore islands namely Anchor, Codfish, and Little Barrier Island, the only possible places on this planet where Kakapo are currently known to remain in existence.

Until recently, there was a dearth of human settlements in these isolated islands. Even snakes, mammals or other predators were completely missing to devour these native birds or their eggs.

New Zealand adopted an extensive migration and security enhancement project as a means to come to the rescue of the imperilled Kakapo. The birds which were found to be thriving on inhabited islands of New Zealand were strategically and meticulously trapped and moved to the secure and sheltered islands where all the predators like feral cats and rats had been stamped out.

Only caretakers were allowed to dwell on these islands and human encroachment was strictly regulated. Even boats were prohibited from landing fearing ingress of rats.

Kakapo parrot being relocated. (Department of Conservation / Flickr)

Environmental and Evolutionary Biologists from the University of Glasgow, who are currently working with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, produced a special dietary supplement keeping in mind the principal aim to augment egg production of the remaining few Kakapo.

From 1995 onwards, workers associated with the Kakapo Recovery Program have been keeping a conscientious and vigilant monitoring of the population levels, providing nourishment and care to the birds with supplementary feed and herbage, safeguarding the Kakapo inhabited islands from the onslaught of invasive predatory creatures and on many occasions lending a helping hand towards the treatment and recovery of chicks that are underweight, malnourished or sick.

Hand-feeding kakapo parrot. (Kimberley Collins / Flickr)

The distinctive nature of Kakapo and the restricted geographical ambit of these island species, by and large, had made them extremely unfortified to extinction. The program, therefore, placed a greater emphasis on the safeguarding of habitats, instead of captive breeding alternatives.

The breeding of Kakapo observed an impressive out-turn with the plans and initiatives formulated and put in place by the Kakapo Recovery Program.

To start with, Kakapo birds breed only when the pink pine and rimu trees in New Zealand yield an abundance of fruits whose berries are enriched with calcium and Vitamin D which are the vital nutrients for the settling birds and chicks.

The breeding was conducted on all the three islands simultaneously. Many Kakapos bred for the first time. All these factors helped in an appreciable increase in the total number of laid eggs.

Owing to the fact that the birds are vulnerable and fragile during the initial few months of their life, the Kakapo Recovery Program usually waits for round about six months since the hatching of the last chick to formally announce the number of surviving chicks to the aggregate populace.

Around 40 Kakapos have so far been rescued and 37 new chicks born, bringing the total number of surviving Kakapos to a relatively stable and sizeable 153, if not ideal as in 2018, spreading across the three predator-uninhabited islands.

Stephen Bragg with a clutch of young kakapo parrots. (Department of Conservation / Flickr)

Decades later, officials now confident with an immensely productive recovery program profess that this new baby boom is perhaps the most successful population flare-up since the beginning of the program.

The wildlife officials assert that improvised technology such as remote nest monitoring and smart transmitters has also enabled them to keep tabs on the behavioural patterns of the birds without impeding their natural bearings and movement with hands-on contact.

However, the highly complicated reproduction system still continues to be a humongous challenge to control Kakapo’s sustainability and survival.

The latest technological innovations have substantially helped the team to increasingly look after Kakapo in a perfectly non-invasive manner, and as their population flourish, these distinct tools and their contribution will be crucial.

Awareness buildup for kakapo parrot

The great uplifting news about the Kakapo does not stop there. The birds have invited a fair share of additional support and recognition, thanks to some Imgur users who have put on show a lot of love and fascination for the Kakapo birds.

They have taken to populating the website’s opening page with umpteen numbers of Kakapo GIFs in a bid to spread awareness and adoration for the endangered species.

The torrent of Kakapo GIFs and the tagged links to the donation page of the Kakapo Recovery Program have given rise to donations crossing over 3000 New Zealand Dollars in a very short span of time.

Numerous books and publications describing the plight of the endangered Kakapo have been brought out in the recent past.

And now the charismatic birds on the rebound have caught the general public attention all across New Zealand and beyond. Not long after a Kakapo named Sirocco was gotten on camera trying to befriend a BBC photographer.

The bird spontaneously had a Twitter account of its own generated, attracting a massive following of 15,000 fans, which is an unforeseen but a welcome slice of publicity towards the efforts being delivered to salvage the bird from the brink of extinction.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Himalayan Monal: The Nine-Coloured Bird of the Himalayas“.

Fact Analysis:
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The post Saving the Kakapo – The World’s Strangest Parrot appeared first on .

David Vetter wearing a protective space suit at NASA Johnson Space Center. (NASA)

Never was there a child quite like David Vetter. He is remembered to the world as “the boy in the bubble”. David was the son of Joseph Vetter and Carol Ann Vetter. He was younger to his sister Katherine. David had a genetic disorder called Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID).

Birth and early life

Since birth, his immune system was completely dysfunctional. This meant that any stray germ he came in contact with either through breathing normal air or touching another person could prove lethal. The epithet “David, the bubble boy” gained prominence in reference to the complicated containment system that was used to control his genetic abnormality and protect him from potentially fatal attacks.

In those days when David was born on September 21, 1971, at the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, this disease was a virtual capital punishment. A year sooner, another Vetter kid with SCID died at the age of only 7 months. The two boys had the commonest variant of the malady characterized by a deadly X chromosome defect that used to plague only boys (although girls could carry the gene as well).

Vetter’s parents were thoroughly advised and cautioned by the doctors that any male child they might give birth in future would have half a chance to inherit the ailment. The only administration that was available for babies stricken with SCID, at that time, was to quarantine in an aseptic environment until the execution of a successful bone marrow transplant.

However, the Vetters, being devoutly Catholic, ruled out an abortion and decided to go ahead with another pregnancy even though having a daughter already, with the sole notion of a sibling accompanying their girl.

Failed attempt of a bone marrow transplant

They relied upon the then developing bone marrow transplant technology and the likelihood that it would progress enough to develop a healthy and stable immune system in a child who lacked one. Katherine, his sister was the expected donor.

Moments after David drew in his first breath, he was incubated inside a sterile bubble. Blood tests were conducted for two long weeks immediately after David’s birth. The Vetter family anticipated and supplicated wishing that he would be among the safe 50 percent.

But sadly, the test outcomes revealed that David indeed had inherited SCID. Although it devastated the family, the silver lining was that the extraordinary precautions which Carol along with the medical team had taken, offered David a lease of life.

The expectation, as the events started unfolding more like an unanswered prayer, was it being an interim workaround until the transplant was performed. Unfortunately, Katherine’s blood was found to be not an ideal match.

Life cloistered in a bubble and custom-made gear

As the boy started to grow older and bigger, and as doctors kept hunting down a fix, David’s life became perpetually sequestered in the bubble. Water, food, air, clothes and diapers used to be sterilized prior to the entry into the sterile bubble. He could be touched only by neoprene gloves.

In 1977, scientists from NASA developed a special suit for David, with their experience in the manufacture of space suits. It helped Vetter to escape from the claustrophobia of the bubble and venture into the outside world without any potential danger of contamination.

David in his space suit. (NASA)

Initially, Vetter resisted to wearing the suit. But later he was game. However, he sported it only in seven instances. Gradually he outgrew the suit and never used the substitute given to him later by NASA.

David’s parents and the medical team headed by Dr. John Montgomery tried to render him a normal life. This included a formal education, a television and a playroom within the bounds of the sterile chamber.

Dr. John Monotgomery interacting with David Vetter. (Jeremy112233 / Wikimedia Commons)

David’s return to the family home from the hospital

During the first few years of his life, David lived mainly at the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. When David was three years old, the treatment team had an additional sterile cocoon and transport chamber built for him at his parent’s home in Conroe, Texas.

During his week-long stays at home, David had his sister and other friends for company. A friend had arranged for him a special screening of Return of the Jedi at a local theatre.

With growing age David started living increasingly at home with his parents and sister. At the same time, David’s public persona captivated the general public.

He adored the “Star Wars” movies. His favourite colour was purple. He used to be taught through the telephone. Amusingly, he also played pranks by hiding his pencils as a ploy to bunk school. He started growing into a very handsome and well-behaved boy, endowed with great expressive eyes and tangled dark hair.

However, behind the scenes, it was frequently a different story. A clinician who assisted and counselled him, narrated about the uncontrollable anger he used to exhibit at times, realizing his ominous fate. At a certain point, he whined that he “had been put into a cage and treated like a wild animal.”

During David’s times, the only alternatives for SCID inflicted children were either to be cloistered within the sterile environment or die quickly from the infection.

Psychological and moral aspects

The case brought up various moral issues, on whether parents having a half shot of SCID induced genetic traits should bear children and whether the information generated by such research defended encouraging or permitting parents to have children subject to this hazard.

Late 1983, David gradually began to lose hope that he would ever be able to free up from the bubble’s prison. Doctors informed the Vetters about an optimistic new technique of bone marrow transplant that used not as many perfect matches and that her sister could be the donor.

Successful but disconsolate bone marrow transplant

At first, the transplant apparently worked well. However, from January 1984 onwards, David started to show signs of illness, an infectious mononucleosis fever that adversely impacted him because of an unknown Epstein-Barr virus attack inside the bone marrow which could not be detected during the pre-transplant screening process.

Death of David Vetter

He died on February 22, 1984, 15 days after he was admitted back into the hospital, at the age of 12 from Burkitt’s lymphoma. David was interred on February 25, 1984, at the Conroe Memorial Park, in Texas. His mother could kiss him for the first and the last time when he finally made his way out of the bubble only to die.

The sorrowful and heart-rending story of David Vetter is a mnemonic that must prompt doctors to not dismiss the general consequences that such patients endure and suffer from, just for the sake of saving a life.

Future medical headways in identical genetic disorders

Undoubtedly, David’s experience brought in a number of breakthroughs in the field of medical science. Dr. William Shearer, who was David’s doctor in the later years, asserted that his case provided the initial proofs that viruses can lead to cancer.

His unique DNA aided in the identification of the particular gene that originates immune deficiencies, leading to the introduction of a practice to perform a compulsory test in newborns for this condition.

David’s contribution to a superior comprehension of clinical immunology was significantly enormous. With a better understanding, doctors could come out with improved treatments for diseases related to the immune system which in turn helped them in treating other infants with SCID.

Nowadays, bone marrow transplants, even the most imperfectly suited ones, show positive results 90 percent of the time if conducted within a period of three months from birth.

Commemorations

If there is anything that appears to be certain, it is the fact that David will be remembered forever. He has been glorified and commemorated in music, movies and sculpture. An elementary school in Woodlands was named after Vetter as David Elementary and so also a centre at Texas Children’s.

Furthermore, according to historian Jones, the locution “bubble” has become synonymous with an everlasting slice of the language, shorthand to express both the perils of confinement and the aspect a few guardians wish they could keep their children in to secure them from any harm or suffering.

The finest excellence of his memory might be the epitaph on David’s tombstone that says “He never touched the world, but the world was touched by him.”

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Blue Fugates: The Blue Family of Kentucky“.

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Formation of Noctilucent clouds over Stockholm, Sweden during sunset. (Kevin Cho / Wikimedia Commons)

Noctilucent clouds also called the “night-shining clouds” are slight and indistinct occurrences which are observed in the uppermost atmospheric layers of the Earth. They comprise of tiny and delicate ice crystals and dust particles of extraterrestrial meteor smoke that return to the skies during an astronomical twilight. Noctilucent is a Latin word which more or less means “night-shining”.

The phenomenon can be observed only during the polar summer months at latitudes between 55 and 65 degrees in the northern and southern parts of the Equator. The clouds are visible when the sun while setting shines on them. They are formed at an altitude of 80-85 km (50-53 miles) below the mesosphere. The Mesosphere is known to be the coldest part of the atmosphere with temperatures hitting as low as −140°C.

The clouds often display a tenuous and meandering pattern that signifies the presence of forceful wind currents at that high altitude.

Initial sighting

The first sighting of noctilucent clouds was reported in the year 1885 when separate instances of observation happened in Russia and Germany. The event was sighted two years following the volcanic Krakatoa eruptions in the straits of Java.

Over the recent decades, both satellite and ground observations have suggested that noctilucent clouds manifest enhanced brightness. They are also found to have descended to lower altitudes and are now being observed at ever-increasing frequency intervals.

Noctilucent clouds, Sweden. (Gofororbit / Wikimedia Commons)

Theories revolving around the origin of noctilucent clouds

At first, the formation of noctilucent clouds was assumed to be caused by the distribution of the volcanic detritus of Krakatoa. This resulted in numerous picturesque sunsets. It had many alert observers watching and discovering the noctilucent clouds at these points in time. They were actually trying to make thorough studies and researches on the summer twilight sky. Scientists surmised that the volcanic ash had been beautifully revealed. This occurrence was observed after the water vapour and tropospheric dust was injected into the cold and dry upper mesospheric layer. The clouds persisted even after the volcanic embers settled down.

The observations that followed later pinpointed that the volcanic activity is not entirely related to the inception of the noctilucent clouds. Even now the claim of the volcanic link is found to be scientifically disputable. Alternatively, it has been conjectured that the emergence of the earliest evidence of noctilucent clouds is owing to anthropogenic climatic variations. Over the past 30 years, the observations hovering over north-west Europe show an increase in the number of such cloud formation in every summer season.

Competing for the anthropogenic explanation for these extensive occurrences of noctilucent clouds are opinions that centred on unrestrained greenhouse cooling happening in the middle atmospheric levels. It also hinted at the intensified origination of water vapour linked to the substantial release of methane and heightened mesosphere humidity. These were primarily associated with concentrated farming and agricultural activities.

However, scientists still don’t absolutely comprehend the composition of water ice crystals and how water can get that high in the atmosphere. They speculate the methane concentration that may be propelled higher into the mesospheric layer end up generating water and ice at such high altitudes. Furthermore, the fact that there is no evidence of sightings of the noctilucent clouds before 1885 adds to the mystery.

Before, the exhaust gases emanating from various Space Shuttles and rockets have likewise been observed in contributing to the arrangement of the noctilucent clouds.

Formation of noctilucent clouds 90 minutes after the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9. (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation / spaceweathergallery.com)

Positional and visibility aspects of the clouds

The best time to look for noctilucent clouds is late spring or early summer about 30 minutes after sunset towards the west. The clouds incandesce as shining white and pale blue tendrils across the dark twilight sky. This allows them to be distinguishable from the cirrus clouds that are visible only during the daytime as they don’t exhibit any luminescence.

noctilucent clouds happen in both the hemispheres on the two sides of the equator. They have been watched under a great many circumstances in the northern hemisphere. But surprisingly they were noticed for less than 100 times in the southern hemisphere. noctilucent clouds in the Southern hemisphere are more unclear with infrequent appearances. This is attributed to a lower populace and fewer land areas leading to a marked absence of eyewitnesses and fainter watching conditions.

Scientific research on noctilucent clouds

Scientists and researchers studying these clouds have incorporated the information collected from NASA’s AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) satellite. Launched in 2007, the AIM spacecraft was particularly designed to explore the noctilucent clouds. The satellite measured their methods of formation and probable connections to the global climatic changes.

The satellite has examined these clouds by utilizing different onboard instruments to gather data. This included elements like temperature, ice crystal size, atmospheric gases, the cloud’s changing patterns and the meteor dust that penetrates into the atmosphere.

Night-shining clouds In Northern Europe. (© Martin Koitmäe / Flickr)

Types of noctilucent Clouds

The clouds exhibit an eclectic variety of characteristic patterns and forms.

Type I – Veil: Exceptionally fragile and unstructured.

Type II – Bands: Elongated streaks, parallel or zigzag at little edges.

Type III – Waves: Firmly dispersed herring-bone structures bearing a resemblance to the sand ripples along a shoreline.

Type IV – Whirls: Wide-scale twisted or looped structures.

Type V – Amorphous: Sporadic, isolated and formless patches.

Striking features of noctilucent clouds

One of the most compelling visual aspects of the noctilucent clouds is their colour. This is essentially the end result of the vivid atmospheric effects engendered by the Sun’s strategic position below the horizon during the sunset.

On the horizon, where the base of the noctilucent clouds merges, one can experience red, yellow, orange, green and golden hues. In the higher layers the clouds sport amazing white and silver colours.

The top of the clouds has a stunning purple or electric blue canopy. The vibrant blueness is believed to be caused due to the absorption of sunlight by the stratospheric ozone layer. This amalgam of colours creates a delightful artwork against a sweeping canvas of stars.

Capturing the noctilucent clouds

Photos of noctilucent clouds can be effortlessly captured with the help of a digital camera tightly settled to a tripod; using 400 ISO provides great results or even a smartphone. An exposure from 3 to 6 seconds and a lens aperture configuration of f3.4 will typically get the job done.

Nonetheless, it is advisable to take a few shots of various exposures and choose the best one. When this is done an attempt can be made to create a breathtaking panorama by clicking some overlapping photographs.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Light Pillars, an Insight into Nature’s Spectacular Optical Phenomenon“.

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The first San Francisco’s Cliff House

In the year 1863, Senator John Buckley and C. C. Butler built the first Cliff House. However, certain anecdotal evidence also speaks about Samuel Brannan, a wealthy American businessman as the original builder of Cliff house who constructed it in 1858. In the beginning, because of its disadvantageous location on the craggy, rock-strewn hills of the Lands End that opened out over the Pacific Ocean, it was becoming very expensive to reach there.

The first cliff house. (Lawrence & Houseworth, Publisher. The Cliff House – San Francisco. , 1866)

Owing to the difficult journey Cliff House was kept isolated for a long time. To address this problem a toll road “Point Lobos Avenue” was constructed till the Ocean Beach, which facilitated in bringing visitors from San Francisco with the help of a stagecoach.

Soon Cliff House became the regular exclusive haunt of the super-rich and the affluent like the Stanfords, the Hearsts and sundry well-to-do families who could afford to pay a round-trip fare of $1 and thoroughly enjoy the views, the oysters and the champagne.

After a decade of a prolific successful run amongst the rich and the famous, the resort started failing in business. To attract new patrons, the management permitted intake of alcohol and the practice of gambling. During this time, Golden Gate Park also opened and so did many public roads that lead straight to the beach.

Photo of the first cliff house from another angle, circa 1868. (Carleton E. Watkins / LACMA)

With the influx of new customers, a sizeable number of them being from the working class, the destination gradually started losing its calibre and upmarket lustre. By the end of the 1870s, the once decent and reputable Cliff House was considered to be no longer a respectable destination resort.

Adolph Sutro, a mining engineer and philanthropist, who eventually became the Mayor of San Francisco, bought the Cliff House resort in 1883. With a mission to reinstate its lost glory and admiration of being a family-oriented tourist trap, Sutro embarked upon an ambitious renovation project. He hired a lot of employees and sanctioned a new railroad pathway to augment accessibility. 

Unfortunately, Sutro was unable to operate and manage the restaurant himself. Therefore, he leased it out to Sroufe and McCrum, a wholesale liquor company. It was later again rented out to J. M. Wilkins in 1885 with the sole target of bringing the families back.

The renovated and slightly expanded version of the first cliff house. (Ed Bierman / Flickr)

In 1887, the resort met with a severe calamity, when a schooner (sailing ship) called Parallel, loaded heavily with 40 tons of explosive underwent a massive head-on collision with the rocks underneath the restaurant structure which in turn exploded and the north wing of Cliff House was fully destroyed. The devastation was restored and Cliff House was rebuilt. It continued its operation until the Christmas day in 1894 when another cataclysmic chimney fire broke out and engulfed and annihilated the whole building in just 30 minutes.

The second Cliff House

In February 1896, the venue opened again to the public, this time as a replica of a Victorian French Chateau, after a colossal reconstruction work was carried out by Sutro that cost over $75,000. An added attraction, this time was the observation tower that was erected 200 feet above the sea level facing the Pacific Ocean. 

The newly revamped resort was a seven-storeyed building hosting a number of restaurants, an art gallery, a studio, a gem exhibition centre, leased out reception rooms, countless exclusive dining rooms and bars. It was also called the “Gingerbread Palace”. The same year ushered in the construction of the famed Sutro Baths on the northern side of the restaurant.

The second Victorian styled cliff house. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Publisher. Cliff House and Seal Rocks)

The widely popularized baths housed six giant indoor swimming pools, a skating rink, a museum and other recreation grounds. Cliff House, one more time, secured its erstwhile acclaimed footing and resumed patronizing the super elite class with the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and William McKinley.

In 1898, when Adolph Sutro died, Cliff House was once more leased to John Tait. Mercifully, Cliff House managed to survive the calamitous San Francisco earthquake in 1906. It was planned to recommence its operation in the September of 1907 when regrettably, it caught fire another time and was totally decimated.

Cliff house on fire, September 1907. (Historic American Buildings Survey / LOC)

The third Cliff House

The property was later taken over by Emma Sutro Merritt, Sutro’s daughter in 1908. She reconstructed the Cliff House with fireproof concrete material and steel. Although the new building was much smaller in size, it anyway intermingled with the neighbouring locale instead of counterpoising the view of the ocean. It opened again in 1909, nonetheless obliging to the wealthy and affluent.

The resort eventually downed its shutters once more in the year 1925, when during the Prohibition, its patronage plummeted sharply. It changed hands and became the property of George and Leo Whitney who then owned a neighbourhood amusement park named Playland-at-the-Beach. Cliff House for the umpteenth time was overhauled and reopened in 1938. It kept on with its steady operations until 1977 when the National Park Service took over its complete ownership rights and the resort became a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The third cliff house, circa 1950. (Mike Roberts Color Production / Wikimedia Commons)

The National Park Service later signed a contract for the maintenance and management of the Cliff House with Dan and Mary Hountalas, as the deemed concessionaires. They have been managing and running the resort under the renewed contract name of Peanut Wagon over the past forty years. They were significantly instrumental in the completion of a comprehensive site restoration project in 2003 for the Cliff House when the building was reinstated to its foregoing 1909 appearance after removing a lot of Whitney’s modifications. Now, the official address of Cliff House is 1090 Point Lobos Avenue.

It is superbly designed with ultra-modern skylights. A new two-storeyed wing after the name of Adolph Sutro is also constructed overlooking the wreckage of the Sutro Baths that was completely gutted on June 26, 1966. The major offerings are a handful of party rooms, two major restaurants, a chic and stylish bistro meant for casual dining and the more traditional Sutro’s. The Terrace Room serves an as-much-as-you-can-eat-and-drink Sunday champagne brunch buffet. The Bistro always has a first-come-first-serve policy.

Cliff house photo, taken in 2010. (Brocken Inaglory / Wikimedia Commons)

In the present day, Cliff House has garnered unprecedented popularity among the local natives for countless wedding receptions and holiday parties. It also provides a soul-stirring getaway to relax and unwind by enjoying the breathtakingly beautiful scenery of the Pacific Ocean through the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows of the Sutro’s restaurant.

Cliff house today. (Justmerriam / Wikimedia Commons)

The building also accommodates a gift shop and the momentous “camera obscura” in the Land’s End area on a deck looking on to the ocean.

Camera obscura and holograph gallery at the cliff house. (Robert Bruce Livingston / Wikimedia Commons)

The jinx of the Cliff House and Sutro Baths

Over the years, there have been occurrences of a number of preposterous incidents surrounding the Cliff House and Sutro Baths that have the makings of a perfect horror flick. Mediums believe that the Cliff House area has always been overpowered by an uncanny energy. As the legend goes, a fidgety apparition that wanders tirelessly through the rocks adjoining the Cliff House belongs to Natalie Salina Harrison, who waited all her life, on the shore, for her fiancé to come back from the World War I. Her anticipation and expectation were all in vain and she died a broken-hearted tragic death. Since 1917, rumours of people having encountered her spirit started pouring in.

Even the ruins of the Sutro Baths are claimed to be haunted suggesting the prevalence of sporadic paranormal activities. The “ghosts” of a drowned old man and a woman are said to frequent the spot. Many people have also reported having seen phantoms of Victorian ladies sauntering along the beaches with parasols. It is known that the land around Cliff House used to be the Golden Gate Cemetery. This undeniably has not eased up the spectre of the weird form of energy from that area. These days, the potential risk of getting engulfed and surged over by an aberrant wave is the most critical concern for people visiting Cliff House.

But all these creepy stories of the world cannot deter the place’s burgeoning popularity among the locals and tourists, thanks to its spellbinding panorama and the captivating history. Maybe that is the reason why all those spirits here have stayed around too.

Recommended Visit:
1. Cliff House | San Francisco, USA
2. Sutro Baths (Historical Landmark) | San Francisco, USA

Fact Analysis:
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The death mask of the unknown woman of the Seine. Circa 1900. (Gourami Watcher / Wikimedia)

The eternally celebrated woman who died a supposedly unnatural death in the Seine River surprisingly doesn’t have any identity at all. This may sound profoundly ironical. She is well-known as “L’Inconnue de la Seine” (English translation: The Unknown Woman of the Seine).

In the later part of the erstwhile 19th century and sometimes in the early 20th century, a piece of art that garnered extreme popularity in most of the modish and artistic French homes was the absolutely ominous death mask of L’Inconnue de la Seine. She was an anonymous young lady (somewhere around the age of sixteen) whose visage propelled the creation of a multitude of diverse literary and artworks. The mask is widely recognized as “La Belle Italienne” in the United States.

Making the death mask of the unknown woman of the Seine

As the regularly rehashed story goes, sometime in the 1870s or 1880s, the frigid body of this young woman was extricated from the Seine River in Paris at a place called Quai du Louvre. As her body was found to be bereft of any wounds or signs of violence, it was conjectured that she might have committed suicide. The story progresses with the entry of a pathologist at the morgue where her body was taken for the post-mortem. The pathologist was so entranced and charmed by her bewitching beauty that he decided to preserve her quiescent face by making a plaster casting, a death mask. He instantly called in a moulder and put him into the task.

In the following decades, the resultant original mask was reproduced abysmally on a large-scale and sold as a quintessential and inimitable artefact that graced the walls of countless private homes and art studios in France and later abroad, upholding the Parisian Bohemian culture. L’Inconnue de la Seine became so influential that she was being heralded as the archetypal muse for several poets, artists and writers like Pablo Picasso, Rainer Maria Rilke, Man Ray, Vladimir Nabokov and their ilk. Vladimir Nabokov composed an endless poem in 1934 titled “L’Inconnue de la Seine” where he kept pondering over the reason for her probable suicide.

Admirers of L’Inconnue de la Seine

Renowned French philosopher, author and journalist Albert Camus likened her to Mona Lisa, with her enigmatic smile winning the imagination of millions of admirers. Everyone began calling her the “drowned Mona Lisa.” The cast was also once called the “Bewitching Woman”, a sobriquet that anyway never became voguish.

Speculations were rife whether the expression on the face could ever resemble the one of a drowned and suffocated person. Many people started wondering what hints the frightfully cheerful demeanour on her face could reveal about her history and family background. Some reports contrarily suggested that the mask belonged to the face of the daughter of a German mask producer, who committed suicide in the Seine River after coming to know that she had given birth to a stillborn baby.

The notoriety of the figure is additionally important to the historical backdrop of the artistic media, identifying with its far-reaching replication. The original cast was believed to be photographed and new replicas were made thereafter from the negatives of the film.

L’Inconnue de la Seine still remains contemporary and vivacious in an off-the-beaten-path family-run workshop named L’Atelier Lorenzi that was established in 1871 at Arcueil in southern Paris and specializes in creating handmade plaster figurines, statues, busts and masks. The death mask is still a best seller at their workshop.

Description of the L’Inconnue de la Seine

L’Inconnue’s face evokes a feeling of tranquillity. She has a round face and an alabaster skin. Her eyelashes appear tangled thereby giving an impression that they are wet. She has a middle parting on her hair that is hauled back behind her neck. She looks youthful, yet you can’t call her a traditional delight or a beauty. But peculiarly, hordes of young girls attempted to imitate her frozen and stone-dead look in gay abandon.

Her half-grin infuses a mysterious haunt. Her lips exhibit no clarity, maybe the aftereffects of her body’s downturn. She appears to be exuberant in her death. What’s more, her eyes look as though they may open whenever.

Theories of her identity

Sceptics, however, have asserted that the lady portrayed in the mask couldn’t have been a drowning casualty since her facial features were just too perfect to be true. On the other hand, a few scholars attest that it was a regular practice to re-sculpture death masks at that time. L’Inconnue has been envisioned as a victim in literature. She is believed to have drowned herself in utter sorrow after a rendezvous with an English aristocrat who enticed and later abandoned her.

Furthermore, she has been depicted as a sorceress, who devastated and ravaged a young poet. She is also imagined to be a temptress who became a witness to a burglary and a killing at a clockmaker’s shop.

However, neither any record exists in the Paris police documents, nor was there any trace of her body.

Turning into CPR doll

In 1960, an Austrian doctor, Dr.Peter Safar was in the midst of constructing a new technique to effectuate cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly known as CPR. Safar approached a Norwegian toy maker, Asmund Laerdal, to create a dummy, essentially a woman’s face that would have nothing scary or startling about it.

Laerdal chanced upon the mask of L’Inconnue de la Seine at one of his relative’s place. The magnitude of serenity on her face reached Laerdal to his discovery of the ideal fit for the CPR dummy.

After a couple of little adjustments comprising of an unfenced mouth that perhaps awaited a life-saving breath and flared nostrils, Safar and Laerdal unfurled “Resusci Anne” the world’s first CPR dummy. In this way, a death mask became the face of life.

L’Inconnue de la Seine after being remodelled to CPR dummy. (Phil Parker / Resusci Anne)

You might have come across her face and even had those lips kissed. Resusci Anne is still manufactured by Laerdal Medical, which also incorporates the story of her Seine suicide, adding that, she now embodies a hallmark of life to a large number of people all through the world who have learnt and nurtured this life-giving procedure of modern resuscitation, and especially to those, whose precious lives she has saved from sudden and untoward death incidents.

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SS Baychimo. (Aldus Books London / Wikimedia Commons)

The seas and oceans of the world are replete with wonders, mysteries and many other instances which are just plain and simple strange manifestations. Bizarre as it may sound thoroughly are the occasional appearances of phantom ships or ghost vessels, drifting and wandering aimlessly amidst the sea in the absence of any visible living crew. Haunting tales of ghost ships spread through the legends of the seas and oceans over centuries and these genuinely inexplicable occurrences have turned into a talking point of many discussion forums in present times.

Background of SS Baychimo

SS Baychimo was a steel-hulled ship that was built in Sweden in the year 1914. Its original name was Ångermanelfven. The ship was initially used by a German shipping company along the trading routes between Sweden and Hamburg. After the World War I, the Hudson Bay Company of the United Kingdom took over the ownership of this steam-powered cargo ship in 1921, following Germany’s war restitution for the shipping losses that they incurred to the British shipping corporation. Hudson Bay Company re-christened the ship SS Baychimo.

Based in Ardrossan in Scotland, the ship carried out countless successful voyages for Hudson’s, mostly transporting cargo by visiting different trading posts and collecting and ferrying various cargos like furs, pelts sugar, tea, tobacco, and weapons along the Canadian coast, to and from the Arctic region across the freezing, icy-cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. The ship was primarily used for the commerce and trading provisions for the Inuit settlements in Alaska. The ship likewise conducted several voyages carrying passengers and cargos to Alaska and British Columbia.

Abandoning SS Baychimo

On October 1, 1931, Baychimo was on the closing run of a routine transport voyage to Vancouver, filled with recently acquired valuable furs. However, the crew couldn’t account for the fact that winter had set in earlier than usual that year. During the course of the journey, the ship along with its crew proceeded, even after being hurled around by the frigid blasts of the wind and grasped by the bitterly cold and numbing temperatures, resolved to deliver their valuable payload.

Even as they progressed through the frightening weather and the menacingly turbulent waters, an unforeseen vicious blizzard emerged out of nowhere and descended on the ship. The blizzard gripped the ship in a cage of ice. As the vulnerable crew looked on, Baychimo was trapped in perpetual snow.

The ship’s captain Sydney Cornwell and the crew confined inside the ship had to wait for the storm to cease. Days and weeks passed by, but the storm showed no sign of abatement. The only city close by was Barrow in Alaska on the northernmost point of the United States. But it was too far to even sail through and reach there in the vigorously blowing snow and strong winds.

At a loss to proceed with their voyage, and apprehending a probable sinking ship, the captain commanded the crew to briefly abandon the ship and make headway to the town of Barrow by foot, which was around a mile of shifting, deceitful ice sheets away. They reached and took refuge in Barrow for a couple of days before coming back to check on the condition of the forsaken ship.

On their arrival, they were pretty surprised to discover that the vessel had broke free from its sub-zero prison in their absence and was drifting aimlessly about the area. The crew chose to wait until the time the ship could be retrieved and anchored. They made a temporary camp nearby and kept a watch on the ship. Unfortunately, the terrible weather didn’t come to a halt.

On October 8, the ship once again was tangled up in ice. This time, the ice was more stubborn and exhibited an immeasurable reluctance to a melt-down. The ship stayed around ensconced in its icy-cold, freezing lock-up with absolutely no hint of a reprieve anytime soon.

Till October 15, the ship remained immovable and snowed under. Just when the storm subsided a bit, the Hudson Bay Company took immediate action and sent a rescue operations team to evacuate the crew. 22 members were salvaged and airlifted to safety in Barrow. The captain and 14 other brave crew members stuck around refusing to leave their ship deserted with the cargo.

Thereafter, they disembarked the ship, built a makeshift camp and decided to remain camped out on the ice in the proximity of the stranded ship half a mile away on the beach despite the severe impact of the punishing storm. They received emergency provisions from the Hudson Bay Company and resolved to even wait the entire winter out there if at all it demanded so.

SS Baychimo going rogue

On November 24, another ferocious snow-storm hit and swept across the area and the snow was so dense and heavy that visibility was completely lost in their whirling clouds. The campers who had stayed behind entirely lost sight of the ship and once the storm weakened the following day, the worst fears they had dreaded came true. Baychimo could nowhere be seen. The ship had simply disappeared from the spot.

Assuming the severity of the tempest that had struck them so hard and the fact that Baychimo was untraceable in the vicinity, the captain and the team suspected that the ship definitely had wrecked apart and plunged into the Arctic. The despondent crew then decided to break their camp and make a beeline towards civilization.

However, much to the crew’s astonishment, a week later, a native Inuit seal hunter dismissed the idea of Baychimo’s sinking and informed the captain about noticing the ship drifting in the freezing-cold waters around 45 miles away from the place, from where it was trapped in ice and subsequently abandoned. The captain, to a certain degree, was hesitant to fight the snows to attempt and discover the ship again. But, he assembled his crew and in fact found Baychimo precisely in the area the hunter had portrayed.

By that time the ship had undergone massive damage. So the captain was afraid and surmised that it wouldn’t be navigable any longer and would disintegrate and sink anytime soon. Therefore, the crew frantically collected the cargo of furs and got everything (including the captain with his crew) airlifted out of the territory. The ship was left stranded to its inescapable providence.

Despite the Captain’s belief that the ship wasn’t any longer seaworthy, Baychimo was clearly much more robust. It did, in fact, survive the harsh and raging winter, defied all expectations and conjectures and was spotted 250 miles away, several months later. In this way, it went down into the chronicles of the sea legends as the “Ghost Ship of the Arctic”.

Sightings

People started reporting their experiences of getting to see the ship cruising along the chilly north Atlantic waters, absolutely intact and apparently unmanned. A dog sledger heading towards Nome in Alaska had the first glimpse of the ship, forlorn and close to the shore. The incidents of sightings of Baychimo started gaining ground from that time onwards.

The empty ship was claimed to be seen gliding silently across the Arctic Ocean. Baychimo was unusually and whimsically spotted numerous times, sometimes near to the shore, at other times far out in the sea. It was also distinctive in alternating between open water and ice trappings in ridiculously disparate locations. Multiple efforts were made to recover the ship but in vain.

Notwithstanding the sightings, there were people who even attempted to approach and board the ship, just for it to be uncannily elusive. A group of Inuit that once boarded the phantom ship in the year 1933 for shelter as it was stranded in ice, wound up being trapped inside its walls for 10 days as an abrupt, furious storm started seething outside.

In 1939, following another botched attempt to board the ship, Baychimo dissipated into the eternally frosty and frigid vastness of the Arctic for the next 23 years. It was suspected that the derelict vessel had, at last, come up short on whatever power that propped it up over these years and ultimately sunk.

Yet in March 1962, another group of Inuit saw the legendary SS Baychimo, the “Mysterious Ghost Ship” cruising along, adjoining the coastline of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic belt. Much to everyone’s stupefaction, the ship had come back from wherever it had traversed to on an unmanned voyage. The perplexing ship was subsequently spotted for a number of times until 1969, 38 years after its abandonment, when it was seen jammed-up in an ice pack between the Icy Cape and Point Barrow in the Chukchi Sea. It would be perhaps the last time anyone would’ve encountered the ship. At the time when a rescue team arrived to explore and investigate the report of 1969, it had receded from the view by then. No one has seen the ship since then.

Attempts to recover SS Baychimo

In 2006, the Alaskan government commenced a project, formed a search team, and proposed an exhaustive hunt to unearth the mystery of “the Ghost Ship of the Arctic” and discover Baychimo back, whether still floating along or lying lifeless on the ocean floor. But all their efforts too went futile. A decade has passed, and in spite of many comprehensive and orchestrated all-out efforts, nothing was found.

The destiny of the Baychimo and the cargo, which still supposedly is in its clasp, immaculate and untouched, remains obscure. What exactly happened to the ship? Did the sea at long last claim it? Or was it recovered without anyone having a whiff of it? Or is it still out there slicing through the Arctic waters on its eerie odyssey with some indecipherable purpose of its own? Until it rises up from its hiding horizon to be sighted again or someone uncovers the wreckage, a definitive fate of this phantom ship of the Arctic will stay outside our ability to comprehend.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “HMS Terror: A British Warship That Was Lost for Over 170 Years“.

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Baychimo: Arctic Ghost Ship | By Anthony Dalton

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