Just the Facts

Question

How can you not love this photo?  Hah! 

So, the intent of this post is to compel people shut in and watching nothing but re-runs and bad news to  re-join the land of the living if your local officials are telling you to shelter in place..  As I've mentioned, I live in a very rural area and I'm out and about, entertained by nature and/or my shop every day, but I also understand that there are any number of people who may be living in population centers where movement is restricted and where opportunity to "feed the mind" is limited. 

I"m seeing all sorts of silly shizz on the internet from people hold up at home......the latest seems to be reality entertainers in various stages of undress to others standing on their collective heads in order to change in to a new t-shirt.  At least the bucket challenge let you stand. 

Anyway, the goal here is for anyone who wishes to participate, the challenge of providing some unknown individual from history, and a brief synopsis of them and why they find them interesting enough to share them with the rest of us.

I'm beginning with my boy here the Danish explorer Peter Freuchen.  He is pictured here in this photo in his polar bear coat at 6'7" with his third wife, Dagmar Cohn, a fashion illustrator.  I'm not sure where I could possibly begin to tell you about this guy, but talk about a full life.  Dogsledding  a thousand kilometers in exploration across Greenland, choking a wolf to death with his hands, a member of the Danish resistance during WWII.  He was a published author, fathered some interesting children and.....I don't possess the bandwidth to report out on all of the riveting stuff this guy was part of.

So, look him up.  Stimulate your mind....stay up late and read by your lamp by the fire (with snacks).  Then, come back and produce one of your own.

Cheers.

Answer 1

Sarah Winchester:

She believed she was cursed and had a fear that something horrible would happen if she stopped adding to her home, a mansion in California.  She ended up with stairs leading nowhere, doors opening to blank walls, and all manner of bizarre passageways.

Comments

Jan! I remember her...she was featured on a TV show of the 1950's must have been, I think it was a weekly series called BELIEVE IT OR NOT.

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I remember watching a documentary a few years back about this.  Didn't someone do a movie?

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I think you're both right ... I remember that t.v. series and some kind of documentary a long time ago.

Answer 2

Hi Freeranger,

My nomination is Mary Anning...although not totally unknown, at least not in our present day. She lived in Lyme, England (1799-1847) and is said by some to be "the greatest fossilist the world ever knew'" (British Journal of the History of Science, 1995).

And the cliffs of Lyme Regis, her home, "were -- and still are -- rich in spectacular fossils from the seas of the Jurassic period." And Mary, not only a woman but from a poor family, was not recognized/given credit for her unparalleled skill in finding and identifying them.

Nothing much is known of her life, either, but I learned of her because authors have used their imagination to make up fictional biographies of what her life might have been, in an effort to give her a place in history.

I have a drawing for you, and also a link.

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/anning.html

Comments

After I read this I'm thinking, "pity no one gave her a ticket to Egypt."   Not a hobby I would picture for someone in the 18th/mid-19th century.....but then, why I love history.

Answer 3

I did a book report once in high school on Freuchen's book Vagrant Viking. In it, I learned about the custom among Eskimos of providing visiting guests with sexual comforts, although I did not mention that aspect in my report... we had a rather staid lady for an English teacher who did not appreciate discussion of such topics in her class. She once stopped another student in mid-sentence when he compared money-lending in The Merchant of Venice to prostitution, as occupations that were not considered respectable, yet many availed themselves of their respective services.

Comments

Another urban legend dashed by our resident faerie.  I'd heard some time ago that they rubbed noses when meeting.  Silly me.