Western Europe
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Chernobog
Also known as Czernobog, he was a dark demonic deity in Slavic mythology. His name means ‘Black God’. Only coming out at night he causes calamity and disaster, bringing bad luck and misfortune wherever he turns. His opposite number is Belobog, the White God of Goodness. Few would pray to such a god but one early passage reveals that people would spit curses into a bowl during feasts to keep him at bay. Little else is known about him. The only historical sources, which are Christian ones, interpret him as a dark, accursed god, but it is questionable how important or malicious he really was. The name is attested only…
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The Sad Life of Louis-Charles
Born March 27, 1785 to King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette, Louis-Charles should have had a charmed life. He was the second son and named the Duke of Normandy until the death of his older brother, upon which he became the Dauphin or heir to the throne. Madame de Rambaud was his governess and she cared for him as if he were her own. Although he had a governess, Louis-Charles was still close to his mother. He was described as a bright, good looking child, “…his blue eyes, aquiline nose, elevated nostrils, well-defined mouth, pouting lips, chestnut hair parted in the middle and falling in thick curls…
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The Crippen Murder
Hawley Harvey Crippen was a meek little man with a big problem. His wife was a cheating, gold digging narcissist. To complicate matters, he was in love with another woman. How did he get into this predicament? Crippen was born to a prosperous family in Coldwater, Michigan in 1862. Despite the fact the family was comfortable, they instilled in young Hawley a strict work ethic. Crippen completed a degree an M.D. from Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital after graduating from the University of Michigan. He set up practice in Brooklyn, NY and married a nurse named Charlotte Bell and the two had a son. Bell died suddenly, and Crippen sent their son…
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Sophia Dorothea of Celle- The Lady in the Tower
Born the only child of the Duke George William of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1666, Sophia Dorothea was illegitimate. Her mother was the Duke’s long standing mistress, Éléonore Marie d’Esmier d’Olbreuse, an exiled French Protestant aristocrat. They weren’t even supposed to be together, and Sophia Dorothea was not supposed to exist. George William was supposed to marry Princess Sophia, daughter of the Palatine King of Bohemia (For more on her, please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/sophia-of-hanover/) George William was so repulsed by the “mannish” Sophia, he traded his claim to the duchy of Hanover to his brother, Ernst Augustus, so he’d take her off his hands. Item: If you look at her picture,…
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Arrhichion – Olympic victor even in death
He was a champion pankratiast (martial art blending boxing and wrestling) in the ancient Olympic Games. He was the winner of the pankration at the 52nd and 53rd Olympiads. Little did he know that the 54th would be his last. His fatal fight was described by the geographer Pausanias and by Philostratus the Younger. Pausanias states: “For when he was contending for the wild olive with the last remaining competitor, whoever he was, the latter got a grip first, and held Arrhachion, hugging him with his legs, and at the same time he squeezed his neck with his hands. Arrhachion dislocated his opponent’s toe, but expired owing to suffocation; but…
