What is the Loch Ness Monster?

As far back as the 7th Century, people have reported seeing a Loch Ness monster in Scotland. Can science explain these mysterious sightings?

The Loch Ness is a lake in Scotland that holds the largest volume of freshwater in the United Kingdom. But rather than being known for its size, it is famous for the mysterious legend of the Loch Ness monster. For hundreds of years, people have reported catching a glimpse of a huge creature in the lake while others have shared photos they claim to have taken of this sea creature. The legend is so great that even scientists have been intrigued and many have conducted experiments and come up with theories to try and explain what people could be witnessing.

Credit: Heinrich Harder, 1916

Painting of plesiosaurs, creatures thought to be most similar to people's descriptions of the Loch Ness monster.

A real creature in Loch Ness?

It has been proposed that Nessie � as the Loch Ness monster is commonly called � could be a prehistoric creature called a plesiosaur, an animal that spanned up to ten meters in length and has long been considered to be extinct. Adrian Shine, the leader of a British team called the Loch Ness Project, has spent over 30 years trying to rationally explain the monster sightings by researching the ecology of the region. If in fact a large creature was living in the lake, there would have to be evidence of a food chain for it to survive. A creature like the Loch Ness monster would most likely eat fish, which in turn would live off large quantities of microscopic animals called zooplankton. There would have to be enough zooplankton in the lake to support populations of larger animals.

A way of estimating the amount of zooplankton in the lake is to examine the quantities of green algae � the bottom rung of the food chain - that zooplankton feed from. Green algae needs some light to thrive, and so by examining how deep down in the lake sunlight can penetrate, researchers can estimate the amount of green algae and following from this, the type of population that could be sustained.

Scientists have calculated that a maximum of 17 to 24 tons of fish live in the Loch Ness. For a lake of its size, it is a small amount, and would be able to keep alive about ten creatures weighing 226 kg each. According to Richard Forrest, an expert on plesiosaurs, ten creatures would not be enough to keep a colony going. �Thirty to forty creatures would be the minimum size of a breeding population,� he says.

In addition, if creatures similar to plesiosaurs lived in the waters of the Loch Ness, they would be seen very frequently as they would have to surface several times a day to breathe. Eye witnesses have often mentioned seeing an animal throwing back its long neck from the water, but Forrest claims that plesiosaurs couldn�t do that. �The simple fact is that a plesiosaur�s neck is too stiff. The bones of the neck interlock and there are tall spines on top of them so the neck can�t go straight out of the water,� he says.

SONAR investigations

But it is not impossible for prehistoric creatures to still be around today. In 1938, South African fishermen caught a gigantic fish that turned out to be a Coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct for the past 80 million years. Because of murky water filled with peat, it has been hard for divers to properly investigate the depths of the Loch Ness and the life that exists there. The advent of SONAR � a measuring instrument that sends sound waves into water and measures distance by calculating the time it takes for an echo to travel back to the source � has proved to be useful for probing the mystery since the waves can detect any objects that come in their way.

In 1987, Operation Deepscan took place - the biggest SONAR exploration of Loch Ness. Boats equipped with SONAR were deployed across the whole width of the lake and they simultaneously sent out acoustic waves. BBC News reported that the scientists had made sonar contact with a large unidentified object of unusual size and strength. The researchers decided to return to the same spot and re-scan the area.

After analysing the SONAR images, it seemed to point to debris at the bottom of the lake, although three of the pictures were of moving debris. Shine speculates that they could be seals that got into the lake, since they would be of about the same magnitude as the objects detected. But no one has been able to confirm their identity.

The Surgeon's Photo: Famous picture that for a long time was considered to be the most trusted photo of the monster.

Similarly, many people have captured photos of monster-like creatures that have never been explained. Many have been dismissed as forgeries, but the most trusted one was called the Surgeon�s Photo, since it was supposed to be have been taken by well-respected surgeon Robert Wilson. For about 50 years, the true story behind the picture was a mystery, but it was finally revealed to be a hoax started by a man called Marmaduke Wetherall. Attempting to prove to the world that Nessie exists, Wetherall had already claimed to have found monster-sized footprints near the Loch, but when the casts he sent to the Natural History Museum in London were analysed, they were found to be hippopotamus tracks! As revenge, he made a model of the monster and photographed it on Loch Ness. He managed to persuade Wilson to pass it off as his own, since he knew that no one would believe him after his hippo prank.

Monster earthquakes?

Although many sightings could be hoaxes, there could also be a geological interpretation: seismic activity in the lake could cause disturbances on its surface that could be mistaken for Nessie. Loch Ness is situated on the Great Glen fault line that was created by the collision of continents that formed Scotland 400 million years ago. Over 200 years ago, a major earthquake with its epicentre in Lisbon, Portugal caused water disturbances in the Loch more than 1500 km away. �Reports state that a wave about two or three feet high was seen travelling up and down Loch Ness,� says Robert Musson, the principal seismologist at the British Geological Survey. But he claims that generally there is little seismic activity in the area and doesn�t think that earthquakes can account for the repeated sightings.

Dr Luigi Piccardi, an Italian specialist in Mediterranean geology, disagrees. Currently studying events depicted in Greek mythology, he says that many of the effects described can be related to real effects during strong earthquakes. Similarly, he thinks that the same theory applies to Nessie and claims that there are recurring tremors around the town of Inverness just 16 kms away that could spread to the Loch. He plans to test his theory by conducting a detailed seismic survey in the area.

But should geological explanations fail, psychology may be able to provide some insight. Helen Ross, a psychologist and expert on illusions, thinks that myth is so powerful that people can convince themselves that an ordinary object floating in the water is a monster. �When something really ambiguous is there, people often don�t know what they�re seeing and they can see all sorts of strange things,� she says. �It�s a bit like seeing faces in the fire or ink blots appearing as all sorts of creatures.�

Until physical evidence of the Loch Ness monster is found � like the creature itself or its skeleton � it may be hard to convince most scientists that it exists. Perhaps the sightings are simply an example of the human fascination for mystery and intrigue, and the awe that many people have for the natural world.

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Siberian Mystery Blast "Solved"

The scars on the landscape can still be seen today

By BBC News Online science editor Dr David Whitehouse

Astronomers may have solved the puzzle of what it was that brought so much devastation to a remote region of Siberia almost a century ago.

The asteroid was probably a pile of space rubble - like Mathilde

In the early morning of 30 June, 1908, witnesses told of a gigantic explosion and blinding flash. Thousands of square kilometres of trees were burned and flattened.

Scientists have always suspected that an incoming comet or asteroid lay behind the event - but no impact crater was ever discovered and no expedition to the area has ever found any large fragments of an extraterrestrial object.

Now, a team of Italian researchers believe they may have the definitive answer. After combining never-before translated eyewitness accounts with seismic data and a new survey of the impact zone, the scientists say the evidence points strongly to the object being a low-density asteroid.

They even think they know from where in the sky the object came.

Completely disintegrated

"We now have a good picture of what happened," Dr Luigi Foschini, one of the expedition's leaders, told BBC News Online.

The direction of the flattened trees is a vital clue

The explosion, equivalent to 10-15 million tonnes of TNT, occurred over the Siberian forest, near a place known as Tunguska.

Only a few hunters and trappers lived in the sparsely populated region, so it is likely that nobody was killed. Had the impact occurred over a European capital, hundreds of thousands would have perished.

A flash fire burned thousands of trees near the impact site. An atmospheric shock wave circled the Earth twice. And, for two days afterwards, there was so much fine dust in the atmosphere that newspapers could be read at night by scattered light in the streets of London, 10,000 km (6,213 miles) away.

But nobody was dispatched to see what had happened as the Czars had little interest in what befell the backward Tungus people in remote central Siberia.

Soil samples

The first expedition to reach the site arrived in 1930, led by Soviet geologist L A Kulik, who was amazed at the scale of the devastation and the absence of any impact crater. Whatever the object was that came from space, it had blown up in the atmosphere and completely disintegrated.

Nearly a century later, scientists are still debating what happened at that remote spot. Was it a comet or an asteroid? Some have even speculated that it was a mini-black hole, though there is no evidence of it emerging from the other side of the Earth, as it would have done.

What is more, none of the samples of soil, wood or water recovered from the impact zone have been able to cast any light on what the Tunguska object actually was.

Researchers from several Italian universities have visited Tunguska many times in the past few years. Now, in a pulling together of their data and information from several hitherto unused sources, the scientists offer an explanation about what happened in 1908.

Possible orbits

They analysed seismic records from several Siberian monitoring stations, which combined with data on the directions of flattened trees gives information about the object's trajectory. So far, over 60,000 fallen trees have been surveyed to determine the site of the blast wave.

Over 60,000 fallen trees have been surveyed to determine the site of the blast wave

"We performed a detailed analysis of all the available scientific literature, including unpublished eye-witness accounts that have never been translated from the Russian," said Dr Foschini. "This allowed us to calculate the orbit of the cosmic body that crashed."

The object appears to have approached Tunguska from the southeast at about 11 km per second (7 miles a second). Using this data, the researchers were able to plot a series of possible orbits for the object.

Of the 886 valid orbits that they calculated, over 80% of them were asteroid orbits with only a minority being orbits that are associated with comets. But if it was an asteroid why did it break up completely?

"Possibly because the object was like asteroid Mathilde, which was photographed by the passing Near-Shoemaker spaceprobe in 1997. Mathilde is a rubble pile with a density very close to that of water. This would mean it could explode and fragment in the atmosphere with only the shock wave reaching the ground."

The research will be published in a forthcoming edition of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

source : BBC News

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The 10 Most Famous Successful Assassinations

An assassination is a murder of an individual, who is usually a famous celebrity, politician, religious figure or royal. Usually in cases of assassination there is a clear motive – jealousy, political or religious idealism, contract killing, revenge etc. This list outlines the circumstances surrounding the death of 10 of the most famous successful assassinations in world history.

10. Alexander Litvinenko

Alexander Litvinenko was a Russian KGB agent, turned dissident and possible MI6 agent. On November 1st 2006, Litvinenko fell ill after eating at the London sushi restaurant Itsu. He had been receiving evidence about another murder while he was eating at the restaurant. On November 3rd, Litvinenko’s condition deteriorated and he was rushed to Barnet General Hospital in London. He died three weeks after his hospitalisation suffering from acute radiation syndrome spawned from exposure to the radioactive polonium-210. The incident gained huge worldwide media coverage, probably due to the similarities in the case to Hollywood spy movies. It is now accepted that Litvinenko was poisoned by a cup of tea in his hotel room. No one has been convicted of the murder; however, there are suspicions of Russian government involvement. Litvinenko died aged 44.

9. Lee Harvey Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald was a former marine who the United States government claim was responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Whether or not this is true, Oswald was himself assassinated two days after the fatal shooting of the President in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner with links to organised crime. Ruby had apparently been upset and angered by the murder ofthe President and had sought revenge. Oswald was shot on November 24th 1963 and died later that evening, aged 24.

8. John Lennon

John Lennon was one of the founding members of The Beatles, who had gone on to have worldwide success as a member of the band, and also as a peace activist. On December 8th 1980, Lennon was in New York City. As he was returning to his hotel that evening a man shouted his name. As Lennon turned around, the man shot Lennon four times. Lennon then stumbled into the hotel and collapsed. While this was taking place, the assassin Mark David Chapman dropped his weapon and sat on the street, waiting to be arrested. He was charged with murder and remains in prison to this day. His motivation for the murder is unclear.

7. Robert F. Kennedy

US Senator Robert F. Kennedy was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy. He was shot in the early hours of June 5th 1968 by a man named Sirhan Sirhan. A day later, Kennedy died in hospital. Kennedy had been shot four times at point-blank range. RFK as he was sometimes known had been a Presidential Candidate for the Democratic Party. It is unknown what Sirhan’s motivation for killing Kennedy was, however, it is assumed he was a Palestinian terrorist seeking revenge for the US support of Israel in the Six Day’s War of 1967. Kennedy died aged 42.

6. Malcolm X

Malcolm X, also known as Malcolm Little was an American black Muslim minister. He is often seen as the man behind the Black Power movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s in which African Americans radicalised and became driven toward freedom and towards gaining the respect of their fellow Americans. Malcolm had previously been a member of the Nation of Islam, however, he had become a Sunni Muslim. Apparently, following this, the Nation of Islam had given orders for the assassination of Malcolm X. On February 21st 1965, Malcolm had begun giving a speech when a man rushed through the crowd and shot Malcolm X with a sawn-off shotgun. Two other men joined in and Malcolm was shot a total of 16 times. The three men who killed Malcolm X were all members of the Nation of Islam. Despite often being labelled as a cold-hearted radical and a menace, the world was sympathetic towards Malcolm following his assassination. Malcolm X died aged 39.

5. Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King was the main man behind the American Civil Rights Movement. The movement was an attempt to abolish the racial discrimination of African Americans. King himself was black. On April 4th 1968, while standing on the balcony of his second floor motel room, King was fatally shot. Following the assassination there were riots in over 60 cities across the USA, and five days later, President Johnson declared a day of mourning. Two months later, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured in London, and was extradited to Tennessee where he faced the a charge of murder against King. Ray was a white man who was opposed the African-AmericanCivil Rights Movement.

4. Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, and held tenure from 1861 until his death in 1865. John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate spy, who had become angry atthe President because of his support for the freedoms of African Americans. He became determined to assassinate Lincoln. On April 14th 1865, Lincoln was going to the theatre. With the presence of only one bodyguard wandering through the theatre, Booth seized his opportunity. He waited until laughter filled the theatre and shotthe President in the head. Booth escaped, but was caught and fatally shot twelve days later. Lincoln was aged 56 at the time of his death.

3. Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was a Roman political and military figure in the 1st century B.C. He was a successful military leader and following considerable success he started a civil war in the Roman Republic. Following this, he was proclaimed dictator. However, some senators in Rome were disillusioned by what Caesar had done, and so planned an assassination to take place on the Ides of March. While walking past the Theatre of Pompey, Caesar was stopped by a group of Senators to read a fake bill which was allegedly to give power back to the Senate. As Caesar did this, he was stabbed. According to historical evidence, there were as many as 60 Senators present. After Caesar was stabbed he tried to run away, but fell and was stabbed repeatedly on the floor. He had 23 stab wounds. His death marked the end of the Roman Republic, and out of the bloody aftermath emerged the Roman Empire.At the time of his death, Caesar was 57 years old.

2. Franz Ferdinand

Archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand, and therefore heir to the Austrian throne is largely considered to be the catalyst for the beginning of World War I. On June 28th 1914 he was on a visit to Sarajevo, which was at that time a territory of Austria. While riding in an open-top car, he and his wife Sophie were shot by members of The Black Hand which was a Serbian group attempting to gain independence for all the states annexed by Austria-Hungary. World War I began two months after the assassination, with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. This declaration of war started a domino effect across Europe in which all the allies of Serbia declared war on Austria-Hungary and all of its allies.At the time of his murder, Ferdinand had been 50 years old.

1. John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States. He served from January 20th 1961 until his death on November 22nd 1963. His Presidency was one of the most event-filled of the 20th century. The space race, American Civil Rights Movement, Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, and the beginning of the Vietnam War all took place during his Presidency. Despite there being hundreds of witnesses to his assassination there is a lot of confusion surrounding Kennedy’s death to this day, leading many to suspect a conspiracy. Just before 12:30pm, Kennedy was travelling through Dallas in his open-top limousine. Three shots were then fired from a high-powered rifle, which all enteredthe president. Kennedy died soon after in hospital. Lee Harvey Oswald (see number 10) was charged with the murder of the President. This assassination in particular has had many conspiracies theorists, especially considering the until he died, Oswald maintained his innocence. Among those who have been accused are the FBI, Cuba, the CIA or the USSR. Many believe that there could have been a conspiracy among these groups. There has never been any conclusive evidence to prove that Oswald acted alone, or if he was even involved in the murder. Despite numerous investigations, the death is still shrouded in mystery.

Bonus: Mohandas Gandhi Wikipedia

On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was shot and killed while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla Bhavan (Birla House) in New Delhi. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu radical with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan. Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted; they were executed on 15 November 1949. Gandhi’s memorial at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi, bears the epigraph “Hē Ram”, which may be translated as “Oh God”. These are widely believed to be Gandhi’s last words after he was shot, though the veracity of this statement has been disputed.

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/10/28/the-10-most-famous-successful-assassinations/

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Top 10 Evil Children

From time to time the unthinkable happens: children kill. Some decide to murder members of their own family in spite of their seemingly normal upbringing. Others do so because their upbringing was far from normal – often including beatings and abuse. Then there are misguidedchildren who, from the sheer desire to kill, go on murder sprees ending the lives of purely innocent victims. Children are supposed to be innocent and pure; without malice, contempt, sinister anger, or desires to kill, yet every year many commit horrific crimes. Here are Ten of the Most Evil Children in History, with number One exclusively dedicated to one foul group. The age limit for this list is 17 years.

10. Brian And David Freeman / Nelson Byrdwell

Bryan Freeman, 17, and David, 16, who had shaved and tattooed their heads as a symbol of their neo-Nazi beliefs, were immediate suspects when their parents and younger brother were found bludgeoned to death in their Salisbury Township, PA, home. The boys had been terrorizing the family and, as a whole, the town. As the police told it, the triple murder uncovered in Salisbury Township, Pa., that week was every parent’s nightmare — the ghastly culmination of a long-running battle of wills between Brenda and Dennis Freeman and their loutish, hulking sons Bryan, 17, and David, 16.

9. Edmund Kemper

In 1964, when Edmund Kemper was 15, he shot his grandparents, killing them both. He had been planning his repulsive act for some time and had no regrets later. The California Youth Authority detained him in Juvenile Hall so that they could put him through rigorous series of tests administered by a psychiatrist. Because the results suggested that he was a paranoid psychotic, he was sent to Atascadero State Hospital for treatment. There he learned what others thought about his crime and worked hard to make his doctors believe that he had recovered. Although he was considered a sociopath, he worked in the psychology lab to help administer the tests to others. In the process, he learned a lot about other deviant offenders. Kemper was released after another five years and remained under the supervision of the Youth Authority. His doctors recommended that he not be returned to his mother’s care, but the Youth Authority ignored this. After Kemper murdered and dismembered eight women over the next five years, these same doctors affirmed his insanity defense. In fact, even as he was carrying parts of his victims around, a panel of psychiatrists judged him to be no threat to society.

8. Joshua Phillips

In 1998, 14-year-old Joshua Phillips bludgeoned his 8-year-old neighbor to death and hid her body beneath his bed. Seven days later, his mother noticed something leaking from beneath the bed. Joshua claimed that’s he’d accidentally hit Maddie in the eye with his baseball bat causing her to scream. In his panic he dragged her to his home where he hit her again and then stabbed her eleven times. His story failed to convince a Florida jury, who convicted him of first-degree murder. His mother is still appealing his conviction based upon the fact that he was given an adult penalty for his crime.

7. Willie Bosket

Willie Bosket, born on December 9, 1962, is a convicted murderer, whose crimes, committed while he was still a minor, led to a change in New York state law, so that juveniles as young as thirteen could be tried in adult court for murder and would face the same penalties. On March 19, 1978, Willie Bosket, then fifteen years old, shot dead Noel Perez on the New York subway, during an attempt to steal some money and a watch. Eight days later, Bosket shot another man, Moises Perez (no relation to his first victim) in another botched robbery attempt. Bosket was tried and convicted of the murders in the New York City Family court, where he was sentenced to five years in prison (the maximum for a minor). The short length of Bosket’s sentence caused a public outcry, and led the New York State Legislature to pass the Juvenile Offender Act of 1978. Under this act,children as young as thirteen years old could be tried in an adult court for crimes such as murder, and receive the same penalties as adults. New York was the first state to enact a law of this nature; many other legislatures have since followed suit. Bosket was eventually released from prison, but has subsequently been convicted of anumber of other felonies, for which he has received a number of life sentences. He is currently in the New York prison system, in solitary confinement.

6. Laurie Tackett

On the morning of Saturday, January 11, 1992, Indiana resident Donn Foley and his brother Ralph decided to do some quail hunting in a nearby Jefferson County forest. Just one mile into their trip, as Donn turned onto Lemon Road, Ralph spotted a strange object just a few feet from the road in a barren soybean field. At once it appeared to them that it might be a body, but the form was so badly burned and scarred that it looked to them to be a doll. Upon closer investigation, it became painfully obvious that it was not a doll. Upon investigation, it turned out to be the body of Shanda Sharer who would later be found the victim of a jealous lesbian love triangle. Her body, prior to the murder, had been slashed and stabbed with death eventually resulting from torching. Laurie Tackett was ultimately implicated along with Toni Lawrence and Hope Rippey.
Mary Laurine (Laurie) Tackett was born on October 5, 1974 in Madison, Indiana. Her mother was a fundamentalist Pentecostal Christian and her father was a factory worker with two felony convictions and prison stints in the 1960s. Tackett claimed she was molested at least twice as a child, at ages five and twelve.

5. Brenda Anne Spencer

On Monday, January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer used a rifle to wound eight children and one police officer at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, and to kill Principal Burton Wragg and custodian Mike Suchar. The school was across the street from her house. She used the rifle she had recently been given for Christmas by her father. When the six-hour incident ended and the pretty teenager was asked why she had committed the crime, she shrugged and replied, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” She also said: “I had no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun.” “It was just like shooting ducks in a pond.” and “[Thechildren ] looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings.” Her lack of remorse and inability to provide a serious explanation for her actions when captured inspired the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats, written by socialist musician Bob Geldof. Her quote “I don’t like Mondays” also appears written on a wall in the movie, The Breakfast Club.

4. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson (both 10 years old) had been stealing things all day at the shopping center — candy, a troll doll, some batteries, a can of blue paint, and other incidentals. Why did they decide to steal 2 year-old James Bulger? Was it a plot or a sudden, overwhelming compulsion? Once they had him, they didn’t know what to do with him. They could have easily discarded him, leaving him alone on the sidewalk by a shop where someone would discover the crying baby. But Jon and Robert, likechildren who would rather destroy their own possessions than give them to another, murdered the little boy. James’s parents would never see their baby alive again. The video cameras at the mall caught several images of James Bulger in the hands of his killers, frozen in time. He was to be taken on a long, aimless walk, cruelly tortured along the way. James was senselessly beaten to death by his ten-year-old captors, who callously abandoned him on the railroad tracks.

3. Jesse Pomeroy

Jesse Pomeroy was 14 when he was arrested in 1874 for the horrific murder of a four-year-old boy. He was quickly labeled “The Boston Boy Fiend.” His horrible trek had begun three years earlier with the sexual torture of seven other boys. For those crimes, Pomeroy was sentenced to achildren ’s reform school but was released early. Not long after, he mutilated and killed a 10-year-old girl who came into his mother’s store. A month later, he kidnapped 4-year-old Horace Mullen, took him to a swamp outside town and slashed him so savagely with a knife that he nearly decapitated him. Because of his strange appearance (he had a milky white eye) and his previous abhorrent behavior, he was under suspicion. When he was shown the body and asked if he’d done it, he responded with a nonchalant, “I suppose I did.” Then the girl was found buried in his mother’s cellar and he confessed to that murder, as well. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Following a public outcry against condemningchildren to death, his sentence was commuted to forty years of solitary confinement.

2. Mary Bell

Mary Bell was convicted of strangling a young boy, Martin Brown, on May 25, 1968, the day before her 11th birthday. She was, as far as anyone knows, alone on this occasion. On July 31, 1968, Mary and her friend (Norma Bell – no relation to Mary) took part in the death, again by strangulation, of three-year-old Brian Howe. Police reports concluded that Mary Bell had gone back after killing him to carve an “N” into his stomach with a razor, this was then changed using the same razor but with a different hand to an “M”. Mary Bell also used a pair of scissors to cut off bits of Brian Howe’s hair and part of his genitals. As the girls were so young and their testimonies contradicted each other, it has never been entirely clear precisely what happened. Martin Brown’s death was initially ruled an accident as there was no evidence of foul play. Eventually, his death was linked with Brian Howe’s killing and in August, the two girls were charged with two counts of manslaughter. Mary was released in 1980 with court ordered anonymity. In 2003, the courts awarded her and her daughter anonymity for life.

1. School Shootings

The rise of school shootings has been staggering over the past 15 years and they still leave many people ultimately wondering why? Most of the kids involved had been ridiculed one way or another by not only school mates, but also family members at home. These murderous children acquired large caliber weapons in most cases; though in others, knives, hand guns, or the like were brought in to their schools and use just as effectively. Teachers, faculty, and students loose their lives each and every time this happens. Here are just a few of the incidents:

March 24th, 1998 – Andrew Golden (11) and Mitchell Johnson (13) gunned down 15 people in the Westside Middle School Playground.
April 20th, 1999 – Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17) Columbine High School – 13 dead, 25 injured.
November 15th, 1995 – Jamie Rouse (17) Richland School Tennessee – 4 injured, 2 dead
February 2nd, 1996 – Barry Loukaitis (14) Moses Lake, Washington School – 3 dead, 2 injured
May 21st, 1998 – Kipland Kinkle (14) Springfield Oregon – 3 dead including parents, 8 wounded

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/11/23/top-10-evil-children/

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Top 10 Loudest Noises

Loud noises occur every day. Wincing at the annoyance of a dog bark, or covering your ears as you pass a construction sight is the standard way to guard against the harsh sounds. The pain threshold for humans is 120-130 Decibels. Any sound above 85 dB can cause hearing loss, and the loss is related both to the power of the sound as well as the length of exposure. Here are 10 sounds produced throughout history and how incredibly loud they are. Just remember, human speech is only registered at about 25-35decibels.

10. Rock Concert/Speakers

A 400,000 Wat rock concert or a similar set of speakers mounted in a vehicle can reach ear-splitting decibel levels. Is it any reason most promoters recommend you wear ear protection to stave off the 135-145 decibel sound waves?

9. Fireworks

Though not typically heard up close, fireworks are still explosions and are very loud. The sound heard from the sky is pretty loud, though not damaging, but at the bursting point the decibel levels reach a staggering 145-150. Even tests are performed under strict sound proofing to avoid any ear injury.

8. Gunfire

Gunfire for anyone unfortunate enough to be standing near it can be quite damaging to the ears registering at a quite loud 145-155decibels. This is the very reason why you should always wear ear protection when on a firing range.

7. NHRA Dragsters

Sitting next to a dragster as it fires up its engines and screams down the raceway can be more than just loud; it can be damaging to your entire body. At the 155-160 Decibel range not only will it severely to permanently damage your hearing, but it also vibrates your vision and makes it temporarily difficult to swallow. That’s why no one stands next to them.

6. Space Shuttle Launch

When the rockets fire, it is wise and, in fact, fully enforced, that you stand at least a half-mile away lest you get inundated by 165-170decibels of painful sound. Unlike many other loud noises, the shuttle rocket sound is constant as it creates the thrust necessary to lift itfrom the ground.

5. The Blue Whale

Blue whales mostly emit very loud, highly structured, repetitive low-frequency rumbling sounds that can travel for many miles underwater. These songs may be used for communicating with other blue whales, especially in order to attract and find mates. The call of the blue whale reaches levels up to 188 decibels. This extraordinarily loud whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles underwater. The whale is the loudest, and, the largest animal on earth.

4. Volcano – Krakatoa

The 1883 the Krakatoa eruption ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice and generated the loudest sound historically reported at 180Decibels : the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Australia approx. 1,930 miles (3,110 km), and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius approx. 3,000 miles (5,000 km).

3. 1-Ton TNT Bomb

Standing as close as 250 feet away from the impact, the resulting explosion from a 1 ton bomb creates a decibel count of 210. Without sufficient hearing protection, not to mention a complete sound-resistant bunker surrounding you, you could quite literally die from the intense vibrations that would literally shake you apart. Unless, of course, you were under the bomb.

2. 5.0 Richter Earth Quake

A sufficient enough quake to rend the ground in twain and destroy buildings, whole rock, and human life reaches a decibel level of 235. If you are caught in the epicenter and are unlucky enough to not be above the ground in a plane or helicopter, the intense noise and vibrations could kill you long before death by any falling object.

1. Tunguska Meteor

The Tunguska event was a massive explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Under Rock) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, at 7:40 AM on June 30, 1908. The explosion was most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometers (3–6 mi) above Earth’s surface. It was measured with the similar impact of a 1000-Mega-ton bomb with a decibel rating 300-315. This is often considered to be the loudest single-event in history.

Bonus: Lake Taupo Eruption

Lake Taupo is a large lake in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand. The lake is the caldera that resulted from a massive volcanic erruption in 180 AD. It is New Zealand’s largest eruption in 20,000 years. It ejected around 120 cubic kilometers of material, of which 30 cubic kilometers were ejected in the space of a few minutes. It is believed that the eruption column was 50 kilometres high, twice as high as the eruption column from Mount St. Helens in 1980. The resulting ash turned the sky red over Rome and China. This eruption was reportedly heard in China. Lake Taupo today, is one of New Zealand’s popular tourist attractions for its beauty and swimming. The fact that the lake is the largest fresh water lake in Australasia, and approximately the same size as Singapore, ensures it is a huge ‘must do’ component to many tourists.

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/11/30/top-10-loudest-noises/

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10 Heroic Last Stands from Military History

To me, the “heroic last stand” is one of the most awesome of all the awesome footnotes of history. Sure, not all of them work out this way, but I can almost see the noble bunch of heroes looking at one another and saying, “This is it, gentlemen, we are royally screwed, surrounded, and the cavalry apparently ain’t coming so lets make this bunch pay dearly for our blood.” They are the brawniest bunch you can imagineand the ones the people back home are counting on to keep them safe.

Now, in my admittedly biased and prejudiced mind, not all Last Stands are created equal. So, for the purpose of this list, I’ve got five criteria in mind. Not every last stand here meets all five, but they must meet at least three.

1. If you are the aggressor, you can’t have a Last Stand because you are getting your just desserts. Simply put, you started it and if you hadn’t started it, you wouldn’t be getting wiped out to the last man, now would you? (Think Custer)
2. The odds are laughably against your team. We’re talking AT LEAST 3:1 against and the worse the odds, the burlier the last stand glory.
3. Everybody, or at least just about everybody, dies. It’s not a Last Stand if enough of you are left to make another last stand at some point.
4. Everyone EXPECTS to die. No surrender even if asked to. As one burly sergeant in a furball of a fight put it, “Surrender? Not bloody likely!” (Exception: You surrender on YOUR terms and it’s honored.)
5. The sacrifice has to mean something in the larger scheme of things. Otherwise, you should have bloody well retreated or something to try staying alive since what you did was get everyone killed for nothing.

So, with no further ado, and in no particular order, here are my suggestions for the burliest of the burly Last Stands.

1

The Last Stand at Thermopylae

circa 480 BC

This was the stuff legends are made of and since Frank Miller’s film 300 came out, a whole new generation of people have been acquainted with the heroic sacrifice of Leonidas and his handpicked guard of 300 warriors, all of whom had mature sons who could carry on the family name. What a lot of people don’t seem to remember is that as awesome as Leo and his wild bunch were, they didn’t stand completely alone. Other city-states, notably Arcadia and Thespia, sent troops as well, so the force opposing the massive Persian army was closer to 6,000 than just 300. Still, that this group stopped those thousands cold in their tracks at the Hot Gates for three days and in the end were only dislodged by treachery is nothing short of amazing. The action scored a perfect 5 out of 5 on the criteria. The best legend, probably apocryphal – but maybe not, was one Spartan hoplite’s reply to a Persian envoy’s boast that, “Our arrows will blot out the Sun.” The hoplite replied, “So much the better, for then we shall fight in the shade!”

2

The Last Stand of the Swiss Guard

May 6, 1527

Rome was sacked by the troops of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Charles V in 1527. When the troops, mostly rabble and mercenaries, of the empire breached the city, they immediately ignored the orders of Charles and pretty much everyone else in command and made straight for Vatican Hill intent on pillaging the richest treasures in Christendom. They also had murder on their mind and Pope Clement VII was high on the list of targets. The famous Swiss Guards, who used to do more than just stand around looking pretty for tourists, formed a fighting square on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica to face upwards of 20,000 bloodthirsty troops who were storming the city. Only 189 Guardsmen remained after the fighting to take the city, but these troops chose to make their stand in hopes of buying Clement time to escape the city through one of the warrens of tunnels under Rome. Clement made good his escape as the Guard managed to hold the porch of the church and prevent the doors from falling, but only 42 Swiss Guards survived and none of them were uninjured. Again, this one scores a 5 out of 5 and proves that when the Swiss decide not to be neutral, they aren’t a bunch to take lightly.

3

Battle of the Alamo

February 23 to March 6, 1836

This one siege and especially its climactic pre-dawn final battle is the reason natives of Texas poke their chests out a little farther than most other Americans. It is a singular event in Texan history and it’s what lead directly to Texas becoming first a nation and later a state in the United States of America. Not only that, but “Remember the Alamo!” has rung down the years as a major battlecry for people who’ve never crossed the Texan border, but who feel a giddy sense of bravado in the face of utter annihilation.

At the old Spanish mission, 182 poorly armed Texas rebels faced upwards of 2000 crack Mexican troops under the command of the finest Mexican general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Mexicans had cavalry and a battery of cannon. The Texans had grit, determination, and cannons with very little ammunition. For 12 days, the Texans stood down Santa Anna, enduring bombardments daily. Finally, Santa Anna had enough and ordered a full assault on the mission in a surprise pre-dawn attack. Every defender of the mission was killed but Santa Anna did spare the women and children as well as sparing and freeing two African American slaves found in the fort. This last stand garners a 4.5 out of 5 because technically, the Mexicans were the “good guys” since the Texans were rebels against the lawful authority in Mexico City.

4

Battle of Camaron

April 30, 1863

This small engagement in Mexico while much of the world was focused on the American Civil War to the north, put the French Foreign Legion on the map and began a legend that persists today in the unofficial motto, “The Legion dies, it does not surrender.” Everything fell out because a group of 65 Foreign Legion troops, led by Capt. Jean Danjou were carrying supplies to Veracruz in support of the French campaign in Mexico under Napoleon III. Caught out in the open, the French troops managed to make a fighting retreatto the small hacienda of Cameron. There, surrounded and backs to the wall, the handful of Legionnaires fought like they were possessed. They repulsed attack after attack, cavalry charge after cavalry charge, until their ammunition began to run low.

Even after Capt. Danjou was felled by a bullet to the chest, his men fought on. Finally, only six of the men remained and they were out of bullets and powder. At this point, they have killed enough Mexicans to surrender honorably. After all, only six are left ALIVE, much less standing. But no, led by the highest remaining NCO, a corporal, the six men fixed bayonets and, with the cry of “Vive l’France”, charged the Mexican forces. Three were struck by rifle fire and killed outright. The remaining three were surrounded, wrestledto the ground and asked to surrender. Most men would have said fine and thanked their luck they were alive.

Not this bunch. One of the men looked up and said they would surrender only if they were allowed to keep their regimental Colors, keep their weapons, carry their dead with them, AND be given a safe conduct escort to their own lines. Accordingto the accounts of eyewitnesses, the Mexican commander shook his head, laughed and ordered his men to comply with the Legionnaires’ demands. “After all,” he is supposed to have said, “What is one to do with devils like these?” To this day, April 30 is called Cameron Day in France and is celebrated by the Legion much as the Marine Corps Birthday is celebrated every November in America.

5

Battle of Shiroyama

September 24, 1877

This battle would again only garner a 4 out of 5 on the criteria because Saigo’s samurai were technically rebels. BUT, they were rebels because the Emperor was destroying their way of life. Bushidoand the sword had ruled samurai behavior for over a thousand years and now the nobility of the samurai and his training were being swept aside in favor of conscript troops with rapid firing weapons.

So, the samurai under their commander Saigo were retreating to their base of operations when they were caught and surrounded on the hill of Shiroyama. The 300 of them had their traditional bows and, of course, their matchless katanas. The 30,000 Imperial troops had rifled muskets and gatling guns.

The Imperial commander asked Saigo to surrender peacefully and be spared, but, being a samurai, Saigo couldn’t really do that. Instead, he spent the night of September 23 getting buzzed on sake and ready to die. At 3:00 AM, the Imperial troops began an artillery bombardment followed by a full frontal attack. Saigo was twice wounded before committing ritual suicide to avoid the dishonor of capture. The thirty men who survived the artillery barrage charged the Imperial lines and began laying about them with their katanas. They acquitted themselves well, but in the end, every one of them was killed and the way of the samurai was dead . . . at least until the start of World War II.

6

Battle of Rorke’s Drift

January 22, 1879

Okay, this is another slightly technical violation of my criteria. After all, if the Brits hadn’t been trying to take the Zulu’s land, Rorke’s Drift never would have happened. BUT, in my defense, these particular 139 soldiers weren’t invading anything. They were left behind while the “big boys” went off to get massacred at the Battle of Islawandha.

No, this was a group of cooks, supply clerks, Royal Engineers, and other guys who could fight if they had to, but hadn’t really been called upon very much. They were the prime example of the “in the rear with the gear” soldiers. Unfortunately, all their buddies were wiped out at the aforementioned Battle of Islawandha. To make matters worse, a whole crap load of Zulus didn’t get to take part in the battle because everyone was dead before they got there. So, those bored Zulus decided to take out their frustrations on the supply depot at Rorke’s Drift.

The Zulus had numbers, surprise, the high ground, and knowledge of the terrain. The defenders had bags of grain, Martini-Henry rifles, and bayonets “with some guts behind them”. The Zulus attacked in massive waves all through the afternoon of January 22 and through the night and early morning of January 23. They were gathering for another assault when their scouts spotted the British relief column complete with cannon and decided to retire.

The defenders gained a new respect for the Zulus and in the process garnered 11 Victoria Crosses, the most ever awarded for a single engagement. True, they weren’t wiped out, but when they looked up and saw every surrounding hill bristling with Zulu warriors, no one thought he was getting out alive.

7

Battle of Pasir Panjang

13 February 1942

1,400 Malay, British, Indian and Australian soldiers faced off against 13,000 Japanese troops in an attempt to save Singapore or at least give the civilians time to evacuate. Soldiers from the Royal Malay Regiment, The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, the British 2nd Loyals Regiment, the 44th Indian Brigade and the 22nd Australian Brigade made a futile attempt to stop the advancing Japanese towards the centre of Singapore. The majority of the defenders fell in the battle. Those that did not became prisoners who would later be pressed into service on the Thai-Burma Railroad where they would be forced to built a famous bridge over a famous river.

In the final hours of battle, a Malay soldier, 2nd Lieutenant Adnan Bin Saidi, led a 42-man platoon against thousands of invaders, leaving himself as a sole survivor. The Japanese suffered a disproportionately high number of casualties because of these men’s bravery so as punishment for being burly and courageous they tortured Adnan before executing him.

8

Siege of Bastogne

19 December 1944-December 26, 1944

Early in the Battle of the Bulge about 12,000 under-equipped and exhausted US Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division seized the town of Bastogne to defend this strategic crossroads from the German Advance. They were promptly and completely surrounded by roughly 15 Divisions of Germans. The 101st could only be sustained by airdrops from C-47s and things looked suitably grim. Seeing the hopelessness of the American position, German commander, General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz asked the 101st’s acting commander, Captain Anthony McAuliffe to surrender, McAuliffe’s famously terse reply was “Nuts!”.

Under their impetuous commander, the unit held off multiple German Panzer attacks, until eventually relieved by George S. Patton’s US Third Army on December 26. One of the units of the 101st to take part in the battle was the legendary Easy Company immortalized in the TV series “Band of Brothers.”

9

The Saxon Housecarls at Hastings

October 14, 1066

On January 6, 1066, Harold Godwinson became King Harold II following the death of his brother-in-law, Edward the Confessor. By late summer, he was faced with two imminent attempts to invade England. The first came in the northeast from his traitorous brother, Tostig, and King Harald Hardraada of Norway. While celebrating his defeat of Hardraada at a victory feast, Harold received word that Duke William the Bastard had landed at Pevensey in the south with 7,000 men. Harold gathered his forces, marched south to London, and by the evening of October 13, deployed his forces along Battle, or Senlac, Ridge near Hastings.

The battle developed into a deadly engagement between the Saxon infantry and the Norman cavalry and archers. Initially, Norman arrows were harmlessly deflected by Saxon shields, and Saxon axes and spears shattered the first Norman charge. Overcome by confidence, the Saxon infantry unwisely followed the retreating cavalry in reckless pursuit and were cut down by the Norman reserve. Harold reformed his forces and the Saxons braced for additional charges. The battle evolved into relentless pounding on the Saxon line by the Norman cavalry. The Saxons more than held their own and inflicted heavy casualties. Just before evening, William feigned a general withdrawal and many Saxons again broke ranks to pursue. The knights wheeled round and destroyed the Saxon infantry in the open field.

Harold and his housecarl bodyguard remained intact and just as formidable on the ridge. William ordered a final charge. This time he first had his archers aim not at the Saxon shields but release their volleys into the air so the arrows would fall on the Saxons from above. The tactic worked, but the Harold and his housecarls fought on until an arrow struck the king in the eye. As Harold struggled to pull it free, four Norman knights (one of whom may have been William) attacked. One speared Harold in the chest, and a second nearly decapitated him with a sword. As he fell, the other two Normans delivered additional blows. With Harold’s fall, the Saxon forces panicked and retreated into the nearby woods except for the housecarls who fought to the death around the body of their dead king.

10

The Battle Off Samar

October 25, 1944

The Battle Off Samar (also known as “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors) has been cited by historians as one of the greatest military mismatches in naval history. It took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines. It all started when Admiral William Halsey, Jr. was lured into taking his powerful U.S. Third Fleet after a Japanese decoy fleet. He thought this fleet was the main Japanese battle group and if he could catch them, he could destroy what was left of the Japanese navy.

To defend his rear, he left behind only “Taffy 3,” a light screen of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and three escort “baby” carriers. A powerful Japanese surface force of battleships and cruisers thought to have been defeated and in retreat earlier had instead turned around unobserved and came upon the tiny force of tiny ships. With nothing else he could do, Admiral Spruance in command of Taffy 3 gave the order, “Small Boys (meaning destroyers and escorts) attack.”

With that order Taffy 3’s destroyers and destroyer escort desperately charged forward and attacked with 5 inch guns which could not penetrate even the thinnest armor of the Japanese armada and torpedoes, while carrier aircraft dropped bombs and depth charges, then out of bombs, strafed the bridges of the Japanese heavy ships. While the Americans suffered more losses in ships and men than were lost at the Battle of Midway, they caused so much damage and confusion to convince the Japanese commander, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita thought he had stumbled upon the lead element of Halsey’s main fleet. Fearing for his forces, he ordered his ships to regroup and ultimately withdraw rather than advancing to sink troop and supply ships at Leyte Gulf. Taffy 3’s bold defense in the face of overwhelmingly superior firepower saved the invasion of the Phillippines.

Source: http://listverse.com/2009/08/28/10-heroic-last-stands-from-military-history/

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Top 10 Famous Slaves

Slavery is a very ancient institution which is even sanctioned in the Bible: “Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you” [Leviticus 25:44]. While most of the Western world has abolished this practice, there are still some nations that turn a blind eye to a very active slave trade. This is a list of the most famous slaves in history. It is very difficult to write such a subjective list in light of the enormous number of slaves that are known in history, nevertheless I have endeavored to do so.

10. Margaret Garner

Margaret Garner was a slave in pre-Civil War America notorious for killing her two year oldbutcher knife, rather than see the child returned to slavery. Margaret was not tried for murder, but was forced to return to a slave state along with her youngest child, and a daughter aged about nine months. The Liberator reported on March 11, 1856 that the steamboat Lewis, on which the Garners were traveling, began to sink and thatMargaret and her baby daughter were thrown overboard when another boat coming to their rescue hit the Lewis. Sadly, the baby was drowned. It was reported thatMargaret was happy that her baby had died and that she would try to drown herself. daughter with a

9. Abram Petrovich Gannibal

Major-General Abram Petrovich Gannibal, also Hannibal or Ganibal, (1696 – 20 April 1781) was an African slave who was brought to Russia by Peter the Great and became major-general, military engineer and governor of Reval. He is perhaps best known today as the great-grandfather of Aleksandr Pushkin, who wrote an unfinished novel about him, The Moor of Peter the Great.

8. Ammar ibn Yasir

Ammar bin Yasir is one of the most famous companions of Muhammad, and was among the slaves freed by Abu Bakr. He is venerated by Shi’a Muslims as one of the Four Companions, early Muslims who were followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Ammar was born in the Year of the Elephant (570). Therefore he is as old as Muhammad. Ammar was a friend of Muhammad even before Islam. He was one of the intermediaries in his marriage to Khadijat Al-Kubra. He was a slave of Banu Adi. He was killed by a group loyal to Mu’Awiyah in the battle of Siffin (657). His killer was ibn Hawwa esaksaki and Abu Al’Adiyah.

7. Nat Turner

Nat Turner was a black preacher who led an 1831 uprising in Southampton County, Virginia in which at least 55 whites were killed by a group of about 50slaves . Turner was a deeply religious man who claimed to have visions and directives from God. On the night of 21 August 1831 he led four otherslaves (Henry, Hark, Nelson and Sam) on a murderous spree near the town of Jerusalem, killing men, women and children in their beds. By the next day his mob had grown to at least 40 or 50, but the local militia confronted and captured most of them. Turner escaped, but was eventually captured in October and tried. He was hanged and skinned 11 November 1831. Before he was executed, he described his actions to Thomas R. Gray, and “The Confessions of Nat Turner” was later widely published in newspapers. Turner’s failed rebellion led to hundreds of blacks being murdered by white vigilante mobs, and spurred a new set of strict codes that limited the activities ofslaves.

6. James Somersett

James Somerset or Somersett was a young African slave who was purchased by Charles Stuart in Virginia in 1749. Stuart was involved in English government service and traveled as part of his duties accompanied by Somerset, who at the time did not have a first name. In 1769, Stuart along with Somersett traveled to England. While in England, Somersett met and became involved with people associated with the anti-slavery movement in England including the well known activist Granville Sharp. During this period, Somersett was christened with the name James in a church ceremony. Somersett was recaptured after escaping, and his trial ultimately spelt the end ofslavery in England (though not English participation in slavery in its other nations).

5. Enrique of Malacca

Enrique of Malacca was a native of the Malay Archipelago. Also known as Henry the Black, he was Ferdinand Magellan’s personal servant and interpreter. He had been reportedly captured by Sumatran slavers from his home islands. In 1511 he was purchased by Ferdinand Magellan in a Malaccan slave market and baptized as Henrique (spanish Enrique), (his original name is not recorded). Thereafter he worked as a personal slave and interpreter, accompanying Magellan back to Europe, and onwards on Magellan’s famous search for a westward passage to the Pacific Ocean. He is simply called Enrique on the ship’s muster roll, and Henrich in Pigafetta’s account of the expedition. If a loose definition of circumnavigation (ie, not returning to the exact same spot), then Enrique has an undisputed claim to being the first circumnavigator. He made the first known cultural circumnavigation, travelling around the world until he reached people who spoke his language. He (and Magellan) may also have crossed every meridian — that is he crossed every line of longitude, or circumnavigated the poles.

4. Frederick Douglass

Born in bondage on the eastern shore of Maryland, Douglass worked for several different slaveholders in both eastern Maryland and Baltimore between 1818 and 1838. During his youth, Douglass became proficiently literate by readingthe Bible and classic orations and listening to the sermons of antislavery black preachers and Quakers. These experiences later contributed to his unyielding abolitionism and fierce egalitarianism. In 1838, while a ship caulker’s apprentice, Douglass acquired free seaman papers and escaped to New York City. He then moved to Massachusetts and became involved in antislavery activism, under the tutelage of William Lloyd Garrison. Eventually rejecting the apolitical nature of Garrisonian abolitionism, Douglass moved to Rochester, New York, and founded his own abolition journal, The North Star.

3. Saint Patrick

St. Patrick is revered by Christians for establishing the church in Ireland during the fifth century AD. The precise dates and details of his life are unclear, but some points are generally agreed: as a teen he was captured and sold intoslavery in Ireland, and six years later he escaped to Gaul (now France) where he later became a monk. Around 432 he returned to Ireland as a missionary and succeeded in converting many of the island’s tribes to Christianity. Late in life he wrote a brief text, Confessio, detailing his life and ministry. His feast day, March 17, is celebrated as a day of Irish pride in many parts of the world.

2. Aesop

Aesop, famous for his Fables, is supposed to have lived from about 620 to 560 BC. The place of his birth is uncertain — Thrace, Phrygia, Aethiopia, Samos, Athens and Sardis all claiming the honor. We possess little trustworthy information concerning his life, except that he was the slave of Iadmon of Samos and met with a violent death at the hands of the inhabitants of Delphi. Aesop must have received his freedom from Iadmon, or he could not have conducted the public defense of a certain Samian demagogue (Aristotle, Rhetoric, II 20). According to the story, he subsequently lived at the court of Croesus, where he met Solon, and dined in the company of the Seven Sages of Greece with Periander at Corinth. It is probable that Aesop did not commit his fables to writing; Aristophanes represents Philocleon as having learned the “absurdities” of Aesop from conversation at banquets, and Socrates whiles away his time in prison by turning some of Aesop’s fables “which he knew” into verse.

1. Spartacus

Spartacus, a Thracian, served in the Roman army. He became a bandit and was sold as a slave when caught. He escaped a gladiatorial school, where he had plotted a revolt with other gladiators, and set up camp on Mount Vesuvius, where he was joined by other runawayslaves and some peasants. With a force of 90,000, he overran most of southern Italy, defeating two consuls. He led his army north to the Cisalpine Gaul, where he hoped to release them to find freedom, but they refused to leave, preferring to continue the struggle. Returning south, he attempted to invade Sicily but could not arrange the passage. The legions of Marcus Licinius Crassus caught the slave army in Lucania and defeated it; Spartacus fell in pitched battle. Pompey’s army intercepted and killed many of those escaping north, and Crassus crucified 6,000 prisoners along the Appian Way.

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/09/17/top-10-famous-slaves/

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