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Emperor of the United States: The Bizarre and Noble Story of Joshua Abraham Norton and His Cult Following in 19th Century San Francisco

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  In November of 1849, during the frenzied height of the California Gold Rush, a ship from Rio de Janeiro docked in San Francisco harbor and off of the gangplank stepped Joshua Abraham Norton--the future Emperor of the United States of America! Joshua Abraham Norton would one day proclaim himself to be the Emperor of the United States of America, however when he came ashore in late 1849 in the western frontier gold rush boomtown that was San Francisco, California at that time, no one in the city--not a single soul--had any idea who the hell he was.   If they had known who he was they most probably would have thought that he was an unmitigated failure at life who was running from his foggy and somewhat sketchy past, and like most of the hundreds of souls who arrived daily at the port of San Francisco, was seeking to strike it rich overnight at one of California’s many gold prospecting sites.  Had anyone known who Joshua Abraham Norton was when he arrived in San Francisco, and had they s
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Imagine a Dragon! The Lindwurm of Klagenfurt Austria and the Place where Medieval Folklore met History and Belief

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  At one time, during the epoch in European history that is known today as the High Middle Ages, perhaps sometime between the year 1000 and 1100, the city of Klagenfurt which is located in present day southern Austria, was founded in the marshy wetlands and along the muddy banks of the River Glan.  The city was established by a wealthy and high-born Duke, and was protected by a veritable army of brave and heavily armed knights.   But, there was one problem with the founding of Klagenfurt.  The city was being threatened by a vicious, fire-breathing winged dragon.  The dragon, at least according to legend, prevented any outsiders from crossing the River Glan to enter the city and constantly ravaged the homes and properties of the townspeople with devastating floods. Klagenfurt is definitely an historic city, whose picturesque architecture, even today, gives the town a medieval feel.  The city itself  is not far, less than fifty miles in fact, from Austria’s present day border with th
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Attack of the Dead Men 1915: The Great War's Supernaturally Horrific Battle and History's First Weapon of Mass Destruction

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  Built by the Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II during the 1880’s Osowiec Fortress, located in modern day northeastern Poland, was designed with its large caliber artillery and concrete steel-reinforced bunkers to repel even the most determined German assault on northern Russia in the direction of the Czar’s capital city of St. Petersburg. In the years 1914 and 1915 during the First World War Osowiec Fortress was the scene of near constant bloodshed as the highly trained and technologically advanced German forces of Kaiser Wilhelm II repeatedly attempted to storm the fortress, overwhelm the numerically superior Russian garrison and drive towards St. Petersburg.  In fact, from the start of World War One in August of 1914, until German forces finally overran the fortress one year later in August of 1915, no fewer than four major battles encompassing six total months of daily hand to hand combat took place in and around the fortifications of Osowiec Fortress. Osowiec Fortress today
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The World's First Submarine was Launched in the Passaic River? How an Irish School Teacher from New Jersey Changed the World in 1878

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  May 22, 1878 was a warm spring day in New Jersey.   On that day Irish born American engineer John Philip Holland, a bespectacled school teacher by trade then residing in Paterson, New Jersey, climbed aboard a strange looking craft early in the morning and descended below the surface of the Passaic River.  Before a startled crowd of helpers and onlookers, wearing a three piece suit and bowler hat, he risked his life in an angular sort of tube made of riveted cast iron, that weighed over two tons and was fourteen feet long.  He had named his invention after himself--the Holland Boat-- it was history’s first truly modern, self-propelled, submarine. The Passaic River flows for approximately eighty miles through most of northern New Jersey.  The Passaic River’s source is a picturesque pond called Dubourg located in the affluent suburb of Mendham, while the mouth of the River empties out into the Atlantic Ocean at Newark Bay one of the Garden State’s most urban areas and one of the world
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