Category Archives: History

The US Civil War and Historical Revisionism

It’s very common these days to hear claims that the US Civil War, often referred to by southerners as “The War of Northern Aggression,” was not in fact caused by a debate over slavery. It was, so modern apologists claim, a matter of states’ rights and resistance to the “tyranny” of the Federal government by […]

The Word from the Front, 25 June 1915

RUSSIANS HURL GERMANS BACK ON THE DNIESTER Some of Linsingen’s Army, After Terrific Four-Day Battle, Are Driven Across the River. LOSSES CALLED ENORMOUS Army from Lemberg Also Halted in Attempt at Great Flanking Movement. GERMANS ADMIT REVERSES Say Foe is Sacrificing Troops with Desperate Recklessness in Bessarabia as Well as Galicia Special Cable to THE […]

The Word From the Front, 23 June 2015

From the New York Times, 24 June 2015 FIRED THIRTY-SIX TONS OF SHOT INTO DUNKIRK But Germans’ Bombardment at 20-Mile Range Caused No Panic. DUNKIRK,  June 23.  (via Paris, June 24.)–Thirty-six  tons of explosives and metal ,were  fired into  Dunkirk yesterday from the German position somewhere behind Dixmude. Several  civilians  were  killed   or wounded, and […]

The Year of the Money Pit

It seems the “History” channel, after having already broadcast one short series on the Money Pit in 2014, decided once was not enough and is running another series on the same subject. Different bat-time, but the same bat-channel and equally bad bat-material, with the usual parade of “theories” (read: “guesses”) and faux science. I guess […]

Oak Island: back in the news again

“in 1795, three boys went on an adventure to visit an island reputed to be the site of a pirate lair…” This is, more or less, how typical accounts of the Oak Island legend begin. And over the last month, the latest in a series of TV “docudramas” about the story has been playing on […]

Thanks, Veterans

In 2002, I received a contact email from a gentleman in Connecticut regarding my work at Oak Island. He was appreciative of my efforts at demystifying the Money Pit tale, and we kicked off a lively correspondence about history, mythology, and folklore. He was very interested when he found out my father had trained as […]