Outrageous History: Selling Wives

The industrial revolution was certainly a time filled with ingenuity and inventiveness. Much of that ingenuity was applied towards manufacturing, while some, it would appear, was applied towards marriage. England was certainly the scene of many an unhappy marriage at the time, but to lower class citizens divorce was simply not an affordable option. Rather than stay stuck in an unfruitful union, the inventive individuals looking for an out came up with a new custom: Wife Selling.

Although the practice didn’t result in an official divorce and the marriage was still legally binding, the sale could not go through before both the husband and wife agreed to it, and so local magistrates were usually willing to look the other way. The trend proved quite popular during the 19th century but the concept can be traced back to the mid-1700s.

Among the most well-known occurrences of the bizarre practice was the sale of Joseph Thompson’s wife on April 7, 1832. Thompson, a farmer, had reportedly walked into Carlisle and announced his intention to sell his wife to the “highest and fairest bidder.” He proceeded to list his wife’s faults and virtues as she was seated beside him with a halter around her neck, and over the course of the hour-long auction finally succeeded in selling his wife to Henry Mears for 20 shillings and a dog.

Looking for a deep dive into the world of history? Visit our online library at www.typerse.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more, accessible anytime from your favorite devices.

Strange Tales From The History Books

Real life is often stranger than fiction, and a deep enough dive into the history books will reveal some strange tales indeed.

Bat bombs. Lytle S. Adams, a Pennsylvania dentist, conceived a bomb that would drop a thousand bats with incendiary devices attached to them onto enemy territory. The idea was to have the bats roost in attics in a 20-40 mile radius and start fires that would spread throughout inaccessible areas. Perhaps short on ideas, President Roosevelt approved the idea for testing during WWII, but the design was soon scrapped after one of the test sites caught fire when a bat was accidentally released.

Cruel and unusual punishment. Though now considered a delicacy, lobsters were found in abundance in the 1800s, to the point where they were only eaten out of desperation. When it became common practice to serve lobster to prison inmates, the resulting public outcry went to far as to called the prison menu “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Self mummification. Think it takes discipline to be a Buddhist monk? You may have no idea just how much… Sokushinbutsu was a type of meditation practised by some Buddhist monks between the 11th and 19th centuries. The practice involved slowly weaning one’s self off food, water, and other sensual pleasures with the ultimate goal of ascension. The result would be a mummification-like state inevitably leading to death.

Looking for more history? Visit our online library at www.typerse.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more!

History’s Head Scratchers

The world can certainly be a strange place at times, and there’s no shortage of stories to prove it. Here are three tales from the history books that will have you scratching your head.

You are what you eat. Odd as it may seem, in 16th and 17th century Europe a form of cannibalism was actually an accepted practice. The practice began with the notion that Ancient Egyptians mummies had magical curative powers, and so they were ground up and included in several different medical remedies. From there the practice led to the inclusion of bone, blood, and fat from contemporary humans in medical concoctions.

Lightning never strikes twice, it strikes seven times. Roy Cleveland Sullivan, a park ranger at the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, was struck by lightning on seven different occasions between 1942 and 1977. Seven... Nicknamed the “Human Lighting Rod,” Sullivan earned himself an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for his feat. Miraculously, he survived all seven lightning strikes and lived to the age of 71.

A lover of the Opera. Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s enigmatic Supreme Leader from 1994-2011 was actually born Yuri Irsenovich Kim in 1941 in the Soviet village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk. He was a great lover of music, and actually wrote six operas while in office.

Looking for a deeper dive into the world of history and beyond? Visit our online library at www.typerse.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more, acessible anytime from your favorite devices.