Things that are utterly bloody fascinating

Placemarking

So pretty

I found one in lockdown in the woods behind my house. There'd always been a weird mound but I never knew why. Then a fence blew down and no one repaired it so it was possible to get to it and someone had prized the door off. Really weird to go in after all this time.

Oh wow - those suitcases sound fascinating. Following this thread with interest.

One rabbit hole I went down was reading about the Scientologists. Some was a bit crazy, but other things were really disturbing, especially how children are treated on the cruise ship Freewinds. Kids are chosen to work on it according to reports by adults who have left Scientology and made to do awful dirty jobs and work very long hours.
I was left wondering why the leaders were not in jail.

😀Poor JKR!
Do you believe that about the several writers theory? I want to believe it was one man, Shakespeare, that went to a grammar school and was just touched with genius. Wouldn't it be wonderful to find a diary or a cache of letters that was indisputably in his hand! The author of the plays is such a mystery.

@ElizabethBest Brilliant idea for a thread-thank you!
@Everyonesinvited Totally agree with you about Nick Cave's Red Hand Files.

Old air raid shelters. As a child I lived in a house with one in the back garden called an Anderson. But not them, no the big public ones. In a local park is a really large one, hidden with a lump of earth and some grass. Ever time I walk on it I'm amazed how large it actually is. You can feel the concrete under your feet when you walk over it, and the grass gives away its half circle shape, it's a different colour, and finally when it snows, the first bit to melt is over the old shelter. I dream of one day it being opened up for us to look inside.

Until then, YouTube and a Google of "my area" air raid shelters keeps me going.

I get lost here for hours

www.abbeyroad.com/crossing

Sorry haven't read the full thread but definitely will later. I love all this fascinating stuff. One I've always found a bit mind blowing is the lifecycle of the European Eel and its epic journey to the Norfolk Broads from the Sargasso Sea. Also the distances that some tiny migratory birds cover.

I love these type of threads thanks op
I find Victorian death photography sad and fascinating
sometimes the only picture they would have had of a loved one

Something I saw for the first time at the weekend and was absolutely blown away. A murmuration of starlings. The sky was black and the birds were just going round and round in a massive flock.

I googled it when we got home and there are whole websites dedicated to it. I find birds generally really fascinating

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/spot-a-starling-murmuration-this-winter.html#:~:text=At%20sunset%2C%20huge%20groups%20of,group%20of%20starlings%20in%20flight.www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/spot-a-starling-murmuration-this-winter.html#:~:text=At%20sunset%2C%20huge%20groups%20of,group%20of%20starlings%20in%20flight.

Dumpedinkilburn There are a few theories that seem to suggest Shakespeare could have been several writers ,all under the umbrella that was his name.Mind you theres a similar on Jk Rowling as well! Maybe true or put about by jealous types(Her ex apparently says he "helped" her to write them" Jackanory I feel!

I went on a deep dive about Henry VIII's wives the other day and found an amazing YouTube channel called Royalty Now Studios where she examines contemporary accounts and portraits of historical figures and then recreates what she believes they would have looked like today. Really interesting! The videos are very relaxing so I've been watching them before bed.

The Pendle Witch Trials are also grimly fascinating. I recently discovered a great documentary presented by Simon Armitage called '1612: The Disturbing Witch Trial That Shook Britain'. You can search for it on YouTube. It delves into how the standards for credible witnesses have changed over time (the Pendle witches were convicted based on evidence from an 8 year old) and how the battle between Protestantism and Catholicism shaped so much of what went on in England at that time. It's so interesting.

This is a bit grim but I love programmes about surgery and operations. I’m fascinated by what surgeons can do with new technology and research. I don’t know how they can do such complex things through tiny keyholes. I’m also intrigued by the number of Drs and nurses they have in the operating theatre while operations are being done.

For those who love an abandoned building:

Abandoned Burger King

My gran used rags. But poor women in the past had no underwear. I do not see why you would buy or make a sanitary belt instead of underwear.

The story of Lady Baker who explored East Africa in her teens in the 1850s. Definitely should be a movie! Florence Baker

Nick Cave has a website called the red hand diaries where fans write in with questions or complaints and he discusses the issues in thought provoking letters back. Hundreds of letters.

Have bookmarked this on my laptop - this is great!

Made me think of this:

toronto.ctvnews.ca/aerial-view-of-anatomically-correct-newmarket-health-centre-sparks-jokes-worldwide-1.2254688

It muse be so tempting as a town planner or architect to sneak in designs within the plans

Thank you so much for this thread - it's fascinating!

Have ordered Your Inner Fish for my son. Thank you for the rec!

A bit morbid but I can go into a rabbit hole with this. So many fluke things, some are stupidity or human error. Just all the weird ways we can shuffle off our mortal coil!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths

@Kate0902900908 I'm so sorry about your losses but it does sound absolutely fascinating. Did you have any indications or other symptoms prior to finding out two years ago? I miscarried one of my twins when they were approximately 11 weeks and just accepted that my body / the placenta had reabsorbed the foetus as it wasn't visible by 16 weeks. I had no idea that the other twin could absorb the foetus.

This is so moving - thank you for the link. I'd love to see that exhibition (and would come away with tears pouring down my cheeks, not doubt).

Those poor mothers - obviously desperate, and loving their babies so much - and the children who were left there's many of whom did. (Of course, it was an age of high infant mortality)

What lovely names they were given, though. I really got the impression that the Foundling Hospital did its best to make them feel cared for.