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Obelisk Day
Here you will learn everything there is to know about Obscurium's weirdest holiday and how it came into being.
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM to read the latest contributions!
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In late 2021, President Zar Antonov was exploring the wide expanses of the Charlottenburg palace park in Berlin. During this expedition he and his companion came across an obelisk, just a little off the path, standing amid bushes and grass. The obelisk bore the same inscription on all four sides: "11th of March - This could be a day of historical importance". According to a nearby sign "Braco Dimitrijevic created the 10-meter-high marble obelisk in 1979. The artist's intention was to erect a monument commemorating an arbitrarily chosen date (March 11th), which would stimulate contemplation about the nature of historical significance, much like it is connected with dates (in Germany) such as November 9th or October 3rd."
Naturally, the spirit of this monument perfectly reflects the spirit of Obscurium and therefore it was decided to uplift the 11th of March to the status of a national holiday for no other reason than the fact that it was randomly selected by Braco Dimitrijevic.
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After input from Obscurian citizens it was decided that the day would be celebrated in two ways:
1. One places a wreath (preferably a laurel wreath) on their head, raises their hands towards the sky (in other words, "becoming the obelisk" and holding this position while contemplating historical significance and the nature of the wider world.
2. Any person who wishes to do so may submit their short account of an obscure or strange historical event which will be shared on this site.
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While this is an Obscurian holiday, we encourage anyone to follow in the spirit of this date and even participate in the submission of little known historical events to this website on the 11th of March.
And lastly, if you are reading this on the 11th of March, we wish you a happy Obelisk Day!
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The recordings of both of these traditons can be found below.
The Obelsik
Zar Antonov at the base of the Obelisk
The Inscription
The Obelsik
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Obelisk Day Celebrations
The Obelsik Ritual
2024 Obelisk Day
WhatsApp Image 2026-03-11 at 8.55.54 PM
2023 Obelisk Day
2024 Obelisk Day
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Obscure Historical Events (2022 Entries)
The Anabaptists of Münster (Zar Antonov)
From 1534 to 35 a radical religious sect called the "Wiedertäufer" (Anabaptists),
took over the city of Münster and under the leadership of Jan Van Leiden, it became their kingdom of New Jerusalem. They believed that due to strange phenomena being observed in the skies Jesus would soon return to earth and that the apocalypse would begin. They banished everyone, who refused to be baptized by them, from the city, destroyed the city seals and archives and made polygamy legal. Van Leiden himself had 15 Brides.
After a long siege Münster was eventually retaken by the bishops troops and the Anabaptists rule of Terror came to an end.
Jan Van Leiden was taken prisoner, tortured, publicly executed and put into a cage which was hung on the Church tower and can still be seen there today.
From the late 19th to the middle of the 20th century the Anabaptists and Jan Van Leiden became quite popular and were used to attract Tourist to Münster.
There were Anabaptist medals and coin souvenirs, Anabaptist home decorations and even Anabaptist chocolate with a picture of van Leiden on them.
In 1921 he even appeared on the cities emergency currency.
While there aren't quite that many Anabaptist souvenirs for purchase in Münster nowadays, most people there still remember the story of Jan Van Leiden's apocalyptic kingdom. In addition to the cages, still hanging from the main church today, there is a large part of the city's historical museum, which examines this strange event.
Jan van Leiden
The Anabaptist Seal
Anabaptist Souvenier Medals
Jan van Leiden
1/11
Brennus and the Sack of Rome (Jan Olav Spiekermann)
Many of you will know of the fall of the city of Rome to the Visigoths in 410 AD. But there had been another sack of Rome, 800 years before this event.During the late 400s AD, both the Roman Republic and the Gallic Tribes who had previously settled in the north of Italy were expanding. At around 390 AD the Romans and the Gallic Senones tribe under their king Brennus, clashed in battle over the Etruskan city of Clusium, which had asked Rome for help against the Senones. Rome sent 3 ambassadors, one of whome got involved in the battle itself, which was a breach of the rule that ambassadors had to be neutral. Offended by this act, the Senones marched against Rome itself, meeting the Roman army at the place where the Tiber and Allia rivers meet. The Romans were decicively defeated at this engagement and Rome was subsequently taken by the Gauls and held for several months, before the Romans managed to drive them out.
Obscure Historical Events (2023 Entries)
The Target Shooter (Arthur de Turneau)
About one hundred and thirty years ago there was a target shooting in Ötz (Austria). A young man, who was working as a target shooter, suddenly fell down and lay lifeless for a while. The bystanders thought he was dead, but he got up again and was soon as fresh and healthy as before. Soon the rumour spread that he had seen something, i.e. had a vision. But when he was asked about it, he would only answer, "What is right there is right there, and what is right there is right there." By the word "there" he meant the other world. But once he said to his relatives: You will not live to see it, nor will your children, but your grandchildren will live to see it, that there is a world war." This prophecy came true, because those grandchildren lived to see the world war as elderly people. That man lived for 50 years after the incident, but no one had ever seen him laugh during that long time.
Is Heligoland still a British possession? (Jan Olav Spiekermann)
In 1807, Heligoland, until then part of the Kingdom of Denmark, was occupied by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland because Denmark was an Ally of the French Empire. In 1814, Heligoland officially became a British Crown Colony. It was a popular holiday destination, especially for German tourists, as well as a popular refuge for German Democrats who sometimes had to flee from the authoritarian regimes in the many German states of the German Confederation.
For example, in 1841 Heinrich August Hoffmann von Fallersleben composed the text of the German Anthem while staying on the Island. Heligoland was described as ''a land where there are no bankers, no lawyers, and no crime; where all gratuities are strictly forbidden, the landladies are all honest and the boatmen take no tips.'' A little paradise on earth. But after Germany became unified under Prussian domitation in 1871, the German Government was eager to get rid off the British possession off its shore as they saw it as a possible threat. On the other hand the British were afraid that in case of a war they would ot be able to defend Heligoland againsta German invasion. So in 1890 the British Government and the German Government signed the so-called Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty. In exchange for some German possessions and rights in Africa, the British ceded Heligoland to Germany. On the 10th of August 1890, there was a handover ceremony on Heligoland. The majority of the inhabitants of Heligoland were against this territorial exchange. If there would have been a referendum, the majority would have voted for the United Kingdom. Nonetheless there were some exclusive rights granted to the British and the inhabitants of Heligoland were allowed to remain British Citizens if the wished to do so. So even in 1914 there were still some natives of Heligoland on the Island who still had a British and not a German passport.
Due to this, when World War I broke out in 1914 the German Governemnt evacuated Heligoland as they thought that the inhabitants of Heligoland would still sympathies more with the British. And they had all reason to do so, because Prussian Germany built a naval base on the island and almost destroyed the tourist sector on Heligoland, which had been an important source of income under British rule. After WWI, through the Versailles treaty, all German pre-war treaties were annulled, except those which were explicitly renewed. So when I asked the State Government of Schleswig-Holstein if the privilege's of British Fisherman, granted to them in the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty, are still valid, I received this answer from a government official:
"Dear Mr. Spiekermann,
I apologize for only now getting back to your question below. To determine the facts, I asked my fishing colleagues at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for help, who have now sent me an answer:
""According to information from the Foreign Office, the Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty of July 1, 1890 is no longer in force. The privileges guaranteed therein to the explicit fishermen have thus expired. This results from the Versailles Treaty of June 28, 1919 (entry into force on January 10, 1920). whose art. 282ff. provided that, with the exception of the agreements mentioned there (nil report regarding the Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty), all existing agreements with the German Reich would become ineffective. Art. 289 of the Versailles Treaty then provides for the possibility of the victorious powers naming the agreement, by means of a unilateral notification within 6 months of its entry into force, to the German Reich which are to come into force again. However, no such notification was made to the German Reich by the end of the period on July 10, 1920. The British government also shares this view, as can be seen from a debate in the House of Commons in 1951 (https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1951/jun/25/heligoland). ""
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me again.
Best regards"
Well, if I count 1 and 1 together, I see that the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty is no more valid anymore, than the very central aspect of this argument - cession of Heligoland from Great Britain to Germany - is also invalid. So under international law Heligoland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. - Although that's both simply ignored by the British and the Germans.
The Kingdom of Romkerhall (Zar Antonov)
In the old days it was customary for the nobility to have specially designated area for hunting retreats. Geore V., King of Hannover had his hunting retreat in the picturesque landscape around Romkerhall. He was blind, so in order to have something nice there that even he could enjoy, he ordered the construction of a 64 meter tall waterfall at Romkerhall in 1862, the highest in the Harz mountains. Some even say that he placed the area under the direct authority of the crown of Hannover to commemorate the occasion. Furthermore, he allegedly subsequently gifted the land to his beloved wife, Queen Mary, who became its rightful owner.
The house on the property itself was managed by different owners until it became a hotel and inn in 1898, with its history slowly drifting from memory.
However, since the area was never given to any specific community and mostly ignored from the Prussian annexation of Hannover to the re-organization of German communities in the 1970s, the argument was made that it still belonged to the house of Saxony, of which Queen Mary had been a member.
So the search for a member of the house of Saxony to take over as monarch of this hidden piece of land began and sure enough, Princess Erina of Saxony was found, the wife of Prince Timo, the grandson of the last King of Saxony, Friedrich August III..
She was crowned queen of Romkerhall in an elaborate ceremony in 1988 and held this position until her death in 2010, after which the current owner of the territory, Princess Susanne of Romkerhall took over until the day when the rightful heir can be determined. The Kingdom has been run as a toruist attraction/ hotel ever since the coronation of Queen Erina in 1988 and has undergone renovations in recent years to compensate for the fragile state of parts of the building.
However, whether the Kingdom of Romkerhall is indeed the “World’s Smallest Kingdom” as they claim or just a community free area in the Harz mountains, has yet to be determined.
Emperor Norton I. (Clostridium Botulinum)
"At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, ....declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S.; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble .. to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity."
—NORTON I, Emperor of the United States.
With these words, sent to the various newspapers of San Francisco and published on Sept 17, 1859, Joshua Norton, a former South African businessman who lost his fortune and disappeared after trying to corner the rice market in seven years before, returned to take up his duties as ruler of the country. Whether mad from his earlier ruin or from the direction of the country increasing lurching towards Civil War (or both), Norton was nevertheless humored by the folks of San Francisco. Soon after becoming emperor, Norton banned the United States Congress through proclamation as:
"...fraud and corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice; that open violation of the laws are constantly occurring, caused by mobs, parties, factions and undue influence of political sects; that the citizen has not that protection of person and property which he is entitled."
When Congress ignored the order, Emperor Norton ordered the US Army to depose of them. This was also ignored. When French Emperor Napoleon III invaded Mexico in 1862, Norton quickly gave himself the additional title, "Protector of Mexico". Again this was ignored.
Emperor Norton soon began to develop a schedule, spending most of the day observing the conditions of sidewalks and cable cars with a uniform of a used Army coat, a beaver hat, and an umbrella, eating free food at bars, and having lengthy philosophical discussions with anyone who would listen. Periodically he would send further proclamations to the newspapers, including some that in hindsight were quite visionary: a ban on the word "Frisco" (SF continues to be the abbreviation used by locals), a bridge connecting San Francisco to Oakland via Goat Island (some plan to rename the Bay Bridge to the "Emperor Norton Bridge"), and a League of Nations. He also banned the Democratic and Republican Parties and forbade conflict between religions. In one famous incident, while inspecting his lands Norton came across an ugly mob beginning to riot against the Chinese. Interceding between the mob and their targets, he bowed his head and recited the Lord's Prayer until the mob sheepishly dissipated.
In 1867, while on another inspection, Emperor Norton was arrested by a police officer for lunacy. A massive public outcry soon persuaded the police to release the emperor, who magnanimously pardoned the errant officer. Afterwards the officers of the San Francisco Police saluted Norton as he made his rounds. By the 1870s, Emperor Norton's fame had reached throughout the United States. The 1870 Census listed his occupation as "Emperor" (it also added "insane"). Tourists arriving at San Francisco were eager to meet the emperor, including Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II. Postcards of him became popular. Norton began selling "Imperial Dollars" to supplement his income, which became de facto currency throughout the city. Things were now much easier for him: he was able to ride the rails free, courtesy of Leland Stanford and eat at the finest restaurants as owners sought his seal of approval and the accompanying boost in revenue.
It all ended on January 8, 1880, when Emperor Norton collapsed in front of St. Mary's Church. Though a carriage was quickly called, Norton died on the way to the hospital. He had ruled San Francisco for 21 years. "Le Roi est Mort" screamed the headlines of the San Francisco Chronicle.The Pacific Club quickly took up his funeral costs, and Emperor Norton was buried at the Masonic Cemetery in a ceremony lined by perhaps 10,000 people. In 1934, as part of the massive gravesite removals from San Francisco, Emperor Norton was transferred to Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma.
Emperor Norton's eccentric legacy lives on, mentioned by Robert Louis Stevenson in the book the Wrecker, and serving as the basis for the figure "the King" in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Additionally, he is a patron saint of Discordianism and there remain efforts to rename the Bay Bridge after him. Perhaps Norton's best legacy is summed up by Robert Cowan:
"...he had shed no blood; robbed no one; and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line."
Woodlawn Cemetery, Colma, California
Obscure Historical Events (2024 Entries)
The Tailor of Krempelstein (Arthur de Turneau)
"The ship sails down the Danube from Passau past the ruins of Krempelstein Castle. There is no certain information about when the castle was built and when it fell into ruin. Today, a single, square tower looks gloomily and sadly down into the Danube, and it too has been badly eaten away by the ravages of time.
A long time ago, after the knights and troopers had left the castle walls for good, a poor tailor chose the Krempelstein as his home. In a room that had escaped general destruction, the good master plied his honourable trade and only descended from the rocky heights into the valley when he had to take on or deliver work and when he had to buy clothing or food. His quiet life was made more cheerful by the company of a goat that jumped up and down merrily and rewarded the master's care with excellent milk.
Many, many years passed. The tailor and his goat grew older and frailer. One evening, when the master returned from a walk, the goat lay dead in the castle corridor. The tailor was heartbroken. Resentment and despair gripped the mind of the now lonely and abandoned man. In his despair, he did not know what to do. So he grabbed the dead goat and prepared to hurl it down from the cliff into the Danube. In his haste, however, the animal's horns got caught in his skirt and he plunged into the swirling depths, where he died. Not long after this event, passing boatmen pulled the dead master and his goat out of the waves.
From then on, the little castle was called the Tailor's Castle and bears this name to this day."
According to L. Bowitsch
Addendum:
Between 1937 and 1965, Eduard Munninger ran the meeting place of the pansophical organisation of the "Antiquus Arcanus Ordo Rosae Rubeae Aureae Crucis", in English the "Old Secret Order of the Ruby Red Gold Cross", at the castle.
Today, the renovated and inaccessible castle is owned by the Schulz-Wulkow family.
The Henry Wirz Obelisk (Clostridium Botulinum)
The single most controversial monument at Andersonville is not even in the park service grounds but in the neighboring and namesake Town of Andersonville. This obelisk is a monument to Capt Heinrich or Henry Wirz, the leader of Andersonville Prison, who was later convicted and executed for his role.
A Swiss who fled bad debts to the United States and ended up as a plantation overseer in Louisiana, Wirz fought in the American Civil War and was crippled by a wound to the arm in 1863. He was assigned to Brig Gen John Winder as an adjutant. In April 1864, Wirz took command of Camp Sumter, better known as Andersonville Prison, where some 13000 out of 45000 Union prisoners held under his guard died of starvation, diseases and/or exposure. Wirz knew about the deteriorating conditions, at one point offering to parole prisoners if the Federal government would provide transportation to ship them. This was refused on the grounds that there were no transportation and supplies necessary to take in such a large scale of parolees (interestingly the Nazis similarly offered to release concentration camp inmates near the end of WWII, with the same results). Promoted shortly before the end of the war, he was quickly arrested at the end of it.
In what would become the first war crimes trial held in the history of the United States, Henry Wirz was charged with:
"combining, confederating, and conspiring, ... to injure the health and destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United States, then held and being prisoners of war within the lines of the so-called Confederate States, and in the military prisons thereof, to the end that the armies of the United States might be weakened and impaired, in violation of the laws and customs of war", and for "violation of the laws of war, to impair and injure the health and to destroy the lives—by subjecting to torture and great suffering; by confining in unhealthy and unwholesome quarters; by exposing to the inclemency of winter and to the dews and burning sun of summer; by compelling the use of impure water; and by furnishing insufficient and unwholesome food—of large numbers of Federal prisoners".
He was charged with 13 acts of cruelty and murder, including stomping on prisoners, ordering guards to shoot prisoners, and shooting prisoners himself.
Some 160 witnesses were called to the stand. Testimony varied wildly, and may have suggested violent mood swings. However they did show a history of intimidation and cruelty: perhaps influenced by his time in the plantations, Wirz used iron shackles and bloodhounds liberally, and one Confederate guard recalled Wirz allowed a prisoner to drown while shackled in a rainstorm. Father Peter Whelan, "the Angel of Andersonville" and former Gen Robert Lee testified that Wirz had done all he could and was simply overwhelmed that led to the high death rate. Interestingly, both the prosecution and defense used what would become known as the "Nuremberg Defense"; Wirz hoped to pass responsibility to levels above him and that he was "just following orders", while the Federal prosecutors hoped to use his testimony to blame the Confederate leadership for the high death rate.
In November the Military Commission found Wirz guilty of 11 of the 13 charges and sentenced him to death. A clemency plea to Pres Andrew Johnson went unanswered, though according to some Southern sources a cabinet official visited Wirz and offered to commute his sentence in exchange for implicating Confederate Pres Jefferson Davis; this was refused, supposedly with Wirz stating: "Mr. Schade, you know that I have always told you that I do not know anything about Jefferson Davis. He had no connection with me as to what was done at Andersonville. If I knew anything of him I would not become a traitor against him, or anybody else, even to save my life."
Henry Wirz was hanged on November 10, 1865 in the Old Capitol Prison. Wirz, along with Champ Ferguson are the only people executed for war crimes during the American Civil War. The controversy did not die with Wirz, especially after a witness for the prosecution Felix de la Baume turned out to be a deserter named Felix Oeser, the implication being his testimony was perjured and the entire trial a farce. Wirz's role at Andersonville quickly divided along partisan lines, the North portraying him as an almost demonic villain, while the South portrayed him as an almost angelic martyr. Interestingly since the 1960s the Lost Cause viewpoint has become dominant, with a mythos such that Grant or Sherman helped cause the suffering at Andersonville or that Felix Oeser's perjury showed Wirz's innocence. It seems sufficient to say that as the leader of Andersonville Prison Henry Wirz was way over his head, overwhelmed by the ineptitudes of the Confederate government (mostly courtesy of John Winder) and the collapse of the Confederate transportation system, but simultaneously attempted to keep control by utilizing petty but violent and sometimes deadly acts of cruelty. Wirz was likely guilty of war crimes, though in the hindsight of the incredible cruelties of the American Civil War, those crimes seem to pale in comparison to say the actions of Nathan Forrest or William Qunatrill.
Built by the UDC in 1916 in response to the Northern monuments being erected around Andersonville Prison, this is the only monument erected to a war criminal in the United States. Many in Georgia were uneasy about the monument being so closely placed to the site of Andersonville, and managed to get the UDC to tone down language such as "an illegal court martial" and "a judicial murder". Even so as expected, the statue outraged Northern veterans, and the monument has been subject to frequent vandalism.
The wordy text of the monument:
North Side
When time shall have softened passion and prejudice, when reason shall have stripped the mask from misrepresentations, then justice, holding evenly her scales, will require much of past censures and praise to change places.
Jefferson Davis, Dec. 1888
South Side
Discharging his duty with such humanity as the harsh circumstances of the times, and the policy of the foe permitted Capt. Wirz became at last the victim of a misdirected popular clamor. He was arrested in the time of peace, while under the protection of parole, tried by a military commission of a service to which he did not belong, and condemned to ignominious death on charges of excessive cruelty to Federal prisoners. He indignantly spurned a pardon proffered on condition that he would incriminate President Davis and thus exonerate himself from charges of which both were innocent.
East Side
In memory of Captain Henry Wirz, C.S.A. born Zurich, Switzerland, 1822, sentenced to death and executed at Washington D.C. November 10, 1865. To rescue his name from the stigma attached to it by embittered prejudice this shaft is erected by the Georgia division, United Daughters of the Confederacy.
West Side
It is hard on our men held in southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. At this particular time to release all rebel prisoners would insure Sherman’s defeat and would compromise our safety here. Ulysses S. Grant, Aug. 18, 1864
Andersonville, Georgia
The Disappearance of Harold Holt (Zar Antonov)
For the leader of a country to die in office is already an event of great note on its own. But what if the leader in question does not simply die but instead disappears, never to be seen again? Such a rare case occurred on the 17th of Decamber 1967.
Harold Holt, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, went for a swim on Cheviot Beach, in the State of Victoria. He was seen swimming further out to sea and then, he vanished, never to be seen again. Following this, a search by the Police and Military attempted to find Holt’s body for 19 days, before they gave up. A memorial service had already been held on the 22nd of December, which was attended by high dignitaries from numerous countries. However, one question naturally still remains to this day: what really happened to Harold Holt?
Since no body was ever recovered, theories raged wild. They range from suicide to an assassination to Holt being a spy. However, in the end, the official explanation, which is also the simplest, might just hold the answer to what occurred on that December noon. Harold Holt was swept out to sea and drowned. While it is true that Holt was an excellent swimmer and diver, he did seemingly have a history of over excreting himself and was advised to be more careful while practicing his perilous hobby. Thus, perhaps it was carelessness that led him to deep waters that day and ultimately took his life. Ultimately, whatever the truth may be, this will remain an obscure and, likewise, interesting case of a head of government disappearing, without leaving any trace.
The Mystery of Comrade Boris (Jan-Olav Spiekermann)
On the 29th of May 1990, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Fderative Socialist Republic and thus also became Russia's head of state. Boris Yeltsin is known as the man who dissolved the USSR and replaced Communism with Ganster Capitalism. But he is also considered by many to be the only really democratic Russian head of state. Democratic in a liberal, western style. But had Boris Yeltsin really the mandate of the people to destroy the USSR and to sell out the wealth of the nation to uprising gangster ''entrepreneurs''? Let's have a look at this. Boris Yeltsin joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961. He made an impressive career within the party. Between 1985 and 1987 he even was leader of the local branch of the Communists in Moscov and in 1986 was initiated to the Politburo, the de facto the highes board of the USSR. Initially a supporter of Michail Gorbachev, Yeltsin soon became a critic. But what was he criticizing? Mostly the privileges of the party bosses. He stood up for real equality of all citizens. Against any privileges. So it is no wonder that Gorbachev considered Yeltsin to be a leftist revolutionary. People loved Yeltsin for that he criticized the elite, for that he fought against privileges and that he was open to all people, even sharing his private phone numer in public so that everyone could call him and tell him their worries and ideas. Isn't that like a true communist leader should be? Standing up for real equality, rejecting any privileges and always having an open ear for every citizen?
In 1987, the conflict between Gorbachev and Yeltsin escalated. Deeply shocked by the events, Yeltsin tried to commit suicide. And even as an injured man who had barely escaped death, he was publicy humiliated by Gorbachev in a Stalinist way. Although Yeltsin lost his positions, he stayed in the party. So when Yeltsin was elected to the Supreme Soviet and when he became head of state he still was a Communist. On the 28th Congress of the CPSU he resigned from the party, as he still was treated as an outsider in the party. In 1991 Yeltsin became the first President of Russia. On the 17th of March 1991 there was a referendum in 9 (of 15) Soviet Republics on wheather the Union should be preserved with a new Union treaty, or not. This was the only democratic referendum in the entire history of the USSR. And a Majority of 77,85% supported preserving the Soviet Union. In Russia itself, where Yeltsin was head of state, 73% supported preserving the Union. So the majority of Yeltsin's voters also supported preserving the USSR.
However, things developed in a different way. After the failed August coup some Soviet Republics like Ukraine, who had agreed to preserve the Union before the coup, withdraw their consent and declared independence. Still most republics supported the new Union treaty. But Boris Yeltsin, although he had praised the anti-coup-protesters also for ''saving the Union'', took initiative and, behind the back of Gorbachev, made a deal with the heads of state of Ukraine and Belarus to declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a loose confderation. Soviet Republics like Kazakhstan who had supported preserving the Union and signing a new Union treaty, where shocked by the move but eventually sided with Yeltsin and also joined the CIS. So in the end the Soviet Union was some kind of micronation, consisting only of some buildings.
On the 25th of December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet Head of State. One day later the Soviet of the Republics, the Upper House of the Supreme Soviet, under its Chairman Anuarbek Alimzhanov from Kazakhstan, declared the dissolution of the Soviet Union. All that due to the actions of Comrade Boris, who, after first considering to model Russian economy on the model of Social Democratic Sweden, introduced Predator Capitalism to Russia by selling out most of the national wealth, causing an explosion of violent organized crime, corruptions, injustice, famine, chaos and misery for millions of Russians. Did he had the mandate of the people for that. No. Having gained popular support as a left-wing Communist who fought agains injustice and against priveliges of the party elite and also considering the 1991 referendum on wheather to preserve the USSR or not, he clearly acted against the will of the majority of the people. When he was reelected in 1996 due to massive financial and logistical support by his new ganster oligarch friends and by the United States, people knew what agenda they were choosing. But in 1990/91 they didn't. So while the people in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, CSSR, East Germany and Hungary clearly wanted to end Communism, the majority of the people of Russia did not express such a will in 1990/91. They hoped for a better life under the guidance of Comrade Boris and in the end they received Gangster Capitalism and finally a new Cold War. So what is suprising, obscure, considerable about all this? - That Boris Yeltsin rose came to power as a left-wing communist. As someone who fought against privileges, for true equality and justice. - And in the end delivered the entire opposite of that.
Obscure Historical Events (2025 Entries)
The Battle with the Dragon of Laufen in the Oberland (By Arthur de Tourneau)
A long time ago, in the Oberland above Laufen, a mighty lindworm dwelled in a dark cave, filling the entire region with fear and terror. For weeks and months, the beast lay asleep in its lair, which the people avoided in dread, stirring not at all—only the rattling snores of the monster reached the outside. But when hunger awoke the hideous creature from its slumber, it crawled out of its gloomy hole, and any living being—human or animal—that came within reach of its poisonous breath was doomed. Stunned, they collapsed to the ground and became the terrible dragon’s prey.
To prevent the ravenous beast from leaving its cave, roaming the region, and wreaking even greater havoc, the villagers decided to offer it food—oxen and cows—right at the entrance of its lair. But the dragon’s appetite was so immense that the herds on the alpine pastures dwindled dangerously. Thus, they resolved to attempt to kill the lindworm.
A famished ox, blindfolded and with a feedbag placed before its mouth, was to be driven to the dragon’s cave. Around its body, several small sacks filled with quicklime were tied, in the hope that the dragon would swallow them along with its meal and perish as a result. The question now arose: who would drive the ox into the lindworm’s cave? It was a perilous task, for if the deadly breath of the beast reached the driver, he would be lost. Therefore, the matter was left to chance. The lot fell upon the village mayor, who, amid the laments of his family, prepared to embark on the dangerous journey.
At that moment, a young man who loved the mayor’s daughter stepped forward and declared himself willing to take his place. He hoped that, if he succeeded, he would win the hand of his beloved.
After securing a long rope around a tree and fastening the other end to his belt, he armed himself with a long spear and drove the ox toward the cave. The villagers watched him anxiously, awaiting the outcome of this dangerous endeavor. As the ox neared the dragon’s lair, the hungry lindworm caught its scent and emerged from the cave. Before the ox could even turn, the dragon had seized it with its claws and dragged it into its den. The young man hurled his spear at the beast, but it bounced off the creature’s thick, scaly hide without effect.
From within the cave came the crunching of bones and the grotesque sounds of the lindworm devouring its prey. The young man began to feel his consciousness fading—a whiff of the monster’s toxic breath had reached him, threatening to overwhelm him. Quickly, he tried to pull himself back using the rope, but after only a few steps, he collapsed unconscious. However, the villagers, who stood at the other end of the rope, noticed what had happened and pulled him—led by the mayor’s daughter—out of the poisoned air and onto safe ground.
From the cave, the sounds of the dragon slurping and smacking as it quenched its thirst in a pool of water could be heard. Then, a dreadful howling and roaring erupted, followed by frenzied thrashing—the quicklime had begun to take effect. After a while, silence fell. The villagers knew that the lindworm had perished.
But the danger was not yet over. The water flowing from the cave carried filth from the dragon’s decaying body, spreading the plague among the people.
Only after the epidemic had passed did peace and tranquility return to the land. The young man, who had braved the journey to the dragon’s cave, soon recovered—he had escaped the deadly effects of the poisonous breath just in time. As a reward for his courageous deed, he was granted the hand of the mayor’s daughter.
From https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/oberoesterreich/div/derkampfmitdemdrachenzulaufen.html
Trial by Jury in Berlin (By Jan Acaali)
Who shall habe the right to judge? Who shall habe the right to decide of someone is guilty or innocent? In the existing legal systems, there are two approaches: Either a judge (, usually appointed by the government,) or a jury of randomly selected ordinary Citizens decides. The 3 main Western Allies of WWII, the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the French Republic, have a legal system where at least criminal cases are ruled by a Jury of randomly selected ordinary Systems. This is called Trial by Jury.
Of the 3 main former Axis Powers, Germany, Japan and Italy, today 2 of them have Trial by Jury. Germany doesn't. Although one should expect that especially the German legal system would have been reshaped dramatically after WWII in favour of benchmark Western Democracy, this did not happen. In fact, especially in German Criminal Law, many laws that have been introduced by the Nazi Regime, remained unchanged. And Judges in Germany Arena elected by Parliament, so they Arena, which is not very surprising, offen affiliated with a ruling political party. However, in West Berlin, more precisely in the American Sector of Berlin, there was a court, the United States Court for Berlin, where Trial by Jury was applied and where randomly selected German Citizens became members of the Jury and ruled oder guilt and innocence in the name of the United States of America.
This was a unique construct in history. Because usually online the nationals of a state are elegible to exercise judicial power in the name of that state. No foreign nationals, not even the nationals of states that are in some kind of Union or Confederation with that state are usually elegible for such positions even when they are elegible to exercise some legislative and executive power. (Best example: Citizens of the European Union residing in an EU state which is not their native state.)
And yet, in West Berlin, German Citizens exercised judicial power of a foreign country, namely of the United States of America. However, the United States Court for Berlin online convened once. That was in a case of airplane hijacking by two East Germans who hijacked a Polish airplane to escape from Communism to West Germany and also because the woman of the two refugees wanted to reunite with her West German fiancé. It happened in 1978. Detlev Tiede and Ingrid Ruske, two friends who had worked at the same restaurant boarded a plane in Danzig. Along them was Mrs Tiedes daughter. The plane was supposed to land in East Berlin. Shortly before landing, Mr Tiede threatened a stewardess with a real-looking toy gun. The crew surrendered and accepted his demand to land in West Berlin. After landing in Berlin-Tempelhof, Mr Tiede and Mrs Ruske were arrested by U.S. Military. West Berlin still was unter the sovereignity of the Allies. Mrs Tiede was released. Her role in the hijacking was merely passive. And she had not been informed about her Miranda Rights, so legal prosecution unter U.S. Law was not possible. West Germany demanded liberty for Mr Tiede, because West Germany was very supportive of East Germans who wanted to escape to West Germany.
But the U.S. Government wanted to hold a Trial. Of course the USA also despised East German policy of hard restrictions on freedom of movement. But the USA also did not want to risk a brand-new deal they hat reached with the Soviets shortly before. As Soviet Bloc states like South Yemen had often offered sanctuary to left-wing terrorists who had hijacked Western airplanes, the USA were very happy about that agreement to stop air piracy. Under that agreement, both sides - East and West - had the obligation to strictly and consequently prosecute hijackers.
The U.S. Government wanted to save the deal and hold soweit kind of Military Tribunal without a Jury. But the lawyer of Mr Tiede demanded for a Trial by Jury as garanteed by the U.S. Constitution. The Judge Herbert Jay Stern liked the idea. Roughly 10 years ago, there was a comparable Situation on the Ryukyu Islands. A defendand hat successfully demanded for his right to a Trial by Jury unter the U.S. Constution. However, the situation was different. The Ryukyu Island were ruled by a United States Civil Administration, while American Sector of Berlin was ruled under a U.S. Military Government. So to some extend ohne could interprete the situation in a way that the Ryukyu Islands had been annexed by the USA. That made sense, because after the Philippines had gained independence from the USA in 1946, a new solid presence in the region seemed desireable for America. (In the end, the USA ceded the Ryukyu Islands back to Japan in 1972.) But it was verbirgt obvious that the USA did not want to permanently annex West Berlin. So while the natives of Ryukyu had a solid claim to U.S. nationality, it was absurd to consider the natives of West Berlin to be U.S. nationals. Nonetheless, Trial by Jury was finally granted on the basis of a U.S. Supreme Court decision from the era of Reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War. The decision Ex Parte Milligan from 1866 ruled that U.S. Military Tribunals for Civilians were unconstitutional. Of course that decision was meant to protect former Confederate Rebels. So it was meant to protect the rights of American Citizens. However, Judge Stern granted these rights also to German Citizens who were also residents of the American Sector of Berlin. So a randomly selected Jury of 12 German Citizens was appointed for this trial at the United States Court for Berlin.
The U.S. Government feared that the Jury would not found Mr Tiede guilty for the obvious reason that the people of West Berlin were confronted with the injustice of the Berlin Wall every day. However, Jury Trial once again proved to be a perfect tool for ensuring a fair and neutral trial. So very surprisingly, Mr Tiede was indeed found guilty in one of the charges. So in 1979 he was sentenced to 9 months in jail. Mr Tiede nonetheless walked out of the court as a free man, because he had already been 9 months in pretrial detention.
U.S. Sovereignity over the American Sector of Berlin finally ended in March 1991 when the Two plus Four Agreement was ratified. In 1994 the Berlin Brigade of the U.S. Army left Berlin. So there was noch more legal basis for the existance of the United States Court for Berlin. And it is questionable if ever again foreign nationals will serve on the Jury of a United States Court as even U.S. Green Card holders are not allowed to do so. During the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. Transitional Administration of the Republic of Iraq after the deposal of Saddam Hussein from 2003 to 2004, it would have been possible for Iraqi Lawyers to demand Trial by Jury under the U.S. Constitution, again citing Ex Parte Milligan. But this did not happen.
So the United States Court for Berlin truly was a unique, obscure curiosity in the History of Law.
Andree's North Pole Expedition (By Zar Antonov)
The end of the 19th century saw an increase in attempts to finally reach the North Pole. The Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen attempted to do so in 1893, using a specially built ship, the Fram. However, shortly after this promising attempt failed, A Swede named Salomon August Andree decided to try a different approach. If the Pole couldn’t be reached by Land or Sea, then maybe going by air travel was the way to go.
His plan was to have a gas balloon constructed with which he and his companions would fly over the North Pole, conducting scientific observations and photography and landing somewhere in Alaska, Northern Canada or Siberia. Besides a steering system consisting of drag ropes, the balloon would be entirely at the mercy of the wind on this journey.
In 1896, Andree wishes to make a first attempt and established base camp on Danes Island, in the Svalbard archipelago. However, due to unfavorable weather he was unable to launch with his hydrogen baloon, which we had named “Örnen” (Eagle).
He returned to Danes Island in 1897 and on the 11th of July, he launched from Virgohamna alongside engineer Knut Fraenkel and Meteorologist Nils Strindberg. They were never seen alive again.
For 33 years what happened to Andree’s expedition remained a mystery. Andree had planned to drop messages from the balloon and some were recovered. But they didn’t give much insight into what had occurred.
However, in 1930, the remains of the expedition’s members were discovered on Kvitøya, also in the Svalbard archipelago, alongside Andree’s diary and photos of the expedition.
Technical issues had developed shortly after launch and after on the 14th of July the balloon crashed on the arctic ice, due to being too heavy from having frozen over and losing too much hydrogen, an issue which had been pointed out before the launch of the balloon.
They made their way 300km south to the aforementioned Kvitøya, where they arrived on the 5th of October. A few weeks later, they had all perished, although it remains unknown what killed them.
The mortal remains of the expedition's members were taken to Stockholm and buried in a state funeral, with Andree being seen as a national hero of Sweden, despite his inability to reach the North Pole.
However, Andree’s dream would come true when, on the 12th of May 1926, Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile and Lincoln Ellsworth flew over the North Pole, becoming the first people to do so without a doubt.
The George Fancher Obelisk (by Clostridium Botulinum)
"I set apart from my estate for my funeral expenses and proper interment of my remains and a suitable monument to my memory $25,000.”
A dispute immediately broke out between his relatives over what entailed "a suitable monument", with one side declaring the princely sum should be used to create a modest obelisk and the first public library for Merced. Instead after the lawsuit the opposing side prevailed, using the $25000 to build in 1911 a massive 20.7m tall granite obelisk over Fancher's grave, the tallest grave in California. Local legend states that Fancher was buried with his favorite items, including favorite furniture, books, limbs of fruit trees, wheat. A relative claims only the branches and wheat were actually buried with him.
Obscure Historical Events (2026 Entries)
The Holy Holes of Cologne
(By Zar Antonov)
Anyone who has spent time in the Rhineland during Carnival will tell you that it is a big event in that part of Germany. So big in fact that, occasionally at least, even Jesus attends. And, being a humble guy, Jesus naturally uses public transport. And thus, it occurred during the Carnival of 2017,that Jesus took the escalator out of the KVB (Cologne Transport Corporation) station “Dom/Hauptbahnhof”, just below Cologne’s main railway station, and rammed his cross into the ceiling, causing up to two “holy holes” or “stigmata” to appear there. At this time, over 18 million people have witnessed this “miracle”, captured as a video and now available on YouTube for all to see. And people even undertook pilgrimages to see the holes for themselves, leading to the KVB’s decision to plaster them over in 2024, leaving only a few white spots where the supposed wounds had been.
However, this decision was met with outrage by many, with Cologne City Council members of the faction “Die Fraktion” proposing that a memorial plaque be installed at the site. While this proposal was rejected by the authorities, unknown perpetrators installed their own memorial plaque next to the escalator in early April of 2024, reading: “At this spot, during Carnival 2017, Jesus divinely rammed his cross into the plaster ceiling, leaving wounds as a sign of his love for his neighbour. In 2024, the KVB committed a desecration of the railway and removed the relic with ordinary filler from a hardware store." This plaque did not last long but nevertheless helped ensure that the legacy of the “Holy Holes” and the “Cologne Jesus” lived on. So, whether or not the man in the video was really Jesus Christ or merely someone dressed as him, the event which occurred just below Cologne Main Station during the Carnival of 2017 inspires countless people to this very day.
https://youtu.be/oI9B7qWXV9Q
(Pictured below: The Holy Dragon at the Holy Holes)
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Egalitarian against the will of the Caudillo
(By Consul Acaali)
Let’s say you live in a free western democracy. Let’s say you are a member of a free trade union and you want to apply for a new job, then if you want to get that you you will most likely hide your trade union membership. Isn’t that strange. Shouldn’t be free trade union be equal partners of the employers and shouldn’t be free trade unions be able to work freely and without any restrictions in a free western democracy? Well, it is obvious that most employers hate trade union. Exactly because they emancipate the worker from a wage slave to an equal partner of the employer. And of course, the capitalist exploiters don't want equal partners in their companies, but rather wage slaves. They want to be the undisputed master of the house. Isn't it a shame that even in fascist Spain, free, left-wing socialist and communist trade union work was at times more possible than in our so-called Western democracies? Yes, that's a bold statement. But there's some truth to it. General Franco, the dictator of Spain, was a conservative, monarchist General. He believed in an authoritarian system, he believed in hierarchy and in inequality. He destroyed the Spanish Republic and helped the Bourbon dynasty to get back to the throne so that after General Franco’s death in 1975, Prince Juan Carlos became King Juan Carlos I. So how is it possible that in Francoist Spain at some time there was more trade union work then in today’s Western democracries. Well, General Franco was neither charismatic nor had he built his own political party or movement. So he had to integrate existing political movements to have at least some power base. He integrated the Carlist Movement, which advocated for a federal and feudal monarchy.
And he integrated the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista. That party itself was a fusion of two groups: Falange Española (initially named Movimiento Español Sindicalista) and Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista. The Falangists embraced National Syndicalism. What is National Syndicalism. Essentially it is a perversion of Syndicalism. Syndicalism is a left-wing ideology which basically says that the state should be replaced by the trade unions. That the trade unions should be the very fundament of society. The trade unions should own all the companies and out of this worker’s self-manegement, self-management in the entire society should develop. You can find Syndicalism in combination with Communism or (more likely) Anarchism. National Syndicalism was developed in Italy at the beginning of World War I. The situation in Italy at the beginning of World War I was, that Italy was officially allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary. But inofficially Italy was allied with France and the United Kingdom. So for some time Italy stayed neutral but in 1915 joined the Entente to fight against its archrival Italy to get back the Italian-speaking territories of Austria-Hungary. Already in 1914 there was a dispute in the main organizations of the Italian Far-Left, the (back then mostly Communist) Italian Socialist Party as well as the (Anarcho-Syndicalist) Italian Syndicalist Union. Some advocated that Italy should join the Entente and together with the French Republic fight a revolutionary war against the reactionary monarchies of Germany and Austria-Hungary, similar to how the frist French Republic had fought against the old European monarchies.
However, the majority was strictly against these plans and embraced Pacifism. Those who wanted Italy to join the war even were expelled and formed a new group: Fascio Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista, which was renamed Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria when Benito Mussolini, party boss of the Mailand branch of the Italian Socialist Party joined and took over leadership from Alceste De Ambris. The Syndicalists which joined the group were called National Syndicalists as they combined Syndicalism with an, although revolutionary, Italian patriotism. Just like the Jacobins of the first French Revolution also had been Patriots. So that was now still a left-wing group. Back then, then, there was no Fascism as we know it today. There had been predecessors of the Italian Socialist party that had used similar names like e.g. the Fasci Siciliani dei Lavoratori in Sicily. In March 1919, the organization allied with the Futurist Political Party and was reorganized as the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento. The Futurist Political Party was the political wing of Futurism, a (back then) far-left artistic movement, which supported and admired the Great October Socialist Revolution and wanted something similar for Italy. The 1919 Italian general election changed everything. The electoral performance of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento was very poor. Even in Predappio, Mussolini’s birthplace, the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento received not a single vote. That was the real birth point of Fascism. Until then, the Fascist Movement had simply been a splinter-group of the Italian political Left. But after the 1919 Italian general election, Mussolini radically changed the strategy. He began to ally with Conservatives, National Liberals as well as with the Roman Catholic Church, rich people, the landlords and business owners.
Mussolini offered the landowners and business owners the opportunity to hire out his party members, who had gained military experience in the First World War, as strikebreakers and factory security guards. The bigwigs gratefully accepted Mussolini's offer, and this brought a lot of money into Mussolini's party coffers, as they were having a lot of trouble with strikes. The Italian Socialist Party was preparing a socialist revolution. That was exactly what Mussolini and most of his followers had wanted just a short time before. Mussolini committed a terrible betrayal of the working class. From a labor leader, he had become a traitor to the workers, a lackey of the capitalists. Some of his companions, like the National Syndicalist Alceste De Ambris, turned away in horror, re-aligned with the Italian Socialist Party and fought against fascism from then on. However, there were also "left" fascists who remained in the party.
Although Mussolini now fought for the interests of the capitalists, he did not expel all party members who still held syndicalist, social revolutionary, and anti-capitalist ideas. He needed them as useful idiots to seduce the working class. Until early 1930s, Mussolini’s ideas had almost no influence on Spain. From 1923 to 1931, Spain was ruled by a military dictatorship, but that was not a fascist one but rather a concervative-apolitical, simply functioning as a tool for the King and the elites to rule the nation and oppress any kind of opposition. The Spanish Republic was proclaimed in 1931. Also in 1931, National Syndicalsm swept to Spain and manifested first in the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista in 1933 also in the Movimiento Español Sindicalista. Ramiro Ledesma, a philosopher who introduced National Syndicalism to Spain, first wanted to take over the Anarcho-Syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. Indeed his ideas even were discussed at the 1931 Congress of the CNT, but finally rejected. National Syndicalism was and is inconsistent. You can’t demand equality and inequality at the same time. You cannot demand freedom and tyranny at the same time. That does not work. Ramiro Ledesma even was an admirer of German tyrant Adolf Hitler to such an extend that he even imitated his hairstyle. That was totally insane, because Adolf Hitler and Nazism had nothing to do with National Syndicalism. The Nazis were always allied with big business interests. Any kind of anti-capitalist rhetorics by Nazis were and are nothing more than an attempt to fool the working class. Even today most rich people in Germany are not rich because they or their ancestors are so cool, great, innovative entrepreneurs, but rather because their ancestors worked together with the Nazi Regime and profited from slave labor. However, Spanish National Syndicalism had at least one logical constant:
Spanish National Syndicalists wanted a strong role for the trade unions. So after Franco had unified all Right-Wing, Monarchist, Fascist and National Syndicalist into one single party Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista and taken power after a 3-year bloody civil war (1936-1939), he allowed the National Syndicalists to partially reshape the economy based on their ideas. In 1940, the Spanish Syndical Organization was established as a single trade union for all employed citizens of Spain. And despite being an organization of an authoritarian, conservative, militaristic and reactionary monarchistic regime, ironically the Spanish Syndical Organization became the nucleus of a socialist parallel society. The Communist Party of Spain, heavily persecuted by the Franco Regime, managed to infiltrate the Spanish Syndical Organization and even to take over its local branches in many places. So while the Franco Regime was as anti-communist as possible, the sole trade union of the regime was heavily infiltrated and influenced by Communists. From 1960 on, the Communists, together with Catalan Socialists and some Christian Socialists, even began to elect Workers' Commissions inside of the Spanish Syndical Organization. This was surprisingly initially tolerated by the Franco Regime, but then the regime tried to eradicate the communist influence in the Spanish Syndical Organization. However, that did not work. In fact the communist influence even became stronger and stronger so that at the end of the Franco Regime, the member base of the Spanish Syndical Organization was effectively controlled by the Communist Party of Spain.
The Spanish Syndical Organization was dissolved in 1977, but the Workers' Commissions, now as an independent trade union, continue to exist and are today still the most successfull trade union of Spain with over 1 Million member. So isn’t that ironic, that a mass organization of the Franco Regime became a vehicle for a communist counter-power? That shows how strong the tool of trade unionism is. Yes, it is a virtually invincible weapon in the hands of the working class as long as the workers and employees remain united. Nevertheless, many workers and employees today find themselves helpless in the face of their employers. Employers, whether small shopkeepers or large corporations, have the audacity to attempt something even Franco failed to do: crush the free trade union movement. Employers who try this are fascists, tyrants, exploiters. Don't let the capitalists get away with this! Be courageous, show solidarity, and join a free trade union. If it was possible to keep a free trade union movement alive against all odds even under the Franco Regime, how much more so should it be in our oh-so-free Western democracies?
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The Gwakcoo from Meddybemps Lake
(By Jess Drachen)
Local whispers around Meddybemps Lake speak of the Gwakcoo: a Downeast cousin of the legendary Bigfoot. Said to stand eight feet tall with reddish hair and a foul odor, the creature appears in Wabanaki stories as "one who is hungry all the time."
Long‑time Maine journalist Earl Brechlin notes that Native communities still mention encounters with the Gwakcoo along these waters.
Whether beast or folklore, the Gwakcoo remains a reminder that some lakes prefer to keep their secrets.
The Bear In The Romanei
(By Arthur de Tourneau)
About half a quarter of an hour from Vichtenstein Castle (Vichtenstein) stands the Brühler House, which in the first half of the previous century served as a dwelling for the hunters.
Once, a huntsman encountered a powerful bear in the Romanei. He took aim at it and missed. The bear charged toward him and tried to crush him. The brave hunter thrust his hand into its jaws, seized its tongue, and tried to suffocate it. Before he could succeed, the bear struck him on the head with its mighty paw, splitting his skull; only the skin that surrounds the brain remained intact. Thanks to the quick help of a doctor, he was rescued from death.
Old Paminger*) still remembered from his early youth having often seen this hunter in the castle with a bandage around his head. *) The former owner of the present-day schoolhouse.
From https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/oberoesterreich/gloning/baerinderromanei.html
The George Washington Obelisk
(by Clostridium Botulinum)
George Washington was born on the "ancient manor" of Wakefield on the property of his grandfather John Washington on February 22, 1732. Wakefield was perched at the edge of Pope Creek near the Potomac River.
George Washington moved to another family property at age 3, and Wakefield burned to the ground and was flooded in 1779 during Washington's lifetime, and was never rebuilt. (edited)Wednesday, 11 March 2026 15:37
In 1815, George Washington's adopted grandson, George Custis, returned to the property to commemorate his grandfather, and found only the ruins of a chimney. He built a pedestal and placed a small monument there. In 1858 Lewis Washington donated the property to Virginia to memorialize his ancestor, but then the American Civil War intervened and by the end of it the state was effectively bankrupt. By the 1870s, the Curtis stone was seemingly stolen, and the chimney itself collapsed. In 1879 the American government sent a survey team to relocate the birth site, and they found the site of the old chimney and some broken china. The property was transferred to the US government in 1882, and a large granite obelisk 50' (15.2m) tall was placed on the site of the chimney.
During construction, excavations were made at the site of the house, which was found to be very small, 30′ x 20’ (9.1 x 6 m) and locals complained that it was too small to be the home of George Washington's father, a member of the landed gentry.
In the 1920s, Colonial Revivalism became popular in the US, and wealthy "patriotic" white women formed the Wakefield National Memorial Association (WNMA) in 1923 to build a "proper" memorial to George Washington. With lots of political connections, they were allowed by President Calvin Coolidge to build a replica of George Washington's birth home on the site of his birth house. The group insisted that the obelisk was actually placed upon an outhouse, and forced another excavation to find the "real" birth site. Subsequent excavations found nothing new. Despite lots of reservations from different groups of researchers and government officials, the WNMA moved ahead. John Rockefeller donated $115k, matched by the new National Park Service, and the obelisk was moved to its current spot a few hundred meters up the road to the front of the park (and 5ft/1.5m added in height) and the foundations it had sat upon were destroyed to build the replica mansion.
No one actually knew what Wakefield looked like, so the "replica" is both far larger than the foundation and seems to actually resemble the home of the WNMA founder.
Still it was completed in 1931, in time for George Washington's 200th birthday.
During construction, two other building sites were discovered, a few meters from the Curtis site. One was determined to be a kitchen, but the other started out as a smaller building but expanded over time. This was ignored to prevent construction delays. After the replica was completed however, further excavation found some 14000 artifacts, meaning this "Building X" was likely a residence. Quiet inquiries followed, more excavations, interrupted by WWII, but highly suggested that the destroyed Curtis building was not George Washington's birth site. Even more excavations followed in 1970, 2017 and finally 2022, showed that Building X was a large home, likely owned by a step uncle. So in conclusion, still no one knows exactly where George Washington was born. It was however, not under the moved obelisk, which now basically serves as an entrance marker to the general location where George Washington was born.
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