Category: Articles of the key ‘dark’ historical events across the world

By Tim Lambert Banishment Since Ancient Times forcing an offender to leave his home and go abroad or to another region either permanently or for a fixed period of time has been used as a punishment. Bastinado Bastinado was beating a person on the soles of their feet with a stick. Because the soles of… Continue reading A History of Punishments

By Tim Lambert The Background to the Witch Trials From the late 15th century to the late 18th century a wave of persecution washed across parts of Europe. Tens of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft. So what happened? Belief in magic was almost universal in the past. Almost all cultures believed that you… Continue reading A History of the Witch Trials in Europe

Pol Pot was one of the worst tyrants of the 20th century. Pol Pot was born in Cambodia in 1925. His family were not poor. Instead his father was a well off farmer. However Pol Pot became a Marxist. Marxism was the creation of Karl Marx (1818-1883). According to him society went through an inevitable… Continue reading A short biography of Pol Pot

By Tim Lambert 1307 A mechanical beheading device is recorded in Dublin 1608 The first execution takes place in the North American colonies 1685 Alice Lisle becomes the last woman beheaded in Britain 1747 Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat becomes the last person beheaded on Tower Hill by the Tower of London 1790 In Britain, death… Continue reading A Timeline of Capital Punishment

By Tim Lambert Catherine Wilson was a poisoner. She was also the last woman to be hanged in public in London. Her poison of choice was colchicum, a kind of crocus. In small doses, it was used as a medicine but in large doses, it could kill. Wilson was born in 1822. She became a… Continue reading Catherine Wilson Poisoner

By Tim Lambert Dr Crippen was the first murderer to be caught by radio. Dr Crippen was born in Michigan, USA in 1862. He married twice. His first wife died in 1890 but in 1892 he married a woman who called herself Cora Turner. The Crippens moved to England in 1900 and in September 1905… Continue reading Dr Crippen

By Tim Lambert Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia was the victim of an unsolved murder that took place in 1947. She was just 22. Her body was found on the morning of Wednesday 15 January 1947 on a vacant building plot in the Leimert Park district of Los Angeles in California. Her naked… Continue reading Elizabeth Short, The Black Dahlia

By Tim Lambert Mussolini Seizes Power When the First World War began a Socialist called Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), who was editor of the newspaper Avanti! opposed Italy joining the war. However, he soon changed his mind. By October 1914 Mussolini decided Italy should join. He resigned from Avanti! and founded his own newspaper called Popolo… Continue reading Fascist Italy

By Tim Lambert Gordon Cummins was a serial killer in Britain in 1942. He is also known as the Blackout Ripper. (During the Second World War all lights had to be concealed to avoid helping German bombers. It was called the blackout). Cummins killed 4 women and attempted to kill 2 others. Cummins also mutilated… Continue reading Gordon Cummins

By Tim Lambert About 6 pm on 26 November an 8-year-old boy called Percy Searle was walking along a lane between what is now Manor Close and Pallant House. (His mother sent him to get some material from a drapers shop in North Street). He was stabbed in the neck 3 times. One stab severed… Continue reading Jack the Ripper in Havant?