england

The child had no choice. Sold as cheap labor by poverty-stricken parents with too many mouths to feed, they were between 4 and 8 years of age, too young to defend themselves or flee their owner and live on their own. Unfortunately, they were just the right size to squeeze into narrow, pitch black, claustrophobic, suffocatingly-hellish 7-inch chimney flues. The dangers child chimney sweeps faced In early 1800 England, immediately after the Industrial Revolution and during the Victorian Era, child chimney sweeps faced a hellish task. They were lowered into narrow chimneys by their owner and forced to clean soot, grime, and creosote from the chimney flue. Falling or being burnt to death was always a possibility but worse, if they lost their way in the complex

In the early 1800’s, London’s sewer systems were a mess. Early household cesspools, cisterns located underneath homes that collected waste water sewerage, had migrated to a labyrinth of underground tunnels snaking throughout London. The sewer system was constructed to solve London’s disease problem by directing sewage away from homes and into the Thames river. For the system to work properly, the sewer pipes had to be periodically repaired and cleared of debris. Sewer workers, such as Randolph Gentry, made a decent living doing the dirty work. About 1836, Randolph Gentry was directed to make a repair to a drain in east London, just a few blocks north of the River Thames. During the repair work, Gentry checked ancillary drainage systems to ensure they contained no debris.

The discovery of a diary signed “Jack the Ripper” The journal, dubbed the Maybrick diary, surfaced in 1992 when Michael Barrett, an unemployed former Liverpool scrap metal dealer, said the diary had been given to him by a friend, Tony Devereux. According to Barrett, Devereux refused to reveal where the diary came from or how he got it. The diary was signed, "Jack the Ripper". Devereux died a few months after turning over the diary to Barrett. The discovery was complicated by Barrett’s wife Ann, who claimed to know where the diary came from. She said the diary had been in her family for as long as she could remember. She explained that she had asked Devereux to give the diary to her husband as literary inspiration

During the Golden Age of UFO sightings, the time between 1940 and 1970, thousands of UFO reports were submitted to officials, many of which were held for decades before being released to the public.  Included in these reports are many notable photographs purported to depict UFO's, or flying saucers as they were known at the time.  Below is a collection of the most popular historic UFO photographs from as early as 1870. UFO over Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia. December 29, 1953     This is widely believed to be a photo of the infamous UFO over Westall Scondary College in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, witnessed by more than 200 students and teachers as it descended into an open, grassy field. The only official explanation to date is "experimental craft". 1966   UFO in

In a murderous episode reminiscent of London's Jack the Ripper, the Croydon Cat Killer has butchered and mutilated more than 50 animals (mostly cats) in the Croydon, England area, taking “trophies” with him before dumping the creature’s disfigured body on or near the owner’s home. Authorities fear the maniac killer may be out of control and evolving toward human prey. Said one policeman who is investigating the killings, “This is the stuff of nightmares.” Wayne Bryant, who lives near Croydon, found the remains of his tortoiseshell cat Amber in an area behind his home a day after she went missing. He told reporters, “Her head was missing; her tail was missing. We found out afterwards that she also had a broken back. That's quite a level of violence against

The Stuart Hotel in Liverpool, England has long been considered one of the most-haunted pubs in the city. Stories say that in 1897, the landlord of the Stuart Hotel, 41-year-old Robinson Pemberton, heard a strange scratching noise coming from the cellar of the pub. At first he believed the noise was nothing more than a rat but soon the noise became louder, loud enough to be heard in neighboring houses. Three days after the incident, the pub was shaken from top to bottom with roars so loud the windows had to be left open in order to keep the glass from shattering. Then the noise stopped. Late one night a few days later, a curious patron rapped three times on the wall of the pub – and

Doctors dubbed 7-year-old Olivia Farnsworth of Huddersfield, England, the “bionic girl” because a rare chromosome condition (chromosome 6 deletion) renders her incapable of feeling pain, hunger, or exhaustion. Her mother, 32-year-old Niki Trepak, explained to reporters: “Doctors have called her the bionic girl; she's made of steel - and she's got no sense of danger.” Geneticists say they have never come across the disorder before and believe Olivia is the only person in the world with these unusual characteristics. Hit and drug by a car, she never even cried Lest you think Olivia has an admirable condition, recognize that her rare disorder also renders her impervious to fear or the normal human rules of self-preservation. For instance, little Oliva was run over by a car – and drug hundreds of feet underneath it –

CCTV footage of a ghostly pirate apparition moving through a bar in Warrington (Cheshire, England) is causing a stir in the ghost community. The CCTV video was shot in the Dreamwater Lounge in the city centre area of Warrington. Simon Ellison, owner of the shipwreck-themed wine bar, says the footage is legit although the version that leaked online was edited to include segments of daytime customers and a rainy night - which only add to the spookiness effect. In the security video, you will see a “camera movement” indicator come on followed by a white orb of light moving around on a rope bridge. Suddenly the camera begins to shake while a faint white figure appears at the bottom of the frame and glides down the bridge before

The condition is called pica, and like a pregnant woman who hungers for unusual food combinations, 25-year-old Jade Sylvester’s cravings cause her to consume toilet paper at a rate of about one toilet paper roll per day. Jade, who hails from England, says her cravings began during her pregnancy over a year ago and notes the bizarre eating habit began slowly, with just a few nibbles.  She insists that taste is not really the reason she enjoys eating the powdery paper.. "Two months into the pregnancy, I started craving toilet roll. I still don't know why. I like the feeling of the texture in my mouth, rather than the taste. I like the dryness.  At first I used to eat a couple of squares at a time,

England’s fabled Grey Lady Ghost (not to be confused with Ireland's Grey Lady ghost), who is said to haunt the grounds of Dudley Castle, may have been recently captured by accident in a tourist photograph.  Below is an interesting photo taken by 28-year-old Amy Harper while visiting the castle on October 7, 2014.  Keen eyes zoomed in on one of the doorways and found what some believe to be the infamous Gray Lady apparition (see zoomed, cropped photo above).  Below is the original photo.     Dudley Castle is regarded as one of the most haunted castles in England. Most famous of all the English ghosts is that of the Grey Lady, believed to be the spirit of Dorothy Beaumont who roams the halls of Dudley Castle. Dorothy lived in

Pilots of an Airbus 320 received a shock on June 13, 2014 when an “unidentified flying man” zipped across the side of their plane as it was making its landing approach at Manchester Airport in England. Pilots say the flying man was easily visible – it (he?) came within 75 yards of their aircraft. Initially the flight crew believed the flying man could have been a paraglider or parachutist but then recognized that he was wearing no aerial equipment as he zoomed past the plane. The pilots say the man flew by so fast they had no time to initiate avoidance maneuvers. They immediately radioed air traffic control who reported seeing nothing unusual on their radars. The incident was classified as a “near-miss” and investigated by

Described as childlike beings with eerie coal black eyes, no iris or pupils, and pale, white skin, a scourge of mysterious black-eyed children have been reported throughout England in recent months (2014).  Commonly sighted in the area since the 1980’s, there are hundreds of reports of black-eyed children, often seen in groups of two or more, who ask for permission to enter the person’s home or vehicle.  Witnesses often report an overwhelming feeling of dread and despair in their presence.  What the black-eyed children seek is not known. Reports of black-eyed children increase in 2014 In August 2014, a woman reported an encounter with a black-eyed child after hearing deathly screams while on a walk with her daughter near the marshy countryside of Cannock Chase in the county

This is one of those photos that’s so unbelievably bizarre (emphasis on “unbelievably”) you scream, “HOAX!”  On the other hand, it’s one of those photos that’s so unbelievably bizarre (emphasis on “bizarre”) that you whisper to yourself, “But what if this was true?” The aerial photo above was taken off the harbor at Whitstable, a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in England, and shows a giant 50-foot crab, dubbed “Crabzilla”, lurking at the bottom of the harbor near a pier. The photo first appeared on the website Weird Whitstablog (the website owner says a reader sent it to him). The aerial image shows the outline of a crab at the mouth of Kent harbor that is so large it dwarfs fishing boats on

London-based chef James Tomlinson and “freelance creative" food designer Miss Cakehead say no human beings were harmed during the development of their new “human flesh burger”, a hamburger designed to taste uniquely like human flesh. The burger was developed as part of a one-time promotion to mark the launch of the fifth season of The Walking Dead television series. The chefs based the taste of the burgers on descriptions supplied by real-life cannibals such as 1920’s explorer William Seabrook who likened the taste to "good, fully developed veal, not young, but not yet beef" and the murderer Issei Sagawa, who said it “melted in my mouth like raw tuna in a sushi restaurant". The human flesh burger meat will contain pork, veal, chicken liver, and bone

A new study conducted by paranormal expert Lionel Fanthorpe has found that Yorkshire, England is a hotspot for vampire activity.  According to the report, eleven cases have been reported in Yorkshire during the past century.  A total of 211 cases were reported across Britain during the last century, many of which involved police investigations.  As far as Transylvania, during the same period only eight vampire sightings were reported. Fanthorpe combed through more than 11,000 paranormal reports dating back to 1914 to compile his data.  The study was commissioned to mark the start of the vampire TV series, The Strain. Here are the top 10 vampire hotspots in England: 1) Yorkshire - 11 2) Lancashire - 11 3) Essex - 10 4) Devon - 9 5) Sussex - 8 6) Dorset - 8 7) Suffolk