OK YOU CAN HATE US. It’s gonna be in the 80’s close to 90 here today while they’re predicting snow (or snow already on the ground) everywhere including Hawaii. http://www.wunderground.com/news/hawaii-snow-winter-storm-warning
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OK THOUGHT TODAY I’D DEAL WITH SOME PEOPLE THAT ARE FAMOUS (BUT PROBABLY NOT TO YOU) FOR THINGS MOST OF US NEVER ENCOUNTER:
ANDREW RANSON
St. Augustine the oldest city in North America was the focus of pirates (encouraged by the British) as well as the British fleet who protected their claims in area . In the 17th century one of the ships landed near the inlet to the city…accounts vary as to whether the man in question was a pirate or not but in STRANGE FLORIDA by Charlie Carleson he was just one of several men put ashore by the captain to forage for food and fresh water. What they found were the Spanish who tortured them and eventually sentenced Ranson to be executed for being the leader of the pirate group.
The catch to the story came in October. Execution involved placing the prisoner’s back against a post, which a rope was thread through a hole into a noose placed around the party’s neck and the executioner twisted the rope with a handle which he did several times till the body was lifeless, and then one more time to be sure which actually broke the rope. Later when the priest took the body, he found Ranson alive, but suffering from a very sore throat.
The priest claimed a miracle, the authorities a malfunction, but when they came to get Ranson the priest refused to release him and claimed religious immunity for his charge. Ranson stayed alive but restricted to the church, with the priest going as far as Spain to claim a miracle–but again the civil authority disagreed. Back in St. Augustine and with a new governor the priest was able to get Ranson (a carpenter by trade) released from the sentence of death to work on building the castillio though he remained restricted. Eventually he helped the Spanish defend the city against the British invaders which pretty much maintained his restrictions to Florida. How he lived and died after that is all conjecture.
JACQUE CAZOTTE
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In the 18th c this man a French writer reputedly (STRANGE STORIES AMAZING FACTS /Reader’s Digest) entertained a dinner party in Paris (1788) by predicting the future executions of many present. He told Nicolas Chamfort (playwright) that he would cut his wrist with a razor but not die (he worked for the revolutionaries but protested the Reign of Terror and tried to commit suicide but failed, he died a few months later. ) He told another he would die on the prison floor of poison rather than face execution and even predicted an atheist would become a devote Christian (which he did after being thrown into prison). Apparently all his predictions came about. It is unknown if this was his only venture into fortune telling, however he himself remained in France and was arrested, released, rearrested, and finally faced Madame Guillotine and unlike our first gentleman he did not escape with just a sore throat.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTTS
Many books, plays and movies have been made by this ill-fate young woman, who became queen at 6 days of age, with the death of her father but who would never sit a secure throne for long and eventually would be executed by her first cousin Elizabeth I for trying to usurp her throne. But what we’re looking at today is the execution.
First the executioner missed with the first blow hitting the former queen in the back of the head causing her to cry out.
The second blow cut most of the head free, but the remaining tissue had to be sawed through with the axe.
When the headman raised the head the lips were noted to be moving and continued for some time according to accounts (up to 15 min).
As the executioner raised the grizzly trophy by the hair it fell–seems Mary wore a wig to hide her white hair which had been trimmed very short and so he had no true grip.
Then one of her lap dogs which she had concealed in her clothes came forth covered in blood and cowered between her dropped head and severed neck.
To add insult to injury the body was sealed in a coffin and left to set for months before it was buried at Peterborough Cathedral and not France (where she had once been queen) as she requested.
However her son James (who became James I of England and was already James VI of Scotland) would eventually have her re-buried at Westminster Abbey where her tomb is one of the most impressive to this day.
BEHIND PALACE DOORS/Michael Farquhar
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