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Leach, an English circus performer, was no stranger to danger as he was the second person and the first male ever to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel in 1911. He was able to earn a decent living giving an account of his harrowing experience in vaudeville shows and posing for pictures with his barrel. During a promotional tour in New Zealand in 1926, Leach slipped on an orange peel, severely injuring his leg in the process. The injury became infected and subsequently turned gangrenous, necessitating the amputation of his leg. In spite of the radical procedure, he still died of complications that developed afterwards.

Alexander Bogdanov (1873 - 1928): Death from Obsession for Eternal Youth

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In 1924, Bogdanov, a Russian philosopher, revolutionary, author and physician, started playing with the idea of achieving eternal youth or at least partially reverse the aging process through blood transfusion. After undergoing about a dozen transfusions himself, Bogdanov was pleased to note the positive changes occurring in his body, such as better eyesight, less falling hair and improved skin tone. A friend even commented to his delight that he looked ten years younger after the procedure. He lost his life in 1928 when he was transfused with blood of a student suffering from tuberculosis and malaria.

Henry Winstanley (1644 - 1703): Death from Overconfidence

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Winstanley was an English engineer who built the very first Eddystone lighthouse to help protect sea vessels from the treacherous Eddystone Rocks near Plymouth. So great was his confidence in the soundness of his lighthouse design that he even went to the point of wishing to be inside it during "the greatest storm there ever was." Well, he got what he wanted. Winstanley perished along with five other occupants when the tower completely collapsed on November 27, 1703, during the Great Storm of that year. He was visiting that very night to do some repairs.

Kurt Gödel (1906 - 1978): Death from Paranoia

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Gödel, Austrian-born American mathematician and philosopher, suffered frequent bouts of mental illness and instability in later life. He had an abnormal fear of being poisoned, and would not eat of his food unless his wife Adele first tasted them. So when his wife was hospitalized late in 1977 for six months, he refused to eat in her absence and eventually starved himself to death. He weighed only 65 pounds when he died.

Vic Morrow (1929 - 1982): Death by Helicopter Rotor Blades

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Morrow was an American actor and director best known for his work on the 1960's hit television series "Combat." Morrow died on the set of "Twilight Zone: The Movie" while shooting the scene wherein he and two children were running from the pursuing helicopter. The special firework explosions caused the helicopter to spin out of control and crashed on three of them. Morrow and one of the children were decapitated by the blades while the other child was crushed beneath the helicopter's landing skid.

Ray Chapman (1891 - 1920): Death by Baseball

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Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was struck dead by a baseball pitch. In those days, baseball pitchers purposely misshaped the ball by dirtying, scratching and cutting it before it was thrown it at the batter to render it difficult to see. On August 6, 1920, Carl Mays of the New York Yankees pitched such as ball so hard smashing it into Chapman's skull, which created a sound so loud that Mays imagined it hit the end of Chapman's bat, so he fielded the ball and tossed it to first base. Chapman died 12 hours later in a hospital.

Horace Wells (1815 - 1848): Death by Anesthesia

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Wells was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia, particularly nitrous oxide (or laughing gas), in the field of dentistry. Wells became increasingly addicted to chloroform while testing various gases for their anesthetic properties. One day in 1848, he got himself arrested and put in prison for spraying two women with sulfuric acid in his delirium. As the effects of the drug began to subside, he was told of the gruesome act he had committed. In despair, he committed suicide by slashing a major artery in his leg after anesthetizing himself with chloroform to block the pain.

Martha Mansfield (1899 - 1923): Death by Matchstick

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While working as the lead actress on the film "The Warrens of Virginia," the 24-year-old Mansfield suffered serious burns to her body when her Civil War costume of hoopskirts and ruffles was accidentally set on fire by a lit matchstick thrown away by a smoking cast member. Her leading man, Wilfred Lytell, threw his topcoat over her to put out the fire while her chauffeur got his hands badly burned in his attempt to remove her blazing clothing. Despite the efforts to save her, she died less than twenty four hours after being rushed to a hospital.

Jim Fixx (1932 - 1984): Death by Jogging

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Fixx, the author of the 1977 best selling book "The Complete Book of Running," was credited for popularizing the sport of running/jogging. He emphasized the health benefits of regular physical exercise and how it can significantly add to a person's longevity. Even though he lived what he preached, Fixx died at the relatively young age of only 52 from a massively fatal heart attack during one of his daily run. An autopsy revealed that one of his coronary arteries was almost 100% clogged, a second 85% obstructed and a third 70% blocked; and that he had three other attacks in the week prior to his death.

Allan Pinkerton (1819 - 1884): Death from Tongue Bite

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Pinkerton, a Scottish detective, was best known for establishing the very first detective agency in the United States, the Pinkerton Agency, and for introducing innovative investigative techniques still very much in use today, such as "assuming a role" (undercover work) and "shadowing" (suspect surveillance). In June 1884, Pinkerton bit his tongue as he stumbled on a sidewalk in Chicago, but did not immediately sought treatment. His tongue injury developed into an infection that caused his death a week later.

Probably you might want to click on the following links to further satisfy your cravings for the unusual, strange and bizarre.

• 10 Bizarre Deaths in History
• 10 (More) Bizarre Deaths in History
• Intriguing Email Stories Relating to Health and Medicine
• Unusual Wills and Testaments
• Premature Obituaries
• Premature Obituaries 2

Steve Irwin (1962 - 2006): Death by Stingray

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Irwin was an Australian wildlife expert and a well-loved TV personality, who gained worldwide fame from his internationally broadcast wildlife documentary program "The Crocodile Hunter," which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. While filming the documentary "Ocean's Deadliest" at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Irwin swam too close above one of the stingrays with the cameraman directly right in front of it. Threatened by their presence, the ordinarily harmless stingray instinctively responded by flexing upward its razor-sharp, barbed tail which pierced Irwin's chest and into his heart, an injury that brought about his untimely demise at only 44 years of age.

Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626): Death by Stuffing Chicken

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One of the leading figures of the English Rennaisance, Bacon was a statesman, philosopher, scientist and author, whose celebrated works "Novum Organum" (1620) and "The New Atlantis" (1626) contributed significantly to the European scientific revolution. During a particularly heavy snowstorm in 1626, Bacon suddenly came up with the thought of possibly using snow to preserve meat. Desirous of finding out, he went to nearby marketplace to buy a fowl and had its internal organs removed. Standing outside in the snow, he immediately began stuffing the fowl to freeze it. However, the fowl never froze, but he did. He contracted pneumonia and died a few days after.

Gregori Rasputin (1869 - 1916): Death by Poison, Gunshot, Beating and Drowning

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Rasputin was a Russian mystic and monk who gained considerable influence on Tsar Nicholas II due to his unusual ability to use hypnosis to control the hemophilia suffered by Alexei, the heir to the throne. Rasputin survived being fed cakes laced with potassium cyanide and being shot through the heart. He was shot three more times by his assassins who found him to be alive and struggling to get up as they drew near to his body. He was then beaten with clubs and thrown into the freezing Neva River. When his body was recovered, an autopsy revealed that the cause of death to be hypothermia.

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 - 1687): Death by Conductor's Staff

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Lully was an Italian-born French composer who worked most of his life as the appointed musician in the court of Louis XIV of France. While conducting the Te Deum in honor of Louis XIV's recent recovery from sickness, Lully was so deeply engrossed on keeping the tempo by banging his long staff against the floor (as was the custom of the time before the baton came into common usage) that he struck his toe so hard that the would developed into an abscess. He refused to have his toe amputated even if the wound had turned gangrenous and had spread, leading to his death two months after the incident.

Sherwood Anderson (1876 - 1941): Death by Toothpick

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Anderson was an American author best known for his collection of short stories "Winesburg, Ohio" (1919) and the novel "Dark Laughter" (1925). He died in Panama of peritonitis that developed after accidentally swallowing a toothpick embedded in a martini olive at a party held on an ocean liner bound for Brazil.

George Allen (1918 - 1990): Death by Gatorade

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Allen was an American Football coach, who was showered by some of his Long Beach State players with an ice cold bucket of Gatorade in celebration of their season-ending win over the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on November 17, 1990. Afterwards, he even granted media interviews for some time under the cold weather with a piercing wind and boarded the bus back to Long Beach State still in his drenched clothing. Since then, he acknowledged that he had not been feeling completely well. He finally succumbed to pneumonia on December 31, 1990.

Alexander Litvinenko (1962 - 2006): Death by Radiation Poisoning

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Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian State Security Services, who fled his country to the United Kingdom where he was granted political asylum in 2000. Litvinenko was hospitalized on November 1, 2001 when his health unexpectedly deteriorated. It was later discovered that he had been poisoned with significant amounts of the rare and extremely toxic radioactive element polonium-210. He died three weeks later, thus becoming the first known casualty of deliberate radiation poisoning. His murder marked the start of a new era of nuclear terrorism.

Jack Daniel (1850 - 1911): Death from Stubbed Toe

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In 1905, Jack Daniel, founder of Tennessee whiskey distillery, had trouble opening his safe early one day at work as he always had difficulty remembering the right combination. He kicked the safe in frustration resulting in a toe injury that later became infected; and eventually died (six years later) from blood poisoning attributable to the mishap. He could have just dipped his toe in his famous whiskey to ward off infection.

Isadora Duncan (1877 - 1927): Death by a Scarf

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Duncan was an American dancer, considered by many to be the mother of modern dance. Her extreme fondness for long flowing scarves was the cause of her death in a freak automobile accident in France at the age of 50. Duncan was strangled by her own scarf when it got caught in the rear wheel of a moving car.

Claude François (1939 - 1978): Death by a Light Bulb

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François was a French pop singer, best known for writing "Comme d'habitude," which was adapted for the English public by Paul Anka into the celebrated hit "My Way" famously sung by Frank Sinatra. François noticed a broken light bulb while standing in a bathtub filled with water in his Paris apartment. But being a stickler for orderliness and cleanliness, he cannot help but try to change the bulb, resulting in his death by electrocution.

For more articles on the unusual, the strange and the bizarre, click on the following links:

• 10 Bizarre Deaths in History
• 10 (Ultimate) Bizarre Deaths in History
• Intriguing Email Stories Relating to Health and Medicine
• Unusual Wills and Testaments
• Premature Obituaries
• Premature Obituaries 2

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Williams was a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning American playwright known for psychological dramas such as "The Glass Menagerie" (1945), "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1948), and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955). Williams died in his room at the Hotel Elysee in New York after accidentally choking on a bottle cap. He would customarily open the eyedrop bottle with his mouth, and then lean backwards to place eyedrops in each eye. According to the police report, his lack of gag response was largely the result of drugs and alcohol abuse.

Thomas Midgley, Jr. (1889 - 1944): Death by Strings and Pulleys

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Midgley was an American mechanical engineer turned chemist best known for his controversial discoveries of tetra-ethyl lead (TEL), a gasoline additive dubbed as ethyl by General Motors to avoid any mention of the highly toxic substance lead that prevents internal combustion engine from knocking; and Freon, a chlorinated fluorocarbon (CFC) used as a non-toxic refrigerant in household appliances. In 1941, Midgley contracted polio that left him severely handicapped, so he devised an intricate network of strings and pulleys to assist others lift him from bed. This system became the ultimate cause of his death when he got himself entangled and died of strangulation in 1944, some three decades prior to the discovery of the destructive effects of CFC on the ozone layer.

Attila the Hun (c.405 - 453): Death from Nosebleed

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Attila, the leader of the Huns, earned the nickname the "Scourge of God" for his brutality and rapacity. Under his leadership, his army conquered large areas of central and eastern Europe and ravaged Italy in the declining years of the Roman Empire. In spite of his fearsome reputation, Attila was well-known for being a light eater during large banquets. However, on his very own latest wedding feast, he let himself loose, stuffing himself heavily with food and drink. He suffered a severe nosebleed sometime during the night and drowned in his own blood in a stupor.

Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601): Death from Failure to Heed Nature's Call

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Brahe was a Danish nobleman credited for the most accurate astronomical and planetary observations of his time, a remarkable achievement in the days before telescopes. Brahe, known for his immoderate drinking habits, already had bladder problems but was not able to relieve himself before the banquet started. However, he made his condition worse by drinking excessively during dinner that he had to hold his pee for the entire duration of the unusually long banquet for it was taken as an extreme insult to the host to leave an unfinished meal. His actions resulted in an infection caused by a severely strained bladder, ultimately leading to his painful death 11 days later.

Li Bai (701 - 762 AD): Death by Embracing the Moon's Reflection

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Li, considered as one of the greatest poets in the history of China, was well known for his love for alcoholic beverages and often created in his best poetries while intoxicated. One evening, Li Bai drowned in the Yangtze River, having fallen off his boat in his drunken attempt to embrace the moon's reflection in the water.

Adolf Frederick (1710 - 1771): Death by Favorite Dessert

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Adolf Frederick was the King of Sweden from 1751 until his death due to indigestion, after having overindulged himself with more than a dozen servings of his favorite dessert, semla served in a bowl of hot milk, on top of a meal comprising of lobster, sauerkraut, caviar, smoked herring and champagne. Accordingly, he is most remembered as "the king who ate himself to death" by Swedish schoolchildren.

Clement Vallandigham (1820 - 1871): Death by Court Demonstration

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Vallandigham was a controversial Ohio politician who resumed his successful law practice after the American Civil War. He was one of the defense attorneys representing the murder suspect Thomas McGehan in a case for killing a certain Tom Myers during a barroom scuffle. He sought to demonstrate to the jury of the possibility that Myers accidentally killed himself while attempting to draw his pistol from a kneeling position. He reenacted the scene grabbing a gun he thought to be unloaded and ended up shooting himself. Though he died from his wound, he succeeded in convincing the jury and got his client acquitted.

Franz Reichelt (18?? - 1912): Death by Parachute-Overcoat Failure

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Reichelt was an Austrian tailor who attempted to combine his interest in tailoring and aviation by creating a garment that would serve both as an overcoat and a parachute. He desired to demonstrate his invention by jumping off the Eiffel Tower, which was the tallest man-made structure in the world at the time. He had informed the authorities that a dummy would first be used, but decided at the last minute to do it himself. On February 4, 1912, he stepped from a platform of the Eiffel Tower with unfounded confidence and fell to his death, all of which were recorded by the press cameras.

François Vatel (1631 - 1671): Death by Delayed Delivery

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Vatel, chef to Louis XIV of France, was famous for creating the sweet vanilla-flavored whipped cream known as the Chantilly cream, which was served at the banquet given by Louis II de Bourbon in honor of the king. At the very same banquet, Vatel was overly distressed over the tardiness of his seafood order that he ran himself through a sword as he could not bear the disgrace of a delayed meal. His body was discovered by his assistant, who was sent to inform him that his order had arrived.

James Creighton, Jr. (1841 - 1862): Death by Baseball Bat Swing

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Creighton, a baseball player regarded by sports historians to be the game's first superstar, was credited for throwing the first fastball and accomplishing the first recorded triple play. In 1862, the 21-year-old Creighton suddenly died in the middle of his greatest season yet. At the time, players swung huge bats almost completely with their upper body; and it was alleged that Creighton swung the bat too forcefully causing an internal injury, probably a ruptured bladder or inguinal hernia. He managed to continue playing despite the excruciating pain; and died a few days later at his parent's place.

Click on the following links for some more articles on the unusual, the strange and the bizarre:

• 10 (More) Bizarre Deaths in History
• 10 (Ultimate) Bizarre Deaths in History
• Intriguing Email Stories Relating to Health and Medicine
• Unusual Wills and Testaments
• Premature Obituaries
• Premature Obituaries 2

In India, the wealthy sect, called the Parsis, believed that the mortal flesh contaminated the earth as well as any fire that would be used in cremation.  Because of this belief, they placed their dead on dokhmas (which means towers of silence).  There, carrion-eating birds picked the bones clean and the bones were allowed to be bleached by the sun.  Only after the bones are completely bleached, were they considered pure enough for burial.

Some tribes of Australian aborigines placed their dead in trees to rot, while other tribes believed that the flesh should be eaten in order to acquire some of the admirable traits of that departed person.

In Melanesia, inhabitants of the Trobriand Islands buried their dead twice.  First, they would bury them, then dig up the bones and carve them into spoons and other utensils.  They believed this was an act of piety.  Eventually, these utensils were placed in caves facing the sea.

The most famous odd burial rite is attributed to the ancient Egyptians. They developed elaborate techniques of mummification on the basis of their belief that the departed soul would eventually return to it's body.  Because of this belief, they would remove the brain and organs from the body and place them in a canopic jar.  Then the body was packed with aromatic spices and soaked in a salt bath for 70 days.  Afterward, it was wrapped in a gummed cloth and placed in a Sarcophagus, which is a elaborately decorated coffin type container.

Although embalming is the most common form of preservation, it is not the only technique used.  In Africa, the Loango people smoked their deceased much the same way as you would smoke a ham.  Alexander the Great was reportedly preserved by means of wax and honey.

Then there was Richard Hull, a 17th century Englishman who was convinced that, on Judgement Day, the dead would rise up and the world would be "reversed".  Because of this belief, he ordered that he be buried upside down astride a horse.

Even some of our more modern burial customs come from surprising roots.  Few people know that the custom of wearing black did not always stand for mourning.  Our forefathers feared ghosts so much that they tried to hide themselves during the burial by painting their skin black so as not to be possessed.  Tombstones were placed on the grave not only to mark the spot but also to deter the living from walking on the grave for fear of possession.

As a closing note, here are a couple of strange tombstone inscriptions:

• "Bathing, wine, and love affairs.  These hurt our bodies, but they make life worth living" - On an ancient Roman tomb.
• "Why weep ye?  Did you think I should live for ever?  I thought dying had been harder." - Louis XIV

But some have been much crazier:

War Pigs

Pigs were used during ancient warfare as a countermeasure to war elephants. The idea was that pigs would be set on fire than let loose on the enemy. The elephants would panic at the sight and sound of flaming and squealing pigs which would cause them to ran away, crushing their own troops. In practice it didn't always work. Burning pig cannot be controlled, so a lot of times the pigs would cause harm to the army that deployed them.

Bat Bombs

Using bats as bomb was an idea developed during the Second World War.

The premise was that at dawn, a bomber plane would release bomb casings containing bats with small bombs attached to them. The casings would release a parachute and open mid flight, releasing the bats which would then nest in attics of Japanese houses which were mostly made of wood and paper. The bomb would then go off and burn down the building.

The tests showed that it was much more effective than standard incendiary bombs used during World War II, starting 3625 to 4748 fires as opposed to 167 to 400 fires of a regular bomb.

This idea, which was named Project X-Ray did not see execution because of the slow development, and the invention of atom bomb.

Anti-Tank Dogs

Dogs were used as anti tank weapons by the Soviet army during World War II. The idea was that dogs would be starved then trained to run under tanks in search of food. This would trip a small level on their back which would detonate a bomb strapped to them. In practice it didn't work so well.

First of all, the dogs were trained on Soviet tanks, so once let loose on the battlefield they would run under the wrong tanks. Sometimes the dogs would be scared by the tank engine's ramble and refuse to proceed. The Nazis also started putting flamethrowers on top of the tanks to be used against the dogs.

Despite all these setbacks, the Soviet dogs managed to disable 300 German tanks.

Navy Dolphins

US Navy used dolphins as early as the 60's to detect mines, enemy divers and recover objects. There are also rumors that the military uses dolphins to lay their own mines and destroy ships and submarines in kamikaze attacks.

The craziest use of dolphins comes from the Soviet Union. The dolphins there were trained to attack enemy divers with harpoons attached to their back and drag them to shore so they could be captured. These dolphins have been actually sold to Iran in 2000.

Voytek the Bear

While this isn't a story about military training bears, but rather a single incident, it was so crazy that I had to include it.

Voytek was a Syrian brown bear adopted in Iran by the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps. At the time the bear was less than a year old, and became an unofficial mascot of the units stationed nearby. It was later officially drafted into the Polish Army. He would drink beer, smoke cigarettes, wrestle and sleep with the other soldiers. During the battle of Monte Cassino, Voytek helped the soldiers move ammunition crates.

After the war Voytek lived in the Edinburgh zoo, where he was visited by Polish veterans until his death.

It was no fluke of whim of fancy that caused Bram Stoker to pick the Balkans for the home of Count Dracula.

Over the centuries there have been hordes of vampires or similar creatures in the mythologies and folklore of various cultures. But the image of the vampire which most of us in Europe and America carry with us today had its origins in the Slavic and Greek lands of Eastern Europe. In fact, the legend of the vampire is still an important part of the Balkan region today.

Origin of the Name "Dracula"

King Sigismund of Hungary, upon becoming the Holy Roman Emperor in 1410, founded a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon to be champions of Christianity and defenders of the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Its emblem was a dragon, wings extended, hanging on a cross. Vlad III's father (Vlad II) was admitted to the order in 1431. From then on he wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore the dragon symbol.

The word for dragon in Romanian is "drac" so Vlad II became known throughout Wallachia and its surrounding areas in the Balkans as "Vlad Dracul," or "Vlad the dragon." In Romanian the ending "ulea" means "the son of." Vlad III thus became Vlad Dracula, or "the son of the dragon." (The word "drac" also means "devil" in Romanian, a name which, along with many other "endearments" the enemies of Vlad III would undoubtedly have heartily bestowed upon him.

Historical Background

During Vlad III's lifetime there was a constant struggle to obtain control of Wallachia. A region of the Balkans (in present-day southern Romania), back then it lay directly between the two powerful forces of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

When Constantinople fell to the Sultan Mohammed the Conqueror in 1453, all of Christendom was suddenly threatened by the armed might of the Ottoman Turks eager to bring Islam to Europe even if the only sure way to do that was through violence. The Hungarian kingdom to the north and west of Wallachia, which reached the height of its prominence during this same time, assumed the role of defender of Christendom.

This left the rulers of Wallachia between a rock and a hard place, as they were thus forced to appease these two empires to maintain their survival, often forging alliances with one or the other, depending upon what served their self-interest at the time. Vlad III is hailed by the Romanian people for his success in standing up to the encroaching Ottoman Turks and establishing relative independence and sovereignty, although only for a brief time.

The Life of Vlad III (1431-1476)

Vlad III was born in November or December of 1431 in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. The house where he was born is still standing. Little is known about his early years. He had an older brother, Mircea, and a younger brother, Radu the Handsome. His mother was a Transylvanian noblewoman. In 1436 his father successfully claimed the throne of Wallachia. During this time Vlad III learned all the skills of war and peace that were deemed necessary for a Christian knight.

In 1444, at the age of 13, Vlad and his brother Radu were sent to Adrianople as hostages to assure the Sultan of their father's loyalty. He was released in 1448, but his younger brother chose to remain in Turkey, where he had grown up.

Although the Turks supported Vlad III in his quest for the Wallachian throne, his initial reign was extremely short (two months), and it was not until 1456, with the aide of the Hungarian king that he returned to the throne. He established Tirgoviste as his capital city, and began to build his castle some distance away in the mountains near the Arges River. It is during this time that most of the atrocities associated with Vlad III took place.

Atrocities of Vlad Tepes

Above and beyond any of his other accomplishments, the historical Dracula is known for his inhuman cruelty and bloodthirstiness. Impalement was his preferred method of torture and execution. Impalement was one of the most hideous ways of dying imaginable, as it was slow and excruciatingly painful.

A horse was attached to each of the victim's legs, which were slowly pulled apart, and a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was oiled and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp, else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Normally the stake was inserted through the buttocks and through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many instances were victims were impaled through other body orifices or through the abdomen or chest. Victims were even sometimes impaled upside down.

Vlad Tepes often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns. The most common pattern was a ring of concentric circles on the outskirts of a city that was his target. The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim. The decaying corpses were often left up for months. Once, in 1461, Mohammed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, and no stranger to the ravages which war inflicted on the human body, returned to Constantinople in shock and horror after the sight of 20,000 impaled Turkish prisoners greeted him and his men outside the city of Tirgoviste. The sight is called "the Forest of the Impaled."

Thousands were often impaled at a single time. In 1459, on St. Barthlomew's Day, Vlad III had 30,000 of the merchants and boyars of the Transylvanian city of Brasov impaled. One of the most famous woodcuts of the period shows Vlad Dracula feasting amongst a forest of stakes and their grisly burdens outside Brasov while a nearby executioner cuts apart other victims. It was also rumored that Vlad liked to drink the blood of his victims from a bowl while dining with them.

Although impalement was Vlad Dracula's favorite method of torture, it was by no means his only method. The list of tortures employed by this cruel prince who sometimes seemed to be more animal than man includes: nails in heads, cutting off limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off noses and ears, scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to wild animals, and burning alive.

No one was immune to his punishment and there was no question that he derived a twisted pleasure from his actions. His victims included women and children, peasants and great lords, ambassadors from foreign powers and merchants. However, the vast majority of his victims came from the merchants and boyars of Transylvania and his own Wallachia.

Vlad Dracula began his reign of terror almost as soon as he came to power. His first significant act of cruelty may have been motivated by a desire for revenge, although this hardly mitigates the horror of his actions. Early in his main reign he gave an Easter feast for his boyars and their families -- boyars were the ruling upperclass. Vlad was well aware that many of these same nobles were part of the conspiracy that led to his father's assassination and the burying alive of his elder brother, Mircea. During the feast Vlad had all the assembled nobles arrested. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot. The younger and healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Tirgoviste to the ruins of his castle in the mountains above the Arges River. The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labor for months rebuilding the old castle with materials from a nearby ruin. According to the reports, they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked. Very few survived this ordeal, and those who did live till the completion of the castle were then rewarded for their efforts by being impaled.

Despite this incident, Vlad Tepes' atrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to force his own moral code upon his country. He appears to have been particularly concerned with female chastity. Vlad also insisted that his people be honest and hard working.

The End of Vlad

Although Vlad III experienced some success in fending off the Turks, it was relatively short-lived. The Turks finally succeeded in forcing him to flee to Transylvania in 1462. Reportedly his first wife committed suicided by leaping from the towers of Vlad's castle into the waters of the Arges River rather than surrender to the Turks. Vlad escaped through a secret passage and fled across the mountains into Transylvania. Later, the King of Hungary, Matthias Covinus had him arrested him and imprisoned in a royal tower.

He was said to have been a prisoner from 1462 until 1474, however, during this period he was gradually able to rehabillitate himself in the king's eyes. He even married the king's sister and fathered 2 sons.

Reports have it that even in captivity Vlad could not give up his favorite past-time; he often captured birds and mice and proceeded to torture and mutilate them. Some were beheaded or tarred-and-feathered and released. Most were impaled on tiny spears.

In 1476 Vlad retook the throne of Wallachia, but shortly after this he was killed in battle against the Turks near the town of Bucharest on December of 1476. There are conflicting reports about how his death came about. Some indicate that he was assassinated by disloyal Wallachian boyers just as he was about to rout the Turks. Other accounts have him falling in defeat surrounded by the ranks of his loyal Moldavian bodyguards. Still other reports claim that Vlad, at the moment of victory, was accidently struck down by one of his own men. The one undisputed fact is that ultimately his body was decapitated by the Turks and his head sent to Constantinople where the sultan had it displayed on a stake as proof that the horrible Impaler was finally dead. He was reportedly buried at Snagov, an island monastery located near Bucharest and accessible only by boat.

1. People of the 21st century love their canine companions.

   To call someone "a dog" today usually amounts to no more than good-natured, sexually charged ribbing-unless the term is meant to describe someone's looks. In 17th-century New England, however, to call someone a dog was an insult of the highest order. Dogs were believed to be used by sorceresses to carry out their evil commands.

2. The Devil was not a particularly popular figure in Puritan New England, so to call someone "a devil" was a supreme insult.

   "You devil, you," would not be a Puritan's idea of good humor.

3. A witch was someone (usually a woman) thought to be doing the devil's work.

   "Virtually everyone in the 17th-century believed in witchcraft," says Massachusetts lawyer and historian Diane Rapaport. "They believed the Devil recruited people to do evil deeds." To call a woman "a witch" was to risk her life. Nineteen men and women accused of practicing witchcraft died during the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692.

4. To call one's mother a "sow" or one's father an "ape," as John Porter Jr. did in 17th-century Massachusetts, was a crime punishable by death.

    In fact, one could be put to death for merely disobeying one's parents. Porter was spared execution, however, because his mother pleaded for mercy on his behalf.

5. To call a man a "dryboots" was to call him sterile.

   According to Growing Up Male in Colonial New England by Anne S. Lombard, a wife who failed to become pregnant might resort to calling her husband a "dryboots" or any other of the following demeaning names: a fumbler, Goodman Do-little or John Cannot.

6. To call someone "a rogue," on the other hand-a term that implied promiscuity, drunkenness and deceit-was also insulting.

   "Rogue was one of the worst things you could call someone," Rapaport notes.

7. To damage a person's hat or wig intentionally was considered highly offensive.

8. To spit on one's hand and rub the wet fingers across the face of another was as off-putting in the 17th century as it would be today.

9. "I will take you by your eyelids and make your heels strike fire!" was a genuine threat used by a highway robber in 17th-century New England

   ...according to Rapaport's book, The Naked Quaker.

10. To call a fellow Puritan "a Quaker" would have been insulting indeed.

    Quakers were outlawed in early New England, which is why they sometimes resorted to public nudity "to protest the spiritual nakedness of their persecutors." To add insult to injury, they were usually publicly whipped for this offense.

###

Oh how times have changed!

The Roman definition of a public toilet was similar to yours but without the separate cubicles.  The Romans, being more social than us, sat down to go to the toilet in groups.  These groups weren’t always small either. 

So how Big was the Biggest Public Toilet?

According to the extensive research undertaken to write this learned article, the biggest public toilet still surviving is to be found in Libya.  This public facility seated 50 along four walls of a rectangular room in Hadrian’s Baths.  There was plenty of room for standing and waiting – so you could have taken your family and friends in with you and there would have been no need to pause your conversation.  How weird is that?!

Further Activities

It is a good idea to wind children up by telling them that you are going to install a Roman toilet so you can all sit down as a family – with any friends or passing strangers – to toilet together.

Oh how times have changed!

Victorian Toffs in the Rest Room or on the Toilet

Although Queen Victoria, other Royals and rich people may have had their own commodes – a seat which doubled as a toilet – these were not usually in special rooms and most likely caused problems when it came to privacy. The use of commodes would also have caused problems for the housemaid tasked with emptying the contents – as there were no flush toilets until the late Victorian era.

Every Other Victorian in the Rest Room or on the Toilet

But what of other people in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, how did they toilet? They used outdoor facilities or had a potty under the bed – all their lives – not just when they were young children. Of course, adults had much bigger potties than children (stands to reason as their bums are much bigger). A potty would have been a preferable alternative to the toilet used by several families in a back-to-back housing block. They didn’t have individual cubicles like we do today – one cubicle would have been for everyone and more than one person would use the toilet at a time! There are examples still in existence of two, three and four seater toilets. Remember, none of these would have had a flush. Also, toilet paper hadn’t been invented so guess what they used? (ANSWER: anything including newspaper if they were very lucky).

Conclusion

Say “err” and “yuk” a lot and have a laugh at the Victorians – but remember no other super-power since has ruled as much of the world as the Victorians and there’s still the Commonwealth. To finish this tale ask children if they are glad that they live today rather than Victorian times.

Further Activities:

Check out some more facts about Victorians online. Look at the size of their empire (known as the British Empire) and the size of the Commonwealth today. Google “Osborne House” and see where Queen Victoria liked to live.

Find an example of an 18^th or early 19^th century double, treble or quadruple toilet online. CLUE: google “Black Country Museum” and “Birmingham, back to back houses.

Soda that came in glass bottles. These glass bottles were returnable and you got a few pennies for each bottle that you turned in. That bottle refund paid for many picture shows for me.

Do you remember when you could go to the movies on Saturday, and sit through a host of cartoons, Buck Rogers, and various other short features for two bits or less?

Do you remember when the neighborhood doctor made house calls at all hours of the night and day? Do you remember when the local druggist knew you by name and could prescribe a cure for most anything to save a doctor's visit.

Do you remember going to the neighborhood drug store, sitting on a high stool that swiveled, and you got a root beer float or a shake?  Your friends came in and you could spend a lovely evening just sitting there and talking.

Do you remember neighborhood dances?  The teens in the neighborhood would gather at the local church and dance/visit the night away.

Do you remember jumping rope to the tunes of Simon, Simon, I've been thinking;  Johnny on the ocean, Johnny on the sea, Johnny broke a window and blamed on me.  The rope would get faster as you jumped.

Do you remember those street skates?  They had a key and large wheels. If someone did not have a pair, you shared a skate, and used one like a skateboard.

Things are different now, but in those days, fun was different. There was no 64 channels of TV, and who had a TV anyway. Cars were a luxury; Dads got to drive them, not kids. No, this wasn't the early 1900's - this was the 1950 generation.

We did have fun.