Leaders of Christendom

The conflicts between Rome and Constantinople were often based on the important question of what qualities were necessary to be possessed by the leaders of Christendom. This was a time when it was common to use something similar to the medieval method for impeachment. There existed a church synod in Rome. It was designed to make it possible for any person holding the highest office in Christendom to be put on trial for any type of violations of the customs or traditions of their office. A very well-known synod occurred during January 897. The synod heard charges against a former pontiff. His name was Formosus, and he was pope from 891 to 896.

Dead

The main challenge for the synod was that by the time the trial of Formosus had started, he’d been dead for months. At this time, there was a new pope named Stephen VI. He had a strong opinion that even if a leader had left their office, they should still face punishment for all of their transgressions.

Corpse on trial

At the request of the new pope, the synod went ahead with the trial under some rather ghoulish circumstances. Pope Stephen VI demanded the corpse of Formosus be taken out of its sarcophagus and moved to the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. There it would be put on trial. During the trial, the corpse was seated on a throne and covered with papal vestments. It was alleged that Formosus had intentionally broken the rules of the church. A deacon stood near the corpse and provided answers to questions asked of Formosus. The new pope charged the corpse with breaking an oath to not return to Rome. It was also charged with having illegally obtained the title of pope. The reason was the corpse was only a bishop when it was made pope and popes needed to have obtained the rank of cardinal.

Alleged crimes

Other alleged crimes committed by Formosus took place several years before the trial. Formosus was excommunicated in July 876 for being involved with European power politics. This meant he was prohibited from celebrating mass given by Pope John VIII. The excommunication sentence was removed by Marinus I in 878. Formosus was then able to go back to his job as bishop of Porto.

Insurrection

Formosus convinced Arnulf of Carinthia to advance to Rome. It was done to remove the reigning emperor. This resulted in Formosus being charged with insurrection. In 896, Arnulf seized Rome by force. Before Arnulf could move against other opposition, he was struck with paralysis. He was then unable to continue with his campaign. During the Middle Ages, paralysis was considered divine punishment.

New popes

During this time, new popes were put in charge of the church at an alarming rate. Between 896 and 904 there were several new popes. Pope Boniface VI was the successor to Formosus. He died two weeks after being made pope. Stephen VI was then given the papal throne. Initially, he was a supporter of Formosus, but Stephen VI decided to align himself with the most powerful family in Rome who did not like Formosus.

At the conclusion of the trial, Stephen VI declared that Formosus was guilty. He stated Formosus was not able to legally become pope since he was a bishop at the time he was awarded the papal throne. He also declared Formosus had ignored his oath of not celebrating mass. After being declared guilty, all the decisions, measures, and acts of Formosus as pope were annulled. All priestly orders given by him were made invalid. The papal vestments on his dead body were torn away. The three fingers used by the dead pope for consecrations were removed from his body. The corpse of Formosus was then buried in a cemetery for strangers. A few days later, the body was dug up and then thrown into the river Tiber.

Looking into the text at the time it appears that the reports that the ship was unsinkable were largely exaggerated in modern-day. After the ship sank it is more likely that many felt it was just a good way to sell papers to claim that it was believed to be unsinkable. There have been a number of reports though. For example, one person who was a VP at the company that owned the titanic said that when he heard the reports of the sinking ship, he didn’t believe them. In his mind, the ship could not sink.

However today it is largely presented as if the ship was promoted as the unsinkable ship, which was just not true. The ship’s main selling point was luxury. The ship was incredibly large and had all the trimmings of an incredible ballroom and more. It was a playground for the rich and famous with some of the most notable on the ship being the Us business tycoon Benjamen Guggenheim, British journalist, William Stead and Isidor Straus the owner of the Macy’s department store at the time.  Before they set sail, most did not really consider the safety features, much like we all ignore the safety checks on planes today.

The titanic was an incredible ship though and it had the latest and greatest innovations in ship safety at the time. The ship had 16 chambers and the plan was that if any chamber took on water, it could be closed immediately before it spread to the other chambers and sank the boat. Of course, this is not what took place and on April 14th, 1912 the ship sank. Sadly, the ship could likely stay afloat if four of its 16 compartments filled with water, reports indicated that five of the chambers filled with water. 

Worse still some reports after the event indicated that low quality steel and weak rivets may have been used in the construction of the titanic. This may have meant the despite a solid design the ship could not withstand the damage that would be caused. At the end over 1,500 people died that were on the ship. The majority that died were crew (700) while the third class inhabitants also took a majority share with only 174 of the 700 passengers surviving from that class. 

Today the ship is still at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. It has split into two parts, the bow, and the stern. The bow is the largest part and can be found at 41°43′57′′ N 49°56′49′′ W, if you are ever in the area.  Many people do not know but the ship’s final stop before it had its wreck was in Cobh, Ireland. 

The evidence does appear to suggest that most people did not know of the ship as unsinkable at all. While the new safety features were well reported and many thought of them as far superior to any ship at the time, few thought it was unsinkable. The ship was so heavy that the new features were mostly to calm down any concerns that people would have had at the time. It appears that it has simply earned this reputation after the fact. Because after all, nothing beats a good story.

The executioner will raise a club as if in readiness to strike, and the victim must brace himself for death. But what follows is a terrifying experience few people want to know about. Although elephants indeed have a reputation for being gentle enough to let everyone ride them without causing them harm, they are also very intelligent creatures. And although they are known to have a certain moral code they follow (for example, they will not harm humans who have surrendered), this does not mean that their instincts do not rise when they are in an agitated state of mind (the state in which they are during execution). It is crucial to never take advantage of their nature and try to ride them. If the prisoner is too feeble or sedated, he will not make a sound when the elephant rises. And if the elephant starts moving in an agitated state that causes it to lose its balance, it will certainly be crushed under its weight. When this happens, no one can rescue the executioner, who will now be lying on top of the fallen man. Furthermore, if the elephant loses its balance while lifting the executioner, its feet will hit him on his head and cause several painful injuries.

Earlier, the elephant had to be more aggressive to successfully execute a prisoner. They would have dragged the victim around and then used their trunks to crush his or her body. This was considered more effective than pressing him against a hard surface because it generated less noise. The animal was trained through punishment and reward to accomplish its task without distractions by onlookers. It is said that this gory spectacle took place in India until 1920 and in Thailand until 1924, but only for people convicted of serious crimes such as treason (for example, an attempt on the king’s life).

Today, elephants are used in Singapore and Yemen to execute criminals. In Singapore, they use the Asian Rhino, which looks very similar to the elephant. This species is much more peaceful than the African Rhino and will only attack if it feels threatened or mistreated by humans. They have stricter laws that prevent anyone from riding them during execution (either as a publicity stunt or as punishment) unless they are already blindfolded, and their hands are bound before being lifted up. This law was introduced in 1993 under pressure from foreign animal rights organizations concerned about human safety during this gruesome aspect of capital punishment.

In some countries, the prisoner is simply killed by lethal injection, so there will be no messy mess following the execution. But in Yemen, they use the Mazaq (or Mazaqah), a large type of monkey with a thin, powerful build. It has almost the same physical ability and strength as an elephant. These animals are known to be extremely aggressive towards humans, so no one wants to take any chances when using them for execution. They will attack and then be killed by other family members should it become necessary. This situation happened in 2014 when after executing 14 prisoners in a single day, five ended up being killed by their family members.

The Fox tunnel in Alaska is not capable of time travel but it does allow you to walk into history. The tunnel was built in 1963 and goes 50 feet underground and is 360 feet long. What is truly remarkable about this tunnel is that it bores through permafrost. Permafrost is any ground that remains frozen for at least two years, it is permanently frozen. This is special because it can trap things in time and preserve them in the original state. Walking through the Fox tunnel is, therefore, like walking through time. The deeper in the tunnel you go the further back in history you are surrounded by. 

Permafrost is found close to the north and south poles and covers 85% of Alaska today. Today the tunnel is used for scientific exploration and to provide a greater understanding of permafrost. Yet it was originally built to test whether the surface could be used as a viable bomb shelter.

At the greatest depths of the tunnel, the walls and fossils are as old as 40,000 years. Throughout the tunnel, there have been discoveries of ancient bones from bison, horse, and even mammoths. The tunnel is proving incredibly useful for a wide range of studies. Experts believe that the surfaces inside the tunnel are similar to those on Mars so it is being used by those both interested in the Earth and in space. It is being used by animal experts to understand how ancient animals roamed the Earth. It is being used by climate change experts to understand how important permafrost is and what it melting may mean for our world.

There is a growing fear that melting permafrost may mean disaster for our world. Many now believe that the permafrost is holding many materials frozen that we don’t want to let out. If it melts it could unleash havoc on Earth. There may be viruses there that our modern world has no vaccines for. While that is one unknown there is a more concrete fear about carbon emissions. Permafrost holds frozen carbon in place and as it melts it releases more and more carbon. Each year it is estimated that the melting permafrost is placing as much carbon into the environment as the transport activities of France. Clearly the permafrost and the Fox tunnel hold the answers to some very important questions.

While you can’t visit the tunnel, as it is used for private research, you can explore it through a virtual online tour. We have done the tour and found it absolutely fascinating. The research conducted in the Fox tunnel is incredibly important for a wide range of scientific areas. While the permafrost may spell disaster for our carbon emissions we are only at the beginning of understanding what treasures it holds. While it may hold disaster it may hold the answers too.

For example, when this Bosnian man found a gigantic rock in the woods around his home, which turned out to be almost perfect. According to researchers, the 3-meter-wide stone bullet could have been made by an unknown civilization who lived in the area more than 1,000 years ago …

The ‘Pyramid of the Prairie’ stands alone in a desolate place in the American state of North Dakota. This strange building was once an important stronghold in the Cold War and served as a military base. The complex was built in the mid-1970s and cost no less than 5.4 billion (!) Euros.

The Katskhi Pillar is a 40 meter high limestone rock that is located in the Georgian village of Katskhi. In the past, the high, natural pillar was a place of worship and it was called “the pillar of life.” Already in the 4th century this was a beloved place for monks who like to sit or stand on the top to pray. There they felt closer to God.

A few years ago the Argentinian Jose Antonio Nievas made a special discovery in a riverbank near the South American city of Buenos Aires . It looked like a huge shield that possibly came from a Glyptodontidae, a prehistoric type of armadillo that has been extinct for some 10,000 years. The black scaly shield lay ‘hidden’ in a mud pool …

The Havasu Falls is a hidden gem in the United States. The waterfall is located in the state of Arizona, in the famous Grand Canyon. It is almost impossible to get around, there is first a walk of about 13 kilometers in advance where you have to walk through various gorges . The beautiful 37-meter high natural phenomenon is on the grounds of the Havasupai Indians.

There is a strange sculpture in the Atacama desert in Chile . A huge hand looms out of the sand, far away from civilization. The symbolism of the 11-meter-high sculpture is twofold because it represents both human suffering and the vast emptiness of the desert …

A few years ago, researchers discovered a mass grave in the same desert in Chile containing no fewer than forty dead whales. How the animals came to an end millions of years ago was a mystery. The five million-year- old skeletons were uncovered along the length of two football fields in one of the driest places in the world …

Although the English king Richard the Third died as early as 1485, the body of the royal was not found more than 500 years later. Under a parking lot in the British city of Leicester, the remains of the unfortunate king (who is also called one of the worst kings of England) were found in 2013

A shipwreck was found just off the coast of South American Colombia last year. It turned out to be the Spanish trading ship the San José, which was sunk on 8 June 1708. Converted to today, the treasure that was found to be worth about 14 billion euros! There are, however, more lost treasures that you can still find today with a little luck.

In 1933, Mexican millionaire Leon Trabuco decided to hide part of Mexico’s gold reserves in the desert. The businessman had bought the gold to sell it on to the United States market because he was convinced that the US dollar – due to the Great Depression – would devalue quickly and so the gold prices would rise.

However, having around 16 tons of Gold involved enormous risks, so Leon decided to bury the ‘treasure ‘ in a sparsely populated area in New Mexico, on the border with his homeland. The place had to remain secret, so the millionaire never exactly disclosed the location. When he died he took it with him to his grave …

Arthur Flegenheimer, also known as Dutch Schultz, was a remarkable Mafia figure in the 1930s. Arthur was seen as the leader of the Jewish-German Mafia in New York. There he earned millions of dollars in the production and sale of alcoholic beverages during the prohibition, lotteries, and other illegal practices.

He hid the money in an iron vault that he would have buried in the Catskills Mountains. Shortly thereafter, however, the criminal was killed in a restaurant in New Jersey. The vault containing around 7 million dollars has never been found to date …

Blackbeard was the nickname of Edward Teach, a notorious pirate who was active in the Caribbean in the early 18th century. Although Blackbeard had had a short career as a pirate (from 1716 to 1718), he was notorious and famous. With his weapons and long black beard, he formed the typical image of a frightening pirate.

In his two years as a pirate, he gained serious wealth. While the Spaniards were busy obtaining gold and silver from Mexico and South America, Blackbeard waited patiently with his crew. At the right moment, they attacked the loaded ships and thus stolen treasures of enormous value. Blackbeard buried it and was the only one who knew the location. When he was murdered in 1718, he took it to his grave.

A hidden treasure is said to have been buried on the Canadian island ‘Oak Island’. Although the precise location is known, this has not yet led to results. So far only earth and branches have been found.

Einstein’s aptitude for mathematics and hard sciences was apparent even when he was a small boy. Born in 1879 in Ulm in what is now modern-day Germany, Einstein flourished in academia, teaching himself higher math from the age of 12. He added philosophy to his intellectual pursuits three years later and learned to play the violin as a teenager after becoming enamored with Beethoven as a boy. At the precocious age of 17, he enrolled in a teaching degree program at Zurich Polytechnic, graduating in 1900 – the same year. Despite his early discovered aptitude and mastery of physics and math, he could not find a teaching position after graduation, and so took a position as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, while pursuing his PhD., which he obtained only five years later from the University of Zurich.

While working mainly with electrical device patents, Einstein began work on his most famous and groundbreaking work: his theory of special relativity. The theory was published in an article, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,” the same year he received his doctoral degree, in one of four groundbreaking papers he produced in 1905. In another of these four papers, matter and energy equivalence is discussed, leading to his iconic equation “E=mc^2”, the basis of modern studies of nuclear energy (“Does Inertia of a Body Depend Upon It’s Energy Content?”). Work by other physicists during the 1940s would lead to the development and production of both atomic weapons and power. Atomic weaponry was posited in a letter by Einstein to Franklin Roosevelt at the beginning of World War II, which Einstein came to later regret due to the awesome destructive power and deadly force of nuclear fission. Atomic power proved to be the cleanest energy source outside of solar and wind turbine energy.

Einstein changed the study of physics forever as a young man, standing on the shoulders of giants, as Isaac Newton, the man whose work was the basis for a lot of Einstein’s work, once wrote. From Einstein’s breakthroughs, the world has made further breakthroughs, both challenging and solidifying Einstein’s theoretical models, especially in the fields of quantum mechanics and gravitational waves. Both his contemporaries (Bohrs, Schrodinger, and Planck, to name a few), as well as his academic successors, have, in turn, stood on Einstein’s shoulders.

Before looking into Roberts’ claims, it is important to examine the life of Billy the Kid in greater detail. Billy the Kid was born as Henry McCarty in 1859 and eventually adopted the name William Bonney. Orphaned at 15, the Kid turned to a life of a crime, committing his first murder at only 17 years old. Bonney later joined the New Mexico-based posse known as the Regulators and ruthlessly squashed any attempt at bringing him to justice. The Kid could only outrun justice for so long, however. On July 14, 1882, Sheriff Pat Garrett caught up to Billy the Kid in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Waiting in ambush in the Kid’s darkened bedroom, Sheriff Garrett fired twice, hitting Bonney in the chest and putting an end to the outlaw’s life.

After his death, Billy the Kid became an American legend, his story inspiring countless books and films. Despite Garrett’s account, many men nevertheless came forward claiming to be Billy the Kid and that they had survived the 1881 shooting. One such man was Brushy Bill Roberts. Roberts entered into the Kid’s legend in 1948, when attorney William Morrison heard reports of the elderly man claiming to be the Kid. Morrison became intrigued by Roberts’ claims when known associates of Billy the Kid came forward and alleged that Roberts was the genuine outlaw and gunslinger of legend.

To verify Roberts’ claim, Morrison visited the aging cowboy at his ranch in Hico, Texas. Upon meeting Morrison, the older gentleman confessed to being Billy the Kid. Roberts regaled Morrison with tales of his exploits as an outlaw. Roberts also showed Morrison some of the scars he had from his life of crime, scars that Morrison believed matched those of Billy the Kid. After convincing Morrison that he was the genuine Billy the Kid, Roberts asked the legal expert for help in obtaining a pardon for his past life of crime. Roberts specifically referenced an 1878 proclamation by New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace promising a pardon for those who had participated in the Lincoln County War.

Morrison readily agreed to represent Roberts in his quest for a pardon. After several months of trying to get a meeting with Thomas J. Marby, who was the current governor of New Mexico, Morrison and Roberts finally got a chance to make their case before the state’s chief executive. According to Morrison’s own account, Governor Marby did not take Roberts’ claims seriously. Morrison recalled how Marby rolled his eyes after hearing Roberts’ claims and the meeting ended with the governor refusing to issue the pardon. In his reasoning, Marby cited his belief that Roberts was not the real Billy the Kid. Roberts died just a few weeks after his meeting with Governor Marby on December 27, 1950.

In examining Roberts’ claims, modern historians and investigators remain divided over whether he was the true Billy the Kid. On the one hand, friends and associates of Billy the Kid contend that Roberts was the genuine gunfighter of legend. However, experts on the Old West point out that while Roberts was illiterate, Billy the Kid had a reputation for excellent penmanship. Facial scans of Roberts and Billy the Kid are also inconclusive, and no DNA evidence has thus far been presented to prove that Roberts was Billy the Kid.

We all know human beings who also appear to benefit from more good fortune than the average person. One of these people just so happens to be one of the greatest writers of short fiction in American history: Ernest Hemingway.

There was a time when Hemingway was the ultimate literary celebrity in America and he spent more than three decades in the spotlight. What many people either do not know or do not remember is just how lucky Hemingway was to survive his 61 years on earth.

Hemingway’s life story began in 1899 when he was born in Oak Park, Illinois. His early years were marked by rebellion against his mother which included the adoption of an overly masculine facade. The activities undertaken by Hemingway included hunting, fishing, and athletics. Hemingway caught the writing bug in high school and he began to develop the declarative style that literary fans have enjoyed for nearly a century.

Hemingway worked as a journalist after high school before the life-changing experiences that took place during World War 1.

Hemingway has always been addicted to action and found all he could handle as an ambulance driver in the first World War. Hemingway found himself under heavy mortar fire and took shrapnel damage in both legs at one point in the war. Despite the extensive injuries, Hemingway was able to save the life of an Italian soldier by carrying him to safety after the soldier was also injured.

Hemingway’s injuries required immediate surgery. He was rewarded with a Bravery medal and transferred from the frontlines of the war.

By 1926, Hemingway had built a strong following with his writing with a number of successful short stories and the full-length novel “The Sun Also Rises.”

Hemingway loved the spotlight and was on a constant mission to find new experiences. This quest for action destroyed his first marriage and resulted in both injuries, as well as, a number of near escapes with his life.

By 1928, Heminway was on his second marriage, endured a bout of anthrax, and survived a serious head injury after pulling a light down on himself in a bathroom in Paris. Hemingway was hospitalized for seven weeks in 1929 due to an automobile accident. The injuries from the accident included a broken arm and damaged nerves in his writing hand.

Hemingway continued both his writing and thrill-seeking. During World War II, Hemingway found grave danger in both mainland Europe and London. Hemingway was able to capture the many hardships endured by frontline soldiers while covering the fighting in the Second World War. He endured his own hardship toward the end of the war when he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

The last literary hoorah for Hemingway came with “The Old Man and the Sea.” It was written at a time when Hemingway suffered from multiple serious health problems.

Hemingway survived two 1954 plane crashes in Africa. He was buried in a bushfire accident and developed liver cancer from his excessive drinking. He also suffered nearly complete memory loss from the electroshock treatment given for his depression.

Ernest Hemingway eventually committed suicide in 1961. The thirst for action, literary ability, and naturally dark mood of Ernest Hemingway combined to get Hemingway in a number of precarious positions only to have him emerge each time with a heck of a story to pen. It turns out, Hemingway was a cat lover. And to those who know his life, this revelation comes as no surprise.

The MacDill Air Force Base was opened in Tampa Bay Florida in 1941. It was opened at a time of recession in America and a particularly bad time economically for the Florida area. The cigar industry which Tampa relied on at the time was in turmoil and it was felt that a new military base could lift the area economically. This is why the military base was built but it is the site that was chosen that causes horror and disgust.

NAACP Hillsborough Country found numerous death certificates from before 1941. Each of the death certificates indicates the graveyard location and shows it as the same place that the base was built. The records indicate that at least 38 people were buried there and that 12 of them were stillborn infants. All of these people were black. There was no record of the bodies being moved.

Anecdotal evidence supports the findings as many people remember the graveyard being destroyed to make way for the base. While this would cause shock today it was a normal circumstance back then.  We must remember at this time that Jim Crow laws were in place which made racial segregation and discrimination legal. It took the rights of black people and didn’t allow them to own certain properties. Even a graveyard was not protected. 

Thus when a site was needed to build a new military base the fact that a black graveyard was there was not seen as an obstacle at all. As there is no record of the bodies being moved it suggests that no one even cared enough to relocate the bodies. They simply demolish the graveyard and built the base on top of the bodies.

If this isn’t bad enough, the Port Tampa Cemetery is only one of five black cemeteries found in the Tampa Bay area in the last 18 months. Another was found under a modern-day school, with 145 unmarked graves and further records revealing over 250 (mostly black) people were buried there.

The MacDill base announced plans to search for the cemetery last December and used the Air Force Engineering Center to aid in the search. It is incredible to think that this burial ground was removed from history and it makes you wonder what other atrocities have been committed that there is no record for. 

These acts of systemic racism show why problems still continue to this day. Too much damage has been done and while the history books and records try to sweep much of the truth under the carpet there can be no retribution until everything is uncovered and highlighted. The Black Lives Matter movement has done fantastic work to bring modern-day atrocities to the attention of the world. Yet more must be done. While it is great to see people taking a stand and asking for change, more change is required.