Plague Doctors

So, the Black Death. While not exactly "cool" (it killed hundreds of millions of people), it certainly was "powerful". Consuming Europe in the 14th century, the disease was thought to be God's wrath due to the sin of mankind (whoa... heavy).

To determine who was diseased and who wasn't, these morbid motherfuckers were sent from home to home, inspecting potential victims of the plague.

Imagine one of these beaky dudes in a wide-brimmed black hat striding through your door in the 14th century, cane in hand. You'd be both in awe and petrified.

Apparently the beak was a kind of early gas mask, designed to direct the plague away from the doctor's face, instead directing it onto his stark black robe.

I want to go as one on Halloween. Badass.

Folklore, pt. 1

I have a deep fascination with old legends and folklore, you know, the type of local stories many "ole timey" parents probably told their children at night, such as stories about the boogeyman or the Jersey devil. Most of them are very obviously made up, but its cool to think about the possibility of maybe some of them being... true!

This will be my first of hopefully many more posts retelling my favourite old legends from the past. This one is about the "Green Children of Woolpit".

So, scholarly accounts of this date back to Suffolk, England in the 12th century, during the reign of King Stephen. It concerns two children, a boy and a girl, who one day mysteriously appeared in the village of Woolpit, without any explanation. The childrens' hair and skin had a green tinge, and they spoke in an incomprehensible language never encountered before.

Apparently the boy soon died, but the girl lived on and eventually lost her green colour, and even learned to speak English.

The real kicker is what she told them about their origin.

She told them that they came from St. Martin's Land, an underground world where all the inhabitants were green. It gives me shivers just thinking about it.

"Secret family recipes"

The idea of a "secret family recipe" is cool. Just imagine the recipe was passed down since like, the Middle fuckin' Ages or something, and all it is, is just potatoes cooked to a very very specific temperature that makes them irresistible. Or something like that. I wish my family had one.