Page 113 - History Facts

Monks in northern Japan once practiced self-mummification.

Sokushinbutsu were Buddhist monks who caused their own deaths in a way that resulted in their mummification. If is believed that many monks in northern Japan attempted the act, but only between 16 and 24 mummifications have been discovered to date. 

For 1000 days, a monk would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds while taking part in a rigorous physical regimen; this stripped him of his body fat. For another 1000 days, he ate only bark and root and began drinking a poisonous tea which caused vomiting, a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and made the body too poisonous to be eaten by maggots. 

Finally, he would lock himself in a stone tomb no larger than his body where he would not budge from the lotus position. There was a bell within the tomb, and ringing it would alert everyone outside that the monk was still alive. Once the bell stopped ringing however, the tomb would be sealed. 

The other monks would wait another 1000 days and open the tomb to see if the mummification was successful. If so, the monk was immediately seen as a Buddha and put in the temple for viewing. If not, he wasn’t considered a Buddha but he was still admired for his dedication and spirit. Today, the practice has been outlawed by all Buddhist sects and the entire country of Japan.

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The founder and Taco Bell and Sherlock Holmes are related!

Well... kinda. The man who founded Taco Bell is a direct descendant of one of the pioneers of forensic science. He was the man that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used as a basis for the character of Sherlock Holmes.

Taco Bell’s founder was Glen William Bell, Jr. Born September 3rd, 1923 in Lynwood, California, he was a marine in World War II and started a hot dog stand called Bell’s Drive-In in 1948. 

Four years later, he built a new stand that sold burgers as well, and soon after tacos were added. Through the 1950’s, his taco business grew until 1962 came along. That year, he opened up Taco Bell. You may remember that Bell died two years ago, on January 16, 2010. 

His ancestor, Joseph Bell, had a very different story. Joseph Bell was born December 2nd, 1837 in Scotland. He was famous for being a professor at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh (and later being the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes). 

Bell often lectured on the importance of close observation, and, like Sherlock, would often pick a stranger and deduce his occupation and recent activities. As a result, he became known as a pioneer in forensic science. 

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle met Bell in 1877, he was just his clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. So impressed was he by Bell’s skills of observation that he turned Bell into the character we know today. Bell passed away in 1911. Regrettably, neither man lived to see the Dorito Taco. 

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A nuclear physicist tried to singlehandedly conquer a small island!

The island of Sark is a little island in the southwestern English Channel. It is only 2.10 square miles total. It is located off the French coast of Normandy. It only has about 600 residents, but it has its own laws and parliament. Official languages are English and French and their currency is the pound. 

At one point in Sark’s history, André Gardes, a French nuclear physicist took a liking to the island. In 1990, he decided that he might like to claim the island for himself, despite the fact that he already had occupants and a government system. 

Alone, armed with a semi-automatic weapon he tried to take over the island. He arrived one evening and put up signs, telling the island that he was preparing to take it over. Of course, Gardes didn’t think about the fact that he might be arrested. 

He was found by the police at about noon on the beach. He was changing the gun’s magazine when he was caught. Something tells us this mad scientist should've thought things through a little bit better

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The city of Chicago was raised several feet to fix a drainage problem.

The city of Chicago was built on very low ground, almost as low as Lake Michigan. This meant that throughout the 1800s the city had virtually no drainage. This caused a lot of sitting water, which made living conditions poor. 

Diseases like dysentery and typhoid fever abounded, and the sitting water was blamed for the outbreak of cholera as well, which killed 6% of Chicago’s population at the time. The plan they came up with was to raise the city a few feet in order to provide some drainage area. 

The first building to be raised was a masonry building on the corner of Randolph and Dearborn Street. It was raised with 200 jackscrews up 6 feet and 2 inches. The building was raised without being damaged at all. Boston engineer James Brown and Chicago engineer James Hollingsworth were in charge of raising that first house and would go on to raise many more. At one point they managed to raise a 200-foot building! 

The city was also starting to bloom at the time. Many people didn't like the old, wood framed houses, considering them to be inappropriate for the increasingly wealthier city. Many houses weren't just raised, but also moved outside the city, something that was common in Chicago for the following years. 

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One percent of the population in Greenland lives in a single apartment complex.

There is an apartment complex known as Blok P in Greenland. It is the largest apartment complex in Greenland with about 320 apartments. It is not very tall for its size—only five stories—but it is very long at almost 64 apartments long. It isn’t the most beautiful building, but it houses about 1% of the Greenland population. 

Historically, it was created to modernize what was then part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Government officials did what government officials do and created the apartment to move people away from the less modern coastal settlements, but didn’t take into consideration the lifestyles of the people they were moving. 

The original occupants of the Blok P were Inuit people. The apartments were ill-suited for how they liked to live. For example, the heavy clothes of the Inuits, used to keep warm and carry fishing gear, didn’t fit through the narrow doors of the apartments. 

Smaller western clothes fit through the doors, but wouldn’t work for fishing and carrying gear. The occupants also stored fishing gear on balconies causing a fire hazard. Even worse, coagulated blood from fish-gutting in the bath tubs clogged the drainage system! Even now, the apartments are considered to be relatively ugly and depressing. 

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