M.J. Rose

“The way it worked behind the facade was masterful.”

What a story….

From The Daily Beast,
Louis de Wohl: The Astrologer Who Helped Foil Hitler

In the run-up to WWII, British intelligence unleashed an astrologer on an unsuspecting American public to sway public opinion on the war. He was a persuasive fake.

by Annie Jacobsen

“It was the summer of 1941 and a British astrologer named Louis de Wohl was becoming wildly popular among Americans with his increasingly accurate predictions in his stargazer column, “Stars Foretell.” As de Wohl’s reader numbers escalated to meteoric heights, real world consequences ensued. In August 1941, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted its long-standing ban against astrologers and aired an exclusive interview with the man being heralded as “The Modern Nostradamus.” Just a few weeks later, for the first time in U.S. history, an astrologer was filmed for a U.S. newsreel, the TV news of the day. “Pathe? News released the newsreels’ seminal plunge into prophecy with a nation-wide audience of 39,000,000 sitting as judge jury and witness,” declared a press release issued by de Wohl’s manager. Except it was a facade; it was all fake news.

De Wohl’s newspaper column was part of an elaborate black propaganda campaign to organize American public opinion in favor of Britain, and to ultimately get the U.S. to enter the war. In reality, de Wohl worked for British Intelligence (MI5). His so-called manager was none other than the legendary spymaster Sir William Stephenson, a man whom Winston Churchill famously called Intrepid. The average American had no idea…”

Click here for the rest.

You’ve probably heard of streetlamp interference (if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, that is) — but have you heard of watch interference?

From Princetonwatches.com,

The Mystery of the Stopping Watch… Why do Watches Stop When Some People Wear Them?

“A mysterious and yet common occurrence; why do some watches stop working when people wear them? Why do some people seem to stop every watch they put on their wrist?

It seems there has not been a serious study regarding this phenomenon and much like something you may see on a popular television series, or read in an internet chat room, appears to be widely debated and has a cloud of skepticism around it.

Although it is true that some watches will not function properly when around some electronic or highly magnetic equipment, there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer on why, when some people put a watch on their wrist, it will inexplicably stop working immediately or within a few minutes…”

For the rest, click here.

Libraries of the Middle Ages — a great setting for a dark mystery…

From Atlas Obscura,

Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, With Horrifying Book Curses

Medieval scribes protected their work by threatening death, or worse.

by Sarah Laskow

“In the Middle Ages, creating a book could take years. A scribe would bend over his copy table, illuminated only by natural light—candles were too big a risk to the books—and spend hours each day forming letters, by hand, careful never to make an error. To be a copyist, wrote one scribe, was painful: “It extinguishes the light from the eyes, it bends the back, it crushes the viscera and the ribs, it brings forth pain to the kidneys, and weariness to the whole body.”

Given the extreme effort that went into creating books, scribes and book owners had a real incentive to protect their work. They used the only power they had: words. At the beginning or the end of books, scribes and book owners would write dramatic curses threatening thieves with pain and suffering if they were to steal or damage these treasures.

They did not hesitate to use the worst punishments they knew—excommunication from the church and horrible, painful death. Steal a book, and you might be cleft by a demon sword, forced to sacrifice your hands, have your eyes gouged out, or end in the “fires of hell and brimstone.”…”

For the rest, click here.