M.J. Rose

Indiana Jones is fictional, but throughout history there have been several adventuresome archaeologists in his magnificent image — here’s a few of them and their stories…

7 Archaeologists Who Were Real-Life Indiana Joneses

(from io9)

Indiana Jones may not be beloved by real-life archaeologists, but there is one thing that Dr. Jones has in common with many historical archaeological and scientific explorers: he’s lived a very exciting life. Here are some real historical figures who had remarkable adventures and made plenty of discoveries along the way.

1. Percy Fawcett, the Adventurer Who Disappeared into the Amazon

Lt. Colonel Percival Harrison Fawcett was an explorer whose adventures inflamed the imagination of Arthur Conan Doyle, who was inspired to write The Lost World in part because of Fawcett’s field reports from South America. The Royal Geographical Society tapped Fawcett for an expedition to to map the border between Brazil and Bolivia in 1906, and he brought the region to life for readers back home. He wowed them with tales of the “green hell,” of the people who lived there, of the remarkable plans, and of the fearsome animals (although many scientists doubted his claim that he had run into a 62-foot-long anaconda).

Fawcett mapped swaths of the jungle for the RGS, but he also dreamed of making archaeological history with a massive discovery. Fawcett’s experiences led him to believe that an advanced civilization could exist in the jungle, and he wrote extensively on his rationale for believing in such a lost city, which he called “Z.”

Fawcett made his final expedition to the Amazon, ostensibly in search of the Lost City of Z, in 1925, with his son Jack and Raleigh Rimell. They disappeared, and numerous explorers have attempted to trace their journey and figure out what happened to the trio. Fawcett may be bound for the big screen soon; a movie based on David Grann’s book The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon is in the works. (You can also read Grann’s shorter piece about Fawcett in the New Yorker.)

Fawcett actually meets Indiana Jones, at least in fiction. In the novel Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils, Indy is the latest explorer to seek out Fawcett and his fabled city.

2. T.E. Lawrence, Better Known as “Lawrence of Arabia”

Long before Harrison Ford picked up Indiana Jones’ whip and fedora, Peter O’Toole starred in Lawrence of Arabia. Thomas Edward Lawrence was a real person, however, one who was an archaeologist, diplomat, soldier, and spy….

For the rest, click here to go to io9.

Nellie Bly did — and who was this Nellie Bly? She was the brave woman who wrote Ten Days in a Mad-House, which you may read in its entirety online, starting here, below…

From Wikipedia:

Nellie Bly (May 5, 1864^[1] – January 27, 1922) was the pen name of American journalist Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman.^[2] She was also a writer, industrialist, inventor, and a charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne‘s fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within.^[3] She was a pioneer in her field, and launched a new kind of investigative journalism.^[4]

In celebration of women writers, please enjoy:

Ten Days in a Mad-House
Published with “Miscellaneous Sketches: Trying to be a Servant,” and “Nellie Bly as a White Slave.”
by Nellie Bly [Elizabeth Jane Cochrane Seaman] (1864-1922)
New York: Ian L. Munro, Publisher, n.d.

INTRODUCTION.

SINCE my experiences in Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum were published in the World I have received hundreds of letters in regard to it. The edition containing my story long since ran out, and I have been prevailed upon to allow it to be published in book form, to satisfy the hundreds who are yet asking for copies.

I am happy to be able to state as a result of my visit to the asylum and the exposures consequent thereon, that the City of New York has appropriated $1,000,000 more per annum than ever before for the care of the insane. So I have at least the satisfaction of knowing that the poor unfortunates will be the better cared for because of my work.

TEN DAYS IN A MAD-HOUSE.

CHAPTER I.
A DELICATE MISSION.

ON the 22d of September I was asked by the World if I could have myself committed to one of the asylums for the insane in New York, with a view to writing a plain and unvarnished narrative of the treatment of the patients therein and the methods of management, etc. Did I think I had the courage to go through such an ordeal as the mission would demand? Could I assume the characteristics of insanity to such a degree that I could pass the doctors, live for a week among the insane without the authorities there finding out that I was only a “chiel amang ’em takin’ notes?” I said I believed I could. I had some faith in my own ability as an actress and thought I could assume insanity long enough to accomplish any mission intrusted to me. Could I pass a week in the insane ward at Blackwell’s Island? I said I could and I would. And I did.

My instructions were simply to go on with my work as soon as I felt that I was ready. I was to chronicle faithfully the experiences I underwent, and when once within the walls of the asylum to find out and describe its inside workings, which are always, so effectually hidden by white-capped nurses, as well as by bolts and bars, from the knowledge of the public. “We do not ask you to go there for the purpose of making sensational revelations. Write up things as you find them, good or bad; give praise or blame as you think best, and the truth all the time. But I am afraid of that chronic smile of yours,” said the editor. “I will smile no more,” I said, and I went away to execute my delicate and, as I found out, difficult mission.

If I did get into the asylum, which I hardly hoped to do, I had no idea that my experiences would contain aught else than a simple tale of life in an asylum. That such an institution could be mismanaged, and that cruelties could exist ‘neath its roof, I did not deem possible. I always had a desire to know asylum life more thoroughly–a desire to be convinced that the most helpless of God’s creatures, the insane, were cared for kindly and properly. The many stories I had read of abuses in such institutions I had regarded as wildly exaggerated or else romances, yet there was a latent desire to know positively.

I shuddered to think how completely the insane were in the power of their keepers, and how one could weep and plead for release, and all of no avail, if the keepers were so minded. Eagerly I accepted the mission to learn the inside workings of the Blackwell Island Insane Asylum.

“How will you get me out,” I asked my editor, “after I once get in?”

“I do not know,” he replied, “but we will get you out if we have to tell who you are, and for what purpose you feigned insanity–only get in.”

I had little belief in my ability to deceive the insanity experts, and I think my editor had less.

All the preliminary preparations for my ordeal were left to be planned by myself. Only one thing was decided upon, namely, that I should pass under the pseudonym of Nellie Brown, the initials of which would agree with my own name and my linen, so that there would be no difficulty in keeping track of my movements and assisting me out of any difficulties or dangers I might get into. There were ways of getting into the insane ward, but I did not know them. I might adopt one of two courses. Either I could feign insanity at the house of friends, and get myself committed on the decision of two competent physicians, or I could go to my goal by way of the police courts…

For the rest, click here.

Something wonderful from our friends over at A Bloody Good Read:

FROM HOMER TO THE HOBBIT: THE HISTORY OF THE NECROMANCER
By Nancy Bilyeau

“Vampire. Witch. Zombie. Werewolf. In films, books and TV series, it seems as if the supernatural run the show as never before.

I admit to a weakness for Dracula, whether it’s in the hands of the one-and-only Bram Stoker, the gifted Elizabeth Kostova (The Historian) or the audacious Francis Ford Coppola in his adaptation (fantastic soundtrack). Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris and Justin Cronin have taken the vampire myth in fascinating directions. And, yes, I admit it: I’m a Twilight mom.

My favorite “modern” witch has to be the determined and erudite Diana Bishop in Deborah Harkness’s wonderful novels, A Discovery of Magic and Shadow of Night. She’s come a long way from “Double, double, toil & trouble.”…”

For the rest click here.