The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (17 page)

OFF WITH HER HEAD

The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, was not the somber operation it should have been. The executioner was not used to executing women, and he was nervous. The first blow missed Mary's neck entirely, hitting the back of her head instead. The second and third attempts hit their target, but didn't cut the queen's neck completely. When the execution was finally complete, the executioner tried to hold up the severed head to show the audience, as was the custom. But he failed to notice that the queen had been wearing a wig, and the head slipped from his hand and bounced three times on the ground.

A FATAL NOSEBLEED

Attila the Hun did not die in battle, as many believe. He met his maker on his wedding night. After a night of lovemaking, he got a nasty nosebleed and lost so much blood that he died.

NAPOLEON'S CODE

Napoleon Bonaparte used an oracular system based on a series of random dots. This system is a version of what is commonly known as geomancy, but which has come to be referred to as the
Oracle de Napoleon
. While not a great deal is known about the actual details of the system (Napoleon kept them a closely guarded secret), several attempts have been made to reconstruct it. None are proven to be the exact system he used, although there are versions that have been “confirmed” by a woman who claims to have traveled throughout France with Napoleon's company and witnessed his use of the system on several occasions. She revealed the system after his death.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

Fleming was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. The nobleman offered to repay Farmer Fleming for saving his son's life, but the farmer would not accept payment. At that moment, Farmer Fleming's own son came to the door of the family hovel. The nobleman and the farmer struck up a deal that he would provide Farmer Fleming's son with the same level of education that his son would enjoy. His son attended the very best schools, and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

THE UGLY PICKUP PARADE AND CONTEST

In 1987, newspaper columnist Les Mann wrote an homage to his junker 1974 pickup, “Black Beauty,”
claiming it was the ugliest truck on the planet. Irate ugly-truck owners wrote in, saying they could top him. And so the first Ugly Truck Contest was born, in Chadron, Nebraska. Experts pick the Ugly Pickup of the Year. The official rules are that trucks have to be street legal and over a decade old. They have to be able to move under their own power, a majority of their surface area has to be rust and dents, and, most importantly, they've got to have a good Ugly Truck name. Contestants get extra points for something especially ugly about their truck.

MARY KING'S CLOSE