The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (21 page)

On July 4, 1850, Zachary Taylor, the twelfth president of the United States, ate a fresh bowl of cherries and iced milk. Hours later, he complained of stomach pains and diarrhea. On July 9, he died. Historians have always assumed that Taylor died of natural causes, but rumors that he was poisoned with arsenic never quite disappeared. Taylor opposed the extension of slavery into newly admitted states, and conspiracy theorists have speculated that he was murdered by pro-slavery forces.

In 1995, Taylor's heirs finally consented to an exhumation to settle the controversy once and for all. The tests were negative, proving that Taylor was not poisoned.

THEY'LL SELL ANYTHING ON EBAY

In November 2006, a Michigan woman tried to sell mummified human remains on eBay. The remains, likely from a child, were once part of a Scottish anatomist's collection that came to the United States in 1820. The attempted sale was stopped, but the woman was ultimately not charged with any crime.

THE
MARY CELESTE

The disappearance of the ship
Mary Celeste
is one of the most famous unexplained disappearances ever recorded. The vessel set off from New York on November 5, 1872, carrying a cargo of 1,701 barrels of commercial alcohol. The captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs, was a well-known seaman who allowed no drinking on his ship and regularly read the Bible to his men. The crew had been carefully chosen for their character and seamanship, especially because the captain had brought along his wife and two-year-old daughter.

One month later, on December 5, Captain Morehouse of the
Dei Gratia
—another cargo ship—noticed a vessel on the horizon. It looked like it was in trouble, so he changed course to see if he could help. After calling out
to the ship and getting no reply, Morehouse sent two of his men to board. It was immediately clear that the ship had been deserted. The ship was the
Mary Celeste
. The men looked for underwater damage, but the vessel was not leaking and was not in danger of sinking. On the whole, the
Mary Celeste
was in very good condition and should have had no problem continuing its journey. There was evidence it had been hit by a storm, but no harm was done.

The men also found that there were six months' worth of provisions and plenty of fresh water aboard the ship. All the crew's personal possessions—even their tobacco—were also still intact, indicating that the crew had left the ship in a panic, afraid for their lives. Absolutely nothing was missing, except some of the ship's papers and the ship's lifeboat. Captain Briggs, his family, and the crew had obviously abandoned the ship in a hurry. But why? What could have frightened them so much that they'd desert a seaworthy vessel for an overcrowded lifeboat and take their chances on the Atlantic?

Puzzled by the disappearance of the crew, Captain Morehouse put three men aboard the
Mary Celeste
and proceeded with both ships to Gibraltar.

Officials in Gibraltar investigated and discovered that the
Mary Celeste
's hull was perfectly sound, indicating
that she had not been in a collision. There was also no evidence of a fire or explosion. The cargo of commercial alcohol seemed to be intact and complete. The only mysterious item aboard was a sword found under the captain's bed. It seemed to have been smeared with blood, then wiped. Blood was also found on the ships railing, and both bows of the ship had strange cuts in them that could not be explained.

Solly Flood, attorney general for Gibraltar, found the bloodstains suspicious and was convinced that there had been violence aboard the
Mary Celeste
. Morehouse and his crew were cleared of any suspicion, and after the ship's owners had paid Morehouse a reward, the ship was given a new crew and went on to Italy, where its cargo was delivered. It continued to sail for twelve years, but was always known as a hoodoo ship, so most seamen refused to set foot on her.

To this day, no one knows what exactly happened aboard the
Mary Celeste
, but people all over the world have theories. Some believe a mutiny had occurred—the crew murdered the captain and his family, then took the ship. But why would they abandon their prize? There is the possibility that pirates attacked the ship and killed everyone on it. But that theory makes no sense because nothing was stolen. Perhaps an outbreak of
disease panicked those left alive, but why would they subject themselves to the close quarters of a smaller boat, where crowding would ensure that everyone caught the disease? The most outrageous explanation is that the ship had been attacked by a giant squid, several times, until everyone was killed. But a squid wouldn't have been interested in the ship's papers, and it wouldn't need the ship's lifeboat.

Experts say only one feasible explanation has been proposed. This theory postulates that four things happened, in succession: First, the captain died of natural causes while the ship was caught in bad weather. Then a crew member misread the depth of the water in the hold, and everyone panicked, thinking the ship was going down. They abandoned the ship in such a hurry that they took no food or water, and everyone in the lifeboat either starved or drowned.

Is this what happened? Maybe, but we'll never know for sure.

The bubonic plague was nicknamed the Black Death because of the nasty black sores it left on its victims' bodies.

THE GHOST SHIP

Nautical lore is rife with stories of ghost ships. One of the oldest and most celebrated of these stories, the tale of the
Sarah
, started with a lover's quarrel.

The year was 1812, and two young sailors, George Leverett and Charles Jose, set out from their native Portland, Maine, to South Freeport to build and stock a ship they planned to use for trading in the Indies. It was there that the pair met and fell in love with Sarah Soule. Both men vied for the lady's attention, but in the end it was Leverett who won her hand in marriage. Dejected and angry, Jose disappeared.

It wasn't until Leverett was married and his rig, the
Sarah
, was sailing due south that Jose reemerged—as captain of an unmarked ship that was trailing the
Sarah
. Spooked, Leverett and his crew changed course, hoping to report Jose to the British admiralty, but they never made it. Jose's ship fired its cannons, killing all of the other ship's crew and nearly sinking the
Sarah
. Miraculously, Leverett was not killed, so the vengeful Jose jumped onto the deck of the
Sarah
, tied the captain to the mast, and set him out to sea.

Leverett resigned himself to death—he was floating on an open sea in an unmanned and badly damaged
vessel. It was then that the truly astonishing began to happen. Leverett watched, horrified, as his crew slowly came back to life, resuming their posts one by one. The pale and silent crew then started guiding the ship toward home. Leverett lost consciousness.

The ghost crew sailed the ship safely all the way to Pott's Point, Wales. Onlookers from the shore reported that one foggy day, a dilapidated but fully rigged ship materialized from the gloom and came to a full stop. An apparently lifeless man was then lowered from the ship onto a smaller boat and rowed to shore. The crew, silent and pallid, never said a word. Once their cargo was safely laid on a rock, they returned to the ship and slowly sailed away. The ship was never to be seen again. Captain Leverett regained consciousness and lived to tell the tale.

BRITISH WITCHES STOP HITLER'S ARMY