Unknown Author: Christmas is Coming

Christmas is a traditional nursery rhyme and Christmas song and is listed as number 12817 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The exact origins of the nursery rhyme are unknown, but the musical sheets did belong to the writer Edith Nesbit (Bland) 1858-1924 as she had composed a tune for the lyrics. The traditional version of the melody is done in the tune of Country Gardens but is also sung in other melodies. 

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

SOURCES:

All Nursery Rhymes

Wikipedia (Christmas is Coming)

Wikipedia (Roud Folk Song Index)

The Courier-Journal December 24, 1911

Lost Literature: Like Father, Like Son (1682)

Sketch of Aphra in 1873 by George Sharf for a now lost portrait

Like Father, Like Son or The Mistaken Brothers is a play written by Aphra Behn, a famous female writer, and was first performed by the Duke's Company in 1682. The play was a comedy and was based off of Thomas Randolph's The Jealous Lovers which was printed in 1640 and printed in 1643. Compared to her other works this was a failure with audiences. This was the only one of her plays to have not been printed. All that exists of the play is the prologue and epilogue.

Pierre Danchin believes that the title is based on a popular whig poem with the words "like father, like son" in it. It's believed that she chose this title as inciting regicide for Aphra Behn was a royalist.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

DB Pedia

Unknown Authors: The Queen of Hearts

From a 1901 edition of Mother Goose. Illustration by W.W. Denslow.

The poem The Queen of Hearts is an English poem and nursery rhyme based on the playing cards. It was anonymously published in The European Magazine vol. 1, no. 4 in April of 1782. It was published with three lesser-known stanzas "The King of Spades", "The King of Clubs", and "The King of Diamond" but some believe that the other stanzas were added later to what has been a much older poem. The poem is probably best known for its use in Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland. 

Poem:

The Queen of Hearts 

She made some tarts,

All on a summer's day;

The Knave of HeartsHe stole those tarts,

And took them clean away.

The King of Hearts

Called for the tarts,

And beat the knave full sore;

The Knave of Hearts

Brought back the tarts,

And vowed he'd steal no more.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Nursery Rhymes Wiki

Lost Media: The Stepmother's Tragedy

 The Stepmother's Tragedy is a play written by Henry Chettle and Thomas Dekker and is now considered lost. The play is mentioned in Philip Henslowe's diary in August of 1599. 

It's unknown, but the play may be associated with a ballad called "Isabella's Tragedy" or "Cruelty of a Stepmother". The Ballad is about how a duke was away hunting leaving his daughter Isabella behind with his wife. The wife and kitchen cook planned to kill the girl together and bake her into pies. When the Stepmother sent the girl to the kitchen and the cook attacked her. A scullery boy tries to prevent the murder and even offered himself to be put in the pies, but the girl was murdered and served instead. The Duke on his return did not see his daughter and refused to drink and eat until he saw her. The stepmother claimed that the girl had gone to church for prayer, but the scullery boy revealed the evil deeds of the stepmother and cook. The stepmother was burned at the stake and the cook boiled in lead. The scullery boy would become the duke's heir. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Academic Kids

Lost Plays

Pen Name: Robico

 

My Little Monster

Robico is a Manga artist that started their career in 2005 with her one-shot Demekinikku. Robico is not her real name and is a pen name she uses and her real name is unknown to the public. There is little information on her. Her birthday is October 8 (year unknown) and she's from the Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan.

List of Works:

Demekinikku (2005) – (one-shot in Kodansha's Dessert)
Kanojo ga Inakunatta (2006) – (serialized in Dessert)
Boy x Meet x Girl (2007)
Himikoi (2007-2008) – (serialized in Dessert)
My Little Monster (2008-2013) – (serialized in Dessert) Anime (2012) Live Action (2018)
Skip! Yamada-kun (2014) – (artist of one-shot in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump)
Miracle☆Gift (2015) – (one-shot in Kodansha's Weekly Shounen Magazine)
Our Precious Conversations (2015-2019) – (serialized in Dessert)
Wash Me Hug Me! (2020) – (one-shot in Dessert)

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

My Anime List

Books That Were Stolen From the Carter County Clerk's Office

On Jan. 23, 1992 someone came into the Carter County courthouse in Ardmore, Oklahoma. They removed two valuable Indian Roll Books from the Carter County clerks office without permission. The two books kept records of thousands of names of the five civilized tribes who were on record in 1902. This included the percentage of Indian blood, Name, Roll Number, Census Card Number, and Age. These books were older than statehood and cannot be replaced. The books were described as being the size of average paper about 3 inches thick with red covers. 

SOURCES:

Carter County Sheriff

The Message Mary Eleanor (Wheeler) Pearcey Put in The Paper Before Her Execution

Wax sculpture of Mary Pearcey

Mary Eleanor (Wheeler) Pearcey was hung for killing her lover's wife and baby in North London, England. Upon learning her fate she requested an ad to be placed in the newspaper.

"MECP Last wish of MEW. Have not betrayed. MEW"

She would not elaborate what the message had meant, but it could be assumed that MEW was referencing to herself. As her birth name was Mary Eleanor Wheeler. That would mean MECP may also be a person, but who the message was for and what it meant is unknown.

Some believe that she was possibly a Jack the Ripper suspect for the brutal way Mary had slit Pheobe's throat and ditched her in a public place. Some believe Jack The Ripper had killed in private. This though contradicts the information of the crimes which took place at the place the bodies were found.

There is little known about Mary's childhood. She was born in 1866. At the time of the murders she was 24 years old and was described as 5'6" and had a 'lovely russet of hair and fine blue eyes," she was also described as having a normal build and shapely hands. She wasn't the prettiest of women but had no problem attracting men.

 In her late teens, she was in a relationship with a carpenter named Jahn Charles Pearcey. She took his name though they weren't married. She continued to use it even after their relationship was over, Mary never really had to work as she associated herself with better off men. She had several admirers who paid for things for her including her rented room.

Mary suffered from depression and would drink heavily. She only had her mother and sisters as her only living relatives. She had other suitors and in addition to Charles Creighton who paid for her room, she fell for Frank Hoggs. He was a furniture remover and impressed Mary with his printed cards.

She would put a light in her window to let Frank know she was free and he would let himself in with his copy of a key. Frank and Mary were somewhat together but had affairs with other people. Frank had gotten another girl pregnant and was to marry her. Mary was slightly upset but asked if they could still have an affair and she'll treat his soon to be wife as a friend. They agreed to this.

Phoebe Styles thus married Frank Hogg in November of 1888. At the time she was three months pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Phoebe in the summer of 1889. The affair between Frank and Mary continued like planned.

On October 24, 1890, Mary allegedly asked young Willie Holmes to run an errand for her. She asked him to deliver a note to Pheobe Hoggs for a penny. He delivered the note and inside it was Mary inviting Phoebe over for tea.

Around 4 p.m. Charlotte Priddington, a neighbor of Mary heard the sound of breaking glass coming from Mary's. Worried she called over the fence asking if Mary was alright. She got no response. Sometime between 4 and 7, a neighbor saw Mary walking with a baby pram with a heavy object inside it.

At 7.p.m A man was returning back home from work. He found Phoebe's body was found lying on a pavement in Crossfield Road. Her head was wrapped in a cardigan which he removed and saw her bloodstained face.

Phoebe's skull had been fractured and her throat had been slit. Her throat had been nearly decapitated from the slit. There were bruises on her head and arms showing she was trying to defend herself. It was found she was murdered elsewhere and left there. She wasn't identified at the time and her baby wasn't with her.

The next morning a constable found a bloody pram in Hamilton Terrace a mile away from Phoebe. The body of baby Phoebe was found the next day. She had been suffocated to death. It was unknown whether or not it was intentional. She was either killed during or after the murder of her mother. She could have possibly been killed in the pram from her mother's body being placed upon her.

Frank had sent his sister Clara to go ask Mary if they had seen Phoebe and the baby. Mary denied seeing her and went with Clara to see if the bodies in the morgue were Phoebe and the baby. Mary's behavior became strange at the morgue. It was like Mary was trying to prevent Clara from identifying them. Clara went and identified them.

When Frank heard the news that they were dead he admitted to having an affair with Mary. Police went to her home on Priory St. and found the kitchen bloodstained and the windows were broken. It was obvious that this was a crime scene. A rug with bloodstains was attempted to be cleaned with paraffin. as a bloodstained poker and knife had also been found. When asked about it Mary responded with "Killing mice, killing mice, killing mice." Police searched the house with her there and she played popular songs on her piano.

Mary was arrested, and when Mary was searched there were bloodstains on her clothes, scratches on her hands, and two wedding rings. One of which was Phoebe's.

While waiting in police court awaiting the committal hearing Mary started to talk to Sarah Sawhill, a woman looking after her. She told her that Phoebe did come over for tea. Phoebe had said something that offended Mary and they argued. Mary went silent as soon as she realized she was incriminating herself.

Mary had entered a plea of not guilty. She was hanged on December 23, 1890. It was noted that Mary seemed to have been calm and accepted her fate.



SOURCES:
Casebook
Historic Mysteries
Capital Punishment UK
Find a Grave

The Isle of Dogs

Ben Jonson                                  Thomas Nashe

The Isle of Dogs is a play that was written by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson in 1597. In July of 1597, it was performed in the Swan Theater. It was a satire that had political roots. It's unknown what the play consisted of, but the performance caused an uproar. It was immediately suppressed it for sedition and many of the people involved were jailed. All scripts for the play were seized and presumably destroyed.

It's possible that the play may have been about or part of it was about the Palace of Placentia where it was believed Queen Elizabeth had her dogs kenneled. It was also a meeting place for the Queens Privy Council to meet. It was criticized for its rowdy reception and that it embarrassed both the Queen and her Council.

Ben had been jailed multiple times due to his controversial work. After his death, most of his work was burned.

SOURCES:
https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Isle_of_Dogs_(lost_satirical_play;_1597)
http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/isleofdogs.htm
https://lostplays.folger.edu/Isle_of_Dogs,_The

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a poem that many are familiar with. What most people aren't familiar with is the original author of the poem. The poem was sent in anonymously to the New York Troy's Sentinel in 1823. On December 23, 1823 the poem was published and now we have a classic that's been around for almost 200 years.

The poem that finally gave Santa's reindeer's names wasn't claimed until 13 years later.  A Professor and Poet, Clement Clarke Moore, confessed he had written the poem and was embarrassed by it. He had written it for his children, and it was sent in by housekeeper. There are doubts that Moore had written the poem though as there were references to Dutch culture and it was written in a way that he's never written any of his other poems.

Henry Livingston Jr's family came forward claiming he had been reciting the poem for at least 15 years before it was published. Another thing that adds to the claim is that Livingston had a Dutch background. The Reindeer's Donner and Blitzen were originally Dunder and Blixem meaning thunder and lightning in Dutch. The family and even a neighbor girl claimed to have heard the poem as early as 1807. They even had evidence of revisions of the poem Livingston wrote, but it burned up when the family home burned down.

Even though Moore is more often credited for the poem. It is still a mystery on who had actually written it.

SOURCES:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/26719/mystery-behind-worlds-most-famous-christmas-poem
https://www.poetrynation.com/mystery-behind-twas-night-christmas/

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is one of most known Author’s of America. He was a poet, writer, critic, and editor that  Many of his short stories and poems haunted the minds of the readers. He’s even credited with giving birth to the detective story.  He’s even inspired many like Alfred Hitchcock.His poems and stories have even been adapted into film and T.V. Poe even wrote a poem that the Baltimore Ravens were named after.

Born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, but was raised in Richmond Virginia. It’s not surprising that Poe’s young life was not shy from death at an early age.Before he was 3 years old both of his parents had died, his first love  died when he was 15 and his foster mother when he was 20.

Poe did not know his parents and  was separated from his brothers and sisters after their mother had died. He was sent to live with John and Frances Valentine Allan who were tobacco merchants. They never officially adopted Poe.He had went to good school and grew up in a good environment. But John and Poe did not get along, but Frances and him did. John did not like the fact that Poe wasn’t following in the family business and wanted to do literature.

When Poe was 6 he was sent for schooling in England. He returned to America when he was 11.

By the time Poe was 13 he was considered a prolific poet. Both his foster father and head master tried to discourage him. Neither could as he focused on his poetry. It was rumored that Poe even wrote poetry on the back of his foster father's paperwork.

By the time he was an adult Poe did not mend his relationship with his father. Poe had gotten into the University of Virginia in 1826. Poe was a great student who excelled in his classes, but did not get enough money from Allan to pay for everything. In order to help Poe turned to gambling, but it backfired causing him to go into debt. This was also the time that Poe started to drink excessively.

When he returned home he found that his fiance Sarah Elmira Royster was engaged to someone else. This made Poe decide to move to Boston and join the military. In 1827 Poe published his first poem book called Tamerlane and Other Poems. In 1829 he published his second collection of poems called Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.

In 1829 Poe was honorably discharged from the military. He had acquired the label regimental sergeant major. Poe’s father refused to give him the money to stay a cadet, and when Poe began to ignore his duties and violating regulations the military discharged him. Some think that he did it to spite his father.

He then went to New York City where he published his third poem book Poems in 1831. Poe then moved to Baltimore to live with his Aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia. Poe was not rich and could not sustain himself on his own. Even after his father’s death in 1834 he wasn’t left with anything extravagant. In 1835 though Poe found a job at the Southern Literary Messenger as an editor in Richmond, Virginia. Poe brought with him his Aunt and his 12 year old cousin. While being an editor he published many of his own poems and stories.

In 1836 when he was 26 he married his 13 year old cousin Virginia. The two were first cousins when Poe started to live with His Aunt Maria Clemm and Virginia he began doting on her. She eventually became inspiration and a love interest. It was not uncommon at the time for first cousins to marry.

In the late 1830’s and 1840’s Poe’s works began to get more attention, but he didn’t make much profit from his works. He started editing for Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City.

Sadly on January 30, 1847 Virginia died from a 5 year long battle with tuberculosis. She was 24 years old. This affected Poe deeply. He was reported to not want to see his wife’s face dead and would had wanted to remember seeing her as alive. Not having a picture of her he hired a painter to paint her.

On October 3, 1849 Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore delirious. He was brought to Washington Medical Hospital. It was found out that he was not wearing his own clothes. It was said that Poe was never coherent enough to say what had happened to him.

On October 7, 1849 at the age 40 years old Poe met with death and like many of his poems and stories it’s a mystery. At the time Newspapers claimed that it was congestion of the brain from his alcoholism. In reality no one is sure how he had died. There are many theories on what had happened.

Some think it might have been caused from a beating, or epilepsy, or even Alcohol poisoning and many more theories. Even one theory is that he was a victim of electoral fraud which citizens force people to vote repeatedly for a candidate. They make the person change their clothes and force them to vote for a certain candidate which would had accounted for him not wearing his own clothes.It can sometimes lead to violence and sometimes death.

And the man who wrote about mysteries death involved a large mystery.

SOURCES:
https://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edgar-allan-poe

https://www.poemuseum.org/poes-death

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe