The early 19th century was a time when superstition and fear of the supernatural gripped even the most rational minds in rapidly urbanizing London. One such incident, the infamous “Hammersmith Ghost” of 1804, exemplifies how rumors of spectral apparitions could spiral into widespread panic, leading to tragic real-world consequences. This account, drawn from a historical reflection on ghosts and spiritualism, recounts the events with a mix of personal recollection and cautionary tone, highlighting the dangers of unchecked belief in the otherworldly.
https://humblymybrain.substack.com/p/the-hammersmith-ghost-of-1804-a-true
The American press during the 1790s played a role analogous to that of today’s electronic media, which, like today, was used as a vehicle to attack the principles and policies of the opposing political parties of the period. Since the dawn of a literate public actively engaged in government, politicians have both supported and cursed the effects of the press on the political process. The rapidly growing media of the late eighteenth century was seen as a necessary evil that could serve or destroy the evolution of the new federal government.
https://humblymybrain.substack.com/p/the-press-as-a-weapon-how-1790s-newspapers
The Old Testament’s first mention of polygamy appears not among the righteous, but in the violent lineage of Cain, through his descendant Lamech, who “took unto him two wives,” Adah and Zillah (Genesis 4:19). In the same brief passage, Lamech boasts to those wives of having slain two men—one “to my wounding,” and a young man “to my hurt”—while daring any avenger to face a vengeance “seventy and sevenfold” (Genesis 4:23-24). The canonical account leaves the circumstances of these killings ambiguous: accident, self-defense, or cold-blooded murder? Scripture alone offers no clarity. Yet when apocryphal witnesses are consulted, the portrait darkens dramatically, revealing Lamech not as a flawed but sympathetic figure, but as the Bible’s inaugural polygamist whose life bears only the rotten fruit of murder, secret oaths with Satan, and divine curse—fruit that exposes plural marriage’s origin as profoundly corrupt from its very root.
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