‘Tales From the Bottle’ goes undercover into the covert world of intelligence and counter-intelligence, and discusses the death of codebreaker Garreth Williams. “Gareth Williams (26 September 1978 – c. 16 August 2010) was a Welsh mathematician and employee of GCHQ seconded to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) who was […]
What do you do when any attempt to take out the hostage taker will result in the detonation of a bomb that he’s attached to? “The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on Friday, May 16, 1986, in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young, 43, and […]
What’s the worst thing your co-workers have ever done to you? “Operation Wikinger (English: “Viking”) was a sortie into the North Sea by German World War II destroyers (1st Destroyer Flotilla) of the Kriegsmarine, in February 1940. During this operation, poor inter-service communication and cooperation between the Kriegsmarine and the […]
Mexican cartels are infamous for their brutality – you probably shouldn’t mess with them. But that’s what Alejo Garza Tamez did. “Alejo Garza Tamez (1933 – November 14, 2010), better known as Don Alejo, was a Mexican businessman and hunter. Don Alejo made news when he died heroically after having […]
All this little monkey was missing was corduroy britches. “Jack was the pet and assistant of double leg amputee signalman James Wide, who worked for the Cape Town–Port Elizabeth Railway service. James “Jumper” Wide had been known for jumping between railcars until an accident where he fell and lost both […]
Sadly not a story about history’s strongest man, but lifting an entire city fourteen feet with jackscrews is still pretty interesting! “During the 1850s and 1860s, engineers carried out a piecemeal raising of the level of central Chicago. Streets, sidewalks, and buildings were physically raised on jackscrews. The work was […]
He was a Nazi. After the war he joined an English football club and went on to be regarded as one of the most beloved players of his time. How? “Bernhard Carl “Bert” Trautmann EK OBE (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played […]
The show didn’t want to pay him, but with a flaw like that, how did this not happen sooner? “Paul Michael Larson (May 10, 1949 – February 16, 1999) was an American contestant on the television game show Press Your Luck in 1984. Larson is notable for winning $110,237 (equivalent […]
He made a lot of predictions, some came true, some yet to be seen, but one cost him everything. “Milton William “Bill” Cooper (May 6, 1943 – November 5, 2001) was an American conspiracy theorist, radio broadcaster, and author known for his 1991 book Behold a Pale Horse, in which […]
We all love a good mystery. Here’s one where some people wear lead masks on their faces and die. Enjoy “The Lead Masks Case (Portuguese: Caso das Máscaras de Chumbo) was a series of events which led to the death of two Brazilian electronic technicians, Manoel Pereira da Cruz and […]
