Traveling through time is a great way to burn a few hours.

July 9, 2012 7:10 AM

From the story of the lost comet that came too close for comfort, to the radioactive eagle scout who simply wanted to complete his collection, there is more than enough here (the scandalous history of Union general Daniel Sickles) to fill any long summer day with historical marvels.

11 Days that Never Were
The Dark Day
Sticks Nix Hick Pix
Lunar life
Locomotive heroics

...and that's enough for me, and I haven't even found the title post.

posted by TreeRooster (8 comments total)

They don't make it easy, but one fun thing to do is look up your birthday and see what weird things happened that day (besides your birth, if that's the kind of person you are).
posted by ubiquity at 7:20 AM on July 9, 2012

The defense attorney in Sickles' trial was Edwin Stanton, who would go on to be Lincoln's Secretary of War.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 7:25 AM on July 9, 2012

Previous discussion of both Sickles and Hahn (1), (2).
posted by zamboni at 7:39 AM on July 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

If you hadn't already heard of the 11 days, you need to read more Weird But True-type books, which these read as slightly-expanded versions of.

...one fun thing to do is look up your birthday and see what weird things happened that day...

Made easy
posted by DU at 7:43 AM on July 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

More previouslies: The Missing 11 Days and The Daily Sun's Lunar Life.
posted by zamboni at 7:48 AM on July 9, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's like a real-life SCP Foundation.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:30 AM on July 9, 2012

Thanks for the previouslies! This site has so much stuff I figured lots would have been covered before in depth. Will go read those posts now!
posted by TreeRooster at 10:30 AM on July 9, 2012

I have a bit of an inside scoop on this one.

I worked at the White House 4 years after this happened. I'm surprised the author actually included the bit about the guy wanting to re-create Mathias Rust's stunt in Red Square.

In the opinion of the security people I knew there, that was exactly what he was trying to do. What most people don't know is that there was an event (state reception I think) that was to take place on the South Lawn that day. That evening, hundreds of folding white chairs had been placed on the lawn for the event. The pilot of the Cessna did not know they were there, he came in from the Washington Monument and tried to land on the South Lawn but had to go long so he could clear the chairs. He got it down but there wasn't enough time to stop, and hit the tree and the wall.

FWIW I learned to fly in a Cessna 150.
posted by smoothvirus at 12:25 PM on July 9, 2012 [1 favorite]