Hidden History

I Believe I Can Fly

On February 4, 1912, in the city of Paris, a young inventor by the name of Franz Reichelt fell to his death after jumping off the Eiffel Tower. Reichelt was a tailor, and he had the idea of developing a suit for pilots that would allow them to parachute safely to the ground if their aircraft was about to crash. His design was basically an oversized coat with extra pockets to catch the air. He obtained a permit to conduct experiments with dummies off of the Eiffel Tower, but when he arrived, the only dummy that was there was himself. He jumped off, opened his coat, and died immediately upon impact with the ground.

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Written by Kimberly K***z

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FDR AND AL CAPONE MYTH!!

On December 8, 1941, FDR took a car to the capitol to give a speech to a joint session of Congress. This car, however, was no ordinary car as it belonged to Al Capone and was used to keep FDR safe as it was bulletproof. The only problem with this nice little trivia story is that it is only a myth.

FDR’s secret service agent Michael F. Reilly wrote several books, and in one of them mentions the need for an armored car to protect the president while he traveled. However, Reilly states that they used the car on December 9th, not the 8th, and merely draped their bodies around the car and had the military line the streets.

His account, however, has several problems, specifically when he called the car an open-top car, when Capone’s car was definitely a closed-top car. Another problem in his story was that at the time, Al Capone’s car was on display in England and several photos from December 8, 1941, clearly shows a different car than the one Al Capone owned. Books, bloggers, and even CBS all wrote about the story, but they are not true.

While the president’s usual car, his “Sunshine Special” was being refitted to protect him, what FDR really used during this time was a 1938 semi-armored Cadillac from the White House Fleet. So, contrary to popular opinion, FDR did not ride in Al Capone’s car on that fateful day in 1941, but in one of his own government vehicles.
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Did you know that the popular Confederate song “Dixie” was actually written by a northerner and loyal Unionist? Created in 1859, by Daniel Emmett, it had become a hit throughout the entire country and was adopted in the South due to its current popularity. Sadly, the song was a part of a minstrel show and what it stood for was wrong.

However, when people think of the song “Dixie” they think of the Confederacy, even though it was written by a northerner. Even Lincoln enjoyed the tune and asked for it to be played at the end of the Civil War. While debated as to what exactly he said of the tune to the gathered crowd, the main idea of what Lincoln said was “I have always thought ‘Dixie’ one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it.” As the crowd laughed at his statement, Lincoln added in a spirit of unity that, “It is good to show the rebels that with us they will be free to hear it again.”

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"O Come All Ye Faithful"

While the Christmas hymn “O Come , All Ye Faithful” has been attributed to people ranging from anonymous monks to the king of Portugal, it first appeared in print in the 1750s. Since then, it has been performed across the world at Christmas time. Perhaps the most unique occurrence coming during World War I.

While World War I was a time of great tragedy and loss of life, there were a few humane moments that appeared. One of these was the informal Christmas truce in 1914. Although not a complete truce, there were many sports along the Western Front where the two sides came together to celebrate Christmas: exchanging gifts, getting haircuts, playing soccer, and singing carols.

In one spot, it was “Silent Night,” although sung by the Germans. One carol that both sides could sing together was “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Albert Moren recalled:

First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing ­– two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.

Thus, this song brought unison to the two opposing sides. Only one’s imagination can now bring to life the Western Front where young boys and old men, with gruff and high pitched voices, in English and Latin unified together to sing and recall better times. Next time you hear the song, remember those who over 100 years ago took time to stop fighting, enjoy Christmas, and sing this classic hymn.

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Representative from Jail

​Think today’s politicians are corrupt? Maybe, maybe not, but none of them are campaigning from a jail cell (yet). In 1798, Vermont representative Matthew Lyon, went to jail for his violation of the Sedition Act. At the time of his imprisonment, the Sedition Act was a rather controversial piece of legislation. Lyon had to hold rallies from his cell. His supporters actually liked his positions so much that they actually re-elected him from jail! He would go on to help decide the tied presidential election of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, and stayed in Congress until 1811.

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The shortest war ever fought!

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on August 27, 1896. What makes this war so interesting is that it lasted roughly 45 minutes and is considered to be the shortest war ever fought. The British decided to put a new ruler in place in Zanzibar after the old one had passed, but the previous ruler's nephew seized control and refused the British demands while fortifying his palace. In retaliation, the British placed their navy and marines nearby and began shelling the palace (seen in the photo). As it came crumbling down, the nephew fled the compound and the British made the Zanzibar government pay for the shells they had fired.

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