Weekend Link Dump

This week's Link Dump is sponsored by the talented black cats of...The Black Cat.

Watch out for those haunted paintings!

Watch out for those haunted bathrooms!

Shoreditch's strange storm.

Documents relating to Shakespeare's early years.

Why you would not want to be married to John Steinbeck.  (It's been my observation that writers generally do not make good spouses.  They're REALLY wedded to their manuscripts.)

The first English novel was basically an all-cat religious Animal Farm.

Early Modern barber shops.

"Golf Digest," CSI.

Napoleon's English supporters.

This Is Your Octopus On Drugs.

Why fortune-tellers really need to be their own clients.

Why you really, really need to be careful around wool shears.

Question of the week: if you get hit by a meteorite--but live to tell about it--does that make you lucky or unlucky?

Indian prisoners-of-war during WWII.

The (perhaps) sad end of James Garfield's dog.

While we're talking about Garfield, he inadvertently caused a lawsuit.  After he was dead.

The eerie history of the Hall of Dreams.

This week's health tip: wear gold, don't drink it.

They call these two "history's worst hoarders," but it alarms me how much this resembles my house.

Georgian era stand-up routines.  Take my Irishman, please!

The life of Marie Antoinette's daughter.

Of ghosts and hurricanes.

A policeman's unsolved murder.

Some owl superstitions.

Another busy day at Tyburn.

The earliest known photos of an American brothel.

When cleaning your teeth with sulfuric acid seemed like a good idea.  Yes, it's the Victorians.

When Hyde Park had a Cheesecake House.

A lively day in court.

A newly-unearthed Egyptian necropolis.

The dreadful fate of a London elephant.

More on the Black Ghost of Devonshire.

And we're outta here for this week. See you on Monday, when we'll talk time-slips. In the meantime...Hoy Hoy!