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Written by: G.S. Strange

Category: Archive

Published: 17 October 2022

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At 2:15 A.M. on the morning of February 25, 1942, the lights of Los Angeles, California were blacked out by order of the United States Army. Spotlights began to arc across the sky and members of the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade began to fire antiaircraft guns into the sky. In the two hours that followed, 1,400 anti-aircraft shells from many coast artillery batteries would burst over the Los Angeles area in clear view of the approximately two million people that resided in and around the City of Angeles. Later that morning, the newspapers began to report on what would come to be known as the Battle of Los Angeles.  

Those are the facts and they are undeniable! But these are also the facts!!!

• On February 23, 1942, the Imperial Japanese submarine I-17 bombarded the Ellwood Oil Field in Santa Barbara, California, which is north of L.A.; Because of this action, the military and civilian lookouts were put on high alert and tensions were very high.
   
  
• Lt. General John Dewitt of the 14th Interceptor Air Command ordered a cease fire at 2:21 a.m., but communication between the gun batteries was slow and artillery fire could be heard until 4 a.m. Fourteen hundred antiaircraft shells were fired on February 25, 1942. This translates to 11 shells per minute for nearly two hours with the majority being fired before 3 A.M. Six people died as a result of the bombardment, with untold numbers of injured and thousands of dollars worth of damage caused by the “Battle”; HOWEVER, no aircraft of any kind was shot down.
   
  
• The 14th Interceptor Air Command was put on high alert, but according to the Army and Navy, the unit was never put into the air; HOWEVER, witnesses clearly saw U.S. airplanes in the air around L.A. that morning. Accounts range from five to twenty five aircraft that appeared to be in pursuit of the “object”, but none reported any aircraft fire.
   
  
• U.S. military radar operators reported the presence of an unknown aircraft or object during the height of the “Battle” around 2:30 a.m.; HOWEVER, the object or aircraft was plotted at 120 miles west of L.A. moving south down the coastline toward San Diego.
   
  
• On February 25th the Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox held a press conference in which he stated that there was not an object or enemy plane over L.A., and that U.S. planes were not pursuing the object. He went on to say that the entire incident was a case of “war nerves”. The Los Angeles area newspapers that covered the story began to accuse the military of a cover-up. Witnesses clearly saw an object and U.S. warplanes over the skies of L.A.; THEREFORE, the U.S. military WAS covering up the incident but it should be remembered that the mainland of the United States had been attacked only two days earlier by the Japanese Navy. It would have, and inevitably did cause a panic if Californians believed that they were under attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy!
   
  
• The Los Angeles Times ran a story on February 26th which chronicled the “Battle” and included the famous photograph of the height of the battle. The published photo shows an object illuminated by eight to nine searchlights with a dozen antiaircraft shells exploding in the sky around the object. Film footage of the height of the “Battle” also surfaced that month in the form of a newsreel. The Battle of Los Angeles of February 25, 1942 was so compelling that the Los Angeles Times reran the story and photo on October 29th, 1945; HOWEVER, a Los Angeles Times article that was written in March of 2011, by Scott Harrison, seems to have uncovered an ugly truth regarding the photo of the “Battle”. Simon Elliot, a researcher at the Department of Special Collections at U.C.L.A. uncovered the original photos and negatives in the L.A. Times Photographic Archive, which is held at U.C.L.A. Following extensive analysis of the collection, it has been proven that the photo was retouched at the L.A. Times prior to being published on February 26, 1942. Furthermore, the photograph was retouched again when it was reprinted in the 1945 article.
   
  
• An extensive study of the eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Los Angeles, by StrangeHistory.org, discovered that dozens of people in Los Angeles, Inglewood, Torrance, Long Beach and Huntington Beach clearly saw an “object” in the skies over L.A. that morning. Many saw U.S. military aircraft patrolling the skies over Southern California; HOWEVER, the eyewitness accounts of the “object” vary.  Of twelve witness accounts analyzed, the size and shape of the object do not match. Descriptions of the “object” have it measuring 16 to 80 feet long, bell shaped, oblong and even round in shape and moving at 10 to 200 miles per hour.  The aircraft that were seen that morning were, without question, warplanes of the 14th Interceptor Air Command however, descriptions of the groupings of planes also seem to vary from witness to witness from 5 planes to formations of 25 planes.
  
  “....we were convinced that it was a “Jap” reconnaissance plane,....” Scott Littleton, witness

StrangeHistory.org Theory – Douglas/North America reported to the 14th Interceptor Air Command (Army) that one of their barrage balloons had become untethered from its mooring in El Segundo, Calf., shortly after dark on February 24th.  At 7:18 P.M., Naval Intelligence issued a warning as flares and lights had been seen near defense plants in the area. It was later revealed that Douglas was trying to find its balloon.

At 2:15 A.M. on the 25th, a balloon with lights was reported near Culver City by civilians, police and military lookouts. A blackout of L.A. and surrounding areas was ordered and the 37th Coast Artillery was ordered to fire on the balloon. Other gun batteries began to join in on the firing as all coast artillery batteries had been put on high alert. At 2:21 A.M., General Dewitt, realizing that the situation had escalated to an unexpected level, ordered the cease fire, however, because of slow communications, the firing continued.

The balloon, aka the “object”, would continue to be seen until 3:30 A.M. and sporadic firing could be heard until 4 A.M. On the day of the 25th, Secretary Knox, realizing the mistakes that had been made in the communications between Douglas/North America, local officials, the Army and civilian gun batteries and Naval Intelligence, called the incident a “false alarm”. Newspapers claimed that a cover-up had been perpetrated.

Nearly seventy years later technology proves that the object in the film reel was smoke from the anti-aircraft fire and the photo of the “object” was unclear at best, and retouched by the Los Angeles Times.

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Written by: G.S. Strange

Category: Archive

Published: 17 October 2022

Hits: 1107

At 12:40 p.m. on January 15, 1919, residents in the North End area of Boston heard the sound of an explosion as a fifty foot tall tank containing over two million gallons of molasses collapsed. In seconds, a wall of molasses rushing from the tank reached fifteen feet high and began to pour through the streets in the neighborhood around the tank. The sticky substance traveled up to 35 miles per hour carrying with it a force equivalent to 2000 pounds per square inch. As the wave moved through the streets it lifted a train off of its tracks, knocked buildings from their foundations and swept bystanders away. Once it stopped flowing, the molasses was two feet deep throughout the area. In the aftermath twenty one people were killed and another 150 were injured in the incident.

Clean up efforts began immediately but it would be four months before the last of the molasses was removed from North End. Today a recreational complex sits on the site of the tank explosion.
A sign at the entrance of the park reads: “Boston Molasses Flood - On January 15, 1919, a molasses tank at 529 Commercial Street exploded under pressure, killing 21 people. A 40-foot wave of molasses buckled the elevated railroad tracks, crushed buildings and inundated the neighborhood. Structural defects in the tank combined with unseasonably warm temperatures contributed to the disaster.”

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Written by: G.S. Strange

Category: Archive

Published: 17 October 2022

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When the captain and crew of the whaling ship Essex departed Nantucket in August of 1819 they had no way of knowing that their two and a half year routine journey would be riddled with the worst luck to ever befall a whaling ship and the tale of the journey would follow them into history.

The whaling ship Essex left Nantucket with twenty-one hands on board on August 12, 1819 bound for prosperous whaling waters in the Pacific Ocean. Captain George Pollard and First Mate Owen Chase were experienced whalers and accomplished seafarers and the 87 foot long, 238 ton Essex, although small for a whaler, had been a prosperous ship for its owner(s). Several days after departing Nantucket, Essex ran headlong into a two day storm that severely damaged the ship and nearly capsized her. Captain Pollard made the fateful decision to continue toward the Pacific rather than return to Nantucket or put into an east coast port for repairs. Because of this decision, the journey was very slow and Essex made her turn around Cape Horn and into the south Pacific five weeks later.

Pollard and Chase decided to head toward the Galapagos Islands. Sailing north along the South American coast Essex encountered no whales and the crew began to speak of bad omens due to the incident involving the storm. Upon their arrival to the Galapagos Islands, they discovered that there were no whales to be found in the usually whale rich waters. Captain Pollard, believing a tip that he had received from another whaling ship, turned Essex out to sea. Sailing for over nine days to an area 2500 miles southwest of the Galapagos Islands, the captain and crew finally began to see whales spouting in the area. They readied their three whaleboats and equipment and leaving the safety of Essex began pursuing the whales.

All three whaleboats were launched. Captain Pollard piloted the first, First Mate Chase piloted the second boat and Second Mate, Obed Hendricks piloted the last. Pollard and the second Mate proceeded south while Chase pursued a whale pod to the north. Chase’s crew harpooned a whale that eventually turned and damaged the whaleboat forcing Chase to return to the Essex for repairs. Once the whalers were on board of Essex, Chase spotted a large sperm whale that he would later say was over 85 feet long. 

"I turned around and saw him (sperm whale) about one hundred rods (550 yards) directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed (around 24 knots or 44kph), and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect. The surf flew in all directions about him with the continual violent thrashing of his tail. His head about half out of the water, and in that way he came upon us, and again struck the ship." …First Mate, Owen Chase.

The big whale rammed Essex, crushing the bow and throwing Chase and the crew into a panic. Knowing the severety of their plight, Chase ordered the steward and crewmembers to gather all of the supplies that could be removed and to secure any navigational aids that could be found. As the supplies were being brought to the deck Chase and another crewmember prepared sails for the fourth and last remaining whaleboat. Captain Pollard saw the commotion and returned to Essex as she was slowly going down. They quickly launched the fourth boat, divided the supplies between the three boats and watched from a distance as Essex sank from sight.

The three boats sailed south for over a month until they reached Henderson Island a small uninhabited island that had an abundance of fresh water and birds. The men spent a week on the island gathering food, fishing and storing water for the 3000 mile journey west to South America. Three of the crewmembers elected to stay behind on Henderson Island when Pollard and the others set sail on December 31. By early January the supplies had run out on all three boats and the crewmembers began to die. On the 11th the boat piloted by Owen Chase became separated during a storm. They would be rescued on February 18th by a whaling ship.

On board of the two boats piloted by Pollard and Second Mate Hendricks, the situation was just as desperate. Their supplies had run out in early January and the Hendricks boat became separated later in the month, which was never seen again and their fate unknown. They continued to sail on the tradewinds until February 23rd when they were rescued by the whaling ship Dauphin. The three men who had stayed behind on Henderson Island would be rescued on April 12th and the eight survivors of the Essex were reunited in South America. At the time of their rescues, it was discovered that the men on both the Pollard and Chase boats had survived by eating the remains of their dead crewmates. The final accounting of the 21 officers and crew of Essex was eight survivors, three lost at sea, three buried at sea and seven crewmembers consumed (including Pollard’s cousin, Owen Coffin). It had been 95 days since Essex had sunk.

The eight men returned to Nantucket and by all accounts all but one returned to whaling. Owen Chase would later write an account of the incident titled Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. His two sons would also be Nantucket whale fishermen, one of which sailed with Herman Melville and even gave him a copy of his father’s book. This would become the inspiration for the book Moby-Dick, or The Whale, published in 1851.

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Written by: G.S. Strange

Category: Archive

Published: 17 October 2022

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The State of Franklin, or the Free Republic of Franklin, was established in 1784 in the far northeastern corner of present-day Tennessee, an area which encompasses approximately twelve counties. Representatives of the region believed that by seceding from North Carolina, they could redirect tax dollars toward improvements to their own communities and expansion of their own economic future. Delegates from Franklin appealed to the federal government to allow for the creation of the 14th state, “Frankland”. The measure failed to pass by only one vote.

The delegates, fearing retribution from the North Carolina legislature, declared secession from the state and established a government by electing legislators, a governor and declaring Jonesboro the capitol. To increase their position against the North Carolina government, representatives from Franklin began to purchase large tracts of land from the Cherokee Indians, however this did not help the position of the Franklinites. North Carolina officials had received reports of increased violence between the Franklinites and Indians. When state of Franklin governor, John Sevier, amassed a militia to attack the home of pro-North Carolina political leader John Tipton, North Carolina militiamen were ordered to Franklin. Following a two day battle between militia troops, the Battle of Franklin, John Sevier was arrested and the State of Franklin was abolished.