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The Haying Faker
On October 27, 2021 by ElyseIf you’re reading this post in real time (of course you are—you refresh your inbox every Wednesday until my blog post arrives, right?), join me in singing happy birthday to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt: ♪ Happy birthday to you! ♪ Happy birthday to you! ♪ Happy birthday, dear Teddy! ♪ Happy birth— If my terrible
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Planes, Feigns and Automobiles
On August 18, 2021 by ElyseIt’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s. . . me in the pilot seat! Well, close enough. A few weeks ago, I checked off a bucket list item and took a flying lesson. I wasn’t flying quite like Superman, but I sure felt like a superhero when I successfully turned the ignition key in the
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Elephants Gone Wild, Part 2
On July 7, 2021 by ElyseWhat makes an elephant turn to a life of crime? Nature? Nurture? Second Glance History’s guide to pickpocketing? We may never be sure, but what we do know is there are enough incidents of mammoth misconduct for a full season of “CSI: Ele-felony.” Last time, elephant bad boys Peanut and Basil impersonated a sea serpent
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Elephants Gone Wild, Part 1
On June 23, 2021 by ElyseYou may have heard of—or even be having—a hot vax summer, but what about a hot trunk summer? In the summer of ’69, er, 1904, one elephant cut loose and shook his booty off the coast of Coney Island. His hijinks aren’t available on pay-per-view, but we have the next best thing: detailed newspaper accounts.
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The Hapsburg Anastasia, Part 3
On March 17, 2021 by ElyseSpoiler alert: Don’t ruin the ending! Read Part 1 and Part 2 first. Read in your best announcer voice: Last time on “The Hapsburg Anastasia,” Alma eloped with 22-year-old Yale University student and coal-and-steel heir Donald Andrews. Buoyed by love and presumably, lots of money, they fled to London to escape his disapproving parents. If
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The Hapsburg Anastasia, Part 2
On March 3, 2021 by ElyseWelcome! If you haven’t yet read Part 1, please don’t spoil the story for yourself—start there! When we last left our heroine, Alma Vetsera had failed to break her boyfriend out of an asylum, but at least she’d kicked her first husband to the curb. Alma made the most out of her newfound freedom—it helped
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The Hapsburg Anastasia, Part 1
On February 17, 2021 by ElyseRemember Second Glance History’s friend Crown Prince Rudolf, heir apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Conspiracy theorists claim that despite what the history books say, the Hapsburg prince didn’t die on January 30, 1889 in a murder-suicide with Baroness Mary Vetsera, his 17-year-old mistress. In fact, they say he left that hunting lodge
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Love in the Time of Ice Cream Sundaes, Part 2
On August 12, 2020 by ElyseSpoiler alert! Don’t ruin the ending: Read Part 1 first. When we last saw our heroes in October of 1910, Beatrice Sanders and La Vere Tallman were shivering in a cave in the Catskill Mountains and slowly realizing that sometimes love just ain’t enough. Six weeks after the start of their romantic escape into the
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Love in the Time of Ice Cream Sundaes, Part 1
On July 29, 2020 by ElyseOnce upon a time, there was a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He fell in love with a girl whose parents disapproved, and they ran away to be together. . . Sound familiar? I guarantee you haven’t heard this story, which is “as unique a romance as ever a pair of young