Post #7

Charles Manson

Charles Manson was the leader of a commune known as the Manson Family. In the 1970's, he was found guilty of conspiracy to murder seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. He believed in what he called "Helter Skelter" (a song from The Beatles' White album), which he believed was an apocalyptic race war. He thought his murders would help make it happen by showing the African American people how to go about destroying the whites. He prophesied that in the end, his Family would take over and rule the cities.  Manson thought himself to be the fifth angel, the other four being The Beatles.  He was described during his trial as a "megalomaniac  who coupled his thirst for power with an intense obsession for violent death."  Manson carved a swastika into his forehead, and in 1971, he explained why: He said that it "simulated the dead head black stamp of rejection, anti-church, falling cross, devil sign, death, terror and fear."

Many of Manson's followers were very young women with troubled emotional lives, rebelling against their parents and society. For the most part, they were people who were weak-willed, gullible and easily led. LSD and amphetamines were also used to make them do his bidding. He and his cult survived by scavenging and stealing, most of their food being what the supermarkets discarded. 

Post #6

Moths

Moths are a paraphyletic (consisting of all the descendants of the last common ancestor) group of insects closely related the butterflies. The differences between moths and butterflies aren't very noticeable, but you can usually tell by looking at their antennae. While butterflies have thin antennas with small balls or clubs on the end, a moth's is thicker and lacks the club-end. 

Nocturnal animals such as bats, owls, and some species of birds often eat moths. Lizards, cats, dogs, rodents and bears eat moths as well. There are at least 160,000 different species of moths, many of them not yet described. 

Moths and their larvae are a common pest around the world, causing significant damage to forests, farms and fruit. Some kinds of moth larvae eat fabric such as clothes and blankets made of silk or wool. 

Venezuelan Poodle Moth

There are many unique and interesting species of moth. 
One example is the Venezuelan Poodle Moth. It is a 
recent species discovered in 2009 in the Gran Sabana 
regions of Venezuela. There is very little known about it, 
but it's very interesting-looking.
Another strange moth is the vampire moth. It can pierce skin and suck blood, and it has also been known to suck the tears from the eyelids of cattle. 

Other neat moths include the Atlas moth, Io moth, Leopard moth, the Brahmin moth, and many more. 

 
 

Post #5

Salem Witch Trials 

In 1692, a man named Samuel Parris' daughter Betty became strangely ill. She began uttering strange noises, diving under furniture, and contorting into strange shapes. 

Though nowadays there are known diseases that could have caused these symptoms, in their time it was thought to be witchcraft. The paranoia increased when Betty's friends began behaving similarly.

When asked why they were behaving this way, the girls accused three women of afflicting them with witchcraft. 

The three women accused were Tibuta, the Parris family's slave, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn. 

The county magistrates held a trial of the three women at the meeting house. All the women at first denied having any affiliation with witchcraft, and they might have been let free if not for Tibuta. She then confessed that she had been approached by a tall man from Boston who sometimes appeared as a dog or a hog, and asked her to sign his book and do his work. She admitted that yes, she was a witch, along with four other women (including Good and Osborn). They were all hanged. 

Sarah Good's daughter, four-year-old Dorcas Good was questioned and found guilty as well. She was kept in jail for 8 months and had to watch her mother being dragged off to Gallows Hill to be hanged. 

One man accused of witchcraft refused to go to trial, and he was punished. Rather than being hanged, he was pressed to death under heavy stones. Three days after his death, September of 1692, eight more people were accused of witchcraft and hanged. These eight people were the last victims of the Salem Witch Hunt.

At the end of the hunt, nineteen men and women had been hanged, four had died in prison, and one been pressed to death with stones. 

At least 200 people had been arrested on accounts of suspected witchcraft,  and two dog executed as suspected accomplices of witches.