INSIDE:

The thugs—scourge of precolonial India.

Whatever happened to
Geronimo?

A little about cryptography.

"That's garbage!" It sure is—and a bloody lot of it. A few historical notes concerning the stuff nobody wants. . . .

 Castles
Where Royalty Resided

From some musty, cracking bastion in Scotland to Germany's romantic Neuschwanstein to the British royal family's residence at Windsor, castles have intrigued commoners, attracted tourists and sapped owners' resources for many centuries. Some have (or had) moats. Some have (or had) donjons and chopping blocks. Some have (or had) vast treasuries and store rooms and surrounding crop fields and self-contained water supplies . . . everything needed to sustain those who resided within for many weeks, months and even years, in times of crises when the massive wooden drawbridge had to be raised and secured against invaders.

When we think of castles, we typically think of the Middle Ages. Knights and beautiful ladies of the court. Merry banquets with venison and wild boar; soft, thick, hot bread; claret and dainties. Gay tournaments and fairs with jousting and archery and falconry. Serfs who, quite content, had no need for intellect or protest. And actually, those elements arguably were part of the reality. But the average and overall situation was far more complicated and far less idyllic. Castles were city-residences, and if you came by one via inheritance, you had yourself an enormous responsibility that required no small degree of savvy to run.

Incidentally, sanitation was, er, NOT the same around castles as it is in modern industrialized nations.

The ancient Romans and Byzantines walled their cities to keep enemy armies at bay. During the dangerous and even more volatile Middle Ages, beginning around the 5th Century A.D., European nobles developed the wall idea. They built fortified structures—at first of timber, later of stone and masonry—atop hills; if on flatter terrain, they dug moats around them. These castles effectively deterred besieging forces until the 16th Century, when gunpowder and cannons began to inflict real damage. Castles constructed in later centuries were mostly for show.

For the record, not quite all castles were built for nobility. In County Cork, Ireland, one Johnny Roche, a tombstone maker of meager means, decided he wanted a castle for himself. He proceeded to build one all BY himself (with the help of a donkey). Laboring for three years beginning in 1867, he hauled stones up from a nearby river and assembled his life's dream piece by piece. It had a 45-foot tower, an assortment of little rooms and an inner well that permitted him to shut himself up from the world and exist reclusively whenever he pleased. Gawking neighbors gave it a name: Castle Curious.

The Great Blithering Antiquity Quiz: August

1) Who were "Punch" and "Judy."
a) pet dogs of President Franklin Roosevelt
b) puppet characters
c) poor citizens' nicknames for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
d) silent film characters

2) True or false: The first prime minister of India after independence was Jawaharlal Nehru.

3) Hellen Keller died at age 88 in :
a) 1872
b) 1914
c) 1945
d) 1968

4) Who composed "The Stars and Stripes Forever?"

5) True or false: "Bloody Ban" Tarleton was a Confederate guerrilla commander during the Civil War.

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

Molly
Fancher:
Psychic
In a Coma

She suddenly, inexplicably fell into a state of unconsciousness that lasted 46 years. During this time, she barely subsisted, presumably force-fed, yet she remained mentally cognizant. In fact, if the tale is to be believed, she possessed extrasensory perception to an incredible degree.

Molly Fancher of New York City was 23 when she reportedly became dizzy, then collapsed at the home of her mother one day in February 1866. No treatments could revive her, and her doctor, Samuel F. Spier, could offer no positive diagnosis. She would not come round—but neither would she die.

After nine years, Dr. Spier revealed to several colleagues that Molly possessed unexplainable psychic powers. In a series of demonstrations, she described in a faltering whisper the contents of sealed letters in distant locations, the way specific individuals in other cities were dressed at a given point in time and small incidents that were occurring far beyond the purview of her home. Trustworthy witnesses verified each feat.

Molly thus existed until she at last "awoke" in 1912. Three years later, she died.

The phenomenon attracted international attention. A hoax? Certainly the account raises many questions that investigators of the bizarre would love to explore. The passage of a century makes impossible the application of modern medical analysis and scientifically controlled data studies. If fraud was at play, it would seem likely Dr. Spier was privy to it. Interestingly, Molly remained in her "trance" long after Spier and her parents were dead.