Katherine Johnson worked at NASA for over three decades and, despite the discrimination she faced because of her race and gender, proved herself a trailblazer and a key figure in missions such as Apollo 11. Her work was groundbreaking, as was the work of her fellow Black female colleagues, but only recently did they begin to receive acclaim for their achievements.

The West Virginia Child Prodigy Who Overcame Segregation to Join NASA

Born Creola Katherine Coleman on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Johnson was an exceptionally bright child with an aptitude for mathematics. By age 13, she attended high school on the campus of West Virginia State College, and by 18 she enrolled in the college itself, graduating with a PhD in mathematics in 1937. [1]

She initially took a job teaching at a Black public school until West Virginia decided to integrate its graduate schools in 1939, and Johnson was selected as one of the first three Black students to attend West Virginia University. However, not long after, she decided to leave school to start a family with her first husband, James Goble. 

In 1952, when her three daughters had grown older, Johnson and her family moved to Newport News, Virginia, so she could pursue the opportunity to work at the all-Black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA’s) Langley laboratory. Johnson was successful and began work at Langley in the summer of 1953.

The Critical Space Race Calculations That Made NASA Trust Her Over Computers

Johnson began at NACA (which later became NASA) on a project in the Flight Research Division where she spent four years analyzing data from flight tests. During this time, her husband died of cancer; she would later remarry. In 1957, the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik would change Johnson’s life, placing her at the center of the Space Race. Johnson became a part of the Space Task Group and completed trajectory analysis for America’s first human spaceflight, Alan Shepard’s 1961 mission Freedom 7. [2]

Johnson was pivotal in the success of John Glenn’s orbital mission in 1962, Friendship 7. The flight was extremely complex and required a worldwide communications network which linked tracking stations and IBM computers. The computers were programmed with the equations for the flight, but Glenn wanted confirmation of the numbers in the form of Johnson. Glenn specifically asked for Johnson to run the same numbers through manually before being ready to go. [3] Upon confirmation from Johnson, Glenn agreed to complete the flight. Johnson’s talent and skill at a time when mechanical computing technology was still developing, and her ability to work on space trajectories with minimal technological support were invaluable.

How Precise Trajectory Calculations Secured the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Following her achievements on the Friendship 7 mission, Johnson earned a well-deserved reputation for her ability to master manual calculations and for her ability to use computers.

For Apollo 11 specifically, Johnson played a crucial part in calculating the precise trajectory needed for the mission’s safety and success. [4] Johnson was part of the team responsible for calculating where and when to launch the rocket. The team had to determine the precise launch window to ensure that the spacecraft departed from Earth at the optimum time to intercept the Moon. Timing was everything, and even a slight miscalculation could have resulted in missing the Moon entirely.

Johnson also calculated the rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and Command Module, which were crucial to keep astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong safe. When the Lunar Module, carrying Buzz and Aldrin, reached the lunar surface, it would need to reconnect with the Command Module, which was orbiting the Moon. Any errors could strand the astronauts either on the lunar surface or in lunar orbit. [5]

Without Johnson’s previous work and her ability to apply it to future endeavors, which involved critical and groundbreaking thinking, the Apollo 11 mission may not have been the success that it was.

How Her Historic Contributions Saved Lives and Inspired Generations in STEM

Johnson retired in 1986, after 33 years at Langley. Because of her work, America was able to put the first man on the moon in 1969. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, citing her as a pioneering example of African American women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The year after, NASA dedicated a new Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility at the Langley Research Center. 

Johnson died on February 24, 2020, at the age of 101. She was a trailblazer and an inspiration; not only was she pivotal in the advancements made in space exploration, but she also helped open doors for women and people of color everywhere, especially those interested in STEM.

Sources:

[1]Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures (Harper Collins, London, 2016), pp. 72-75

[2]https://apollo11space.com/katherine-johnsons-critical-role-in-the-apollo-11-moon-landing-the-mathematical-genius-behind-nasas-success/

[3]https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/langley/katherine-johnson-biography/

[4]Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures (Harper Collins, London, 2016), pp. 244-246.

[5]https://apollo11space.com/katherine-johnsons-critical-role-in-the-apollo-11-moon-landing-the-mathematical-genius-behind-nasas-success/

[6]https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/langley/katherine-johnson-biography/

When an amateur Boston engraver stepped into a darkroom in 1861, he emerged with a portrait displaying a spectral silhouette hovering behind his shoulder. To a nation on the brink of the Civil War, the image looked like undeniable evidence of life beyond the grave. In reality, it marked the birth of spirit photography, an audacious Victorian confidence trick that preyed on profound grief and bamboozled grieving families, prominent artists, and even former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

What is Spirit Photography?

To label the invention of photography as just another human invention is an understatement. It radically transformed how we record and transmit information, but also reduced the barriers of space and time. For the first time in human history, it became possible to witness an event without being there or “see” a person who had already passed on. For some, photography seemed to contain an element of the supernatural, and might even be able to break through the barrier between the living and the dead.

By the 1860s, the most popular technique in the United States was glass negatives. A glass plate was covered in a light-sensitive emulsion. The emulsion darkened the parts of a photograph that were the lightest in reality, creating a reverse yet accurate image. Then, a photographer developed the negative and printed the final image. Getting it right required significant experimentation, so image manipulation is as old as photography itself.

The discovery that you could impose one image onto another was probably accidental, but it opened up possibilities. Since the secondary image was often faded or blurred, it looked like a shadow or ghost, leading to the idea of spirit photography: that a ghost or spirit present in the room was captured by the camera.

There were numerous ways to create an illusion of a floating spirit, and historians have not identified all of them, so an element of mystery still surrounds them. The most popular proven methods featured overlaying several negatives during the printing process so that the images would appear on the same picture. Another technique was simply using a plate uncleaned after the previous use. As a result, the new photograph was developed along with the contours of another one.

Of course, different techniques produced different results. For that reason, spirit photographs had a variety of ghosts present: some appeared as semi-transparent figures, some as strange balls of light, and some as floating heads similar in density to those of the living.

Spirit photography should not be confused with another phenomenon of the era, post-mortem photography. Post-mortem photographs featured the physical bodies of someone’s deceased relatives, most likely children or mothers who died in childbirth. Although the pictures themselves were morbid, the desire to capture a dead loved one next to their living family at least once is quite understandable. Before the advent of photography, artists sometimes painted portraits post-mortem as well. Spirit photography had essentially the same purpose, yet never used actual bodies, instead utilizing photo manipulation of various kinds.

William Mumler: The Alleged Pioneer of Spirit Photography

The first person to ever take a photo of a spirit was William Mumler, an engraver and amateur photographer from Boston. In 1861, Mumler was working on a self-portrait. But Mumler was not the only person in the picture. Behind him appeared a figure of a woman, which Mumler identified as his long-dead cousin. This story told by Mumler was the beginning of a long-lasting craze over spirit photography.

Mumler’s discovery happened just at the beginning of the American Civil War. Feeling the air saturated with death and grief, Mumler saw a perfect business opportunity, opening a photography workshop in Boston. He was not working alone. His wife, Hannah Mumler, was involved in the process. While Mumler was busy with the technical part, Hannah acted as a medium, reaching the deceased relatives of clients and asking them to reveal themselves in the photograph.

Another curious fact was that Hannah was a trained photographer, unlike Mumler. They met in a photography studio, which was Hannah’s workplace that Mumler rented for his experiments. Some historians believe that it was Hannah Mumler and the owner of the studio, Helen F. Stuart, who invented the technique and designed the business scheme that followed.

Mumler’s most recognizable and sensational work was the 1872 portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln with her deceased husband, the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. A semi-transparent figure of Lincoln is standing behind the seated Mary Todd, touching her shoulder. The president’s widow was an avid believer in spiritualism and mediumship. Crushed by her husband’s murder and the deaths of their three sons, Mary Todd Lincoln tried to find comfort in the possibility of connecting to her dead loved ones as if they were still there.

P.T. Barnum and the Landmark Fraud Trial of 1869

Although spirit photography was a huge trend at the time, it had its fair share of skeptics. The history of spirit photography is also a history of remarkable court cases. Fraud charges were common occurrences for photographers who claimed to make the dead appear in pictures. The jury tried to unveil their technical secrets, but they rarely succeeded.

William Mumler was put on trial by none other than P.T. Barnum, who was widely regarded as the pioneer of modern mass entertainment, publicity stunts, and advertising. Although Barnum was rather far from being an honest entrepreneur, he insisted that Mumler’s activity was essentially nothing but preying upon the grief-stricken relatives of the deceased. During the trial, Barnum presented his version of the Lincoln photograph showing an image with the face of the dead president floating beside him. That accusation was followed by another. Some witnesses claimed that Mumler was breaking into their clients’ houses to steal photographs of their dead relatives and use them for his works.

Mumler was cleared of all charges in the Barnum trial. Mumler’s main line of defense was shifting the responsibility from himself to the spirits. The photographer insisted that he was not responsible for the figures appearing, and if someone was unhappy with the result, it must have been the spirits playing tricks on them. The main reason for Mumler’s acquittal was that the judge and the jury had no idea how a manipulation was possible. In fact, we still cannot be entirely sure how Mumler did it; although there are numerous possible explanations and techniques, there is no definitive proof of his method.

Frederick Hudson, Georgiana Houghton, and the Rise of British Spirit Photography

Across the ocean, the first (and the most famous) British spirit photographer was Frederick Hudson. Like Mumler, Hudson was working with an assistant. Along with the photographer, a medium and artist named Georgiana Houghton was present. Houghton made sure that the dead relatives would connect to the world of the living. Unlike the pale silhouettes captured by Mumler, Hudson’s spirits look more solid and physically present, as if another person was standing right next to the sitter.

Although Hudson was proclaimed a fraud several times during his lifetime, he never went to jail. The will to believe outweighed any logic for some people. For example, one of Hudson’s sitters claimed to see his dead mother in a photograph next to him, even though, in his own words, the ghost looked nothing like her.

Houghton herself was a trained artist and claimed to channel her artworks from the world of spirits and higher beings way earlier than Hilma af Klint. However, her association with Hudson did not help her career in the long term. Even though neither of them ever faced any criminal charges for their photographic experiments, Houghton would hardly be taken seriously as an artist for decades. The only exhibition of Houghton’s work during her lifetime was organized and paid for by the artist personally. Although Houghton died in 1884, her artworks would be on display for the next time only in the 21st century.

Why Did People Believe in Spirit Photography?

Despite the rightful accusations by P.T. Barnum and many others, it would not be entirely correct to dismiss spirit photography as merely an instrument for capitalizing on someone’s pain. In a way, photographs of dead loved ones helped people navigate grief and sorrow, providing them with one more chance to see their loved ones before letting go. Just like the practice of mediumship, spirit photography was also a way to cope with the fear of death. While skeptics labeled both practices as frauds, believers in spirits received their proof that death is not final. Like Mary Todd Lincoln grieving over her husband and sons, many others were trying to find comfort in the idea that there was something to hope for beyond the grave.

However, not all believers in spirit photography were grief-stricken relatives in need of comfort. Many other proponents of spiritualism were more rational in their beliefs. The rapid technological advances of the 19th century created a stir in public minds. The world suddenly became unfamiliar, forcing many people to actively search for answers. The discoveries of invisible waves and particles, new means of travel, and new ways of transmitting information raised further questions: if these forces were unknown until the present moment, what else could humanity be missing? What if photography, as a new way of seeing, can capture something invisible to the human eye? What if it can be a bridge between our world and others? Thus, even though spirit photography may now seem like a weird occult craze, it nevertheless had at least some logical reasoning behind it.

Behind most terrifying ghost stories are tragic histories of unjust death and unfinished business. Some of the world’s most famous historical landmarks were the sites of some of civilization’s worst tragedies, so is it any surprise that many visitors claim these sites are haunted? These six sites are considered among the most haunted landmarks. What happened there, and what paranormal imprint are these events reported to have left behind?

1. Valley of the Kings and the Royal Curses of Egypt

Across from the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, modern Luxor, lies the Valley of the Kings. It is the resting place for many of Egypt’s New Kingdom pharaohs. This was a prosperous time for Egypt, and many of these rulers were powerful and wealthy and were laid to rest in rich and elaborate tombs.

The valley contains over 60 complete tombs and 20 unfinished ones. It was the final resting place for many famous pharaohs, including Ramses III, Seti I, Thutmose III, and the ever-famous “King Tut” (Tutankhamun), as well as many royal associates and priests. Many tombs have been excavated, and many are now open for tourists to visit.

The area is reportedly tormented by paranormal activity at night. Some have seen a pharaoh riding a chariot that is either fiery or black. The warrior pharaohs were chariot riders, and giant wall paintings depict them riding into battle in their chariots. Who knows which pharaoh’s ghost still believes he is on the battlefield?

There are also reports of strange noises, including screams, footsteps, and screeching. Figures resembling ancient priests or royals are occasionally spotted standing near tomb entrances before vanishing into the rock. Bedouin and local Egyptian folklore holds that ancient priests placed protective spellwork over royal burial sites, summoning powerful desert spirits to guard against tomb robbers. Modern tomb workers and archaeologists have occasionally cited these legends when experiencing sudden equipment failures, unexplainable nausea, or intense feelings of dread—particularly inside notoriously unstable or controversial chambers like Tomb KV55, which belongs to an unidentified male who may be the father of Tutankhamun.

Of course, as movies, books, and oral history have stated over the years, King Tut’s tomb is said to be cursed. This curse is often blamed for the untimely deaths of many people involved in the initial excavation. The excavation funder Lord Carnarvon died months after the tomb was discovered and opened from an infected mosquito bite, sparking a worldwide sensation. Urban legends claimed Cairo suffered a mysterious power outage at the exact moment Carnarvon died, while his dog back in England reportedly howled and dropped dead at the same instant.

2. The Harem Purge and Fires of the Forbidden City

Located in the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City was once the seat of Chinese power. From 1416 to 1911, its buildings and beautifully landscaped gardens were centers of government and later a secondary capital for China’s royal families. Built by Ming dynasty emperor Zhu Di and home to 24 emperors over 505 years, its walls have seen a great deal of history.

Many have claimed that the palaces and gardens of the Forbidden City were cursed from the beginning. Zhu Di was known to some as the “evil emperor” for killing hundreds of members of his harem and staff to suppress a sex scandal in 1421. A few years later, a fire swept through the city as a result of lightning strikes, destroying over 250 buildings and killing many. Surrounded by so much tragedy, it is not hard to believe that teh Forbidden City could be haunted.

According to some, during heavy thunderstorms, the shadows of Qing dynasty court ladies walking in procession along the high outer walls can be seen. Legend holds that these figures are accompanied by the faint sound of ancient folk music. A popular local urban theory suggests the iron oxide in the walls’ red plaster acted like magnetic tape during a lightning strike centuries ago, “recording” and replaying the scene.

In 1900, as foreign troops entered Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered her guards to throw her rival, the young Pearl Concubine (Zhen Fei), down a narrow well near the Palace of Tranquility and Longevity. Night watchmen and late-lingering visitors report hearing low weeping near the well head at dusk, occasionally accompanied by the sound of splashing water or a pale figure in imperial dress standing over the stone opening.

Local lore frequently ties the Palace Museum’s strict closing time  5of PM to paranormal activity. The legend claims the gates must lock before twilight because the complex’s ghostly energy overwhelms the living energy as the sun sets, returning the grounds to the spirits of the thousands of royal inhabitants, servants, and eunuchs who died within its walls.

3. Bloodshed and Field Hospitals at the Gettysburg Battlefield

Home to the bloodiest battle on American soil, the Gettysburg Battlefield hosted a major turning point in America’s Civil War. Not only were thousands of lives lost on the fields and hills of this Pennsylvania locale, but dozens of ghost stories were created in the aftermath, leading to Gettysburg’s reputation as one of the most haunted places in America.

Dozens of books have been written on the topic, and tourists can take one of several ghost tours of the battlefield and the surrounding locations. The jagged boulders of Devil’s Den are famous for a recurring apparition known as the “Ragged Soldier.” Visitors frequently report seeing a disheveled man wearing a floppy hat, a torn shirt, and no shoes. He usually approaches disoriented tourists, points toward the neighboring Triangular Field while saying “What you’re looking for is over there,” and then vanishes. This area is also notorious for unexplained electronic failures, where fully charged camera batteries suddenly drain completely.

Historical homes and businesses are part of the hauntings, including a home where a woman was shot by a stray bullet through her wall and a former orphanage where a horrible headmistress tortured children. Spirits of dead and dying soldiers are spotted on the battlefield as well as in buildings that served as campaign headquarters or field hospitals.

The basement of Pennsylvania Hall at Gettysburg College is believed to be haunted. In one famous encounter, two college staff members took the building’s elevator down to the basement. Instead of the expected storage area, the doors opened onto a silent, terrifying scene from 1863: spectral doctors operating on wounded soldiers amidst blood-soaked floors and piled limbs. When the panicked staff frantically pressed the button to close the doors, one of the phantom orderlies reportedly looked up directly at them.

4. The Antebellum Tragedies of the Myrtles Plantation

Louisiana is a place filled with many mysteries and hauntings. However, the Myrtles Plantation is perhaps one of the spookiest around. An Antebellum home built when slavery was omnipresent in the American South, stories of the cruelty that took place at the Myrtles are illustrative of the trauma that thousands of enslaved men and women endured.

According to the most famous story associated with the home, one of the early owners had a “house slave” named Chloe. Chloe suffered a great deal of abuse from her master and took to eavesdropping in hopes of “improving” her behavior and preventing future abuse. However, she was caught listening to her master’s conversations, and as punishment, he ordered her ears cut off. She was not, however, released from her duties and was forced by her boss to wear a turban so he wouldn’t have to look at her disfigurement.

Chloe decided to take revenge by placing poisonous oleander leaves in the cake of the master’s daughter on her birthday. She hoped to make the family sick and then nurse them back to health. Healers were among the most respected members of the enslaved community, and Chloe was still desperate to gain her evil master’s favor. However, the dosing was incorrect, and the mistress and the family’s two children died. Chloe was ordered to be hanged by the neck until dead when her misdeed was discovered, with all of the other enslaved people as witnesses; then, her body was weighed with rocks and thrown into the Mississippi River.

Is Chloe behind the ghostly activity that has taken place at the Myrtles since? Or perhaps the poisoned children? Visitors have reported strange figures in photographs, figures and handprints in mirrors that appear at random, furniture moving on its own, and seeing an apparition wearing a green turban.

5. Six Million Souls Beneath Paris in the Catacombs

Holding the bones of over six million people, moved from cemeteries in the 18th century to free up space, it seems pretty unlikely that the Paris Catacombs would not be haunted. Located below the streets of Paris, France, the catacombs are one of many in Europe but are perhaps the most famous. About 550,000 people visit the tunnels every year, and as a result, legends about associated hauntings have spread far and wide.

One of the most famous chilling stories from the ossuary is relatively recent, dating to the early 1990s. A group of explorers was walking in the catacombs when they found a video camera on the ground. To their amazement, it had footage on it, and it appeared that the man holding the camera was lost and had no idea how to leave the underground maze. As time went on, he seemed to be going mad until the video ended abruptly. No one ever learned who the man was or what became of him. Did he make it out alive, or did he become a victim of the speaking walls?

That’s right, talking walls. Rumor has it that if visitors are in the catacombs after midnight, the walls begin to speak. The disembodied voices of those who rest forever within them will speak to passersby and try to persuade them to venture deeper and deeper into the tunnels until they are lost forever.

6. British Penal Brutality at Tasmania’s Port Arthur

The island state of Tasmania is located about 150 miles south of mainland Australia. Known for its beautiful scenery, Tasmania is a popular destination for visitors. Serving as a cruise ship port and home to many vineyards, it is a bustling locale, particularly in the summer months.

However, the first humans to visit and inhabit Tasmania were not pleasure seekers but convicts. In 1833, Port Arthur began as a British penal colony. It held convicts shipped from England until it was abandoned in 1877. However, while in operation, the colony was deemed “inescapable,” with many prisoners dying during their sentences. It was officially preserved as a historical site in 1979 but has been a tourist destination since its abandonment. Documented ghost stories have been part of the legend of Port Arthur since 1870.

Port Arthur’s “Silent Prison Cell” was designed around total silence and psychological sensory deprivation; this building drove many convicts to insanity. Cell Four, where convict William Carter committed suicide in 1840, is notorious for a sudden, crushing atmosphere of grief that causes unsuspecting visitors to burst into tears. Night watchmen and tour groups routinely report hearing footsteps hurrying down empty corridors and frantic, phantom pounding on locked cell doors.

One of Port Arthur’s most famous apparitions is believed to be the spirit of a 19th-century accountant’s wife who died during childbirth. She is regularly spotted around the Accountant’s House and the nearby Gothic Church ruins, wearing a pale blue or gray crinoline dress and bonnet. Visitors report seeing her staring out windows, and toddlers visiting the site have reportedly claimed to play with a “nice lady” invisible to adults.

This tiny island off the coast of the main settlement contains over 1,000 graves, mostly unmarked convict mass burials. Visitors on night boat tours describe extreme temperature drops, phantom light orbs moving between the trees, and disembodied whispers echoing off the water from the unhallowed grounds.

All but one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Great Pyramid, collapsed into rubble long ago. But there was no definitive list of ancient wonders, as different travelers and authors compiled their own lists. With that in mind, we have compiled a list of seven lesser-known wonders of the ancient world, some from beyond the Mediterranean, all of which you can still see today.

1. Petra and the Carved Sandstone City of Jordan

Let’s kick things off with an entire city carved into and out of sandstone cliffs in the desert of modern-day Jordan. The residents of Petra, also known as the Rose City or Raqmu, began building their city in the 5th century BC. They controlled trade in their region by making their city one of the few oases in the surrounding desert.

Visitors accessed the city from the east via a narrow, tunnel-like passage in the surrounding rocks called the Siq, which also serves as a waterway. The citizens of Petra also controlled the rain and regular flooding that affected their city by rerouting water into dammed waterways and cisterns, providing the city with water even during droughts.

Its most popular tourist attraction today is Al Khazneh, or “The Treasury,” an elaborate temple carved into a sandstone cliff thought to have been the mausoleum of a king in the 1st century AD. Archaeologists estimate that only about 15% of the original city has been excavated.

As sea trade routes overtook land routes and devastating earthquakes struck in AD 363 and 551, Petra was gradually abandoned by all but local Bedouins. It remained completely unknown to the Western world for hundreds of years until 1812, when Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt disguised himself as an Arab scholar to gain access and “rediscover” it.

2. Roman Aqueducts of Pont du Gard and Segovia

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, and these aqueducts, monuments of the ancient world, certainly weren’t. Remnants of ancient Roman aqueducts lie across Europe, but two of the most impressive are the Pont du Gard in southern France and the aqueduct in Segovia, Spain.

The Pont du Gard was built in the 1st century AD and is part of an aqueduct that spans over 50 kilometers. Its three tiers of arches make it the tallest of all known Roman aqueducts, and it carried an estimated 40,000 cubic meters of water every day to the city of Nîmes. The bridge is composed of nearly 50,000 tons of golden limestone blocks. The stones were cut so perfectly that they are held together purely by weight, friction, and gravity, with absolutely no mortar used. After the Roman Empire collapsed, the aqueduct’s bridge was still used as a toll bridge, which is part of the reason it still stands today.

Segovia’s aqueduct was also built in the 1st century AD, and is part of a 17-kilometer span. This aqueduct begins with a series of two cisterns, and, at its tallest, reaches 28.5 meters. It consists of a series of single and double arches, unlike the Pont du Gard, which has three tiers across its length.

The builders originally embedded massive bronze letters into the stone to commemorate the emperor who ordered its construction; likely Trajan or Hadrian. While the bronze was looted or lost centuries ago, the holes left behind in the stone are still visible today. This aqueduct was still delivering water to the city of Segovia from the nearby Frío River until 1973.

3. Göbekli Tepe as the Oldest Known Megalithic Temple

This monument, whose name is Turkish for “Potbelly Hill,” is a site in Turkey thought to be the oldest temple or ritual site in the world, a true wonder of the ancient world. Its original purpose isn’t entirely clear, but the stone ruins were erected sometime between the 10th and 8th centuries BC. It predates both Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza by roughly 6,000 to 7,000 years, completely shattering previous timelines of monumental architecture.

The ceremonial mound on which Göbekli Tepe sits measures about 300 meters in diameter, and its largest pillars, the world’s oldest-known megaliths, weigh up to 10 tons. The site was found in 1963, but researchers at the time thought its stones indicated a Byzantine cemetery. The ruins were not excavated until 1993, when their age and size were fully revealed.

The monumental T-shaped limestone pillars, some standing over 16 feet tall and weighing up to 10 tons, are adorned with intricate bas-reliefs of wild animals, including foxes, lions, boars, scorpions, vultures, and snakes.

For reasons still unknown to modern archaeologists, the site wasn’t simply abandoned by its builders. The enclosures were deliberately backfilled with refuse, soil, and stone, a monumental task that ironically preserved the pillars perfectly for millennia.

4. Newgrange Passage Tomb and the Winter Solstice

Newgrange is an enormous, prehistoric passage tomb in eastern Ireland. It was built around 3200 BC, about 500 years before Stonehenge. It resembles a large, flattened dome-shaped sports arena. At 76 meters across, it’s quite an engineering marvel for the Neolithic human society.

The structure is called a passage tomb for obvious reasons. It features a long passageway flanked by tombs and offerings to or for the dead. A circle of standing stones surrounds the mound, which is thought to have been added later.

The site is decorated with spectacular Neolithic rock art. The most famous example is the massive Entrance Stone, which features highly elaborate triple-spiral (triskele) carvings. Because these spirals were created before metal tools existed, they represent an astonishing level of artistic skill and dedication using only stone chisels.

One of the most spectacular architectural facts about the site is that the large room inside the dome is filled with sunlight only on the winter solstice. The people who built Newgrange possibly used this feature as an enormous calendar that told them when winter had reached its peak and the days would soon become warmer and shorter.

5. Leshan Giant Buddha and Chinese Hydraulic Engineering

This giant statue’s construction began in AD 713, when a Chinese monk decided that a statue of the Buddha might calm the violent waters of the nearby rivers.

In AD 803, the 71-meter-tall statue was completed at the intersection of the Min and Dadu Rivers in southern Sichuan province. It contains a network of drainage channels behind the facing that carry rainwater away from the front of the statue to reduce erosion.

The Buddha was also originally protected by a 13-story wooden structure. The shelter was destroyed by the Mongols. It is the tallest pre-modern statue in existence and the largest Buddha statue in the world. Without a doubt, this was a true wonder of the ancient world.

Interestingly, so many rocks fell from the cliff during its construction that the current was altered, and the rivers’ intersection became safe for passing ships. Today, it is known as the Leshan Giant Buddha, in reference to the nearby town of Leshan.

6. Sigiriya and the Sky Citadel of Sri Lanka

Sigiriya, often referred to as “Lion Rock,” is an ancient fortress and palace complex built in the 5th century BC bu King Kasyapa atop a massive column of granite nearly 200 meters tall. Located in the northern Matale District of Sri Lanka, it was surrounded by jungle. Despite the massive effort required to build it, the complex only served as the capital for 18 years. Following the death of Kasyapa, it became a monastery until it was abandoned in the 14th century.

It gets its name from a monumental gateway halfway up the rock. Visitors had to walk through the open jaws of an enormous brick-and-stucco lion to reach the summit. Only one colossal carved stone paw survives today.

Along the ascent, Kasyapa ordered a section of the rock face highly polished so that he could see his reflection in it. Over the centuries, visitors to the abandoned fortress scratched poems and thoughts into this “Mirror Wall.” Some ancient graffiti dates from the 8th century and has helped linguists study the Sinhalese language.

Sheltered in a shallow cave on the rock face is a gallery of remarkably well-preserved frescoes. Painted using earth pigments, they depict beautiful celestial nymphs or royal concubines. While it is believed the paintings once covered a massive section of the western rock face, only a handful survive today.

7. The Terracotta Army and the Silent Legion of Qin Shi Huang

The Terracotta Army is a colossal subterranean funerary complex created for the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang, in 246 BC. The army would serve him in the afterlife.

The buried army was discovered accidentally by local farmers in 1974. Excavations have revealed over 8,000 soldiers,130 chariots, and 520 horses. Each is handcrafted with distinct facial features, expressions, hairstyles, and uniforms reflecting their specific rank and regional origin. While the warriors appear to be made from plain grey clay today, they were originally painted in vivid colors and coated in protective lacquer.

While the warriors are the most famous element of the funerary complex, it was actually a massive subterranean kingdom. There are also non-military clay figures, including court officials, acrobats, and musicians.

Not wanting to risk fragile artifacts, archaeologists have never opened Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s central burial mound. This will probably only happen when improved technology can ensure better preservation.

When war erupted across the Northern Hemisphere in the late 1930s, the improvements in technology since World War I allowed for a new type of unit: special forces. These soldiers used new weapons, technology, and tactics to perform specific missions, setting the stage for today’s elite special forces units like the US Navy SEALs and British SAS. While many casual readers of history know about the British commandos and American OSS operatives of World War II, there were actually several other special forces across both the Allied and Axis nations. Some faded away into history, while others directly transitioned into special forces units that are still active today.

1: Z Special Unit of Australia

Many casual readers of World War II history may be unfamiliar with the contributions of Australia, whose foreign policy was still heavily linked to Britain as a member of the British Commonwealth. As a result, Australian troops participated in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific. Some units went straight from fighting against the Germans and Italians in North Africa to fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. In April 1942, Australia created its own special forces units, with volunteers being placed in a “Z” holding unit in June. A reconnaissance (espionage) unit was later placed under the holding name “M.”

Z Special Unit was sent to operate primarily in Southeast Asia, especially the Dutch East Indies, with assistance from Dutch, Indonesian, Timorese, and New Zealand operatives. It successfully completed Operation Jaywick against Japanese vessels in Singapore’s harbor, disabling seven ships. Unfortunately, a second planned operation, Operation Rimau, was not successful.

Z Unit operatives were often parachuted into operations or dropped off by submarine; they conducted a total of 81 missions during the course of the war. Their efforts helped local anti-Japanese forces wage guerrilla warfare against their occupiers, straining the Japanese war effort.

2: Brandenburgers of Germany

Many World War II enthusiasts have heard of the Gran Sasso Raid and Operation Greif, both led by Otto Skorzeny, but fewer may be aware of the Brandenburger special forces units of Germany. These units operated early in the war, primarily on the Eastern Front and in North Africa, and were composed of men who fluently spoke the local language. Like other special forces units, the Brandenburgers typically operated behind enemy lines and utilized special training. They are most well-known for operating in the Balkans, where local resistance to German occupation was significant.

In late 1942, during the German advance toward Stalingrad, the Brandenburgers famously disguised themselves as Soviet NKVD secret police and convinced a local garrison to abandon the oil infrastructure they were guarding in the city of Maikop. This allowed the Germans to seize the facility intact, which was a major goal. Typically, the Red Army destroyed any valuable infrastructure and equipment when retreating to deprive the Germans of its benefits. By autumn 1944, however, the German command decided that specialized units were no longer efficient. Most Brandenburger units were incorporated into traditional military units for the remainder of the war.

3: Japanese Suicide Forces

By the end of 1944, many Japanese leaders realized that the war could not be won. One strategy to combat the overwhelming Allied advantage in manpower and equipment was to use suicide attacks. After all, it was very difficult to stop an enemy who was already planning to die. Many Japanese pilots volunteered for kamikaze missions, for which they were highly praised and militarily decorated. Culturally, most Japanese preferred suicide to surrender, which they deemed dishonorable. This meant Allied invasions of Japanese-held islands were often brutal affairs—defenders almost always fought to the death.

Specialized units of suicide soldiers were planned late in the war when the Allies were preparing an invasion of the home islands of Japan. Operation Ketsu-Go was the Japanese response to the massive invasion. Men were hastily trained to conduct suicide missions, creating a huge fighting force of pilots and sailors who would crash their craft into any Allied transport seen carrying soldiers. Divers and frogmen were trained to swim under Allied ships and attach explosives to them. Ultimately, these suicide-trained forces were never used, as Japan surrendered following the detonation of two atomic bombs in August 1945 rather than face invasion.

4: Arditi Units of Italy

During World War I, Italy was one of the handful of nations that fielded special forces units. In April 1942, a new Arditi unit was formed for the Second World War, followed by another in July, hoping to capitalize on the Arditi reputation for boldness during the First World War as stormtroopers. Only men with combat experience could volunteer for these new Arditi battalions. In January 1943, both battalions were sent to Tunisia to help thwart the Allies’ North Africa Campaign.

Unfortunately for the Arditi battalions, they had little success in stopping the Allies in North Africa. Often, the Allies knew about the missions before the Arditi commandos landed—thanks to the success of Project ULTRA’s codebreaking. In July 1943, the X Arditi Regiment assisted with the defense of Sicily, fighting bravely but unsuccessfully. A few months later, most Arditi personnel joined the Allied cause in southern Italy when the Kingdom of Italy surrendered and switched sides. A few, however, joined the German-allied Italian Social Republic in northern Italy. The Italian Civil War lasted until May 1945.

5: Soviet SPETSNAZ in World War II

Most readers of history know about the Soviet Spetsnaz special forces from the Cold War era, particularly the Soviet war in Afghanistan. However, their origin was during World War II, created just after the German invasion in June 1941. Formal units were formed beginning in August, focused on reconnaissance. The plan was to train these specialized units to operate behind German lines and wreak havoc. By November 1941, over 100 small Spetsnaz groups were ambushing German supply and communication lines, gaining valuable intelligence that they would send back to Moscow.

These recon groups typically avoided combat, but would engage in sabotage if it was convenient, such as mining bridges that were being used to transport German equipment. Other Spetsnaz units were more directly focused on sabotaging infrastructure. In January 1942, these units, including experts from the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, traveled behind German lines to destroy key infrastructure.

Two and a half years later, when the Red Army was on the offensive, Spetsnaz units were again used to target German infrastructure. Some teams dressed in German uniforms moved around freely, aiding anti-German partisans (political fighters) in Eastern Europe.

6: US Army Alamo Scouts

In the Pacific Theater, the United States used the strategy of island hopping to invade and seize only key islands that could be used for airfields and ports. Due to the small size of these islands, US troops were almost always fighting in close quarters with motivated, fanatical defenders. To help gain an advantage, it was decided to create small, elite reconnaissance teams that could strike the Japanese from behind the front lines. They would be experts in jungle warfare, amphibious operations, and reconnaissance. On November 28, 1943, Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger ordered the establishment of the Alamo Scouts.

Volunteers went through a rigorous six-week training course, and the Alamo Scouts of the US 6th Army special reconnaissance unit became operational in February 1944. These small teams conducted over 100 missions before the end of the war and did not lose a single man in combat. Roughly 325 men served in the Alamo Scouts and conducted raids on Japanese positions, including freeing Allied prisoners-of-war in a daring three-day operation in early 1945. As part of their reconnaissance mission, the Alamo Scouts took over eighty Japanese prisoners during the duration of their operations, which ended post-war in November 1945.

7: First Special Service Force (US-Canadian)

On June 16, 1942, Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the creation of a special forces unit similar to those already developed by the British. This order went to Lt. Col. Robert T. Frederick, who sought both American and Canadian volunteers to train in unconventional operations and be prepared to attack behind-the-lines targets in German-occupied Europe. To prepare to attack German targets in Northern and Eastern Europe, Montana was chosen as a training site to simulate similar hostile weather. Norwegian ski troops were even brought in to train the volunteers in long-distance skiing.

In 1943, the First Special Service Force added amphibious training to their skills, and they finally saw combat in the Italian Campaign beginning in November. A month later, the unit famously seized a large hill that had been defended against several other units. In August 1944, it also participated in the invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon). Unfortunately, the unit was disbanded on December 5, 1944, as it was no longer using the elite tactics and specialized skills for which it was trained. Despite its disbanding before the end of the war, the First Special Service Force was highly decorated by Allied governments.

How World War II Shaped Modern Special Forces

Most World War II special forces units disbanded at the end of the war during mass demobilization. However, the threats of the Cold War quickly renewed demand for similar units. In 1952, the United States military brought back special forces with the 10th Special Forces Group. The following year, the 10th SFG saw combat for the first time in the Korean War (1950-53). A decade after the 10th SFG was founded, the widely renowned Navy SEALs were established, first seeing combat in the Vietnam War. These became the two best-known special forces groups of the Cold War, with the 10th SFG being the first of the Army Green Berets.

The complexity of military operations during the Cold War era resulted in the creation of many special forces teams around the world, with the US military also creating Marine Force RECON and Raider teams, Air Force Special Tactics Pararescue teams, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s Special Operations Group.

During World War II and the Cold War era, many nations created their own special forces units, including the German KSK, British Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS), and French Special Operations Command (SOC). The Soviet Union created its own Cold War special operations groups, such as the Alpha counterterroris

On August 21, 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant working at the Louvre, stole Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the French museum. After hiding it in his apartment for two years, he then tried to sell it to an Italian art dealer, who denounced him to the police. Arrested and tried by an Italian court, Peruggia claimed he simply wanted to return the painting to its rightful owner: Italy. Read on to discover more about the thief who turned the Mona Lisa into one of the most-recognized artworks in the world.

Vincenzo Peruggia and the Theft of the Mona Lisa

On August 22, 1911, a local artist entered the Salon Carré at the Louvre Museum in Paris, planning to sketch Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Upon finding an empty space where the portrait usually hung, he asked a guard about the painting’s whereabouts.

The guard was not immediately alarmed as the museum’s artworks were often removed to be photographed. However, after a more extensive search, the Mona Lisa could still not be located. Realizing it had been stolen, the Louvre contacted the police, who frantically began to look for the missing painting.

In the following days, news of the theft appeared in the French and international press, causing a sensation: Masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci Vanishes from Louvre — Known as Mona Lisa. FRAME FOUND ON STAIRCASE Picture Not Cut from It, but Carefully Removed — Army of Detectives at Work read the lengthy title of an article published in The New York Times on August 23. Suddenly, readers around the world became familiar with the painting, which was reproduced on countless front pages. When the Louvre reopened a week after the theft, thousands of Parisians flocked to the Salon Carré to stare at the empty space left behind by the portrait. Amid a public outcry, the Louvre’s director, Jean Théophile Homolle, resigned.

As the investigation continued, a series of outlandish theories emerged. Some claimed to have seen the Mona Lisa in locations as far as Brazil and Japan. According to another story, US banker J.P. Morgan had commissioned the theft. Additionally, the French police initially questioned poet Guillaume Apollinaire and painter Pablo Picasso. Indeed, the latter had used some Iberian artifacts stolen by the poet from the Louvre as models for his Demoiselles d’Avignon painting, so the suspicions were not completely unfounded. However, the two artists were cleared.

The thief’s identity was discovered only two years later when the Italian police arrested Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant working at the Louvre at the time of the theft. The French police had previously questioned Peruggia but never considered him a person of interest regarding the heist.

Who Was Vincenzo Peruggia?

Vincenzo Peruggia was born on October 8, 1881, in Dumenza, a town in the province of Varese in Lombardy, Italy. His parents were Celeste Rossi and Giacomo Peruggia, a construction worker. At the age of twelve, Vincenzo started working as a house painter in Milan. In 1900, he suffered lead poisoning, at the time known as “saturnism,” due to prolonged exposure to lead-based paints. Exempted from mandatory military service because of his poor health, Vincenzo spent the following years working in Milan, Sondrio, Lyon, and Paris.

In 1908, he moved permanently to the French capital, where he worked as a decorator. In the following year, he began working for a company employed by the Louvre to build glass cases for several artworks, including the Mona Lisa. While his employer trusted Peruggia, even tasking him with doing extra work on his country residence, the Italian house painter had a couple of run-ins with the police during his stay in France.

During a stay in Mâcon, a city in east-central France, he was arrested, charged with attempted robbery, and jailed for 24 hours. During the interview with the doctor who wrote his psychiatric evaluation, Peruggia claimed innocence, blaming the widespread prejudices against Italian immigrants for the incident. While working in Paris, Peruggia was sentenced to eight days in jail and fined 15 francs for violence and unlawful possession of a weapon following an altercation with a sex worker during a night out with a group of friends.

Why & How Did Vincenzo Peruggia Steal the Mona Lisa?

When questioned by the police, Vincenzo Peruggia claimed the resentment evoked by the daily sight of the looted Italian artworks on display at the Louvre inspired him to commit the theft. Initially, he considered stealing Raphael Sanzio’s painting La Belle Jardinière (also known as the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist). However, he soon changed his mind, as the canvas was too big to carry. He then shifted his attention to the Mona Lisa.
Working as a subcontractor for the Louvre, Peruggia had easy access to all artworks. His uniform and the general lack of security inside the museum allowed him to move undetected through the building. “I had only to choose an opportune moment, and a mere twist would put the painting in my hands,” he later recalled. Indeed, on August 21, 1911, after spending the night hidden in a closet, Peruggia simply walked up to the Mona Lisa and removed it from the wall. He then wrapped his uniform, a white smock, around the wooden panel and exited the building after removing the glass frame.

While police and teams of investigators frantically searched for the stolen masterpiece, Peruggia hid it in his Parisian apartment in Rue de l’Hôpital Saint-Louis. In his later account, Peruggia claimed he grew obsessed with the Mona Lisa as he waited for the chaos following the heist to die down. “I sometimes wondered in those two and a half years whether or not I would do better to burn the painting, fearing that I might go mad,” he declared.

In 1913, to escape the pull of the Mona Lisa’s “haunting smile,” and because he was short on money, Peruggia finally decided to sell the painting.

“Leonard V.”

In November 1913, Vincenzo Peruggia sent a letter to Alfredo Geri, an art dealer located in Florence, informing him that he had the stolen Mona Lisa in his possession. Using the pseudonym “Leonard V.,” Peruggia also offered Geri a 25% discount, claiming his main goal was not profit but the repatriation of the painting to Italy.

In a second letter, Peruggia expressed his desire to return the portrait to the Uffizi Gallery, adding that displaying it at the Florentine museum would be “a great revenge on the French Empire” for the looting of countless Italian artworks. Indeed, Peruggia mistakenly believed Napoleon Bonaparte had stolen the Mona Lisa. In fact, King Francis I had legally acquired the painting after Leonardo’s death.

On December 10, the thief traveled to Florence, where he rented a room at the Hotel Tripoli (now Hotel Gioconda). Meanwhile, Geri, who had no intention of buying the stolen artwork, contacted Giovanni Poggi, the director of the Uffizi Gallery. Upon visiting Peruggia in his hotel room, Geri and Poggi convinced him to bring the painting to the Uffizi for an official authentication. Unbeknownst to Peruggia, Geri had already denounced him to the Questore (Superintendent) of Florence.

On December 12, 1913, Peruggia was arrested in his hotel room, where the police discovered a trunk with a false bottom. When questioned about the heist, he claimed to have acted alone. However, it was later discovered he had help from two close friends.

An Italian Hero?

During his trial, Vincenzo Peruggia claimed patriotism inspired him to plan the heist, denying he ever planned to profit from the sale of the stolen painting. Convinced he had carried out a heroic deed for his country, Peruggia even expressed surprise at his legal troubles. Questioned by the defense-appointed psychiatrist about his state of mind during the heist, he said he hoped the Italian authorities would reward his attempt to repatriate the Mona Lisa.

While the police and prosecution did not believe Peruggia’s patriotic claims, he won the support of the broader Italian public. During the trial, his defense team highlighted the popular support for the defendant, describing him as a hardworking man and a patriot acting in defense of his country’s honor. “By accepting our conclusions you will have listened to the voices that are coming from every part of Italy, where there is no one who desires the condemnation of the accused,” declared Targetti, the head of Peruggia’s defense team, during his closing argument. The audience present in the courtroom cheered.

The prosecutor, however, questioned the claim that Peruggia had acted solely out of love for his country, arguing that profit had been the real factor behind the heist. Indeed, before writing to Geri, Peruggia had made previous attempts to sell the stolen painting. In July 1913, he went to London, where he contacted the Duveen brothers, art dealers and owners of an antique shop in Bond Street. Then, in October, he sent a letter to Lucchini, an Italian politician, asking for his assistance in contacting the Leonardo da Vinci Society in Italy. Finally, in November, Peruggia contacted an art dealer in Rome, offering him the Mona Lisa at a bargain price. As proof of his claim, the prosecutor also provided several letters Peruggia sent to his family, announcing his imminent prosperity.

The Mona Lisa’s Italian Tour

In June 1914, the Tribunale Penale (Criminal Court) of Florence sentenced Vincenzo Peruggia to one year and 15 days in prison. The judge rejected the defense’s claim of a “patriotic heist,” reasserting that profit was the real motive behind Peruggia’s theft.

Meanwhile, the Italian authorities, who had (almost reluctantly) agreed to return the Mona Lisa to France, first took the painting on a “patriotic” tour through Italy. In December 1913, the Uffizi Gallery displayed the painting for five days. Thousands of visitors rushed to the museum to glimpse Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece. The next stop in the tour was Rome, where King Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy and several politicians could look at the Mona Lisa while it was temporarily displayed at the Ministry of Education. Then, at the end of December, the painting reached the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, where visitors jostled each other to be near the painting.

When the Mona Lisa returned to the Louvre, it had already become an international art icon.

Today, it is displayed behind a temperature-controlled glass case in the Salle des États, where it faces Veronese’s Wedding Feast at Cana, a painting that Napoleon plundered in 1797 in Venice.

What Happened to Vincenzo Peruggia?

At the end of July 27, 1914, Vincenzo Peruggia’s lawyers appealed against the Florentine court’s ruling, asking for a pardon or a reduction of the sentence. During the hearing, Peruggia again depicted his heist as a form of repatriation: “I took the Mona Lisa because it would enrich the Uffizi Gallery. I wanted it to come to Florence, where it was painted. I insist on this point. Of the rest, little interests me.” The judge ruled in his favor, and Peruggia was released from prison.

A year after his release, Italy entered World War I, and Peruggia was called to the army. After the war, he returned to France, where he died in October 1925 of a heart attack.

The real motive behind the “theft of the century” remains unclear, with some, including Peruggia’s daughter Celestina, still claiming it was a misguided attempt at cultural repatriation. Over the years, the story of Vincenzo Peruggia and his theft has been told in documentaries, songs, books, and movies. In 2012, the Parisian auction house Tajan sold Peruggia’s mugshot for almost €4,000.

In the late 1880s, a series of horrible murders shook London. Five sex workers were slaughtered at night and mutilated, with their murderer fleeing without a trace. The perpetrator sent numerous letters to the police, mocking their efforts to find him. Decades later, a British Impressionist Walter Sickert became one of the suspects. Could it be true that the famous painter was the murderer all along? Read on to examine the evidence against Walter Sickert.

Who Was Walter Sickert?

Once dubbed the most important British painter of all time, today Walter Sickert is an almost obscure figure, known mostly to those deeply invested in the history of European Impressionism. A student of Edgar Degas and James Whistler, he was a successful and recognized painter and a former actor, who brought his dramatic ambitions on canvas. His preferred subject matter was music hall stages and intimate domestic scenes that always implied much more context than was demonstrated.

Sickert’s identity was notoriously fluid and prone to sudden transformations, just like his appearance, tastes, and habits. No one could pinpoint his political views since he kept giving out extremely contradictory information. In his routine, he was secretive, too. He simultaneously rented several studios in different parts of London, with the addresses often unknown even to his wife. He had an unnerving habit of disappearing for days without warning, sometimes unexpectedly leaving her alone at the cafe table. Sickert was comfortable enough in both high society gatherings and in the poorest slums, fueled by his well-known misanthropy.

The Whitechapel Murders

In the 1880s, London was a bustling, overgrown city. Due to overpopulation, crime and disease were rampant in poor neighborhoods. From 1888 to 1891, a series of five murders shook the impoverished Whitechapel district, in which Walter Sickert had one of his studios. Five sex workers were slaughtered and mutilated, with their intestines exposed.

One of the most disturbing details of the Whitechapel murders was the fact that some of the victims’ body parts, like ears or kidneys, soon ended up in newspaper offices of police stations, sent there as gruesome souvenirs from the murderer. The police received more than 200 letters from the alleged murderer, describing the details of his crimes, future plans, and bitter jokes. One of the letters was signed with the name Jack the Ripper, thus creating the image of the killer. However, after extensive analysis, most were labeled as hoaxes, organized either by news reporters or random attention-seekers. At some point, writing Ripper’s letters became a popular hobby. The moral panic in the city reached an all-time high, with women refusing to leave their homes. Several suspects were arrested, but the murderer was never identified.

Sickert’s name occurred in the Jack the Ripper investigation for the first time in the late 1950s, among a long list of other suspects. The main motivation to include him on the list was his strange series of paintings he created two decades after the murders. There were, however, other unnerving details. As reported by his friends, he once introduced himself as Jack the Ripper to a group of women passing by, causing them to flee in horror.

Camden Town Murder

Less than two decades after the first string of murders, another tragedy occurred that reminded Londoners of the nightmare that was seemingly over. A 22-year-old Emily Dimmock and her boyfriend Bertram Shaw rented two rooms in the Camden Town neighborhood. Shaw knew that Dimmock used to make money from sex work, but he believed she quit after the couple moved in together. September morning, coming back from a night shift at the train kitchen, he was surprised to find the room doors locked. After asking the landlady for keys, he was shocked to find their bedroom in disarray, with closets and drawers opened. Emily lay on their bed nude and lifeless, with her throat slit.

Among other evidence in the room, the policemen found a postcard from a friend or a client (as it turned out, Emily did not abandon sex work after all), offering to meet the night before the murder occurred. The card’s sender was soon identified and arrested; it was an artist Robert Wood, who had a habit of sending handmade postcards to sex workers he frequented. Still, Wood was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Sickert’s Ripper Series

No one paid any extraordinary attention to the fact that Walter Sickert was present both at the Wood’s train and at the crime scene on the day of the murder. Soon after the news of Emily Dimmock’s murder reached the police, Sickert, who rented a studio nearby, showed up at the doorstep and asked to see the gruesome scene. A famous artist known for his penchant for the dark and the macabre, he was not an entirely unexpected guest on the scene. Moreover, the bohemian London circles were obsessed with the murder, linking it to the unsolved Whitechapel series, so the public interest was high enough.

Soon after the murder, Sickert completed a series of paintings titled Camden Town Murder, a sequence of images showing a fully-dressed man seated next to a nude woman. There is no blood visible on the painting, but the title suggests the woman is dead. Some researchers noticed the unsettling similarities between the details from the Ripper crime scenes and Sickert’s compositions. Another, even more disturbing work was revealed slightly before the murder. The canvas Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom also depicted Sickert’s studio.

Patricia Cornwell’s Investigation

In the early 2000s, a former crime reporter and successful novelist, Patricia Cornwell, set out to prove that Walter Sickert was the man behind the unsolved murders. She came up with this version after reading a biography of Sickert and studying his works. In 2002, she published the results of her investigation, followed by a 2017 re-edition with extra evidence. The book caused a stir in the art world and provoked many controversies.

Cornwell believed that Sickert’s motivation to kill developed from an early childhood trauma. According to the author, Sickert was born with a genital fistula that was treated by a series of painful and dangerous surgeries while he was still a child. This pain could allegedly lead to impotence and fear of intimacy, further developing into aggressive and violent misogyny. As stated by Cornwell, Sickert hated women, especially sex workers, since their profession was centered around something Sickert could not have.

Aimed to prove Walter Sickert’s involvement with the murders, Cornwell accidentally became one of the most prominent collectors of the artist’s work worldwide. Allegedly, she even destroyed one of his works in search of the artist’s DNA samples. However, Cornwell vehemently denied this fact and insisted she would never sacrifice an artwork for her research. Walter Sickert was cremated, meaning that no DNA evidence could be extracted from his body. Yet, Cornwell’s team used his personal belongings to collect samples and compare them to those found on stamps and envelopes of various letters allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper.

While studying Sickert’s whereabouts during the Whitechapel murder series, Patricia Cornwell found several of his letters that stated he was in Paris at the time. However, knowing Sickert’s secretive and manipulative habits, she suspected he might have lied about his location to cover his role in the murders. Moreover, she discovered that some of the letters sent by Jack the Ripper were written on expensive paper that Sickert also owned and used frequently.

Another piece of evidence was Sickert’s work itself. Some parts of it, mostly portraits of unnamed women, had striking similarities in angle in composition to newspaper photographs of Jack the Ripper’s victims. Although the interest in the case was shared by many at the time, Cornwell linked possible similarities to serial killers’ frequent obsession with their deeds and their public recognition.

Could Walter Sickert Really be the Killer? Researchers Doubt

Despite the many details painstakingly recited and written by Cornwell, most other art experts believe her version is too far-fetched and fictionalized to be true. As a crime writer, Cornwell seemed to turn Sickert into a character, with motivations and thoughts artificially inserted into his actions. Her emotion and a personal, although understandable, dislike for Sickert make the revelation look too good to be real.

Most importantly, many facts from her story do not match the evidence from Sickert experts. The story about Sickert’s birth defect that could have triggered deep trauma and homicidal tendencies is highly contestable since this information came from a rather distant relative of the artist. Claims of impotence were also questionable since contemporaries often gossiped about swarms of illegitimate children Sickert had fathered. Generally, the long list of negative traits compiled by Cornwell mostly painted a picture of Sickert as an extremely unpleasant human being, which does not necessarily make him a serial killer.

The DNA analysis referred to by Cornwell’s supporters as the definitive proof of Sickert’s guilt is also very questionable evidence. The quality of DNA extracted by the investigators was not nearly enough to offer a clear result. What it did show, however, was that the DNA on one of the Ripper letters matched the DNA of Walter Sickert and also to the DNA of up to 10% of the world population. Cornwell herself admitted that the DNA test result was not as effective proof as she expected it to be.

Moreover, other investigators pointed out that the letter used for the analysis was largely considered a forgery. Thus, even if the DNA match was accurate, this could mean that Sickert was one of the legions of Ripper imposters who flooded newspaper offices and police stations with forged letters. The matching stationery was always doubtful evidence: although the paper Sickert used was rather expensive, it was never too exclusive.

What was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime and a memorable honeymoon celebration resulted in mystery as a brazen young couple disappeared, never to be seen again. Facing one of the United States’ most treacherous landforms, the pair was ready for an exciting trip but instead left the world wondering what had become of them. Theories abound, but what is the truth? Newlyweds Glen and Bessie Hyde wanted to make history, and they did—just not in the way they had hoped.

The Happy Couple

Born on December 9, 1898, Glen Hyde always loved adventure. His family frequently took canoe trips in Canada and the Northwestern United States. He even made a boat and piloted it down the Salmon River to the Pacific Ocean with his sister, Jeanne, in 1926.

He met Bessie Haley, who was seven years his junior, the following year on a boat trip to Los Angeles. An amateur poet and actress, Bessie was instantly smitten with Glen, and the pair were married on April 12, 1928, in Idaho. They became intrigued with a series of expeditions that had taken place the year before they were married. Film crews had attempted to boat down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. These expeditions gathered attention from the national media, especially when one resulted in the need for a search and rescue mission.

Planning the Trip of a Lifetime

With the film crew’s trips in mind, Glen and Bessie came up with a plan. They both craved adventure, and Bessie, a child of the stage, fame. A woman had not yet been down the Colorado River, and Bessie planned to be the first. If the couple made the trip successfully, it could mean media attention, book deals, and maybe even a screenplay of their own.

They began organizing an adventure that would double as their honeymoon. Using fifty dollars and taking only two days, Glen made a wooden scow that would serve as their travel vessel. The boat was named Rain-in-the-Face, and the newlyweds packed it full of supplies they might need for their journey. They included journals, a camera, and even a mattress. However, one item seemed to be missing: life jackets. It is unknown why the pair neglected to include this safety item and even refused to add them later in the trip when a local guide offered them.

The Journey Begins

On October 20, 1928, the trip commenced. Well provisioned, the Hydes left from Greenriver, Utah. Bessie made daily journal entries documenting the journey. She fell out of the boat on October 27 but was unhurt and the next part of the trip was uneventful. On November 5, Glen and Bessie arrived at Lee’s Ferry.

Founded in the 1870s by a prominent member of the LDS Church, the Ferry was closed but still inhabited at the time. Owen Clark, the government agent for the area, tried to convince the couple to stop their trip. Several accidents had already occurred on the river ahead that year, including three fatalities. Clark had concerns that their wooden scow would not be suitable for the rapids that lay ahead. The Hydes dismissed Clark’s worries, confident that they had already passed through the worst parts of the river.

After exploring the Lee’s Ferry area for three days, the Hydes were ready to continue their trek.  The next leg of their journey was to take them to Grand Canyon Village, an outpost located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, 5,000 feet above the river. As the couple bid goodbye to Clark and the others at Lee’s, the last glimpse the onlookers saw was Glen almost falling out of the scow, as if the universe was giving him one last warning to heed Clark’s advice. They traveled on for the next week, the rapids getting the better of them at certain points. Glen fell overboard at one point and had gotten the boat stuck several times. It was hard going, but they limped into Grand Canyon Village on November 15.

While in the Village, Glen and Bessie were eager to make the acquaintance of Emery Kolb. A Colorado River veteran who had traveled the water dozens of times, Kolb was also a photographer who had built a studio with his brother, an author. Kolb cordially welcomed them, giving them a tour of the village and his iconic studio. He took several photos of the newlyweds. Later, Kolb remarked that Bessie seemed less-than-enthusiastic, “ready to quit [the trip] right then and there.” The Hydes also spoke to a Denver Post reporter while in town. They assured her they were only weeks from completing their history-making journey. They departed from Grand Canyon Village on November 17. Just after leaving, they encountered Adolph Sutro, a wealthy tourist from California. He asked to join them as far as the upcoming Hermit Camp. The Hydes welcomed Sutro aboard.

Last Known Sighting

Unfortunately, Sutro had joined the Hydes as they encountered some of the toughest rapids on the Colorado River. Though he was with them for only a day, and safely left their company at Hermit Camp on November 18, it was a harrowing experience. Sutro later commented that he did not feel confident in Glen’s ability to handle the boat and was surprised that the Hydes had made it as far as they had. He also remarked that Bessie seemed nervous. Sutro left the Hydes’ craft at Hermit Camp and at that moment, became the last known person who ever saw Glen and Bessie Hyde. There wasn’t a major concern for the couple until December 9, when their planned arrival date in Needles, California, came and went.

Multiple search parties began trying to locate the couple. Glen’s father orchestrated many of the efforts, even convincing Secretary of War Dwight Davis to authorize an aerial search of the river. Searching from the air was fruitful when, on December 19, a scow was spotted snagged in the middle of the river.

Glen’s father, Rollin, was determined to visit the craft and see if he could find his son and daughter-in-law. The Kolb brothers offered to hike to the boat’s location and determine the status of the situation. Though the boat was disabled, its contents were in place. Books, food, Bessie’s journals, the camera, and the couple’s clothing were all there—but Glen and Bessie were nowhere to be seen. It was as if the newlyweds had simply vanished, taking nothing with them. The next year, additional searching was undertaken, but no sign of the couple or what might have happened to them has ever been located.

Conspiracies & Confusion

As is often the case with unexplained endings, the disappearance of the Hydes spawned numerous conspiracy theories and proposed outcomes in the century since their loss. A common theory is that Bessie Hyde murdered her husband, who some argue was abusive, then disappeared, starting a new life. In fact, multiple people claimed to be Bessie in the decades following the vanishing. In 1971, an elderly woman claimed to be Mrs. Hyde on a commercial boat trip, stating that she had stabbed Glen, hiked out of the canyon, and started a new life back East. She later reneged on her claim.

In 1992, a veteran river runner named Georgie Clark died, and rumors began circulating that she was actually Bessie when friends uncovered items relating to the Hydes in her home. This speculation remains unproven. Bones were found in Kolb’s boathouse in 1976, after his passing, including a skull with a bullet hole, but it was determined that it did not belong to Glen Hyde. The remains instead belonged to a man who committed suicide in 1933, but his true identity is lost to history. Others maintain that the couple simply drowned in the dangerous rapids.

What happened to the Hydes? While theories abound, the world may never know the truth about the couple’s fate. What was supposed to be a happy honeymoon resulting in fame and fortune turned into an enduring mystery. Their story is a not-so-gentle reminder of the wild nature of one of America’s favorite destinations.

Most nations today describe themselves as some sort of republic with a considerable degree of democracy. While there are indeed authoritarian rulers today, the prevalence of absolute rulers (complete dictators) has diminished significantly since the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment in the late 1600s. What were the characteristics of this system of governance? Why did the once-popular system of autocratic monarchies fall out of favor, and how did this erosion of popularity occur? Which monarchies still exist today, and do these remaining monarchies still bear traces of this autocratic rulership?

Setting the Stage: The Dark Ages

Prior to European monarchies was the Roman Empire, which covered at its peak most of Western and Central Europe, parts of Eastern Europe, and parts of North Africa and the Middle East. When this empire eroded and collapsed by about 450 AD, an era of relative lawlessness and ignorance swept the land due to the loss of Rome’s military protection, maintained infrastructure, and libraries. Between the 5th and 9th centuries existed the Dark Ages, so named for its lack of progress and enlightenment. This term is ambiguous, as little agreement exists on whether it encompasses the entire medieval period, which ended with the Renaissance, or whether the Middle Ages (medieval Europe) should be considered separate.

The term “Dark Ages” became popular due to the lack of historical records about society and advancements. Some consider the Dark Ages to be Early Medieval, which lasted until the Norman invasion of England in 1066, while Late Medieval is sometimes known as the Middle Ages. 1066 begins the history of the English kingdom, which remains in popular culture the most prominent monarchy. While much of Europe suffered through a period of backwardness and struggle after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire (formerly the Eastern Roman Empire) flourished.

Medieval Europe and Autocratic Rulers

After about 1066, larger kingdoms began to form in western and central Europe. These are the images many Westerners conjure when hearing about monarchies: kings, queens, castles, et cetera. Of course, there were many powerful kings prior to 1066 in Europe, though we know less about them. These early monarchies, characterized by familial lineage to the throne, were mostly autocratic (dictatorial), with kings—much more common than queens—having total executive power. Power during the early medieval period, often known as the Middle Ages, was primarily based on military might.

Military leaders could create their own kingdoms and establish monarchies, transferring power to their sons upon their deaths. Most kingdoms during the early Middle Ages were small and were overthrown or defeated by neighboring kingdoms frequently. Peasants (working-class people) accepted monarchies for their protection. A feudal system, sometimes known as a manorial system, allowed lower ranks of nobility, allied with the king, to govern tracts of land and protect the peasantry… in exchange for fealty (unquestioned loyalty) and taxes. Some regions had serfs who were essentially slaves and served the manor (hence the term manorial system) in exchange for food, shelter, and protection. Kings and lower nobility had absolute power over most peasants, especially serfs.

1215: The Magna Carta Limits Autocratic Power

European kings needed loyal noblemen (dukes, earls, and other lords) to govern the nether reaches of their kingdoms. These noblemen were taxed and expected to serve the king loyally, such as by providing knights and soldiers for military campaigns against other kingdoms or during the Crusades. Periodically, various noblemen would grow dissatisfied with the monarch (king or queen) and decide to rebel, attempting to take the throne. Pressure from such dissatisfied barons led King John of England to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, which was the first document to dispute the philosophy of the Divine Right of Kings and put limits on the monarch’s power.

The Magna Carta began a power struggle between monarchs and their subjects. Many kings and queens argued that they had a divine right to rule as they saw fit, as they were God’s representatives. This was epitomized by King Louis XIV of France, the “Sun King,” who strengthened ties between his monarchy and the Catholic church.

During the late Middle Ages, European monarchs often reinforced their power by allying themselves with religious leaders, thus threatening rebellious subjects with damnation. Famously, King Henry VIII of England broke with the Catholic church in 1532 and created the Church of England, making himself an absolute ruler. This [in]famous king, who executed many of his wives, is considered the epitome of an autocratic ruler.

Age of Enlightenment Leads to Constitutional Monarchies

King Henry VIII executed up to 72,000 people during his reign (1509-1547), often for crimes like treason and heresy, and thus, his reign may be considered the peak of autocratic monarchies in Europe. By the 1500s, most small kingdoms had been absorbed into nation-state kingdoms, ruled by autocratic monarchies, and these large kingdoms fought against each other for resources. Religion had long spurred monarchies to action, such as supporting the Crusades between 1096 and 1291, and sparked the Thirty Years’ War in 1618. This war enveloped all major monarchies of continental Europe, with England also contributing troops to assist Protestant monarchies.

The complexity of governance during the conflict weakened absolute monarchies by putting more non-nobles in decision-making bureaucratic positions. Although this temporarily strengthened monarchs by removing the need for lesser nobles as decision-makers, it allowed bureaucratic agencies to continue operating even without the monarch’s input. This meant that, when the Age of Enlightenment turned many people against absolutism and toward democracy, governments could maintain function.

Previously, people had accepted absolute monarchies as necessary to maintain governance and order. The rise of bureaucracies with non-noble executives allowed the people the ability to govern themselves. To remain in power, many monarchs worked with their legislatures, such as England’s Parliament, and shared executive authority, such as after the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688-89.

The French Revolution: Monarchies in Danger

The Glorious Revolution created the first constitutional monarchy, with the king forced to accept more formal limits on his power. Rigors from the War of Spanish Succession in the early 1700s raised taxes on the peasantry across Western Europe and increased hostility toward the ruling monarchies. At this time, virtually all of Europe was governed by monarchies, most of them autocratic. However, the Enlightenment inspired many people to seek democracy, especially in the aftermath of the successful American Revolutionary War against Britain—arguably the most powerful European monarchy.

France and Spain, both monarchies and historical enemies of Britain, assisted the Thirteen Colonies in their war to become the independent United States of America. Ironically, King Louis XVI of France aided the American Revolution against Britain… and helped inspire the later French Revolution against his own regime. Wartime spending damaged the French economy, strongly influencing the outbreak of revolt in 1789. The French Revolution (1789-92) overthrew the once-powerful monarchy, shocking European monarchs, who fought unsuccessfully to quell the revolution and its brutal radicalism. The War of the First Coalition (1792-97) saw Austria and Prussia unite to protect the imprisoned French monarch.

Post-Napoleon: Monarchies Resurge

Although King Louis XVI was executed in 1793, with the revolutionaries emboldened by unexpected French victories in the French Revolutionary Wars against Austria and Prussia, his eventual replacement, Napoleon Bonaparte, also chose to rule as an autocrat. In 1804, the former general crowned himself emperor and set off to conquer Europe. His invasion of Russia in 1812 proved to be his undoing, with allies turning against him as he eventually retreated. In 1814 and 1815, an allied coalition led by Britain, Prussia, and Russia finally defeated Napoleon and sent him into permanent exile.

In a major blow to democracy, the Sixth Coalition restored the French monarchy with the Bourbon Restoration. King Louis XVIII, the younger brother of Louis XVI, was a relatively weaker king than his predecessors, likely due to fears of revolt and the military presence of France’s historic enemies. His successor, Charles X, attempted to return the monarchy to autocratic leadership after his coronation in 1824. This quickly became unpopular, especially due to an economic recession, and a revolution in 1830 forced him to flee the country.

1870s: Monarchies No Longer Undisputed Powers

The July Revolution of 1830 in France sparked a ripple effect across Europe, similar to how the American Revolution helped influence independence movements in the Western Hemisphere. In France, a new monarchy allowed for the principle of popular sovereignty, or the power of the people. Faced with unrest, many monarchies were forced to make liberal reforms. 18 years later, another wave of revolutions rocked Europe. Again, some liberal reforms were made, but monarchies themselves remained entrenched.

In 1870, the unification of small states to create the modern nations of Germany and Italy occurred, providing geopolitical counterweights to the traditional monarchy powers of Britain, France, and Spain. The new nation of Germany handed France an unexpected military defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, shocking European observers. Defeated after only 10 months of war, Emperor Napoleon III was forced to abdicate his throne, ending the French monarchy and replacing it with a republic. Monarchs were no longer automatically the most powerful leaders in Europe, creating a new paradigm.

World War I and II: Monarchies Crumble

Monarchs still existed during World War I but saw their power wane due to the need for professional bureaucratic leadership during the industrialized and technological conflict. Many monarchies were overthrown during the conflict, which began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in 1914. In 1917, the Russian monarchy was overthrown during the Communist Revolution, with Tsar Nicholas II and his family executed in July 1918 by radicals. The end of World War I in 1918 saw the collapse of several remaining monarchies: Germany replaced its Kaiser with a republic, the Austro-Hungarian Empire replaced its emperor with a republic as well, and the Ottoman Empire was replaced by Turkey and abolished its sultan.

The handful of remaining monarchies in continental Europe at the outbreak of World War II in 1939 were in serious jeopardy. By this point, few could be considered to have autocratic power. Many in central and eastern Europe were quickly made mere figureheads to powerful strongmen leaders, such as King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, leaving most governance up to de facto (in reality) dictator Benito Mussolini. By 1945, Britain remained the only monarchy in Europe not to be occupied by foreign troops during the war. Italy voluntarily abolished its monarchy in 1946 and became a republic. In Eastern Europe, monarchies in Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and Yugoslavia were abolished by socialists during the outset of the Cold War.

Despite Post-War Reforms, Some Monarchies Remain

After World War II, social movements ran counter to the tradition and conservatism of remaining monarchies. Several Middle Eastern monarchies were abolished in the 1950s, including Iraq, Egypt, and Tunisia. In these nations, citizens felt that the monarchies were too subservient to Western powers like the United States and Britain. As colonialism withered and former colonies in Africa and Asia gained their independence from Britain and France, many people also sought to replace autocratic monarchies with republics. In a final blow to the international power and prestige of the two most powerful former autocratic monarchies, Britain and France, the United States rejected their use of force during the Suez Crisis of 1956; the United States could call the shots for the West.

Although several monarchies remain in Europe, few hold any real power and are mostly ceremonial. Britain’s monarchy remains the wealthiest and most active but is strictly governed by Parliament’s laws. Lesser-known monarchies still exist in Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and in all of them, the monarch is considered a representative of the state only.

Some of these monarchs have occasionally voiced pointed opinions, creating controversy regarding their proper role as diplomats. Outside of Europe, monarchies still exist in Africa (Uganda, Eswatini, and Lesotho), Asia (Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Bhutan), and the Middle East (Jordan and Saudi Arabia). The Pacific Island nation of Tonga also has a monarchy.

Autocratic Remnants? Today’s Powerful Monarchs

While Europe’s remaining monarchs are mostly ceremonial, with some even taking normal day jobs, some monarchs in the Middle East and Asia still possess executive power. The Sultan of Brunei maintains executive power under that nation’s 1959 constitution, though its small size allows it to retain a relatively small government and rely on allies, such as Britain (from which it gained independence in 1984) and the United States, for defense. Some executive authority is still vested with the King of Cambodia, though he is now elected from among members of the royal bloodline, making him a rare elected monarch.

The most powerful autocratic monarchy remaining belongs to Saudi Arabia, which is an absolute monarchy adhering to no legislature-created constitution. The 1992 Basic Law declares that the Quran is the nation’s legal constitution. Saudi Arabia has little functioning democracy, making it similar to most of the Middle East, though its relative wealth from petroleum exports prevents significant unrest.

The king acts as the final arbiter of laws, as well as the head of government and the commander-in-chief of the military. In 2003, some reforms were put in place allowing the popular election of some officials and the establishment of committees to investigate allegations of human rights violations, but most observers still consider the monarchy to be repressive and anti-democratic.

Today, Walter Sickert is a relatively unknown figure from a large swarm of European Impressionism of the later generation. Yet, in his time, he was a respected artist, a student of Degas and Whistler, and a mentor of Winston Churchill himself. In recent decades, researchers suspected that he might be successful in another, more morbid field: some believe he was none other than Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer. Read on to learn more about Walter Sickert and his life.

1. Walter Sickert’s Early Childhood Defined His Future

The British Impressionist Walter Sickert was the son of a Danish painter, Oswald Sickert. According to Sickert’s biographers, Oswald was a talented and well-educated artist who nonetheless struggled to truly express himself professionally, mostly working as a draftsman for local newspapers. His mother, an English woman, Eleanor Henry, was an illegitimate daughter of the astronomer Richard Sheepshanks. Both her illegitimate status and her father’s objections made her engagement and subsequent marriage to Sickert a troublesome yet successful quest.

Walter, born in 1860, was an expected and adored child and the oldest of the six Sickert siblings. Born in Munich, Sickert moved with his parents to London at the age of 8, completely changing his way of life, his culture, and even the language he spoke. This transition marked the beginning of a long path of Sickert’s creative self-invention. For years, he was preoccupied with the ideas of transformation and disguise.

2. He Was a Student of Whistler and Degas

Despite his father and grandfather’s artistic careers, Walter Sickert initially planned to become an actor, perhaps fueled by his interest in disguise and performance. He certainly had an inclination for drama: his younger siblings complained that his good looks and manipulative behavior won the attention of both their parents and house guests, often at the expense of other children. Parents referred to their kids as Walter and the boys, clearly stating the family dynamic.

However, Sickert’s acting career did not last long. He played several well-received roles but was never truly content. Less than three years into acting, he remembered his other passion that ran in the family—painting. Oswald Whistler had taught Walter the basics of his occupation already in early childhood. Still, he was extremely displeased to learn about his son’s artistic inclination—perhaps due to his own unrealized ambitions.

With a talent for being at the right time and the right place and socializing with the right people, Walter Sickert managed to find a job as an assistant to none other than James McNeill Whistler. At the time, Whistler was recovering mentally and financially after a disastrous public trial against the famous conservative art critic James Ruskin. Although Whistler won the case, the court expenses made him bankrupt, forcing him to sell his precious collections of porcelain and Japanese prints. Still, he was impressed by the young artist’s talents and eagerly started to teach him. Sickert, in turn, adored Whistler as a bold individual and an artist unafraid to defy conventions. However, less than two years later, he decided he had already taken everything he could from his teacher, and then an opportunity came along.

In 1883, Whistler sent Sickert to Paris with a parcel intended for Edgar Degas. Degas’ art had subtle but inherent darkness: the romantic little ballerinas from his paintings were inevitably exploited by rich patrons and had to resort to sex work or theft. Sickert was enthralled with the contrast of beauty and its unpleasant underbelly. After Degas, he started to paint dancers, music halls, and urban scenes instead of Whistler-inspired landscapes.

3. He Found an Avant-Garde Art Group

After several years in France, Sickert came back to England. During his travels, he managed to get married (for the first time out of three) and divorce, with his wife initiating the breakup on the grounds of Sickert’s frequent and rampant infidelity. He did not have any children, at least official ones, although there were rumors of swarms of illegitimate kids he ignored. Sickert was always much more interested in his work than in other humans. His art at the time reflected the Impressionist preoccupation with the contrast of private and public spaces, moving between private bedrooms and crowded music halls.

Sickert was a charismatic, although sometimes overwhelming, personality, and he was used to overpowering and organizing groups of people from his childhood. His obvious artistic talent and radical sincerity of his urban scenes attracted a large group of artists who shared the same ideas on art. Some of them, led by Sickert, formed the Camden Town Group that united some of the British Post-Impressionists and those interested in progressive art. Clearly inspired by Degas, Gauguin, and Van Gogh, they nonetheless painted darker and more somber works that sometimes felt claustrophobic.

4. He Probably Had an Issue With Nudity

An attentive viewer might notice that some of the decorative and compositional elements in Sickert’s works repeat frequently throughout the years of his practice. One such element is the iron bed frame that moved from studio to studio and from painting to painting. Sickert’s treatment of intimate interior scenes made some researchers suspect that the artist had some deep biases or even traumas that were reflected in his works. In such paintings, he usually painted women nude, but their male counterparts were always fully clothed. This led some to the conclusion that the artist might have had some deep insecurities and even misogynistic tendencies.

According to one of the relatives, before he reached his teens, Sickert had to undergo a series of lower-body surgeries due to a birth defect. In the 1860s, surgery was a risky and excruciatingly painful affair that hardly ever included any anesthesia and did not guarantee any result. This experience must have been extremely traumatizing for the child and might have been the reason for Sickert’s future struggles with body image and sexuality.

5. He Was a Known Shapeshifter

Sickert’s friends regarded this constant teasing as a sort of self-defense that would cover up deep insecurities and a sensitive character. Despite his seeming outgoingness, he avoided human contact and was quite secretive. Apart from his permanent residence, he rented several small rooms around London, motivating it by his need to work in isolation. These rooms’ addresses were unknown even to his wife and the closest of friends. His closest friends, however, did not last long. As noted by his sister, he had a habit of discarding relationships easily and mercilessly, like a child who quickly got bored with a new toy.

Sickert’s entire character was fluid, secretive, and ever-changing. He transformed from a gentleman to a layman, from conservative to progressive, from disciplined worker to bohemian hedonist. None of these masks seemed to be permanent, yet all of them seemed to be utterly sincere the moment Sickert put them on. Even his appearance changed with a rapid succession of different styles of beards, mustaches, and costumes following one another. Some found it an intriguing expression of deep disdain for societal expectations from a creative spirit. However, many of those who met Sickert were not charmed by his antics and secrets but found them rather threatening and suspicious.

6. He Might Have Been a Serial Killer

Despite all the secrecy and mysterious flair around the artist, those who meet Sickert for the first time are nonetheless surprised to learn that he was and remains one of the suspects in the most notorious and horrific crime of his era. Some crime and art experts believe that Sickert was the serial killer known as Jack The Ripper. The series of crimes known as The Whitechapel Murders happened in 1888 in an impoverished London neighborhood. Five sex workers were brutally slaughtered with their intestines taken out. The killer supposedly sent letters to the police and newspapers, boasting about his deeds. In 1907, another similar crime occurred, popularly known as the Camden Town murder. Although no direct link to the first series was found, the crowd also credited Jack the Ripper for it.

Walter Sickert was not on the list of the immediate suspects, yet he was always around, showing keen interest in the case. From 1905 to 1908, he painted a series of works with the provocative title Camden Town Murder and another canvas, Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom. This, as well as a list of circumstantial evidence, led some enthusiasts to assume that Sickert might have been the notorious serial killer. However, most researchers believe that the version is too far-fetched.

7. Walter Sickert Gave Painting Lessons to Winston Churchill

Although relatively unknown now, in his time, Sickert was considered one of the most important and influential painters to ever come from England. He became a successful and revered art professor, his art sold successfully, and young artists imitated him. In his later years, he developed his practice in accordance with modern times and started to use photographs instead of live models for his paintings. Nonetheless, by the 1920s, he was mostly perceived as an aged classic: respected but not expected to produce any innovation. Still, he had still experienced eventful meetings.

In 1927, he painted a portrait of Winston Churchill and befriended him. Churchill sometimes painted as a hobby and later stated that Sickert gave new life to his art practice. Even in his seeming physical and artistic decline, Sickert nonetheless maintained the constant fluidity and uncertainty. After living 67 years under the first name Walter, the artist suddenly legally dropped it in favor of his middle name, becoming Richard Sickert. Until his last days in 1942, he remained an enigma and a shapeshifter, always searching for a new mask.