5 Historical Facts That Destroy Your Perception of Time
When the impossible happens
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The history of yesterday has a lot of events that might sound chronologically impossible. Those facts have the power of changing our perception of time and helping us realize that the concept of time and each era has its own charm or strangeness.
1. The 10th President of the United States was born in 1790. He has one grandchild who is still alive today.
Yes, it’s not a typo, John Tyler was born on March 29, 1790. He has been an important figure in the United States (U.S.) history not only for his contributions but also because he was the first vice president to become chief executive due to the death of his predecessor. That’s why he is also referred to as the “accidental president”.
John Tyler (1790–1862) was America’s 10th president and was in office from 1841 to 1845. He took over the office after the death of President William Henry Harrison who died because of pneumonia after just one month into his presidency.
In 1853, John Tyler, was 63 years old when his son Lyon was born.
Later in 1924, Lyon had his first son when he was 71 years old. In 1928, his second son Harrison was born.
Tyler’s family is an interesting case in U.S. history. The first son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., the older of two grandsons witnessed the entire history of the United States in three generations. He died on the 26th of September 2020 when he was 95.
Harrison Ruffin Tyler, who is currently 91 years old, has earned degrees in chemical engineering and his business was dedicated to industrial water treatment.
“He’s one of the last living members of a club of people who seem like they are bending time, demonstrating that “long ago” isn’t so long ago.”— Gillian Brockel told Washington Post on 29th November 2020.
According to the New York Times:
“He and his wife, Frances Payne Bouknight Tyler, who died in 2019, lived for many years at his Virginia ancestral home, Sherwood Forest Plantation. The plantation, a 1,600-acre National Historic Landmark on the James River in Charles City County, was built about 1730 and bought by President Tyler in 1842.”
“These days Harrison Ruffin Tyler, 91, is allowed only one designated visitor. Those are the pandemic rules at the nursing home in Virginia where he lives. So in September, when his last living sibling, brother Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. died at 95, he found out about it on the daily visit from his daughter-in-law.”
“Due to a series of mini-strokes starting in 2012, Harrison lives almost without time. It would be quite a change for anyone, but it’s particularly so for someone like him, who grew up steeped in family history. Harrison was raised in his grandfather’s hunting lodge; his grandfather — John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States — was born in 1790.”
2. We started exploring space before our understanding of plate tectonics.
“Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. The plates act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth’s mantle. ” — Live Science
Plate tectonics explains the movement of the Earth’s surface no matter whether it is for the tallest mountains or the deepest oceans.
Although the theory of continental drift was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, his theory was not accepted by geologists. He was ridiculed for his hypothesis, especially because geologists of that time saw no evident mechanism for continental drift.
According to the book, Bang to Eternity and Betwixt, “Wegner could not explain the force that drove continental drift, and his vindication did not come until after his death in 1930”. The theory of plate tectonics was accepted by the scientific community only in 1967. By that time we humans were exploring well beyond the Earth’s crust.
“A rocket was used for the first time to send something into space on the Sputnik mission, which launched a Soviet satellite on Oct. 4, 1957. After a few failed attempts, the United States used a Jupiter-C rocket to heft its Explorer 1 satellite into space on February 1958.” — History of Rockets on Space
3. Two murderers with the same name killed victims 157 years apart, but on the same day of the year and at the same locations.
“Erdington is a quaint suburb of Birmingham, yet there’s a dark chapter to Erdington’s history that continues to haunt its residents — the unsolved murders of two young women with details too similar to ignore.” — Huff Post
Mary Ashford was a native of Erdington, England who was murdered on the 27th of May, 1817.
According to USA Today:
“She was spotted in the company of a man named Abraham Thornton around midnight after attending a dance with her friend, Hannah Cox. At 4 a.m. Ashford showed up at Cox’s house, where she’d left her work clothes, and said she’d been with Thornton.”
“Hours after she set off for home, her bruised body was found in a water-filled pit in the park by a laborer who followed two sets of footprints from a slick of blood in the grass. Authorities believed Ashford was sexually assaulted and drowned, and Thornton was tried for her murder.”
“Though he admitted having sex with Ashford before walking her to Cox’s house, Thornton maintained he didn’t kill her. Three witnesses affirmed his alibi, and he was found not guilty.”
You can read more about Mary Ashford’s case in the book The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer, by Burn Richard in 1820 (note: the book is referenced below).
…And then 157 years later…
On May 27, 1974, Barbara Forrest — also an Erdington native — was found raped and killed after going out with her boyfriend until 1 a.m.
“This time, authorities didn’t point the finger at the date and instead charged Forrest’s co-worker with her murder after bloodstains were found on his pants and an alibi proved false. His name was Michael Ian Thornton. He was later acquitted due to a lack of evidence.” — USA Today
Since these deaths, several people have found similarities in these cases, making them mysterious crimes in this era’s history.
If you are interested in such stories:
4. Oxford University is older than the Aztec civilization.
“As the oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford is a unique and historic institution. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.” — University of Oxford
According to Global Study UK, “Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 28 prime ministers of the United Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the world”.
The Aztec civilization of central Mexico feels ancient but it was founded only 230 years after Oxford. The Mexica — people leading the nation of the Aztec Empire — first entered central Mexico in the mid-1200s.
The Aztec civilization established the capital city of Tenochtitlan in 1325 on the site of modern Mexico City. The Aztecs inaugurated their first ruler “Acamapichtli” in around 1375.
5. Nintendo was founded in 1889, before any video game company.
Nintendo will be remembered in human history for its significant function in entertainment for 130 years, it’s role has always been one thing: making us feel younger than we are.
The Japanese multinational Nintendo is the pioneer of video game entertainment, however, it was established during the steam power era, in 1889.
When the Japanese entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo, electricity was still a new discovery. Even street lighting at that time was mostly achieved with gas lamps, instead of electric bulbs.
Nintendo was first a card game company producing handmade hanafuda cards. Over time, the company began new ventures such as television networks, toys, and even a food company specializing in instant rice. By the 1960s, Nintendo became a toy company. In 1974, the company got involved in video games for the first time and the rest was video game history.
It should be noted though according to APS, the very first video game was created in 1958. And the first video game by a video game company was created by Atari in 1971, it was called Pong. This makes Atari one of the main pioneers in video games companies.
If you are interested in the infographics of this article, visit this link at InsightsArtist by Irfan Chaudry.
References
Burn, Richard (1820), The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer, Volume 1
Clifford, Naomi (2018), The Murder of Mary Ashford, Pen and Sword, ISBN 978–1473863385
Crapol, E. P. (2012). John Tyler, the Accidental President: Paperback Edition. Univ of North Carolina Press.
Noordung, H. (1995). The problem of space travel: The rocket motor (Vol.4026). National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office.
Oreskes, N. (1988). The rejection of continental drift. Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, 18(2), 311–348.
Tyler, J. (1825). Junior, born March 29, 1790, died January 17, 1862. Governor of Virginia, 1827.
Worrall, D. (2001). The Mysterious Murder and The Murdered Maid: The Case of Mary Ashford and the Cultural Context of Late-Regency Melodrama. Gothic Studies, 3(2), 181–195.
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