Apologies for no post last week – I was out of town and failed to plan ahead. Don’t worry, I’ll try and write something of substance soon!
Prague uncovered: Emperor Rudolf II’s tunnel brings the Vltava to Stromovka: almost 5(!) years ago I visited recovered alchemy lab Speculum Alchemiae and was fascinated that Emperor Rudolf II was so determined to visit his alchemists in private that he had a tunnel dug under the Vltava from this lab to his castle. And then I could find no more details about it – neither the museum itself nor Charles University had any information for me. So imagine how thrilled I was when this popped up in my Google Alerts! Note: these are a whole different set of tunnels, created to feed river water to Rudolf’s private lakes, but it gives some idea of the early modern technology behind the creation.
“Theire Soe Admirable Herbe”: How the English Found Cannabis: the English didn’t “discover” cannabis until the 17th century, and while they were interested in its medicinal properties they did take it recreationally as well.
Could weather hold the secret to history’s greatest ghost ship mystery?: I never expected to find weird news at AccuWeather, but, these are weird times. Spoiler: famed ghost ship the Mary Celeste wasn’t the victim of aliens or sea monsters but a temporary abandonment made permanent by a sudden storm. Not as fun a story but certainly plausible.
