{"id":5676,"date":"2015-03-03T21:11:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T03:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5676"},"modified":"2023-12-12T20:43:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T02:43:46","slug":"morbid-fact-du-jour-for-march-3-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5676","title":{"rendered":"Morbid Fact Du Jour for March 3, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s Guano-Fueled Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/h3>\n

The\u00a0Chincha Islands\u00a0are a group of three small\u00a0islands\u00a021 kilometres (13\u00a0mi) off the southwest coast of\u00a0Peru. In the 19th century they were of interest for their extensive\u00a0guano\u00a0deposits, since guano was the best fertilizer available at the time. \u00a0As other sources of good fertilizer shrank, global jockeying for guano became more intense. \u00a0When Daniel Webster, then U.S. secretary of state, made an ill-fated attempt in the 1850s to lay claim to a few guano-rich rocks off the Peruvian coast, the incident sparked anti-U.S. riots in Lima and the dispatching of Peruvian troops to the barren islands. \u00a0The United States backed down.<\/p>\n

A real war started in 1863 when a Spanish naval squadron occupied the Chinchas in a move both ill advised and ill timed. The end of Chinchas guano was already in sight, and the Spanish occupation – made by an arrogant and hot-tempered admiral – kicked off declarations of war by both Peru and its neighbor Chile. The two former colonies combined their navies under the command of a talented former Confederate admiral from Virginia and succeeded in capturing a Spanish ship. The humiliated Spanish admiral committed suicide and his nation withdrew. The “Guano War” marked South America’s true independence from Spain and set off an exuberant two-nation celebration.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the guano trade “blackbirders” – pirates who kidnapped Polynesian and Melanesian tribesmen – raided the Easter Islands, shipping a thousand captured tribespeople to work digging guano. They included about a third of the islands’ total population, including its chief, crown prince, and most of the priests. It is estimated that nine hundred of the captured Easter Islanders died in captivity. When the raid became public, an international outcry led to the attempted return of the one hundred or so survivors. Eight-five of them died of disease on their way home. The remainder passed on the disease when they finally arrived home. By 1877 only 111 natives remained int he Easter Islands.<\/p>\n

Culled from:\u00a0The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Post-Mortem Photo Du Jour!<\/h3>\n

Confessions of a Funeral Director<\/a> had an interesting article today about this picture. \u00a0The photographer’s comments are summarized below, but you can click the link to read the full article.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n“I saw a boy about ten years old walking by. He was carrying a baby on his back. In those days in Japan, we often saw children playing with their little brothers or sisters on their backs, but this boy was clearly different. I could see that he had come to this place for a serious reason. He was wearing no shoes. His face was hard. The little head was tipped back as if the baby were fast asleep. The boy stood there for five or ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men in white masks walked over to him and quietly began to take off the rope that was holding the baby. That is when I saw that the baby was already dead. The men held the body by the hands and feet and placed it on the fire. The boy stood there straight without moving, watching the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard that it shone with blood. The flame burned low like the sun going down. The boy turned around and walked silently away.\u201d<\/p>\n

– See more at: Confessions of a Funeral Director<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Morbid Art Du Jour!<\/h3>\n

Julie Green is the latest artist to find inspiration in the last meals of executed prisoners.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nPainter Immortalizes Last Meals of 600 Prisoners Put To Death<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks to Ear <\/strong>for the link.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s Guano-Fueled Yet Truly Morbid Fact! The\u00a0Chincha Islands\u00a0are a group of three small\u00a0islands\u00a021 kilometres (13\u00a0mi) off the southwest coast of\u00a0Peru. In the 19th century they were of interest for their extensive\u00a0guano\u00a0deposits, since guano was the best fertilizer available at the time. \u00a0As other sources of good fertilizer shrank, global jockeying for guano became more intense. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-facts","category-ghastly"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5676"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11457,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5676\/revisions\/11457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}