‘Twas the Night Before Christmas is a LIE

And a woman spontaneously combusts!

Lovers of all things mysterious & strange!

It’s been said a million ways how strange, awful, and [insert your most appropriate adjective], this year has been. But this is also the year that we launched and we’ll hold that fondly in our hearts wherever we end up. Thank you for reading and for being a part of our community. We wish you all the best in these last few days and hope for much in 2021 and beyond. Much love to you all!

This first Friday of our new newsletter schedule happens to land exactly ON Christmas so we’ve got two cool christmas mysteries to get your inner Sherlock a’thinkin’! Let’s hop right on in:

Or was it?

'Twas the Night Before Christmas, but according to lore,

This beloved poem was not written by Clement Clarke Moore.

This mystery concerns two gentlemen, one Clement Clarke Moore and the other Henry Livingston Jr., who have claims to this historic poem’s authorship. It was first published, anonymously, in New York’s Troy Sentinel newspaper on Dec. 23, 1823 and was called Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas (I mean, talk about a bad working title) It became a huge hit, and had a massive impact on our current imaginings of Santa Claus and his reindeer. 

But its authorship would remain unknown/unclaimed for 14 years after its publication. Finally, Moore (a professor of Middle East & Greek literature & theology) stepped forward as the author, claiming he was hesitant because of the poem’s unscholarly style. 

The work of Livingston has been championed by many in the academic world claiming his poetry was much more similar in style and tone and, according to the Poetry Foundation, published "occasional and light verse in regional journals and his poems were often published anonymously."

They never met, and Livingston died in 1828, years before Moore took credit. 

For a much nerdier dive into evidence, including writing style and metrical scheme comparisons, try here and here.

If you’re my ex-wife after her casual 5th martini, then yes.

On Christmas Eve, 1885, a woman named Matilda Rooney spontaneously combusted and was incinerated all the way down to her feet, but there was no mark on the rest of the house. Or at least… that’s the story.

Matilda and Patrick had a local farmhand, John Larson, over to celebrate that night. John remembers the elderly couple consuming quite a lot of alcohol. He slept at their home, and woke up to the smells of smoke. He found Patrick dead by the couple’s bed but Matilda was nowhere in sight. Worried about his own safety, John fled.

The local doctor that came to examine the bodies the next day found a large burnt hole in the middle of the kitchen floor. And through that hole- two burned but recognizable feet, still in Matilda Rooney’s shoes. Theories range from foul play to an accident, but at the time spontaneous combustion was what the professionals went with (lol.)

For a deeper dive, hop in here and here.

If you need a little laugh during this season, here’s Jonathan Frakes from the show Beyond Belief (oh yeah and Star Trek), asking you a bunch of silly questions.

That’s it for today! 

Happy Holidays Friends!