STRANGE TIMES
Strange Times offers a treasure trove of outlandish, funny, sometimes shocking stories from Victorian Era. Explore Victorian ideas, customs, holidays, clothing, architecture, art, women, men, businesses, leisure activities and more.
Early Female Olympians Quashed Official Fears Of Boring And Unaesthetic Performances
Early Female Olympians Quashed Official Fears Of Boring And Unaesthetic Performances
The first modern International Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in 1896 with no female competitors allowed. Pierre de Coubertin, Read More>...
Uninvited Nineteenth-Century Mardi Gras Rebels Created Their Own Parades
Uninvited Nineteenth-Century Mardi Gras Rebels Created Their Own Parades
The Mystic Krewe of Comus held its first formal parade in the mid-1800s. The Krewe of Rex, Knights of Momus Read More>...
Stunning Nineteenth-Century Mardi Gras Invitations Inspired The Elegant Celebrations We Know Today
Stunning Nineteenth-Century Mardi Gras Invitations Inspired The Elegant Celebrations We Know Today
The history of New Orleans Mardi Gras is as colorful and layered as the King Cakes baked to celebrate the Read More>...
Unforgettable Victorian Era Parisian Club Crawl Inspired The Annual Philanthropic Bal Rat Mort
Unforgettable Victorian Era Parisian Club Crawl Inspired The Annual Philanthropic Bal Rat Mort
Imagine the scene in 1896 when sixteen artists known as the Circle Coecilia decided to trek from windy Ostend, Belgium Read More>...
Nellie Bly And Elizabeth Bisland Raced Through Their Victorian New Year 1889
Nellie Bly And Elizabeth Bisland Raced Through Their Victorian New Year 1889
December 31, 1889—Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland had completed a little more than half their plotted courses around the world Read More>...
Victorian Santa Kept Current With Travel Trends Of The Industrial Revolution
Victorian Santa Kept Current With Travel Trends Of The Industrial Revolution
Skeptics have questioned the science of Christmas Eve deliveries since the Victorian Santa Claus became popular. They attempted to calculate Read More>...
Folies-Bergere Performances Often Shocked But Always Delighted Nineteenth-Century Audiences
Folies-Bergere Performances Often Shocked But Always Delighted Nineteenth-Century Audiences
November 30, 1886. Under new management, the Folies-Bergere music hall at 32 Rue Richer in the foothills of Montmartre premiered its Read More>...
Nineteenth-Century Thanksgiving Day Maskers Paraded Door-To-Door Begging For Treats
Nineteenth-Century Thanksgiving Day Maskers Paraded Door-To-Door Begging For Treats
Like most holidays, Thanksgiving experienced growing pains to become the event we know today. George Washington proclaimed Tuesday, November 26 Read More>...
Catrina Skull Embodies Modern Day of the Dead Celebrations
Catrina Skull Embodies Modern Day of the Dead Celebrations
Celebrate life on the Day of the Dead. Jose Guadalupe Posada’s elegant Catrina Skull (la Calavera Catrina) with her Victorian Read More>...
Montmartre Cabaret Of Hell And Heaven Guaranteed Victorian Era Guests Good Times
Montmartre Cabaret Of Hell And Heaven Guaranteed Victorian Era Guests Good Times
For a good time, Victorian Era revelers entered the gaping, toothy mouth of the monstrous Leviathan. Once inside, they descended Read More>...
The Thomas Moran Yellowstone Paintings Stopped Public Auction Of The World’s First National Park
The Thomas Moran Yellowstone Paintings Stopped Public Auction Of The World’s First National Park
The Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 was a game changer for Yellowstone. Prior to that, some Americans considered it ripe Read More>...
American County Fairs Lured Crowds With Sizzling Hot Victorian Era Sideshows
American County Fairs Lured Crowds With Sizzling Hot Victorian Era Sideshows
American County Fairs emerged in the early 1800s as a way for farmers to strut everything from vegetables to livestock. Read More>...
Outlandish Victorian Era Bicycles Liberated The New Woman With Solo Transportation And Athletic Bloomers
Outlandish Victorian Era Bicycles Liberated The New Woman With Solo Transportation And Athletic Bloomers
Yes, women were traveling on wheels long before bicycles. They blazed west in covered wagons, lugging their kin and piles Read More>...
The Great Farini Tight Roped Across Niagara Falls And Walked Across Kalahari Desert
The Great Farini Tight Roped Across Niagara Falls And Walked Across Kalahari Desert
William Leonard Hunt (1838-1929) disappointed his parents who wanted him to become a doctor. Fascinated by the circus as a Read More>...
Harald Slott-Moller Spearheaded Danish Version Of The French Exhibition of Rejects
Harald Slott-Moller Spearheaded Danish Version Of The French Exhibition of Rejects
Danish painter and ceramicist Harald Slott-Moller (August 17, 1864 to October 20, 1937) was born in Copenhagen. He was formally Read More>...
