• shakespeare put a curse on his own tomb to dissuade gravediggers.
  • balzac preferred not to ejaculate out of fear it would sap his creative energy.
  • edgar allan poe was afraid of the dark and was educated in a cemetery. he learned math by adding and subtracting the dates on gravestones.
  • charles dickens and lewis carroll reportedly had ocd.
  • the bronte sisters lived in a house surrounded on three sides by graveyards.
  • henry david thoreau invented raisin bread.
  • emily dickinson was so reclusive, she forced doctors to examine her from behind a closed door.
  • alice's adventures in wonderland might had been the by product of lewis carroll's chronic migraines, which caused migraine aura perceptions.
  • in the book jack the ripper, light-hearted friend, author richard wallace makes the case that lewis carroll was victorian london's notorious murderer jack the ripper.
  • louisa may alcott was addicted to opium, which she used to help her sleep during her long battle with the effects of mercury poisoning.
  • mark twain once delivered an entire speech on breaking wind to an audience that included queen victoria.
  • twain was born when halley's comet was visible and correctly predicted he would die when it returned. twain died the day after the comet came back.
  • oscar wilde and ernest hemingway spent much of their childhood wearing girl's clothes at the behest of their mothers.
  • sir arthur conan doyle believed fairies were real and that houdini had psychic powers.
  • conan doyle was named after king arthur.
  • sherlock holmes was originally named sherringford hope.
  • w.b. yeats believed his mystical alter ego was a 16th century adventurer named leo africanus, whom yeats 'met' at a seance.
jul 20 2013 ∞
oct 28 2013 +