This week I attended a talk by our friend Eugene at the Library of Congress where he and my dh were co-workers before they retired. Eugene is also the dh of my friend Helen and Helen is the coordinator of the Library of Congress Professional Association What If…Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum.
Years ago Eugene became interested in the legend about the Angel of Mons. In the legend, an angel or group of angels are said to have protected the British Army in the Battle of Mons at the beginning of World War I. At that time I’d read about the Angel of Mons in Sophie Burnham’s A Book of Angels (it appears in the 2011 edition as well as the 1990 one).
But it turns out the legend is not true. Eugene explained that it originated with a short fictional story by Arthur Machen. In Machen’s story, written about a month after the battle, the German army was stopped by St. George and some phantom bowmen from the Battle of Agincourt. The story captured the imaginations of religious folk and spiritualists and it was widely reprinted. Quickly the fact that it was fiction was lost and the story was accepted as true.
Machen tried over and over to convince people that he made it all up. In spite of his repeated efforts to say it was untrue and the lack of any credible evidence otherwise or any first hand accounts by eyewitnesses, the legend grew, so that even in today’s world it is presented a fact.
It was a beautiful day in Washington, D.C that day. Temperatures that had been in the 20s a few days before rose to almost 70 degrees F. What could be better? A beautiful day. Great company. And some intellectual stimulation.
Have you experienced any intellectual stimulation lately?
Have you ever believed a story to be true and later discovered it was not?
Here’s hoping you all have fine weather this week!
The week certainly isn’t going well weather wise. I was out of town for a few days and the weather was crazy. We left Friday in an ice storm. The next 4 days were in the 50′s and 60′s. Wednesday morning when I had to leave and come home. we were under Tornado, sever thunderstorm, and flooding warnings. It was a wet foggy drive home. Tomorrow we are looking at snow and ice.
This late, I can’t think of a specific thing I found out was untrue, but there have been several things I did just find out after all these years were totally wrong/untrue. Maybe I’ll remember after I get some sleep.
librarypat! Just stay home! I hope the snow and ice just look beautiful and make you and the dh rest and relax.
Remember, shovel a little at a time!
I’ve never heard of THE ANGEL OF MONS before. True or not that’s just beautiful.
Hello from sunny QLD. Very different from past days of cyclones, storms, floods & tornadoes. Not to forget the unbelievable heat wave & bush fires the week before.
Over the Australia Day weekend we prepared for the worst & hoped for the best. We were extremely lucky. Only a little rain came in, we did not lose power & the large branches that were ripped off the trees in the back garden are going to be cleared away over the coming weekend.
Hi, Mary!!!
I’ve been worried about my Aussie friends. Heat and fires and floods. You’ve had more than your share of extreme weather. I hope the rest of your summer is mild and NORMAL.
I enjoyed breakfast with one of my writing friends. She’s very smart, and I’m always learning something new.
There are quite a few things I believed true and then later learned was a well written story. In fact, I just read one on FB the other day. I’ve learned to check Truth or Fiction and Snopes and Urban Legends. Because I’ve made this a habit, I’ve also discovered some things I didn’t believe were true. I’ve learned to do my homework.
We made it down into freezing temperatures, and then last week hit 81. Back down into the 50s and 60s, and soon to be back in the 70s. Though all the rain we’ve had isn’t typical, the weather swings are typical for January.
I’m a big user of Snopes. Any crazy thing that comes to me (usually from relatives) that seems unbelievable I check out on Snopes. Most of the time they should not be believed.
How nice of you to have breakfast with a writing friend
You were set for some crazy weather today. Hope it wasn’t as extreme as the warnings.