Strange but true headlines of the day · Weird history · Vintage clipping

OddlyTrue News Stand — August 12

One real weird headline, three odd happenings and a page from a vintage newspaper. See the full Vintage News edition →

From the archives

Classic headline

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Source: Classic headline (CJR 'Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim' collections)View clipping source

Headline 10 of 27 in the Hall of Fame rotation.

Weird history on August 12

  • First Crusade
    1099 First ever

    First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon: Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.

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    Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Crusades
    1099 First ever

    Crusades: Fatimid forces under al-Afdal Shahanshah began retreating to Egypt after the Battle of Ascalon, concluding the First Crusade.

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    Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Joseph Lister
    1865 First ever

    Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs the first antiseptic surgery.

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    Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Hall of Fame headlines are manually verified clippings (source linked); nothing is scraped from Newspapers.com. Facts from Wikipedia On This Day API (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia. Clippings from the Library of Congress, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers site.