Satanic Tomatoes and Other Weird Details Not Taught in History Class

1.  Australia’s Untouchables

The Crutchies and other gangs grew so out of control, that the authorities set up a special police task force to deal with them. Known as the “Terrible Ten”, it recruited Australia’s biggest and most violent cops, equipped them with heavy rubber hoses, and sent them to whale the stuffing out of the street toughs. The Terrible Ten won the streets back by beating most gangs into submission.

The exception were the Crutchy Push, who remained unsubdued until Valentine Keating, their leader, his girlfriend, and his chief lieutenant was imprisoned for a murderous assault on a constable. Their victim was beaten so bad, that he was still picking pieces of skull from his fractured head at the time of the trial. Upon his release from prison, Keating opened an unlicensed bar. With his crutch ever by his side, he never needed to call the police to settle a disturbance in his establishment.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Atlantic, The, October 17^th, 2014 – White House Sheep, a History

Atlas Obscura – When Tomatoes Were Blamed For Witchcraft and Werewolves

Blair, Clay Jr. – Hitler’s U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942  (1996)

Blair, Clay Jr. – Hitler’s U-Boat War: The Hunted, 1942-1945  (1996)

Botting, Douglas – The Pirates (1978)

Cordingly, David – Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates (1997)

Cracked – 5 of the Most ‘Wuh’ Facts History Class Never Covered

Daily Mercury, January 15^th, 2019 – The Gang of Amputee Thugs That Terrorized Melbourne

Encyclopedia Britannica – Columbian Exchange

King, Ross – Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture (2013)

Melbourne Historical Crime Tours – Valentine Keating and His North Melbourne Gang: The Crutchy Push

Military History Now – Operation Wandering Soul: Ghost Tape Number 10 and the Haunted Jungles of Vietnam

New York Times Magazine, January 15^th, 1995 – The Great Ivy League Naked Photo Posture Scandal

NPR – When the Supreme Court Decided Tomatoes Were Vegetables

Pirate Encyclopedia – Michel de Grammont

U-Boat Aces – Rocket U-Boat Program

Vice – Bizarre Vintage Photos of Nazis Posing With Men in Polar Bear Costumes

Washington Post, February 24^th, 1987 – Edward Lansdale, Prototype For Ugly American, Dies

Wikipedia – Edward Lansdale

Wikipedia – Operation Teardrop

Wikipedia – Rocket U-boat

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum – Wilson’s Sheep