Cannibals, Escapes & Discoveries: The Strange Events in History on December 12

Did you know that?

A group of flamingos is called a ‘flamboyance’.

Going down memory lane, December 12

1098 Ignoring a negotiated peaceful surrender, Crusaders breach the walls of Ma’arrat al-Numan (modern-day Syria) and massacre the 20 000 inhabitants – men, women and children. However, their siege depleted the city’s food supplies so the starving Crusaders resort to cannibalism, eating the corpses. One chronicler, Radulph of Caen, noted: ‘Some people said that, constrained by the lack of food, they ... impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled.’ The cannibalism is said to have shocked Crusaders and Arab Muslims alike. Most of the invaders sought to distance themselves from the act of the minority.

1776 On his last voyage, Captain Cook finds the Prince Edward Islands, part of South Africa.

1899 Winston Churchill escapes from the Boers in Pretoria and jumps on a train going to Lourenço Marques (Maputo).

1917 A French troop train derails, killing 543.

1917 Father Flanagan founds Boys Town for wayward boys in Nebraska. South African Boys and Girls Town facilities are in Magaliesburg, Randfontein, Tongaat and Macassar.

1962 A police patrol in Transkei is attacked by 60 Poqo members. Seven of the attackers are shot dead; three cops are seriously injured.

1997 Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan militant who carried out attacks across the globe in the 1970s and 1980s, goes on trial in Paris. He is serving three life sentences.

1998 Three Eastern Cape farmers, looking for stolen cattle in Lesotho, are shot dead.

2018 China built 88 out of the world’s 143 skyscrapers (buildings taller than 200m) that year, more than any country ever.

2019 Land’s lowest point is found under an Antarctica glacier, 3.5km below sea level.

2023 The UN General Assembly votes overwhelmingly for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, amid reports 18 000 Palestinians have been killed. Israel ignores the resolution. In October 2024, Aid workers write to US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, saying that more than 62 000 people, mostly children, have starved to death and another 5 000 died from a lack of health care. The US says it will continue selling weapons to Israel to continue its ‘war’.

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