October 10, 2007

Today's Crazed Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

Before dawn on November 29, 1864, more than 700 soldiers, mostly volunteer Colorado state militia, attacked an Indian encampment on Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado, killing old men, women, children, and babies, while most of the men of the village were away hunting. Leading the attack was Colonel John M. Chivington, a former Methodist preacher known as the "Fighting Parson." Chivington was already on record as saying his mission in life was "to kill Indians." At Sand Creek, he ignored peace signals, an American flag and a white flag hanging from the lodge of Black Kettle, chief of the Southern Cheyenne. With cannons and rifles pounding them, the Indians scattered in panic. Then the crazed soldiers charged and killed anything that moved. A few warriors managed to fight back to allow some of the tribe to escape across the stream, including Black Kettle. The colonel was as thorough as he was heartless. An interpreter living in the village testified, "They were scalped, their brains knocked out; the men used their knives, ripped open women, clubbed little children, knocked them in the head with their rifle butts, beat their brains out, mutilated their bodies in every sense of the word." By the end of the one-sided battle as many as 200 Indians, more than half women and children, had been killed and mutilated.

While the Sand Creek Massacre outraged easterners, it seemed to please many people in Colorado Territory. Chivington later appeared on a Denver stage where he regaled delighted audiences with his war stories and displayed 100 Indian scalps, including the pubic hairs of women. Chivington was later denounced in a congressional investigation and forced to resign. When asked at the military inquiry why children had been killed, one of the soldiers quoted Chivington as saying, "Nits make Lice."

Culled from: Native American Atrocities

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Incidentally, good ol' American Teddy Roosevelt said of the Sand Creek Massacre, "In spite of certain most objectionable details... it was on the whole as righteous and beneficial a deed as ever took place on the frontier." No wonder he got his face carved on a Native American holy mountain, huh?

I suppose you're wondering where I've been? Well, it's a long boring story... but suffice to say I've been prevented from indulging in my hobbies (including my usual bloodletting and evil doing) by a combination of annoyances. I hope to be able to provide you with a more regular dose of morbidity in the near future.

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Morbid Band Name Contest - The Winner!

The final results are in - and the winner of the Morbid Band Name Contest is my personal favorite:

Forty Whacks!!!

Congratulations to Anne Hedonia for her winning entry. She's the lucky recipient of a copy of Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind.

A most morbid thank you to everyone who entered the contest. Stay tuned for the next contest!

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Morbid Link Du Jour!

Oh!!! I wish I could get ahold of original copies of these nifty 1920's public service announcements warning kids not to play on the railroad tracks. In a perfect morbid world...

http://blacknewblack.blogspot.com/2007/09/grisly-1920s-public-service.html

Thanks to Robyn for the link.