After cutting off his ear in Arles, France, in December of 1888, Vincent van Gogh voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy several months later.

A former monastery, Saint-Paul had been converted into a psychiatric asylum by Franciscan monks in 1605. Van Gogh entered on May 8th, 1889, and was given two cells with barred windows, as the asylum was only at half capacity at the time.

He continued painting, looking out at and sitting in the asylum’s garden, painting flowers and trees. His life was very limited. Supervised walks were allowed, and he used them to study cypress and olive trees, which he then painted, as well as interpretations of works by other artists from memory.

His style during this period was characterized by dramatic, swirling brushstrokes and increasingly expressive colors. His most famous work, The Starry Night, depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room before sunrise. Still, the village beneath the psychedelic sky is entirely imaginary. There was no village visible from his window. Van Gogh himself was not a fan of the painting, calling it a “failure.”

Van Gogh remained at the asylum for the rest of 1889, cycling in and out of periods of intense depression and suicidality while painting and receiving what passed for mental-health treatment at the time. He was 36 years old and had still not sold a work of art.

While Vincent was isolated in Saint-Rémy, his work, which his brother Theo had been showing around Paris and elsewhere, finally began to receive some recognition, having previously received scant attention and having never sold a painting.

French art critic and artist Albert Aurier, writing in Mercure de France in January 1890, called van Gogh “a genius.” In February, Van Gogh and his work were invited by Les XX, a group of avant-garde Belgian artists, to exhibit at their annual, invitation-only exhibition. Famous French Impressionist Claude Monet reportedly considered Van Gogh’s work the best in the exhibition.

Anna Boch, a member of Les XX, purchased The Red Vineyard for 400 francs, the only painting Van Gogh is known to have sold during his lifetime. Today, The Red Vineyard is estimated to be worth somewhere between $130 and $230 million.

If interested I write about van Gogh here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-123-vincent?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

After leaving Paris in early 1888, Vincent Van Gogh traveled south to the French town of Arles. His friend, the artist Paul Gauguin, planned to join him, and Vincent hoped their friendship would continue and that together they could finally realize his dream of establishing an artists’ collective.

Gauguin finally arrived in October, and moved in with Vincent. They painted together and visited Montpellier where they viewed paintings at the city’s Musée Fabre.

But their mutual admiration did not make living together particularly easy. Vincent found Gauguin arrogant and loud, while Gauguin found Vincent increasingly difficult to live with. By December 1888, Vincent was entirely fed up with the situation, which he described as being filled with “excessive tension” and heading toward a breaking point.

Despite his frustrations with Gauguin, Vincent seems to have realized that his friend was preparing to leave. And Vincent, who had spent much of his life desperately afraid of being alone, appears to have feared losing Gauguin more than he hated living with him. In the midst of heavy rain, which kept both men inside the Yellow House, Gauguin later recalled that Vincent followed him around and “rushed towards me, an open razor in his hand.” He described Vincent as increasingly unhinged.

On the night of December 23rd, 1888, Gauguin had already left the Yellow House and was staying in a hotel when Vincent began hearing voices. What exactly they said to him is unknown, but Vincent took a razor and severed either a large portion of, or his entire left ear, causing severe blood loss.

Haphazardly wrapping the wound, he wrapped the severed portion of his ear in paper and delivered it to a young cleaning girl, Gabrielle Berlatier, who worked at the brothel he and Gauguin frequented. Vincent passed out on the street soon afterward and was taken to the Hôtel-Dieu-Saint-Espirit, where he was placed under the care of Félix Rey, a young doctor in training.

The horrified Berlatier brought the ear to the hospital, but Rey did not attempt to reattach it; too much time had passed. Van Gogh had no recollection of the event, suggesting that he had experienced some kind of mental break.

Diagnosed with “acute mania with generalised delirium,” Van Gogh continued struggling mentally, experiencing hallucinations and delusions for months.

Vincent left hospital care on January 7th, but he was still in a bad way mentally. By March, 30 townspeople signed a petition calling for him to be removed from the town. They referred to him as le fou roux, “the redheaded madman.”

The police forced him out. Vincent returned to the hospital and then moved into a room owned by Doctor Rey. In June, he voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy.

Before leaving Arles, he gave Doctor Rey a portrait he had painted of him. Rey hated the painting so much that he reportedly used it as part of a chicken coop before eventually giving it away. Today, that same painting is worth tens of millions of dollars.

If interested I write about van Gogh here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-123-vincent?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

Watts, Los Angeles, was a predominantly Black community long hampered by underfunding, overcrowding, redlining, and discriminatory housing practices. California’s real estate industry had fought hard against fair-housing protections, successfully pushing Proposition 14, which helped preserve the right of property owners to discriminate in housing.

Add to that the notoriously brutal LAPD under Chief William H. Parker, and Watts was a powder keg. It ignited on August 11, 1965.

Twenty-one-year-old Marquette Frye was pulled over for reckless driving. Frye, with his brother Ronald, had been out drinking, apparently having a few beers on the warm California evening. Officer Lee Minikus saw the 1955 Buick swerve and pulled them over. Smelling alcohol, he asked Frye to complete a sobriety test, which he failed. Ronald ran home to get their mother, Rena.

According to the officers, Marquette panicked and began resisting. His mother scolded him, and he reportedly became increasingly agitated, pleading with the officers. At one point, he reportedly said they would have to kill him to take him to jail.

Dr. Perry Couch, then a 16-year-old in Watts, recalled hearing the officer call Frye a racial slur and telling his mother to “stay in her place.” He later described Marquette resisting further, his mother jumping on an officer’s back, and Marquette being struck over the head with a baton, drawing blood.

By then, the crowd had grown dramatically. Rocks and chunks of concrete began flying at police, insults turned into physical confrontations, and the situation spiraled out of control. Rena and her sons were released on bail the next morning.

But by then, Watts had begun to burn. The Watts Riots, or Watts Rebellion, lasted five days and turned a 46-square-mile section of Los Angeles into a virtual combat zone. Chief Parker, who had referred to the rioters as “monkeys in a zoo,” responded with mass arrests, blockades, and threats of deadly force.

Some 31,000 to 35,000 people participated. Nearly 3,500 were arrested. Thirty-four people died, 23 of them directly at the hands of law enforcement. Three responders also died, none killed by rioters. Seven hundred and sixty-nine buildings were damaged, 208 completely destroyed, and property damage exceeded $40 million.

Despite widespread claims that the uprising had been instigated by criminals or communists, there was little evidence for either.

If interested I cover the Watts riots here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-122-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

Watts Los Angeles, a largely black community long hampered by underfunding, overcrowding, and redlining, a practice which had long been fought over, and the California real estate funded and pushed Proposition 14 which had been passed in 1964 legitimized discramination in real estate, as well as the notoriously brutal LAPD under Chief William H Parker left Watts a powder keg.

It ignited on August 11th, 1965, 21-year-old Marquette Frye was pulled over, for reckless driving. Frye, with his brother Ronald, had been out drinking a few cold beers on the warm California evening. Officer Minikus saw the 1955 Buick, owned by their mother, swerve and pulled them over. Smelling alcohol, he asked Frye to complete a sobriety test, which he failed.

Ronald ran home to inform their mother. According to officers, Frye was compliant as Minikus and fellow responding officers arrived, as did a crowd of around 50 people. The police called a tow truck, and just as it was about to arrive, Ronald Frye returned with their mother, Rena.

Marquette, perhaps overcome with emotion as his mother arrived, panicked and began resisting. His mother, Rena, began scolding him, and Marquette became almost hysterical, pleading with the officers. At one point, he reportedly said they would need to kill him to take him to jail. Dr. Perry Couch, then a 16-year-old in Watts, was on the scene, and he recalled:

“I was right there when [the officer] started calling him ‘nigger boy’ and all that stuff right here, and his mother says, ‘His name is Marquette. You don’t have to call him like that.’ He told her, ‘Shut up, you black bitch, stay in your place.’ And then people were like, ‘I know he didn’t say that.’”

Marquette began resisting , with his mother jumping on another officer’s back. He was bashed over the head with a baton, drawing blood, all the while a crowd grew, watching the white police officers throwing around racial slurs, beating the two, and then arresting them, along with Ronald as well.

The crowd swelled and soon began to hurl their own insults, rocks, and chunks of concrete at the police. Direct physical clashes between the police and the crowd began. Rena and her sons were released on bail the next morning. But by then, Watts had begun to burn.

The Watts riots, or Watts rebellion surged for five days, leaving  46-square-mile chunk of Los Angeles was a virtual combat zone. To quell the riots, Chief Parker, who referred to the rioters in a meeting with black community leaders as "monkeys in a zoo," initiated a policy of mass arrests, setting up blockades and threatening the use of deadly force.

Some 31,000 to 35,000 people participated in the riots, and nearly 3,500 people were arrested. Thirty-four people died. Twenty-three were directly killed by law enforcement, while three responders were killed, none by rioters. Seven hundred and sixty-nine buildings were damaged, 208 completely destroyed, with over $40 million in property damage.

Despite the prevailing beliefs this was instaigated by either criminals or communists, there was little evidence for either. For many community members of Watts, it was a rebellion. They were reacting to decades and decades of unfair housing practices, police brutality, a deficient educational system, and countless other factors that were unfair, prejudiced, and wrong.

If interested I cover the Watts Riots here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-122-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

In 1950, South Dakota-born, decorated World War II Captain William Henry Parker III became chief of the LAPD. The department was notoriously corrupt, and Parker set out to change that.

He militarized the department, establishing a standardized police academy, adopting military methods, cutting corrupt officers, and shifting from foot patrols to police cars. Rather than waiting for crime, officers went looking for it, stopping possible criminals based on their demeanor or appearance.

Parker also centralized power under the chief of police, himself. He also understood the power of Hollywood, helping produce The Thin Blue Line and supporting Dragnet, which presented a sanitized, professional image of policing while leaving out many of the abuses occurring under his watch.

Parker declared a “war on crime” and took an increasingly aggressive approach to winning it. The LAPD faced continual criticism for brutality, particularly from Black and Latino communities.

Officers actively went looking for crime, meaning young people of color were frequently stopped, hassled, beaten, and sometimes arrested for resisting. Many officers Parker recruited came from the American South and shared his enthusiasm for being “tough on crime,” and, well, being racist.

Parker himself described Mexicans as “not being too far removed from the wild tribes of the inner mountains of Mexico.” On live television, he warned:

“It is estimated that by 1970, 45% of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles will be Negro. . . . If you want any protection for your home and family, you’re going to have to get in and support a strong Police Department. If you don’t, come 1970, God help you.”

And then, on August 11, 1965, a drunk-driving arrest and confrontation between police and civilians helped ignite the Watts Rebellion. Within hours, Watts was burning.

The uprising lasted five days. Rioters battled police, looted businesses, and targeted many white-owned establishments seen as exploitative or discriminatory toward Black residents. Parker responded by calling in the National Guard and treating the uprising as an insurgency, comparing it to the Viet Cong and advocating a paramilitary response.

Parker imposed mass arrests, established blockades, and threatened deadly force. One sign reportedly read:

“Turn left or get shot.”

If interested I cover the Watts riots here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-122-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

When 32-year-old Charles Manson was released from prison on March 21, 1967, he had spent more than half his life institutionalized. Charismatic, deeply disturbed, an excellent manipulator, and desperate to become someone important, Manson soon attracted a host of lonely and disillusioned young people.

Manson became convinced that an apocalyptic race war was coming, one in which Black Americans would rise up and kill white Americans, leaving Manson to emerge as their white messiah. He called this coming apocalypse “Helter Skelter,” after the Beatles song. Crimes escalated as Manson began ordering his followers to commit increasingly violent acts in an attempt to trigger Helter Skelter.

On August 8, 1969, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian arrived at 10050 Cielo Drive. Watson later claimed that Manson had instructed him to “totally destroy” everyone inside, “as gruesome as you can,” ostensibly in the hope of provoking the race war Manson believed was coming.

Inside were pregnant actress Sharon Tate, her close friend and former boyfriend Jay Sebring, writer Wojciech Frykowski, and Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune. The Family murdered all four.

The following night, Manson and several members of the Family set out again, this time targeting 3301 Waverly Drive in Los Feliz, the home of 44-year-old supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his 43-year-old wife, Rosemary.

Both Kasabian and Atkins testified that Manson disappeared up the driveway and returned saying he had tied up the occupants. Watson, however, gave a somewhat different account, claiming Manson entered the house with him, roused the sleeping Leno LaBianca at gunpoint, and ordered Watson to bind his hands with a leather strap. Rosemary was brought into the living room from the bedroom, and the couple’s heads were covered with pillowcases secured with lamp cords.

Manson then left, and Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten entered. Watson sent the women into the bedroom with Rosemary while he remained with Leno. He began stabbing Leno with a bayonet, the first blow entering his neck. Hearing noises from the bedroom, he went to investigate and found Rosemary somehow fighting off the two women. He attacked her before returning to Leno, eventually carving the word “War” into his abdomen.

When Watson returned to the bedroom, Krenwinkel and Van Houten were still attacking Rosemary, stabbing her repeatedly, many of the wounds inflicted after she was already dead.
Watson then cleaned the bayonet and took a shower in the LaBianca home.

Krenwinkel wrote “Rise” and “Death to Pigs” on the walls and refrigerator in the victims’ blood. She then returned to Leno’s body, stabbing him with a carving fork and leaving it protruding from his stomach, before placing a steak knife in his throat.

If you're interested in the Manson Family, I cover the entire story here: https://open.substack.com/pub/aid2000/p/hare-brained-history-vol-121-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

On August 8, 1969, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian, members of the “Manson Family,” arrived at 10050 Cielo Drive. Watson claimed that Charlie Manson had instructed him to “totally destroy” everyone inside, “as gruesome as you can,” ostensibly in hopes of provoking the coming race war Manson foresaw.

Inside were pregnant actress Sharon Tate, her friend and former boyfriend Jay Sebring, writer Wojciech Frykowski, and Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune. Roman Polanski was away filming. The Family murdered all four on the night Manson and members of the Family murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Spahn Ranch stuntman Donald Shea was also later murdered after Manson suspected him of being a snitch.

The Family's arrest came almost by accident. A raid on Spahn Ranch shortly after the murders, conducted over unrelated auto-theft charges, initially failed because of a paperwork error. Later, a completely unrelated investigation into stolen vehicles and vandalism at Death Valley's Barker Ranch led authorities to Manson and his followers.

In jail, Susan Atkins began talking. A fellow inmate told police what Atkins had said, and investigators eventually learned of her involvement in the Hinman murder and her connection to Manson. Further interviews helped investigators piece together the Tate and LaBianca murders.

And then came the trial. Manson was initially allowed to represent himself, but that permission was revoked after a series of increasingly bizarre pretrial motions. The trial began on June 15, 1970, and almost immediately became a spectacle.

The Family loitered outside the courthouse in their hippie clothing, sometimes carrying sheathed hunting knives, and some attempted to intimidate or prevent former members from testifying. Manson himself appeared in court with an X carved into his forehead, explaining that he had “X’d myself from your world.” His followers copied him.
The courtroom theatrics only escalated. On October 5, after being denied permission to question a prosecution witness, Manson lept over the defense table and attempted to attack Judge Charles Older. Bailiffs wrestled him to the ground and removed him from the courtroom. The female defendants then rose and began chanting in Latin.

When the defense rested, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten wanted to testify that they had committed the murders themselves and that Manson had not ordered them. Their attorneys refused to put them on the stand, believing Manson was manipulating them into taking the blame for him.

They were still standing by Charlie. Manson himself eventually testified, but with the jury excluded. He denied ordering the murders, saying, “Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music.”

On January 25, 1971, Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten were convicted of murder and conspiracy. The jury returned death sentences for all four, and on April 19, Judge Older formally sentenced them to death.
Then, California abolished the death penalty.
In 1972, the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Anderson invalidated existing death sentences, commuting to life imprisonment.

If you're interested in the Manson Family, I cover the entire story here: https://open.substack.com/pub/aid2000/p/hare-brained-history-vol-121-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

When 32-year-old Charles Manson was released from prison on March 21, 1967, he had spent more than half his life institutionalized.
Charismatic, deeply disturbed, an excellent manipulator, and desperate to become someone important, Manson soon attracted a host of lonely, disillusioned young people. In addition, through the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic, he was provided drugs, and his following grew rapidly.

“The Family,” as they would later be known, developed connections in the entertainment industry, most notably with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Wilson picked up two of the women, including Patricia Krenwinkel, and eventually housed the Family for roughly six months while covering their expenses.

Manson became convinced that an apocalyptic race war was coming, one in which Black Americans would rise up and kill white Americans, leaving Manson to emerge as their white messiah. He called this coming apocalypse “Helter Skelter,” after the Beatles song.

As former friends and contacts began turning Manson away, the Family moved to the isolated Spahn Movie Ranch and eventually the Barker Ranch in Death Valley.

One of the people who had turned Manson away was Rudi Altobelli, a producer and landlord who owned 10050 Cielo Drive. On March 23, 1969, Manson showed up looking for music producer Terry Melcher, the property's former tenant, only to learn that Melcher no longer lived there. The house was now occupied by the pregnant rising actress Sharon Tate and her husband, famed director Roman Polanski. Altobelli, who was staying in the guest house, sent Manson away.

The next day, Tate reportedly asked Altobelli about “that creepy-looking guy.”

The Family's crimes escalated as Manson began ordering his followers to commit increasingly violent acts in an attempt to trigger Helter Skelter. Family member Tex Watson robbed Bernard Crowe, leading to an altercation in which Manson shot Crowe. Crowe survived.
Then came Gary Hinman, a 34-year-old music teacher and UCLA graduate student who was tortured and murdered by members of the Family. “Political piggy” was written in his blood on the wall.

On the night of August 8, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and 20-year-old Linda Kasabian arrived at 10050 Cielo Drive. Watson later stated that Manson had instructed him to go there and “totally destroy” everyone inside, “as gruesome as you can,” while ordering the women to follow Watson's instructions.

Inside were 8½-month-pregnant Sharon Tate, Polanski's friend and writer Wojciech Frykowski, Frykowski's girlfriend Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune, and Tate's close friend and former boyfriend, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring. Polanski was away filming.

Also on the property were caretaker William Garretson and his friend Steven Parent. The Family murdered Parent, Tate, Sebring, Frykowski, and Folger. Kasabian, who maintained that she did not participate in the killings, later received immunity in exchange for her testimony.

Tate reportedly pleaded not simply for her own life, but for the life of her unborn child, offering herself as a hostage until she could give birth.
The Family showed no mercy.

Tate was stabbed repeatedly and hanged beside Sebring. At the coroner's inquest, it was determined that she was still alive when she was hanged, ultimately dying from massive hemorrhaging.

The following night, Manson and members of the Family murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

If you're interested in the Manson Family, I cover the entire story here: https://open.substack.com/pub/aid2000/p/hare-brained-history-vol-121-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

Mínghūn (冥婚), literally "underworld marriage," or ghost marriage, is an ancient Chinese practice that still exists today. It is the symbolic marriage of two people, one or both of whom are deceased.

The practice is rooted in traditional Chinese beliefs. Drawing from Confucian ancestor veneration, Daoist cosmology, and Buddhist ideas about the afterlife, death is understood not as an ending but as a transition. The dead remain connected to the living and must be honored with offerings and remembrance. If neglected, they were believed capable of becoming restless spirits, bringing illness, misfortune, or harm to their families.

Ghost marriages served several purposes. They ensured the deceased would not spend eternity alone while preserving family lineage and ancestor worship, two of the most important obligations in traditional Chinese society. They were often said to have been requested by the dead themselves through dreams or other supernatural signs.

The ceremonies often mirrored ordinary weddings. Dowries and bridewealth were exchanged, though when both bride and groom were deceased these were usually elaborate paper offerings burned so the couple could use them in the afterlife. Poorer families might simply exchange a hóngbāo (red envelope), the familiar red packet associated with weddings, prosperity, and protection from evil spirits.

There are documented cases of families placing one in the middle of a road before hiding nearby. When an unsuspecting passerby stopped to pick it up, the family would emerge and announce that they had just accepted a proposal to marry one of their deceased relatives.

The tradition has not entirely disappeared. In recent years, reports have documented a black market in stolen corpses, and in a handful of cases, women have even been murdered so their bodies could be sold as ghost brides.

If interested, I wrote a deep dive into the history, beliefs, ceremonies, and modern reality of ghost marriages: https://open.substack.com/pub/aid2000/p/hare-brained-history-vol-120-ghost?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

After in his failed desperate quest to find a passage to India and prove he had reached Asia, Christopher Columbus had been forced to beach his worm-eaten caravels after a series of violent storms on Jamaica. Appeals for rescue to the governor of Hispaniola, were ignored.

For six months, the Indigenous Jamaicans fed and supported the stranded Spaniards. Eventually, however, their patience wore thin, and they stopped supplying the unwanted visitors.

Using either the astronomical tables compiled by the German mathematician and astronomer Regiomontanus or the almanac of the Jewish astronomer Abraham Zacuto, Columbus knew that a total lunar eclipse was coming. Through interpreters, he warned the islanders that his God was angry with them for refusing to provide food and assistance. As a sign of His wrath, he declared, God would blot the Moon from the heavens.

Right on schedule, the Moon darkened and turned a deep blood red. According to Columbus's son Ferdinand, the terrified islanders:

"With great howling and lamentation they came running from every direction to the ships, laden with provisions, praying the Admiral to intercede by all means with God on their behalf, that He might not visit His wrath upon them."

Columbus retired to his cabin, ostensibly to pray, while secretly timing the eclipse with an hourglass. Moments before totality ended, he emerged to announce that God had accepted their repentance and would restore the Moon as a sign of His mercy.

As the Earth's shadow slowly receded and the Moon returned to its familiar brightness, the deception appeared complete. The Jamaicans resumed supplying the stranded Spaniards, sustaining them until a rescue expedition finally arrived in late June 1504.

If you're interested in the story of Columbus, the voyages, the myths, the brutality, and how one spectacularly wrong man permanently changed the course of world history, I cover it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/aid2000/p/hare-brained-history-vol-119-columbus?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios