This was just too interesting to save for Halloween. It all started when I stumbled upon a photograph of a something called a “mortsafe“– mort being the French word for death and safe implying there was something in need of protection from theft. Indeed, these graveyard oddities were once intended to deter body snatchers from stealing the remains of the deceased. But who on earth would need to steal dead bodies from their graves? Oh, just doctors and qualified professionals of the 19th century medical community, paving the way for pretty much all the modern medicine we benefit from today.
What a Relief Our Doctors Aren’t Bodysnatchers Anymore
Wong Liu Tsong was born on Los Angeles’ Flower Street in 1905 – a rather befitting location for a gal whose Cantonese name meant “frosted yellow willow.” Most U.S. moviegoers, however, would get to know her under a more American moniker: Anna May Wong, the “Dragon Lady” of Hollywood.
By Mary Frances Knapp: Don’t Call Her the Dragon Lady: Hollywood’s First Chinese American Star
She began driving secretly at the age of 14 in her father’s ‘borrowed’ Citroën 2CV and her earliest races took place on the gravel roads of the French riviera, trying to carve off the journey time between work and home in a Renault 4. Michèle Mouton became the first woman in rally driving to win a world championship, whilst still only finding her feet in the male-dominated sport, winning a total of four championship rallies for Audi and beating the men at their own game. More than 3 decades later, she is still the last woman to compete in top-level rallying.
Her longtime rival, world champion Walter Röhrl, once said before he raced her in the Rallye Côte d’Ivoire, that he would not accept second place in the championship to Michèle Mouton. “This is not because I doubt her capabilities as a driver, but because she is a woman.” The Opel driver believed that the defeat would have devalued his performances.
She Raced the Boys and Took Their Trophies
