The ZINNG: Christie’s Mysteries

Christie's Mysteries

Agatha Christie, beloved author of 66 detective novels and creator of fictional sleuths Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, is a hero and inspiration to many. Her literary style permeates the entire mystery fiction genre.

However, many people don’t know that she was once the subject of a massive manhunt. History.com reveals the details of this surprising unknown fact, as well as 9 other things you may not have known about Agatha Christie.

Mystery Fans Understand

If you’re a fan of mystery fiction (I would assume that’s why you’re here—although it could have been the GIF I posted to the Twitter page), you’ll no doubt relate to Sadie L. Trombetta’s “11 Struggles All Mystery Lovers Understand.”

#9 is especially true every time I read mystery fiction on the subway. Stranger Danger!

Model Citizen

In a time where there are more selfies per day than there are total photos taken, sans Internet, who wouldn’t want to look good for their mugshot? Donald Pugh, a wanted man in Lima, OH, decided that the picture the police department circulated wasn’t good enough—so he sent them a better one.

“Here is a better photo that one is terrible,” writes Pugh, as shown on the Lima Police Department’s official Facebook page, reported by NBC News.

Who could blame him? The original looks like a high Sinbad is trying desperately to hold in a fart.

History's Homicides

Finally, look out Cain and Abel—there’s a new murder story that not only predates the biblical “first,” but also makes Cain’s “historical homicide” seem bland in comparison. Researchers from Cambridge University unearthed a 10,000 year old massacre in a placed called Nataruk in Kenya.

Redorbit.com reports that there were 27 prehistoric hunter-gatherers unearthed that showed “clear signs of having been killed violently” showing evidence of “blunt-force trauma, possibly from wooden clubs; hands, knees, and ribs were broken; several wounds left by arrows in their necks; and the tips of stone projectiles were discovered lodged in the skull and chest of two men.”

This is significant because it is the earliest scientifically dated example of human conflict some 9,500-10,500 years ago—alluding to a possible evolutionary basis for human violence and warfare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many “unknown” Agatha Christie facts did you already know?

Would you send a better picture to the police if you were wanted?

Start/join the conversation below!