Check Out These 7 Neat Facts About Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley gained notoriety for her sharpshooting skills in the late 19th and early 20th century. She could be seen performing in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and even displayed her shooting talents for royalty and heads of state.

Here are 7 facts about “Little Miss Sure Shot.”

1. She started shooting at 8-years-old

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Oakley (real name Phoebe Ann Mosey) grew up poor in rural Ohio. Her father died when she was very young and she was counted on to contribute to her family. She made her first shot at 8-years-old when she killed a squirrel. Oakley said of the beginning of her shooting, “It was a wonderful shot, going right through the head from side to side. My mother was so frightened when she learned that I had taken down the loaded gun and shot it that I was forbidden to touch it again for eight months.”

2. She offered to lead female shooters in wars

Oakley wanted to use her skills to help her country, and in 1898 she wrote President McKinley and offered 50 female sharpshooters for the Spanish-American War. She never heard back, but in 1917 she contacted the Secretary of War to teach women how to shoot for service in World War I. That never materialized either, so Oakley raised money for the Red Cross and military charities.

3. She beat her future husband in a shooting match

When she was only 15, Oakley matched up against a shooter named Frank Butler in a competition in Cincinnati. Oakley outshot Butler and the man lost the $100 bet he had placed on himself. The two got married the following year.

4. She emphasized her femininity despite her profession

Oakley shot guns for a living against men, but she did not shy away from her feminine side. She wore her own homemade costumes onstage and enjoyed “proper” female activities such as embroidery.

5. She performed for Kings and Queens

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Oakley was one of the stars of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The Old West imagery and mythology were so popular that the show toured Europe. Oakley performed for royalty across Europe, including the Queen of England and Italy’s King Umberto I.

6. She used her skills to pay off her mother’s mortgage

When she was a teenager, Oakley hunted animals and sold the meat to a grocery store in her native Ohio. She eventually earned enough money to pay off her mother’s $200 mortgage. Oakley said, “Oh, how my heart leaped with joy as I handed the money to mother and told her that I had saved enough to pay it off!”

7. She appeared on film as an actress

Oakley visited inventor Thomas Edison in New Jersey in 1894 and showcased her shooting skills for Edison’s Kinetoscope. The film was called The Little Sure Shot of the Wild West and you can watch some of the footage by clicking HERE.

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These 5 Historical Treasures May Have Disappeared Forever

Someone call Indiana Jones because this is not a drill: many historical relics are missing and historians and archaeologists fear they may be gone forever.

Take a look at these dazzling historical treasures that, as of today, are still nowhere to be found.

1. Crown jewels of Ireland

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Crown Jewels of Ireland have been missing since July 1907 when the regalia was in Dublin. The jewels belonged to the Grand Master of the Order of St. Patrick. The thief (or thieves) also stole five collars of the Knight Members of the Order.

An intense investigation was launched but never turned up anything. Over 100 years later, the jewels remain missing.

2. Sappho’s Poems

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Greek poet Sappho lived roughly 2,500 years ago and was thought to have produced 9 volumes of writing. But so far, only a couple of full poems and a few hundred lines of various other writings have been discovered.

Even though Sappho’s writings are so old doesn’t mean they are gone forever. In 2014, an excavation of a trash dump in Egypt turned up two works of Sappho’s writing. Let’s hope more will be uncovered as years go by.

3. Fabergé Eggs

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Another Russian mystery that continues to confound historians and researchers. Before the Russian Revolution in 1917, the House of Fabergé was the largest jeweler in Russia. The company employed 500 designers and craftsmen to make elaborate works of art out of everything imaginable.

The company made a set of jewel-covered Easter eggs for Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II (known as the Imperial Eggs), who gave the eggs to their wives and mothers. Each egg contained a surprise inside such as a wind-up train or a singing bird and the shells were extremely elaborate. After the imperial family was overthrown and executed during the revolution, the Soviets took the eggs.

Stalin later sold off the eggs, and 7 of the 50 Imperial Eggs are still missing today. But keep your eyes open. In 2012 an American man bought an egg that he was going to use for its gold for $14,000. He found out he had purchased one of the Imperial eggs worth $30 million.

4. The Amber Room

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

This is truly a captivating mystery. The Amber Room near St. Petersburg, Russia was gifted to the nation in 1716 and was decorated with jewels, amber, and gilding. The room was part of the Catherine Palace in a town called Tsarskoye Selo.

When the Nazis inched closer to St. Petersburg during World War II, the curators at the Catherine Palace knew they had to attempt to save the Amber Room. They hid the room behind wallpaper, but the Germans found the riches anyway. The Amber Room was broken into pieces, shipped to Germany and installed in the Königsberg castle museum.

After that, the fate of the Amber Room is unknown. Some believe it was destroyed during the war, while others think the extravagant room is still hidden somewhere. Pieces of the room turned up in Germany in 1997, but the whereabouts of the rest of the chamber remains a mystery. The Amber Room was recreated in 2003 near St. Petersburg and visitors are allowed to visit the room.

5. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The biggest unsolved art heist in the world took place on March 18, 1990, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Two men claiming to be police officers were buzzed into the museum. The men then tied up security guards and made off with 13 works of art worth $500 million.

There is currently a $10 million reward for the recovery of the pieces, which include works by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, and Manet.

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This Chart Shows How Your Lifestyle Can Affect Your Cancer Risk

We all know that the healthier our lifestyle, the more our likelihood of getting cancer goes down. But there is so much news about so many different cancer risk factors that it’s hard to block out the noise and get the facts.

How do cell phones, different foods, coffee, exercise, etc. affect our likelihood of getting cancer? The World Cancer Research Fund gathered all the latest research data and has provided all of us with an interactive chart that allows you to see how different lifestyle choices affect cancer. You can play around with the full version by clicking HERE.

Take some time to play around with the interactive chart and maybe you’ll be inspired to change some of the habits you have that could lead to a healthier lifestyle.

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