

Moondyne Joe: The story of Australia's most notorious prison escapee
When Joseph Johns was arrested by police after his fourth attempted escape, Fremantle Prison authorities are doing everything they can to keep him locked up.
He was imprisoned in a stone-walled cell with jarrah sleepers, and he was only allowed out to break rocks in the prison yard under strict supervision.
“If you get out again, I’ll forgive you,” Western Australia’s governor John Hampton told Johns mockingly.
And yet, Johns did, for the fifth time, escape from prison.
This is the story of Australia’s most prolific prison escapee.
Joseph Johns wasn’t very good at crime for a career criminal.

The British national was arrested by police in 1848 after stealing three loaves of bread, several kinds of cheese, and some bacon from a home in Chepstow, Wales.
Three months in prison is a typical sentence for such a crime. However, Johns enraged the judge and received a ten-year sentence of penal servitude.
He was transported to Western Australia after four years on a prison hulk and given a ticket of leave upon arrival.
He relocated to Moondyne, a region of the Darling Range known to local Aboriginal tribes as Moondyne, and adopted the alias Moondyne Joe, which he would keep for the rest of his life.
He was granted his ticket of leave in 1853, after five years as a convict, and went to work as a stock trapper.
In 1861, however, Johns was arrested for stealing a horse and a brand new saddle and bridle that belonged to the local magistrate.
He was put in jail for another four years before being released for a short time.
Escape spree
But it was a crime he insisted he was innocent of that set in motion a long career of eluding justice.
He was convicted of killing an ox in 1865 and sentenced to ten years in prison.
Johns escaped after only a week in custody and spent several weeks on the run before being caught.
His sentence was lengthened by another 12 months.
In July of the following year, he tried unsuccessfully to flee, only to return a month later.
Johns was caught quickly and sentenced to another five years in prison, including two years of hard labor.
‘If you get out again, I’ll forgive you’
Authorities in Western Australia were extremely focused on preventing him from escaping again.
He was placed in a specially constructed cell that was so heavily reinforced that escape was thought to be impossible.
He was kept chained to a ring on the floor while in the cell.
He wasn’t even allowed to leave Fremantle Prison for his daily exercise. He was instead given a pile of rocks and a sledgehammer, with the expectation that he would crush them into smaller stones.

Governor John Hampton was so sure of himself that he told Johns, “If you get out again, I’ll forgive you.”
So, every day, he would break rocks in the prison’s backyard, with his back to the high walls, under the watchful eye of guards.
Then one day, at 5 p.m., Johns vanished.
The escape
It was a brilliantly brazen and straightforward escape.
The pile of rocks Johns had been hammering had grown to a significant height over the course of a few days.
So much so that Johns was largely obscured by the pile from a certain angle.
Johns would stop hammering at the rocks and start hammering at the prison wall when the guards weren’t looking.
And he made a big enough hole to slip through at some point during the day.
He then proceeded to walk through the adjacent superintendent’s house, through an unlocked side gate, and into the nearby bushland.
A simple dummy made by Johns had fooled the guards.
He stood his hammer upright and fashioned a pair of shoulders out of umbrella wire. He then donned his own jacket and cap on the dummy.
It works well as a decoy from a distance.
It would take two years for him to be apprehended.

Months in irons
He was caught after two years on the run due to bad luck.
In February 1869, he broke into a Swan Valley winery. Unknown to him, police were on the lookout for a drowned man nearby.
Before being caught, Johns ran into the arms of surprised police officers while fleeing from the winery’s owner.
He served another four years in prison, the majority of which was spent in chains.
His final attempt to flee was destroyed when he was caught making a key and file in a carpentry workshop. He threw the evidence over the prison wall when he was caught.
Charges against him had to be dropped when the key and file could not be found on the other side.

Final freedom
In 1873, Johns was granted his freedom, and he married a woman half his age and settled in Perth.
He was discovered wandering the streets as an elderly man in 1900, and was deemed “of unsound mind.”
He was committed to a medical facility for treatment.
The institution was housed in the same building as a former convict depot, where he had been imprisoned when he was younger.
Despite having dementia, Johns managed to flee the institution three times before being arrested and imprisoned in Fremantle Prison for evading legal custody.
He died in a Fremantle asylum later that year.

Atomic Tourism: In the 1950s, nuclear tests in Las Vegas served as a draw for tourists
Between 1950 and 1960, Las Vegas offered “Atomic Tourism” in which guests could watch atomic bombs being tested in the desert as a form of entertainment.

Why This Belgian Bar Makes You Trade Your Shoe for a Beer
To prevent tourists from stealing their beer glasses, some bars in Belgium require people to hand over one of their shoes as a deposit which is then put in a basket and hung from the ceiling. These shoe baskets have also become an attraction.

The touching story of David Vetter (bubble boy), the 'boy who lived in a bubble
David Vetter lived his whole 12 years in sterile “bubble”. He was “outside” for 20 second after being removed from his mother’s womb. He never touched any human.

Why the Brooklyn Bridge Was Once Crossed by 17 Camels and 21 Elephants
On May 30, 1883, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge was going to collapse caused a stampede, which killed at least at twleve people. To prove the bridge was safe, P.T. Barnum led a parade of 21 elephants over it.

Henry Ford, The man popularizing the concept of the weekend off
Henry Ford was the first Industrial Giant to give his employees both Saturday and Sunday off in the hope of encouraging more leisurely use of automobiles and thus popularizing the concept of the "weekend."

Saudi Arabia camel carvings dated to prehistoric era
Archaeologists were shocked to discover that a series of camels carved into desert rock faces in north-western Saudi Arabia are actually prehistoric, dating from 7,000-8,000 years ago - before either the Pyramids of Giza or Stonehenge were built.

8 Interesting Facts About The Unsinkable Ship, TITANIC
If you ask your friends what's the most famous ship in history the answer in most cases will be the same, of course the legendary Titanic. Its history is full of mysteries, at first it was a source of hope and national pride as well as proof of the triumphs of mankind but it soon became a source of nostalgia and pain, the extent of which cannot be described in words.

The Bizarre (And Magical) Duel Between Chung Ling Soo And Ching Ling Foo
Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo were two magicians from the early 20th century who were bitter rivals. While Ching Ling Foo was genuinely Chinese, Chung Ling Soo was actually a New Yorker named William Robinson.

10 world’s most destructive and dangerous volcanic eruptions in history
Volcanic eruptions can devastate cities, change the world's atmosphere, and devastate economic systems. They can create molten lava rivers, mudslides, suffocating ash, and poisonous gases that cause chaos around the world for years. A volcanic explosion's effects can be massive, from its size to its death toll to its economic cost. Here is ten world’s most destructive and dangerous volcanic eruptions in history.

Inside The Mysterious Death Of The Famed Gothic Writer Edgar Allan Poe
Hours before his death Edgar Allen Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore. He was incoherent, wearing another man’s clothes, and unable to explain how he got there. The cause of his death is an unsolved mystery.

What exactly was the US's 'Ghost Army' during WWII?
During WW2, there was a special unit of men dubbed the ‘Ghost Army’. The unit was made of artists, creative and engineers and their job was to create deception about the enemy. From inflatable tanks to phony convoys to scripted conversations in bars intended to spread disinformation, they used all possible tricks to fool the enemy.

How 18th Century Women’s Rights Movements Shaped Modern Equality
The 18th century marked a turning point in the quest for women’s rights, as passionate voices challenged centuries of gender inequality and laid the groundwork for modern feminism. From pioneers like Mary Wollstonecraft to revolutionary declarations and early advocacy, this era sparked debates on education, political participation, and social justice that continue to resonate today. Journey through the origins of women’s rights movements and discover how their bold ideas shaped the fight for equality.

The 1814 London beer flood
In 1814, there was a beer flood in London when a tank containing more than 300,000 gallons ruptured in which 8 people drowned.

History of Treadmill, punishment for prisoners
Treadmills were originally a punishment used to harness human power on a giant wheel used to grind grains, hence the name "treadmill." The History of Treadmill

What is the story behind Wrigley chewing gum?
Wrigley's was originally a soap company that gifted baking powder with their soap. The baking powder became more popular than the soap so they switched to selling baking powder with chewing gum as a gift. The gum became more popular than the baking powder so the company switched to selling gum.

Did Gil Pérez Really Teleport from Manila to Mexico Overnight? The 1593 Mystery
On October 24, 1593, while performing his guard duties at Manila's Governor's Palace in the Philippines, Gil Perez stopped to lean against a wall and sleep for a while. He opened his eyes to find himself in an unusual environment. Gil was in the Plaza Mayor in Mexico City. They imprisoned Perez, but the authorities in Mexico City decided to release him and return him home.

Nearest Green, America's first known Black master distiller
Nathan "Nearest" Green was an African-American head stiller who is now more frequently referred to as a master distiller. He was renowned for imparting his distilling knowledge to Jack Daniel, the creator of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distiller, after Jack Daniel was freed from slavery following the American Civil War.

Roller Coasters were First Invented to Distract People from sin
Roller coasters were invented to distract Americans from sin. In the 1880s, hosiery businessman LaMarcus Thompson didn’t like that Americans were going to places like saloons and brothels and created the first roller coaster on Coney Island to persuade them to go there instead.

Ancient Egyptians Had Pregnancy Tests Over 3500 Years Ago
The ancient Egyptians used a pregnancy test that involved potentially pregnant women peeing on barley and wheat seeds. Plant growth indicated pregnancy: barley for a boy and wheat for a girl. Later tests revealed that pregnant women's urine causes plant growth 70% of the time, whereas non-pregnant women's urine does not.

Nicholas Winton ‘British Schindler’: Man who rescued 669 Czech children from Nazis
A man named Nicholas Winton saved 669 kids during WWII and lived almost all his life without letting people know.

Nuclear bomb accidentally dropped on North Carolina in 196
4 January 1961: The 4241st Strategic Wing's Boeing B-52G-95-BW Stratofortress, serial number 58-0187, was on a 24-hour airborne alert mission off the United States' Atlantic Coast.

story of the youngest mother in the world at age of five - Lina Medina
Lina Medina, a five-year-old Peruvian girl, became the youngest mother in history in 1939 when she gave birth to a boy.

Thomas Baker's heroic act that earned him the "Medal of Honor" was 8 bullets until death
Thomas Baker instructed his team to leave him with a pistol and eight bullets propped up against a tree after he was injured. Later, American troops discovered the now-deceased Baker in the same location, lying next to eight dead Japanese soldiers and carrying an empty pistol.

The Forgotten Story of Semipalatinsk and the Soviet Nuclear Experiments
Between 1949 and 1989, the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan became the primary location for Soviet nuclear weapons tests, exposing millions of unsuspecting villagers to radioactive fallout. Known as the “Polygon of Suffering,” this remote desert witnessed 456 nuclear detonations that caused widespread health crises, birth defects, and generational genetic damage. This article narrates the chilling legacy of Semipalatinsk, unveiling the human cost of Cold War arms development and the ongoing struggle for healing and recognition in Kazakhstan.

15 interesting facts about Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II, who ruled Britain for 70 years, has away at the age of 96. She was the country's longest-reigning monarch. Here are some little-known facts about her.