June 17 Happens

So much I could write about that represents the Esoteric Side of a June 17th, for instance, long before the fictional Dracula was created by Bram Stroker, on a June 17 in the year 1462, Vlad Dracula emerged from his hideaway and attacked an Ottoman camp with his howling army behind him, and when the dust settled, there were 20,000 Turks stuck in the air on stakes; a ghastly sight of blood not seen before.  

Vlad Dracula's father was given the name "Dracul" for his membership in the Order of the Dragon, a secret society boys club some say is still with us today.  Of course, this gave his son the name of Dracula, "Son of the Dragon." Bram Stroker is believed to have drawn some of his inspiration for his famed Gothic horror novel from this spawn of the Dragon, the historical Vlad Dracula.

 

I was here first, deal with it.

Even more ghastly to some of us, on a June 17 in 1578, Sir Francis Drake landed his ship off the coast of northern California, what is close to the Bay Area today, and claimed it for the British empire. The Native Americans greeted him with gifts, he gave them clothes to cover their bodies because his little British pencil was tingling.  The rest is history.  What was a Native population of about 4 million, would dwindled to 800 thousand by the year 1800.

But, to put things in perspective, on this day in 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Colonel William Prescott told his soldiers, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

Interesting, that on June 17 in Nara Japan, an annual purification ritual to drive away evil spirits is blessed by seven white-robed priestesses with a traditional dance.  Which brings us to 1994 and the O.J. Simpson highway chase after he was accused of murdering his ex wife, Nicole Simpson, who's white dog was found walking the streets with bloody paws. Loosely connected?  Maybe.  Esoteric?  Definitely.