TODAY IN HISTORY | May 12th

TODAY’S TOPICS

• 1777 - The First Ice Cream Ad

• 1926 - The First Flight Over North Pole

  Extras

  Wall Plug Pacemaker🔌

  Immortal Fail🥇

  Screaming Mandrake😱

  Vampire Scare🧛

1777 The First Ice Cream Ad

On May 12, 1777, a little ad ran in the New York Gazette that changed American dessert history. It was placed by a man named Philip Lenzi, a caterer and “confectioner” from London who had just set up shop in New York City. The ad let folks know that he was now offering ice cream, available every day — a luxury most people in the colonies had never even tasted. That tiny newspaper notice became the first known ice cream advertisement in America.

Back in those days, ice cream wasn’t a common treat. It was expensive to make and even harder to keep cold — no freezers, no ice cream trucks, just blocks of ice stored in underground ice houses or packed with sawdust in cellars. That meant only the rich and well-connected could afford a scoop, and it was mostly served at fancy gatherings or balls. When Lenzi offered it up to the public, it was a bold move — making a European delicacy available to the American crowd.

Lenzi’s ad didn’t stop at just ice cream. He also sold other sweets, wines, and desserts, catering to the upper class of New York society. His shop became known as one of the go-to spots for high-end treats. While the flavors back then were simple — mostly vanilla, maybe some fruit or spice — the novelty of a cold, creamy dessert on a warm spring day caught people’s attention. Ice cream was on its way to becoming more than just a rarity — it was starting to look like a staple.

From that first ad in 1777, ice cream slowly made its way into American hearts (and stomachs). Over time, technology caught up, and what used to be a treat for the elite became a favorite for everyone — from parlor scoops to backyard cones. But it all started with one little newspaper blurb and a man with a cold product and a hot idea. On May 12, Philip Lenzi didn’t just sell ice cream — he introduced it to America.

🤖 Ai Depiction of Event

1926 First Flight Over North Pole

On May 12, 1926, a flying boat called the Norge lifted off from Svalbard, Norway, and made history. It wasn’t flashy — looked more like a big ol’ blimp than an airplane — but it was about to do something nobody had done before: fly over the North Pole. On board were three big names in exploration — Roald Amundsen from Norway, Umberto Nobile from Italy (who designed the airship), and American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth, who helped fund the trip. Together, they made up one of the boldest teams in polar history.

The Norge was a semi-rigid airship, which meant it had a metal frame but was still lighter-than-air like a blimp. It took off with a crew of 16 men, gliding through freezing winds and empty skies, headed straight across the top of the world. After about 16 hours, they passed directly over the North Pole — and unlike earlier claims, this one was fully documented with instruments, logs, and international witnesses, making it the first verified flight over the North Pole in history.

Before that, two men — Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett — had claimed they flew over the Pole just a few days earlier, on May 9, 1926, in a plane. But later analysis of Byrd’s flight logs raised doubts about whether they really made it that far. So while Byrd’s team made headlines, it’s the Norge’s crew that historians today credit with the first confirmed overflight of Earth’s northernmost point.

After crossing the Pole, the Norge didn’t turn back — it kept flying all the way to Alaska, completing a full trans-Arctic journey. It was a huge feat for its time, proving that air travel over the Arctic was possible and opening new doors for exploration. On that cold spring day in 1926, a big gas-filled airship quietly floated into history — and forever changed how we look at the top of the world.

🤖 Ai Depiction of Event

Wall Plug Pacemaker🔌
In 1958, the world saw the first implanted pacemaker — a life-saving device designed to keep a person’s heart beating properly. But here’s the catch: it had to be plugged into a wall. The early version, built by Swedish engineer Rune Elmqvist and surgeon Åke Senning, wasn’t exactly portable. It connected to the patient’s chest via wires and got its power straight from a wall socket, meaning the patient had to stay put — or risk, you know, heart failure. Luckily, battery-powered versions followed not long after, but for a brief moment in medical history, the solution to a failing heart was: “Just don’t leave the room.🫀🔋

Immortal Fail🥇
In ancient China, some emperors were so obsessed with living forever that they literally tried to eat immortality — by consuming gold. Yep. Believing that gold was pure, incorruptible, and divine, certain emperors thought ingesting it — often in the form of gold dust, elixirs, or pills — would grant eternal life. Instead, many ended up with mercury poisoning, organ failure, or very non-immortal outcomes. Taoist alchemists even whipped up glittering “longevity potions” that were more toxic metal cocktail than health supplement. But hey, the packaging was probably nice. So in their quest to dodge death, these emperors accidentally fast-tracked it — proving that just because it’s shiny and expensive doesn’t mean it should go in your mouth.☠️🥇

Screaming Mandrakes😱
In medieval Europe, people believed that mandrake roots — creepy little plants that sometimes looked vaguely human-shaped — would let out a deadly scream when pulled from the earth. According to the lore, the mandrake’s wail was so shriek-of-the-damned intense, it could kill anyone who heard it. So naturally, people got very creative with their harvesting techniques. One method? Tie the root to a dog, cover your ears, and let the pup do the pulling. If the root screamed and the dog died... success! (Apologies to the dog.) Despite sounding like a scene from Harry Potter, this belief was totally real in medieval medicine and magic. Mandrakes were thought to have powerful healing and magical properties, but only if you survived the harvest.🌿🧙‍♂️🐶

The Vampire Scare🧛
Before Twilight and Dracula, there was 18th-century New England — where the first real vampire panic took hold. And yes, it happened right in the heart of colonial America. In places like Rhode Island and Connecticut, families started digging up their dead relatives, believing they were rising from the grave and draining the life from the living. This wasn’t about bloodsucking bats — it was a desperate attempt to explain tuberculosis, which was poorly understood at the time. Victims wasted away, coughing up blood, and that looked an awful lot like being cursed by the undead. To stop it, some communities exhumed bodies, burned hearts, and even made "anti-vampire potions" using the ashes. The most famous case? Mercy Brown, exhumed in 1892 — her well-preserved corpse convinced locals she had to be a vampire🧛‍♀️⛏️😱

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