title: Elf

text: Some nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars attempted to rationalise beliefs in elves as folk memories of lost indigenous peoples. Since belief in supernatural beings is ubiquitous in human cultures, scholars no longer believe such explanations are valid. Research has shown, however, that stories about elves have often been used as a way for people to think metaphorically about real-life ethnic others.


title: Elf

text: Scholars have at times also tried to explain beliefs in elves as being inspired by people suffering certain kinds of illnesses (such as Williams syndrome). Elves were certainly often seen as a cause of illness, and indeed the English word "oaf" seems to have originated as a form of "elf": the word "elf" came to mean 'changeling left by an elf' and then, because changelings were noted for their failure to thrive, to its modern sense 'a fool, a stupid person; a large, clumsy man or boy'. However, it again seems unlikely that the origin of beliefs in elves itself is to be explained by people's encounters with objectively real people affected by disease.


title: Elf

text: The English word "elf" is from the Old English word most often attested as (whose plural would have been *). Although this word took a variety of forms in different Old English dialects, these converged on the form "elf" during the Middle English period. During the Old English period, separate forms were used for female elves (such as , putatively from Proto-Germanic *"ɑlβ(i)innjō"), but during the Middle English period the word "elf" routinely came to include female beings.


title: Elf

text: The Old English forms are cognates – linguistic siblings stemming from a common origin – with medieval Germanic terms such as Old Norse ('elf'; plural ), Old High German ('evil spirit'; pl. , ; feminine ), Burgundian *"alfs" ('elf'), and Middle Low German "" ('evil spirit'). These words must come from Proto-Germanic, the ancestor-language of the attested Germanic languages; the Proto-Germanic forms are reconstructed as *"ɑlβi-z" and *"ɑlβɑ-z".


title: Elf

text: Germanic "*ɑlβi-z~*ɑlβɑ-z" is generally agreed to be a cognate with Latin "albus" ('(matt) white'), Old Irish "ailbhín" ('flock'), Ancient Greek ἀλφός ("alphós"; 'whiteness, white leprosy';), and Albanian "elb" ('barley'); and the Germanic word for 'swan' reconstructed as "*albit-" (compare Modern Icelandic "álpt") is often thought to be derived from it. These all come from an Proto-Indo-European root "*h₂elbʰ-", and seem to be connected by the idea of whiteness. The Germanic word presumably originally meant 'white one', perhaps as a euphemism. Jakob Grimm thought whiteness implied positive moral connotations, and, noting Snorri Sturluson's "ljósálfar", suggested that elves were divinities of light. This is not necessarily the case, however. For example, because the cognates suggest matt white rather than shining white, and because in medieval Scandinavian texts whiteness is associated with beauty, Alaric Hall has suggested that elves may have been called 'the white people' because whiteness was associated with (specifically feminine) beauty. Some scholars have argued that the names Albion and Alps may also be related (possibly through Celtic).


title: Elf

text: A completely different etymology, making "elf" a cognate with the "Ṛbhus", semi-divine craftsmen in Indian mythology, was suggested by Adalbert Kuhn in 1855. In this case, *"ɑlβi-z" would connote the meaning 'skillful, inventive, clever', and could be a cognate with Latin "labor", in the sense of 'creative work'. While often mentioned, this etymology is not widely accepted.


title: Elf

text: Throughout the medieval Germanic languages, "elf" was one of the nouns used in personal names, almost invariably as a first element. These names may have been influenced by Celtic names beginning in "Albio-" such as "Albiorix".


title: Elf

text: Personal names provide the only evidence for "elf" in Gothic, which must have had the word * (plural *). The most famous name of this kind is "Alboin". Old English names in "elf"- include the cognate of "Alboin" Ælfwine (literally "elf-friend", m.), Ælfric ("elf-powerful", m.), Ælfweard ("elf-guardian", m.), and Ælfwaru ("elf-care", f.). A widespread survivor of these in modern English is Alfred (Old English "Ælfrēd", "elf-advice"). Also surviving are the English surname Elgar ("Ælfgar", "elf-spear") and the name of St Alphege ("Ælfhēah", "elf-tall"). German examples are "Alberich", "Alphart" and "Alphere" (father of Walter of Aquitaine) and Icelandic examples include "Álfhildur". These names suggest that elves were positively regarded in early Germanic culture. Of the many words for supernatural beings in Germanic languages, the only ones regularly used in personal names are "elf" and words denoting pagan gods, suggesting that elves were considered similar to gods.


title: Elf

text: In later Old Icelandic, ("elf") and the personal name which in Common Germanic had been * both coincidentally became .


title: Elf

text: Elves appear in some place names, though it is difficult to be sure how many of other words, including personal names, can appear similar to "elf". The clearest English examples are "Elveden" ("elves' hill", Suffolk) and "Elvendon" ("elves' valley", Oxfordshire); other examples may be "Eldon Hill" ("Elves' hill", Derbyshire); and "Alden Valley" ("elves' valley", Lancashire). These seem to associate elves fairly consistently with woods and valleys.


title: Elf

text: The earliest surviving manuscripts mentioning elves in any Germanic language are from Anglo-Saxon England. Medieval English evidence has, therefore, attracted quite extensive research and debate. In Old English, elves are most often mentioned in medical texts which attest to the belief that elves might afflict humans and livestock with illnesses: apparently mostly sharp, internal pains and mental disorders. The most famous of the medical texts is the metrical charm "Wið færstice" ("against a stabbing pain"), from the tenth-century compilation "Lacnunga", but most of the attestations are in the tenth-century "Bald's Leechbook" and "Leechbook III". This tradition continues into later English-language traditions too: elves continue to appear in Middle English medical texts.


title: Elf

text: Beliefs in elves causing illnesses remained prominent in early modern Scotland, where elves were viewed as supernaturally powerful people who lived invisibly alongside everyday rural people. Thus, elves were often mentioned in the early modern Scottish witchcraft trials: many witnesses in the trials believed themselves to have been given healing powers or to know of people or animals made sick by elves. Throughout these sources, elves are sometimes associated with the succubus-like supernatural being called the "mare".


title: Elf

text: While they may have been thought to cause diseases with magical weapons, elves are more clearly associated in Old English with a kind of magic denoted by Old English "sīden" and "sīdsa", a cognate with the Old Norse "seiðr", and also paralleled in the Old Irish "Serglige Con Culainn". By the fourteenth century, they were also associated with the arcane practice of alchemy.


title: Elf

text: In one or two Old English medical texts, elves might be envisaged as inflicting illnesses with projectiles. In the twentieth century, scholars often labelled the illnesses elves caused as "elf-shot", but work from the 1990s onwards showed that the medieval evidence for elves' being thought to cause illnesses in this way is slender; debate about its significance is ongoing.


title: Elf

text: The noun "elf-shot" is first attested in a Scots poem, "Rowlis Cursing," from around 1500, where "elf schot" is listed among a range of curses to be inflicted on some chicken thieves. The term may not always have denoted an actual projectile: "shot" could mean "a sharp pain" as well as "projectile." But in early modern Scotland, "elf-schot" and other terms like "elf-arrowhead" are sometimes used of neolithic arrow-heads, apparently thought to have been made by elves. In a few witchcraft trials, people attest that these arrow-heads were used in healing rituals and occasionally alleged that witches (and perhaps elves) used them to injure people and cattle. Compare with the following excerpt from a 1749–50 ode by William Collins:


title: Elf

text: Because of elves' association with illness, in the twentieth century, most scholars imagined that elves in the Anglo-Saxon tradition were small, invisible, demonic beings, causing illnesses with arrows. This was encouraged by the idea that "elf-shot" is depicted in the Eadwine Psalter, in an image which became well known in this connection. However, this is now thought to be a misunderstanding: the image proves to be a conventional illustration of God's arrows and Christian demons. Rather, twenty-first century scholarship suggests that Anglo-Saxon elves, like elves in Scandinavia or the Irish "Aos Sí", were regarded as people.


title: Elf

text: Like words for gods and men, the word "elf" is used in personal names where words for monsters and demons are not. Just as "álfar" is associated with "Æsir" in Old Norse, the Old English "Wið færstice" associates elves with "ēse"; whatever this word meant by the tenth century, etymologically it denoted pagan gods. In Old English, the plural (attested in "Beowulf") is grammatically an ethnonym (a word for an ethnic group), suggesting that elves were seen as people. As well as appearing in medical texts, the Old English word "ælf" and its feminine derivative "ælbinne" were used in glosses to translate Latin words for nymphs. This fits well with the word "ælfscȳne", which meant "elf-beautiful" and is attested describing the seductively beautiful Biblical heroines Sarah and Judith.


title: Elf

text: Likewise, in Middle English and early modern Scottish evidence, while still appearing as causes of harm and danger, elves appear clearly as humanlike beings. They became associated with medieval chivalric romance traditions of fairies and particularly with the idea of a Fairy Queen. A propensity to seduce or rape people becomes increasingly prominent in the source material. Around the fifteenth century, evidence starts to appear for the belief that elves might steal human babies and replace them with changelings.


title: Elf

text: By the end of the medieval period, "elf" was increasingly being supplanted by the French loan-word "fairy". An example is Geoffrey Chaucer's satirical tale "Sir Thopas", where the title character sets out in a quest for the "elf-queen", who dwells in the "countree of the Faerie".


title: Elf

text: Evidence for elf beliefs in medieval Scandinavia outside Iceland is sparse, but the Icelandic evidence is uniquely rich. For a long time, views about elves in Old Norse mythology were defined by Snorri Sturluson's "Prose Edda", which talks about "svartálfar", "dökkálfar" and "ljósálfar" ("black elves", "dark elves", and "light elves"). However, these words are attested only in the Prose Edda and texts based on it. It is now agreed that they reflect traditions of dwarves, demons, and angels, partly showing Snorri's "paganisation" of a Christian cosmology learned from the "Elucidarius", a popular digest of Christian thought.


title: Elf

text: Scholars of Old Norse mythology now focus on references to elves in Old Norse poetry, particularly the Elder Edda. The only character explicitly identified as an elf in classical Eddaic poetry, if any, is Völundr, the protagonist of "Völundarkviða". However, elves are frequently mentioned in the alliterating phrase "Æsir ok Álfar" ('Æsir and elves') and its variants. This was a well-established poetic formula, indicating a strong tradition of associating elves with the group of gods known as the Æsir, or even suggesting that the elves and Æsir were one and the same. The pairing is paralleled in the Old English poem "Wið færstice" and in the Germanic personal name system; moreover, in Skaldic verse the word "elf" is used in the same way as words for gods. Sigvatr Þórðarson's skaldic travelogue "Austrfaravísur", composed around 1020, mentions an "álfablót" ('elves' sacrifice') in Edskogen in what is now southern Sweden. There does not seem to have been any clear-cut distinction between humans and gods; like the Æsir, then, elves were presumably thought of as being humanlike and existing in opposition to the giants. Many commentators have also (or instead) argued for conceptual overlap between elves and dwarves in Old Norse mythology, which may fit with trends in the medieval German evidence.


title: Elf

text: There are hints that the god Freyr was associated with elves. In particular, "Álfheimr" (literally "elf-world") is mentioned as being given to Freyr in "Grímnismál". Snorri Sturluson identified Freyr as one of the Vanir. However, the term "Vanir" is rare in Eddaic verse, very rare in Skaldic verse, and is not generally thought to appear in other Germanic languages. Given the link between Freyr and the elves, it has therefore long been suspected that "álfar" and "Vanir" are, more or less, different words for the same group of beings. However, this is not uniformly accepted.


title: Elf

text: A kenning (poetic metaphor) for the sun, "álfröðull" (literally "elf disc"), is of uncertain meaning but is to some suggestive of a close link between elves and the sun.


title: Elf

text: Although the relevant words are of slightly uncertain meaning, it seems fairly clear that Völundr is described as one of the elves in "Völundarkviða". As his most prominent deed in the poem is to rape Böðvildr, the poem associates elves with being a sexual threat to maidens. The same idea is present in two post-classical Eddaic poems, which are also influenced by chivalric romance or Breton "lais", "Kötludraumur" and "Gullkársljóð". The idea also occurs in later traditions in Scandinavia and beyond, so it may be an early attestation of a prominent tradition. Elves also appear in a couple of verse spells, including the Bergen rune-charm from among the Bryggen inscriptions.


title: Elf

text: The appearance of elves in sagas is closely defined by genre. The Sagas of Icelanders, Bishops' sagas, and contemporary sagas, whose portrayal of the supernatural is generally restrained, rarely mention "álfar", and then only in passing. But although limited, these texts provide some of the best evidence for the presence of elves in everyday beliefs in medieval Scandinavia. They include a fleeting mention of elves seen out riding in 1168 (in "Sturlunga saga"); mention of an "álfablót" ("elves' sacrifice") in "Kormáks saga"; and the existence of the euphemism "ganga álfrek" ('go to drive away the elves') for "going to the toilet" in "Eyrbyggja saga".


title: Elf

text: The Kings' sagas include a rather elliptical but widely studied account of an early Swedish king being worshipped after his death and being called Ólafr Geirstaðaálfr ('Ólafr the elf of Geirstaðir'), and a demonic elf at the beginning of "Norna-Gests þáttr".


title: Elf

text: The legendary sagas tend to focus on elves as legendary ancestors or on heroes' sexual relations with elf-women. Mention of the land of Álfheimr is found in "Heimskringla" while "Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar" recounts a line of local kings who ruled over Álfheim, who since they had elven blood were said to be more beautiful than most men. According to "Hrólfs saga kraka", Hrolfr Kraki's half-sister Skuld was the half-elven child of King Helgi and an elf-woman ("álfkona"). Skuld was skilled in witchcraft ("seiðr"). Accounts of Skuld in earlier sources, however, do not include this material. The "Þiðreks saga" version of the Nibelungen (Niflungar) describes Högni as the son of a human queen and an elf, but no such lineage is reported in the Eddas, "Völsunga saga", or the "Nibelungenlied". The relatively few mentions of elves in the chivalric sagas tend even to be whimsical.


title: Elf

text: In his "Rerum Danicarum fragmenta" (1596) written mostly in Latin with some Old Danish and Old Icelandic passages, Arngrímur Jónsson explains the Scandinavian and Icelandic belief in elves (called "Allffuafolch").


title: Elf

text: Both Continental Scandinavia and Iceland have a scattering of mentions of elves in medical texts, sometimes in Latin and sometimes in the form of amulets, where elves are viewed as a possible cause of illness. Most of them have Low German connections.


title: Elf

text: The Old High German word "alp" is attested only in a small number of glosses. It is defined by the "Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch" as a "nature-god or nature-demon, equated with the Fauns of Classical mythology... regarded as eerie, ferocious beings... As the mare he messes around with women". Accordingly, the German word "Alpdruck" (literally "elf-oppression") means "nightmare". There is also evidence associating elves with illness, specifically epilepsy.


title: Elf

text: In a similar vein, elves are in Middle High German most often associated with deceiving or bewildering people in a phrase that occurs so often it would appear to be proverbial: ("the elves/elf are/is deceiving me"). The same pattern holds in Early Modern German. This deception sometimes shows the seductive side apparent in English and Scandinavian material: most famously, the early thirteenth-century Heinrich von Morungen's fifth "Minnesang" begins "Von den elben wirt entsehen vil manic man / Sô bin ich von grôzer liebe entsên" ("full many a man is bewitched by elves / thus I too am bewitched by great love"). "Elbe" was also used in this period to translate words for nymphs.


title: Elf

text: In later medieval prayers, Elves appear as a threatening, even demonic, force. For example, some prayers invoke God's help against nocturnal attacks by "Alpe". Correspondingly, in the early modern period, elves are described in north Germany doing the evil bidding of witches; Martin Luther believed his mother to have been afflicted in this way.


title: Elf

text: As in Old Norse, however, there are few characters identified as elves. It seems likely that in the German-speaking world, elves were to a significant extent conflated with dwarves (). Thus, some dwarves that appear in German heroic poetry have been seen as relating to elves. In particular, nineteenth-century scholars tended to think that the dwarf Alberich, whose name etymologically means "elf-powerful," was influenced by early traditions of elves.


title: Elf

text: From around the Late Middle Ages, the word "elf" began to be used in English as a term loosely synonymous with the French loan-word "fairy"; in elite art and literature, at least, it also became associated with diminutive supernatural beings like Puck, hobgoblins, Robin Goodfellow, the English and Scots brownie, and the Northumbrian English hob.


title: Elf

text: However, in Scotland and parts of northern England near the Scottish border, beliefs in elves remained prominent into the nineteenth century. James VI of Scotland and Robert Kirk discussed elves seriously; elf beliefs are prominently attested in the Scottish witchcraft trials, particularly the trial of Issobel Gowdie; and related stories also appear in folktales, There is a significant corpus of ballads narrating stories about elves, such as "Thomas the Rhymer", where a man meets a female elf; "Tam Lin", "The Elfin Knight", and "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", in which an Elf-Knight rapes, seduces, or abducts a woman; and "The Queen of Elfland's Nourice", a woman is abducted to be a wet-nurse to the elf queen's baby, but promised that she might return home once the child is weaned.


title: Elf

text: In Scandinavian folklore, many humanlike supernatural beings are attested, which might be thought of as elves and partly originate in medieval Scandinavian beliefs. However, the characteristics and names of these beings have varied widely across time and space, and they cannot be neatly categorised. These beings are sometimes known by words descended directly from the Old Norse "álfr". However, in modern languages, traditional terms related to "álfr" have tended to be replaced with other terms. Things are further complicated because when referring to the elves of Old Norse mythology, scholars have adopted new forms based directly on the Old Norse word "álfr". The following table summarises the situation in the main modern standard languages of Scandinavia.


title: Elf

text: The elves of Norse mythology have survived into folklore mainly as females, living in hills and mounds of stones. The Swedish "älvor" were stunningly beautiful girls who lived in the forest with an elven king.


title: Elf

text: The elves could be seen dancing over meadows, particularly at night and on misty mornings. They left a circle where they had danced, called "älvdanser" (elf dances) or "älvringar" (elf circles), and to urinate in one was thought to cause venereal diseases. Typically, elf circles were fairy rings consisting of a ring of small mushrooms, but there was also another kind of elf circle. In the words of the local historian Anne Marie Hellström:


title: Elf

text: If a human watched the dance of the elves, he would discover that even though only a few hours seemed to have passed, many years had passed in the real world. Humans being invited or lured to the elf dance is a common motif transferred from older Scandinavian ballads.


title: Elf

text: Elves were not exclusively young and beautiful. In the Swedish folktale "Little Rosa and Long Leda", an elvish woman ("älvakvinna") arrives in the end and saves the heroine, Little Rose, on the condition that the king's cattle no longer graze on her hill. She is described as a beautiful old woman and by her aspect people saw that she belonged to the "subterraneans".


title: Elf

text: Elves have a prominent place in several closely related ballads, which must have originated in the Middle Ages but are first attested in the early modern period. Many of these ballads are first attested in Karen Brahes Folio, a Danish manuscript from the 1570s, but they circulated widely in Scandinavia and northern Britain. They sometimes mention elves because they were learned by heart, even though that term had become archaic in everyday usage. They have therefore played a major role in transmitting traditional ideas about elves in post-medieval cultures. Indeed, some of the early modern ballads are still quite widely known, whether through school syllabuses or contemporary folk music. They, therefore, give people an unusual degree of access to ideas of elves from older traditional culture.


title: Elf

text: The ballads are characterised by sexual encounters between everyday people and humanlike beings referred to in at least some variants as elves (the same characters also appear as mermen, dwarves, and other kinds of supernatural beings). The elves pose a threat to the everyday community by lure people into the elves' world. The most famous example is "Elveskud" and its many variants (paralleled in English as "Clerk Colvill"), where a woman from the elf world tries to tempt a young knight to join her in dancing, or to live among the elves; in some versions he refuses, and in some he accepts, but in either case he dies, tragically. As in "Elveskud", sometimes the everyday person is a man and the elf a woman, as also in "Elvehøj" (much the same story as "Elveskud," but with a happy ending), "Herr Magnus og Bjærgtrolden", "Herr Tønne af Alsø", "Herr Bøsmer i elvehjem", or the Northern British "Thomas the Rhymer". Sometimes the everyday person is a woman, and the elf is a man, as in the northern British "Tam Lin", "The Elfin Knight", and "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", in which the Elf-Knight bears away Isabel to murder her, or the Scandinavian "Harpans kraft". In "The Queen of Elfland's Nourice", a woman is abducted to be a wet nurse to the elf-queen's baby, but promised that she might return home once the child is weaned.


title: Elf

text: In folk stories, Scandinavian elves often play the role of disease spirits. The most common, though the also most harmless case was various irritating skin rashes, which were called "älvablåst" (elven puff) and could be cured by a forceful counter-blow (a handy pair of bellows was most useful for this purpose). "Skålgropar", a particular kind of petroglyph (pictogram on a rock) found in Scandinavia, were known in older times as "älvkvarnar" (elven mills), because it was believed elves had used them. One could appease the elves by offering a treat (preferably butter) placed into an elven mill.


title: Elf

text: In order to protect themselves and their livestock against malevolent elves, Scandinavians could use a so-called Elf cross ("Alfkors", "Älvkors" or "Ellakors"), which was carved into buildings or other objects. It existed in two shapes, one was a pentagram, and it was still frequently used in early 20th-century Sweden as painted or carved onto doors, walls, and household utensils to protect against elves. The second form was an ordinary cross carved onto a round or oblong silver plate. This second kind of elf cross was worn as a pendant in a necklace, and to have sufficient magic, it had to be forged during three evenings with silver, from nine different sources of inherited silver. In some locations it also had to be on the altar of a church for three consecutive Sundays.


title: Elf

text: In Iceland, expressing belief in the "huldufólk" ("hidden people"), elves that dwell in rock formations, is still relatively common. Even when Icelanders do not explicitly express their belief, they are often reluctant to express disbelief. A 2006 and 2007 study by the University of Iceland's Faculty of Social Sciences revealed that many would not rule out the existence of elves and ghosts, a result similar to a 1974 survey by Erlendur Haraldsson. The lead researcher of the 2006–2007 study, Terry Gunnell, stated: "Icelanders seem much more open to phenomena like dreaming the future, forebodings, ghosts and elves than other nations". Whether significant numbers of Icelandic people do believe in elves or not, elves are certainly prominent in national discourses. They occur most often in oral narratives and news reporting in which they disrupt house- and road-building. In the analysis of Valdimar Tr. Hafstein, "narratives about the insurrections of elves demonstrate supernatural sanction against development and urbanization; that is to say, the supernaturals protect and enforce religious values and traditional rural culture. The elves fend off, with more or less success, the attacks, and advances of modern technology, palpable in the bulldozer." Elves are also prominent, in similar roles, in contemporary Icelandic literature.


title: Elf

text: Folk stories told in the nineteenth century about elves are still told in modern Denmark and Sweden. Still, they now feature ethnic minorities in place of elves in essentially racist discourse. In an ethnically fairly homogeneous medieval countryside, supernatural beings provided the Other through which everyday people created their identities; in cosmopolitan industrial contexts, ethnic minorities or immigrants are used in storytelling to similar effect.


title: Elf

text: Early modern Europe saw the emergence for the first time of a distinctive elite culture: while the Reformation encouraged new skepticism and opposition to traditional beliefs, subsequent Romanticism encouraged the fetishisation of such beliefs by intellectual elites. The effects of this on writing about elves are most apparent in England and Germany, with developments in each country influencing the other. In Scandinavia, the Romantic movement was also prominent, and literary writing was the main context for continued use of the word "elf," except in fossilised words for illnesses. However, oral traditions about beings like elves remained prominent in Scandinavia into the early twentieth century.


title: Elf

text: Elves entered early modern elite culture most clearly in the literature of Elizabethan England. Here Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queene" (1590–) used "fairy" and "elf" interchangeably of human-sized beings, but they are complex, imaginary and allegorical figures. Spenser also presented his own explanation of the origins of the "Elfe" and "Elfin kynd", claiming that they were created by Prometheus. Likewise, William Shakespeare, in a speech in "Romeo and Juliet" (1592) has an "elf-lock" (tangled hair) being caused by Queen Mab, who is referred to as "the fairies' midwife". Meanwhile, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" promoted the idea that elves were diminutive and ethereal. The influence of Shakespeare and Michael Drayton made the use of "elf" and "fairy" for very small beings the norm, and had a lasting effect seen in fairy tales about elves, collected in the modern period.


title: Elf

text: Early modern English notions of elves became influential in eighteenth-century Germany. The Modern German "Elf" (m) and "Elfe" (f) was introduced as a loan-word from English in the 1740s and was prominent in Christoph Martin Wieland's 1764 translation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream".


title: Elf

text: As German Romanticism got underway and writers started to seek authentic folklore, Jacob Grimm rejected "Elf" as a recent Anglicism, and promoted the reuse of the old form "Elb" (plural "Elbe" or "Elben"). In the same vein, Johann Gottfried Herder translated the Danish ballad "Elveskud" in his 1778 collection of folk songs, "", as "" ("The Erl-king's Daughter"; it appears that Herder introduced the term "Erlkönig" into German through a mis-Germanisation of the Danish word for "elf"). This in turn inspired Goethe's poem "Der Erlkönig". Goethe's poem then took on a life of its own, inspiring the Romantic concept of the Erlking, which was influential on literary images of elves from the nineteenth century on.


title: Elf

text: In Scandinavia too, in the nineteenth century, traditions of elves were adapted to include small, insect-winged fairies. These are often called "elves" ("älvor" in modern Swedish, "alfer" in Danish, "álfar" in Icelandic), although the more formal translation in Danish is "feer". Thus, the "alf" found in the fairy tale "The Elf of the Rose" by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen is so tiny he can have a rose blossom for home, and "wings that reached from his shoulders to his feet". Yet Andersen also wrote about "elvere" in "The Elfin Hill". The elves in this story are more alike those of traditional Danish folklore, who were beautiful females, living in hills and boulders, capable of dancing a man to death. Like the "huldra" in Norway and Sweden, they are hollow when seen from the back.


title: Elf

text: English and German literary traditions both influenced the British Victorian image of elves, which appeared in illustrations as tiny men and women with pointed ears and stocking caps. An example is Andrew Lang's fairy tale "Princess Nobody" (1884), illustrated by Richard Doyle, where fairies are tiny people with butterfly wings. In contrast, elves are small people with red stocking caps. These conceptions remained prominent in twentieth-century children's literature, for example Enid Blyton's The Faraway Tree series, and were influenced by German Romantic literature. Accordingly, in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Die Wichtelmänner" (literally, "the little men"), the title protagonists are two tiny naked men who help a shoemaker in his work. Even though "Wichtelmänner" are akin to beings such as kobolds, dwarves and brownies, the tale was translated into English by Margaret Hunt in 1884 as "The Elves and the Shoemaker". This shows how the meanings of "elf" had changed and was in itself influential: the usage is echoed, for example, in the house-elf of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories. In his turn, J. R. R. Tolkien recommended using the older German form "Elb" in translations of his works, as recorded in his "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings" (1967). "Elb, Elben" was consequently introduced in 1972 German translation of "The Lord of the Rings", repopularising the form in German.


title: Elf

text: With industrialisation and mass education, traditional folklore about elves waned, but as the phenomenon of popular culture emerged, elves were re-imagined, in large part based on Romantic literary depictions and associated medievalism.


title: Elf

text: As American Christmas traditions crystallized in the nineteenth century, the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (widely known as "'Twas the Night before Christmas") characterized St Nicholas himself as "a right jolly old elf." However, it was his little helpers, inspired partly by folktales like "The Elves and the Shoemaker", who became known as "Santa's elves"; the processes through which this came about are not well-understood, but one key figure was a Christmas-related publication by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast. Thus in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland, the modern children's folklore of Santa Claus typically includes small, nimble, green-clad elves with pointy ears, long noses, and pointy hats, as Santa's helpers. They make the toys in a workshop located in the North Pole. The role of elves as Santa's helpers has continued to be popular, as evidenced by the success of the popular Christmas movie "Elf".


title: Elf

text: The fantasy genre in the twentieth century grew out of nineteenth-century Romanticism, in which nineteenth-century scholars such as Andrew Lang and the Grimm brothers collected fairy stories from folklore and in some cases retold them freely.


title: Elf

text: A pioneering work of the fantasy genre was "The King of Elfland's Daughter", a 1924 novel by Lord Dunsany. The Elves of Middle-earth played a central role in Tolkien's legendarium, notably "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings"; this legendarium was enormously influential on subsequent fantasy writing. Tolkien's writing had such influence that in the 1960s and afterwards, elves speaking an elvish language similar to those in Tolkien's novels became staple non-human characters in high fantasy works and in fantasy role-playing games. Tolkien also appears to be the first author to have introduced the notion that elves are immortal. Post-Tolkien fantasy elves (which feature not only in novels but also in role-playing games such as "Dungeons & Dragons") are often portrayed as being wiser and more beautiful than humans, with sharper senses and perceptions as well. They are said to be gifted in magic, mentally sharp and lovers of nature, art, and song. They are often skilled archers. A hallmark of many fantasy elves is their pointed ears.


title: Elf

text: In works where elves are the main characters, such as "The Silmarillion" or Wendy and Richard Pini's comic book series "Elfquest", elves exhibit a similar range of behaviour to a human cast, distinguished largely by their superhuman physical powers. However, where narratives are more human-centered, as in "The Lord of the Rings", elves tend to sustain their role as powerful, sometimes threatening, outsiders. Despite the obvious fictionality of fantasy novels and games, scholars have found that elves in these works continue to have a subtle role in shaping the real-life identities of their audiences. For example, elves can function to encode real-world racial others in video games, or to influence gender norms through literature.


title: Elf

text: Beliefs in humanlike supernatural beings are widespread in human cultures, and many such beings may be referred to as "elves" in English.


title: Elf

text: Elfish beings appear to have been a common characteristic within Indo-European mythologies. In the Celtic-speaking regions of north-west Europe, the beings most similar to elves are generally referred to with the Gaelic term "Aos Sí". The equivalent term in modern Welsh is "Tylwyth Teg". In the Romance-speaking world, beings comparable to elves are widely known by words derived from Latin "fata" ('fate'), which came into English as "fairy". This word became partly synonymous with "elf" by the early modern period. Other names also abound, however, such as the Sicilian "Donas de fuera" ('ladies from outside'), or French "bonnes dames" ('good ladies'). In the Finnic-speaking world, the term usually thought most closely equivalent to "elf" is "haltija" (in Finnish) or "haldaja" (Estonian). Meanwhile, an example of an equivalent in the Slavic-speaking world is the "vila" (plural "vile") of Serbo-Croatian (and, partly, Slovene) folklore. Elves bear some resemblances to the satyrs of Greek mythology, who were also regarded as woodland-dwelling mischief-makers.


title: Elf

text: Some scholarship draws parallels between the Arabian tradition of "jinn" with the elves of medieval Germanic-language cultures. Some of the comparisons are quite precise: for example, the root of the word "jinn" was used in medieval Arabic terms for madness and possession in similar ways to the Old English word "ylfig", which was derived from "elf" and also denoted prophetic states of mind implicitly associated with elfish possession.


title: Elf

text: Khmer culture in Cambodia includes the "Mrenh kongveal", elfish beings associated with guarding animals.


title: Elf

text: In the animistic precolonial beliefs of the Philippines, the world can be divided into the material world and the spirit world. All objects, animate or inanimate, have a spirit called "anito". Non-human "anito" are known as "diwata", usually euphemistically referred to as "dili ingon nato" ('those unlike us'). They inhabit natural features like mountains, forests, old trees, caves, reefs, etc., as well as personify abstract concepts and natural phenomena. They are similar to elves in that they can be helpful or hateful but are usually indifferent to mortals. They can be mischievous and cause unintentional harm to humans, but they can also deliberately cause illnesses and misfortunes when disrespected or angered. Spanish colonizers equated them with elves and fairy folklore.


title: Elf

text: Orang bunian are supernatural beings in Malaysian, Bruneian and Indonesian folklore, invisible to most humans except those with spiritual sight. While the term is often translated as "elves", it literally translates to "hidden people" or "whistling people". Their appearance is nearly identical to humans dressed in an ancient Southeast Asian style.


title: La La Anthony

text: Alani Nicole "La La" Anthony (née Vázquez; born June 25, 1979 ) is an American television personality and actress. In the early 2000s, she worked as an MTV VJ on "Total Request Live". She was the host of the VH1 reality television reunion shows "Flavor of Love", "I Love New York", "For the Love of Ray J", and "Real Chance of Love", and was a dean on "Charm School with Ricki Lake".


title: La La Anthony

text: Anthony appeared in "Two Can Play That Game" (2001), "You Got Served" (2004), "Think Like a Man" (2012), "Think Like a Man 2" (2014), "November Rule" (2015) and "Destined" (2015). She appeared as Lakeisha Grant in the Starz original drama series "Power". She hosted the American reality television series "La La's Full Court Wedding" and "La La's Full Court Life". She married NBA player Carmelo Anthony in 2010.


title: La La Anthony

text: Anthony was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents are of Puerto Rican heritage born and raised in New York City. Anthony (who describes herself as an Afro-Puerto Rican) has a younger brother and two younger sisters. As a young child, she was involved in many activities, but music was her main interest. She went to Howard University, where she studied communications but did not graduate.


title: La La Anthony

text: At the age of 15, Anthony started working in radio at WHTA-FM, HOT 97.5 in Georgia. After a short internship at that station, and while still in high school, she hosted Future Flavas, alongside rapper/actor Ludacris.


title: La La Anthony

text: At 19, Anthony worked at Los Angeles's 92.3 The Beat cohosting "The B-Syde". She left the station in 2001 and moved to MTV where she cohosted "Direct Effect" and "Total Request Live".


title: La La Anthony

text: In 2003, Anthony left MTV. She worked as a producer on Mike Tyson’s documentary, "Tyson", which won the Regard Knockout Award in France and was included in the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Anthony also produced a feature film with director/producer Brett Ratner.


title: La La Anthony

text: Anthony appeared in films "Two Can Play That Game," "Think Like a Man", "Baggage Claim" and television shows "NYC 22" and "Single Ladies". Other film credits include "Urban Massacre" (2002), "Monster Island" (2004), and "You Got Served" (2004).


title: La La Anthony

text: In October 2011, Anthony appeared in the off-Broadway production of "Love Loss and What I Wore". Anthony appeared in and executive produced "La La's Full Court Wedding", which chronicled the time leading up to her wedding to NBA star Carmelo Anthony.


title: La La Anthony

text: On February 2, 2012, she launched a cosmetic line and in 2013 a clothing line. She's written several books.


title: La La Anthony

text: On Christmas Day 2004, La La became engaged to basketball player Carmelo Anthony. Their son, Kiyan Carmelo Anthony, was born on March 7, 2007. They were married by Michael Eric Dyson on July 10, 2010, at Cipriani's in New York before 320 guests. The ceremony was filmed by VH1 and aired as part of a reality series on the couple, titled "La La's Full Court Wedding". The couple's life together is chronicled on their continuation series, "La La's Full Court Life". In June 2021, La La filed for divorce.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Mary Celeste (; often erroneously referred to as Marie Celeste) was an American-registered merchant brigantine, best known for being discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands on December 4, 1872. The Canadian brigantine found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition under partial sail and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7 and was still amply provisioned when found. Her cargo of alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again.


title: Mary Celeste

text: "Mary Celeste" was built in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia, and launched under British registration as "Amazon" in 1861. She was transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868, when she acquired her new name. Thereafter she sailed uneventfully until her 1872 voyage. At the salvage hearings in Gibraltar following her recovery, the court's officers considered various possibilities of foul play, including mutiny by "Mary Celeste"s crew, piracy by the "Dei Gratia" crew or others, and conspiracy to carry out insurance or salvage fraud. No convincing evidence supported these theories, but unresolved suspicions led to a relatively low salvage award.


title: Mary Celeste

text: The inconclusive nature of the hearings fostered continued speculation as to the nature of the mystery, and the story has repeatedly been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the cargo, submarine earthquakes, waterspouts, attack by a giant squid, and paranormal intervention.


title: Mary Celeste

text: After the Gibraltar hearings, "Mary Celeste" continued in service under new owners. In 1885, her captain deliberately wrecked her off the coast of Haiti as part of an attempted insurance fraud. The story of her 1872 abandonment has been recounted and dramatized many times in documentaries, novels, plays, and films, and the name of the ship has become a byword for unexplained desertion. In 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement", a short story based on the mystery, but spelled the vessel's name as "Marie Celeste". The story's popularity led to the spelling becoming more common than the original in everyday use.


title: Mary Celeste

text: The keel of the future "Mary Celeste" was laid in late 1860 at the shipyard of Joshua Dewis in the village of Spencer's Island, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The ship was constructed of locally felled timber, with two masts, and was rigged as a brigantine; she was carvel-built, the hull planking flush rather than overlapping. She was launched on May 18, 1861, given the name "Amazon", and registered at nearby Parrsboro on June 10, 1861. Her registration documents described her as in length, broad, with a depth of , and of 198.42 gross tonnage. She was owned by a local consortium of nine people, headed by Dewis; among the co-owners was Robert McLellan, the ship's first captain.


title: Mary Celeste

text: For her maiden voyage in June 1861, "Amazon" sailed to Five Islands, Nova Scotia to take on a cargo of timber for passage across the Atlantic to London. After supervising the ship's loading, Captain McLellan fell ill; his condition worsened. The "Amazon" returned to Spencer's Island where McLellan died on June 19. John Nutting Parker took over as captain, and resumed the voyage to London, in the course of which "Amazon" encountered further misadventures. She collided with fishing equipment in the narrows off Eastport, Maine, and after leaving London ran into and sank a brig in the English Channel.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Parker remained in command for two years, during which "Amazon" worked mainly in the West Indies trade. She crossed the Atlantic to France in November 1861, and in Marseille was the subject of a painting, possibly by Honoré de Pellegrin, a well-known maritime artist of the Marseilles School. In 1863, Parker was succeeded by William Thompson, who remained in command until 1867. These were quiet years; "Amazon"s mate later recalled that, "We went to the West Indies, England and the Mediterranean—what we call the foreign trade. Not a thing unusual happened." In October 1867, at Cape Breton Island, "Amazon" was driven ashore in a storm, and was so badly damaged that her owners abandoned her as a wreck. On October 15, she was acquired as a derelict by Alexander McBean, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Within a month, McBean sold the wreck to a local businessman, who in November 1868, sold it to Richard W. Haines, an American mariner from New York. Haines paid US$1,750 for the wreck, and then spent $8,825 restoring it. He made himself her captain, and, in December 1868, registered her with the Collector of the Port of New York as an American vessel, under a new name, "Mary Celeste".


title: Mary Celeste

text: In October 1869, the ship was seized by Haines's creditors, and sold to a New York consortium headed by James H. Winchester. During the next three years, the composition of this consortium changed several times, although Winchester retained at least a half-share throughout. No record of "Mary Celeste"s trading activities during this period have been found. Early in 1872, the ship underwent a major refit, costing $10,000, which enlarged her considerably. Her length was increased to , her breadth to and her depth to . Among the structural changes, a second deck was added; an inspector's report refers to extensions to the poop deck, new transoms and replacement of many timbers. The work increased the ship's tonnage to 282.28. On October 29, 1872, the consortium was made up of Winchester with six shares and two minor investors with one share apiece, the remaining four of 12 shares being held by the ship's new captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Benjamin Briggs was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, on April 24, 1835, one of five sons of sea captain Nathan Briggs. All but one of the sons went to sea, two becoming captains. Benjamin was an observant Christian who read the Bible regularly and often bore witness to his faith at prayer meetings. In 1862, he married his cousin Sarah Elizabeth Cobb, and enjoyed a Mediterranean honeymoon on board his schooner "Forest King". Two children were born: Arthur in September 1865, and Sophia Matilda in October 1870.


title: Mary Celeste

text: By the time of Sophia's birth, Briggs had achieved a high standing within his profession. He considered retiring from the sea to go into business with his seafaring brother Oliver, who had also grown tired of the wandering life. They did not proceed with this project, but each invested his savings in a share of a ship: Oliver invested in "Julia A. Hallock", and Benjamin in "Mary Celeste". In October 1872, Benjamin took command of "Mary Celeste" for her first voyage following her extensive New York refit, which was to take her to Genoa in Italy. He arranged for his wife and infant daughter to accompany him, while his school-aged son was left at home in the care of his grandmother.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Briggs chose the crew for this voyage with care. First mate Albert G. Richardson was married to a niece of Winchester and had sailed under Briggs before. Second mate Andrew Gilling, aged about 25, was born in New York, and was of Danish extraction. The steward, newly married Edward William Head, was signed on with a personal recommendation from Winchester. The four general seamen were Germans from the Frisian Islands: the brothers Volkert and Boz Lorenzen, Arian Martens, and Gottlieb Goudschaal. A later testimonial described them as "peaceable and first-class sailors." In a letter to his mother shortly before the voyage, Briggs declared himself eminently satisfied with ship and crew. Sarah Briggs informed her mother that the crew appeared to be quietly capable "... if they continue as they have begun".


title: Mary Celeste

text: On October 20, 1872, Briggs arrived at Pier 50 on the East River in New York City to supervise the loading of the ship's cargo of 1,701 barrels of alcohol; his wife and infant daughter joined him a week later. On Sunday, November 3, Briggs wrote to his mother to say that he intended to leave on Tuesday, adding that "our vessel is in beautiful trim and I hope we shall have a fine passage."


title: Mary Celeste

text: On Tuesday morning (November 5), "Mary Celeste" left Pier 50 with Briggs, his wife and daughter, and seven crew members, and moved into New York Harbor. The weather was uncertain, and Briggs decided to wait for better conditions. He anchored the ship just off Staten Island, where Sarah used the delay to send a final letter to her mother-in-law. "Tell Arthur," she wrote, "I make great dependence on the letters I shall get from him, and will try to remember anything that happens on the voyage which he would be pleased to hear." The weather eased two days later, and "Mary Celeste" left the harbor and entered the Atlantic.


title: Mary Celeste

text: While "Mary Celeste" prepared to sail, the Canadian brigantine lay nearby in Hoboken, New Jersey, awaiting a cargo of petroleum destined for Genoa via Gibraltar. Captain David Morehouse and first mate Oliver Deveau were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen. Captains Briggs and Morehouse shared common interests, and some writers think it likely that they knew each other, if only casually. Some accounts assert that they were close friends who dined together on the evening before "Mary Celeste"s departure, but the evidence for this is limited to a recollection by Morehouse's widow 50 years after the event. "Dei Gratia" departed for Gibraltar on November 15, following the same general route eight days after "Mary Celeste".


title: Mary Celeste

text: "Dei Gratia" had reached a position of , midway between the Azores and the coast of Portugal at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, December 4, 1872, land time (Thursday, December 5, sea time). Captain Morehouse came on deck and the helmsman reported a vessel about distant, heading unsteadily towards "Dei Gratia". The ship's erratic movements and the odd set of her sails led Morehouse to suspect that something was wrong. As the vessel drew close, he could see nobody on deck, and he received no reply to his signals, so he sent Deveau and second mate John Wright in a ship's boat to investigate. The pair established that this was the "Mary Celeste" by the name on her stern; they then climbed aboard and found the ship deserted. The sails were partly set and in a poor condition, some missing altogether, and much of the rigging was damaged, with ropes hanging loosely over the sides. The main hatch cover was secure, but the fore and lazarette hatches were open, their covers beside them on the deck. The ship's single lifeboat was a small yawl that had apparently been stowed across the main hatch, but it was missing, while the binnacle housing the ship's compass had shifted from its place and its glass cover was broken. There was about of water in the hold, a significant but not alarming amount for a ship of this size. A makeshift sounding rod (a device for measuring the amount of water in the hold) was found abandoned on the deck.


title: Mary Celeste

text: They found the ship's daily log in the mate's cabin, and its final entry was dated at 8 a.m. on November 25, nine days earlier. It recorded "Mary Celeste"s position then as off Santa Maria Island in the Azores, nearly from the point where "Dei Gratia" encountered her. Deveau saw that the cabin interiors were wet and untidy from water that had entered through doorways and skylights, but were otherwise in reasonable order. He found personal items scattered about Briggs' cabin, including a sheathed sword under the bed, but most of the ship's papers were missing along with the captain's navigational instruments. Galley equipment was neatly stowed away; there was no food prepared or under preparation, but there were ample provisions in the stores. There were no obvious signs of fire or violence; the evidence indicated an orderly departure from the ship by means of the missing lifeboat.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Deveau returned to report these findings to Morehouse, who decided to bring the derelict into Gibraltar away. Under maritime law, a salvor could expect a substantial share of the combined value of rescued vessel and cargo, the exact award depending on the degree of danger inherent in the salvaging. Morehouse divided "Dei Gratia"s crew of eight between the two vessels, sending Deveau and two experienced seamen to "Mary Celeste" while he and four others remained on "Dei Gratia". The weather was relatively calm for most of the way to Gibraltar, but each ship was seriously undercrewed and progress was slow. "Dei Gratia" reached Gibraltar on December 12; "Mary Celeste" had encountered fog and arrived on the following morning. She was immediately impounded by the vice admiralty court to prepare for salvage hearings. Deveau wrote to his wife that the ordeal of bringing the ship in was such that "I can hardly tell what I am made of, but I do not care so long as I got in safe. I shall be well paid for the "Mary Celeste"."


title: Mary Celeste

text: The salvage court hearings began in Gibraltar on December 17, 1872, under Sir James Cochrane, the chief justice of Gibraltar. The hearing was conducted by Frederick Solly-Flood, Attorney General of Gibraltar who was also Advocate-General and Proctor for the Queen in Her Office of Admiralty. Flood was described by a historian of the "Mary Celeste" affair as a man "whose arrogance and pomposity were inversely proportional to his IQ", and as "... the sort of man who, once he had made up his mind about something, couldn't be shifted." The testimonies of Deveau and Wright convinced Flood unalterably that a crime had been committed, a belief picked up by the New York "Shipping and Commercial List" on December 21: "The inference is that there has been foul play somewhere, and that alcohol is at the bottom of it."


title: Mary Celeste

text: On December 23, Flood ordered an examination of "Mary Celeste", which was carried out by John Austin, Surveyor of Shipping, with the assistance of a diver, Ricardo Portunato. Austin noted cuts on each side of the bow, caused, he thought, by a sharp instrument, and found possible traces of blood on the captain's sword. His report emphasized that the ship did not appear to have been struck by heavy weather, citing a vial of sewing machine oil found upright in its place. Austin did not acknowledge that the vial might have been replaced since the abandonment, nor did the court raise this point. Portunato's report on the hull concluded that the ship had not been involved in a collision or run aground. A further inspection by a group of Royal Naval captains endorsed Austin's opinion that the cuts on the bow had been caused deliberately. They also discovered stains on one of the ship's rails that might have been blood, together with a deep mark possibly caused by an axe. These findings strengthened Flood's suspicions that human wrongdoing rather than natural disaster lay behind the mystery. On January 22, 1873, he sent the reports to the Board of Trade in London, adding his own conclusion that the crew had got at the alcohol and murdered the Briggs family and the ship's officers in a drunken frenzy. They had cut the bows to simulate a collision, then fled in the yawl to suffer an unknown fate. Flood thought that Morehouse and his men were hiding something, specifically that "Mary Celeste" had been abandoned in a more easterly location, and that the log had been doctored. He could not accept that "Mary Celeste" could have traveled so far while uncrewed.


title: Mary Celeste

text: James Winchester arrived in Gibraltar on January 15, to enquire when "Mary Celeste" might be released to deliver her cargo. Flood demanded a surety of $15,000, money Winchester did not have. Winchester became aware that Flood thought Winchester might have deliberately engaged a crew that would kill Briggs and his officers as part of some conspiracy. On January 29, during a series of sharp exchanges with Flood, Winchester testified to Briggs's high character, and insisted that Briggs would not have abandoned the ship except in extremity. Flood's theories of mutiny and murder received significant setbacks when scientific analysis of the stains found on the sword and elsewhere on the ship showed that they were not blood. A second blow to Flood followed in a report commissioned by Horatio Sprague, the American consul in Gibraltar, from Captain Shufeldt of the US Navy. In Shufeldt's view, the marks on the bow were not man-made, but came from the natural actions of the sea on the ship's timbers.


title: Mary Celeste

text: With nothing concrete to support his suspicions, Flood reluctantly released "Mary Celeste" from the court's jurisdiction on February 25. Two weeks later, with a locally raised crew headed by Captain George Blatchford from Massachusetts, she left Gibraltar for Genoa. The question of the salvage payment was decided on April 8, when Cochrane announced the award: £1,700, or about one-fifth of the total value of ship and cargo. This was far lower than the general expectation—one authority thought that the award should have been twice or even three times that amount, given the level of hazard in bringing the derelict into port. Cochrane's final words were harshly critical of Morehouse for his decision, earlier in the hearing, to send "Dei Gratia" under Deveau to deliver her cargo of petroleum—although Morehouse had remained in Gibraltar at the disposal of the court. Cochrane's tone carried an implication of wrongdoing, which, says Hicks, ensured that Morehouse and his crew "...would be under suspicion in the court of public opinion forever."


title: Mary Celeste

text: The evidence in Gibraltar failed to support Flood's theories of murder and conspiracy, yet suspicion lingered of foul play. Flood, and some newspaper reports, briefly suspected insurance fraud on the part of Winchester on the basis that "Mary Celeste" had been heavily over-insured. Winchester was able to refute these allegations and no inquiry was instituted by the insurance companies that issued the policies. In 1931, an article in the "Quarterly Review" suggested that Morehouse could have lain in wait for "Mary Celeste", then lured Briggs and his crew aboard "Dei Gratia" and killed them there. Paul Begg argues that this theory ignores the fact that "Dei Gratia" was the slower ship; she left New York eight days after "Mary Celeste" and would not have caught "Mary Celeste" before she reached Gibraltar.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Another theory posits that Briggs and Morehouse were partners in a conspiracy to share the salvage proceedings. The unsubstantiated friendship between the two captains has been cited by commentators as making such a plan a plausible explanation. Hicks comments that, "if Morehouse and Briggs had been planning such a scam, they would not have devised such an attention-drawing mystery". He also asks why Briggs left his son Arthur behind if he intended to disappear permanently. Another suggested event was an attack by Riffian pirates who were active off the coast of Morocco in the 1870s. However, Charles Edey Fay observes that pirates would have looted the ship, yet the personal possessions of captain and crew were left undisturbed, some of significant value. In 1925, historian John Gilbert Lockhart surmised that Briggs slaughtered all on board and then killed himself in a fit of religious mania. Lockhart later spoke to Briggs's descendants, and he apologized and withdrew this theory in a later edition of his book.


title: Mary Celeste

text: In Cobb's view, the transfer of personnel to the yawl may have been intended as a temporary safety measure. He speculated from Deveau's report on the state of the rigging and ropes that the ship's main halliard may have been used to attach the yawl to the ship, enabling the company to return on board when the danger had passed. However, "Mary Celeste" would have sailed away empty if the line had parted, leaving the yawl adrift with its occupants. Begg notes how illogical it would be to attach the yawl to a vessel that the crew thought was about to explode or sink. Macdonald Hastings points out that Briggs was an experienced captain and asks whether he would have effected a panicked abandonment. "If the "Mary Celeste" had blown her timbers, she would still have been a better bet for survival than the ship's boat." If this is what happened, says Hastings, Briggs "behaved like a fool; worse, a frightened one."


title: Mary Celeste

text: Arthur N. Putman, a New York insurance appraiser, was a leading investigator in sea mysteries in the early 20th century and wrote a similar lifeboat theory. Putman laid special stress on the fact that only a single lifeboat was missing from the vessel. He discovered that the rope of the boat was cut, not untied, which indicated when the "Mary Celeste" was abandoned it was done quickly. Several times in the ship's log there is mention of ominous rumbling and small explosions from the hold. Cargos of alcohol naturally give off explosive gas and these sounds described are quite common. He supposes that one day there was a more intense explosion and a sailor ventured below deck with a light or lit cigar which set off the accumulated fumes causing an explosion violent enough to blow off the top covering on the hatch, which had been found in an unusual position. Putnam ends his theory, that in a panicked terror the captain, family, and crew piled into the lone lifeboat, cut the rope and set out to sea, abandoning the vessel.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Commentators generally agree that some extraordinary and alarming circumstance must have arisen, to cause the entire crew to abandon a sound and seaworthy ship with ample provisions. Deveau ventured an explanation based on the sounding rod found on deck. He suggested that Briggs abandoned ship after a false sounding, because of a malfunction of the pumps or other mishap, which gave a false impression that the vessel was taking on water rapidly. A severe waterspout strike before the abandonment could explain the amount of water in the ship and the ragged state of her rigging and sails. The low barometric pressure generated by the spout could have driven water from the bilges up into the pumps, leading the crew to assume that the ship had taken on more water than she had and was in danger of sinking.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Other proffered explanations are: the possible appearance of a displaced iceberg, the fear of running aground while becalmed, and a sudden submarine earthquake. Hydrographical evidence suggests that an iceberg drifting so far south was improbable, and other ships would have seen it had there been one. Begg gives more consideration to a theory that "Mary Celeste" began drifting towards the Dollabarat reef off Santa Maria Island when she was becalmed. The theory supposes that Briggs feared that his ship would run aground and launched the yawl in the hope of reaching land. The wind could then have picked up and blown "Mary Celeste" away from the reef, while the rising seas swamped and sank the yawl. The weakness of this theory is that, if the ship had been becalmed, all sails would have been set to catch any available breeze, yet it was found with many of its sails furled.


title: Mary Celeste

text: An earthquake on the sea bed could have caused sufficient turbulence on the surface to damage parts of "Mary Celeste"s cargo, thus releasing noxious fumes. Rising fears of an imminent explosion could plausibly have led Briggs to order the ship's abandonment; the displaced hatches suggest that an inspection, or an attempted airing, had taken place. The "New York World" of January 24, 1886, drew attention to a case where a vessel carrying alcohol had exploded. The same journal's issue of February 9, 1913, cited a seepage of alcohol through a few porous barrels as the source of gases that may have caused or threatened an explosion in "Mary Celeste"s hold. Briggs's cousin Oliver Cobb was a strong proponent of this theory as providing a sufficiently alarming scenario—rumblings from the hold, the smell of escaping fumes and possibly an explosion—for Briggs to have ordered the evacuation of the ship. In his haste to leave the ship before it exploded, Briggs may have failed to properly secure the yawl to the tow line. A sudden breeze could have blown the ship away from the occupants of the yawl, leaving them to succumb to the elements. The lack of damage from an explosion and the generally sound state of the cargo upon discovery tend to weaken this case.


title: Mary Celeste

text: In 2006, an experiment was carried out for Channel Five television by chemist Andrea Sella of University College, London, the results of which helped to revive the "explosion" theory. Sella built a model of the hold, with paper cartons representing the barrels. Using butane gas, he created an explosion that caused a considerable blast and ball of flame—but contrary to expectation, no fire damage within the replica hold. "What we created was a pressure-wave type of explosion. There was a spectacular wave of flame but, behind it, was relatively cool air. No soot was left behind and there was no burning or scorching."


title: Mary Celeste

text: Fact and fiction became intertwined in the decades that followed. The "Los Angeles Times" retold the "Mary Celeste" story in June 1883 with invented detail. "Every sail was set, the tiller was lashed fast, not a rope was out of place. ... The fire was burning in the galley. The dinner was standing untasted and scarcely cold … the log written up to the hour of her discovery." The November 1906 "Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine" reported that "Mary Celeste" drifted off the Cape Verde Islands, some south of the actual location. Among many inaccuracies, the first mate was "a man named Briggs," and there were live chickens on board.


title: Mary Celeste

text: The most influential retelling, according to many commentators, was a story in the January 1884 issue of the "Cornhill Magazine" which ensured that the "Mary Celeste" affair would never be forgotten. This was an early work of Arthur Conan Doyle, a 25 year-old ship's surgeon at the time. Conan Doyle's story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" did not adhere to the facts. He renamed the ship "Marie Celeste", the captain's name was J. W. Tibbs, the fatal voyage took place in 1873, and it was from Boston to Lisbon. The vessel carried passengers, among them the titular Jephson. In the story, a fanatic named Septimius Goring with a hatred of the white race has suborned members of the crew to murder Tibbs and take the vessel to the shores of Western Africa. The rest of the ship's company is killed, save for Jephson who is spared because he possesses a magical charm that is venerated by Goring and his accomplices. Conan Doyle had not expected his story to be taken seriously, but Sprague was still serving as the U.S. consul in Gibraltar and was sufficiently intrigued to inquire if any part of the story might be true.


title: Mary Celeste

text: In 1913, "The Strand Magazine" provided an alleged survivor's account from one Abel Fosdyk, supposedly "Mary Celeste"s steward. In this version, the crew had gathered on a temporary swimming platform to watch a swimming contest, when the platform suddenly collapsed. All except Fosdyk were drowned or eaten by sharks. Unlike Conan Doyle's story, the magazine proposed this as a serious solution to the enigma, but it contained many simple mistakes, including "Griggs" for Briggs, "Boyce" for Morehouse, Briggs's daughter as a seven-year-old child rather than a two-year-old, a crew of 13, and an ignorance of nautical language. Many more people were convinced by a plausible literary hoax of the 1920s perpetrated by Irish writer Laurence J. Keating, again presented as a survivor's story of one John Pemberton. This one told a complex tale of murder, madness, and collusion with the "Dei Gratia". It included basic errors, such as using Conan Doyle's name ("Marie Celeste") and misnaming key personnel. Nevertheless, the story was so convincingly told that the "New York Herald Tribune" of July 26, 1926, thought its truth beyond dispute. Hastings describes Keating's hoax as "an impudent trick by a man not without imaginative ability."


title: Mary Celeste

text: In 1924, the "Daily Express" published a story by Captain R. Lucy, whose alleged informant was "Mary Celeste"s former bosun, although no such person is recorded in the registered crew list. In this tale, Briggs and his crew are cast in the role of predators; they sight a derelict steamer, which they board and find deserted with £3,500 of gold and silver in its safe. They decide to split the money, abandon "Mary Celeste", and seek new lives in Spain, which they reach by using the steamer's lifeboats. Hastings finds it astonishing that such an unlikely story was widely believed for a time; readers, he says, "were fooled by the magic of print."


title: Mary Celeste

text: "Chambers's Journal" of September 17, 1904, suggests that the entire complement of "Mary Celeste" was plucked off one by one by a giant octopus or squid. According to the Natural History Museum, giant squid ("Architeuthis dux") can reach in length and have been known to attack ships. Begg remarks that such a creature could conceivably have picked off a crew member, but it could hardly have taken the yawl and the captain's navigation instruments. Other explanations have suggested paranormal intervention; an undated edition of the "British Journal of Astrology" describes the "Mary Celeste" story as "a mystical experience", connecting it "with the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, the lost continent of Atlantis, and the British Israel Movement". The Bermuda Triangle has been invoked, even though "Mary Celeste" was abandoned in a completely different part of the Atlantic. Similar fantasies have considered theories of abduction by aliens in flying saucers.


title: Mary Celeste

text: "Mary Celeste" left Genoa on June 26, 1873, and arrived in New York on September 19. The Gibraltar hearings, with newspaper stories of bloodshed and murder, had made her an unpopular ship; Hastings records that she "... rotted on wharves where nobody wanted her." In February 1874, the consortium sold the ship, at a considerable loss, to a partnership of New York businessmen.


title: Mary Celeste

text: Under this new ownership, "Mary Celeste" sailed mainly in the West Indian and Indian Ocean routes, regularly losing money. Details of her movements occasionally appeared in the shipping news; in February 1879, she was reported at the island of St. Helena, where she had called to seek medical assistance for her captain, Edgar Tuthill, who had fallen ill. Tuthill died on the island, encouraging the idea that the ship was cursed—he was her third captain to die prematurely. In February 1880, the owners sold "Mary Celeste" to a partnership of Bostonians headed by Wesley Gove. A new captain, Thomas L. Fleming, remained in the post until August 1884, when he was replaced by Gilman C. Parker. During these years, the ship's port of registration changed several times, before reverting to Boston. There are no records of her voyages during this time, although Brian Hicks, in his study of the affair, asserts that Gove tried hard to make a success of her.


title: Mary Celeste

text: In November 1884, Parker conspired with a group of Boston shippers, who filled "Mary Celeste" with a largely worthless cargo, misrepresented on the ship's manifest as valuable goods and insured for US$30,000 ($ today). On December 16, Parker set out for Port-au-Prince, the capital and chief port of Haiti. On January 3, 1885, "Mary Celeste" approached the port via the channel between Gonâve Island and the mainland, in which lay a large and well-charted coral reef, the Rochelois Bank. Parker deliberately ran the ship on to this reef, ripping out her bottom and wrecking her beyond repair. He and the crew then rowed themselves ashore, where Parker sold the salvageable cargo for $500 to the American consul, and instituted insurance claims for the alleged value.


title: Mary Celeste

text: When the consul reported that what he had bought was almost worthless, the ship's insurers began a thorough investigation, which soon revealed the truth of the over-insured cargo. In July 1885, Parker and the shippers were tried in Boston for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Parker was additionally charged with "wilfully cast[ing] away the ship," a crime known as barratry and at the time carrying the death penalty. The conspiracy case was heard first, but on August 15, the jury announced that they could not agree on a verdict. Some jurors were unwilling to risk prejudicing Parker's forthcoming capital trial by finding him guilty on the conspiracy charge. Rather than ordering an expensive retrial, the judge negotiated an arrangement whereby the defendants withdrew their insurance claims and repaid all they had received. The barratry charge against Parker was deferred, and he was allowed to go free. Nevertheless, his professional reputation was ruined, and he died in poverty three months later. One of his co-defendants went mad, and another killed himself. Begg observes that "if the court of man could not punish these men ... the curse that had devilled the ship since her first skipper Robert McLellan had died on her maiden voyage could reach beyond the vessel's watery grave and exact its own terrible retribution."


title: Mary Celeste

text: In August 2001, an expedition headed by the marine archaeologist and author Clive Cussler announced that they had found the remains of a ship embedded in the Rochelois reef. Only a few pieces of timber and some metal artifacts could be salvaged, the remainder of the wreckage being lost within the coral. Initial tests on the wood indicated that it was the type extensively used in New York shipyards at the time of "Mary Celeste"s 1872 refit, and it seemed the remains of "Mary Celeste" had been found. However, dendrochronological tests carried out by Scott St George of the Geological Survey of Canada showed that the wood came from trees, most probably from the US state of Georgia, that would still have been growing in 1894, about ten years after "Mary Celeste" demise.


title: Mary Celeste

text: "Mary Celeste" was not the first reported case of a ship being found strangely deserted on the high seas. Rupert Gould, a naval officer and investigator of maritime mysteries, lists other such occurrences between 1840 and 1855. Whatever the truth of these stories, it is the "Mary Celeste" that is remembered; the ship's name, or the misspelled "Marie Celeste", has become fixed in people's minds as synonymous with inexplicable desertion.


title: Mary Celeste

text: In October 1955, , a 70-ton motor vessel, disappeared in the South Pacific while traveling between Samoa and Tokelau, with 25 people on board. The vessel was found a month later, deserted and drifting north of Vanua Levu, from its route. None of those aboard were seen again, and a commission of inquiry failed to establish an explanation. David Wright, the affair's principal historian, has described the case as "... a classic marine mystery of "Mary Celeste" proportions."


title: Mary Celeste

text: The "Mary Celeste" story inspired two well-received radio plays in the 1930s, by L. Du Garde Peach and Tim Healey respectively, and a stage version of Peach's play in 1949. Several novels have been published, generally offering natural rather than fantastic explanations. In 1935, the British film company Hammer Film Productions issued "The Mystery of the Mary Celeste" (retitled "Phantom Ship" for American audiences), starring Bela Lugosi as a deranged sailor. It was not a commercial success, although Begg considers it "a period piece well worth watching." A 1938 short film titled "The Ship That Died" presents dramatizations of a range of theories to explain the abandonment: mutiny, fear of explosion due to alcohol fumes, and the supernatural.


title: Mary Celeste

text: In November 2007, the Smithsonian Channel screened a documentary, "The True Story of the Mary Celeste", which investigated many aspects of the case without offering any definite solution. One theory proposed pump congestion and instrument malfunction. The "Mary Celeste" had been used for transporting coal, which is known for its dust, before it was loaded with alcohol. The pump was found disassembled on deck, so the crew may have been attempting to repair it. The hull was packed full, and the captain would have no way of judging how much water had been taken on while navigating rough seas. The filmmakers postulated that the chronometer was faulty, meaning that Briggs could have ordered abandonment thinking that they were close to Santa Maria, when they were farther west.


title: Mary Celeste

text: At Spencer's Island, "Mary Celeste" and her lost crew are commemorated by a monument at the site of the brigantine's construction and by a memorial outdoor cinema built in the shape of the vessel's hull. Postage stamps commemorating the incident have been issued by Gibraltar (twice) and by the Maldives (twice, once with the name of the ship misspelt as "Marie Celeste").


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: The Call of the Wild is a 2020 American adventure film based on Jack London's 1903 novel of the same name. Directed by Chris Sanders, in his live-action directorial debut, and his first film without a co-director, the film was written by Michael Green, and stars Harrison Ford, Omar Sy, Cara Gee, Dan Stevens, Karen Gillan, and Bradley Whitford. Set during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, the film follows a dog named Buck as he is stolen from his home in California and sent to the Yukon, where he befriends an old outdoorsman and begins a life-altering adventure.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: "The Call of the Wild" was released in the United States on February 21, 2020, by 20th Century Studios (its first film under the company's new name). It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Ford's performance and the "entertaining action and earnest tone" but criticized the "uncanny valley" effect of the CGI animals. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a box-office disappointment, grossing $111 million against a production budget of $125–150 million, and lost the studio an estimated $50–100 million.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: During the late 19th century, Buck, a large, gentle mix of Saint Bernard and Scotch Shepherd, lives contentedly with his master, Judge Miller, in Santa Clara, California. One night, Buck is abducted and shipped to the Yukon aboard a freighter. During the packing, Buck finds his favorite chew toy but loses his collar in the process due to it loosely falling off and sliding out of the truck. During the voyage, a crew member beats him as a means of discipline. After arriving, Buck returns a dropped harmonica to a man named John Thornton, moments before being sold to Perrault and his assistant Francoise for their dog sled to deliver mail across the Yukon. Perrault hopes that with Buck, he can make the long trek to the mail depot before the deadline. Buck is introduced to the other dogs; Dolly, Pike, Jo, Billie, Dub, Dave, and Sol-leks, including the vicious pack leader, a husky named Spitz.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: Throughout their travels, Buck gains the loyalty and trust of Perrault, Francoise and the other sled dogs, after proving himself along the way and even rescuing Francoise, antagonizing Spitz. Buck begins experiencing ancestral spiritual visions of a black wolf that acts as his guide throughout their travels. One night, Buck catches and then releases a rabbit. Spitz kills it before attacking Buck to assert his dominance. Spitz seems to win, until the rest of the pack encourages Buck, who pins Spitz down, displacing him as pack leader; Spitz then disappears into the wild. Perrault grudgingly makes Buck the lead when no other dog assumes the position. Buck's speed and strength allow the sled to arrive with the mail on time. There, Thornton hands over a letter he has written to his former wife expressing his feelings about their dead son. When Perrault returns, he learns the mail route is being replaced by the telegraph, forcing him to sell the dogs.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: Hal, a mean-spirited and inexperienced gold prospector, buys the pack and gradually works them to exhaustion carrying a heavy load in weather unsuitable for sledding. The exhausted dogs stop to rest before Hal can force them to cross an unstable frozen lake. When Buck refuses to move, Hal threatens to shoot him. Thornton appears and rescues Buck while Hal forces the other sled dogs to cross the lake. Under Thornton's care, Buck recovers. Later, at a saloon, Thornton is attacked by Hal, who reveals the dogs managed to run off leaving him with nothing. Witnessing the scene, Buck attacks Hal who is subsequently thrown out. Buck and Thornton then travel beyond the Yukon map where they can freely live in the wild. They come across an abandoned cabin in an open valley and settle in. Meanwhile, Hal relentlessly hunts them, believing Thornton is hiding gold.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: In the open wilderness, Thornton and Buck bond over their daily activities, primarily fishing and gold panning. Throughout their time together, Buck is drawn to a female white wolf. Going back and forth between Thornton and the white wolf, Buck is conflicted about his domesticated life with Thornton and his place with the wolf pack that the female belongs to. After some time together Thornton believes it is time to return home. Never wanting the gold from the start, Thornton throws it all back into the river and tells Buck he is leaving in the morning, and to come and say good-bye. Buck heads into the forest and sleeps beside the white wolf, clearly conflicted. Hal subsequently finds and shoots Thornton. Buck returns and kills Hal by pushing him into the cabin, which has caught on fire. Thornton wants Buck to live for himself and hugs him as he dies reassuring him with his final words, "It's okay, boy. You're home."


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: The next morning, Buck returns to the hills looking down on the burnt out cabin with sadness. In the wilderness Buck shows that he mates and has offspring with the white wolf and becomes the pack leader, fully embracing the call of the wild.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: In October 2017, it was announced that 20th Century Fox was developing a new film adaptation of Jack London's 1903 novel "The Call of the Wild", set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. The film was set to be directed by Chris Sanders from a script by Michael Green, and produced by Erwin Stoff. In July 2018, Harrison Ford and Dan Stevens were cast in the film, with Ford starring as John Thornton, who goes on the search for gold. In August 2018, Colin Woodell joined the cast. In September, Omar Sy and Karen Gillan were added, while Bradley Whitford came aboard in October, and Cara Gee joined in November.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: Principal photography on the film began in late September 2018 in Los Angeles. The film was not shot on location, as extensive use was made of CGI, with some scenes also being filmed on sets in Los Angeles and exteriors in Santa Clarita, California. All in all, the production spent $109 million filming in California, with the final budget reaching $125–150 million by the time post-production wrapped. The visual effects were provided by Moving Picture Company (MPC), led by MPC's studio in Montreal, with Erik Nash serving as vfx supervisor, and also by Soho VFX and Technoprops. The production team used computer animation to create a realistic version of the dog 'Buck'.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: In January 2019, it was announced that John Powell would compose the film's score. Powell previously collaborated with Sanders on the 2010 DreamWorks Animation film "How to Train Your Dragon".


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: Recording primarily took place in Los Angeles at the Newman Scoring Stage, with Powell conducting a 90-piece orchestra, as well as employing a 60-voice choir for the score. Joining him were regular composers Batu Sener and Paul Mounsey, who provided additional music. The soundtrack was released digitally on February 21, 2020, by Hollywood Records.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: In October 2020, Powell released the album "Piano Solos from The Call of the Wild". The album features ten tracks from Powell's original score, arranged for solo piano and performed by Batu Sener, a composer and musician who is Powell's frequent collaborator (including on "The Call of the Wild"). The arrangements from this album are printed and distributed by Hal Leonard Publishing Company. The album was released by Powell's own record label, 5 Cat Studios. This is the second "piano solos" album from Powell and Sener, the first being "Piano Solos from ", released in May 2020.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: The film was originally set to be released on December 25, 2019, but was pushed back to February 21, 2020, following the acquisition of Fox by Disney, to accommodate the December releases of "" and "Spies in Disguise". "The Call of the Wild" was also the first film released by 20th Century Studios, following its rebranding from 20th Century Fox by its parent Walt Disney Studios division. Coincidentally, the 1935 adaptation of the novel was the last film released under the Twentieth Century Pictures name before it merged with Fox Film to form 20th Century Fox. The film's theatrical release in China was delayed until November 13, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: "The Call of The Wild" was released digitally on the night of March 27, 2020. The announcement followed Disney's earlier-than-planned releases of "Frozen II" and "Onward" on digital, due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the closing of most theatres around the world. The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 12, 2020, by 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment under the Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment label.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: "The Call of the Wild" grossed $62.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $48.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $110.8 million. Its high production and marketing costs mean the film needed to gross $250–275 million in order to break even; various publications estimated it would lose the studio between $50–100 million.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside "" and "" as well as the wide expansion of "The Lodge", and was projected to gross $15–20 million from 3,752 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $8 million on its first day, including $1 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to overperform, debuting to $24.8 million and finishing second, behind holdover "Sonic the Hedgehog"; however, "Deadline Hollywood" wrote that "despite the over-indexing of "Call of the Wild" stateside, it's a hollow victory, given how much the film cost". The film made $13.2 million in its second weekend and $7 million on its third weekend, respectively finishing third and fifth.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 63% based on 208 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "It's undermined by distracting and unnecessary CGI, but this heartwarming "Call of the Wild" remains a classic story, affectionately retold." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 4 out of 5 stars, with 59% of people surveyed saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" praised Harrison Ford's performance, saying that he "acts with pure soul here (he also narrates the film with his lovely storybook growl); it's a minimalist performance, mostly very reactive, but the saintly gruffness of Ford’s thick-gray-bearded, sad-eyed presence helps to nudge Buck to life as a character."


title: The Call of the Wild (2020 film)

text: Common Sense Media rated the movie 4 out of 5 stars, stating: "Parents need to know that "The Call of the Wild" is a family-friendly adaptation of Jack London's classic novel. Starring Harrison Ford, it's a simpler, somewhat sanitized take on the book -- which makes it more appropriate for younger viewers -- but the themes and messages of London's story are still as crisp as a Yukon sunrise."


title: Angie Everhart

text: Angela Kay Everhart (born September 7, 1969) is an American actress and former model who appeared in several "Sports Illustrated" Swimsuit Issues in the 1990s and posed nude for "Playboy" in 2000.


title: Angie Everhart

text: Everhart was born on September 7, 1969, in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of homemaker Ginnie and engineer Bob Everhart.


title: Angie Everhart

text: As a teen, Everhart became a cover model for such fashion magazines as "Elle" and "Glamour". Following a horseback riding accident in which she broke her back at the age of 19, Everhart eventually recovered through physical therapy. She appeared in several issues of the annual "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit edition, starting in 1995. Everhart posed nude for a cover-featured pictorial in the February 2000 issue of "Playboy". She was ranked #98 on the FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2003.


title: Angie Everhart

text: Everhart made her film debut in 1993 with the Arnold Schwarzenegger action-comedy "Last Action Hero". She has since appeared in such films as "Tales From the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood" (1996), "Denial" (1998), "Mad Dog Time" (1996), "Gunblast Vodka" (2000), "Jade" (1995), "Executive Target" (1997), "Another 9½ Weeks" (1997), "" (2001), "Sexual Predator" (2001), "Bare Witness" (2001), "Wicked Minds" (2003), "Payback" (2006), "Bigfoot" (2008), and "Take Me Home Tonight" (2011).


title: Angie Everhart

text: She has also appeared on a few TV and reality shows. In 2000, she played a lawyer in . In 2004, she appeared in "Celebrity Mole: Yucatan", in which she was the "mole", the rogue agent sabotaging the group. She was one of the "Gingers" on the second season of "The Real Gilligan's Island" (the other was Erika Eleniak), but left the show when she accidentally cut her finger severely enough to sever tendons and require surgery. Everhart was also a panelist on "To Tell The Truth" from 2000 until 2001 and on "Hollywood Squares" from 2002 until 2004. Everhart was a co-host on the ABC reality show "The Ex-Wives Club", along with Marla Maples, and Shar Jackson in 2007.


title: Angie Everhart

text: Everhart's long red hair earned her three Crown Awards for "Best Redhead" at the Super-Hair.Net website from 2005 to 2007. She also represented the United States in two Super-Hair World Cup tournaments, winning the championship through online votes in both 2006 and 2010.


title: Angie Everhart

text: On February 28, 2012, Everhart began co-hosting the weekly live podcast "Hot N Heavy" with The Greg Wilson on the Toad Hop Network. It is recorded at Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theatre.


title: Angie Everhart

text: Everhart was married to Ashley Hamilton from December 1, 1996, until their divorce in March 1997. Sylvester Stallone and Everhart were briefly engaged in 1995, but they never married. She was engaged to Joe Pesci, but the couple broke up in 2008.


title: Angie Everhart

text: She gave birth to her first child, son Kayden Bobby Everhart, in 2009, with boyfriend Chad Stansbury.


title: Angie Everhart

text: She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had surgery on May 14, 2013. A representative of hers said, "[Angie] wants to set the record straight by letting everyone know that it is true that she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, however, the prognosis is very good." She filed for bankruptcy due to medical expenses from thyroid cancer treatment.


title: Angie Everhart

text: Once a skydiving enthusiast, she gave up the activity following an accident in which she was injured badly enough to require back surgery.


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: The "Essex" class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. The 20th century's most numerous class of capital ship, the class consisted of 24 vessels, which came in "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two ships were ordered, but as World War II wound down, six were canceled before construction, and two were canceled after construction had begun. Fourteen saw combat during World War II. None were lost to enemy action, though several sustained crippling damage. "Essex"-class carriers were the backbone of the U.S. Navy from mid-1943 and, with the three carriers added just after the war, continued to be the heart of U.S. naval strength until supercarriers joined the fleet in the 1960s and 1970s. Several of the carriers were rebuilt to handle heavier and faster aircraft of the early jet age, and some served until well after the Vietnam War.


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: The preceding s and the designers' list of trade-offs and limitations forced by arms control treaty obligations shaped the development of the "Essex" class – a design sparked by the Japanese and Italian repudiation of the limitations proposed in the 1936 revision of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 (as updated in October 1930 in the London Naval Treaty). Effectively, this rejection allowed all five signatories to resume the interrupted naval arms race of the 1920s in early 1937.


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: At the time of the repudiations, both Italy and Japan had colonial ambitions, intent on or already conducting military conquests. With the demise of the treaty limitations and the growing tensions in Europe, naval planners were free to apply both the lessons they had learned operating carriers for fifteen years and those of operating the "Yorktown"-class carriers to the newer design.


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: Designed to carry a larger air group, and unencumbered by the latest in a succession of pre-war naval treaty limits, was over sixty feet longer, nearly ten feet wider, and more than a third heavier. A longer, wider flight deck and a deck-edge elevator (which had proven successful in the one-off ) facilitated more efficient aviation operations, enhancing the ship's offensive and defensive air power.


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: Machinery arrangement and armor protection were greatly improved from previous designs. These features, plus the provision of more anti-aircraft guns, gave the ships much enhanced survivability. In fact, during the war, none of the "Essex"-class carriers were lost and two, and , came home under their own power and were successfully repaired even after receiving extremely heavy damage.


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: Debates raged regarding armoring the hangar deck. British designers' comments tended to disparage the use of hangar deck armor, but some historians, such as D.K. Brown in "Nelson to Vanguard", see the American arrangement to have been superior. In the late 1930s, locating the strength deck at hangar deck level in the proposed "Essex"-class ships reduced the weight located high in the ship, resulting in smaller supporting structures and more aircraft capacity for the desired displacement. The which followed armored both the hangar and flight deck (the latter more heavily).


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: Subsequently, the larger size of the first supercarriers necessitated a deeper hull and shifted the center of gravity and center of stability lower, enabling moving the strength deck to the flight deck, thus freeing US Naval design architects to move the armor higher and remain within compliance of US Navy stability specifications without imperiling seaworthiness. One of the design studies prepared for the "Essex" project, "Design 9G", included an armored flight deck but reduced aircraft capacity, and displaced 27,200 tons, or about 1,200 tons more than "Design 9F", which formed the basis of the actual "Essex" design; 9G became the ancestor of the 45,000-ton "Midway" class.


title: Essex-class aircraft carrier

text: After the abrogation of disarmament treaties by Japan in 1936, the U.S. took a realistic look at its naval strength. With the Naval Expansion Act of Congress passed on 17 May 1938, an increase of 40,000 tons in aircraft carriers was authorized. This permitted the building of , which was the third -class carrier, and , which was the lead ship of a new class.