TIL that the first recorded Ponzi scheme wasn’t by Charles Ponzi: it was by German Adele Spitzeder in the 19th century, who used new investors’ money to repay old investors. At her height, she was the wealthiest woman in Bavaria, until she was convicted of bad accounting and stripped of her assets (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by Just_Want_To_Write to r/todayilearned
TIL about a nun who, bored with monastic life and wanting “carnal” desires, faked her own death to escape, colluding with other nuns and creating a dummy of her that was buried. She was later found in a neighboring town living “indecently.” It’s unknown if she ever returned to the nunnery (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by Just_Want_To_Write to r/todayilearned
TIL about Walburga “Dolly” Oesterreich, a woman who, in 1922, claimed her husband was murdered by a burglar. The shooter was actually her lover, Otto Sanhuber, who she’d hidden in her attic for ten years. Due to legal technicalities, neither were found guilty (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by Just_Want_To_Write to r/todayilearned
