https://almostlore.com Original longform on documented historical near-misses and the odder corners of the public record. en-us Mon, 02 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://almostlore.com/stories/pig-war-san-juan https://almostlore.com/stories/pig-war-san-juan Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A pig wandered into an American settler’s garden in 1859. His shot brought troops to San Juan Island, where the border remained unsettled until 1872. https://almostlore.com/stories/caroline-affair https://almostlore.com/stories/caroline-affair Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A British raid burned an American steamer on the Niagara in 1837. One man died. Years later, a murder trial threatened the peace again. https://almostlore.com/stories/dogger-bank-1904 https://almostlore.com/stories/dogger-bank-1904 Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A Russian squadron mistook Hull trawlers for a threat in 1904. Two fishermen died. Britain and Russia then had to prevent a second disaster. https://almostlore.com/stories/trent-affair https://almostlore.com/stories/trent-affair Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A Union captain seized four men from a British mail ship in 1861. Britain demanded their return. The Civil War nearly acquired another front. https://almostlore.com/stories/venezuelan-crisis-1895 https://almostlore.com/stories/venezuelan-crisis-1895 Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT In 1895, an argument over British Guiana’s boundary brought a threat from Washington. A treaty eased the crisis. Its map did not settle the dispute. https://almostlore.com/stories/aroostook-war https://almostlore.com/stories/aroostook-war Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Maine sent an armed posse into disputed forest in 1839. Arrests and military preparations followed. The Aroostook War ended at a negotiating table. https://almostlore.com/stories/san-francisco-fog-1950 https://almostlore.com/stories/san-francisco-fog-1950 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT In 1950, the military released bacteria off San Francisco without warning residents. A later hospital outbreak raised a question the surviving evidence could not settle. https://almostlore.com/stories/bering-island-winter https://almostlore.com/stories/bering-island-winter Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT His expedition reached the American coast. The voyage home ended in a wreck, a winter camp, and a boat the survivors had to build themselves. https://almostlore.com/stories/darien-scheme https://almostlore.com/stories/darien-scheme Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Five ships sailed to build a Scottish trading colony in 1698. When the next expedition arrived, the settlement had already been abandoned. https://almostlore.com/stories/fashoda-incident-1898 https://almostlore.com/stories/fashoda-incident-1898 Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A French column reached a ruined fort on the White Nile. An Anglo-Egyptian flotilla followed. In 1898, two imperial claims met at Fashoda. https://almostlore.com/stories/poyais-invented-country https://almostlore.com/stories/poyais-invented-country Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Gregor MacGregor sold land, banknotes, and government posts in a country that did not exist. Then the settlers arrived. https://almostlore.com/stories/aqua-tofana-myth-vs-record https://almostlore.com/stories/aqua-tofana-myth-vs-record Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT The story promises one poisoner and six hundred dead husbands. The Roman archive holds a real prosecution, disputed identities, and a very different chronology. https://almostlore.com/stories/balloon-almost-atlantic https://almostlore.com/stories/balloon-almost-atlantic Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT In July 1978, Zanussi carried two men almost across the Atlantic. A leak, a storm, and about 110 miles of remaining ocean kept them from the record. https://almostlore.com/stories/forgotten-scheme https://almostlore.com/stories/forgotten-scheme Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT In 1870, Alfred Ely Beach sent passengers beneath Broadway in a car moved by air. The demonstration worked. The larger subway he imagined never followed.