As ruler, he several times fell
Even spent many years in a cell
And though what he left trailing
‘s a taste for impaling
To Slavs, he’s a hero as well

Event: Vlad III, aka Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula, takes control of Wallachia for the third and final time
Year: 1476
Learn more: Vlad the Impaler

Could a new birth of freedom ensure
That the founders’ creation’d endure?
That’s what still lay ahead
Once they’d buried the dead
Whose last sacrifice made the land pure

Event: Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address
Year: 1863
Learn more: Gettysburg Address

To the shores many searchers have flocked
And despite having often been mocked
All the depths they have plumbed
Yet no beast has succumbed
Will the mystery e’er be unloched?

Event: Hugh Gray takes the first known photographs of the “Loch Ness Monster,” which may or may not have been a dog carrying a stick
Year: 1933
Learn more: Loch Ness Monster

Poor Guy Fawkes, with his gunpowder casks
Wondered why this, of all of the tasks?
Sure, his plot to kill James
Went down not quite in flames
But at least now he’s got those cool masks

Event: The Gunpowder Plot is uncovered and the assassination of King James I prevented
Year: 1605
Learn more: Gunpowder Plot