Gunpowder Plot: 36 Barrels Under Parliament, One Lantern

On the night of November 4, 1605, guards searched the cellar beneath the House of Lords and found Guy Fawkes beside a hidden store of gunpowder. The plotters, Catholics angered by persecution, planned to blow up King James I and Parliament at the next day's opening.

An anonymous letter warned a lord to stay away, and he told the king's men. Britannica gives about 36 barrels; some sources say fewer. The lantern said to be Fawkes' is in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum, and its link to him is traditional, not proven. Britain still lights bonfires every November 5.

Watch the short story: Gunpowder Plot: 36 Barrels Under Parliament, One Lantern on Aha Lantern.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Gunpowder Plot; UK Parliament Living Heritage, The Gunpowder Plot of 1605; Ashmolean Museum, Guy Fawkes' lantern.

More stories: Operation Mincemeat: A Dead Man Fooled Hitler · The Ghost Army of World War II · Caesar Never Said "Et Tu, Brute"

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