January 2016
January 31, 2016
Under Fire
It takes ba...determination to stand in the path of a high powered rifle round. Even when that round is fired under water.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 31, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Guns, Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving
Objected to taking out trash
One for the weird death file. The tragic case of Jamella Jackson, age 12.
Cincinnati Enquirer - Feb 15, 1985
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 31, 2016 -
Comments (6)
Category: Death, 1980s
Mystery Illustration 15
Why was this horse brought inside a house, if not just as a photo stunt?
The answer is here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 31, 2016 -
Comments (8)
Category: Animals, Interior Decorating, 1960s
January 30, 2016
Anti-Aircraft Dumpling Cannon
February 1967: Munich resident Helmut G. Winter was sick and tired of the noise of military aircraft flying low over his house. So he built a catapult and started launching Bavarian potato dumplings at the planes.In one week he launched 120 dumplings. He never managed to score a direct hit. But eventually both the West German Luftwaffe and American pilots conceded defeat and agreed to a flight path that avoided his house.
Reportedly, he gave the Americans a model of his dumpling cannon as a gesture of thanks, inscribed "As a souvenir and a warning — Helmut G. Winter, The Bavarian Dumpling Shot." I bet this model has now been lost or thrown away, instead of being in a museum where it belongs.
Cincinnati Enquirer - Feb 20, 1967
Newsweek - Mar 13, 1967
Newsweek - Mar 13, 1967
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Mar 1, 1967
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 30, 2016 -
Comments (7)
Category: Military, 1960s, Weapons
Sanatogen
Full story here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 30, 2016 -
Comments (6)
Category: Body, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, 1950s, Nineteenth Century
January 29, 2016
Smoking Periwinkle
Can smoking periwinkle actually get you high? Probably. Over at erowid.org there are some reports of people experimenting with it. Though despite the scare of 1967, it never caught on as a popular drug.
Dr. George Dame, a health officer in Manatee County, warned that periwinkle could have all kinds of unpleasant side effects (such as "withering of muscle tissue") because periwinkle is the source of some drugs (vinblastine and vincristine) used in chemotherapy. However, an expert on those drugs disagreed with him. From Newsweek (June 26, 1967):
Sydney Morning Herald - Jun 4, 1967
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 29, 2016 -
Comments (9)
Category: Drugs, Psychedelic, Smoking and Tobacco, 1960s
Newest Must Have Trend
These creepy so called "God dolls" are a new popular trend coming out of Thailand. Not all of them have the disturbing third eye markings but all are supposed to be inhabited by a child's spirit. They are purported to bring good luck when loved and cared for. Because, yeah, that's where I hope kids spirits go, into a creepy doll to bring good luck to some yuppie jerk.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 29, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Gods, Toys, Myths and Fairytales
La Bruja
I regret that I cannot find a subtitled-in-English version of this Mexican film, where a mad scientist creates a formula that turns an extremely ugly woman into a beauty, as in the before-and-after pix below. But those of you who know Spanish--or who just want visuals--can enjoy the full movie.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 29, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Drugs, Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains, Movies, 1950s
January 28, 2016
They lurk in libraries
Originally I was going to write this article about the 1980 case of "Leonardo da Toenail," but then I realized how many additional cases of foot-fanciers lurking under library tables there have been. So I ended up writing a round-up article instead.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 28, 2016 -
Comments (9)
Category: Crime
Coyotes High on Mushrooms?
Why is a coyote staring at motorists? One theory is that the animal ate some hallucinogenic mushrooms, and the cars have become "some sort of coyote vision, a dark vision of human interlopers."
Another, more mundane, theory is that someone fed the coyotes by throwing food from their car, and so the coyotes are now sitting and waiting for more food.
More info: Pacific Sun
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 28, 2016 -
Comments (14)
Category: Animals
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction books such as Elephants on Acid. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
