March 2016
March 31, 2016
Let them eat pigeon
September 1975. Jackson, Mississippi had two problems: how to feed the homeless cost-effectively, and how to get rid of the pigeons whose numbers were getting out of control downtown.Solution — trap the pigeons and feed them to the homeless. The birds were served broiled in gravy.
Unfortunately, many of the homeless refused to eat them. The director of the rescue mission admitted the birds were "tough" and "the taste was strange," but hoped the flavor would improve if prepared in a pressure cooker.
The Berkshire Eagle - Sep 13, 1975
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 31, 2016 -
Comments (13)
Category: Food, 1970s
Bummer
"Flower children are just for plucking!"
Bare female chestal portions in film.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 31, 2016 -
Comments (6)
Category: Movies, Music, Pop Art, Sex Symbols, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s
March 30, 2016
More Art of the Insane
Following up on Paul's post yesterday about the Electric Pencil. Here's some art created by patients in the criminally insane ward of St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington D.C., mid-1930s.
A "working model of the fourth dimension," examined by Dr. John E. Lind.
A lion (top) and a man on a horse (bottom), created by a "shellshocked, cop-killing veteran" out of chewed toilet paper, hair from clothes and blankets, and cellophane. "Jealous of his accomplishments, the veteran guards his work as assiduously as a setting hen; it must be taken from him while he is asleep."
A locomotive (top) and "something that looks like a caricature of a capitalist" (bottom) drawn by "a mental 10-year-old."
Source: Newsweek - Jan 9, 1937
Also see the earlier post, Art of the Insane, to compare artwork from patients at St. Anne Hospital in France, mid-1940s.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 30, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Art, 1930s
World’s Oldest Female Bodybuilder
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 30, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Body Modifications, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Human Marvels, Sports, Elderly
March 29, 2016
The Electric Pencil
Sounds pretty much like prime fodder for WU-vies.
"Around the year 1910, a patient at State Lunatic Asylum No. 3 in Nevada, Missouri, who referred to himself as The Electric Pencil, executed 280 drawings in ink, pencil, crayon and colored pencil. These beautiful drawings of animals, people and buildings were executed on both sides of 140 ledger pages, each bearing the name of the hospital in official type across the top, thus dramatizing the interface of the institutional and the creative. The Electric Pencil's drawings were sewn into a handmade album of fabric and leather, which shortly afterwards was lost--for a century."
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 29, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Cult Figures and Artifacts, Eccentrics, Books, Twentieth Century, Mental Health and Insanity
Square Donuts
The Square Donuts company of Terre Haute, Indiana has been making square donuts for 50 years, and they've trademarked the name. Eleven years ago, the Family Express convenience store also began making donuts that are square, and selling them as "square donuts." The Square Donuts company recently noticed what they were doing. Therefore, lawyers are now involved.Square Donuts demands that Family Express stop selling those square donuts. Family Express insists that "square donuts" is too generic a concept to trademark.
I wonder if anyone has trademarked Triangular Donuts or Polyhedral Donuts? A business opportunity perhaps?
More Info: CBS Chicago
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 29, 2016 -
Comments (11)
Category: Business, Food, Junk Food, Lawsuits
The Coffin of Pero Bannister
I find this anecdote in two sources. True, or apocryphal? You be the judge!
1880 text.
1937 text.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 29, 2016 -
Comments (7)
Category: Death, Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Face and Facial Expressions, Head
March 28, 2016
Left Waiting
The old "would you mind watching my raccoon for a minute" prank.
Reno Gazette-Journal - Sep 23, 1947
ROSLYN, N.Y., Sept. 23 (AP)—A stranger in a bar handed Otto Steih, jr. the end of a leash and said, "Hold this a minute pal. I'll be right back."
But the stranger didn't return and that's why the Steih family was wondering what to do today with a raccoon.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 28, 2016 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, 1940s
If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon
Yes, this once met with mainstream approval as harmless entertainment.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 28, 2016 -
Comments (7)
Category: Music, Racism, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1900s
March 27, 2016
Be a mindsticker
1969 ad campaign for Tab.Other possibilities they might have gone with: Be a brain-adhesive. Be a thought-glue.
via: Modern Mechanix, reddit
Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 27, 2016 -
Comments (11)
Category: Advertising, 1960s
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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 |
