September 2018
September 20, 2018
Footprint Rugs
A fad in the early 1970s. I can't find them available for sale anywhere now, however.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 20, 2018 -
Comments (7)
Category: Interior Decorating, 1970s
Mystery Gadget 65
What's this machine do?
The answer is here.
And after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 20, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Technology, 1910s
September 19, 2018
Girl Frozen Alive
A popular publicity stunt for selling cars during the 1960s.
Philadelphia Inquirer - July 10, 1968
Louisville Courier-Journal - Nov 12, 1965
Marion Star - June 17, 1965
Lebanon Daily News - Oct 7, 1968
Cincinnati Enquirer - May 7, 1969
Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 19, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Death, Publicity Stunts, 1960s
The Anti-Dancing Devil
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 19, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Antisocial Activities, Costumes and Masks, 1920s, Dance
September 18, 2018
Urban transport of the future
"The nightmare of traffic jams. On a street in New York City, the postal clerk George A. Compton, immobilized with his car in a traffic jam, after an exasperating wait went berserk. He got out of the car and took off his shoes and started to climb the river of cars, leaping easily from car to car."
"Will cities be like this? Here's how the problem of traffic in cities could be lightened, if not completely solved: tiny single-seater cars that occupy a small area."
Source: La Domenica del Corriere - December 16, 1962 (via ebay)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 18, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Mass Transit, Transportation, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Follies of the Madmen #384
How the heck did that tub get out there, and how's that naked gal going to get home?
And without plumbing, will she fill it, pail by pail, with seawater?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 18, 2018 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Nature, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, 1950s
September 17, 2018
The Stay-Alert Game
Briefly experimented with in 1969 as a way to motivate U.S. troops in Vietnam to stay alert, fight better, and avoid casualties. The idea was that combat would be turned into a game. Each platoon was awarded points for enemy troops killed, weapons captured, and rice caches discovered. But they lost points if they suffered any battle casualties. The winning platoon would receive two or three days off at a rest center.Troops hated the stay-alert game, so it was quickly mothballed.
Appleton Post-Crescent - May 5, 1969
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 17, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Games, Military, War, Armed Forces, 1960s
Glow Bowl Fresh
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 17, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Bathrooms, Hygiene, Body Fluids, Excrement, Chindogu
September 16, 2018
Bacchus After-Shave
Very strange 1969 ad campaign for Bacchus after-shave. The premise is that instead of leaving a giant horse outside of Troy, the Greeks actually left a "towering bottle of Bacchus," and that this caused the Trojan women to become so wild with lust that the Trojan men no longer had time for fighting.It then follows this up with the tagline: "The Romans conquered an empire with it. Go out and conquer yours."
But what do the Romans have to do with the Trojan horse? Rome didn't even exist at the time of the Trojan war. I guess there's a vague connection because the Romans believed they were descended from the Trojans, but even so the history seems hopelessly muddled.
Esquire - Jan 1970
Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 16, 2018 -
Comments (4)
Category: History, Advertising, 1960s, Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents
Follies of the Madmen #383
Our swill is so vile that nothing is possibly beneath it.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 16, 2018 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, 1970s, Alcohol
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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 |
