August 2020
August 11, 2020
Karate Wrecking Crew
June 1972: Phil Milner and 15 other members of the International Budo Association demolished a house in six hours, using only their bare hands, heads, and feet.Personally, I prefer power tools.
More info: Intl Budo Assn
Palm Beach Post - June 5, 1972
Miami News - June 5, 1972
1973 Guinness Book of Records
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 11, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, World Records, Martial Arts, 1970s
Background Music and Sound Effects for Your Home Movies
Listen to it here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 11, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Movies, Special Effects, Twentieth Century
August 10, 2020
“You can sniff my mint”
What in the world were the admen thinking who dreamed up this campaign?And I wonder how many parents actually let their kids wear this thing.
Arizona Republic - Apr 29, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 10, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Advertising, 1970s
Queen Mary’s Dollhouse
Queen Mary's Dolls' House is the largest, most beautiful and most famous dolls' house in the world. Built between 1921 and 1924 for Queen Mary, consort of George V, by the leading British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, it includes contributions from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftsmen and manufacturers of the early twentieth century. From life below stairs to the high-society setting of the saloon and dining room, and from a library bursting with original works by the top literary names of the day, to a fully stocked wine cellar and a garden, created by Gertrude Jekyll, no detail was forgotten. The house even includes electricity, running hot and cold water and working lifts. Each room is fully furnished and waiting to be explored.
The official homepage.
Article on the library therein.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 10, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Architecture, Buildings and Other Structures, Domestic, Enlargements, Miniatures, and Other Matters of Scale, Royalty, 1920s, United Kingdom
August 9, 2020
Horizontal Theater
Back in 1945, Thomas Curtis Gray of Washington, DC was granted a patent for a theater in which the patrons would view the movie while lying-down. To facilitate this, the movie was projected onto a screen anchored to the ceiling.Gray argued that his horizontal theater had several advantages over a traditional theater. First, it would be more comfortable to watch a movie while reclining. Second, a patron's view would never be obstructed by someone in front of them. And finally, the screen could be located at a closer-to-equal distance from all viewers.
I've never heard of a horizontal theater being built. But arguably his patent foreshadowed the rise of the modern-day luxury cinemas where you can relax in seats that recline almost all the way back.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 09, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, Inventions, Patents, Movies, 1940s
Alligator Joe’s
Florida alligator farms as tourist attractions are legendary and well known. One of the first such was Alligator Joe's.Here is a long read about the place.
And after the images is the account of one fellow who almost did not return from a visit to Joe's.
Article source.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 09, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Death, Regionalism, Tourists and Tourism, Twentieth Century
August 8, 2020
The science of removing bugs from windshields
When you clean bugs off your car's windshield, think of Detroit researcher Clark Wells who spent his career figuring out how best to do this.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Mar 22, 1953
The curious actions of Frederick Brownell (left) and Clark Wells at Detroit are in the interests of science. They are using pea-shooter and slingshot to shoot bugs against a windshield at squashing velocity so that Wells, a chemist, can then test fluids to be used in wiper spray to remove them. For his experiments, Wells buys such insects as bumble bees, June bugs, fish flies, deer flies and other of the more succulent species from collectors for amounts up to a dime each.
Huntsville Times - June 20, 1954
Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 08, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Science, 1950s, Cars
Follies of the Madmen #485
No infants were harmed in the making of this ad. Oh, wait a minute, they're not breathing...
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 08, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Babies, Business, Advertising, Death, 1950s, Goofs and Screw-ups
August 7, 2020
Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?
According to wikipedia, Lonnie Donegan was "Britain's most successful and influential recording artist before the Beatles." And yet, I'd never heard of him. Before my time, I guess. I wonder how many WU readers know of him?In 1959, his song below hit #3 on the UK charts and #5 in the US (making it his biggest US hit).
It was a cover of this song from the 1920s:
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 07, 2020 -
Comments (22)
Category: Music, 1950s
Cottolene
As the Wikipedia page tells us:Cottolene was a brand of shortening made of beef suet and cottonseed oil
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 07, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Food, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust
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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 |
