Weird Universe Archive

August 2020

August 6, 2020

Are our feet turning to hoofs?

Source: Illustrated World - Apr 1920

Something to worry about, if you have nothing else at all in your life to worry about.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 06, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: 1920s, Feet

Croaker College

A training school for frog contestants in jumping competitions.

Full SPORTS ILLUSTRATED story here.



Source (page 7).

Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 06, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Education, Frauds, Cons and Scams, 1970s

August 5, 2020

Cooking with God

Poe's Law, loosely paraphrased, states that it can be very difficult to tell the difference between parodies of extreme beliefs and sincere expressions of those beliefs.

Confusion of this kind occurred with the 1976 cookbook Cooking With God. The authors, Lori David and Robert Robb, intended it to be, in all seriousness, a religious-themed cookbook. But due to the title, many people apparently assumed it was some kind of joke.

Recipes included Manna Honey Bread, Oasis Stuffed Eggs, Caravan Sweet Potatoes, and Eggs Bathsheba.

If you want a copy to add to your collection of weird cookbooks, you can pick one up used on Amazon for $6.95.



Fort Worth Star Telegram - Mar 16, 1977

Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 05, 2020 - Comments (5)
Category: Food, Cookbooks, Religion, Books

August 4, 2020

The woman who thought she was a chicken

A recent issue of the Dutch journal Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie (Journal of Psychiatry) reports on the case of a woman who believed she was a chicken. From the report (via Google translate):

Patient A, a 54-year-old woman, consulted the emergency department with her brother for acute attacks of deviant behavior, expressing the belief that she was a chicken and displaying behavior reminiscent of it.

Clinically, we saw a lady profusely sweating, trembling, blowing her cheeks and displaying stereotypical behavior in which she seemed to imitate a chicken, such as clucking, cackling and crowing like a rooster. After ten minutes, she seemed to tense the muscles for a few seconds, her face flushed and she did not respond for a short time. These symptoms repeated at intervals of several minutes, between which anamnesis was possible. The patient's consciousness was fluctuating, attention was hyper-reactive and the patient was disoriented in time and space. Her memory could not be tested objectively, but she could adequately tell her history.

She said she had barely slept since five days and wandered barefoot and dressed in a dressing gown on the street at around 4 a.m. the previous night. A general feeling of unwellness had been present for several days, as well as a strange feeling in the limbs, as if they no longer fit her body and flapped uncontrollably. The patient expressed the thought of being a chicken and that they had been forgotten to roost her.

Patient's brother added that he found her in the garden in the same condition as we saw her now. Between that moment and the registration with us, the bizarre behavior in attacks occurred.

The researchers note that clinical zoanthropy (the belief that one has turned into an animal) is an extremely rare delusion. Apparently there have been only 56 cases of this reported between 1850 and 2012. Some of the animals people believe they have become include "a dog, lion, tiger, hyena, shark, crocodile, frog, bovine, cat, goose, rhinoceros, rabbit, horse, snake, bird, wild boar, gerbil and a bee."

More info: The Guardian

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 04, 2020 - Comments (13)
Category: Animals, Bad Habits, Neuroses and Psychoses, Psychology

Change-o-Color Men’s Jewelry



For the 1949 Metrosexual. But, alas, did not catch on.

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 04, 2020 - Comments (4)
Category: Jewelry, 1940s, Men

August 3, 2020

Social-Distancing Cooler

One of the ongoing weird themes of this pandemic has been oddball devices for social distancing. For instance, we've previously reported on social-distancing shoes.

In this vein, beer brand Dos Equis recently unveiled a social-distancing cooler. The company described it as "part beer cooler, part social distancing measurement device."

From what I can gather, it seems like the cooler was actually two small coolers joined together. So you didn't need to fill the entire thing with ice.

Unfortunately, the promo in which they were giving these things away is already over.

More info: seisfootcooler.com, travelandleisure.com



Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 03, 2020 - Comments (4)
Category: Hygiene, Products

Ol’ Man Mose



Duchin's 1938 release of the Louis Armstrong song "Ol' Man Mose" (Brunswick Records 8155) with vocal by Patricia Norman caused a minor scandal at the time with the lyric "bucket" being heard as "fuck it." Some listeners conclude that there is no vulgarism uttered, while others are convinced that Norman does say "fuck."

The "scandalous" lyrics caused the record to zoom to #2 on the Billboard charts, resulting in sales of 170,000 copies when sales of 20,000 were considered a blockbuster. The song was banned after its release in Great Britain. The notorious number can be heard on a British novelty CD, Beat the Band to the Bar.


Listen for yourself, and register your vote in the comments!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 03, 2020 - Comments (11)
Category: Music, Obscenity, 1930s

August 2, 2020

Roy Rogers Heads West

Here's another addition to our slowly growing collection of giant people in ads. Plus, this one has some bonus phallic symbolism!

Dayton Daily News - Dec 11, 1951

Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 02, 2020 - Comments (4)
Category: Giant People in Ads, 1950s

Strange Chess Sets

I have a classic SIMPSONS chess set. Perhaps one of these other models might appeal to you.

Cats vs. Dogs



Source.

Architectural



Source.

Baseball



Source.

Napoleon at Waterloo



Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 02, 2020 - Comments (4)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Games, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art

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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.

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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.

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