April 2021
April 30, 2021
Mail-Delivering Cats
1879: Reports reached America of experiments conducted in the city of Liege, Belgium to determine if cats could be used to deliver mail. Three dozen cats were said to have been placed in bags and then taken several miles out of the city. They were then released, after a message had been tied to each one. The cats reportedly made it back to their homes in Liege before the humans did.Plans were said to be in the works "to establish a regular system of cat communication between Liege and the neighboring villages".
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal - Mar 26, 1879
The Chicago Inter Ocean - Oct 28, 1879
Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 30, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Cats, Nineteenth Century, Postal Services
“Dumbbell Lethal”
Source: The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington) 25 Jun 1960, Sat Page 19
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 30, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Accidents, Death, Hollywood, 1960s
April 29, 2021
A-Bomb Detergent
Wash away radioactive particles with Flobar!
This ad later made its way into a 1982 piece by artist Winston Smith.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 29, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, 1950s
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 34
Walter Quirt (1902–1968), "The Future Is Ours" (1935)
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 29, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Art, Surrealism, 1930s
April 28, 2021
The Crash at Crush
Sep 15, 1896: Over 30,000 spectators watched as two locomotives were deliberately collided head-on. The event was a publicity stunt staged in Texas, about midway between Waco and Hillsboro. It was named the "Crash at Crush" after the railroad agent William George Crush, who had dreamed up the spectacle.The event didn't exactly go as planned. The boilers of the locomotives exploded upon impact, despite the earlier assurances of engineers that this wouldn't happen, sending shrapnel into the crowd. Several were killed. Many more were injured. According to TexasEscapes.com:
There's now a historical marker at the site of the collision.
More info: Farm Collector
source: Baylor University
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 28, 2021 -
Comments (4)
Category: Disasters, Nineteenth Century, Trains
Owney, the Taxidermy Post Office Dog
Mail clerks raised money for preserving their mascot and he was taken to the Post Office Department's headquarters in Washington, DC, where he was on placed on display for the public. In 1904 the Department added Owney to their display at the St. Louis, Missouri, World’s Fair. In 1911, the department transferred Owney to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1926, the Institution allowed Owney to travel to the Post Office Department’s exhibit at the Sesquicentennial exhibit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1964-1992, he was displayed at the Smithsonian museum now known as the National Museum of American History and in 1993 he moved to the new National Postal Museum, where he remains on display next to a fabricated Railway Post Office train car.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 28, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Travel, Trains and Other Vehicles on Rails, Dogs, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Postal Services
April 27, 2021
Little Mr. Tritium
The Japanese government recently created an animated character that definitely belongs in our ongoing series of strange spokesbeings. It was a "cute fish-like creature with rosy cheeks" that was intended to represent a radioactive hydrogen isotope. The government was hoping that this creature would help gain public support for its plan of releasing contaminated water from Fukushima into the sea.While the government didn't give this creature a name, people have been calling it "Little Mr. Tritium".
More info: The Guardian
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 27, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Government, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters
Jiminy Cricket’s Safety Songs
The first song from the album is in the video, but the entire album is here for your listening pleasure.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 27, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Death, Insects and Spiders, Movies, Music, PSA’s, Children, 1950s
April 26, 2021
240 different ways to spell the word Scissors
The author of this pamphlet, published in England in 1829, noted that he could expand the list to 480 variant spellings if he were to substitute 'z' for 's' at the end of the word. On this basis, he claimed that "The word Scissars appears capable of more variations in the spelling than any other."He seemed to prefer the spelling 'scissars' to 'scissors'.
He also seemed to think that the publication of this list offered some kind of moral lesson. But, despite his explanation, I still can't figure out what that lesson might be:
If engaged in writing for the amusement of the Public and cannot refrain from introducing subjects which may be prejudicial to the morals of the rising generation, had he not much better write nothing but Scissers...
If any other subject engage his attention, it will always be a very safe and adviseable plan to consider if at any future more serious moment he might not be inclined to wish he had written nothing but Scissurs.
Click to enlarge. Source: The Picture Magazine - 1895
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 26, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Languages, Puns and Other Wordplay, Nineteenth Century
The Science of Mental Physics
Source of ad.
Read the whole text here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 26, 2021 -
Comments (4)
Category: Cult Figures and Artifacts, New Age, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, 1930s, 1940s
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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 |
