Snail Dough Maker

Thankfully it's for making dough to wrap snails in, rather than making dough out of snails.

source: Catalog of the Unusual (1973), by Harold H. Hart

Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 16, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Food, Technology

Drunken Hog Pile

Intoxicated animals is a favorite WU theme, going back, I think, to entries in Chuck Shepherd's NOTW.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Mar 16, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Inebriation and Intoxicants, 1960s, Alcohol

1963 Prediction of Mobile Phones

In 1963 the Mansfield News-Journal predicted that, "Some day, Mansfielders will carry their telephones in their pockets."

So when did the first phone debut that could be carried in a pocket? Depends on the size of the pocket, I guess. But I think it was arguably the Motorola StarTAC, that came out in 1996 — 33 years after the News-Journal prediction.

Mansfield News-Journal - Apr 18, 1963

Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 15, 2024 - Comments (4)
Category: Technology, Telephones, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Weird Easter Hats

The strange hats appear about halfway thru.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 15, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Holidays, Easter, Headgear, 1950s, United Kingdom

The Princess Who Was Murdered by a Moth

The story goes that Princess Caravella of Italy was found dead in her bed, shot through the heart. Her husband was accused of her murder, but during the trial a police investigator convinced the jury that the Princess had actually been killed by a moth that singed its wings on a candle in her room, then fell onto a pistol lying on her bedside table, thereby causing the weapon to fire, shooting her through the heart.

I doubt any part of this story is true. After all, I can't find any historical references to a "Princess Caravella" other than the ones about her strange death. But the story was printed repeatedly in newspapers during the first half of the twentieth, always presented as an odd but true tale.

The earliest account of the story I can find dates to 1895, where it was credited to the New York World. I assume a reporter for the New York World made it up.

Chicago Chronicle - Dec 29, 1895

Here's a slightly shorter version of the story from 1937.

Tunkhannock New Age - Feb 18, 1937

I can't find the story in papers after the 1940s, but it did continue to pop up in books about odd trivia and weird deaths. For instance, below is a version that appeared in the 1985 weird-news book Own Goals by Graham Jones. Note that Jones identified Princess Caravella only as an "Italian wife," making the story seem more contemporary.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 14, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, Insects and Spiders, Nineteenth Century

Person-Alysis Game

Reveal which member of the family has an Oedipus Complex! Who's a sociopath? Good fun!

The entry at Board Game Geek.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 14, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Bad Habits, Neuroses and Psychoses, Games, Hobbies and DIY, Psychology, 1950s

Smoking Facts

Seemed odd to me that the ad would not only mention that they've got "a patent on flavor," but also give the patent number (3828800). So I had to look it up. Turned out to be a fairly boring patent for "an improved cigarette filter material... formed from the porous, granular salt of a weakly basic anion exchange resin."

Sports Illustrated - Nov 14, 1977

Coos Bay World - Nov 4, 1978

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 13, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising, Patents, Smoking and Tobacco, 1970s, Billboards

Animated Putty

Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 13, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Stop-motion Animation, 1910s

Electric Vibro Chin Massager

House Beautiful - Oct 1966

Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 12, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, 1960s

Ghost Evidence

Read the whole story here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 12, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Crime, Death, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, 1970s