On the theme of People Who Have Posted Themselves Through The Mail, so far we have already noted the achievements in this line of activity of Henry Bray, May Pierstorff, and Johann Beck.
We can add to our list Reg Spiers, about whom the BBC News recently ran an article. In the mid-1960s, Spiers posted himself from London to Australia as a way to cheaply get back home in time for his daughter's birthday. The cost of a plane ticket was actually cheaper than the cost of shipping such a heavy crate, but Spiers knew that he could send the crate cash-on-delivery, so that payment would only be required once he was in Australia.
His plan succeeded. When he arrived in Australia, the crate (with him inside it) was put in a storage shed from which he managed to escape and hitchhike home. He never had to pay the shipping fees.
In 1969, a rat died somewhere in the offices of the Texas legislature. This led to the passage of Texas House State Resolution 433:
WHEREAS, there are many brands of rat poison on the market today; and
WHEREAS, Some brands of rat poison do cause the rat to leave the building before he dies; and
WHEREAS, The same thing goes for mice; and
WHEREAS, The State of Texas obviously does not use a brand of rat poison that causes rats and mice to leave the building before they die; and
WHEREAS, For the last week and a half, Representatives Jungmichel, Wieting, Ward, McAlister, Allen, Allen of Harris, Jones of Harris, Kubiak, Parker of Jefferson, Cory, Newman, Johnson of Bexar, Kothman, Weldon, Longoria, Ogg and Cummings have unduly suffered mental anguish by having to smell a dead rat; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the heretofore mentioned Representatives hereby go on record as supporting either letting the rats run loose in the Capitol or changing the brand of rat poison.
So what are these brands of rat poison that can make a rat leave the building before it dies? I've never heard of such a thing.
Dr. Peter Steincrohn's 1969 book (available used on Amazon) promised to reveal how one could be "lazy, healthy, & fit." For years before he published the book, Steincrohn had also been writing newspaper columns in which he promoted his formula for health. The secret was girdles.
He felt that all men over 40, in particular, should be wearing girdles just like their wives (this was the 1960s), because he believed that girdles promoted good circulation and thus meant the heart didn't have to work as hard pumping blood. Wearing a girdle, he promised, would "add years to a man's life."
Much iconography that was once taken for granted as part of our culture now means nothing to people. Does any youth of today understand that a Napolean hat = crazy?
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.