1970s
I Like America and America Likes Me
In 1974, German artist Joseph Beuys arrived in America for the first time. Upon landing at the airport, he was transported by ambulance directly to the Rene Block Gallery in New York City. He emerged from the ambulance wrapped in a grey felt blanket and was then placed in a room with a wild coyote where he spent the next three days.More in extended >>
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 03, 2017 -
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Category: Performance Art, 1970s
A Funky Space Reincarnation
"You and me gonna be getting down on a space bed...getting down on the Moon!"
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 30, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Music, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, Sex Symbols, Science Fiction, 1970s
The King Midget
Wikipedia entry here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 28, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, 1940s, 1970s, Cars
Blind Man’s Penis
The full story here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 27, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Drugs, Music, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s, Eyes and Vision, Genitals
Mystery Illustration 48
What's the product being advertised?
The answer is here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 23, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Advertising, 1970s
The Takeaway Rembrandt
In 1632 Rembrandt painted a portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III, an engraver living in Utrecht. The portrait is quite small, measuring approximately 12 by 10 inches. As a result, it's relatively easy to steal and has earned the nickname "The Takeaway Rembrandt" because of the number of times it's been swiped.From wikipedia:
Between 14 August 1981 and 3 September 1981 the painting was taken from Dulwich Picture Gallery and retrieved when police arrested four men in a taxi who had the painting with them. A little under two years later a burglar smashed a skylight and descended through it into the art gallery, using a crowbar to remove the painting from the wall. The police arrived within three minutes but were too late to apprehend the thief. The painting was missing for three years, eventually being found on 8 October 1986 in a luggage rack at the train station of a British army garrison in Münster, Germany.
The other two times, the painting was found once underneath a bench in a graveyard in Streatham, and once on the back of a bicycle. Each time the painting has been returned anonymously with more than one person being charged for its disappearance.
St. Cloud Times - Feb 17, 1973
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 22, 2017 -
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Category: Art, Crime, 1970s
The Prophecy
"Frankenheimer considered Prophecy a film with far more potential than what he eventually delivered, ostensibly due to his alcoholism."
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 11, 2017 -
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Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, 1970s, Fictional Monsters
Lake City, UFO Port
In 1976, as part of America's bicentennial celebrations, the residents of Lake City, Pennsylvania raised $6000 to build a UFO Landing Port. They thought it was the first such landing port in the world, though it wasn't. Explained Jim Meeder, the businessman who organized the effort, "We said to ourselves, 'Let's not look backward 200 years. Let's look forward 200 years.' Everybody else was restoring railroad depots and things like that. We wanted to do something different."The landing port consisted of "a grass-covered mound five feet high and 100 feet in diameter, bordered by red and blue lights." A representative from the Tucson, Arizona Aerial Phenomenon Research Organization checked it out and said approvingly that he was relieved it wasn't "a schlock thing."
Twelve years later a reporter from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune checked back and found that the landing port hadn't been visited by a UFO yet, but the town was using it as a helicopter landing pad for lake rescues. I haven't been able to figure out if the landing site is still there. I can't find anything on google maps.
Update: I used the contact form on the Lake City website to ask if they've still got the UFO port. Almost immediately got a reply back that yes, it's still there!
The Philadelphia Inquirer - July 5, 1976
via ufopop.org
The Meriden Morning Record - Mar 1, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 01, 2017 -
Comments (7)
Category: Aliens, 1970s
Mystery Illustration 47
All of these women either won or competed for the same Beauty Queen title. What was that title?
The answer is here.
And after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 29, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 1970s
Goblu and Beatosu, Ohio
The 1978-79 Michigan Highway map included some creative geography. If you looked at the part of the map that depicted neighboring Ohio, you found two new towns. There was Goblu, shown just east of Toledo near Bono, and Beatosu, shown to the west near Elmira. These names sounded a lot like the cries of University of Michigan football fans against rival Ohio State University.They were included in the map at the order of Peter Fletcher, the highway commission chairman, who said he included the names to demonstrate his "loyalty to the Athens of the West, the University of Michigan." The fictitious towns were deleted from the next edition of the map. The map with the towns is now a collector's item. One is currently available for $32.55 on eBay.
More info: wikipedia
Lansing State Journal - Dec 23, 1977 (click to enlarge)
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 17, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Geography and Maps, Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, 1970s
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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, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. 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. Contact Us |