Category:
Animals
Animals
World’s Biggest Cuckoo Clock
Schonach, Germany, is the heart and homeland of the cuckoo-clock industry. Two houses in fact have been transformed into giant cuckoo clocks to commemorate this.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 20, 2015 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Kitsch and Collectibles, Technology, Europe, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Rev. Hansen’s Bible Birds
In 1940, Rev. Hansen started touring around the U.S. with his family, putting on a show in which he used trained birds to demonstrate lessons from the Bible. Newsweek (Dec. 10, 1951) offered this description of the act:A typical show opens with a six-canary choir accompanying Mrs. Hansen (on the vibra-harp) in "The Star-Spangled Banner," while an oriole pulls a string that hoists a flag on a tiny pole and a parakeet shinnies to the pole top to pose as an American eagle.
Other birds ride on a tiny electric train, eat at tables, and climb ladders while the Hansens appropriately quote the Bible. For example, when Tiger the canary sits on Catnip the cat while daughter Sylvia watches (see picture), Mr. Hansen quotes Isaiah 11:6, "... the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the faitling together; and a little child shall lead them."
Mr. Hansen feels that the whole act is "a demonstration of faith. Pete is not afraid of the flaming hoop because he knows I am holding it. Muggs has to stretch out his neck to swallow a sword that's as long as he is, but he has faith in us."
Other birds ride on a tiny electric train, eat at tables, and climb ladders while the Hansens appropriately quote the Bible. For example, when Tiger the canary sits on Catnip the cat while daughter Sylvia watches (see picture), Mr. Hansen quotes Isaiah 11:6, "... the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the faitling together; and a little child shall lead them."
Mr. Hansen feels that the whole act is "a demonstration of faith. Pete is not afraid of the flaming hoop because he knows I am holding it. Muggs has to stretch out his neck to swallow a sword that's as long as he is, but he has faith in us."
Amazingly, Hansen was able to continue putting on his Bible Birds show for 60 years, until he died in 2002. See Roadside America for some more info.
Hansen makes Boom-Boom eat at a table
Tiger, Catnip, and Sylvia play
Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 07, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Entertainment, Religion, 1950s
Look- A Squirrel!
A drunken squirrel that is. Either that or he's half bunny.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 05, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Alcohol, Eating
Free Ride
An amazing picture of a weasel riding on a woodpecker in flight. Flying for free and no TSA, lucky beast!
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 03, 2015 -
Comments (16)
Category: Animals, Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature
Texas legislators smell decaying rat
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.
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.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 28, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: Animals, Government, 1960s
The Hairy Water Tortoise of China
I cannot figure out if this is a legitimate species, or a freak. This article seems to imply it was a common tortoise with vegetation affixed to its back.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 21, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature, Asia, Nineteenth Century
Eddie the Marshmallow-Eating Alligator
Eddie the Alligator achieved brief fame back in 1966 because of his food preferences. I'm no alligator expert, but I don't think that hand-feeding them marshmallows is recommended by experts.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 18, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: Animals, 1960s
Electrocutes then drowns rodents
When it's not enough to kill a mouse just once. Source: Popular Electricity, Nov 1911.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 29, 2015 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Death
Unique Beauty
This unusual specimen was found in Drexel University's butterfly exhibit. The wings on one side are female, while the ones on the other side are male. Beautiful.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 21, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Animals, Cryptozoology
Stockings for Camels
In the early 1960s, Alan Abel ran a long-running hoax involving an organization (The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals) whose members wanted to put clothes on all the naked animals in the world. So I was amused to discover there was a similar, but non-hoax, campaign back in 1926. The "philanthropic Englishwoman" Mrs. F.K. Hosall spearheaded an effort to get women to donate their old stockings so they could be worn by the donkeys and camels of north Africa. However, it wasn't exactly similar, because it sounds like Mrs. Hosall had a sensible reason to put stockings on the camels — to prevent fly bites.Source: The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.) - Feb 11, 1926.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 20, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: Animals, Fashion, 1920s
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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 |