Category:
Death
Death
Thirty Years Among the Dead
The Wikipedia page for Wickland, where we learn:Wickland turned away from conventional medical psychology and toward the belief that psychiatric illnesses were the result of influence by spirits of the dead. Wickland came to believe that a large number of his patients had become possessed by what he called "obsessing spirits", and that low-voltage electric shocks could dislodge them, while his wife Anna acted as a medium to guide them to "progress in the spirit world". Spiritualists considered him an authority on "destructive spirits" and he wrote a book in 1924, Thirty Years Among the Dead, detailing his experiences as a psychical researcher.[3]
Wickland was convinced that he was in contact with a group of spirits known as the "Mercy Band" who would remove the possessors, and help them in the spirit world. Psychologist Robert A. Baker listed Wickland and Arthur Guirdham as early psychiatrists who preferred to "ignore the science and embrace the supernatural".[4]
Read his book at the Internet Archive.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 13, 2023 -
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Category: Death, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Books, 1920s
The Foreshadowed Death of Gloria Dickson
In 1943, actress Gloria Dickson had a sizable part in THE CRIME DOCTOR'S STRANGEST CASE.The scene to focus on starts below at 44:23. Gloria is married to a man who's very careless with matches, even starting fires in bed. She remarks that she's been "almost cremated."
Two years later, Dickson would die in a domestic fire in her bedroom, apparently started by a stray match.
Newspaper clip source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) 11 Apr 1945, Wed Page 3
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 16, 2023 -
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Category: Death, Domestic, Fate, Predetermination and Inevitability, Hollywood, Predictions, 1940s
Crestone End-of-Life Project
The only place in the United States where it's legal to have an open-air cremation is the town of Crestone, Colorado. And specifically at the "outdoor human cremation facility" maintained by the Crestone End-of-Life Project.However, if you're not from there, they won't cremate you. As explained by US Funerals Online:
Currently, the service is only offered to the local community. This decision was made out of respect for local residents who did not want their community to over-run with outsiders wanting 'novel' cremations. The project is also only geared to handle a limited number of ceremonies per year.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 13, 2023 -
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Category: Death
Follies of the Madmen #552
Please note the last cartoon in this ad (magnified below). Man attempts to kill mother-in-law by darkening the stairwell. Everything A-OK!Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 09, 2023 -
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Category: Death, Domestic, Technology, Advertising, 1950s
The Anomaly That Wouldn’t Go Away
In medical literature, the "anomaly that wouldn't go away" refers to a finding published in 1978 by a group of Welsh doctors (Cochrane, St Leger, and Moore). They had set out to examine the relationship between health services and mortality in the major developed countries, but in doing so they came across a correlation that surprised them — the more doctors there were per capita, the higher was the rate of infant mortality.The correlation wasn't a weak one. In fact, for infant mortality it was the strongest correlation in their study. The number of doctors per capita seemed to have a stronger negative impact on infant mortality than did the level of cigarette or alcohol consumption in the population.
Obviously the researchers found the correlation unsettling since, ideally, more doctors should result in fewer, not more, infants dying.
So why would more doctors correlate with higher infant mortality? The three doctors did their best to figure this out:
As the above passage indicates, they didn't think it was plausible that doctors themselves were somehow responsible for the elevated infant mortality, but nor could they come up with a satisfactory explanation for the correlation. So they called it "the anomaly that wouldn't go away."
I'm not sure if the correlation still holds true. I believe it still did about twenty years ago. Unfortunately much of the relevant literature is locked behind paywalls.
Over the years there have been quite a few attempts to explain the anomaly. I've listed two below. Again, I'm not sure if one has been accepted as THE explanation. So the anomaly may still persist.
C Buck & V Bacsi, "The doctor anomaly," Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1979, 33:307.
It occurred to us that some of the countries richly endowed with physicians may obtain their large supplies by having bigger medical schools, larger classes, and thus less individual instruction of the medical student. The consequence could be a poorer standard of medical practice, the influence of which would be evident in the mortality of the younger age groups where the outcome of disease is most susceptible to the physician's skill.
It occurred to us that some of the countries richly endowed with physicians may obtain their large supplies by having bigger medical schools, larger classes, and thus less individual instruction of the medical student. The consequence could be a poorer standard of medical practice, the influence of which would be evident in the mortality of the younger age groups where the outcome of disease is most susceptible to the physician's skill.
F.W. Young, "An explanation of the persistent doctor-mortality association," Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2001, 55:80-84.
The explanation proposed here is that, as compared with other regions, the expectation of opportunities in the growing industrial cities initially attracts an over supply of doctors. Once in practice, doctors in new regions enjoy fewer economies of scale, which means that they are more numerous as compared with the mature regions. These same industrialising cities attract rural immigrants whose health habits and supports break down in the context of city life. Thus, the places with the most doctors also have the highest death rates, but the two variables are associated only by common location.
The explanation proposed here is that, as compared with other regions, the expectation of opportunities in the growing industrial cities initially attracts an over supply of doctors. Once in practice, doctors in new regions enjoy fewer economies of scale, which means that they are more numerous as compared with the mature regions. These same industrialising cities attract rural immigrants whose health habits and supports break down in the context of city life. Thus, the places with the most doctors also have the highest death rates, but the two variables are associated only by common location.
More info (pdf): Cochrane, Leger, & Moore, "Health service 'input' and mortality 'output' in developed countries."
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 23, 2022 -
Comments (9)
Category: Babies, Death, Medicine
1920s Motorized Skis
We previously featured caterpillar-tread skis, but here's an earlier, alternate technology.Full patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 16, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death, Sports, 1920s
Meshes of the Afternoon
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 09, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death, Movies, Surrealism, 1940s
The Christmas Custom of Dead Bird Postcards
Back in the 19th century, people often sent each other postcards of dead birds during the Christmas season. Collectors Weekly explains:"The Victorians had some really strange ideas about what served as an appropriate Christmas greeting," says Bo Wreden, who recently organized an exhibition of holiday cards for the Book Club of California. "They liked to send out cards with dead birds on them, robins in particular, which related to ancient customs and legends. There's a famous quotation from the Venerable Bede about a sparrow flying through the hall of a castle while the nobility is celebrating Christmas: The moment from when it enters until it flies out is very brief, a metaphor for how quickly our lives pass." Apparently, killing a wren or robin was once a good-luck ritual performed in late December, and during the late 19th century, cards featuring the bodies of these birds were sent to offer good luck in the New Year.
More info: hyperallergic.com
Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 05, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Customs, Death, Christmas
Recipes on Tombstones
I've never come across this in a graveyard, but apparently some people have their favorite recipe inscribed on their tombstone. This inspires other people, such as Rosie Grant, to cook the recipes they find on tombstones. More info: The Guardian, TikTok
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 03, 2022 -
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Category: Death, Food
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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 |