Twentieth Century
Fireman’s Bicycle
A short history of this mode of firefighting here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 30, 2021 -
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Category: Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, Firefighting, Arson, Wildfires, Infernos and Other Conflagrations, Twentieth Century
The Great Cardini
Man, that's a lot of playing cards and cigarettes!His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 11, 2021 -
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Category: Entertainment, Magic and Illusions and Sleight of Hand, Tobacco and Smoking, Twentieth Century
Two Milk Trucks
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 15, 2021 -
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Category: Motor Vehicles, Advertising, Twentieth Century
The Perma-Lift Line of Undergarments
I'm surprised no one has revived this trade name.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 14, 2021 -
Comments (4)
Category: Advertising, Underwear, Twentieth Century
Seelye’s Wasa Tusa
Patent medicine earned Dr. A. B. Seelye a fortune that allowed him to build a fine mansion that is open to the public today.
What was in his fabled Wasa Tusa?
A.B. Seelye made his fortune in patent medicines with the A.B. Seelye Medical Company. At one time he had over 500 salesmen traveling through 14 states. The Wasa Tusa they sold contained 65 percent “non-beverage alcohol, chloroform and sulphuric ether.”
Source of quote.
You can read his digitized ALMANAC, HEALTH GUIDE AND COOKBOOK here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 07, 2021 -
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Category: Domestic, Money, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
The Odd Downfall of Mary Carolyn Davies
From pulp writer and poet to Skid Row: writing has never been an easy career.
Read the whole arc of her life here.
Read some of her fiction at the Internet Archive.
Newspaper clip from The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) 08 Feb 1940, Thu Page 20
Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 29, 2021 -
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Category: Eccentrics, Literature, Money, Twentieth Century
California Soap Mine
Was the 1855 Soap Mine tale just a prank or hoax? What about the 1901 article, in third place, which sounds a little more scientific?
Source.
Source.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 16, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Freaks, Oddities, Quirks of Nature, Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Humor, Hygiene, Regionalism, Natural Wonders, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
Electric Football
Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 04, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Games, Technology, Children, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
Lucky Strikes as Weight-Loss Aid
See more in this series at the link.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 26, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, Smoking and Tobacco, Twentieth Century, Dieting and Weight Loss
X-Radium Cooking Utensils
Here is a fascinating short monograph (a PDF) about the Radium craze, including a discussion of the product above.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 19, 2021 -
Comments (6)
Category: Death, Domestic, Really Bad Ideas, Twentieth Century
| Who We Are |
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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 |