Lots of bizarre stuff
from this creator, seen
at this page, and
also here.
And if you're in New York City over the next couple of months,
you can visit an exhibit.
As defined by Leonard George in his encyclopedic work
Alternative Realities: The Paranormal, the Mystic and the Transcendent in Human Experience —
New Jersey Vegetable Monster — A humanoid resembling a giant stalk of broccoli, reputedly seen one night by a drunk in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The case has entered the folklore of animalistic studies as representing the least evidential type of unusual experience report.
Loren Coleman and Bruce Hallenbeck offer some more context in their book
Monsters of New Jersey:
If Leonard George is to be remembered for anything, it should be for a term that hits the name on the head and speaks to the topic and state that is the focus of this volume. George has coined the phrase New Jersey Vegetable Monster, which is today used by cryptozoologists and other researchers of anomalous phenomena and the unexplained to describe a sighting or incident that has exceptionally poor evidential support. He discusses the case of page 194 of his book, Alternative Realities.
According to George, the term originated with a sighting reported by a single severely intoxicated eyewitness, who claimed to have observed a humanoid resembling a giant stalk of broccoli. The original sighting, which allegedly occurred in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, was likely attributable to a case of delirium tremens.
The basis of the use of this expression today is that if something is so absurd and the eyewitness lacks almost any credibility, a cryptozoologist investigating this nearly completely unreliable sighting, out of no disrespect to other credible witnesses, may quietly slip the rejected case in his New Jersey Vegetable Monster file.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down the original report that inspired the New Jersey Vegetable Monster. I'm not sure it was ever reported in papers.
In 1962, the Imperial Inn in Chicago opened a “frustration room.” It was a room that people could rent to vent their frustrations. They were supplied with dishes, lamps, furniture, and light bulbs, and they were invited to hurl these against the wall of the room. On the wall were pictures of policemen and politicians, among other things. The hotel manager noted, “there is a chance that someone might get carried away, and unwind so far that he needs to wind himself back up again. So as a special precaution we have a straight jacket available for anybody who goes berserk.”
Pittsburgh Press - Aug 19, 1962
Opelousas Daily World - July 15, 1962
What horrible tragedy is causing this houseguest to run away in so perilous and dramatic a manner?
The answer is here.
Or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Harry Thalheim believed that “a need has existed for a long time for a shaving emporium where people may shave cheaply and rapidly at all hours of the day and night.” So, in 1964 he patented the Shave-O-Mat (
US Patent No. 3,120,886). It was a coin-operated shave-yourself establishment, open 24 hours a day.
Did this address some kind of market need in the 1960s? Were there men who, in the middle of the night, really wanted to shave but couldn’t?
I'm guessing not, because, as far as I can tell, Thalheim's Shave-O-Mat never opened.
In 1979, researcher Sandra Lenington of the University of Santa Clara set out to answer this question. Her curiosity had been sparked by learning that Canon William V. Rauscher had reported that “canna plants given holy water left over from use in religious services grew more than three times higher than canna plants which were not given holy water.” She decided to try to duplicate his observations under more rigorous conditions.
She watered one group of radishes with regular water, and a second group with holy water. After three weeks, she concluded that there was “no significant difference in the growth rates of these radish plants given holy water versus radish plants given tap water.” She published her results in the journal
Psychological Reports (1979, 45, 381-382).
However, she noted that Canon Rauscher believed in the power of holy water, whereas she didn’t, and this may have affected the outcome of her study: “There are numerous documented studies showing that positive or negative belief will either benefit or adversely affect plant growth.” She suggested that future studies might try to better control for this variable.
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