The School For Vampyres

Apparently Vampyres have to go to school, just like everybody else. (I don't know if Vampyres are different than Vampires, or if it's just a more pretentious spelling of the same.) I think a degree from this school would be a great addition to my resume:

The Camisards

A group of fanatical religious terrorists, holed up in their mountain redoubts and battling an occupying government. Surely this description must apply to some modern-day group and situation, such as in Afghanistan, or perhaps Africa...? And the terrorists will in all likelihood be Islamic, right?

Well, not all the time.

Consider the French Protestant dissenters known as the Camisards.

I learned about this historical incident from reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey. (You can find the entire text of the book here.) Stevenson traveled through the region once ruled by the Camisards, and evoked the romance of their rebellion.

There, a hundred and eighty years ago, was the chivalrous Roland, "Count and Lord Roland, generalissimo of the Protestants in France," grave, silent, imperious, pock-marked ex-dragoon, whom a lady followed in his wanderings out of love. There was Cavalier, a baker's apprentice with a genius for war, elected brigadier of Camisards at seventeen, to die at fifty-five the English governor of Jersey. There again was Castanet, a partisan in a voluminous peruke and with a taste for divinity. Strange generals who moved apart to take counsel with the God of Hosts, and fled or offered battle, set sentinels or slept in an unguarded camp, as the Spirit whispered to their hearts! And to follow these and other leaders was the rank file of prophets and disciples, bold, patient, hardy to run upon the mountains, cheering their rough life with psalms, eager to fight, eager to pray, listening devoutly to the oracles of brainsick children, and mystically putting a grain of wheat among the pewter balls with which they charged their muskets.

Pretty weird, huh? And right in Europe, not all that long ago.

The last sentence from Stevenson is particularly intriguing, since it conjures up comparisons to the Mai-Mai rebels in the Congo today, who believe that certain magical charms protect them against bullets; that their own bullets are invulnerable to counter charms; and that ritual cannibalism of their enemies is still a grand idea.

Once Europe had its own Mai-Mai's. Perhaps someday Africa will be rid of theirs.

Repo Chick

Remember one of the weirdest films ever made, REPO MAN? This month marks the start of filming for a sequel titled REPO CHICK. Let's hope it can live up to its predecessor.

Ghost Riders in the Sky

I don't think we heard enough of Vaughan Monroe's big hit in yesterday's Forest Service post, so here's the whole thing.

We know here at WU that mortal cows are deadly--so just imagine how evil a ghost cow is!

The Elves of Iceland

Maybe the Icelandic banking meltdown can be remedied with pots of elvish gold.

Happy Halloween!

What's weird about this cartoon?

Answer after the jump!




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The Academy of Mystic Arts

[From Amazing Science Fiction magazine for August 1973.]

The "Academy for Mystic Arts" which sponsored this ad seems no longer to exist, although there are other, newer organizations with that name. The original Academy has left very few traces behind on the internet, although one lead seems to point to a connection with the famed astrologer named Zolar.

I love the testimony at the end about how relations with the boyfriend have improved. Well, of course they have--you put a zombie spell on him!

Follies of the Mad Men #34

[From Life magazine for April 24 1964.]

Who ever knew that the female mammary gland was such a writhing, squirming, contorting, Blob-like object? (Page Steve McQueen for help!) There are 1,440 minutes in a day, so the copywriters are claiming that a woman's breasts morph dramatically ten times a minute, or every six seconds. Even while sleeping?

Thank God a Maidenform bra can tame these savage glands!

Shamans in Peru

Time to look at some curanderos. The best part comes after the three-minute mark.

The ETs are on their way

Two highly credible sources -- the mediums Blossom Goodchild and Mike Quinsey -- have predicted that Earth will be visited by extraterrestrials on October 14. The mediums are getting their info from a group of aliens known as the "galactic Federation of Light". Quinsey has specifically been in dialogue with "SaLuSa of Sirius".

The contact event is apparently going to be undeniable, but thankfully these ETs are friendly. Their goal is to "help us and our planet move to a new higher vibration of love".

Pair this with the email rumor going around India that on "October 17, 2008 the sun will rise continuously for 36 hrs (1.5 days)" and that "During this time the US countries will be dark for 1.5 days," and I'd say that's going to be an interesting week.

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.