1970s
Death by carrot juice
It was probably the enormous quantities of Vitamin A pills that Basil Brown was taking which actually killed him. Though the daily gallon of carrot juice certainly contributed.More info: NY Times
Ottawa Citizen - Feb 15, 1974
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 12, 2020 -
Comments (6)
Category: Death, Vegetables, 1970s
Square Pants
Patented in 1970 by Harold Koenig of Miami, Florida.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 05, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Fashion, Patents, 1970s
Tarantula Pie, and other ways to kill a husband
In 1977, Carol Louise Hargis was convicted of killing her husband by beating him over the head with a lead weight. She was helped by an accomplice, Terry DePew. Apparently their plan was to split the insurance money.But what made the case unusual was the various ways the duo had earlier tried to off the husband, without success:
- feeding him pie containing tarantula venom
- throwing a live electric cord into the shower with him
- shooting air into his vein
- lacing his toast with LSD
- Putting a poisonous snake into his bed
- Putting bullets in the carburetor of his truck
San Francisco Examiner - Dec 2, 1977
LA Times - Dec 8, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 24, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Crime, Stupid Criminals, 1970s
The man whom bullets bounced off of
In 1976, King Dixon of Miami was shot five times at close range in the head during a bar fight. Not a single bullet penetrated his skull. He was hospitalized overnight for observation, and then released the following day in satisfactory condition.
Alexandria Town Talk - May 10, 1976
Casper Star-Tribune - May 12, 1976
It seemed at the time like he must have been bulletproof, but a follow-up by Miami Herald crime reporter Edna Buchanan, in her book Never Let Them See You Cry, reveals that he was affected by bullets after all:
But the bullets did kill him. I found King Dixon at the morgue eight years later. Since the shooting he had suffered seizures, and one of them killed him.
The medical examiner blamed the old bullet wounds and ruled the death a homicide.
King Dixon became Miami's only murder victim in 1984 killed by bullets fired in 1976.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 12, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Crime, Human Marvels, 1970s, Weapons
The CB Bears
What fad of our current era will date as badly as CB radio?The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 11, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Fads, Humor, Parody, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Cartoons, 1970s
Slammed door, house fell down
The strange case of Mary Adams of Stockport, England, who slammed shut her front door, causing the house to collapse into rubble.
Fort Lauderdale News - Jan 22, 1975
I was curious what the scene of the house collapse looked like today. After some searching on Google maps, I'm pretty sure her house was situated by the Park Bridge in Stockport (which is part of Greater Manchester). Though I'm not sure what side of the bridge it was on.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 06, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Architecture, 1970s
Cassandra and Tom
Decide for yourself!
Source of text.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jun 04, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Ambiguity, Uncertainty and Deliberate Obscurity, Celebrities, Music, Photography and Photographers, 1970s, Dance
The Twilight People
Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 02, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Antisocial Activities, Cryptozoology, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains, Movies, 1970s, Asia
Freeze-Dried Human Bodies
Philip Backman's 1978 patent describes a process for freeze-drying human bodies.The problem with freeze-drying any large animal is that there's not enough surface area to allow for rapid freeze-drying. So, to increase the surface area, Backman explained that it would first be necessary to freeze the body and then smash it into small pieces in a hammer mill. Once the body had undergone this "surface enhancement," it could be rapidly freeze-dried, which would remove the water in the body, reducing its weight by 95%. The resulting remains could be kept in an urn, just like cremated remains.
Backman argued that his freeze-drying process had all the advantages of cremation (in terms of reducing the body to a compact size), but cost less. However, the funeral industry apparently didn't like the idea of running bodies through a hammer mill.
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 31, 2020 -
Comments (6)
Category: Death, Inventions, Patents, 1970s
1979 TV Commercials
Your time machine back to forty years ago. Perhaps a solace in such troubled times as now.
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 30, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Business, Advertising, Culture and Civilization, Foreign Customs, 1970s
| 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 |