According to the rules of the All-American Soap Box Derby, the racing cars had to run by gravity alone. But in 1973, suspicion fell on the winner of the Derby, 14-year-old Jimmy Gronen, when officials noticed that his car mysteriously "surged forward" at the start. Inspection uncovered a powerful electromagnet installed in the nose of his car. A switch behind the headrest activated the electromagnet, attracting it to the metal rod used to hold back the car at the starting line, giving it an initial boost of speed. The cheating scandal shocked the nation. An Ohio prosecutor said, "It's like seeing apple pie, motherhood and the American flag grinding to a halt." [via dailycamera.com]
1975 ad for Hanes pantyhose. Is the corollary of this that some women are more dead than others? Also, is Sandy Duncan about to play the piano with her crotch? (via arts-stew)
Back in 1973, Shirley Haycock declared her intention to cross the Atlantic in a 16-foot canoe. Some news reports initially stated that she was 86 years old, which would have made her plan really unusual. She was actually only 40. But she was the Director of Activities at a senior citizens center, and she called her canoe the "Senior Citizens Ark," which was probably the source of the confusion. Her plan was to use the publicity from the trip to raise funds for the center she worked at. [Deseret News - Feb 15, 1973]
The Coast Guard tried to stop her from going, but realized that it didn't have any legal means to do so. But they needn't have worried. She set off twice, but never got very far. It wasn't until 2012 that someone actually did cross the Atlantic in a canoe.
After failing to cross the Atlantic, Haycock decided to become a coal miner, and was Utah's first female coal miner. Seems like she was a bit of a character.
It's very common for animals to demonstrate mating behavior toward what scientists refer to as "biologically inappropriate objects." Even turtles get confused sometimes, as this article from 1972 demonstrates. Gadsden Times - May 21, 1972
In late April 1979, New York City's Health Department received several reports of an elephant seen wandering through Brooklyn. Calls to local zoos, circuses and animal parks didn't turn up any reports of a missing elephant. Nevertheless, officials took off in a Toyota to conduct a door-to-door search throughout Brooklyn for the pachyderm. The Health Department director said, "We have reason to believe the animal is small, but we're talking to the informants to get more information."
Several days of searching only uncovered a few illegal cockfights. So eventually the search for the Brooklyn elephant was called off. Health officials remained unswayed, however, in their belief that the elephant was out there, somewhere. [Star News - May 3, 1979]
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.