Category:
Death

Flameproof Playsuits

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Were children more prone to catch fire for no reason in the past during innocent recreational activities than they are today?

Original ad here. (Page 23.)

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 27, 2014 - Comments (12)
Category: Death, Destruction, Disasters, Fashion, Comics, Children, 1940s

Jeez!  The Kid’s Got a Real Gun!

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What are the actual odds that Billy would be deader'n a doornail as a result of his impetuous behavior?

Original ad here. (On page 35.)

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 24, 2014 - Comments (10)
Category: Crime, Stupid Criminals, Death, Toys, Comics, 1940s

The funeral of Miriam Burbank

In the picture you see Miriam Burbank, sitting at a table, holding a menthol cigarette in her hand. She's dead, and this was the scene at her recent funeral. More info at wgno.com.


Of course, we've seen this kind of stuff before here at WU. Back in 2008, there was a post about Ángel Pantoja Medina "standing tall at his funeral." And also from 2008, a post about the Kuku Kuku of Papua New Guinea who pose their dead sitting up. So perhaps posed corpses at funerals is a phenomenon that is "no longer weird."

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 13, 2014 - Comments (5)
Category: Death

Operation Ranger and Operation Buster-Jangle



What a crazy old world that was. "Mutually Assured Destruction." But we just thought it was normal at the time.

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 22, 2014 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, Destruction, Dreams and Nightmares, Science, Technology, War, Armed Forces, Weapons, Documentaries, 1950s

Pearl Bryan and Bobby Mackey’s Music World



A haunted country-music club? Just visit Bobby Mackey's Music World in Wilder, Kentucky.

Fittingly, the most famous ghost, Pearl Bryan, has her own ballad.




Posted By: Paul - Sun May 04, 2014 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, Horror, Music, Regionalism, Superstition, Nineteenth Century

Video Enhanced Gravemarker

Invented by Robert Barrows (of R.M. Barrows Advertising), who writes:

The Video Enhanced Gravemarker will have a tremendous impact on our society and the funerary industry. Some of the impact it might have may be along the following lines:

The invention will change a major aspect of civilization. Cemeteries will come alive with stories told through video-tombstones.
It will change the way we look at life and death and it will even change the way history is told.
When people start recording their own obituaries for playback in video-tombstones, it will force them to examine their lives in ways they may not have even considered before.
It will also create two new industries:
1) Manufacturing video-tombstones
2) Producing videos for use in video-tombstones

Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 27, 2014 - Comments (8)
Category: Death

The Origin of Crash Test Dummies



Not the musical group.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 05, 2014 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, Motor Vehicles, PSA’s, Puppets and Automatons, 1960s

The Certainty of a Future Life In Mars

Did you know that when you die, your soul goes to a new life on Mars?

You can read all about it right here.

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Here's what happens when the new soul first arrives.

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Here's a little scholarly perspective.

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Source.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 24, 2014 - Comments (7)
Category: Death, Religion, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Space Travel, 1900s

Frozen Guru

Authorities recently declared that Indian guru Ashutosh Maharaj died of a heart attack. But his followers refuse to believe he's dead. Instead, they insist that he's merely in a state of "samadhi", which is the "highest plane of meditation."

So they've decided to freeze him, to help preserve him until he decides to wake up. They considered embalming him, but Swami Vishalanand (a spokesman for the group) said, "somebody told us that his chances of revival were less if we did it."

Actually, I'm guessing his chances of revival are about the same whatever they do. [BBC News]

Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 14, 2014 - Comments (11)
Category: Death

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Who We Are
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.

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