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Thirty Years Among the Dead
The Wikipedia page for Wickland, where we learn:Wickland turned away from conventional medical psychology and toward the belief that psychiatric illnesses were the result of influence by spirits of the dead. Wickland came to believe that a large number of his patients had become possessed by what he called "obsessing spirits", and that low-voltage electric shocks could dislodge them, while his wife Anna acted as a medium to guide them to "progress in the spirit world". Spiritualists considered him an authority on "destructive spirits" and he wrote a book in 1924, Thirty Years Among the Dead, detailing his experiences as a psychical researcher.[3]
Wickland was convinced that he was in contact with a group of spirits known as the "Mercy Band" who would remove the possessors, and help them in the spirit world. Psychologist Robert A. Baker listed Wickland and Arthur Guirdham as early psychiatrists who preferred to "ignore the science and embrace the supernatural".[4]
Read his book at the Internet Archive.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 13, 2023 -
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Category: Death, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Books, 1920s
Amorous Dietitian
Published in 1961. It's got an intriguing title. However, a review on Goodreads reveals that "The title and the cover text have nothing to do with anything in the book."More info: Pop Sensation
Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 28, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Books, 1960s, Dieting and Weight Loss
I Dream of Madonna
Thirty years ago, Madonna seemed to be invading the psychic spaces of sleepers. The phenomenon was recorded in I DREAM OF MADONNA, which may be read here, at the Internet Archive.One wonders if today those dreams might tend towards the disturbing.
Read a contemporary review here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Feb 20, 2023 -
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Category: Celebrities, Dreams and Nightmares, Music, Books, 1990s
God Speaks To Modern Man
Looks like he's asking for a raise.
The illustrations inside the book (which you can read for free via archive.org) are equally odd.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 06, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Religion, Books, 1950s
Live Alone And Like It
I posted two days ago about the 1937 book How To Live Without A Woman, which celebrated the bachelor lifestyle. But what about women who wanted to live without a man... or even without another woman? Marjorie Hillis's Live Alone And Like It (1936) was the book for them.Based on the review below, it seems that while Hillis offered some good advice for women living alone, she was less persuasive about them liking it:
One gets the impression that the author, Marjorie Hillis, has herself lived in solitary state for quite a spell, doesn't think much of it, but has made the best of it.
You can read the book for free at archive.org.
Indianapolis Star - Oct 4, 1936
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 02, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Books, 1930s, Women
How to live without a woman
Alexander Wright's 1937 book, How To Live Without A Woman, was a celebration of bachelorhood. But it seems that Wright's strategy for life without a woman was to get his female friends to feel sorry for him and do his housework for him.A woman friend will help you dispose of your useless accumulations. "They have not the slightest regard for the accumulations of others," Author Wright warns.
Mr Wright maintains with a little judicious flattery any woman will help solve a bachelor's housekeeping problems.
Doesn't really seem like he was living without a woman if he was still getting women to do all his work. And you have to wonder how long he managed to keep any female friends before they figured out what was going on.
Pittsburgh Press - Sep 18, 1938
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 31, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Gender, Men, Women, Books, 1930s
The Elizabethean Underworld
This review by the famous Anthony Burgess (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) alerted me to the existence of a fascinating book. Turns out it's available at the Internet Archive. The lexicon of thieves talk that Burgess mentions makes for fun reading.Review source: The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) 19 Mar 1965, Fri Page 11
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 28, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Crime, History, Books, Slang
Coconuts: Production, Processing, Products
Every now and then, WU strives to find a video or book or practice so boring that it merges into true weirdness. I think 311 pages on the humble coconut might qualify. Learn about the ten different cuts of coconut meat, and so much more!
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 24, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Boredom, Food, Industry, Factories and Manufacturing, Books
Midwatch In Verse
A new book explores the obscure poetic tradition of sailors in the U.S. Navy writing the first deck log of the new year in verse. As explained by the NW Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:For the average person, the deck logs of the U.S. Navy are what Dave Johnson would call mind-numbing and indecipherable.
The records, quasi-legal documents, were a requirement of each ship to note various bits of technical information -- ship speed and direction, even the number of propeller rotations and other things that would only be useful or make sense if you were in the Navy.
But one time of year, sailors were allowed to deviate from the benign record keeping and exhibit creativity with brief storytelling. During the first watch of the New Year, from midnight to 4 a.m., the Officer of the Deck could record in verse.
The records, quasi-legal documents, were a requirement of each ship to note various bits of technical information -- ship speed and direction, even the number of propeller rotations and other things that would only be useful or make sense if you were in the Navy.
But one time of year, sailors were allowed to deviate from the benign record keeping and exhibit creativity with brief storytelling. During the first watch of the New Year, from midnight to 4 a.m., the Officer of the Deck could record in verse.
No one is sure when, or why this tradition began. The earliest known example (reproduced below) dates back to 1926, but the tradition was apparently already well established by then.
More info: midwatch-in-verse.com
| I stand on the deck at midnight As the clocks are striking the hour And I’ll keep the watch until morning To the best of my humble power. We are anchored in Pedro harbor Tho there isn’t much of a lee And why they call it a harbor Is something I never could see But our hook is in hole A seven And our center anchor chain Has forty-five in the hawse pipe And a very gentle strain. When we anchored our trusty leadsman Made a very careful cast Finding eight and a half good fathoms As the bugler blew the blast. And down below in the fire rooms Which the black gang ought to man The steam is blowing bubbles In number seven can. All the battleship divisions Swing nearby on the blue Except the West Virginia And the Mississippi too. The Senior Officer Present Floats peacefully in his sleep On the good ship California The guardian of the deep. At one fifteen Roskelly A pill rolling pharmacist’s mate Returned from his leave on schedule He’s lucky he wasn’t late. That’s all the dope this morning Except, just between us two If the Captain ever sees this log My gawd what will he do? E.V. Dockweiler, Ensign, U. S. Navy |
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 20, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Military, Books, Poetry
foew&ombwhnw
foew&ombwhnw, by Dick Higgins, was published in 1969 by Something Else Press. The title was an acronym for "freaked-out electronic wizards & other marvellous bartenders who have no wings."The design of the book was unusual. It was made to look like a prayer book, with black cover and thin pages. Inside, the text was divided into four columns. To read the book in order you had to first read all the left-hand columns, then all the second-to-left columns, etc.
The book itself was a collection of essays, plays, and poems. Or, as Higgins described it, "a grammar of the mind and a phenomenology of love and a science of the arts as seen by a stalker of the wild mushroom."
Copies of it generally go for over $100, for anyone interested in adding it to their collection of weird books.
More info: DickHiggins.org
source: printedmatter.org
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 10, 2022 -
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Category: Literature, Books, 1960s
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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 |