Beatrice Turner, artist

Beatrice Turner wasn't known by the public as an artist during her life. In fact, she wasn't known by many people period, since she rarely ventured out of her Newport mansion (which was painted completely black). But when she died in 1948 over a thousand paintings done by her were found. Most of them were self-portraits.

The paintings have attracted the interest of psychologists since how she portrayed herself on canvas was evidently how she saw herself in her mind's eye, but it didn't match physical reality. Text from "Psychiatry and skin disease" by J.A. Cotterill:


More info: alyssamaxwell.com
Images: Life magazine - July 10, 1950

Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 17, 2025 - Comments (1)
Category: Art, Eccentrics, Hermits, Psychology

Brother Dave Gardner

His Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 04, 2025 - Comments (0)
Category: Eccentrics, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Regionalism, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1960s, Comedians

Buck LeClere, Gold Prospector

He spent 61 years searching for gold in Ouray, Colorado, slowly digging a tunnel further and further into the mountainside, until he died in 1947, never having found any gold.

Knoxville Journal - Apr 27, 1947

His efforts sound Sisyphean:

Wilmington Morning Star - Apr 27, 1947

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 12, 2025 - Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics, Mining

The Snowball Church

I scope out daily the list of deaths that Wikipedia curates, where I often see intriguing tidbits. Recently I came across a death notice for Apóstolo Rina (in Portuguese), and was intrigued to see that he was both the church founder and a surfer. ("Bola de Neve" translates to "Snow Ball," by the way, but I remain uncertain of its pertinence.)

Inquiring further, I learned from their entry on Portuguese Wikipedia:

Unlike most churches, it initially appealed to a young and informal audience. The church also seeks to maintain its image associated with extreme sports, such as surfing , skateboarding , running and cycling , and many of its temples have decorations based on these sports.... The first meetings took place in a surf shop and, with no pulpit or table available to support the Bible, the option was to use the surfboard , a trademark of the Bola de Neve Churches.

You can see their groovy surfboard altar in the video.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 19, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Eccentrics, Religion, Sports, South America

Chicken Charlie

He can be seen starting about the 45-second mark in this short video.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 13, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Eccentrics, North America, Twentieth Century

The Ring-O Pool Table

One hole only. Learn more here, at the site dedicated to the inventor, Irving Kaye.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 16, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Inventions, Sports, 1960s

Beaversprite

Dorothy Richards established a sanctuary for beavers in Little Falls, NY. Not so weird. Except that she also had several beavers at a time living in her home.

Read her life story at the Internet Archive.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 12, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Eccentrics, North America, Twentieth Century

The Cellular Cosmogony

Here's your chance to learn the truth: that we are all living inside the Earth, rather than on top of its surface.

The Wikipedia page for Koresh, aka Cyrus Teed.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 18, 2024 - Comments (4)
Category: Eccentrics, Frauds, Cons and Scams, New Age, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, Nineteenth Century

Gilbert Young, most rejected author ever

Gilbert Young first came to the attention of the British press in the 1960s as a crusader for a single world government. He ran repeatedly for various political offices but never won an election.

Below is an ad he placed in the papers seeking new members for his "World Government Party."

Bristol Daily Press - Jan 29, 1964

But his real claim to fame came in the mid 1970s when the editors of the Guinness Book of Records learned that, for years, Young had been trying to get his book published but had only received rejections from publishers. His book, World Government Crusade, had, by 1974, been rejected 80 times. So Guinness listed him in its 1975 edition as the record holder for the "greatest recorded number of publisher's rejections for a manuscript."

Bristol Daily Press - Sep 26, 1974

Guinness Book of Records 1975

For over fifteen years Guinness continued to list him as the holder of this record. Every few years it would update the number of his rejections. By 1990 his book had been rejected 242 times.

Guinness Book of Records 1991

I thought that perhaps Young's book would now be available to read or purchase somewhere on the Internet. But no, as far as I can tell it's still unavailable.

Posted By: Alex - Tue May 14, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics, Politics, World Records, Books

Dance of the Simpleton

Since the silent dance video has no soundtrack, but is ostensibly meant to be accompanied by a Chopin Waltz, I suggest playing "The Minute Waltz" simultaneously! If you click the dance video, then the music video, they sync up nicely, just like THE DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 28, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Eccentrics, Spastic, Uncontrolled, Awkward and Herky-Jerky Movements, 1920s, Dance