Nineteenth Century
Sedimentary Geology and the Civil War
I'm sure Hippensteel's new book (Sand, Science, and the Civil War) is quite interesting (especially if you're a Civil War buff), but the extreme narrow focus of his argument made me laugh. From a review:More info: University of Georgia Press
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 01, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: War, Environmentalism and Ecology, Books, Nineteenth Century
She sold her body for gingerbread
Requesting "all the ginger-bread she could eat" in exchange for her body after death initially struck me as a bizarre detail. But the more I think about it, the more reasonable it seems given that condemned prisoners often request cookies, candy, junk food, etc. as their last meal.
Whiting Weekly News - Jan 25, 1890
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 18, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Death, Food, Prisons, Experiments, Nineteenth Century
Show Low, AZ
For our category of weird town names, such as Linoleumville.
The city's home page.
Their Wikipedia entry, from which we learn:
According to a legend, the city's unusual name[5] resulted from a marathon poker game between Corydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark. The two men were equal partners in a 100,000-acre (400 km2) ranch; however, the partners determined that there was not enough room for both of them in their settlement, and agreed to settle the issue over a game of "Seven Up" (with the winner taking the ranch and the loser leaving).[6] After the game seemed to have no winner in sight, Clark said, "If you can show low, you win." In response, Cooley turned up the deuce of clubs (the lowest possible card) and replied, "Show low it is."[7] As a tribute to the legend, Show Low's main street is named "Deuce of Clubs" in remembrance
Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 07, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Regionalism, Weird Names, Gambling, Casinos, Lotteries and Other Games of Chance, Nineteenth Century
The Scythe Tree
Atlas Obscura article.Roadside America article.
Local newspaper article.
James Wyman Johnson attended a Union army recruitment meeting at the Vail country schoolhouse in October 1861, about five months after the start of the Civil War. As he was mowing with his scythe the next morning, he decided to enlist. When he returned to the house, he hung his scythe in the small tree, about 8 inches in diameter and just a few feet tall, near the kitchen door. He told his parents he was going to enlist and remarked that the scythe was to stay hanging on the tree until he returned from war.... He died on May 22, 1864, from his wounds and was buried in an unknown grave.... Years passed and the handle fell away, the tree grew and gradually surrounded the blade. The long scythe blade only protruded a few inches outside the mammoth tree trunk.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 03, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Agriculture, Death, Family, War, Fables, Myths, Urban Legends, Rumors, Water-Cooler Lore, Nineteenth Century
Musical Tones of Waterfalls
The "A. Heim" referred to below was the Swiss geographer Albert Heim. (Perhaps the E. Heim was his brother?) His studies of the musical tones of waterfalls led him to formulate the hypothesis that Beethoven wrote the sound of a waterfall into his "Pastoral" symphony. Details from wqxr.org:You can read Heim's article about the musical tones of waterfalls here (but it's in German).
Scribner's Monthly - Apr 1875
Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 30, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Music, Science, Nineteenth Century
The Opal
Read it here. Spoiler: it's all very bland.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 30, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Literature, Magazines, Nineteenth Century, Mental Health and Insanity
The Rose Percy Doll
Read here the whole history of a very expensive doll that became the Junior Red Cross's icon.Under Bertha [Peter’s] care, Rose Percy aided worthy causes for a sixty-year period. In 1919, near the end of her life, Bertha placed Rose on temporary loan to the American Red Cross Museum in Washington D.C. The very next year, Bertha gifted Rose to the organization, and with that gift, she became the official mascot of the Junior Red Cross. Rose served in that capacity for over eighty years, and during that time greeted visitors from all over the world.
The year 2010 found the American Red Cross facing deficits, so the decision was made to sell off valuable assets in order to reduce their debt. Countless historic artifacts were sent to the auction block, including Rose Percy, who is in fact, older than the Red Cross itself.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 04, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Charities and Philanthropy, Medicine, Dolls and Stuffed Animals, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
Non-Stop Smoking
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 03, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Advertising, Smoking and Tobacco, Nineteenth Century
Cocoaine for the hair
I'm sure cocaine would soothe an irritated scalp, but I can't imagine why it would cure dandruff.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 30, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Drugs, Nineteenth Century, Hair and Hairstyling
The Great Cheiro
The late part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century were filled with occult types, most famously Aleister Crowley. But I had not previously encountered Cheiro.His Wikipedia page is here.
You can read his palmistry book here.
And luckily, in 1979, Cheiro (died 1936) conducted a long conversation with another medium. Read it here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 27, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, New Age, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
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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 |