Category:
Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving

Speed Mask for Swimmers

From what I can gather, Calvin Gongwer is legendary for his inventions in the world of ocean swimming. But his speed mask doesn't seem to have gained a following.

(left) Popular Mechanics - Dec 1968; (right) Ottawa Citizen - July 25, 1968



Patent No. 3,653,086

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 13, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving, Patents

Angelo Faticoni, the Human Cork

We've previously posted about two people who claimed to be "human corks": Norris Kellam and Iver Johnson.

Now I've found a third to add to the list: Angelo Faticoni.

The lives of Kellam and Faticoni overlapped, but I can't find any evidence that they ever met.

More info: wikipedia

Johnson City Chronicle - July 24, 1926



Hartford Courant - Aug 12, 1931

Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 09, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Human Marvels, Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving

Moe and Shemp Go for a Swim

Unscripted poolside mayhem.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 12, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving, 1920s, Comedians

Manly Bosoms Indecent

1934: Coney Island police continued to crack down on male bathers who adopted the new fashion of topless bathing suits.

As for the female bathers:

Asked specifically about the fashionable trunk and brassiere top for ladies, the Coney Island lieutenant dropped the receiver, and apparently sought information from one of his assistants. He came back with the answer that he did not know what a brassiere is.
"But if it's indecent we won't allow it," he said.


Windsor Star - May 15, 1934

Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 05, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Censorship, Bluenoses, Taboos, Prohibitions and Other Cultural No-No’s, Fashion, Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving, 1930s

Underwater Escape Toddler

1972: By the age of two, Annie Laurie Alexander had mastered the art of escaping from ropes binding her hands and feet, while underwater.

I suspect that letting a two-year-old do this nowadays might earn the parents a visit from protective services.

Source: Life magazine (Jan 21, 1972)







Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 06, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving, Babies and Toddlers, 1970s

Under Fire


It takes ba...determination to stand in the path of a high powered rifle round. Even when that round is fired under water.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 31, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Guns, Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving

What’s in the pool?

CDC researchers recently published a study of contaminants found in public pools (in the metro-Atlanta area). It's worth reading if you plan to take a dip in a public pool this summer. Here are the highlights:

During the 2012 summer swimming season, filter concentrate samples were collected at metro-Atlanta public pools... Escherichia coli, a fecal indicator, was detected in 93 (58%) samples; detection signifies that swimmers introduced fecal material into pool water. Fecal material can be introduced when it washes off of swimmers' bodies or through a formed or diarrheal fecal incident in the water. The risk for pathogen transmission increases if swimmers introduce diarrheal feces...

The detection of E. coli in over half of filter backwash samples indicates that swimmers frequently introduced fecal material into pools and thus might transmit infectious pathogens to others... A single diarrheal contamination incident can introduce 107–108 Cryptosporidium oocysts into the water, a quantity sufficient to cause infection if a mouthful of water from a typical pool is ingested.

The frequent occurrence of fecal contamination of pools documented in this study... underscore the need for improved swimmer hygiene (e.g., taking a pre-swim shower and not swimming when ill with diarrhea). This study also found that the proportion of samples positive for E. coli significantly differed between membership/club and municipal pools. This finding might reflect differences in the number of swimmers who are either diapered children or children learning toileting skills.

Posted By: Alex - Sun May 19, 2013 - Comments (8)
Category: Hygiene, Excrement, Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving

Swimming in sewage

I'm pretty sure Chuck has reported on other cases of people found swimming in the human waste pits found beneath outhouses, so I'll just offer this recent case as yet another example of how this scenario might occur. An elderly man visiting Carters Lake in Georgia must have thought the outhouses there were some kind of newfangled way of going to the bathroom. Because of sitting down to relieve himself, he stood on top of the toilet seat, slipped, and fell down into the sewage pool below. It was over an hour before people realized he was missing and started looking for him. [Dalton Daily Citizen]

Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 25, 2013 - Comments (2)
Category: Bathrooms, Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving, Excrement

Floating inside a giant inner tube, 1972

Crazy college students back in the 70s. Looks like it would have been fun!


SEATTLE, May 12, 1972 -- Pool Cocoon -- Students at the University of Washington went floating on an inner tube one better recently. They made their own inner tube and floated in it. The huge plastic tube was kept expanded by air forced from a blower. Black tape at the top was used to join two sheets of plastic to form the tube.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 26, 2013 - Comments (12)
Category: Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving, Universities, Colleges, Private Schools and Academia

Your baby can swim

Train your kid to be the next Michael Phelps. Start teaching them to swim as soon as they're born. This book will show you how.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 23, 2012 - Comments (16)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, Sports, Swimming, Snorkeling, and Diving

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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.

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