Category:
Weapons

Killer Rat



Our beloved Chuck Shepherd had a category in NOTW that might even have been finally considered "no longer weird." DOG SHOOTS OWNER.

But so far as I know, he never had a rat pulling the trigger.

Original article here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 19, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Death, Children, 1920s, Weapons

Follies of the Madmen #400



And just as lethal!

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 10, 2018 - Comments (6)
Category: Business, Advertising, Death, Tools, 1920s, Weapons

Mouth Gun



Source.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 08, 2018 - Comments (6)
Category: Death, Chindogu, 1910s, Weapons

Bugsy Siegel and Atomite

One of the mobster's lesser-known rackets.

Source of text.

Di Frasso and Siegel pictured below the text.



Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 01, 2018 - Comments (1)
Category: Crime, Dictators, Tyrants and Other Harsh Rulers, Frauds, Cons and Scams, 1930s, Europe, Weapons

The Seamaster Airplane

A jet that takes off and lands from water? Filled with nuclear bombs? What could go wrong?

Wikipedia page.





Source of foto.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 25, 2018 - Comments (1)
Category: Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Technology, War, Weapons, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s

Chet Huntley Explains the Strategic Air Command



Be sure to enjoy the SAC theme song starting around 6:30.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 01, 2018 - Comments (7)
Category: Government, Music, War, Weapons, 1960s

Electroshoe

18-year-old Siddharth Mandala of Hyderabad has developed an "electroshoe" that will allow women to fend off attackers. One kick with the shoe and it'll deliver a powerful electric shock to an assailant. The shoe also automatically recharges itself through energy harvested from the wearer's footsteps.

So far Mandala has only developed a prototype. And unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any footage of the electroshoe in action.

The idea reminds me of the spiked defense shoes from 1955.

More info: Deccan Chronicle



Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 25, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Shoes, Weapons

The Exploding Recipe

May 1978: Random House issued a recall of a cookbook, Woman's Day Crockery Cuisine, after realizing that one of the recipes "could cause a serious explosion."

The recipe in question was for "Silky Caramel Slices." The problem was that it instructed people to heat an unopened can of condensed milk in a crockpot for four hours. A statement from Random House noted, "If the recipe is followed, the condensed milk can could explode and shatter the lid and liner of the crockery cooker."

What the recipe neglected to mention was that you should add water into the crockpot surrounding the can. Initially I thought you should open the can also, but my wife (who's heard of this technique of cooking condensed milk on a stove top) corrected me. You keep the can closed so that the milk doesn't boil out of the can.

Marilynn Marter, writing in the Chicago Tribune (May 25, 1978) explains:

The recipe in question was for Silky Caramel Slices and called for heating a can of sweetened condensed milk in a crockpot. Because of an unfortunately elusive line that should have instructed folks to fill the pot with water, following the recipe appears to have resulted in some unintentional pop-top cans and badly damaged crockpots...

The conditions that have made this underground recipe successful and therefore popular, especially with children, are water and temperature. By being heated in boiling water, the temperature of the can and milk do not exceed the boiling point. After a few hours of this, the sugared milk turns to a caramel pudding. In the Crockpot, however, especially without water, the temperature can build up rather like a pressure cooker. That was the most immediate cause of the problem.


Front Cover



Back cover
The 'exploding' recipe (Silky Caramel Slices) is listed third from bottom, right-hand column.



The Tennessean - May 9, 1978

Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 21, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Food, Cookbooks, 1970s, Weapons

Drip Fire Rifle

Invented by Lance Corporal William Charles Scurry during WWI, while fighting in Gallipoli. The Drip Fire Rifle was a way to jerry-rig a rifle using readily available materials so that it would randomly fire on its own. The Australian forces set up a whole bunch of these Drip Fire Rifles, and in this way were able to fool the Turkish forces into thinking they were actively manning the front lines, when in fact they were all sneaking away in boats. From abc.net.au:

His invention involved water dripping from one ration tin into a lower tin attached to a weight, which was tied to a trigger. Depending on the hole in the ration tin, the lower one could take between 20 minutes to an hour to fill. The weight would then pull the rifle trigger. The resultant sporadic fire sounded like any other night, and mirrored the rhythms of the Anzacs that the Turkish forces had grown familiar with.


via Australian War Memorial

Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 16, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Inventions, War, Weapons, 1910s

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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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