Camera Obscura For Freaky Friday...!

For some unknown reason, folks seem to have always been fascinated with crime scenes, especially those involving murder. This was a very common practice in the early 1900s. Here is the info from Listverse.

Murder in Miniature

The Raree Show

If one couldn’t make it to the murder scene in person, the next best thing was viewing a model at a fair or from a street entertainer. The customer paid the fee, put his eye to a hole in the side of a wooden box, and was able to view a recreation of the crime scene in miniature. The luridly painted backdrops (complete with the victim weltering in his/her gore) could be changed while the operator recited the story of the crime, which might also include the murderer’s hanging. At night, the scenes were dramatically lit with candles. For some reason, nineteenth century newspapers sometimes called these exhibitions, “camera obscura.” These exhibitions remained popular until the invention of the mechanical peep show.

I reckon this was the same thing as slowing down to gander at a traffic accident, such as we do today. Gruesome habit, I think.

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. It's cold outside.

The Liver Eater On Freaky Friday...

Sadly, some often think of revenge when when a loved one is killed or murdered. Few actually carry it to the extreme aas did Jeremiah Johnson. From Listverse here is his tale.

Liver-Eating Johnson

Photo credit: Montana State Historical Society

Born in 1824 in New Jersey, Jeremiah Johnson is known for the legendary dark stories attached to his name. Johnson served during the Civil War as a logger, trapper, scout, and sheriff. However, he is better-known for the 15-year-long war he waged with the Crow Native Americans who killed his wife.

It’s believed that in 1847, his wife, who was a member of the Flathead Native American tribe, was murdered, and he sought his revenge. According to history books, he scalped more than 300 Crow and cannibalized their livers. It wasn’t long before his reputation grew, and he became known as “Liver-Eating Johnson.” Eating the liver was an insult to the Crow, as it was believed to be vital for the afterlife. Johnson avenged his wife and died in 1900 at a veterans’ home in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 75.

While I can understand how much Johnson must have been hurting, I do think that his methods of revenge were over the top and a bit extreme.

Coffee out on the patio this morning...again!

Murder By Ghost...?

Often we hear stories about hauntings and things that go bump in the night, but then there are times when so many coincidences leads us to think that maybe there is more to some of the tales than we originally thought.

Carl Pruitt’s Cursed Grave

Photo credit: CoolInterestingStuff.com

This story goes back to Kentucky in 1938, when a man named Carl Pruitt came home one day to find his wife in the arms of another man. In a wild fury, he strangled her to death with a chain before killing himself immediately afterward. (The other man fled.) After Pruitt was buried, visitors to the graveyard noticed that discoloration was starting to appear on his tombstone, and it looked eerily similar to a chain.

Before long, a boy trying to impress his friends chipped the tombstone by throwing a rock and immediately afterward fell victim to a freak accident that claimed his life—his bicycle chain somehow came off and strangled him as he rode home. The mother of the boy, naturally devastated, decided to vent her anger on the gravestone, hitting it repeatedly with an ax. The following day, she, too, became a victim of the Pruitt grave’s curse. She was found strangled by her own clothesline, which had inexplicably wrapped about her neck as she was hanging laundry.

Not long after that, there was another incident which cemented the grave’s reputation for being cursed. A farmer fired a gun at the tombstone while passing the graveyard in his wagon. The horses sped up, frightened by the gunshot, and the farmer was thrown out of the wagon. As he fell, one of the reins wrapped itself about his neck and strangled him. By now, the number of strangulations linked with the grave was starting to look like more than a coincidence, but that didn’t stop two policemen from tempting fate by trying to take photos of themselves at the graveside. When they drove away from the cemetery, they noticed they were being followed by a bright light. As they sped away, the vehicle crashed into a fence, and one of the policeman died, his head almost entirely severed by the chain that hung between the fence posts.

For years, people avoided the cemetery, terrified of meeting a hideous death, but in the 1940s, one man decided that he would take the risk of attacking the tombstone with a hammer. He was later found dead by the cemetery gates. How did he die? Yes, you guessed it: He was strangled by the chain that locked the cemetery gates. It’s no wonder that shortly afterward, the cemetery was stripped, and the cursed tombstone was removed permanently.

Just seems to me that this tale from Listverse has way too many coincidences not to have at least a kernel of truth to it. Just a thought...

Coffee in the kitchen again. Lemon snap cookies to share.

Bizarre Death For Freaky Friday...!

If you ever had the doubt that the world was filled with a lot of crazy people, this story from Listverse should remove all doubt.

Manner of death: Volunteered to be tortured and murdered

Sharon Lopatka was an internet entrepreneur and one sick puppy. Living in Hampstead, Maryland, USA, Sharon was killed by Robert Frederick Glass in a case of consensual homicide.

While advertising unusual fetishist pornography on her web site, Sharon began her hunt for a partner willing to torture and kill her for their mutual sexual gratification. After many false starts, of course most replies were not serious, she finally found Robert Glass; more than willing to fulfill her fantasy. They exchanged many messages, culminating in their meeting in North Carolina. Glass tortured her for several days before strangling her with a nylon cord. He was later convicted of voluntary manslaughter and possession of child pornography.

Way too many crazy folks out there sometimes, I think.

Coffee out on the patio this morning.

Golden Rooster For Freaky Friday...!

Believe it or not, the Federal Government has from time to time put inanimate objects on trial...seriously! The one case that really stood out for me was this article from Listverse. Take a look...

United States v. One Solid Gold Object In The Form Of A Rooster

Photo credit: Coeur D’alene Art Auction

In July 1960, the US government issued an arrest warrant for a rooster—not a living one but a 6.4-kilogram (14 lb) rooster made of 18-carat gold. The rooster was exhibited in a glass display case at Nugget Casino, Sparks, Nevada. It had been sculpted in 1958 at the behest of the casino owner, Richard L. Graves, to advertise a fried chicken restaurant inside the casino.

The sculpture happened to have been commissioned at a time when the US needed more gold. Years earlier, the federal government had passed the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, which required Americans to surrender their gold to the Department of the Treasury. Secret Service agents met with Graves to inform him that he had violated the Gold Reserve Act but left him alone after confirming he’d received permission from the San Francisco Mint.

Things took a turn in July 1960, when federal agents arrested the rooster and sent it to a bank vault in California. The rooster appeared before a jury in July 1962, and Graves and the Treasury Department argued over whether it was an art or a tool of commerce.

The Treasury Department argued that the rooster was a tool of commerce since it was used for advertisement. Paul Laxalt, Graves’s attorney and future lieutenant governor, governor, and senator, argued that it was art. Laxalt won, and Graves got his golden rooster back. Had Laxalt lost, the rooster would have been melted down and added to the Federal Reserve.

Now, I have a couple of questions about this whole thing. Why does the government need more gold...and who in their right mind would use 14 lbs. of gold to make a rooster? Crazy all around, if you ask me!

Coffee in the kitchen again this morning!

Marbled Crayfish For Freaky Friday...!

What makes this critter so unusual is the fact that it seems to be a new comer to the system.

If you happen to come across one, do yourself a BIG favor and don't eat it! Who knows what the results could be! Pretty scary thought!

Marbled Crayfish

Photo credit: Ranja Andriantsoa

The most interesting thing about the marbled crayfish isn’t that it reproduces itself asexually; it’s that the species didn’t exist until sometime in the late 1990s. It only exists now thanks to a single mutation in a parent species that resulted in the speciation of a brand-new type of crayfish. These little critters are rather beautiful and have made their way into the pet market in Germany, but that presented a small problem: Marbled crayfish clone themselves by the hundreds!

A single female marbled crayfish can lay hundreds of eggs at one time, so people who place one into an aquarium soon find themselves in possession of more than they can handle. As a result, the species has become invasive all over the world, with especially damaging effects in places like Madagascar, where millions of clones threaten native wildlife. They have been compared to Star Trek ’s tribbles, which reproduce uncontrollably, and while they are interesting, they represent a dangerous threat to a number of ecosystems.

I wouldn't eat a mudbug if ya paid me, so there is nothing for me to worry about. Plus, I don't have an aquarium to put one of these critters in!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Mid 70s are predicted.

Ed Gein For Freaky Friday...!

If ever a person deserved to be classified as creepy, it was Ed Gein.

I won't go into a detailed account of the many ways he acted out his madness, but this article from the History channel touches a small bit of it.

1957

Ed Gein kills final victim Bernice Worden

Infamous killer Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin. His grave robbing, necrophilia, and cannibalism gained national attention, and may have provided inspiration for the characters of Norman Bates in Psycho and serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.

Gein was a quiet farmer who lived in rural Wisconsin with an extremely domineering mother. After she died in 1945, he began studying anatomy, and started stealing women’s corpses from local cemeteries. In 1954, Gein shot and killed saloonkeeper Mary Hogan, piled the body onto a sled, and dragged it home.

On November 16, Gein robbed Worden at the local hardware store she owned and killed her. Her son, a deputy, discovered his mother’s body and became suspicious of Gein, who was believed to be somewhat odd. When authorities searched Gein’s farmhouse, they found an unimaginably grisly scene: organs were in the refrigerator, a heart sat on the stove, and heads had been made into soup bowls. Apparently, Gein had kept various organs from his grave digging and murders as keepsakes and for decoration. He had also used human skin to upholster chairs.

Though it is believed that he killed others during this time, Gein only admitted to the murders of Worden and Hogan. In 1958, Gein was declared insane and sent to the Wisconsin State Hospital in Mendota, where he remained until his death in 1984.

I' read a lt about Gein over the years and I have to admit being completely unnerved at some of the things he did. Crazy doesn't describe the man well enough.

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Cold front moving in, but right now it's nice enough.

Siberian Stiff For Freaky Friday...!

Today I found a really strange story on Listverse that fits the bill for freaky Friday, I think.

Siberian Stiff

Photo credit: siberiantimes.com

On July 1, 2016, Russian authorities discovered the mummified remains of a man 15 meters (50 ft) up in a Siberian pine. Investigators revealed that he had been dead for eight months.

He died in a sitting position with his hands wrapped around the trunk. The man was found wearing a navy vest, sweatshirt, pants, and felt boots. He was discovered in Tomsk in a wooded area between Chekistsky Road and Mostovaya Street. Investigators are working to establish the deceased’s identity.

The man was found on a road leading to Seversk. Forbidden to foreigners, this “closed city” was omitted from Soviet-era maps. It is an epicenter of Russian enriched uranium and plutonium production.

In 2015, a container housing depleted uranium lost pressure and exploded at the Siberian Chemical Industrial Complex. In 1993, the Tomsk-7 Reprocessing Complex became site to one of the world’s greatest nuclear disasters after it released a cloud of radioactive gas.

I would say that this story qualifies as a good Freaky Friday entry, wouldn't you?

Coffee out on the patio if it isn't raining already.

Santeria On Freaky Friday...!

Every so often, a story comes along that is so strange I wasn't sure if it was even real. Turns out it was true and not just made up.

The strange, dark journey of LeRoy Carter's head

In 1981, law enforcement found the body of a man named LeRoy Carter Jr. in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park… but just his body. Carter's head was missing, and pieces of a chicken had been partially stuffed inside the body.

Enter Sandi Gallant, a special intelligence officer who was involved in the investigation at the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana. According to BlumHouse, Gallant was something of an expert in the realm of crimes committed with an eye toward black magic, the occult, and various types of witchcraft and spiritualism. Clearly, this was right up her alley. The LA Times reported that she guessed the crime scene had something to do with Santeria, and she put together a profile that included practitioners spending the next 21 days using parts of the man's head to cook up a ritual brew, then another 21 days of sleeping near the head. She also predicted that on day 42, the head would be returned to the scene of the crime.

And it was, showing up in the weeds near Alvord Lake exactly 42 days after the murder. No one saw whoever dropped the head back off on the scene, and the case went cold — but Gallant says that it was something of a wake-up call that dark stuff like this was actually possible.

Now, I don't know what part of this story I find the scariest...the actual crime, or the fact that someone in the police department actually knows all about the ritual itself! The whole thing is off-the-wall strange, if you ask me!

Coffee out on the patio again.

Bennington Triangle for Freaky Friday...!

Ever notice how some places seem to attract bizarre happenings? That's the case here.

The Bennington Triangle

Between 1920 and 1950, Bennington, Vermont was the site of several completely unexplained disappearances:

On December 1, 1949, Mr. Tetford vanished from a crowded bus. Tetford was on his way home to Bennington from a trip to St. Albans, Vermont. Tetford, an ex-soldier who lived in the Soldier’s Home in Bennington, was sitting on the bus with 14 other passengers. They all testified to seeing him there, sleeping in his seat. When the bus reached its destination, however, Tetford was gone, although his belongings were still on the luggage rack and a bus timetable lay open on his empty seat. Tetford has never returned or been found.

On December 1, 1946, an 18-year-old student named Paula Welden vanished while taking a walk. Welden was walking along the Long Trail into Glastenbury Mountain. She was seen by a middle-aged couple that was strolling about 100 yards behind her. They lost sight of her when she followed the trail around a rocky outcropping, but when they rounded the outcropping themselves, she was nowhere to be seen. Welden has not been seen nor heard from since.

In mid-October, 1950, 8-year old Paul Jepson disappeared from a farm. Paul’s mother, who earned a living as an animal caretaker, left her small son happily playing near a pig sty while she tended to the animals. A short time later, she returned to find him missing. An extensive search of the area proved fruitless.

So far as I can tell, none of these disappearances have ever been solved. It always bothers me when no explanation can be given for someone vanishing like that. Makes me wonder if we are overlooking some clue, ya know?

Coffee out on the patio where it's cool, but what the heck...!

Another Freaky Friday...!

I know you guys are just dying to get another freaky yarn from our creepy past, so here is a good one for ya!

Some of these are pretty freaky simply because they are true reminders of our sometimes strange history.You could find other freaky stories just by reading the morning paper, but this is more fun...right?

The Spooner Well

 
On July 2, 1778, Bathsheba Spooner gained the distinction of being the first woman to be executed in the United States after the country gained its independence. Her husband also received a unique distinction—two headstones. One was placed over his grave in a nearby cemetery, and the other one marks the location of his death. It reads, “Spooner Well—Joshua Spooner murdered and thrown down this well March 1, 1778, by three Revolutionary soldiers at the urging of his wife Bathsheba.”


In 1777, 32-year-old Bathsheba began an affair with a 17-year-old soldier named Ezra Ross. When Ross got her pregnant, Bathsheba plotted to murder her husband before he could find out. She met two British deserters, and used a combination of rum and promises of sexual favors to rope them into helping her. That night, when Joshua Spooner walked into the house, one of the soldiers ambushed him and beat him to death. Bathsheba helped the soldier and her lover throw the body down the well, which was later named the Spooner Well to mark the dastardly deed.

Everyone involved was arrested within 24 hours, and it didn’t take much longer for them to be convicted. Bathsheba pleaded for a stay of her execution to give her a chance to deliver her baby. It wasn’t granted, and she was hanged while five months pregnant.

Well, I reckon that is freaky enough for just about anyone, don't you? It is for me, I'll tell ya!

Coffee in the kitchen again. Patio is still wet from the rain!

Freaky Friday...!

Sounds almost like a movie title, doesn't it? Well, I think that from now on we'll start having some weird and freaky stories for Friday, OK?

This one should well qualify, I believe. I think that even Dizzy Dick will find this one to his liking! He likes the strange and weird post! I got this from the folks over at Listverse, so it should be well verified.

The San Pedro Mountains Mummy

Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr were prospecting in Wyoming’s San Pedro Mountains in October 1932. Hoping to find gold, they blasted through some rocks. Instead, they found a small hidden room containing a mummy. In fact, it was one of the strangest mummies ever discovered.

Seated in a cross-legged position, it was only 18 centimeters (7 in) high, and it would have measured no more than 36 centimeters (14 in) in a standing position. The mummy only weighed one-third of a kilogram (0.75 lb) and had an oddly shaped head. It didn’t look much like a human, but an X-ray eventually determined that the mummy had human bones and was likely a miniature human being.

There was much debate about how old this unidentified human could have been when he was mummified. Some experts believed that he was an infant who suffered from anencephaly and looked like an adult because of his facial deformities. However, because he appeared to have adult vertebrae and teeth, others believed the mummified individual might have been up to 65 years old when he died. This stirred speculation that the mummy originated from the Nimeragir. According to folklore, the Nimeragir were a race of “little people” who lived in Wyoming many centuries ago, but their existence has never been verified. The mummy passed through various hands over the years but seemed to disappear after its last owner died during the 1980s.

See? I told ya this was a strange and freaky tale! Just imagine what these guys thought when they found this...thing. It might be enough to give you a few nightmares, that's for sure!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Bacon sandwiches for all!