The first in a series on mystery animals–the what-is-its, wangadoodles, nondescripts, and whatzits of popular journalism. Not the usual sea serpents and wildmen of silly-season stories. This first post is on mystery mammals. Future installments will cover birds, insects, aquatic creatures and reptiles.
The Phantom Coffin-Maker – A Death Omen There are many noises believed to presage death: birds tapping on windows, the death-watch beetle, howling dogs, crashes or knockings–and the sounds of a coffin being made. We’ve previously discussed the sights and sounds of the phantom funeral. Today we look at the sounds of the phantom coffin makers–well-known as a death omen.
Headless in Hyde Park: Tales of phantom heads A collection of stories of ghostly, disembodied heads, mostly malevolent and usually in a state of vilest decomposition.
Tales of Heads: Famous and Infamous An article about a gruesome experiment with the consciousness of severed heads reminded me of my file of mummified head stories. Here is a cabinet of mummified curiosities–merely because I am interested in the grim and gruesome. An upcoming post will share stories of hauntings involving disembodied heads.
Thomas Perks raised spirits in 18th century Gloucestershire. At first they seemed like benign fairies who sang to him; but then came the terrifying and uncontrollable shape-shifting entities…He was “acquainted with spirits to his own destruction.”
Two “rustics” create extraordinary effects in 18th century Gloucestershire: a tree growing from a solid mahogany table and little men with axes to chop it down. Tree spirits, Knockers, or a clever conjuring trick?
John Van Valkenburg and his mysterious 1917 Wonderplane In 1917 John Van Valkenburg, a Salt Lake City inventor, announced that he had conquered the laws of gravity with his Wonderplane.
Tombstone Madness: A 19th-century occupational disease The life of a graveyard guard was a thankless one. He had to walk the grounds of a cemetery in the dark and in all weathers, ever vigilant for the dreaded body snatchers. More than one watchman was murdered by these ghouls or exchanged gunfire among the tombstones. It was no wonder that, in the 1880s, a new occupational disease emerged.
Hoodoos through History: Crossed eyes, lilacs, and man-killer engines Black cats, the number thirteen, broken mirrors–these were all objects of ill-omen in the past. But a hoodoo could be any one of a seemingly endless list of persons, places of things including clocks, mummies, ships, and trains. Let us grasp our rabbits’ feet and four-leaf clovers firmly and venture into the world of hoodoos of the past.
