Dr. Armstrong and the Assassin The strange link between Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth and an Episcopalian priest
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
May 10, 2016
in Crime , Interesting People , News , religion , Social History , Strange Lives , Victorian
and tagged conspiracy theories , Dr. Armstrong and the Assassin , John Wilkes Booth , Rev. James G. Armstrong , The Assassin and Dr. Armstrong , the survival of John Wilkes Booth
The Man Who Talked to Monkeys at San Francisco’s Woodward’s Gardens.
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
March 12, 2016
in Animal Tales , Ephemera , Fortean Mysteries , Interesting People , News , Scientific Oddities , Strange Lives , Wonders and Curiosities
and tagged monkey language , monkey speech , primate communication , simian language , speaking with monkeys , The Man Who Talked to Monkeys , Woodward's Gardens
Corpse Collectors: Stories of the bereaved who cannot bury the corpses of their loved ones.
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
March 10, 2016
in Death , Grim and Grewsome , medical oddities , Mourning Customs and History , News , Strange Lives , Victorian , Wonders and Curiosities
and tagged complicated grief , Corpse Collectors , embalmed corpses , Ernestine Kommichau , Henry Coy , hoarding , John Speaks , Marie Kommichau , Mary E. Woodward , Thomas Speaks
Weekend Compendium: 16 January 2016
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
January 16, 2016
in Costume History , Death , Folklore , Fortean Mysteries , Ghosts , Grim and Grewsome , Interesting People , lethal clothing , medical oddities , Mourning Customs and History , News , Social History , Spiritualism , Strange Bodies , Strange Lives , Victorian , Weekend Compendium
and tagged Dr. Henry Slade , extravagant funerals , French couture , French models , frozen ghosts , frozen to death , funeral jobs , funeral service , mannequins , Minnesota ghosts , mourning customs , mourning professions , poisoned stockings , Spiritualism , weekend compendium
Dr. Slade, the Medium and the strange stories whispered about him.
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
January 12, 2016
in Fortean Mysteries , Interesting People , medical oddities , News , Psychic Research , Spiritualism , Strange Bodies , Strange Lives , Victorian
and tagged Dr. Henry Slade , Dr. Slade , Dr. Slade the Medium , homosexuals , shamans , slate writing , spirit messages , Spiritualism , spiritualist mediums , the Medium , transsexuals , Victorian spiritualism
Weekend Compendium of this week’s posts on Mrs Daffodil and Haunted Ohio, plus extras!
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
January 9, 2016
in Death , Fairies and Elemental Spirits , Fortean Mysteries , Ghosts , Grim and Grewsome , News , Psychic Research , Scientific Oddities , Spiritualism , Strange Lives , Victorian , Weekend Compendium , Wonders and Curiosities
and tagged adultery , alcoholism , bosom serpent , brownies , Charles Fort , DTs , forteana , Haunted Ohio , ice carnival , Mrs Daffodil , psychic research , skrats , weekend compenium
The most popular fortean posts on this blog for 2015.
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
December 31, 2015
in Animal Tales , Crime , Ephemera , Fairies and Elemental Spirits , Folklore , Fortean Mysteries , Ghosts , medical oddities , News , Strange Deaths , Strange Lives , Victorian , War , Wonders and Curiosities
and tagged auto-decapitation , bizarre deaths , death by hair , Detroit Devil statue , elemental , elephant ghost , forteana , German war toys , ghost impersonator , Great War toys , Herman Menz , lost children , Missing 411 , phantom car , Romeo the circus elephant , the Phantom of Rt. 40
In 1861, on a slow-news day, a journalist scribbled a story about a wildman. Suddenly people began reporting encounters with the tall, hairy creature. Was it a hermit, a wendigo, a lunatic, an idiot, or a true monster?
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
October 17, 2015
in Animal Tales , Creature Feature , Cryptozoology , Folklore , Fortean Mysteries , News , Panics , Scientific Oddities , Social History , Strange Lives , Victorian , Wonders and Curiosities
and tagged Berkshire , bigfoot , Connecticut , cryptozoology , hairy man , panic , sasquatch , Vermont , wild man
A professional corpse says the job is “dead easy.”
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
September 24, 2015
in Ephemera , Grim and Grewsome , Interesting People , medical oddities , News , Social History , Strange Lives , Wonders and Curiosities
and tagged burial alive stunts , buried alive , carnival attraction , escapeologist , professional corpse , sideshow attraction , The Professional Corpse
Nineteenth-century newspapers seemed fascinated by odd jobs. And, to be honest, there seems to have been a great deal of ingenuity displayed by the entrepreneurs in the stories. In honor of Labor Day, let us stroll down to the employment agency and scan some of the unusual jobs posted on fly-specked cards tacked up in the window.
Posted by
Chris Woodyard
on
September 3, 2015
in Animal Tales , Crime , Ephemera , Interesting People , News , Social History , Strange Lives , Victorian
and tagged dog undertaker , funeral mute , odd jobs , Pawnee Bill Wild West Show , strange jobs , strange professions , The Club of Queer Trades Part 2
