Weekend Link Dump

Strange company may take up yoga.

The cats already have.

Happy Summer Solstice!

This week in the World of Weird:

What the hell is in this?  An ancient lost city has been discovered in Cambodia.

Unfortunately, only our distant ancestors could say what in hell these are.

We now at least know where the hell this is.

The Stranger's Guide to London:  Watch out for those bawds, duffers, jilts, and ring-droppers!

Meet Mary Walker, Civil War surgeon and the only woman ever to be awarded with the Medal of Honor.

An interactive tour of King Tutankhamun's tomb.

Michael Hastings:  Hardly worth killing?  Ouch.  That really must sting him, wherever he is.

Remember that post about poor old Lady Grange I did awhile back?  Yeah, me neither.  Still, here's a tour of the islands where she was imprisoned.  Nice sheep, I must say.

Uri Geller, psychic spy?

Curing the Vapours, and Hysterick Fits.

Yes, the FBI is still looking for Jimmy Hoffa.

According to this, they're looking in the wrong places. (H/t Twitter's @memizon for passing this one along to me.)

I hope Hoffa likes strawberry ice cream.

All I'll say is, I hope these are nurses with very, very active imaginations.  (Content warning:  That first story in particular was enough to give me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies.  Not to mention the creeping willies and the crawling horrors.)

I must mention why I can't just dismiss stories like those mentioned above, much as I'd like to:  Some years ago, my mother was a nurse at a maximum-security psychiatric hospital.  Her patients were "the worst of the worst"--serial killers, serial rapists, serial child molesters, charmers like that.  Mom's as tough a customer as can be imagined, so she wasn't bothered by dealing with such characters--in fact, I think she rather enjoyed staring them down and making them wilt.  What got to her was when she began to come across certain offenders--thankfully, fairly rare ones--who literally didn't seem human.  She's not religious in any traditional sense, but she was convinced that certain patients were either otherworldly evil forces, or human beings who had been possessed by them.  It takes a lot to unnerve my mother, but some of what she saw so disturbed her she left the job--even though it paid well and in those days we were desperate for every dime we could get.  She's told me more than once that while she doubts there is a "God," she has always believed there were angels on earth.  Ever since working at that hospital, she has been equally certain there are demons, as well.

On a lighter note, I think this UK city council member has finally explained the secret of why modern-day government everywhere is what it is.  And, yes, cats figure into it, too.

Why You Should Love the 1970s:  It was the kind of decade where Brian Eno's cat did an ad for Purina.

Spinning witches, spinning centenarians, and, of course, spinning cats.

Continuing the Catapalooza theme:  Meet Morris, political genius.  Who wouldn't vote for a candidate--of any species--that promised to restrict their activities to eating, sleeping, and filling in potholes?

In which we learn that Ernest Hemingway was just chock full o' The Weird.  Atlantis, the KGB, six-toed cats, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's manhood (or lack of same) figure prominently in this list.

For Washington Irving fans:  A photo tour of Sleepy Hollow.

Edward Kelley:  Conjurer or con artist?  Or perhaps a bit of both?

In book news, my Twitter friend @MaryLindsey has "Ashes on the Waves,"  a "young adult gothic romance," coming soon to a bookstore near you.  It's inspired by Poe's "Annabel Lee," and if the lovely cover is any indication, it should make great summer reading for all romantic young gothic adults.

If only Mary would learn to never, but never, click on anything I ever link to.

Coincidentally, another esteemed Twitter acquaintance, Andrea Janes (see Sleepy Hollow link above) also has a YA paranormal in the works, "Glamour."  I greatly enjoyed her collection of ghost stories, "Boroughs of the Dead," so this novel should be well worth your time.

It suddenly occurs to me that all this blog may be good for is product endorsements.  And since it gets fewer hits than Milli Vanilli does these days, probably not even that.

Photo of the week: eBaby.

1912 Paris, a raffle is held to raise money for a hospital. The prizes?LIVE BABIES. pic.twitter.com/XXCBLAAzXo
— CabinetOfCuriosities (@wunderkamercast) June 19, 2013

This week's local What the Hell is This:  The other day I saw this in a window near the executive offices at Santa Anita:

I have no idea what that thing is, or what it could conceivably have to do with horse racing, but I'm afraid to ask anybody.

Just to add to the general spookiness factor, I spotted the object in this deserted corridor.

One of these days, I'll have to write a story called "The Ghosts of Santa Anita":  An eerie tale of handicappers desperately trying to bring their bankrolls back from the dead.

That wraps it up for this week.  Speaking of hauntings, tune in Monday, when I shall tell the tale of Nelly Butler, America's first great ghost.