Weekend Link Dump

Strange Company says, "Smile!"

You're on Candid Cat Camera.

Here's a snapshot of This Week in Weird:

What the hell are these deep sea mutant mushroom creatures?  And how soon will it be before the horror movie music kicks in and we begin to regret having found them?

What the hell is hovering over Normandy?

What the hell is hovering over Budapest?

What the hell are the Mughal Celestial Spheres?

What the hell is going on in India?

What the hell is this Greek archaeological find?  Alexander, is that you?

What the hell is hitching a ride on this comet?

Who the hell killed Charles Woodburn?

Watch out for those Deadly Double Dice!

Watch out for those haunted microwaves!

Watch out for the Kraken!

Watch out for Jack the Clipper!

Watch out for those hot sodas and clam punches!

Watch out for those Ed Wood short stories!

Watch out for the Lagarfljótsormurinn!  Just typing the name is nearly enough to finish you off.

In which we learn that the Georgian Era spent a lot of time arguing about snuff.

The British pilot who had his own German fan club.

The Legend of the Dueling Poison Pills.

The Czech Spring-Heeled Jack who became a symbol of freedom.

Proof of dream telepathy?

More proof of dream telepathy?

More evidence indicating that people in a "vegetative state" are not as unaware as we think.

Arsenic, Cyanide, and Strychnine:  Three of the things that made the Victorian Age great.  In the minds of some of us, at least.

I'm sure I'm the only one who remembers this post I did last year about actress Adah Isaacs Menken. Anyway, I was rather pleased to come upon this ghost story involving one of her husbands, boxer John Heenan.

A possible clue to the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask.

"Her curses on you":  An epistolary revenge!

A handy guide to alien abductions.

Hanging around with John Lee and Joseph Samuel.

Decoding the Martellus Map.

The Case of the Bewitched Pig, 1924.

Black magic in 1970s Northern Ireland.

"Lady's Maid":  What we now call a "fashion consultant," but with lower pay.

Because every parent wants a little black magician around the house.

The book theft that killed an 18th century composer.

Okay, so it all started with Napoleon III combating a wizard infestation in Algeria...
And then things got weird.

Aw, kids are cute, aren't they?

Free booze, cute shoulders, and pie-selling: Bad reasons to marry.

Blog headline of the week:  The Witch of Scrapfaggot Green.

Captain Belstead, popular crook.

In search of Antikythera.

King Silence:  What it was like to be a deaf child in Victorian England.

Have you just failed an exam?  Blame the polar bears!

How Confederate gunpowder led to some slightly NSFW limericks.

How actress Ellen Terry got really bugged out.

Excavating a Chinese grandma.

Your "Ouch!" story of the week.

Handy device for the little ones?  Or medieval punishment?  It's both!

More war veteran cats!

Just in time for Halloween:  Why bother with investigating haunted houses when you can make ghosts in the privacy of your own home?

The goldfish probably made for more interesting viewing than the TV shows.

"Modern Seduction, Or Innocence Betrayed: Consisting Of Several Histories Of The Principal Magdalens, Received Into That Charity Since Its Establishment. Very Proper To Be Read By All Young Persons; As They Exhibit A Faithful Picture Of Those Arts Most Fatal To Youth And Innocence; And Of Those Miseries That Are The Never-Ending Consequences Of A Departure From Virtue," and more examples of the epic greatness of 18th century novels.

And, finally, say farewell to this week with the dimming of the day:



See you all next week, when I'll be looking at the toy ad that sparked a libel suit.