Weekend Link Dump

Strange Company asks everyone to sit back, relax, and enjoy the links.

The cats need no such urging.

What the hell happened to the Kissing Bandit?

What the hell happened in Lahinch in 1833?

What the hell is shining in Mooloolaba?

What the hell is in the Baltic Sea?

What the hell is the Mystery Stone of Lake Winnipesaukee?

What the hell was the "Wow" signal?

What the hell is the Shigir Idol?

What the hell caused the Great Chicago Fire?  Don't blame the cow!

What the hell caused the Great Stock Market Crash of 1987? Don't blame the cow for that one, either!

Where the hell is the cursed Treasure of Urquhart Castle?

What the hell is the animal in this manuscript?

Who the hell were the Hobbit Humans?

Watch out for those 17th century remedies!

Watch out for those Serbian vampires!

Watch out for those fraudulent Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths!

Watch out for those Copycat Creepy Clowns!

Watch out for those succubi!

Sicily is really a hot place!

Louisiana is really booming!

The House of Correction for Bad Wives.

A handy guide to the Dudes of the Dutch Republic.

Another case where the "unwritten law" prevailed.

Getting hysterical about hysteria.  Nuts about nuttiness!  Loony about lunacy!

I'll stop now.

A genealogist looks at the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe.

Is life here on earth the universe's "last man standing?"

Was Stonehenge mentioned in an 8th century poem?

How to make dainty sport with your cat.

Telephony Music.

Ah, what might have been:  The unwritten canon of M.R. James.

The Guardian gets really silly over Tutankhamun.

Dueling over Newfoundland dogs, 1803.

Was Dorothy Kilgallen the woman who knew too much?

Tea:  What can't it do?

Nigel de Brulier:  a long-forgotten, but interesting character actor from Hollywood's early days.

Catherine Macaulay, England's "first female historian."

Greatest celebrity endorsement ad ever?

Music that's to die for.

The Great Fake Butter Swindle.

Palmerston Island:  For those who just can't get enough frenetic activity and constant crowds of people.

Speaking of famously remote places, it turns out Easter Island wasn't as lonely as we thought.

Anyone want to rebuild a haunted house?

Superman is buzzing planes now.

Because who doesn't need their own Vampire Hunting Kit?

The conjoined Hungarian Sisters.

A tribute to an amazing mynah bird.

The murderer who inspired Oscar Wilde.

Ursula Le Guin talks dogs and cats.

Teaching atomic theory...2600 years ago.

The hanging of Maggie Houghtaling: Were there reasonable doubts?

A treasure trove for anomalists:  Charles Fort's "small glow-worms of strangeness" will soon be made publicly available.

Some ancient cursing tablets.

The witches of Cornwall--right in someone's front yard!

A medieval Russian shopping list.

The many lives of Winchester Castle's Great Hall.  With some wonderful photos.

Sarah Bernhardt sees spirits, raises hell.

Forget Andy Kaufman.  I'm looking forward to the Ambrose Bierce comeback.

Oh, those Mitfords!

The rat-fighting cats of the Brooklyn Naval Yard.

The real history of mermaids.

So I'm wrong.  So there are times when it's possible to have too much beer.

Before there were drones, there were carrier pigeons.

A look at horse racing's Great Mares.

That's it for this week's Friday links.  See you all on Monday, when we'll be suing ghosts in medieval Iceland.  Until then, it's quitting time!