Weekend Link Dump

This week's Link Dump is brought to you by The Order of Vintage Grumpy Cats.

What the hell made these patients luminous?

What the hell is this Massachusetts stone circle?

How the hell did this Chinese disk get into a Kentucky garden?

Watch out for Bigfoot!

Watch out for Spring-Heeled Jack!

Watch out for the varua ino!

Watch out for the ground-puppies!

Watch out for those grim and ghastly ghosts!

The colorful life of John C. Calhoun.

"To make Excelent Pancakes," 1707.

The world of the 12th century woman.

Some charming 19th century anecdotes about dogs.

Sort of a criminal version of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

Poe and his "pathological necro-killer."

Marie Antoinette's hameau.

A Georgian female soldier.

Because you can't have too many decapitation histories.

Because you can't have too many U.S. lunatics.

The first Chaos Magician.

The death of William Wilkinson: accident or murder?

Coleridge's "psychological curiosity."

The female paleontologist who became a tongue twister.  Hold on, I think that might be giving you the wrong impression.

Jeanne de la Motte, one of the most oddly charming of grifters.  [Note:  I don't use the word "charming," sarcastically.  I've read her memoirs, and, damn it, I found myself really liking the woman.]

Did Tutankhamen steal from Nefertiti?

The use of religion in 18th century political propaganda.

If it's The Weird you're looking for, connoisseurs know you can't do much better than medieval Iceland. 

A Swedish "witchcraft island."

The horrifying 1977 Girl Scout Murders.

Astrologer to the Gestapo.

Seeing ghosts?  Take a pill!

Empress Elisabeth, truly a slave to beauty.

An 18th century "limbless magician."

The death of Frances Colpitts: an early 19th century horror story.

Egyptians weren't the only ancients to mummify their dead.

John Barclay, who was not reanimated.

Theories about the causes of Spontaneous Human Combustion.

An elephant gets his revenge.

X-ray and Pompeii.

Victorian clowns.  Click the link if you dare.

The execution of a "gentleman highwayman."

Oopsie. 

The "finger of providence" nabs an evil preacher.

How advertising shaped the English language.

And...we're done for this week!  See you on Monday, when we'll be talking Victorian Murder. In the meantime, here's some early Harry Nilsson.  This has always gotten my vote for the saddest pop song ever--hits a bit too close to home, I suppose--but, man, that guy had the voice of an angel.