Weekend Link Dump

This week's Link Dump features yet another of our Cats From the Past!

Meet Sam.  As has always been the case with me, Fate brought him into my household.  When I first made Sam's acquaintance, he was a neighborhood stray.  Apparently, his owners had moved away, leaving him behind.  (Yes, I know.  Special place in Hell.)  An elderly man who lived across the street from us fed Sam and generally took responsibility for him, but he remained an outdoors cat. (It was also this man who named the cat "Sam," because, as he once told me, at first he didn't know if the cat was a "Sam" or "Samantha.")  Sam and I became great friends, and he took to hanging out in our yard.

Things went on like this for a few years, until our elderly neighbor died.  You might say we "inherited" Sam.  Life went on, until one memorable day when Sam decided it would be a fine idea to attack a very large neighborhood dog.  (The dog got by far the worst of the fight.)  This led us to decide we had to bring Sam inside, although since he had been an outdoor cat all his life, we weren't sure how he'd adjust.  Fortunately, he loved being an indoor guy.  He particularly loved sleeping on beds.  And when he realized that at night, a human would join him there, his joy was unbounded.

Sadly, Sam was not part of our household for very long.  We had no idea how old he was, but we knew that he must have been of an advanced age.  After he had been indoors only about two years, he developed some incurable health issues, and passed away.

Sammy wouldn't have won too many beauty contests, and I fear he would have fared little better with an IQ test, but he was a cheerful, outgoing, good-natured lunkhead of a guy.  To know him was to love him.

Unless you were a dog, of course.


What the hell happened at Dyatlov Pass?

Watch out for the Werewolf of Chalons!

Some tips for the next time you interview a serial killer.

Raven romance in the Tower of London.

The story behind the "rule of thumb."

An execution linked to the notorious murder of Lord Darnley.

I have to say, if you're name is "Zack MacLeod Pinsent," you have no choice but to dress like a Regency dude.

A mysterious assault leads to suicide.

Was there a serial killer roaming early 20th century America?

Breakfast with the Duchess of Devonshire.

You might like to know that New York's Central Park is full of people running around counting squirrels.

A puzzling poisoning in Antarctica.

A puzzling disappearance in Australia.

The alleged disappearance of a Chinese village.

This week in Russian Weird looks at the Siberian Atlantis.  And the Perm Anomalous Zone.

A brief history of air conditioners.

Censoring Tennessee Williams.

Archaeologists have found the elixir of immortality.

The legend of the Bride From the Underworld.

The Victorian Harry Potter.

How to exercise in outer space.

The making of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Great Catnip Caper.

Fashionable widow's rings.

Latvia's "Valley of Spirits."

The Montgomery Murders.

Thomas Jefferson and Maria Cosway.

A tragedy in Butler County.

Albania's Virgin Matriarchs.


And so we come to the end of the line for yet another Link Dump. See you on Monday, when we'll meet the Avon Lady From Hell. In the meantime, here's some Nilsson: