Mar 17, 2015

IMPACT

Zeppelin commander Oberleutnant-zur-See Werner Peterson decided that he would rather jump than burn with his ship in 1916. Along with leaving behind a story to tell, he left behind this impact impression.

Mar 15, 2015

NOOSE TWO


BONE MOBILE


That's a lot of bones in that truck, isn't it?

Thank you. I'll be maintaining an act at this time of day at this particular venue for the remainder of the week, should you like some additional humor-jokes.

Mar 12, 2015

FIFTH WHEEL


CRASH LANDING

Warning: Graphic.
Vladimir Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and a cosmonaut (in the 1st group selected in 1960). He was extremely brilliant and knew what he was doing. Even though he was declared medically unfit for training or spaceflight twice while he was in the program, his perseverance and superior skills and his knowledge as an engineer allowed him to continue playing an active role. He is  known as the man who fell from space.

He flew in the Soyuz 1, which started to malfunction as soon as it started orbiting. Antennas didn’t open properly, power and navigation were compromised, and much more. Some say he was sent on a mission they knew he wouldn’t return from. This happened to many cosmonauts during that time.

When the capsule began its descent the parachutes failed to open. Komarov screamed in rage as he plunged to his death. The bottom picture is of his body after the crash.


Mar 7, 2015

SLENDER


CONFESSION

Warning: Graphic.
In 1923, Marianna Dolinska, a Polish native, walked into the police station and said that she hung her four kids (ranging from six months to seven years) so that they would no longer starve. Her husband had been murdered, which left her family without any support. The police checked in on her claim and found the bodies of her four kids on a tree. They arrested her and she died five years later in a psychiatric hospital.


Mar 5, 2015

EXPOSURE


CONCEPTION

 
Hohenwart Monastery, 1742, Sister Josephine Rosenthal became pregnant. The nunnery was entirely cut off from local villages and after an examination, it was declared that she was a virgin, and also – to all intents and purposes unable to be with child. Despite this, Josephine carried the child to six months. By this time her story had reached the ears of the Abbot and she was brought before the council of Benedict. She was then examined again, and it was declared that Josephine had undergone immaculate conception...

Read the rest // meet sculpture's creator.

Mar 4, 2015

SELF-SURGERY

In June 2011, emergency services dispatched an ambulance to the home of 65-year-old Barrie Hepburn. Barrie was a retired sports car enthusiast and a paraplegic. He’d been left wheelchair-bound in 2000 after being shot by a neighbor in an argument. Barrie had told the emergency operator that he was bleeding heavily, and they feared the worst, as he had fallen silent during the call. They certainly weren’t expecting what they found, which was the shock of their lives, and the grisly stuff urban legends are made from.Barrie, who had lost all feeling in his legs, had made an enthusiastic attempt to remove one of them with a hacksaw. He had recently become despondent because he was having so much trouble getting into and out of his beloved sports cars, and his overtures to his doctors about amputation had thus far been rebuffed. Barrie had apparently decided that if he began the surgery himself, doctors wouldn’t have any choice but to continue. When the paramedics arrived his right leg was almost totally detached, the plastic sack he’d used for a tourniquet covered in massive amounts of blood, and his bag was sitting beside him, neatly packed for the hospital.

POPE JOHN PAU--OH MY GOD


Mar 3, 2015

JULIA

In 2008, Dr. Richard E. Gallagher, a board-certified psychiatrist and associate professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College, documented the case of a patient nicknamed "Julia" whom he deduced was indeed possessed by demons. It's rare that a scientist and psychiatrist would acknowledge the possibility of possession; typically doctors think that possession is either fraudulent or a result of mental illness.

Dr. Gallagher personally observed items flying around the room, Julia levitating off the bed, speaking in tongues, and knowing things about people around her that she could not possibly have known. Here is an excerpt from Gallagher's statement:

“Periodically, in our presence, Julia would go into a trance state of a recurring nature. Mentally troubled individuals often ‘dissociate,' but Julia's trances were accompanied by an unusual phenomenon: Out of her mouth would come various threats, taunts and scatological language, phrases like ‘Leave her alone, you idiot,' ‘She's ours,' ‘Leave, you imbecile priest,' or just ‘Leave.' The tone of this voice differed markedly from Julia's own, and it varied, sometimes sounding guttural and vaguely masculine, at other points high pitched. Most of her comments during these ‘trances,' or at the subsequent exorcisms, displayed a marked contempt for anything religious or sacred.”

ALLIGATORS

A young woman in town married a man from another part of the country. He was a nice fellow, and they got along pretty well together. There was only one problem. Every night he’d go swimming in the river. Sometimes, he’d be gone all night long, and she would complain of her loneliness.

The couple had two young sons. As soon as the boys could walk, their father began to teach them how to swim, and when they got older, he would take them swimming in the river at night. They would often stay there all night long, and the woman would stay home, alone.

After a while, she began to act strangely—at least, that’s what the neighbors said. She told them that her husband was turning into an alligator and he was trying to turn the boys into alligators, too.

Everyone told her there was nothing wrong with a man taking his sons swimming. That was just a natural thing to do. And when it came to alligators? There just weren’t any in the area, and everybody knew that.

Early one morning, the woman came running into town from the direction of the river. She was soaking wet, her clothing dripping water. She said a big alligator and two little alligators had pulled her into the river and tried to get her to eat a raw fish. She claimed that they were her husband and her sons, and they apparently wanted her to live with them, but she managed to escape.

Her doctor decided she had lost her mind, and he had her put in the mental institution for a while. After that, nobody saw her husband or children again. They just vanished.

But every now and then, a fisherman would tell about seeing alligators in the river at night. Usually, it was one large alligator accompanied by two small ones. Most people said the fishermen were just making it up. After all, everyone knows there aren’t any alligators out here.

Mar 2, 2015

OUIJA

Three Americans who were reportedly playing with a Ouija board in a Mexican village have been rushed to hospital after showing the sort of disturbing signs and behavior more commonly associated with demonic possession.

Alexandra Huerta, 22, her brother Sergio, 23, and their 18-year-old cousin Fernando Cuevas were playing with a Ouija board in the village of San Juan Tlacotenco in south-west Mexico before all three became allegedly possessed by evil spirits who used the Ouija board as a gateway to enter the land of the living.

Minutes after the trio had started dabbling with the Ouija board, also known as a spirit board or talking board, Alexandra is reported to have fallen into a “trance-like” state.

The youngster is then said to have started growling maniacally like a dog and thrashed around uncontrollably like a wild animal. She is also reported to have started laughing uncontrollably and when asked why, replied, “We’re going to die.”

The Daily Mail reported that Sergio and Fernando were also said to have demonstrated visible signs of “possession” after using the Ouija board to make contact with the dead.

Alongside feelings of disorientation, blindness, and deafness, the two were also reported to have suffered from vivid hallucinations after using the Ouija board.

Alexandra’s parents explained that their child was forcibly restrained to prevent her from hurting herself and paramedics were called to the house where the Ouija board was used to take the three “possessed” friends to hospital.

According to Alexandra’s parents, paramedics were only called after a local Catholic priest had refused to preform an exorcism on the three friends because they were not regular churchgoers.

In place of holy water, crucifixes, and prayers, the paramedics used a combination of painkillers, anti-stress medication, and eye drops. The treatment apparently appeared to do the trick when it came to clearing up any symptoms caused by the Ouija board.

The director of public safety in the nearby town of Tepoztlan, Victor Demeza said:
“The medical rescue of these three young people was very complicated. They had involuntary movements and it was difficult to transfer them to the nearest hospital because they were so erratic.

“It appeared as if they were in a trance-like state, apparently after playing with the Ouija board. They spoke of feeling numbness, double vision, blindness, deafness, hallucinations, muscle spasm and difficulty swallowing.”
Mr. Demeza would not comment on whether the trio who dabbled with the Ouija board were really possessed or had simply convinced themselves that was the case in an outbreak of group hysteria.

Many religions and some occultists have long warned against the dangers of using a Ouija board, and have advised that casually trying to contact the dead is never a particularly good idea.


 Source.

IN NO WAY PENITENT


1/7/1947 - Newark, OH.

Mrs. Laura Bell Devlin, 72, who murdered her 75-year-old husband, Thomas, then dismembered his body with a hacksaw and scattered the parts in the backyard, today professed her dislike for jail. She protested vehemently when officials tried to fingerprint her, saying, "that ink will make my hands dirty," and again when she was placed before the camera. "No," she asserted. She kept repeating "Can I go home now?," unmoved and in no way penitent for the alleged crime.

Mar 1, 2015

FOR SCIENCE

Nicolae Minovici: the doctor who hanged himself for science. During the 1st decade of the 20th century Minovici was employed as  a professor of forensic science at the State School of Science in Bucharest. He took a comprehensive study of death by hanging himself inspired by his research. He wanted to find out 1st hand what it would feel like to die this way.

The 1st picture shows the auto-asphyxiation device he created for the 1st research method. He would lay down on a cot and tug on one end of the rope and the noose would tighten. He lasted only six seconds before consciousness began to slip away, forcing him to stop.

He brought his assistants to help him be lifted into the air while the noose would tighten around his neck. During his 1st try he didn’t last but a couple of seconds before he signaled frantically to be let down. After practicing he was able to endure up to 25 seconds of this.
 
The 2nd picture shows his final stage of research. Hanging himself from the ceiling by a constricting hangman’s knot.  A burning pain ripped through his neck when he began his experiment and was so intense he had to signal his assistants to stop it after 4 seconds. He was unable to swallow for an entire month.

THE EALING HORROR

In the borough of Ealing, West London a photographer, keen to set up his own studio, moves into a half-derelict house. He brings with him his staff, who although slightly unnerved by the setting, settle in comfortably. Until that is, the noises start.

It wasn’t the studio that had such a hideous history, but it was the studio that succumbed to the activity. The peculiar noises coming from unoccupied rooms, the shifting of furniture when no-one was around, members of staff beginning to sense a presence, an unseen hand which tapped them on the shoulder or tugged at their garments, and those spectral voices from within the walls soon made this an awkward place to reside.

The photographer had a strong interest in the paranormal, as had many of his staff, and so, one evening, as darkness drew in, they decided to hold a seance, at least in the hope of communicating with some unknown form. To their delight, in some instances, they did indeed contact a spirit, but the eerie presence spoke of unrest in the neighboring building, a place that had seen much evil within its walls.

A lady and her very young child had been butchered in the property, and a man, belonging to one of the forces, was accused, found guilty and hanged for his crime. It was during this detail that the photographer began to feel sore around his neck, and felt that the spirit in contact with them was indeed the alleged murderer, and this was confirmed when the spectre pleaded its innocence.

Whether such an apparition was cast from the property we’ll never know, only persistent rumour or further experiences could shed some light on as to whether the property is still in turmoil.

Source.

Feb 26, 2015

RUDE AWAKENING

The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long rotting nails through my chest, her other hand muffling my screams. 

I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream, but as I saw my alarm clock read 12:06, I heard my closet door creak open.


Story source.

Image source.

Feb 25, 2015

FACELESS PHANTOM

Even the police stationed outside the house in Langmead Street couldn’t find an answer. They couldn’t explain the strange buzzing noises heard by 26-year-old Cecil Greenfield. They couldn’t find a suspect to arrest for the weird banging noises which kept the family awake every night. The family of eight were tormented by an unseen assailant who dragged furniture about the West Norwood residence. And then, at 2:15 am on a warm July night in 1951, Dennis and his wife Gladys got the shock of their life when they entered their home and were confronted by a tall, grey figure without a face.

Inspector Sidney Candler was extremely skeptical of the fiasco until he heard the thumping noises coming from the attic, and was unnerved as a picture flew from the wall and smashed on the floor. Cutlery seemed to rattle in the drawers.

The house attracted many locals, some simply intrigued by the local haunted house, others more skeptical who howled abuse at the residents, shouting “Get your heads examined!” Even the relatives of the family were embarrassed by the situation and refused to aid the troubled family.

Father Alfred Cole of St. Matthew’s Church was called in to exorcise the building. It was the last resort for the family who’d been plagued by the noises all day, and every night. A group from the Church of the Nazarene held a vigil throughout the night, deep in prayer in hope of cleansing the house of its evil. And yet the activity refused to subside. If anything it increased.

The radio turned on by itself. Peculiar lights whizzed across the living room. A mattress lifted up and appeared to bend, and poor Dennis was accosted by an invisible intruder who tore his shirt.

The family had reached the brink. They fled. They were not followed by the spectres within.

A couple with four children moved into the property, fully aware of its reputation. They were never troubled by the phantoms, and the house on Langmead Street returned to normal.
 

Source.

Feb 24, 2015

SAMURAI FACE

Heikegani ‘Samurai Face’ crabs are native to Japan and have a shell that bears a pattern resembling a human face.

Feb 22, 2015

PARABLE OF THE MADMAN

The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him---you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.