ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:

Yes, the scare was so bad that the Daily Mail was the voice of reason.

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

It sure is creepy. And the worst thing is that SA mods also believe in stigmatising the unfortunate: http://forums.somethingawful.com/banlist.php

quote:

Joyce Carol Vincent (15 October 1965 – c. December 2003) was an English woman who is notable because her corpse lay undiscovered in her London bedsit for two years.

Vincent died of unknown causes around the December 2003 period. She was an asthma sufferer, and an asthma attack has been suggested as a possible cause of death, or complications surrounding her recent peptic ulcer. Her remains were described as "mostly skeletal" according to the pathologist, and she was lying on her back, next to a shopping bag, surrounded by Christmas presents she had wrapped but never delivered. It is not known to whom the presents were addressed, and the police report regarding the case has been disposed of.

quote:

In the Germanic lands from at least the tenth century it was customary for the bishop to say the office of the dead as the anchorite entered her cell, to signify the anchorite's death to the world and rebirth to a spiritual life of solitary communion with God and the angels. Sometimes, if the anchorite was walled up inside the cell, the bishop would put his seal upon the wall to stamp it with his authority.

quote:

Hearing Mass and receiving Holy Communion was possible through a small, shuttered window in the common wall facing the sanctuary, called a "hagioscope" or "squint". There was also a small window facing the outside world, through which the inhabitant would receive food and other necessities and, in turn, could provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors, as the anchorites gained a reputation for wisdom.

Anchorites were supposed to remain in their cell in all eventualities. Some were even burned in their cells, which they refused to leave even when pirates or other attackers were looting and burning their towns. They ate frugal meals, and spent their days both in contemplative prayer and interceding on behalf of others.

quote:

This process of self-mummification was mainly practised in Yamagata in Northern Japan between the 11th and 19th century, by members of the Japanese Vajrayana school of Buddhism called Shingon ("True Word"). The practitioners of sokushinbutsu did not view this practice as an act of suicide, but rather as a form of further enlightenment. Those who succeeded were revered, while those who failed were nevertheless respected for the effort.

It is believed that many hundreds of monks tried, but only 24 such mummifications have been discovered to date.

DryGoods posted:

The wiki article itself is a bit dry.

Mr. Flunchy posted:

Just watched the excellent doc Dreams of a Life about the sad case of Joyce Vincent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Vincent


The weirdest thing is that she wasn't some complete loner, she was a smart, attractive and popular woman with four sisters and a pretty large circle of friends. Over the years she'd hung out with Isaac Hayes, Gil Scott Heron and Stevie Wonder. But when she disappeared people either didn't notice, or didn't care enough to find out what had happened to her, so for two years her corpse lay rotting in the middle of London. The TV was on the whole time.

Her rent was partly paid by government benefits so it took two years for arrears to build and her utilities were direct debits, so the power and heating stayed on.

Creepy.

edit: This is also a very good article about her: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/oct/09/joyce-vincent-death-mystery-documentary

Mr. Flunchy's AV posted:

Supreme Allah posted:

Is it, DryGoods. Is the article about self-mummification, a bit dryyyyy.

quote:

The earliest mention of the story seems to have been on a stained glass window placed in the Church of Hamelin c. 1300. The window was described in several accounts between the 14th and 17th centuries.[5] It was destroyed in 1660. Based on the surviving descriptions, a modern reconstruction of the window has been created by historian Hans Dobbertin. It features the colorful figure of the Pied Piper and several figures of children dressed in white.

This window is generally considered to have been created in memory of a tragic historical event for the town. Also, Hamelin town records start with this event. The earliest written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384 which states: "It is 100 years since our children left."[6]

Although research has been conducted for centuries, no explanation for the historical event is agreed upon. In any case, the rats were first added to the story in a version from c. 1559 and are absent from earlier accounts.

quote:

Rescuers arrived to find the city completely destroyed. ... Most had drowned or been crushed as the waves pounded the debris that had been their homes hours earlier. Many survived the storm itself but died after several days being trapped under the wreckage of the city, with rescuers unable to reach them. The rescuers could hear the screams of the survivors as they walked on the debris trying to rescue those they could. A further 30,000 were left homeless.

The dead bodies were so numerous that burying all of them was impossible. The dead were initially weighted down on barges and dumped at sea, but when the gulf currents washed many of the bodies back onto the beach, a new solution was needed. Funeral pyres were set up on the beaches, or wherever dead bodies were found, and burned day and night for several weeks after the storm. The authorities passed out free whiskey to sustain the distraught men conscripted for the gruesome work of collecting and burning the dead.

quote:

Caption: St. Lucas Terrace - 80 bodies were found under the ruins after this photograph was made

GAPO posted:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Zebb_Quinn

dissaoeaances

AKA Pseudonym posted:

The Pied Piper is loosely based on a real story. What really happened is unknown. All anybody knows is that sometime around 1300 references to a piper and a disappearance of the town's children begin showing up in Hamelin's historical record.


The piper is almost certainly allegorical and indeed there's strong evidence the whole event was simply young people emigrating east to what is now Poland. But either way it left an awfully creepy imprint the town's history.

Wildeyes posted:

I think we discussed the Galveston hurricane of 1900 in the last thread. Not only was it the deadliest natural disaster in US history, but according to wiki, "More people were killed in this single storm than the total of those killed in all the tropical cyclones that have struck the United States since." But the real horror is always in the details.


To give you an idea of the kind of task they were looking at,




Anyway, that's the summary...I mainly brought this up to post this telegraph, which was sent to the governor of Texas days after the hurricane struck. I'm not sure exactly why, but it's one of the more chilling things I've read:

Tibor posted:

That's one of the most thorough typos I've ever seen.

Loomer posted:

Which one?

The Daily Mail posted:

It is the greatest murder mystery of all time, a puzzle that has perplexed criminologists for more than a century and spawned books, films and myriad theories ranging from the plausible to the utterly bizarre.

But now, thanks to modern forensic science, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal the true identity of Jack the Ripper, the serial killer responsible for at least five grisly murders in Whitechapel in East London during the autumn of 1888.

DNA evidence has now shown beyond reasonable doubt which one of six key suspects commonly cited in connection with the Ripper’s reign of terror was the actual killer – and we reveal his identity.

A shawl found by the body of Catherine Eddowes, one of the Ripper’s victims, has been analysed and found to contain DNA from her blood as well as DNA from the killer.

The landmark discovery was made after businessman Russell Edwards, 48, bought the shawl at auction and enlisted the help of Dr Jari Louhelainen, a world-renowned expert in analysing genetic evidence from historical crime scenes.

Using cutting-edge techniques, Dr Louhelainen was able to extract 126-year-old DNA from the material and compare it to DNA from descendants of Eddowes and the suspect, with both proving a perfect match.

The revelation puts an end to the fevered speculation over the Ripper’s identity which has lasted since his murderous rampage in the most impoverished and dangerous streets of London.

In the intervening century, a Jack the Ripper industry has grown up, prompting a dizzying array of more than 100 suspects, including Queen Victoria’s grandson – Prince Albert Victor, the Duke of Clarence – the post-Impressionist painter Walter Sickert, and the former Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone.

Stare-Out posted:

Guess who this is:



Why it's Aaron Kosminski, otherwise known as Jack The loving Ripper.


Case closed.

bean_shadow posted:

Interesting, but I'll wait until sources with actual integrity report on it. If it's just the Daily Mail reporting on something, take it with a grain of salt. But if it's true, then yay?

Lumberjack Bonanza posted:

Well, DNA has a "half-life" of over five hundred years, so finding evidence from a case a bit over a century old isn't out of the question. Still seems like total guesswork, though. How do you know that DNA is from the killer? How do you even know that shawl is from the victim?

FrozenVent posted:

Did you read the part of the article where they specifically addressed those issues?

I mean if you want to get pedantic about it, all they claim to have proven is that a shawl with the blood of someone who shares mitochondrial DNA with the victim also has mitochondrial DNA compatible with one of the suspect in the original investigation on it.

Don't know if it'd hold up in a court of law (Ahahaha no it wouldn't) but circumstantially, it seems pretty strong.

FrozenVent posted:

Did you read the part of the article where they specifically addressed those issues?

I mean if you want to get pedantic about it, all they claim to have proven is that a shawl with the blood of someone who shares mitochondrial DNA with the victim also has mitochondrial DNA compatible with one of the suspect in the original investigation on it.

Don't know if it'd hold up in a court of law (Ahahaha no it wouldn't) but circumstantially, it seems pretty strong.

Lumberjack Bonanza posted:

What I find more interesting is the people who claim to be uncaught serial killers. Earlier this year, a man confessed to being the Zodiac Killer. Of course, this was not the first time.. This article goes into greater detail, as an interview with a guy who runs a site acting as a repository for information on Zodiac.

pienipple posted:

The advances in extracting usable information from such elderly evidence is pretty neat tho.

GAPO posted:

Chain of possession is murky at best. As much as I'd like this to be true, everyone here is skeptical with good reason.


Keep in mind, when reading zodiackiller.com, that it's webmaster has often been accused of advancing ridiculous pet theories in an effort to drive traffic to his for-profit site.

Wildeyes posted:

quote:

TO: BARIL/DPKO/UNATIONS

NEW YORK



FROM: DALLAIRE/UNAMIR/KIGALI

FAX NO: MOST IMMEDIATE-CODE CABLE-212-xxx-xxxx

INMARSAT:



FAX NO: 011-xxx-xxxxx

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROTECTION OF INFORMANT

ATTN: MGEN BARIL



ROOM NO: 2052

TOTAL NUMBER OF TRANSMITTED PAGES INCLUDING THIS ONE: 2

1. Force commander put in contact with informant by very very important government politician. Informant is a top level trainer in the cadre of interhamwe-armed militia of MRND.

2. He informed us he was in charge of last Saturdays demonstrations which aims were to target deputies of opposition parties coming to ceremonies and Belgian soldiers. They hoped to provoke the RPF BN to engage (being fired upon) the demonstrators and provoke a civil war. Deputies were to be assassinated upon entry or exit from Parliament. Belgian troops were to be provoked and if Belgians soldiers restored to force a number of them were to be killed and thus guarantee Belgian withdrawal from Rwanda.

3. Informant confirmed 48 RGF PARA CDO and a few members of the gendarmerie participated in demonstrations in plain clothes. Also at least one Minister of the MRND and the sous-prefect of Kigali were in the demonstration. RGF and Interhamwe provided radio communications.

4. Informant is a former security member of the president. He also stated he is paid RF150,000 per month by the MRND party to train Interhamwe. Direct link is to chief of staff RGF and president of the MRND for financial and material support.

5. Interhamwe has trained 1700 men in RGF military camps outside the capital. The 1700 are scattered in groups of 40 throughout Kigali. Since UNAMIR deployed he has trained 300 personnel in three week training sessions at RGF camps. Training focus was discipline, weapons, explosives, close combat and tactics.

6. Principal aim of Interhamwe in the past was to protect Kigali from RPF. Since UNAMIR mandate he has been ordered to register all Tutsi in Kigali. He suspects it is for their extermination. Example he gave was that in 20 minutes his personnel could kill up to 1000 Tutsis.

7. Informant states he disagrees with anti-Tutsi extermination. He supports opposition to RPF but cannot support killing of innocent persons. He also stated that he believes the president does not have full control over all elements of his old party/faction.

8. Informant is prepared to provide location of major weapons cache with at least 135 weapons. He already has distributed 110 weapons including 35 with ammunition and can give us details of their location. Type of weapons are G3 and AK47 provided by RGF. He was ready to go to the arms cache tonight-if we gave him the following guarantee. He requests that he and his family (his wife and four children) be placed under our protection.

9. It is our intention to take action within the next 36 hours with a possible H HR of Wednesday at dawn (local). Informant states that hostilities may commence again if political deadlock ends. Violence could take place day of the ceremonies or the day after. Therefore Wednesday will give greatest chance of success and also be most timely to provide significant input to on-going political negotiations.

10. It is recommended that informant be granted protection and evacuated out of Rwanda. This HQ does not have previous UN experience in such matters and urgently requests guidance. No contact has as yet been made to any embassy in order to inquire if they are prepared to protect him for a period of time by granting diplomatic immunity in their embassy in Kigali before moving him and his family out of the country.

11. Force commander will be meeting with the very very important political person tomorrow morning in order to ensure that this individual is conscious of all parameters of his involvement. Force commander does have certain reservations on the suddenness of the change of heart of the informant to come clean with this information. Recce of armed cache and detailed planning of raid to go on late tomorrow. Possibility of a trap not fully excluded, as this may be a set-up against this very very important political person. Force commander to inform SRSG first thing in morning to ensure his support.

13. Peux Ce Que Veux. Allons-y.

quote:

A man engine is a mechanism of reciprocating ladders and stationary platforms installed in mines to assist the miners' journeys to and from the working levels. It was invented in Germany in the 19th century and was a prominent feature of tin and copper mines in Cornwall until the beginning of the twentieth century.

quote:

In the afternoon of 20 October 1919 an accident occurred on the man engine at the Levant Mine, St Just, Cornwall. More than 100 miners were on the engine being drawn to the surface when a metal bracket at the top of the rod broke. The heavy timbers crashed down the shaft, carrying the side platforms with them, and thirty-one men lost their lives. The man engine was not replaced and the lowest levels of the mine were abandoned.

Stare-Out posted:

Guess who this is:



Case closed.

quote:

"When my involvement in the 126-year-old case began," he writes. "I was just another armchair detective, interested enough to conduct my own extensive research after watching the Johnny Depp film From Hell in 2001. It piqued my curiosity about the 1888 killings when five – possibly more – prostitutes were butchered in London's East End."

Dissapointed Owl posted:

The Daily Mail accusing an immigrant of a crime? Why I never!

Anyway, this poo poo was solved ages ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhMZnPVh1Rs

Stare-Out posted:

Guess who this is:



Why it's Aaron Kosminski, otherwise known as Jack The loving Ripper.


Case closed.

SlothBear posted:

I certainly can't think of any other reason a man's DNA would be on a prostitute's clothing. Case closed indeed.

muscles like this? posted:

And I'm sure racism had nothing to do with a Polish Jew being a suspect. Looking at his Wikipedia page, the case against Kosminski is pretty thin, with most reports not being very clear they're even referring to him.

Davfff posted:

Racism or not, thin case or not, it doesn't change the fact that this is remarkable coincidence, which is what I said in the first place.

Unless those racist coppers knew that in the future we'd be able to take DNA sampling and match it back to the long dead Polish Jew and sully his name and so they planted it.

SlothBear posted:

You're either trolling or you know nothing about forensic DNA analysis or police procedure back then.

hint: It means jack and squat.

Davfff posted:

The second one, as amazing as this may seem most of the general public don't know a lot about forensic DNA analysis or 1800s police procedure.

Please enlighten me.