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HelloIAmYourHeart posted:S.M. got interviewed on the Invisibilia podcast, if you want to hear her talk. She has a weird voice, too, kind of scratchy and whispery, but she sounds so drat earnest and wide-eyed about everything. http://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/377515477/fearless?showDate=2015-01-16 Her voice being scratchy is due to the same disease that caused her extremely dampened fear response, Urbach-Wiethe disease. The disease is pretty strange in its own right, causing hardened deposits of protein in tissues where soft fatty deposits should be instead. Only like 400 cases reported since it was discovered.
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Apr 15, 2015 18:47
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Crow Jane posted:The last bar he drank in is still in operation, though obviously it's changed hands a few times. It's a bit of a tourist trap, and they use the connection as a selling point. It bums me out that the sons only took a few years to make the tradition stupid. "Dad's been doing this for 50+ years... GO GIANTS"
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Apr 15, 2015 22:48
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quote:... in 2006 an unsuccessful attempt was made by several onlookers to detain and identify him. Why? Why would they do this? He's not hurting anyone. Also I agree with the poster above me. I never knew Poe personally, obviously, but I feel he wouldn't give two shits about who wins a football game.
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Apr 16, 2015 02:48
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RNG posted:It bums me out that the sons only took a few years to make the tradition stupid. "Dad's been doing this for 50+ years... GO GIANTS" The Endbringer posted:Why? Why would they do this? He's not hurting anyone. It's Baltimore. I love this city, but there are a lot of idiots around.
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Apr 16, 2015 03:07
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quote:A final note—left sometime between 2005 and 2008—was so dismaying, Jerome said, that he decided to fib and announce that no note had been left. He declined to reveal its contents, other than that it was a hint, in hindsight, that an end to the tradition was imminent. I'd imagine the note was something like "God, gently caress this poo poo already. Not doing this anymore, dad! Don't even know who this Poe fag was, probably some rear end in a top hat. Outtie-5000, BITCHES!"
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Apr 16, 2015 03:12
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i like ghosts and demon possession related things. i dont actually believe in ghosts or possession but i love the idea and find it fun to pretend-believe. pls post a bunch of really cool stories about ghosts/demon posession and i will, in turn, post a funny animal gif for u. or a spooky gif, if the OP desires. tia
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Apr 16, 2015 03:15
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A Spider Covets posted:i like ghosts and demon possession related things. i dont actually believe in ghosts or possession but i love the idea and find it fun to pretend-believe. pls post a bunch of really cool stories about ghosts/demon posession and i will, in turn, post a funny animal gif for u. or a spooky gif, if the OP desires. The Borley Rectory was always one of my favorites when I was a kid if only because of all the crazy poo poo that was supposed to happen in and around it
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Apr 16, 2015 04:10
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I spent a whole lot of time googling "malibox bombs" to finally come up with the name Wayne Greavette, who I remembered from some previous thread. There's nothing too overtly strange about it, at least by the standards of this thread: a local Canadian bottled water seller receives a package in the mail ostensibly from somebody looking to get into business with him. The package contained a "gift" of a flashlight, which exploded and killed him while he was trying to turn it on. There are no suspects or leads. The only thing I remembered from the case was that the note attached was in exceedingly poor taste, and having finally found it again it's worse than I remembered. Whoever killed this guy loving hated him. The note ends: quote:...have a very Merry Christmas and may you never have to buy another flashlight
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Apr 16, 2015 04:27
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Aesop Poprock posted:The Borley Rectory was always one of my favorites when I was a kid if only because of all the crazy poo poo that was supposed to happen in and around it this is extremely my poo poo. other goons, please follow suit
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Apr 16, 2015 05:30
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This was one of my favorite ghost stories when I was a kid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenbrier_Ghost On the non-SpookyFunStory side of it, I like the implication that the mother's story was just the excuse the prosecutor was looking for to open investigation. Might want to read this after the wiki page. *shrug* IIRC from the book I read yonks ago, when Shue wanted the boy to go to his house, he had to call around three times. The boy was doing some chores and his mother wouldn't let him go run Mr. Shue's errand until he was done. Shue was really determined not to be the one who found his wife dead. Filox has a new favorite as of 06:15 on Apr 16, 2015 |
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Apr 16, 2015 06:09
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Aesop Poprock posted:The Borley Rectory was always one of my favorites when I was a kid if only because of all the crazy poo poo that was supposed to happen in and around it Is this what the haunted house in Silent Hill 3 was based on?
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Apr 16, 2015 06:32
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On the nuclear war front I have a fair few books in my office that project the consequences of global thermonuclear war on the USSR and the US. Most of them predict a USSR "recovery" before a US one, with statements like "for some areas of Siberia, the effects of nuclear war will be noticeable as several severe winters". I'll do some scanning at lunch, good creepy stuff.
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Apr 16, 2015 07:56
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lenoon posted:On the nuclear war front I have a fair few books in my office that project the consequences of global thermonuclear war on the USSR and the US. Most of them predict a USSR "recovery" before a US one, with statements like "for some areas of Siberia, the effects of nuclear war will be noticeable as several severe winters". I'll do some scanning at lunch, good creepy stuff. Please do! And if you wouldn't mind, could you post the titles of the books? Cold War weirdness is always a fascinating read.
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Apr 16, 2015 09:04
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Will do! Might be a big old effort post so will have to scan here and write it up at home. I'll take the two creepiest ones: London after the Bomb and The Nuclear War Game. Mainly because one is basically "this is what will happen to you personally lenoon" and the other is "this is what will happen to the US"
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Apr 16, 2015 10:20
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Self-quotin' from last year:RNG posted:Going back a few pages to the bombing of Hiroshima:
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Apr 16, 2015 10:39
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On thermonuclear war is a chilling treatise but I think it doesn't compare to the later period stuff like Operation Square Leg, and even that doesn't cover a realistic saturation scenario. Combine it with the home office studies in the UK which are basically like "we are totally and utterly hosed guys, let's continue doing this anyway for some reason". Britain being an "unsinkable airstrip" and our high population, desire to site important counter force targets right next to cities and the optimistic hope that we'd have a 35% short term survivors does not bode well for nuclear war. But still! Got to work.
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Apr 16, 2015 11:05
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RNG posted:It bums me out that the sons only took a few years to make the tradition stupid. "Dad's been doing this for 50+ years... GO GIANTS" And then some freedom fries bullshit a few years later quote:The sacred memory of Poe and his final resting place is no place for French cognac. With great reluctance but for [sic] respect for family tradition the cognac is placed. The memory of Poe shall live evermore!
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Apr 16, 2015 11:25
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lenoon posted:On thermonuclear war is a chilling treatise but I think it doesn't compare to the later period stuff like Operation Square Leg, and even that doesn't cover a realistic saturation scenario. Combine it with the home office studies in the UK which are basically like "we are totally and utterly hosed guys, let's continue doing this anyway for some reason". Britain being an "unsinkable airstrip" and our high population, desire to site important counter force targets right next to cities and the optimistic hope that we'd have a 35% short term survivors does not bode well for nuclear war. But still! Got to work. Sounds like a bit of a pickle old chap. Still, musn't grumble. Not factual, but if you want to see a good example of British mentality on nuclear war check out When the Wind Blows. Created by the same guy who did The Snowman, you too can watch a jolly elderly English couple bumble their way through trying to survive nuclear war by following actual instructions from government pamphlets
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Apr 16, 2015 12:20
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MikeCrotch posted:Sounds like a bit of a pickle old chap. Still, musn't grumble. Be warned though. You need to have a pretty high tolerance for bleakness, otherwise it might seriously bum you out.
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Apr 16, 2015 14:32
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You can't post about nuclear warfare without mentioning the Russian "Dead Hand" doomsday device http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand_%28nuclear_war%29quote:
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Apr 16, 2015 14:58
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HighClassSwankyTime posted:You can't post about nuclear warfare without mentioning the Russian "Dead Hand" doomsday device http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand_%28nuclear_war%29 6 posts above this one.
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Apr 16, 2015 15:06
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A Spider Covets posted:this is extremely my poo poo. other goons, please follow suit Enfield Poltergeist would be a good one, even though its almost certainly a load of bollocks. A TV show based on this starring Timothy Spall is out soon. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_Poltergeist Also I think Ghostwatch was based on this. I think its on YouTube and it's great. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwatch
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Apr 16, 2015 15:11
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Pondex posted:6 posts above this one. i really need to start reading other posts
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Apr 16, 2015 16:20
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HighClassSwankyTime posted:i really need to start reading other posts Yes. It can be both fun and educational. 
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Apr 16, 2015 16:49
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Here's a few pages from The Day After World War III by Edward Zuckerman (it's been out of print since the 1980's but is well worth reading) dealing with Cold War continuity of government. You will all be pleased to note that the bureaucracy will indeed survive.      I didn't scan the pages but somewhere else the book notes that the A-Teams have a very short life expectancy. Nckdictator has a new favorite as of 23:14 on Apr 16, 2015 |
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Apr 16, 2015 17:10
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Pondex posted:Be warned though. You need to have a pretty high tolerance for bleakness, otherwise it might seriously bum you out. You want bleak, watch Threads. Then take the next day off to recover.
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Apr 16, 2015 19:04
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Our you can love yourself and not watch either of those
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Apr 16, 2015 20:01
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pienipple posted:Our you can love yourself and not watch either of those I'm Scandinavian, so bleakness is like a warm down comforter to me.
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Apr 16, 2015 21:24
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Pondex posted:I'm Scandinavian, so bleakness is like a warm down comforter to me. Seattleite here, I watched The Day After and Threads and the fallout post-apocalyptic weather was basically every single day here from September-April.
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Apr 16, 2015 22:34
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pienipple posted:Our you can love yourself and not watch either of those I watched the two of them in quick succession a few years back. Jesus, that was a bad decision.
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Apr 16, 2015 22:54
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cptn_dr posted:I watched the two of them in quick succession a few years back. Jesus, that was a bad decision. I did the same thing.  Learn from our mistakes, children.
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Apr 17, 2015 00:27
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I used to teach college freshman history and once I made them watch When the Wind Blows and Come And See in the same semester. Lotta shell-shocked faces that term.
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Apr 17, 2015 01:04
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A Spider Covets posted:this is extremely my poo poo. other goons, please follow suit Sure. Could use a break from researching fancy plane crashes, anyway. So let's take a look at the Winchester Mystery House! William Wirt Winchester's family was famous for their guns, and that company still exists today as the U.S. Repeating Arms Company. The name Winchester continues as a brand, and both original and updated versions of the firearms are still being made today in Japan and America by the company that now owns the rights. This isn't W. Wirt's story though. It's about his widow, Sarah Winchester. It just begins with his death. Well, actually, you could argue the story really began 15 years prior: quote:The couple had one daughter, Annie Pardee Winchester, who was born on June 15, 1866, but died after a few weeks on July 25, 1866[4] from the childhood disease marasmus. Sarah did as well as can be expected of anyone who's lost a child, but in 1880 and 1881, she suffered additional loss: quote:Her father-in-law Oliver Winchester died in 1880, quickly followed in March 1881 by husband William, who died of tuberculosis, giving Sarah approximately 50 percent ownership in the Winchester company and an income of $1,000 a day So at least she was taken care of! Let's see, in today's dollars, that should work out to be, uh... quote:(This amount is roughly equivalent to $23,400 a day in 2013.)  That's not even counting the flat out 20.5 million then-dollar inheritance she received!Not being one of those cartoonishly evil, suddenly rich, made-up widows on TV, Sarah was an actual person, and mourned the loss of her husband, hot on the heels of her father-in-law's passing. She began to feel as if the family was cursed, or so the legends tell. Well, I guess having a bankroll like hers did come in handy, here: quote:According to the legends surrounding her, she felt that her family was cursed, and sought out spiritualists to determine what she should do. A Boston medium, Adam Coons, believed to be a psychic, allegedly told her that the Winchester family was cursed by the spirits of all the people who had been killed by the Winchester rifle, and she should move west to build a house for herself and the spirits. Well that doesn't seem like such a bad cu- quote:The medium is claimed to have told Sarah that if construction on the house ever stopped, she would join her husband and infant daughter.  Weasel Words aside, she did move west, to be with her sister and niece. She bought an eight-room farmhouse on land that eventually became San Jose, and promptly redefined the meaning of "renovations": quote:Immediately, she began spending her $20 million inheritance by renovating and adding more rooms to the house, with work continuing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the next 38 years. According to proprietors of the house, she was fascinated with the number 13 and worked the number into the house in many places. (There are 13 bathrooms, many windows have 13 panes, chandeliers have 13 candles, and so forth.) So if nothing else, at least the local carpenters had steady work. Some of these claims are disputed, by the way. Her biographer and the couple that bought the mansion after her eventual death seem to have polite disagreements on actual facts, and in the interest of equal time, the couple bought it specifically give tours, because let's face it - this house was neat as hell! quote:Before the 1906 earthquake, the house had been seven stories high, but today it is only four stories. The house is predominantly made of redwood, as Mrs. Winchester preferred the wood; however, she disliked the look of it. She therefore demanded that a faux grain and stain be applied. This is why almost all the wood in the home is covered. Approximately 20,500 US gallons (78,000 l) of paint were required to paint the house. Utter waste of redwood aside (and the hot-tub craze of the 1970's did much, much more damage to redwood than this house ever did), this is what happens when so many different crews work on a house over the course of 36 years with no clear end goal in sight. The 1906 earthquake kinda hosed everything up, and Sarah didn't even live in the house full-time after (because she woke up trapped in one of her bedrooms, presumably) but she visited and stayed there often. Construction continued on (which may or may-not-have-been full time) until Sarah passed on at the age of 83, from heart-failure. The couple who bought and ran the mansion as a "mystery house" were good at it, partly because of the mythos they built up around the place to attract customers. In fact, their descendants formed a company and still run it to this day. Did they overplay the occultism and what drove Sarah Winchester's drive to built such a giant cluster of fucks? Most certainly. But in this case it paints the subject in a positive light and there is no unhappy ending - Sarah died of old age. What was construed as a way to escape the spirits of the vengeful dead may just as well have been the hobby of an eccentric, wealthy woman who wanted to forget the losses in her life. What seems to be a maze to trick ghosts may actually be a sign that Sarah had no formal training in architecture, but knew what she wanted and had far too much money to not get her way. It is true - the simplest explanation probably is the more correct one. Sarah also had a yacht the locals called "The Ark", and they teased that she had it because she believed a second Great Flood was coming - and not because, say, she was extremely wealthy and owned a yacht like other rich people in the area did. Perhaps, truly, the most unnerving thing is not the ghost stories, but how easily a person's life can be turned from fact to fiction. Also how rad hosed up houses get built.
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Apr 17, 2015 02:13
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Literally Kermit posted:Winchester House I went there once. It's a really cool place, weird as hell though. In addition to the doors and stairs that lead nowhere, there are also chimneys that stop several floors below the roof. There are also a few rooms which can only be opened from the outside and not the inside, and seance rooms.
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Apr 17, 2015 02:32
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Pondex posted:Be warned though. You need to have a pretty high tolerance for bleakness, otherwise it might seriously bum you out. Ending spoiler: After a few days, the Bloggs are practically bedridden, and Hilda is despondent when her hair begins to fall out. James is still confident that emergency services will come, but they never do, since they were presumably destroyed in the attack. The film ends with the dying James and Hilda getting into paper sacks, crawling back into the shelter, and praying. Jesus Christ, maybe not one for takeaway and film night.
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Apr 17, 2015 13:00
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The comic book is just as bleak and depressing
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Apr 17, 2015 13:23
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Walton Simons posted:Jesus Christ, maybe not one for takeaway and film night.
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Apr 17, 2015 13:44
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Threads is all about my home town. Now that's depressing! Will get on the effort post at some point this weekend.
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Apr 17, 2015 15:02
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lenoon posted:Threads is all about my home town. Now that's depressing! the special effects were great, it made sheffield look habitable.
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Apr 17, 2015 15:13
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SC Bracer posted:Interesting thing is that he was a pianist and while he does not remember what he's playing, he's still able to play because of his procedural memory. Pretty crazy stuff. Stuff like this really is fascinating - you'd think if a part of your brain dealing with memory was damaged, it would affect ALL types of memory. The brain is a very complex and weird organ, that's for sure - hopefully one day science and medicine can figure out how to reverse amnesia symptoms like this.
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