Archive for the ‘weird’ category
May 2, 2011
– – Gossamer is a hulking, hairy reddish monster somewhat reminiscent of Bigfoot who is part of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies universe. He wears enormous tennis shoes, and has a heart-shaped face in which may be seen oval eyes and a wide mouth. Beyond these features and dirty clawed fingers, little else may be discerned about Gossamer, whose primary characteristic is the trademark hair; indeed, Gossamer may be made entirely of hair! He is anything but gossamer, a name referring to a delicate type of spider silk.
First appearing in the 1946 film Hair-Raising Hare, Gossamer was the henchman of a mad scientist who bears a strong resemblance to Peter Lorre; if you don’t know who that is, you don’t watch enough old classic films ! Anyways, Bugs Bunny is lured by a mechanical female rabbit to the lair of the mad scientist to be a meal for Gossamer, but makes merry sport of the monster instead (“I’m always interested in meeting interesting people!,” Bugs tells the creature while working on his nails). Gossamer is revealed to be frightened of people, who it must be admitted can be pretty frightening.
Originally nameless, Gossamer was referred to as Rudolph in a 1952 short, and didn’t land the name Gossamer until such was bestowed on him by none less than Marvin the Martian in the 1980 Duck Dodgers feature. Gossamer has enjoyed small roles in a number of Warner Bros. productions since…
Categories: animal oddities, anomalies, cartoons, furry, imaginary animals, weird
Tags: cartoon cryptids, Gossamer, Looney Tunes characters
Comments: 1 Comment
April 22, 2011
– – On the outer fringes of the bodily modification culture are those such as the “Vampire Woman” pictured who has had titanium horns embedded in her skull. The woman, Maria Jose Cristerna, is a 35-year-old former attorney turned tattoo artist who resides in Guadalajara, Mexico. Cristerna believes humans have only one life and should live it the way they want; she chose to reinvent herself as a warrior following an abusive marriage, seeing the horns as a symbol of strength.
Elsewhere, Eril Sprague, also known as Lizardman, had horns implanted in his head as part of a body-based art project to explore the idea of what it means to be human. Horn implants are characteristically done by body-modification artists rather than doctors, who are reluctant to implant in the forehead as objects put there are likely to erode through the skin and pose infection risks…
…But wouldn’t a horned attorney be really intimidating?!
Categories: strange, things humans do, weird
Tags: extreme bodily modification, horn implantation
Comments: 2 Comments
April 16, 2011
– – During medieval times, animals were at times tormented as public entertainment through such displays as bear-baiting and what was termed the “horse and ape” spectacle; dogs were also trained to fight bears and bulls confined in a pit. To add insult to injury, animals were occasionally even put on trial! In 1499, a bear was charged with terrorizing villages in Germany. Defense lawyers cried foul (not bruin), and pleaded that the defendant should be tried by a jury of its peers…peer bears, that is!
If, however, Yogi Bear is ever put on trial, I’d volunteer to be judge, jury, and Lord High Executioner…sorry, Boo-boo!
Categories: animal oddities, animals, furry, historical perspectives, strange happenings, weird
Tags: animals on trial, legal lunacy
Comments: 2 Comments
January 5, 2011
– – Over the past two months, more than 300 goats owned by shepherds in Mexico’s Puebla state have been decapitated by someone…or something! As there was reportedly very little blood in the area where the goat bodies have been found, suspicions are again afoot about the chupacabra or some other unidentified animal being the culprit.
Chupacabra sightings often emanate from the Southwest U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, and Mexico. Researchers have speculated that the reported chupacabras of Mexico and Texas may actually be coyote hybrids, although in Mexico groups of peasants have formed watch groups to monitor any possible chupacabra activity in their communities. With so many incidents, 2010 has been termed by some “the year of the goat sucker.“
Now that’s something I could sink my teeth into…ahahahahaha!
Categories: animal occurrences, creature features, cryptozoology, strange happenings, unexplained, weird
Tags: goats slaughtered in Mexico, the work of chupacabras?
Comments: 2 Comments
January 3, 2011
– – Yes, I live to write headlines like that!- -And in the Arkansas town of Beebe, more than 1,000 blackbirds fell from the sky in a one-mile area Friday night about 30 minutes before the arrival of the new year.
A wildlife officer on the scene reported that the birds “showed physical trauma,” and said the flock might have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail. Another theory was that fireworks launched skyward by new year’s revelers might have stressed the birds.
And with 1,000 dead birds on the ground in Beebe, they then obviously wanted to get the flock out of there…
(…What?– -You didn’t think I’d pass up a gift like that, did ‘ya?) 😉
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(Addendum: The number of dead birds has been upped to possibly as high as 5,000! Preliminary autopsies have determined that the birds died of traumatic injuries inflicted not on the ground but in the air, which lends support to theories of death by impact.)
Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, feathered friends, unexplained, weird
Tags: black birds fall from sky in Arkansas, it's raining birds
Comments: 3 Comments
December 30, 2010
– – Once again a farmer, this time in Kentucky, has shot a hideous, otherworldly-looking creature, raising speculation that it was the chupacabra, the legendary livestock killer.
Researchers and wildlife experts tend to think that this and similar creatures are most likely coyotes, raccoons, or opossums with mange, however. Infection by tiny parasites or mites causes the infection in such cases, which results in the animal’s hair falling out and their skin becoming shriveled.
DNA testing by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is expected to solve the mystery of the pictured animal’s true identity…
Categories: animal oddities, animals, cryptozoology, Uncategorized, unidentified, weird
Tags: Kentucky "chupacabra"
Comments: 4 Comments
December 14, 2010
– – Not to be confused with Forrest Gump, it’s time to talk about our ghoul friends, like this one reportedly photographed by a deer hunter on a reserve in Berwick near Morgan City, Louisiana. The hunter contends that he was lying in wait in the pitch black when this specter with glowing eyes filled his sights. The mysterious thing jumped from the undergrowth and flashed a look at the camera before vanishing back into the bushes. The hunter was so spooked he broke his camera, but conveniently retrieved the undamaged memory chip from which this image was supposedly produced.
While creepy, the eyes and limbs of this thing don’t look real to me, and if it isn’t photoshopped, it may be a suit of some sort…don’t bet the rent on the reality of this creature, but I’ll take Halloween over Xmas any day!
Categories: anomalies, creature features, strange happenings, unexplained, unidentified, weird
Tags: forest ghoul, strange creature seen by hunter
Comments: 2 Comments
November 14, 2010
– – How would you like a piggy bank made from a real piggy?–No, I wouldn’t, either…
They are for sale, however, from a novelty retailer out of Vancouver, British Columbia; yes, taxidermied piglet piggy banks for a mere $4,000 each! Production costs are high for the item, with the taxidermy process alone taking six months. The piglets used have actually died of natural causes.
Animal activists have called the piglet banks, “a particularly callous and demeaning exploitation of a baby animal’s dead body.” Although no pigs are killed to make the piglet banks, the co-owner of the Canadian novelty retail establishment which has been brought much publicity feels that the real argument would seem to be about taxidermy and whether preserving animals for aesthetic appeal is ethical.
There is unquestionably value in taxidermy to the extent that it has allowed for rare and extinct animals to be displayed and studied; I personally find the display of hacked-off animal parts to be gruesome and repugnant, however…
Categories: animal rights, strange, strange happenings, things humans do, weird
Tags: real piggy banks
Comments: 4 Comments
October 24, 2010
– – Did you know it’s legal to buy real plastinated body parts online?–Yuppers, a German anatomist famous for his controversial Body World exhibition is selling both human and animal body parts which have had water and fat replaced with plastic for preservation purposes. One of the tamer examples of such a process is pictured, but you can get a whole body, torso, or just a head. For the budget-conscious, transparent body slices are also available…
Only “qualified users” who can provide written proof that they intend to use the parts for research, teaching, or medical purposes can place an order, however. This doesn’t mean that the general public can’t buy jewelry crafted from animal corpses or reproductions of the real human body parts.- -I swear I am not making this up!
A bit of the ghoulish submitted for your approval as we approach Halloween…
Categories: medical, science, strange, strange happenings, weird
Tags: body parts, plastinated body parts
Comments: 2 Comments
October 9, 2010
– – Once feared as an evil cross between a demon and a turtle, the Kappa has become somewhat of a Japanese national mascot, more loved than feared and depicted on such innocuous items as lunchboxes. The darker incarnation of the Kappa, however, is blamed for the disappearance of livestock and even children, prompting a segment on a Destination Truth investigation.
Journeying to the location of a recent reported Kappa sighting near Tono, Josh Gates and his team set up infrared and trap cameras to capture any images of the elusive beast, and broke into two groups to sweep the area. They saw a large dark shape in the water, which was later regarded by experts to be a large fish or perhaps an eel. Also checking out skeletal remains of a reported Kappa foot at a Japanese shrine, the team returned with photographs of the same, which were regarded by a mammalogist to be bones of a canine.
The conclusion?–Evidence for the Kappa is not convincing, and the creature exists at the juncture of folklore and animal misidentification…
Categories: animals, cryptozoology, imaginary animals, mysteries, scalies, unidentified, weird
Tags: Japanese Kappa monster on Destination Truth
Comments: 2 Comments
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