Tag Archives: strange & WTF

Scalped in 1867 by Cheyenne in Nebraska, Here’s the Story Behind William Thompson’s Scalp

Scalping is often depicted in old-timey cowboy-and-Indian movies with lots of quavering music and dramatic pauses. But then you see the real scalp under a bell jar and it isn’t so melodramatic anymore. William Thompson’s scalp, archived at the Main Library in Omaha, Nebraska, looks more like some sort of rodent than an impactful partContinue reading “Scalped in 1867 by Cheyenne in Nebraska, Here’s the Story Behind William Thompson’s Scalp”

30 Haunting Photographic Self-Portraits by Francesca Woodman From the 1970s

Francesca Woodman (April 3, 1958 – January 19, 1981) is best known for photographing herself. But her pictures are not self-portraits in the traditional sense. She is often nude or semi-nude and usually seen half hidden or obscured – sometimes by furniture, sometimes by slow exposures that blur her figure into a ghostly presence. TheseContinue reading “30 Haunting Photographic Self-Portraits by Francesca Woodman From the 1970s”

In the 1920s, People Thought Radioactive Water Was Good for the Health

Back in the 1920s, people thought that drinking radium, and thorium, infused water was healthy. One of the more famous varieties of this water was sold under the brand name Radithor. It was eventually famously implicated in the illness and subsequent death of an industrialist named Eben Byers, which was accompanied by the headline ofContinue reading “In the 1920s, People Thought Radioactive Water Was Good for the Health”

Alfred Langevin, the Man Who Could Smoke Through His Eye

Here’s Alfred Langevin (1885–1974), French-Canadian, aka the “Eye Smoker,” who could smoke a pipe through his eye. In the 1930s, he resided in Detroit, Michigan but was under the employ of Robert Ripley. Mr. Langevin was featured not only in the Believe-It-Or-Not cartoons of Ripley, but also appeared in Ripley’s renowned Odditorium from 1933 toContinue reading “Alfred Langevin, the Man Who Could Smoke Through His Eye”

Earthmen From the South of Africa, Exhibited in England, 1853

Flora and Martinus, a 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl from South Africa, were exhibited as ‘earthmen’ in private drawing rooms in 1853, in central London. As so-called ‘human curiosities’, the orphaned San children posed in traditional costume, danced, sang and mimed to entertain visitors… Different to most other variety acts of the time, they performedContinue reading “Earthmen From the South of Africa, Exhibited in England, 1853”