Vampires and tuberculosis! / THE AUDITION
Why am I up so early? Oh yeah, I went to bed earlier than usual. Perhaps if I stay up really late tonight (and possibly stave off boredom by playing Scumm VM games), I can get my sleeping schedule back to normal. That, or I can post the archives of Morbid Facts... but that would take far too long. (I remember trying to start a project like that, and then abandoning it) Maybe I'll just read them instead, haha. Then again, I could eat these noodles and be all right for sleep... that happened to me once whilst talking to Spoz at 5:30 AM, heh. Must restart the computer after this post goes through, as well...
Also, someone said Joule's server had some kind of disk hardware failure. Wonder how they know... o_O
Today's Perfectly Preserved Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
When some kids went sliding down a muddy incline in the town of Griswold, Connecticut, one Sunday morning in 1990, they had no idea the 2 skulls that fell behind them from the hillside would lead to a vampire's resting place - in New England, of all places. The bones would not only clear the way to a 19th century graveyard of 28 normal corpses but also to one perfectly preserved skeleton, re-arranged in a skull-and-crossbones pattern with the initials J.B. on the lid of the decayed coffin.
"After he died, someone went into his grave and re-arranged him, covered him back up, and left," says Nick Bellantoni, Connecticut State Archaeologist and leader of the cemetery recovery project. "Our first hypothesis was that maybe this was some kind of vandalism," he adds. But after noting that the other 28 graves contained absolutely no valuables of any kind, other theories had to be explored.
That's when some researchers working with Bellantoni stumbled upon a newspaper account from the 1850's telling of a strange and gruesome practice that was taking place around the same time and only a few kilometres away. "The story goes into the burial of Henry Rae who had died of tuberculosis and was still thought to be spreading it to living family members," recounts Bellantoni. "It gives a whole description of how they went into his grave, broke into his chest cavity, and removed his heart." The practice was bizarre, but undeniably associated with countless similar European vampire cases.
After a careful inspection of the bones of J.B., Paul Sledzik, Curator of Anatomical Collections at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., was able to link the vampire hypothesis with a telltale clue. "From the lesions on several of J.B.'s bones, it was clear that he suffered and likely died of tuberculosis," says Sledzik. "It's very likely someone from the family mutilated the body to cause disruption of the corpse."
While not a pleasant task, it was one that vampire lore from Europe suggests was one of a number of ways of stopping the torment of those still living - in this case, plagued by tuberculosis. Other methods included driving a stake through the heart of the corpse or tying the dead body up in a rope with hundreds of knots.
Culled from: Discovery Channel
Generously submitted by: Shelley
**********************************************************************
Hey, in those days they mutilated bodies to stop the spread of disease; these days, we put antibiotics in tissue paper. Who can say which is the more effective method? But I do know which one is the more fascinating!
*******
Wretched Recommendations!
Lindsay has a film recommendation for us:
The Audition (Japan 1999)
Amazon review: "If you want the full sledgehammer-to-the-stomach effect of Audition, stop reading this review now. Just watch it and take the consequences. At first glance, Takashi Miike's jack in the box of a movie works like a romantic comedy: amiable widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) decides it's time to find a new wife, and a friend suggests holding a fake audition to find the right girl. It soon becomes clear that there is something wrong with Aoyama's choice. This is no ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, however; Audition slowly and carefully builds into a wrenching exploration of both deep male fears and the stereotype of the cute, submissive Japanese woman. Audition is by no means an easy movie to watch -- even hardcore horror fans may have trouble -- but it will stay with you for a long, long time."
"When I finally got my hands on a copy of The Audition, I had already heard great things and was expecting the unexpected. Now only is this a great story with well rounded characters and complex plot, it also contains some of the most disturbing torture scenes I have ever watched. It starts out as a romantic movie about a lonely middle aged man and slowly turns into a nightmare. The direction is excellent, never giving too much, always throwing in the unexpected. The story draws you in slowly by unraveling the murky past of a beautiful, demure girl. Just like the main character, by the time you know the whole story, you're already in hell."
Also, someone said Joule's server had some kind of disk hardware failure. Wonder how they know... o_O
Today's Perfectly Preserved Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
When some kids went sliding down a muddy incline in the town of Griswold, Connecticut, one Sunday morning in 1990, they had no idea the 2 skulls that fell behind them from the hillside would lead to a vampire's resting place - in New England, of all places. The bones would not only clear the way to a 19th century graveyard of 28 normal corpses but also to one perfectly preserved skeleton, re-arranged in a skull-and-crossbones pattern with the initials J.B. on the lid of the decayed coffin.
"After he died, someone went into his grave and re-arranged him, covered him back up, and left," says Nick Bellantoni, Connecticut State Archaeologist and leader of the cemetery recovery project. "Our first hypothesis was that maybe this was some kind of vandalism," he adds. But after noting that the other 28 graves contained absolutely no valuables of any kind, other theories had to be explored.
That's when some researchers working with Bellantoni stumbled upon a newspaper account from the 1850's telling of a strange and gruesome practice that was taking place around the same time and only a few kilometres away. "The story goes into the burial of Henry Rae who had died of tuberculosis and was still thought to be spreading it to living family members," recounts Bellantoni. "It gives a whole description of how they went into his grave, broke into his chest cavity, and removed his heart." The practice was bizarre, but undeniably associated with countless similar European vampire cases.
After a careful inspection of the bones of J.B., Paul Sledzik, Curator of Anatomical Collections at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., was able to link the vampire hypothesis with a telltale clue. "From the lesions on several of J.B.'s bones, it was clear that he suffered and likely died of tuberculosis," says Sledzik. "It's very likely someone from the family mutilated the body to cause disruption of the corpse."
While not a pleasant task, it was one that vampire lore from Europe suggests was one of a number of ways of stopping the torment of those still living - in this case, plagued by tuberculosis. Other methods included driving a stake through the heart of the corpse or tying the dead body up in a rope with hundreds of knots.
Culled from: Discovery Channel
Generously submitted by: Shelley
**********************************************************************
Hey, in those days they mutilated bodies to stop the spread of disease; these days, we put antibiotics in tissue paper. Who can say which is the more effective method? But I do know which one is the more fascinating!
*******
Wretched Recommendations!
Lindsay has a film recommendation for us:
The Audition (Japan 1999)
Amazon review: "If you want the full sledgehammer-to-the-stomach effect of Audition, stop reading this review now. Just watch it and take the consequences. At first glance, Takashi Miike's jack in the box of a movie works like a romantic comedy: amiable widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) decides it's time to find a new wife, and a friend suggests holding a fake audition to find the right girl. It soon becomes clear that there is something wrong with Aoyama's choice. This is no ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, however; Audition slowly and carefully builds into a wrenching exploration of both deep male fears and the stereotype of the cute, submissive Japanese woman. Audition is by no means an easy movie to watch -- even hardcore horror fans may have trouble -- but it will stay with you for a long, long time."
"When I finally got my hands on a copy of The Audition, I had already heard great things and was expecting the unexpected. Now only is this a great story with well rounded characters and complex plot, it also contains some of the most disturbing torture scenes I have ever watched. It starts out as a romantic movie about a lonely middle aged man and slowly turns into a nightmare. The direction is excellent, never giving too much, always throwing in the unexpected. The story draws you in slowly by unraveling the murky past of a beautiful, demure girl. Just like the main character, by the time you know the whole story, you're already in hell."
Labels: 1999, computer, games, henry, icq, japan, maxed-out tags limit, morbid facts, movies, msn, news, nick, noodles, paul, reading, restarts, shelley, sick, sleep, spoz
posted by Flami at 8:04:00 AM
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