It’s Weird Alright

If you are looking for some inspiration for a story or two  or maybe you’re wondering if you really have to go to the other side of the world

to find the odd, the macabre and the strange- do what Mark and Mark from Weird NJ have done and start exploring your own back yard-

You might be surprised at what you could find there:

As a side note- below is  this blurb is my favorite clip.  It’s about an abandoned military Jet in the woods. The video is raw and it makes the story a little weird and creepy but it gets to me because of this:

 I grew up in a town, where in 1962 this happened ( from History Link. Org)

On April 21, 1962, during the Seattle Century 21 World’s Fair opening ceremonies, an Air Force F102 airplane crashed into the Mountlake Terrace neighborhood.

As part of the opening day ceremonies, 10 Air Force F102s with the 64th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Paine Field near Everett did a flyby over the Century 21 fairgrounds.

Moments after the flyby, at 1,500 feet elevation, one of the planes’ engines flamed out. After two unsuccessful attempts to restart the engine, pilot Captain Joseph W. Wildt decided to ditch the F102 and headed it north towards Lake Washington. The pilot safely ejected but the plane missed the north end of the lake by three miles and crashed into a Mountlake Terrace neighborhood.

Site of Air Force F102 crash following World’s Fair opening day ceremonies, Mountlake Terrace, April 21, 1962

The crash killed Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Smith, destroyed two homes, and damaged five others. An investigation determined that Captain Wildt did not factor in the effect the loss of his weight would have on the plane’s trajectory.

Back at the Century 21 World’s Fairgrounds, no one realized there had been a tragedy, and the celebration continued.

The funny this is, my family moved there about 10 years after the crash and I remember kids talking about this and I also remember that a lot of adults said it wasn’t true and that the house in question just burned down. I still don’t know why some people spread the ‘house just burned down story ‘ and some people said it was ‘just a little plane and nobody died ‘ story.

It’s a mystery to me. Just like this:

Abby, Martha and Amy

:::I was going to feature a quote for my version of One Liner Wednesday, but I after I put it down I just kept on going:::

The thug in the play “Arsenic and Old Lace who was supposed to look like Boris Karloff was Karloff.

I love the macabre,  romantic comedy ” Arsenic and Old Lace for three reasons:

First, the homicidal serial killers are two sweet old ladies. I like that idea. After all, death and murder don’t always come roaring into someone’s life in a big truck that plays ” Dixie ” when you lay on the horn. Sometimes they come in a kiss.

Also, Mortimer’s sweet maiden aunts carve pumpkins with a group of happy children surrounding them and a dead body ( that they created and hid )in the window seat in the next room. Adorable.

Second, the two sweet old ladies who are  serial killers come off as ditzy and sweet, but lets face it. They killed 12 men in their sitting room and then duped their mentally ill brother into burying them in their basement. Even though that’s manipulative as heck, you know they’re proud of their own resourcefulness and I admire that can do spirit.

And third but not least- when Arsenic and Old Lace came out in the early 1940’s,  women had at that point the right to vote for 20 years. They were hardcore  trailblazers for the Women in nontraditional roles. They’re like Joan Jett minus the leather and  guitars.

 

Joseph Kesselring’s based his script on Amy Archer-Gilligan, an elderly woman who took in boarders and poisoned them for their pensions. That leaves us with the thought that this comedy that takes place on Halloween ( Amy Archer- Gilligan was BORN on Halloween ) could easily have been told  as a horror story.

Given the elements of Madness, Murder and looming above it all an Insane Asylum called ” Happy Dale ” and the fact it was based of a series of  murders committed by not two but ONE woman whose body count at one point was an ‘even dozen’- as in the play and knowing that  Archer- Gilligan’s victim count could have been as high as 50, writing a darker more horror driven story would not have been a stretch.

But I think a story about two lovable, eccentric spinsters was an easier story to sell then a movie or a play about one woman who was born on Halloween,  murdered two of her husbands and  sent her victims to purchase the arsenic she used to kill them with.

Amy-Archer-Gilligan
Born Amy E. Duggan
October 31, 1873
Milton, Connecticut, U.S.
Died April 23, 1962 (aged 88)
Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.

Movie Adaptation: Arsenci and Old Lace.

– Abby Brewster: The gentleman died because he drank some wine with poison in it.

– Mortimer Brewster: How did the poison get in the wine?

– Martha Brewster: We put in wine because it’s less noticeable. When it’s in tea it has a distinct odor.”

I’m an Aunt and I’ve recently become a Grandaunt. My nieces and my nephew think I’m am sweet and kind and funny and even a little adorable.

They know I worked in a funeral home and they know for a fact that I don’t have bodies buried in my basement.

Hopefully I won’t have to explain why I keep the attic door locked.

 Abby Brewster- “Mortimer, you know all about it and just forget about it. I do think that Aunt Martha and I have the right to our own little secrets.”

Welcome To A Pawsome Caturday!

Photographer:
Paul Koudounaris

Do you know what never gets old? Caturday.  So let’s go way back to see how
we celebrated Caturday in ancient times.
In doing my extensive and very well researched hunt for Caturday material
I”ve decided I really like Roman cats.
They look a little psycho. I like that in my cats, don’t you?
Happy Caturday Everybody!

Mosaic from Pompeii Roman 1st Century CE (2)

The timeless and probably Universal Code.

Cat proving who is REALLY God around here: The Mouth of Truth, Rome, Italy. The massive marble mask weighs about 1300 kg and probably depicts the face of the sea titan god Oceanus.

Cat ambushing birds Pompeii, 1st Century Ad

It’s Looking At Me, Isn’t It?

People will swear up and down that there are paintings out there where the subjects in them follow you with their eyes

and then there are works of art where there is NO QUESTION that their eyes are following you.

I like those works the best- they are  haunting.

Photo A.M. Moscoso

Photo A.M. Moscoso

Photo A.M. Moscoso

RDP Monday: GLARE