Weird Universe
149 posts
It was probably the enormous quantities of Vitamin A pills that Basil Brown was taking which actually killed him. Though the daily gallon of carrot juice certainly contributed. More info: NY Times Ottawa Citizen – Feb 15, 1974 Source link
Little Baby’s existed as an ice cream company from 2011 to 2019. Their ads won them publicity, but I doubt they made many people want to try their product. More info: Wikipedia The director explains how the ads were shot: Source link
Sometime in late 1902, a rumor began to circulate that a worker at the mint, while making the 1902 pennies, had accidentally dropped a bar of gold into the copper. As a result, the 1902 pennies were worth more than a penny. The treasury would supposedly pay up to 18 […]
Wikipedia says: Members of the Wild Bunch nicknamed Laura Bullion “Della Rose”, a name she came by after meeting Kid Curry’s girlfriend Della Moore. Often, Bullion also was referred to as the “Rose of the Wild Bunch”. When her boyfriend Ben Kilpatrick and she fled east to evade the law […]
June 4, 1923: Jockey Frank Hayes suffered a heart attack and died while riding the horse Sweet Kiss in the steeplechase at Belmont Park. He nevertheless won the race. It’s the only time that a horse race has been won by a dead jockey. And it’s probably also the only […]
My source for this illo claims the musical instrument depicted is called a “sampognaro.” Yet googling reveals no such creature. Who can help? Source link
As far as I know, Jeanette Wallace’s only claim to fame was appearing in an ad for Danderine Hair-Growing Remedy. The ad ran in numerous magazines and newspapers between 1906 and 1908. She claimed that Danderine made her hair “fairly crawl out of my scalp”… which sounds like it could […]
Entry at games database, with pix. Wikipedia page. “Some board games turn up the tension so high you practically sweat through your clothes. Squatter, an Australian import which brings home the high-stakes world of sheep-herding, is probably not one of them.” Source link
Publisher Emanuel Haldeman-Julius debuted his “little blue books” in 1919. These were cheaply bound, pocket-sized literary and academic works designed to make highbrow culture accessible to the masses. They sold for five cents each. Haldeman-Julius didn’t do this for charity. He wanted to sell as many titles as possible, and […]
Oct 16, 2001: In Powell, Wyoming, artist Cosimo Cavallaro covered a house inside and out with government-surplus pepperjack cheese. He melted the cheese and then sprayed it on with a pump. Photographer Dan Cepeda, who was assigned to cover the event, offered this commentary: Specifics of many assignments fade over […]
The Muncie Star Press – July 4, 1963 Lancaster New Era – Jun 28, 1984 Orangeburg Times and Democrat – July 4, 1986 Fort Lauderdale News – July 3, 1971 Helena Independent-Record – Mar 14, 1948 Source link
B. Brock and the Sultans were a Beatles knockoff band whose one-and-only album, released in 1964, included a cover of ‘I want to hold your hand.’ But to drive home how like the Beatles they were, almost all the other songs on the album included the word ‘beetle’ — ‘Beetle […]
Fatalities that occurred in 1982 and 1999 reveal that wearing an underwire bra in a lightning storm can lead to loss of life. St. Joseph News-Press Gazette – Jun 19, 1982 The Vancouver Sun – Oct 28, 1999 Source link