A CLEVER MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL AUTOMATON

An interesting, novel, and pseudo-scientific attraction has recently been entertaining London audiences at the Hippodrome variety theater. This is a cleverly-constructed figure which apparently walks and writes automatically. It is called Enigmarelle," and is seemingly a mechanical and electrical combination. The figure stands exactly six feet in height, weighs 198 pounds, and is composed of 365 distinct and separate parts. As to composition, the feet are of iron, the lower limbs of steel and wood, while the arms are of steel and copper. The body is an insulated steel wire frame, cased with fiber and rawhide, while the head is of wax. 

Click the horrifying photo below for the story...

Thanks, Willow Cove, for the nightmare fuel!

Too Soon: The Tylenol Pill Man

Tamper-resistant packaging on modern medicine directly results from one incident, which terrified the nation, baffled law enforcement, and threatened the country’s supply of food and drugs: the Tylenol poisonings. In 1982, a still-unknown assailant spiked Tylenol capsules with deadly cyanide, leading to the deaths of several people in the Chicago area and launching one of the most significant law enforcement investigations in modern history. A man named James William Lewis was convicted of extortion for mailing a ransom letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding money for an end to the poisonings, and although he couldn’t be pinned to the actual act, many of the lead investigators still believe he was the perpetrator.

Source.

Back in 1982, I was still of trick-or-treating age when the Tylenol Murders occurred.  I recall being aware for the first time that people could be terribly cruel and, worse, that something like the orange juice I drank or the cold medicine I took, could be laced with poison.  Nothing had safety seals back then.  And I am as baffled at that fact as when my dad used to say "Back when I was young, we left our doors unlocked at night."  Like how could there EVER have been a time like that?

The first death occurred on September 29th.  And there truly was a nation-wide panic.  It was constantly on the news and it was all anyone was talking about.  It was so horrid that I am still amazed that Tylenol never rebranded.  

So Halloween rolls around and I have a memory of being in the house and getting ready to head out with my brother and my friends to trick-or-treat when a group of people came up to our house for candy.  ONE GUY IS DRESSED AS A GIANT TYLENOL PILL.  And he appeared to be the size of an adult, so it was a HUGE red and white pill.  It must have been made from a large cardboard tube with a paper mâché rounded top to make it look like the end of a capsule.  The eye hole was a six inch rectangular slit.  I have no memory of arm holes or arms hanging out of this, but there must have been, right?

I recall being very confused.  The deaths had occurred only a month prior.  And I guess that was my first exposure to bad-timing and poor taste (a skill I'd develop and master later in life).  I wonder who he was.  Was he a neighbor?  Or some tall high school kid who thought he was funny?  Or maybe someone who likes to mock Death and tell it to screw off and leave us alone?  I dunno.  Hoping it's the latter.

Click below for an interesting article about other unsolved mysteries...

Confessional: Captain EO

Back in May of 1993, fanny pack clinging to my waist, I walked through Disney World wondering why on earth they'd build such a place in the Vietnam climate of Florida.  It was hot and violently humid, and I marveled at the fact that the sun felt like it was only eight feet off the ground.  I can't recall being more miserable climate-wise.  I remember going back to the hotel every afternoon dripping wet, and it hadn't even rained (though it rained literally every single morning like in the Ray Bradbury story The Long Rain).  

Every time I saw a Disney character, my thoughts were instantly about the "actor" inside...suffering and questioning life itself (assumption).  If my t shirt, shorts, fanny pack (and goofy hat) were literally killing me from heat stroke, what on earth was that poor person feeling being the innards of a loveable Disney character?  I don't think I was ever more annoying on this earth, as I said all of the above over and over and over again.

So there we were, walking through the oven-hot park, when I was trying to muster the courage to suggest that we go and see CAPTAIN EO.  I am the world's biggest James Horner fan and this strange 3D Michael Jackson film was scored by James Horner.  This was back before the internet, so you couldn't watch this thing anywhere else on the earth (that sounds really pathetic).  Thankfully I was very convincing (and probably whining).  And then there we were, standing in a dark weird room, waiting for CAPTAIN EO to start.  I remember feeling ashamed, but also being aware that everyone else in the room felt ashamed.  Maybe I was just imagining this.

The movie starts and instantly James Horner's music grabs you as a small asteroid heads for the audience.  The music is building and building.  The asteroid is rolling closer and closer.  Then, thankfully, Captain EO blasts the asteroid.  And that's when the gravity of the situation becomes horribly clear.  Puppets start shouting, Michael Jackson starts shouting, and I just felt like the biggest dope for insisting that this weird horror of a film be watched (by anyone).  It was truly awful.  And confusing.  It was terrible.  And weird.  

But the room was icy cold thanks to the world's greatest invention:  air conditioning.

Click below for the trailer if you're not up for the full film...

And click here for the full film, and if you're up for some nightmare fuel...

The Reed Family Abduction

In 1966, the same year the family moved to the farm, the young brothers purportedly had their first extraterrestrial experience. For Thom, though only 6 years old at the time, the images are still vivid. Their bedroom was on the second floor of a big old farmhouse, and one night, after they’d gone to bed, they had a strange feeling, he says. Scared, they wandered into the hall and saw two figures appear at the top of the stairs—“ghosts,” the boys called them.

Click the image for a fantastic interview with Thom Reed.

And click here for an article on the event.

Encounters

Greys...
While there is no denying that these odd creatures are far and away the most famous — or infamous, as the case may be — alien entities to have allegedly visited our world, the fact remains that they represent only a small portion of the truly bizarre beings, which people claim to have come into contact with over the decades.

Click below for an interesting look at all the strange things that might stand next to your bed at night: