Roch Theriault

Never heard of this guy before but this is impressively twisted.

Theriault, the leader of the most bizarre and violent cult in Canadian history, often physically abused his followers. Obsessed with anatomy and medicine, Theriault performed crude intestinal surgery on Boislard by slicing open her abdomen and ripping out a piece of intestine with his bare hands. He then ordered another follower to stitch up the wound with a needle and thread. When she died the next day in agonizing pain, he sawed off the top of her head, and then sexually assaulted her. Before burying the woman, he removed a rib, which he wore around his neck.

Source



Apparently, a movie was made based on these events called Savage Messiah. Just added it to my netflix queue.

Glasgow smile

From Wiki:

A Glasgow smile (also known as a Glasgow grin, Anna grin, Chelsea grin or Chelsea smile) is a nickname for the result of cutting a victim's face from the edges of the mouth to the ears. The cut – and the scars it leaves – form an extension of what resembles a smile. Sometimes further to hurt or even kill the victim, he or she would then be stabbed or kicked, most notably in the stomach (or in case of kicking, the groin), so that the face would be ripped apart when the victim screamed.

Lyokha

(Bear with me, folks, I have a lot of catching up to do so bunch of stuff to post with no coherency, no *apparent* relation, no order whatsoever. So a little schizophrenic but best to get this mish mash out of my head.)

Meet Werewolf Boy

"He's clearly dangerous to other people," said a police spokesman yesterday.

"He's got typical wolf-like habits and behaviour.

"He has very strong and sharp teeth, which could really endanger someone if he bites."

The boy looks about ten - but after tests conducted by Moscow medics, they believe he maybe much older.

They are puzzled because he appears intelligent but does not seem to speak Russian or any other language. It is suspected he has been running wild for many years.

Such cases are not uncommon in Russia where there have been regular reports of 'Mowgli' children abandoned by their parents who are cared for by animals.

For some reason this made me thing of animals in captivity. They weren't doctors, they were zoo-keepers. That's not meant to be disparaging toward the boy at all. There's a note in the article that the boy escaped from the clinic and is now "on the loose". All other references to this case I found said he simply vanished. And that makes me smile. Hopefully, he's back with his pack.

Modern Embalming

This is a very nice photo-essay on modern embalming. Details the entire procedure.

A muscular suture is performed with a gun similar to a nail gun, which penetrates the upper and lower jawbones with a loud audible crunch of the bones; the wiring attached effectively seals off the mouth.

The preferred injection site is the carotid artery, which sits on the right side of the neck near the collarbone; the artery is pulled out of the skin via surgery hook and cut. Once the blood is fully drained the replacing of the fluids can begin.

And some videos on embalming...

Prisoner of Paradise

Narrated by Sir Ian Holm




Hitler's Other Director

Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.


Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!


Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Blood & Vengeance

I've been reading Hillman's A Terrible Love of War, recommended by the sparkly brilliant Bizzarro. I can't thank enough for turning me onto this book. It is an awesomely captivating and eloquently written treatment of a difficult subject. I've been -- not sure if "savoring" is the right word, it might be -- but I've had to keep pausing, putting it down and staring at nothing while I try to process everything. Much, much more about this one later.

Meantime, something (and I can no longer remember what exactly, misc war-related stat search probably) prompted me to tromp about internet looking up stuff about Bosnia. Came across this I have to log.

Between 1990 and 1995, Chuck Sudetic was a journalist for the New York Times, covering the collapse of Yugoslavia and the war in Bosnia, author of Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia. According to this NYT article, the book "follows several generations of the Celik family, Muslims who lived alongside Serbs in a mountain village 13 miles south of Srebrenica. Through their lives and deaths and those of their neighbors, we learn how the war developed around them and where it led."

The 1995 Srebrenica Massacre was one of (if not most) bloodiest slaughters during the Balkans conflict, thousands of Bosnian Muslim men rounded up and executed.

Following is excerpt from Sudetic's book. Only one of many snippets I devoured. This is amazing. I am utterly hooked, must have, must read.

-----

There is a method to presenting the reality of war in Times style, a restrictive method but a perfectly valid one just the same. It focuses mainly on institutions and political leaders and their duties and decisions, while leaving the common folk to exemplify trends, to serve as types: a fallen soldier, a screaming mother, a dead baby—literal symbols....

This method is described by various terms: detachment, disinterestedness, dispassion, distancing, and others with negative prefixes engineered to obliterate any relationship between observer and observed. When I went to Bosnia to work, I used to imagine I had entered a great grassland teeming with life. "I build a tower hundreds of feet high," I told one of my friends. "I climb it every morning and observe the wildlife devouring one another and struggling to survive down below. And from that distance, I write about what I see, send my story, have something to eat, and go to sleep."

I once walked through a town littered with the purple-and-yellow bodies of men and women and a few children, some shot to death, some with their heads torn off, and I felt nothing; I strolled around with a photographer, scratched notes, and lifted sheets covering the bodies of dead men to see if they had been castrated; I picked up a white flag from the ground near the twisted bodies of half a dozen men in civilian clothes who had been shot next to a wall, and then I carried the flag home and hung it above my desk.

I once saw soldiers unload babies crushed to death in the back of a truck and immediately ran off to interview their mothers. I accidentally killed an eighteen-year-old man who raced in front of my car on a bike; his head was smashed; I held the door when they loaded him into the backseat of the automobile that carried him to the emergency room of Sarajevo's main hospital. I expressed my condolences to his father; then I got a tow back to my hotel, went to my room, and sent that day's story to New York.

My observation tower had begun to wobble by then...

-----



(You can read chapter 1 HERE)

Oddities!

Oh, I rarely curse not having TV but I am really hoping these shows get uploaded to interweb; I would love to see them! New on The Discovery Channel, reality show featuring curiosity shop Obscura Antiques and Oddities. Premieres Nov 4 at 930 pm.

Very Bad Things

Coupla things from Morbid Anatomy. First, an article in Newsweek about why people collect morbid things. It features MA's Joanna Ebenstein and there is a short video at the link as well that gives a beautiful glimpse into the Morbid Anatomy Library!:

Very Bad Things by Caroline H. Dworin

“There’s something very exciting about objects like that; so many directions you could go,” says Ebenstein. She is intrigued by the ways in which objects undergo chemical changes when they move away from life and become specimens.

“They may become significant objects, objects that speak,” she says. “Particularly human artifacts—there’s a sort of breathlessness to it.”

“People are really drawn to things that straddle the line between living and dead,” says Evan Michelson, owner of Obscura, Antiques and Oddities, a little shop in New York’s East Village that specializes in objects some refer to as “Victorian macabre.”

“If you have a melancholy shade to your personality, you find comfort in things other people find sad,” she says. It has been her observation, too, as a dealer, that females seem to be drawn to this sort collection disproportionately more than males.

She carries “melancholy” objects, crime-scene evidence, medical instruments, prints of diseases and incurable lesions, specimens in jars, conjoined animals. “I have some conjoined piglets that are especially sad,” she says. “They look like they’re dancing.”

2 more featuring Ebenstein and the MA library:

Olivier de Sagazan

I'm not usually a fan of performance art (I assume that's what this is) but right around 2:30 a cord in my throat jumped. This is called "Return to Close"

Rockabilly Halloween

Oh gracious me...

Was I Raving?

Brad Dourif makes me absurdly happy. "I didn't like it, would you? It's upsetting." Haha, aaaah, love it.

Lab 257 and Arachnodactyly

Pumpkinrot posted something about a Marfanoid that washed up on NY beaches, speculated to have come from Plum Island.

Aaaaaawesome.

Where to begin. This one small article prompted hours of skipping about the interweb gathering all kinds of fun factoids. Tra la laaaaaaa....

Appetizer: Marfan Syndrome is a rare connective tissue disorder. People who have it have all kinds of freakishly beautiful anomalies like extreme height, hyperlaxity (abnormally flexible) and extremely long fingers or arachnodactyly. This is the photo he posted of a German family with Marfan:



And here is picture, courtesy Google Image, of arachnodactyly:



Hmmm. How did something resembling this (very long fingers) come from an "animal disease research center"? (Aside: I assume folks are familiar with Plum Island; the name, if nothing else, is somewhat recognizable thanks to Silence of the Lambs. Dr. Lecter referred to it as "Anthrax Island")

Main course: Conspiracy theory is that testing is not only done on animals for animal diseases. Lab (Building) 257 was used for germ warfare research during the 50s but that project was eventually shut down. Some folks don't believe that though and damn the government for a.) employing biological warfare in the first place and b.) lying to the public about it. I for one certainly hope our government is not fool enough to disregard the awesome annihilating power of bugs. And, if they are doing the research, I don't expect them to advertize the fact for security reasons ("Hey Terrorist, here's where we keep all of the superbugs that could decimate the human population of the entire planet! Come take a look!").

Anyway. From the wiki article (this is the incident I referred to at the top that PR linked to):

No fewer than 3 unidentified creatures have been washed ashore on various beaches in New York, all assumed to have come from Plum Island due to the currents & close proximity to the mainland. Two of the three creatures were unidentifiable as a known species. The third was humanoid in appearance & described by police as possibly being a 'neurosurgery' patient. This conclusion was based upon 5 holes drilled into the skull in various locations. The body had no identifying marks or fingerprints & the fingers were elongated.

There's a book. Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory by Michael Carroll. Understandably controversial, criticized, etc. I'm definitely interested though. I think I will get this one together with the Ken Alibek (Alibekov) book. He's Russian.

All kinds of great stuff here! Lots of reading to do.

Psycho Chicks Anonymous!

Dear M.M. Readers,

I'm never going to, what's the word, "monetize" (?) my website because ads annoy the unholy snot out of me but this is different and extremely important stuff. Get into the holiday spirit (yes Halloween, not Christmas) and donate to a very good cause. Help fund a truly independent film from a group of the bestest of the best! Girls in pajamas, canned goods and a cat -- Beat THAT!

Vat ees eet? "... a documentary-style comedy about a support group for men in extremely dysfunctional relationships. These range from a young man whose clingy girlfriend changed his entire way of living to an elderly veteran whose wife is literally trying to kill him! PCA takes a very humorous look at just how crazy some people can get once the honeymoon is over."

Learn more and watch the brilliantly awesome trailer HERE.

God, Thy Name is ZOMBIE

Mmm mmm mmm. More here.

Mad Mod Vintage

Notes from Doggy World: Oofka, I am not as young as I used to be. Working 12 hour days kicks my ass. I stood under hot shower stream this morning feeling every second of every day of every year of my life in every aching bone. But I got it done and had some fun with the dogs. Cody is a sweetheart, finally calmed down enough to relax, play ball and enjoy himself. Rocco and Snowie are such an odd couple (pit puppy which already weighs at least 80 lbs and a peek-a-poo). Dad seemed to think Snowie (?) was anti-social but she's been super affectionate. They both have. All dogs ever want is attention.

'Nother busy day (geezus, is it Saturday?) that promises to be challenging. I will close my eyes, find my happy place, smile and think of the hot bath waiting for me when I get home.

Anyway. Enough of that.

-----

Mod Vintage Life is a really lovely blog dedicated to vintage decor and asundry spookiness. I like! Lots of beautiful things and decorating ideas. Victorian era stuff is not really my style (I'm more E.C. Comic than Elegant) but it is very impressive. Por example, lace --







And a few more neat photos...

Bird Bones

Tammi asked a great question about whether the cleaning method would disarticulate the bird bones. I suspect it would which kind of defeats the goal. The little guy I found is really something.





Options:

Use tweezers and my soft paint brushes to clean away as much debris as possible. Seal in something like Liquid Illusion or Wonder Water (both resin or resin-like goo found in floral department). Maybe even puzzle glue would work. Something to keep it from smelling. I can't keep it in its Press N' Seal shroud forever.

Here is one of my puzzle glue'd birds:





Clean and attempt to reassemble. This will probably cost me the feathers that are still attached. Undecided whether that's important. Skulls Unlimited has a book section that includes something called "The Bird Building Book" which sounds perfect! A little pricey but I doubt this will be the last time I'm in this situation.

And this is neat -- Birds, birds and more birds on skullsite.com

Also, Tammi pointed me to an amazingly awesome post on Taxidermy.Net. A tutorial detailing (step by step) rearticulation of bird bones. This is just breath-takingly beautiful. I'm like a kid in a candy store! I can see this becoming a new hobby (obsession).

If all else fails, I can use parts for puppets. Here are a few that will probably become monster collages. Jaw bone was extracted from a deflated rabbit corpse and not sure what skull is, was donated by a very understanding co-worker.

Drag Me To Hell

So, the American Psycho unwittingly (I assume) reminded me of this guy. It's been floating around on all of the weirdo websites but I can't find a proper reference. If this is total bunk that's okay too. The royal We will just chalk it up to world's best caption. Coming to you from The Ungrossening, where you can read fantastic quotables like "That's just a troll. We have them all over Norway."

Clifford Hoyt, age 31, suffered serious injuries in an automobile accident in 1999. After he regained consciousness, he told a terrified nurse that he had died and visited Hell. He expounded on the tortures and anguish he experienced in frightening detail. He refused psychological treatment and was released.

Several weeks later, Hoyt's neighbors complained to their landlord that strange music was playing in his apartment at all hours of the night. Upon investigating, the building's owner found Clifford in this condition. Mr. Hoyt was still quite lucid and protested when the landlord attempted to call the police. Concerned for the damage done to his property, he took photographs of the apartment, of which the image above is an example. He left and contacted Mr. Hoyt's family, who contacted authorities.

Clifford claimed that demons from Hell were still trying to capture him. He explained that his body would burn incessantly unless he played music to scare the demons away. He would only leave the house for short periods of time to get minimal supplies, including large blocks of ice to soothe the burning he felt as he tried to sleep.

Doctors attribute Clifford's actions to brain damage suffered in the accident. He currently resides in a mental rehabilitation facility in Maryland.

Maceration

Note to self: Need new stomach, check Walmart. (Something I ate yesterday is making the rats in my belly restless)

Current conundrum - I found a really beautiful bird skeleton that is still slightly leathery. I'd like to clean it and put it up proper in shadow box but I'm worried that the only thing holding it together is the non-decomposed sinewy stuff. And I don't want any cleaning to destroy it.

What? You've had the same problem?

The Bone Room can help!

First of all, don't boil or bleach bone! Boiling causes fat to soak into the bone, resulting in a greasy, yellowish specimen. Superficial grease can be removed with ammonia and certain industrial solvents, but this is an unpleasant process and cannot remove deep grease which will eventually migrate to the bone surface. Chlorine based bleach irreparably damages the bone itself, resulting in chalky, weak, extremely porous specimens that will turn to bone meal with age.

So, how do you really clean bone?
Maceration - Using bacterial action to clean bone
This is the simplest method of cleaning bone.

1. Remove any remaining tissue or hide from the bone
2. Immerse the bone in a container of water.
3. Leave the container in a warm location where you won't mind the smell.
4. Periodically pour the greasy, smelly water out (gardens love it!) and replace with fresh water.
5. When the water runs clear, the bacteria have run their course.
6. Soak the bone in regular drugstore strength hydrogen peroxide until it reaches the whiteness you prefer. This also sterilizes the bone.
7. You're done!

Sokushinbutsu

Japanese. Very creative when it comes to killing themselves.

For 1,000 days (a little less than three years) the priests would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another thousand days and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls.

This caused vomiting and a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and most importantly, it made the body too poisonous to be eaten by maggots. Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive.

When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed. After the tomb was sealed, the other monks in the temple would wait another 1,000 days, and open the tomb to see if the mummification was successful.

If the monk had been successfully mummified, they were immediately seen as a Buddha and put in the temple for viewing.

(What, what? Wik-wik)

Rain

Pedestrians don't belong in traffic unless they are willing to be under it. That being said, I love to walk in the rain and thought this was beautiful.

I'm Not Dead

Gah, feeling slightly beaten up this morning. At work yesterday I took some hard hits from the dogs. One particularly kamikaze 200 lb mutt, who has the unfortunate habit of not wanting to go back into his pen, plowed into my shin. I cracked my elbow on Something (I'm so used to getting scrapes and bruises I don't notice it when it happens). And Cody, a beautiful black and white spaniel who desperately misses his owner and wants nothing more than loads of affection, jumped up to say Hi and popped me so hard in the jaw with his skull my lower lip is swollen. At least I think that's why it looks like I got punched in the face.

I love it when people hear what I do and say something like, "Gee, I wish I could get paid to play with dogs all day!"

Anyway, I've been notably absent from blawg world. Seems like October would be my most chattiest time of the year. And it is! But I've been talking to myself primarily off-line these days. Working on Halloween decorations and my sister's birthday present. I'll post photos when appropriate (I doubt Sis frequents this page much but on the off-chance she does... )

The Hangman

Spotted over at Kuriositas, 1964 animated version of Maurice Ogden's poem. I like the way the hangman is depicted, kind of reminded me of Indrid Cold. Also, Herschel Bernardi's narration melts me faster than Ebola Zaire liquefies internal organs. That's a good thing. Thanks to some minor ear damage there are certain sounds that are unequivocally painful, they hit a certain pitch or frequency and rattle some internal fissure like salt in a paper cut. But other sounds are soothing. This voice is one of those, one of the good ones. They're rare.

the hangman (1964) from reaktorplayer on Vimeo.

Miss Polly Had a Dolly

My blog has the best readers in the entire world. Case in point, Tammi recently recommended/reminded me of the Necro Nymphs of Tari Nakagawa. The name sounded familiar and in fact I had seen them before, but this deserves more attention. The detail on these figures is exquisite, very delicate. The rib cages, the suggestion of porcelain decay, the stunningly beautiful faces, everything about the nymphs is arresting. Check out Nakagawa's blog HERE.

Examples:











Tammi's suggestion also prompted me to go tromping about looking for more and that's when I found this website:

Miss Polly Had a Dolly

A Tumblr, photo collection of dolls of all kinds. "Puppet" seems to be used rather loosely as most of them don't appear to fit the definition but lots of good stuff there, both for inspiration and reference.

Personal note: I prefer Nakagawa's style (the more anatomically correct) over the big headed, big eyed, teeny tiny body cartoony proportions. That's not to say I don't find buggy eyed dolls disturbing. I do. They remind me of power puff girls and those things (and anything like them) creep me the fuck out. I had to be told that cartoon was not meant to frighten children or subliminally warp them into tiny sociopaths.

Okay.

Okay, sure, let your kids watch that stuff. I'm sure they won't murder you in your sleep.



Anyway, cupcakes, monkey brains and muchas gracias to Tammi and everyone else who has sent me recommendations!