The Magdeburg Unicorn Is An Alleged Unicorn Fossil That Is On Display At The Museum Of Natural History

(this is a bit graphic) In Westphalia there's a horse museum which sounds delightful but in fact it's just row after row of incredibly macabre taxidermies that look like you're trying to toughen up the next generation of equine vets. There's an ancient horse grave with a graphic illustration of bronze age people beating that exact horse to death, there's a not-quite-right-looking taxidermy of a dam and foal of some extinct wild horse breed, there's the sliced up taxidermied head, there's Polydor (who's just taxidermied Polydor, they left him intact thank god), there's a dimly lit little room with a taxidermied mining pony hanging from the ceiling in a harness. Frankly I think we could've done with less taxidermy.

Throughout the 1970′s, Rodney Alcala brutally raped and murdered at least eight women in New York and California. It is believed that he may have killed as many as 130 women due to the thousands of photographs of unidentified women found inside his home. He would post as a Playboy photographer and would take photographs of his victims before and after killing them.

In 1978, Alcala appeared on the TV show, The Dating Game. The purpose of the game was that a contestant could interview three eligible bachelors who were hidden behind a screen and then she had to choose a winner. Alcala won, but fortunately Cheryl Bradshaw, the contestant, refused a date with him because she found him “creepy” after meeting him backstage.

In 1931, the arrival of a man claiming to be named Albert Johnson stirred intrigue in the secluded town of Fort McPherson, Canada. Setting up a solitary cabin near the Rat River, he ventured into the life of a trapper, seemingly embracing the solitude of the wilderness. However, suspicions arose when fellow trappers accused Johnson of sabotaging their traps, prompting the authorities to investigate.

As they approached Johnson’s remote abode with a search warrant, shots pierced through the wooden door, instigating a fierce exchange of gunfire. Johnson skillfully held off the authorities, confining himself within the cabin for nine tense days. 

Yet, on New Year’s Eve, an RCMP posse arrived, determined to bring him to justice. What ensued was a harrowing 15-hour standoff in subzero temperatures, defined by the desperate use of dynamite to decimate the cabin. To their astonishment, the authorities discovered Johnson standing amidst the wreckage, armed with dual firearms that he unleashed upon them before swiftly vanishing into the nearby woods.

Intrigue escalated as news of the relentless manhunt spread across the nation, capturing the public’s imagination. The media christened him “The Mad Trapper of Rat River,” bewildered by his exceptional survival skills amid extreme weather conditions and two treacherous blizzards. It became evident that Johnson was no ordinary trapper; his abilities defied comprehension.

On the 30th of January, 1932, the RCMP finally closed in on Johnson near the frozen expanse of Eagle River. A deadly firefight ensued, culminating in his demise as nine bullets pierced his body. In a peculiar twist, the revelation followed that Albert Johnson was not his true identity. 

Despite tireless efforts to uncover his real name, the enigma of his origins remained shrouded in mystery.

The 1944 Hartford Circus Fire & Little Miss 1565

June 14, 2023

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was the biggest circus in the United States during the mid-20th century. Due to the country’s involvement in World War II, the circus began experiencing shortages of personnel and equipment. 

Because of this the circus dealt with frequent malfunctions, on August 4, 1942, a fire had begun and it killed a number of the circus’ animals. On July 5, 1944, the circus made it’s way to Hartford, Connecticut, however the trains were late that day so one out of two shows had been cancelled for the day. 

There is a common superstition among circus folk that when the circus misses a show, it’s bad luck, and because of this, many of the circus performers and employees were on edge during the one show that night. However, the show ran smoothly with no issues. 

The next day on July 6, 1944, the crowd for the 2:15 pm circus show was mostly filled with women and their children. The exact number of people at the circus that day is unknown, but there has been an estimate of about 7,000 people. 

The big top could seat 9,000 people around the three rings and it measured 200 feet wide by 450 feet long. The sidewalls were 15 feet high and the roof was 48 feet high. The tent’s canvas had been coated with 1,800 pounds of paraffin wax that was dissolved in 6,000 US gallons of gasoline. This was a common way for circus tents to remain waterproof at the time. 

There was a main entrance to exit the tent along with 8 other small exits. It was later said that during the fire many of these smaller exits were blocked by circus wagons or other things which made it impossible for people to escape. 

After the lions had performed a small flame had started on the southwest sidewall of the tent, during the Flying Wallendas performance. A bandleader named Merle Evans was believed to be the first person to notice the flames, and she directed the band to begin playing, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” which was a song that signaled distress to all circus personnel. 

A ringmaster named Fred Bradna tried to get the audience to not panic and to exit the tent in an orderly fashion, however the fire had shorted out power, no one could hear him. Fred and an usher tried to put out flames with big water jugs that were in the tent, but to no avail so they began to help evacuate the panicked crowd. 

There was almost no animals in the big top at the time the fire broke out, except for the big cats that were trained by May Kovar and Joseph Walsh. The cats were herded through the chutes to cage wagons and were unharmed, with some only experiencing a few minor burns. 

Most people were able to escape the fire, however there was lots of hysteria happening. Some people claimed individuals were just running around in circles trying to find their loved ones instead of trying to escape the fire. Others initially escaped the fire, but ran back into the tent to look for loved ones. Some stayed in their seats thinking the fire would have been put out quickly. Some of the exits were blocked by chutes to get animals out. 

The paraffin wax which had been used to waterproof the tent helped the flames spread extremely quickly, and the wind also did not help. Many people were burned from the melting paraffin wax which began to rain down from the roof. 

The tent collapsed in 8 minutes according to witnesses, which trapped hundreds of people underneath it. In many newspapers there was a photo of a clown named Emmett Kelly holding a water bucket, naming the event “the day the clowns cried.” 

Some burned to death while others died from the chaos. The true number of causalities is unknown but many believe it was between 167-169 people, with over 700 sustaining injuries. That is only the number of people who actually received or sought out treatment the day of, the number is believed to be higher as many people went home without seeing or doing anything about their injuries due to shock most likely. 

The number of people who died is also believed to be higher as there was not great residency records in rural areas and many smaller remains were never truly identified or claimed. Free tickets were also given out that day to drifters who would not likely have been reported as missing by their families or friends. 

Some people died from injuries they got from jumping from high areas to escape the bleachers, others were trampled to death in the crowds, some were asphyxiated under piles of people who fell over. Many dead bodies were found in piles by congested exits. Some people actually survived the fire by being underneath some of the piles of people.

Eunice Groark was among one of the survivors who later went on to be the first female lieutenant governor of Connecticut. 

One of the most known victims from the fire was a young blonde little girl who wore a white dress. She became famously known as “Little Miss 1565″ which was the number assigned to her body. She was known to be extremely well preserved. 

Little Miss 1565 was buried without a name in Hartford’s Northwood Cemetery and her identity has been a debate for many years. Despite her picture being displayed repeatedly in magazines she was never claimed. 

In 1981, one of the police officers who spent years trying to identify her, his widow publicly announced that he had identified her and contacted her family but they requested no publicity on the matter. 

In 1987, someone had left a note on the gravestone that read, “Sarah Graham is her name! 7-6-38 DOB, 6 years, Twin.” There were notes nearby on gravestones that said her twin brother and relatives were buried close. 

In 1991, an arson investigator named Rick Davey claimed the little girl’s name was Eleanor Emily Cook in a book he published, and that she was from Massachusetts. The book also claimed Eleanor’s brother Donald Cook contacted police in 1955, believing that the girl was his sister but nothing further happened.

Donald, the brother, believes family members were shown the wrong body in the morgue due to all the confusion that day with numerous bodies being brought there. Donald worked alongside Davey to identify Little Miss 1565, and in 1991 she was identified as 8 year old Eleanor Emily Cook. 

Eleanor’s aunt and uncle did not believe the body fit the description of Eleanor that they had provided after examining the body. Hair samples were compared and the consensus was that they had probably come from the same person. Her body was exhumed in 1991 and buried next to her brother, Edward, who had also died in the fire. 

Various people do not believe Little Miss 1565 is Eleanor Emily Cook. Writer Stewart O’Nan who also published a book about the fire, states the obvious that the deceased girl who had been found had blonde hair, Eleanor was brunette, the shape of their faces are different, their heights and ages don’t match and their dental features don’t match. 

Even Eleanor’s mother, Mildred Corintha Parsons Cook saw a photograph of Little Miss 1565 and did not believe that was her daughter. She believed it was not her daughter until her death in 1997. Mrs. Cook was unable to claim her two children and was so traumatized by the events she could not try to identify them later. 

She was told Eleanor had not been in any of the locations where bodies were kept for identification. Her mother believed she had been burnt beyond recognition and was one of the victims who would always remain unidentified. O’Nan believes Eleanor may be body number 1503. Many believe it is likely that Eleanor was wrongly identified by another family and is buried under another child’s name. 

What began the Hartford Circus fire in 1944 remains a mystery. Some investigators think it was started just from a flicked cigarette, while others believe someone purposely started it. In 1950, Robert Dale Segee, from Ohio, who was a 16 year old roustabout for the show from June 30 to July 14 confessed to starting the fire but was never tried and later recanted the confession. He claimed that he had a nightmare where an American Indian riding on a “flaming horse” told him to set fires. 

Segee also claimed his mind went blank after this and by the time he came to, the fire had already started. 

In November 1950, Segee was convicted in Ohio for unrelated arson charges and was sentenced to 44 years in prison. There were doubts over his confession as he had a history of mental illness and he could not be confirmed as being in Connecticut when the fire happened. 

On July 7, 1944, 5 officials and employees of Ringling Bros were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Out of the five, four had been charged and sentenced to prison, though shortly after being convicted they were pardoned. 

In 2002, the Hartford Circus Fire Memorial Foundation was established, and a permanent memorial to those killed in the fire was created. 

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey did actually go to Hartford during their final tour, with the final performance occurring on April 30, 2017. 

Teenage Drama Turns to Death: The Tragic Murder of Skylar Neese

June 26, 2022

Skylar Annette Neese was born on February 10, 1996 in West Virginia and was the only child of Mary and Dave Neese. At 16 years old Skylar was attending University High School, worked at Wendy’s, got excellent grades and wanted to be a criminal defense lawyer.

Skylar had two best friends, Shelia Eddy (born September 28, 1995) and Rachel Shoaf (born June 10, 1996). Skylar and Shelia had met when they were 8 years old and had been inseparable ever since. Rachel became friends with the two girls a few years later, but the three of them were best friends, you would rarely see one of them without the other two. 

On July 5, 2012, Skylar had returned to her home in Star City, West Virginia, after working her regular night shift at Wendy’s. The Neese family lived in an apartment building and later on surveillance video showed Skylar leaving her apartment from her bedroom window at 12:30 am on July 6, getting into a sedan. 

Skylar’s father Dave Neese later said that Skylar had clearly planned on coming back later that night, as she didn’t take her phone charger with her and she had left the window open. 

Skylar was at first considered a runaway by authorities and there was no Amber Alert issued for her disappearance because it was clear from the video footage that she had willingly left on her own accord. Skylar’s parents posted flyers about their missing daughter, hoping that someone would know her whereabouts. 

Police soon found out that the sedan that Skylar was seen getting into that night belonged to Shelia Eddy so they brought her in for an interview. Shelia did admit that she picked up Skylar that night, but they had only driven around for about an hour before she dropped her back off at her apartment. 

Rachel and Shelia were interviewed by the police several times, but their stories always remained the same. Shelia even helped the Neeses’ distribute missing persons flyers, and would come over to their house to cry with them about missing Skylar. 

As time went on, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf began to become suspects to the police, as other schoolmates were claiming they had heard the girls talking about committing a murder at school. One of the girls’ teachers even contacted the police to tell them she had also heard of them talking about murder. 

About 6 months after Skylar had disappeared, Rachel Shoaf admitted that her and Shelia Eddy had been plotting to kill Skylar for 9 months. Rachel claimed that the reason the girls murdered Skylar was because they didn’t want to be friends with her anymore. 

The seemingly perfect friendship the trio shared was anything but, as Skylar would often tweet about how Shelia and Rachel would leave her out of things. It seemed the girls would fight a lot, and Skylar had even written in her diary that Shelia and Rachel had a sexual relationship with each other, and would make-out or have sex in front of Skylar, making her extremely uncomfortable. 

Skylar’s body was found on January 16, 2013, less than 30 miles away from her home. 

Rachel told the police the whole story, claiming that on the night of July 5, 2012, Sheila and her had invited Skylar to go drive around with them. Apparently, Skylar was hesitant of this, as she had recently had a falling out with them, but after the girls texted and called her a few times she eventually agreed to sneak out. 

Rachel told police that her and Shelia had prepared “a serial killer kit” which included kitchen knives, paper towels, bleach, clean clothes, cleaning cloths and a shovel. They had hid the knives in their hoodies. 

When Skylar got into the sedan with the girls, they headed northwest from Star City toward Blacksville, on U.S. Route 19. Rachel and Shelia had originally planned on travelling along W.V. Route 7, but they changed their route once they saw a state police car in that direction. 

They arrived across the Pennsylvania state border, where all three of the girls would occasionally smoke weed there. When they got out of the car, they told Skylar that they had forgotten to bring a lighter with them. Skylar then volunteered to go back to the sedan to get her own lighter, and once she turned her back, Rachel and Shelia both counted to three, which they agreed would be their signal, and began to stab Skylar.

Skylar had attempted to run away, but was only able to get a few feet before Rachel got her on the ground and continued to stab her. At one point during the attack, Skylar had managed to get the knife away from Rachel and stabbed her in the leg, which caused Rachel to back off and stop the attack, though Shelia kept going. 

It was admitted that Rachel and Shelia stopped counting how many times they stabbed Skylar once they got to 50, and Shelia had stabbed Skylar until there was silence and her neck stopped making gurgling sounds. 

The pair attempted to bury Skylar’s body, but the soil was too hard and rocky to dig a hole, so they decided to hide Skylar’s body with rocks, fallen branches and dirt. They then returned to the sedan, cleaned themselves up, changed into clothes, and left. 

On May 1, 2013, Rachel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Rachel actually got a plea deal because authorities believed she had cooperated with them, so the recommended sentence for her would be 20 years of incarceration. 

On September 4, 2013, the prosecutors identified Shelia Eddy publicly as the second perpetrator in Skylar’s murder and stated that she would be tried as ana adult. Sheila was indicted on September 6, 2013, on one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. She pleaded not guilty. 

The trial date was set for January 28, 2014. Shelia was facing additional charges from Pennsylvania authorities so she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. During the trial, Shelia expressed no remorse and did not cry at all. She was sentenced to life in prison and is eligible for parole after 15 years. Because of her plea deal to plead guilty to first-degree murder, Pennsylvania did not file charges against her. 

On February 25, 2014, Rachel received a sentence of 30 years in prison and will be eligible for parole after 10 years. Both Shelia and Rachel are incarcerated at the Lakin Correctional Center in Mason County. 

Due to an Amber Alert not being issued in Skylar’s disappearance due to a waiting period of 48 hours before a teenager is considered missing and the fact that Skylar had left on her own accord and was not considered kidnapped, a new bill was introduced called “Skylar’s Law” which modifies West Virginia’s Amber Alert plan to issue immediate public announcements when any child is missing and in danger, regardless if the child is believed to be kidnapped.

Rachel Shoaf will be up for parole next year, with the hearing on May 1, 2023, though according to WV DOC she will likely be paroled on April 28, 2028. Shelia Eddy will be up for parole in 2028.

I know people on tumblr looove stories of underwater cave diving, but I haven't seen anyone talk about nitrogen narcosis aka "raptures of the deep"

basically when you want to get your advanced scuba certification (allowing you to go more than 60 feet deep) you have to undergo a very specific test: your instructor takes you down past the 60+ foot threshold, and she brings a little underwater white board with her.

she writes a very basic math problem on that board. 6 + 15. she shows it to you, and you have to solve it.

if you can solve it, you're good. that is the hardest part of the test.

because here's what happens: there is a subset of people, and we have no real idea why this happens only to them, who lose their minds at depth. they're not dying, they're not running out of oxygen, they just completely lose their sense of identity when deep in the sea.

a woman on a dive my instructor led once vanished during the course of the excursion. they were diving near this dropoff point, beyond which the depth exceeded 60 feet and he'd told them not to go down that way. the instructor made his way over to look for her and found a guy sitting at the edge of the dropoff (an underwater cliff situation) just staring down into the dark. the guy is okay, but he's at the threshold, spacing out, and mentally difficult to reach. they try to communicate, and finally the guy just points down into the dark, knowing he can't go down there, but he saw the woman go.

instructor is deep water certified and he goes down. he shines his light into the dark, down onto the seafloor which is at 90 feet below the surface. he sees the woman, her arms locked to her sides, moving like a fish, swimming furiously in circles in the pitch black.

she is hard to catch but he stops her and checks her remaining oxygen: she is almost out, on account of swimming a marathon for absolutely no reason. he is able to drag her back up, get her to a stable depth to decompress, and bring her to the surface safely.

when their masks are off and he finally asks her what happened, and why was she swimming like that, she says she fully, 100% believed she was a mermaid, had always been a mermaid, and something was hunting her in the dark 👍

are chimps as unpredictable and dangerous as people say? I remember there being a famous mauling story from a woman who had one as a pet, but he was drugged with xanax or something similar and was having withdrawals, something like that. Definitely not a normal set of chimp circumstances, so I was wondering if they are usually randomly violent and difficult for humans to predicts

Lets talk about Travis, the tragic chimp that famously mauled Charla Nash.

(source)

Travis was a chimpanzee that was raised in a human household and acted in several commercials in his youth. He was taken from his mother and sold to his owners at 3 days old and lived with them until his death at 13 years of age. What makes us think of Travis as dangerous and unpredictable is that when he was young he was known for being docile, intelligent, obedient, and kind to the humans around him. He even play wrestled with people and was known to stop if his wrestling buddy became overwhelmed or he was told to stop. Travis did not lead a normal or natural life for a chimpanzee by any means; not only was he socialized as human and was raised to do chores and take part in human enrichment (he even knew how to drive a car, which is absolutely not good), but as you can see he was very overweight as a result of eating ice cream, tea, and other human foods instead of the balanced and diverse diets chimpanzees need.

Circumstances escalated with Travis when one of his owners and their only son died, and his remaining owner Sandra Herold became increasingly attached to Travis. The two would sleep in the same bed and bathe together. This was all at a time when Travis was entering adolescence and the divergence between his chimpanzee instincts and human socialization was widening. While human teenagers are able to journal, have conversations, and express themselves in order to process the challenges of puberty, Travis had no outlets for the natural frustration, aggression, and challenges he was facing. This led to the 2003 incident where Travis was on the loose for several hours after a pedestrian threw an empty soda bottle at the car that he was in, which went through a partially open window and struck him while stopped at a traffic light. Travis unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and chased his assailant. He also escaped from a police car when apprehended and chased the police officers around the car. Basically, there were warning signs that Travis was becoming too much to handle 6 years before the incident where he mauled, but because he had been a member of the family and community for so long he was allowed to continue to live with Sandra Herold.

The main thing I take away from Travis’ story here, even before the mauling incident, is that Travis’ behavior makes perfect sense for a chimpanzee. Because he was anthropomorphized to the point where his owner essentially thought of him as her son, the media sensationalized the story as a beloved animal “turning” on his loved ones. The thing is though, he didn’t really act unpredictably at all, the signs were there from the beginning and his behavior escalated gradually before it came to a head in 2009, the people around him just ignored the warnings. Even taking xanax out of the question which can have some pretty adverse effects on humans let alone chimps, the 2009 incident began with Travis leaving the house with his owners car keys (his property, as far as he is concerned), and his owners friend Charla Nash trying to lure him back to the house with his favourite toy. Essentially, Travis was leaving his territory when he saw someone who he may not have recognized as a member of his troupe in his territory, with his treasured item. When he tried to defend his territory by attacking her, Herold began to attack him which escalated the conflict. Additionally, chimpanzees are 5-6 times stronger than humans and as he grew up play fighting with humans he was not really capable of conceptualizing how disproportionate his strength was.

Now, lets turn to talk about another chimp. Meet September: 

(source)

Like Travis, September started her life as a pet. She was raised as a human child would be, and when she reached adolescence her owners recognized that she was too large and strong to safely keep in the house, and began keeping her in a cage in their backyard. Luckily, her owners recognized that this was no life for a chimp and surrendered her and two other chimpanzees to Save the Chimps, a sanctuary in Florida in 2002 when September was 23. She is now 42 years old, and despite having tragically similar circumstances to Travis, is thriving. Due to her history as a pet, September found it very difficult to become accustomed to living with other chimps, even the two other chimpanzees that lived with her when she was a pet, but has become a member of a troupe and spends her days painting, braiding strips of fabric, and exploring her island home.

Basically, there are no bad chimps, only tragic circumstances. Even when chimps in the wild are violent there are rational explanations for their behavior such as territorial disputes and interpersonal conflicts. They are only difficult to predict if you expect them to act like humans, and not chimpanzees.

The slaughter room of Meiwes. Meiwes posted an advertisement on ‘The Cannibal Cafe Forum’, stating that he was looking for a ‘well built 18-30 year old to be slaughtered than consumed’. Bernd Brandes answered the advertisement in March 2001. The two made a videotape when they met on March 9, 2001 in Meiwes’s home. The video consisted of Meiwes amputating Bernd’s penis as they attempted to eat it together before Bernd’s death. Meiwes gave him large amounts of alcohol and pain killers, 20 sleeping pills, and a bottle of schnapps. He was killed in the slaughter room. After stabbing Brandes to death in the throat, he hung the body on a meat hook, tore chunks of flesh from it and tried to grind the bones to use as flour. Meiwes ate the corpse over the next 10 months, storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming up to 20 kilograms of the flesh. 

According to prosecutors, Meiwes committed the act for sexual pleasure. 

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