Urban Legends - The Art of the Prank

November 18, 2009December 15, 2023

The End Is At Hand

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III: Apocalypse every once in a while…

10 Failed Doomsday Prophecies
NationalGeographic.com
November 4, 2009

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Click here to see all ten prophecies.

Just as some people today believe a Maya calendar pinpoints 2012 as the end of the world as we know it, some ancient Romans saw the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius (pictured: Pompeiians flee the city in an illustration), as a sign of a coming apocalypse. (See “2012 Prophecies Sparking Real Fears, Suicide Warnings.”)

That’s because Roman philosopher Seneca, who died in A.D. 65, had predicted the Earth would go up in smoke: “All we see and admire today will burn in the universal fire that ushers in a new, just, happy world,” he said, according to the 1999 book Apocalypses.

(Test your Armageddon knowledge on the National Geographic Channel Web site.)

The end never came, but that hasn’t stopped people–over centuries and across cultures–from forecasting our collective doom. Click through the gallery for a sampling of end-of-the-Earth scenarios.

artwork: Library of Congress

October 30, 2009December 15, 2023

Top 10 Scariest Urban Legends

From UrbanLegends.about.com by David Emery:

Top 10 Scariest Urban Legends

It’s the witching hour on a dark, moonless night. You’re huddled with friends around a campfire in the woods far from town, taking turns telling tales. Someone has just recounted a particularly eerie ghost story, insisting it was true. You sit silently, staring self-consciously into the flames, reluctant to let on that the story actually made your skin crawl. Then someone in the shadows clears his throat and speaks:

“Did you hear the one about. . .”

2339532850_1f19e292cf-200 1. Aren’t You Glad You Didn’t Turn on the Light?

Strange things happen in the dark, and as this terrifying story shows, sometimes it’s just better not to know. . .

2. Bloody Mary
They stood in candlelight in front of the bathroom mirror, chanting “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.” The thirteenth time they said it, something very strange and frightening happened. . .

3. The Boyfriend’s Death
Parked late at night on an isolated country road, a teenage girl waits for her boyfriend to return after going outside to relieve himself. After what seems like an eternity, she is startled to hear something scraping across the roof of the vehicle. . .

4. Buried Alive!
Many years ago before the medical technology we now have for monitoring patients’ life signs existed, an elderly woman was pronounced dead and scheduled for burial. Family members literally had to pry her unembalmed body from the clutches of her husband, who kept protesting that she wasn’t really dead. . . Continue reading “Top 10 Scariest Urban Legends”

October 21, 2009December 15, 2023

R. Crumb Takes on Genesis

Crumb’s ‘Genesis,’ A Sexy Breasts-And-Knuckles Affair
by Frank Browning
NPR Morning Edition / Listen to the story here [5 min 50 sec]
October 19, 2009

cover R. Crumb, a pioneer of underground comics, got his start drawing illustrations for greeting cards.

R. Crumb, the bespectacled, gray-bearded artist who is regarded around the world as granddaddy of underground comics, has taken on what might be his biggest subject ever: the first book of the Bible.

Crumb’s new comic, The Book of Genesis Illustrated, contains all 50 chapters of Genesis and comes with a warning on its cover: “Adult Supervision Recommended for Minors.”

The warning is not just because of the relentless sex that peppers the story, but also, as Crumb explained at a press conference in Paris, because of the “violence” and “nastiness” of the story:

“[It’s about] ruling elites, victimizing people in sadistic ways, which is human beings at their nastiest. They have power over others, and they derive pleasure from inflecting pain on other humans. That’s about as nasty as people get,” he said.

French publisher Jean-Luc Fromental, who’s been a Crumb fan since he was a kid, says that at first he couldn’t imagine what Crumb would do with the Bible. Continue reading “R. Crumb Takes on Genesis”

September 29, 2009December 15, 2023

Trumpets of Doom

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III as seen on Salon.com:

Especially liked the “Bozo cult”…

The Four Horsemen send their regrets
by Gabriel Winant
Salon News
September 25, 2009

A list of failed predictions of the end of the world, including a few current theories that probably won’t pan out

In a recent poll, 8 percent of respondents in New Jersey admitted to thinking that Barack Obama is the antichrist. As in, they think the president is the Beast of Revelation, he whose coming portends the rapture, the battle of Armageddon, and the end of the world as we know it. Thirteen percent weren’t sure, perhaps waiting for more and better evidence to arrive via chain e-mail.

If you’re shocked by those stats, remember just how many Americans think the apocalypse is right around the corner. In a poll from earlier this decade, 17 percent said they expected the world to end in their lifetime. Perhaps that’s why, even though Jesus may have admonished that no man knows the day and hour, so many people can’t resist making a pseudo-educated guess about the day and hour. Continue reading “Trumpets of Doom”

September 10, 2009December 15, 2023

Area 51: The World That Doesn’t Exist

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III as seen in the LA Times:

The Road to Area 51
by Annie Jacobsen
LA Times
April 5, 2009

After decades of denying the facility’s existence, five former insiders speak out

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Area 51. It’s the most famous military institution in the world that doesn’t officially exist. If it did, it would be found about 100 miles outside Las Vegas in Nevada’s high desert, tucked between an Air Force base and an abandoned nuclear testing ground.

Then again, maybe not– the U.S. government refuses to say. You can’t drive anywhere close to it, and until recently, the airspace overhead was restricted–all the way to outer space. Any mention of Area 51 gets redacted from official documents, even those that have been declassified for decades.

It has become the holy grail for conspiracy theorists, with UFOlogists positing that the Pentagon reverse engineers flying saucers and keeps extraterrestrial beings stored in freezers. Urban legend has it that Area 51 is connected by underground tunnels and trains to other secret facilities around the country. Continue reading “Area 51: The World That Doesn’t Exist”