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By Doug, June 28, 2009 09:25

Ave Maria Grotto

Ave Maria Grotto, in Cullman, Alabama, is the life’s work of Brother Joseph Zoettl. The Grotto is comprised of models of buildings, primarily religious ones, made with concrete, seashells, stones, costume jewelry and other miscellaneous trinkets. The buildings aren’t to scale nor are they particularly accurate or proportional. Still, it’s rather interesting to see.

The builder of the miniatures at the Ave Maria Grotto was a Benedictine Monk–Brother Joseph Zoettl, O.S.B. Born in Landshut, Bavaria in 1878, he was maimed in an accident that gave him a hunchback, but luckily it did not hurt his ability to bend over and build the miniatures. He came to Saint Bernard Abbey in 1892. After becoming a Brother in the Benedictine Order, he was appointed to the power plant for the Abbey, and while there he developed his hobby of building miniature shrines.

Ave Maria Grotto

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By Doug, June 27, 2009 06:31

Conjoined Twins (or Two-Headed Child)

When Thomas Dent Mütter donated his collection to College of Physicians of Philadelphia, he didn’t intend it to be a freak show. Indeed, he wanted other physicians and students of medicine to see and learn from artifacts from people with strange diseases and deformities. And for many years that was its primary purpose. But today, it attracts tourists like a P. T. Barnum sideshow.

Some of the pieces in the collection include a plaster cast of Ying and Yang, the famous Siamese twins, from which the common name for conjoined twins came; the “soap lady” whose flesh turned into a soap-like substance; hundreds of skulls with various abnormalities; skeletons of “two headed people” (a type of conjoined twin); and a woman with a horn growing out of her forward. The museum also contains many old medical instruments that were likely very effective in “curing” people, once the patient saw them (“No, doctor, really. I feel MUCH better now!”). And, there are more normal exhibits from famous people like a cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland.

Gretchen Worden is the woman “credited” with moving the museum from a place of medical science seen by a few hundred people a year in 1975 to more than 60,000 tourists a year when she died in 2004. No word on whether or not she became an exhibit herself!

The Mütter Museum

Related reading:

• Mutter Museum Historic Medical Photographs
• The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: A True Medical Mystery
• Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body
• Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit

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By Doug, June 24, 2009 07:29

Lucy the Elephant, outside Atlantic City, New Jersey

In 1881, 25-year-old James V. Lafferty had some oceanfront land to sell and he needed a gimmick to do it. That gimmick was Lucy, a six-story high, 90-ton wood and tin structure built in the shape of a giant elephant from nearly a million pieces of wood. Lucy worked as intended, Lafferty got a patent on animal shaped buildings and people flocked to his land to see it. Lucy was so popular Lafferty built two more similar structures including one on Coney Island that was twice as high as Lucy but it burned and today the original Lucy is the only survivor.

Throughout her history, Lucy has served as a real estate office (her original purpose), bar, and hotel. Today she serves as a museum. Entry into Lucy is through a door on one of her legs and visitors can go all the way up to “howdah” for commanding views of the ocean.

If you’re in Atlantic City, take a few minutes to drive to Margate, New Jersey and see Lucy in person. Since she can be seen for up to eight miles away, you shouldn’t have any problem finding her!

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By Doug, June 19, 2009 21:58

There aren’t too many more bizarre events in American history than the Salem witch trials. Although on the surface it was not much more than a bunch of bratty little girls run amok, in the end 14 women and 5 men were found guilty and hanged while another man was pressed to death (large rocks were placed on his chest until he suffocated) for not entering a plea. Contrary to popular belief, nobody was burned at the stake; that was more popular in merry old England.

Providing context to the events of 1692 and 1693 is the Salem Witch Museum, the most popular museum in all of Massachusetts. Housed in a creepy old stone building with a statue of a hag out front, the museum will give you chills even before you enter. It’s a “must see” at night when lit by green lights. Inside, you’ll find a variety of scenes depicting the events of the accusations and trials, complete with voice recordings that really put you in the period and provide a little bit of insight into exactly what it must have been like.

So, what exactly happened? Well, nobody is 100% sure since much of the context is lost to history but, never fear, I’ll give you my take on the situation (this is MY blog after all)!

Problem #1: The niece and daughter of a minister get “sick” and have “fits.” Likely just play acting (they were 9 and 11 years old), other girls in town started acting similarly.

Problem #2: Since the finest medical minds in town couldn’t find anything wrong with the girls physically, it was obvious they were possessed by the devil.

Problem #3: When the girls were asked “who did this to you?” they pointed out whoever they didn’t like. First three up to bat: Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good and Tituba. Tituba was a slave who liked to entertain the children with tales of demonic possession.

Problem #4: Since the three accused were of low standing in the community, nobody stood up for them.

Problem #5: Anybody who said the girls were full of crap was then accused of being a witch.

Problem #6: Cotton Mather wrote to one of the judges, supporting prosecution but stating the court should not rely heavily on “spectral evidence” (accusations). No, he had more scientific ideas in mind and anybody who is a fan of Monty Python and the Holy Grail has a good idea of 17th century scientific evidence. Here are some of the better ways of spotting a witch:

The first one was apparently “proof positive” someone was a witch and it was easy, just look for a “Witches Teat” somewhere on the body. Simply poke a mole or some other skin blemish with a dull needle and if the person didn’t feel much pain, then she’s a witch. Burn her! I mean, hang her!

Second, but taking slightly more effort, was making a “Witch Cake.” The cake was made from Rye and other miscellaneous ingredients and, oh, urine from the possessed (ah, finally some science). The cake was fed to a dog and the witch would cry out in pain as if being eaten by the dog. This method was particularly effective if the interrogator and the witch were left in private for the “experiment.”

The touch test was another fine method of finding a witch. The suspected witch was blindfolded and then made to touch the afflicted. If the afflicted acted possessed, then obviously the blindfolded person was a witch. Can’t find anything wrong with that method!

There were other methods, but you get the idea. In the end, people finally started to realize they were acting like a bunch of ripe asses and the events came to a close and people found other hobbies to occupy themselves. Lots of hubbub that could have been prevented with a couple of good spankings!

Anyway, when you’re in or near Salem Massachusetts, take time to visit the Salem Witch Museum and form your own opinion.

Related reading:

• A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials
• Death in Salem: The Private Lives behind the 1692 Witch Hunt
• The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege
• A Witches’ Bible: The Complete Witches Handbook

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By Doug, June 19, 2009 21:09

The Mitchell Corn Palace, South Dakota

Back in 1892 the folks of Mitchell South Dakota wanted to tell the world “Hey, South Dakota IS a great place to live! In fact, our soil is so fertile we can decorate our buildings with our surplus corn!” And so the Corn Palace was born. Today, visitors can see the third incarnation of the Palace, stripped down each year and completely redecorated with murals made from several colorful varieties of corn.

Inside, it’s just a high school basketball gym (home of the Kernels) but you can find pictures of all the previous Corn Palace decorations so it’s worth a look inside. And, just in case you’re wondering, the Palace requires 275,000 ears of corn each year, each color planted in a separate field to ensure the color remains true. But don’t worry about waste; the birds and squirrels eat well in Mitchell!

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By Doug, June 15, 2009 14:10

Cadillac Ranch, outside Amarillo Texas

Cadillac Ranch is on historic Route 66 in Amarillo Texas. The “ranch” is comprised of 10 Cadillac cars “planted” face down and at an angle, the same angle as the sides of Great Pyramid of Cheops, in the Texas desert. The cars themselves were build between 1949 and 1963 but weren’t planted until 1973 when Stanley Marsh 3 (not III) commissioned the work as a lasting memorial to his “Ant Farm” social collective.

Today, people from all over the world come to this monument stuck in the middle of nowhere simply for the purpose of painting the cars the way they see fit. The layers and layers of old paint are pretty much the only thing holding the old junk-heaps together.

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By Doug, June 13, 2009 11:20

The world's largest ball of twine

What more can I say? It’s the world’s largest ball of twine (made by one man, that is) in Darwin Minnesota. The ball is 13 feet in diameter and 17,400 pounds but I can’t find anything saying what the total length of the twine is or more importantly, how many times it could wrap around the earth or reach the moon!

But wait, there’s more! Co-located with the world’s largest ball of twine is the world’s largest pair of hand-carved multiple pliers! Two world-class attractions for the price of one.

Be sure to visit the gift shop; it sells the normal T-shirts and such but it also sells a ball of twine starter kit for only $25! Get them while they last.

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By Doug, June 12, 2009 21:00

The Fremont Troll, under the Aurora bridge in Fremont, Washington

The Fremont Troll lives under the Aurora bridge in Fremont, Washington (more properly known by locals as the Artists’ Republic of Fremont), an artsy suburb of Seattle. The troll was sculpted in 1990 by four local artists: Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead. Climbing the troll is encouraged!