Apeman Photos Surface From 1937: Missing Link or Hoax
Some curious photos have surfaced onto the internet, again. Helping make things interesting, the pictures, (supposedly) set in 1937, show a hunched man that appears to have some facial deformities. But is the photo what it seems, or is there some monkey business going on. The only story behind the pictures is that this goofy looking guy was found in the jungles of Brazil. At least I haven’t seen anything else stating what may have happened after these photos were taken.
Now of course there is a lot of speculation when it comes to things like this. As we know, now a days many amazing things can be done with photoshop, and other editing tools so it’s not surprising that many people have denounced these pictures as fakes.
In the close up here it has been pointed out that starting at the bridge of the nose it is possible to spot a line which could be the joining marks for prosthetic makeup. Another remark I have seen explains how the messy hair in the front, covering the forehead, is a common trick for hiding prosthetic makeup lines. I personally can’t see the line mentioned around the bridge of the nose, but something I did notice is the position of the mouth in every photo, it’s the same. I also noticed in the close-up a strange line on the inner lower lip that kind of looks like the edge of a rubber prosthetic.
Some other comments I have read on the pictures of the “Apeman” have discussed how, especially back in these times, it was nothing to grab a mentally handicapped person and dress them up to act insanely while under the guise of something strange, adding to the reality of the situation.
Hoax or not, these photos remind me of when I learned of De Loy’s Ape. Francois De Loys was a Swiss oil prospector who led an expedition along the border between Colombia and Venezuela from 1917 to 1920. While camping along the Terra River, the expedition was disturbed by two larger monkeys standing a little over 5 feet tall. After a sudden outburst of howls and gestures from the monkeys, one of them was shot and killed. Believing that this could be a new species/or the missing link, De Loy took a picture of the creature and saved its hide and skull. However both of the hide and skull were lost on the trip home, only leaving the infamous picture.
But that picture too was met with outpours of disbelieve as know one could tell just how big the crate the monkey is sitting on, and no real sizable comparison to anything in the background.
So what can you make of these stories? Granted the possibility of them both being true isn’t out the window, but…… Well it’s fun to believe they might be. Further, its fun when the internet regurgitates photos like these to keep our minds curious, and wondrous of things that might have been, or still might be.
My opinion is that back in these times, to see something so different was disturbing. I believe that for some back then, to see something like this outside of the movies ment that there were unexplained things in this world which would lead to a deep seeded fear of the unknown that people wanted to avoid. Sometimes the best way to forget about disturbing images is to tell your self, “It’s not real.”
What do you think?
Bumble Bee Tuna Worker Cooked In Steam Machine
A tragically weird incident happened the morning of October 11th at a Santa Fe Springs Bumble Bee Tuna plant. 62-year-old Jose Melena was found dead in an industrial oven known as the “steamer machine.” It is still unclear how the worker of six years ended up in the cooker.
The Bumble Bee plant closed down directly after the discovery of Melena, and re-opened last Monday. The California Division of Occupational Safety & Health has yet to figure how it all happened and are in a full in a full investigation involving factory visits, safety document and interview reviews to decide if any health and safety violations did indeed happen. They hope the investigation is wrapped up in six month’s time.
I know im a little late with this news, but it was something that caught my attention, and kind of freaked me out. I can’t imagine going out that way. The Bumble Bee Company released a statement expressing their sorrow for the Melena family.
Something similar happened this last March when two men were trapped in an industrial oven for metal work and were burned alive. The investigation that followed that incident found that the two men were cleaning the oven and had not followed safety protocol leading up to their deaths. Read more on that at The Sun.
Even though what happened in March has been proved to be the fault of the men who lost their lives, I still think there is something fishy about what happened to Jose Melena, no pun intended. Pictured below is what one of the steamers looks like.
Weird Review: The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham, by Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas
Title: The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham
Authors: Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Number of Pages: 205
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars Aligned
January 1972. Resenting his unexpected fame and suffering from severe writer’s block, America’s premier “gonzo” journalist decides to reinvent himself. He creates a new persona–Uncle Lono– and hatches a scheme to return to his roots, reinvigorating his patriotism and his writing in the process. On a freaked-out journey to Arkham, Massachusetts, and the 1972 presidntial primary, evidence mounts that sinsiter forces are on the rise, led by the Cult of Cthulhu, and its most prominent member–Richard M. Nixon! Will the truth set Lono free or simply drive him insane?
Hunter S. Thompson and H.P. Lovecraft were two very influential writers from two very different times. Though they shared no commonality in the genre in which they wrote, the two authors always seemed to have a way of captivating my literary attention. Lovecraft, a writer of cosmic fear, never let us forget that we were an insignificant force in this universe. His writings in the early 1900’s helped to define the weird genre and opened up doors to aspiring writers of fiction. Thompson wrote to an already fearful generation that craved information, no matter how twisted it was, about the world at war and how insignificant the American dream and its people were to the white collared swine in charge… Namely Nixon.
Both wrote in times of war, and held correspondence with numerous folks. When standing back and seeing some of the silly similarities they share, along with some of the serious ones, I find it unusual that Lovecraft passed away March 15th, of 37′, and Thompson was born 4 months later on July 18th. Now I like to entertain the idea of reincarnation, mainly because the thought of continuing to another life intrigues me, so I always thought it would make for a smash-up story if somehow Thompson was the reincarnation of H.P. Lovecraft. Bad news is im too late.
Good news is Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas, another pair of great authors qualified for the job, have collaborated to create, The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham
Fans of both Lovecraft, and Thompson, it seems, are pretty picky when it comes to new additions to either Gonzo writing, or to the Cthulhu Mythos. Granted, Hunter S. Thompson fans are a little harsher to those breaking into the art, both sides seem to be fairly happy with what Keene and Mamatas have produced.
I have been reading both H.P.L and H.S.T for years, so I was no newbie to some of the references Keene and Mamatas successfully pulled off with a strange grace. The mastery of Thompson’s language. Perfectly sewn-together plot of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos into Thompson’s time during the 72′ election campaign. Interweaving truth like Senator Eagleton’s electroconvulsive therapy, and exposing how it was connected to an occult ceremony that had gone awry.
The story took a little bit to get jiving for me at first. The plot was always moving, but some of the begging of the book was slow and seemed a little heavy the usual Hunter S. Thompson references. But after trudging on I kind of felt that it was needed for those who might not be well read in Thompson’s work and his view on the world. Even still I would recommend reading some of both H.P. Lovecraft and Thompson’s work, or at least looking them up and reading about them and their life.
From dead peacocks, to fungi from Yuggoth. From Woody Creek Colorado, to Arkham and Innsmouth Massachusetts. This book fully satisfied that weird little hunger pain I get from time to time for Lovecraftian fiction. Especially Lovecraftian fiction that is seen and heard through the eyes and ears of Hunter S. Thompson.
In the end I recommend reading this one. If you’ve got a small bit of cash and some time to spare, I’d say sit down with this baby and learn how Nixon almost succeeded awaking Cthulhu and damning us all.
Next on the docket is Horns
Giant Eye Found on Ocean Shore Supposedly From a Swordfish?
If you haven’t seen anything about it on the internet yet, then you’re either watching too much porn, or playing to many Facebook games. A mysterious eyeball was found washed up on a Florida beach which lit up the internet October 10th with more speculative questions and answers than you can shake a tentacle at.
The softball sized ocular unit was found by a beach comber who turned it over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Wednesday. Many things have been “suggested” by “professionals” as to what the eye could have come from. One main conjecture is that it is from a large squid. But the guys over on the pseudopod side are saying nay!
New statements as of yesterday seem to be claiming that it is in fact from a swordfish or marlin of some kind. But, these claims are coming from individuals who are “almost sure” that this is from a large swordfish/marlin. Now I am no scientist, but there is roughly two pounds of DNA sitting in their hands. And no one has tested it yet? Maybe they have and are still waiting on the results, or maybe they found the results and didn’t care to share with us.
For some, the idea of it being from a large squid isn’t ruled out. And with comments like the one from Robert L. Pitman, who is a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, California, people are still asking, ‘Why couldn’t it be from a squid?’ When asked about his thoughts by National Geographic, Pitman said this:
“It probably is a squid eye–other things with eyes that big (fish, cetaceans) have them imbedded in hard tissue. Squid eyes are in relatively soft tissue and more likely to dislodge as in the photo you sent. A quick DNA analysis could easily sort it out for you,”
Maybe it is from a swordfish, or another big fish of the sea. Or maybe it’s from a giant squid. Either way at least those are a couple possibilities that are tangible. What if this eyeball is from something never seen before, something unknown? What do you think?
Goosebumps: Say Cheese and Die!
Cover Line: One picture is worth a thousand screams.
Back Line: Every Picture Tells A Story
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars in alignment
Book Description: Greg thinks there is something wrong with the old camera he and his friends found. The photographs keep turning out wrong. Very wrong. Like the snapshot Greg took of his father’s new car that shows it totalled. And then Greg’s father is in a nasty wreck.
But Greg’s friends don’t believe him. Shari even makes Greg bring the camera to her birthday party and take her picture. Only Shari’s not in the photograph when it develops. Is Shari about to be taken out of the picture permanently? Who is going to take the next fall for… the evil camera?
Autumn is her folks and with the fall season comes the best month of the year, October, which in turn brings two very awesome holidays, Halloween and … my birthday. Ok so my birthday might not mean much to anyone else, but for weirdos like me All Hallows’ Eve is the best holiday year round. Maybe it’s the hoodie weather, scary movies, candy, the creative costumes, or the display of wild yellow and orange trees contrasting with the blue sky. I don’t know. It’s like Christmas, but in October, and I say that mainly because I get presents this month… so it’s basically early Christmas for me. Yah know?
Anyway. You know what October also brings? The long-awaited review of Say Cheese and Die! #4 in R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. I know I mentioned that this was next back in April, after I posted my thoughts on Monster Blood, so after a long summer and few days of procrastination, I’m dusting off the right side of my brain and getting back to work.
The story begins in Pitts Landing, a place with a great motto, Pitts Landing is the pits. We find our main characters, Greg, Shari, Michael, and Doug a.k.a Bird, bored and looking for trouble. Not really, but that is what happens when a group of kids get bored. Eventually someone gets the idea to break into the old Coffman house where supposedly a homeless man named Spidey lives. See I told you, breaking and entering.
While exploring the abandoned home they find themselves in the basement where Greg discovers a secret compartment that is hiding a peculiar camera. He asks one of his friends to strike a pose on the stair case leading upstairs when suddenly the railing breaks and sends Michael plummeting to the basement floor. The loud crash disturbs something upstairs as the gang hears footsteps heading their way. They narrowly escape out a cellar door leads to the back yard. Once away from the house, or after achieving a successful break-in, Michael demands to see the photo. Everyone, at first, is shocked but then decide the camera must be broken because it took a photo of Michael as he was falling from the stairwell.
Everyone splits up for the night and goes home. Broken camera toting Greg is excited to see a brand new Station Wagon and can’t help but try another picture. The polaroid-like camera spits out the developing picture. When finally upstairs Greg is confused to see that in the picture the car looks totaled. He is then nervously gathered with the rest of the family to go for a ride in the new wagon. Thankfully everyone arrive back home safely, barring a close call with a truck, but Greg is just not sure what is up with the camera. To prove one more time to see if it’s broken he asks his brother if he can take his photo. The result is completely different, Terry, his brother is standing outside in the photo and not inside where he took the picture and he has a terrifying expression on his face. This reassures Greg that the camera must be broken, because what kind of camera takes a picture with different backgrounds….
After another weird incident at his friend Bird’s baseball game and Greg’s sees his brothers terrifying expression and finds out his dad actually got into a wreck and totaled the car after all, Shari asks Greg to bring the camera to her birthday party because she thinks it will be fun. Why? I don’t know. But after a couple of shots of Shari standing by a tree, the pictures develop without Shari in them. Everyone brushes it off and decides to play hide and seek, when Shari actually disappears for real. The cops come send Greg home after he tries to explain how his broken camera might be magic because of the things that are happening after he takes photos of people.
Worried about Shari, Greg gets home and finds his room has been destroyed. He quickly figures that Spidey has been looking for the camera. He quickly gathers Bird, and Michael to plan a way to get rid of it, when they are harassed by two bullies who try to take the camera and accidentally take a photo of Greg during the struggle. After escaping and making it back home, Greg goes nuts for a moment after he sees the photo taken of him portrays him and Shari at the baseball diamond cowering under a tall shadow. In a sudden rage he tears up the two photos of the tree sans Sheri, because as if puberty isn’t rough enough the poor kid is dealing with supernatural forces too. Two hours after they are destroyed, Shari calls Greg.
Happy his friend is alive he asks to meet with her the next day at the baseball diamonds… for some reason he wants the picture to come true obviously. Once there they try to make a plan to get rid of the camera, but are interrupted by Spidey, the tall shadow in the photo, who chases them down until a neighbor sees them and threatens to call the cops on the creepy guy chasing two children, good job neighborhood watch!
Safe and sound they decide to just meet at the Coffman house the next day to get rid of the trouble for good. Of course this happens while a storm is building in the background. Naturally, to set the mood and give you goose bumps. Inside the house they confront Spidey, who actually explains that he is pretty much a mad scientist named Dr. Fritz Fredrick’s. He makes the classic villain mistake of telling his whole evil life story, down to when he was just an assistant to a dark arts master/scientist who created the cursed camera to take souls… yeah souls. But it gets confusing when Spidey, now Dr. Fritz, explains that he stole to camera for his own prosperity, but after it killed so many people he dedicated his life to hiding it so it could not do its evil anymore. So does that make him kind of a good guy? Maybe, but then he tells the kids that they cannot leave because they know too much, implying he is going to kill them too… so I guess he’s not much of a good guy after all. A déjà vu struggle over the camera occurs which leads Shari to accidentally snap a photo of Dr. Fritz. The kids run away but stop when they see the good Dr. is a senseless heap on the floor. They go back down and review the photo, showing Dr. Fritz lying on the floor, eyes bulged, dead.
From breaking and entering to murder, see how fast kids can progress. As far as I am aware, at least so far, this is the only human bad guy that gets done in by kids… the only human character that gets killed.
The cops come and the kids lie and say that they went into the house to escape the rain and found the Dr. Dead. And the local P.D. buys it, forever assuring these kids to think they can literally get away with murder. The friends are all happy again, and alive. But before the big THE END, after the gang rides off into the sun setting on the town of Pitts Landing, the two bullies from before jump out and have the camera. The book ends with one of them taking a picture of the other. FIN
I remember this book being one of the scarier ones when I was a young hoodlum looking for trouble. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens way down the road in the sequel, Say Cheese And Die–Again!. Either way this one wasn’t as bad as Monster Blood, and in some sense I still kind of liked it.
Below I found the full version of Say Cheese and Die! Featuring a very young Ryan Gosling. Not a whole lot of difference really from the book, except the ending. Enjoy!
Next up on the list is The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb
Unspeakable Gibberer 