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Just finished reading the thread, worthy successor to the old Bizarre, Unsolved Mysteries, which was where I first lurked before I joined. For content I was going to mention the MS Estonia - I was on that ship (or a sister one) a couple of years before the accident, so the idea of it creeps me out. So, sorry, no content yet.... ...except to say that people interested in the John Franklin expedition disaster (a search for the Northwest Passage that failed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition) can get/make book recommendations at a thread on the Book Barn forum here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3655083 The thread is for all polar expedition literature, so plenty of freaky mysteries covered there. Okay, content: Depression-era America, promising young artist who has spent years trekking the American wilderness in search of inspiration heads into the badlands of Utah....and disappears. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Ruess Not fantastically mysterious as the options are threefold (excluding the possibility he faked it all and lived out his days under a pseudonym): 1) death by accident, 2) death by Indian/robber, 3) suicide. Anyway, unsolved still. Josef K. Sourdust has a new favorite as of 20:02 on Aug 22, 2014 |
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Aug 22, 2014 01:40
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benito posted:Leprosy chat. It sure is creepy. And the worst thing is that SA mods also believe in stigmatising the unfortunate: http://forums.somethingawful.com/banlist.php 
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Aug 27, 2014 23:03
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Wildeyes posted:MS Estonia You would be even more  if you saw the raw footage of a dive to the wreck that was posted on Youtube. Found-footage horror flicks don't come close. I stopped watching when the camera panned to the water rippling the hair of a corpse.  (No, I don't know if the film is still there. I don't have the heart to look.) There is treaty to prevent diving now. There may have been underhand business in the sinking but the ban on diving is mainly because a lot of the bodies are still there.
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Aug 28, 2014 22:18
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HelloIAmYourHeart posted:If you want to talk about Franklin's Lost Expedition and get creeped out, let me introduce John Torrington. For all of you goons interested in Franklin and polar exploration (and disasters) we have a thread on the subject in the Book Barn: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3655083&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#pti35 Come join us for tales of frostbite and husky-eating! 
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Sep 10, 2014 15:07
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Helena Handbasket posted:Creepy stuff about Disappearance of Maura Murray. Sounds like she was preparing to run out on her old life then she pranged the car while drunk. I suppose she made a dash for somewhere...but never made it. Unless she hitchhiked somewhere and started a new life. Let's hope so.  Remind me not to read this stuff just before bedtime....
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Sep 13, 2014 22:06
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Technical query: why wasn't the tamping iron habitually sheathed in copper at the tip/s? It would have prevented accidental ignitions, which must have been not uncommon with iron rods.
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Oct 3, 2014 13:15
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Semantic question: can you be a serial killer if you cannot see the person you kill? I mean, I know biplane pilots sometimes got close enough to see the enemy's face but generally they were killing at a distance. Surely the killing is destroying/disabling the aircraft rather than actually killing the opponent (for example, a plane with 2 crewmen would could only as 1 "kill", right?) so it isn't killing in the normal sense. Though I suppose most of the kills were actually fatal. What about a sniper? And what about the staff at death camps? Aren't they simply sanctioned killers (some of them psychotic) rather than classic serial killers?
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Oct 13, 2014 14:12
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Kimmalah posted:Their house was pretty much your average standalone suburban home with a decent amount of space between neighbors. Combine that with soundproofing from stuff like insulation/walls/windows etc. it's not exactly outside the realm of possibility. Esp. if no firearms were involved.
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Nov 8, 2014 10:48
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If he was killed by the secret services, surely they just would have buried his body in the desert. Australia is awful and it's easy to make a body disappear. Sounds more like suicide though pos. unplanned homicide or accident.
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Dec 1, 2014 20:33
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El Estrago Bonito posted:Source: Security and anti-terrorism is my degree field. If you tell us that, then surely you flunked.... 
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Dec 3, 2014 11:23
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For gruesome and pointless caving deaths, check out the post-Everest season chat on the Everest climbing thread. That is also a good thread for weird mountaineering deaths: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3626517&perpage=40&pagenumber=48#pti34
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Dec 16, 2014 00:58
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Sad Mammal posted:Is there a place that collects weird mountaineering deaths that dials back on the nauseating toxicity and cool-internet-iconoclast-guy schtick? It doesn't bother me so much but yeah, I understand where you're coming from. It does have some experienced climbers who post and a lot of people have seen the documentaries/read the books. I suggest that if you would prefer to read something less GBS then perhaps start a thread on mountaineering and/or caving on the Ask/Tell board. The ancient history thread there has been a mine of fascinating facts and intelligent debate without the GBS attitudinal stuff. An alternative is starting a thread on the Book Barn, which would be book centred. I started a thread on polar/arctic exploration books: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3655083
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Dec 16, 2014 10:47
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For those in the caving chat, a good NOVA documentary. Favourite part: the layer of suspended bug poop that causes brain damage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmcVmK33plI
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Dec 22, 2014 19:50
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Thoughts on the death of 30s film star Thelma Todd? She died at the age of 29, apparently of carbon monoxide poisoning in her garage. Turbulent private life. You may remember her from a couple of Laurel and Hardy films. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_Todd
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Jan 3, 2015 22:59
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Khazar-khum posted:Here's a super write-up of the story. Pro-click there. The whole blog is worth a look. The writer thinks that the only book on Thelma Todd is rubbish and suspect he might be right. Problem is, as all the participants and witnesses are dead now I doubt there's any way to solve the riddle. E: Worth going through the blog to see photos of catty letters from Louise Brooks, actress, model and uberbitch... Josef K. Sourdust has a new favorite as of 12:19 on Jan 4, 2015 |
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Jan 4, 2015 12:04
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warning: there's a death photo of her. It isn't disgusting or anything; she's just slumped over.
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Popcorn posted:Go here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_passport and listen to the audio version of the article. whhhaaa??? :O How did you find out about this?
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Jan 9, 2015 16:48
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Lake Nyos chat There's a good BBC documentary on this somewhere on Youtube. There is also a segment on this in 10 Things You Never Knew About Volcanoes, also Youtube (it's better than it sounds). Apparently gaseous nitrogen is deadly the same way CO2 is. There was some thread where this was discussed. If you knock over a container of liquid nitrogen in an enclosed space get out quick. The cold won't hurt you (apparently you can actually briefly dip your fingers in liquid nitrogen and not be harmed) but the gaseous nitrogen displaces the regular air mixture and causes suffocation. There was a podcast where someone talked about a balls up with dry ice or liquid nitrogen, where they poured into a hot tub at a party and the gas knocked people unconscious. No deaths I think but it was close...
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Jan 12, 2015 11:26
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As I understood it, CO and N give no warning and you go unconscious before death but with CO2 you have nausea and headaches before unconsciousness. Is that wrong?
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Jan 12, 2015 16:55
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WescottF1 posted:No one has ever been caught/charged with the crime and the case has gone cold.  Would you - ahem - like to confess anything to us?* * Please say "no".
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Jan 14, 2015 01:00
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You mean helium - which is in limited supply and cannot be generated artificially. http://www.decodedscience.com/helium-shortage-situation-update-one-year-later/42314
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Jan 21, 2015 20:42
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Although this has been raised on this thread before, it is worth suggesting you catch this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vyDpH3PON8 All about the Nicholas Barclay/Frederic Bourdin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Bourdin Starts out weird and hits creepy about 1 hour in. Catch it before it gets taken. Great film.
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Feb 22, 2015 00:34
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That drat Satyr posted:Perhaps, but one of the points that's made is that they were all mostly, if not completely in some cases, naked or in underwear. Though... I suppose the best garment to sew something in to keep them dry might be underwear, but that seems like they could still get damp from sweat and so on. Dyatlov Pass has always fascinated me. I assume the podcast you listened to was Skeptoid? (It hasn't been the same since Brian Dunning sold it ) I've always thought it was avalanche, possibly caused by jet or weapons testing. There are some odd features about it. I'll also check out the book.You might want to take a look at this 17min documentary with lots of photos (incl. a few NWS  b&w not detailed gore pics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVHFHIP9eWk/\ /\ /\ Thanks for that post about the artist and tree. I know that forest. Remind me not to read this thread just before going to bed. Dyatlov Pass and nightmares - yes, this is exactly like the previous thread....
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Feb 22, 2015 01:19
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Jack Gladney posted:Brian Dunning didn't sell Skeptoid. He just can't host it right now because he's in federal prison for massive fraud: Wow! That's pretty depressing. I just assumed he'd sold it because he had too much work for one person. The podcasts were slightly inconsistent (how could they not be, running weekly and appeared over 300 consecutive weeks) but even when I disagreed (and he was on uncertain ground with some of the medical pieces and was disastrously off target on the Tibet issue) he was thought provoking.Farewell, Brian Dunning!  E: By coincidence it was the "Dyatlov Pass" version of this thread recommending Skeptoid (episode on Dyatlov Pass) that introduced me to Skeptoid. Josef K. Sourdust has a new favorite as of 11:05 on Feb 22, 2015 |
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Feb 22, 2015 10:19
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kanonvandekempen posted:Keep in mind that before anything else, the documentary is about an unreliable narrator, it's literally titled 'The Imposter' because you can't truly believe a word it's central character says. The only thing you can really establish about him is that he is a pathological liar. Just because Bourdin is a pathological liar and quite possibly lied about [spolier] the mother confessing to murdering Nicholas doesn't mean that isn't true. The claim of the mother's private confession probably is a lie but I think there is every reason to think the family killed Nicholas. Or at least that looks very likely, considering the family's weird reactions throughout the case.[/spoiler] Josef K. Sourdust has a new favorite as of 19:26 on Feb 22, 2015 |
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Feb 22, 2015 19:07
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What "reason" does any family have? But it happens. A fight goes too far, someone makes a mistake, punishment beating goes too far. Who knows? Happens all the time, especially if it is a violent family with drugs in the mix (as the family apparently was). A 100% cast-iron way of never having a murder investigated is if the victim appears alive. Habeas corpus, right? They didn't organise the Bourdin aspect but they sure knew how to exploit it. E: It may just be that they covered up for a friend or disposed of the body or would have had to reveal something nasty in an investigation. They may not have had to kill the kid (on purpose or - more likely - by accident) to have reasons to prefer a missing person situation than a murder investigation. Josef K. Sourdust has a new favorite as of 19:32 on Feb 22, 2015 |
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Feb 22, 2015 19:30
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/\ /\ /\ That was indeed drat interesting. Thanks for posting!
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Feb 23, 2015 23:42
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RNG posted:It's a long read, and more For goons wishing to follow up the madness and bravery of human beings in the ant/arctic regions, check out a page dedicated to the subject here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3655083  Basebf555 posted:Well if the video shows them bullshitting on the boat not wearing lifejackets, they probably were hit by a wave they didn't see coming and swept overboard. Sounds good only problem is that the ship's interior was undisturbed. Any really large wave would probably have shaken up the interior.  Nckdictator posted:Rogue Waves are horrifying. Good BBC documentary on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YVZn46KgTs
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Feb 24, 2015 23:01
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RNG posted:Oh, nice! Lansing's Endurance was what got me interested in Shackleton, I didn't expect it to be such an epic voyage. Thanks!  It's a fascinating subject and goons are constantly posting with books on subjects/incidents I had never heard of. We're sure to get more traffic in that thread when analysis of the Franklin wreck gets published. Come join us there! If you guys don't know about it, Shackleton's boat journey is (possibly) the single most amazing sea journey ever undertaken - something never done before and - although you get people repeating various Scott/Shackleton/Amundsen ice journeys - no-one would ever try that sea journey again because it would 99.9% suicidal. Wikipedia posted:The voyage of the James Caird was a small-boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, its objective was to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, stranded on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance. Polar historians regard the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever undertaken. In other words, going through the world's roughest seas with ice forming on the bow of a whaling boat using pretty much dead reckoning to hit an island 900 miles away knowing that if you missed the small island that there would be no way of turning around and you would die - that is something special. Oh, then he had to climb an unscaled mountain peak and cross a glacier with no climbing gear to reach a whaling station to save his companions. And he was starving, frozen and partly delirious. I've seen the James Caird and that fucker is tiny. I teared up when I saw it for real.
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Feb 24, 2015 23:59
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HelloIAmYourHeart posted:But some guys did recreate it in 2013, in a replica ship called the Alexandra Shackleton. They made a documentary about it called Chasing Shackleton which is currently available on Netflix. I wanna see a re-creation where they didn't have a radio, back-up helicopters on call and the certainty of death if they miss their target.  Seriously, thanks for the link. If I get the chance I'll watch it. Felix_Cat posted:I'd be pretty pissed if I was one of the two guys on the greatest sea voyage ever that got denied for a medal. That's rough. Yeah, pretty brutal of Shackleton - especially as the carpenter (who was one of those denied a medal) built the cover for the boat and repaired it at sea, thereby making the journey possible. "Yeah, thanks for saving our lives and those of everyone in the party but no medal for you." Ouch.
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Feb 25, 2015 10:35
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Nckdictator posted:He does, why? As far as I can guess, I think it was because Heyerdahl proposed that migration to Polynesia came Westwards from S. America, which he (sort of) demonstrated in his voyages. Then genetic testing proved that this wasn't the case and that Polynesians had their origins elsewhere (Borneo/Indonesia?). Also Heyerdahl suggested that the Egyptians could have had ocean going ships in the face of all evidence that the Egyptians had no interest in exploration and very little interest in trading because they were essentially self-sufficient. So, basically that his theories were wrong. Unless I've missed some personal dirt that has turned up.
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Feb 26, 2015 11:08
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Leon Einstein posted:I still think anyone making moral judgments about leaving people on a mountain
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Feb 26, 2015 21:32
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From the dry to the wet. The Mystery of the Flannan Isles lighthouse, 1900:"Wikipedia" posted:On 15 December 1900, the steamer Archtor on passage from Philadelphia to Leith passed the islands in poor weather and noted that the light was not operational. The island lighthouse was manned by a three-man team (Thomas Marshall, James Ducat, and Donald MacArthur), with a rotating fourth man spending time on shore. The relief vessel, the lighthouse tender Hesperus, was unable to set out on a routine visit from Lewis planned for 20 December due to adverse weather and did not arrive until noon on Boxing Day (26 December).[6] On arrival, the crew and relief keeper found that the flagstaff was bare of its flag, none of the usual provision boxes had been left on the landing stage for re-stocking, and more ominously, none of the lighthouse keepers were there to welcome them ashore. Jim Harvie, captain of the Hesperus, gave a strident blast on his whistle and set off a distress flare, but no reply was forthcoming. Sounds like the work of our recently scientifically-discovered friend The Freak Wave. 30m waves have been recorded so that could have been the cause of the breakage but why would all three men leave the lighthouse together without oilskins in heavy rain? And what about the what about the disturbance 60m above sea level?Celebrated in ballad and poem, this would become the basis for a Doctor Who adventure (Tom Baker era). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannan_Isles#Mystery_of_1900 Josef K. Sourdust has a new favorite as of 00:57 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 28, 2015 00:54
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Dyatlov Pass: Finished DEAD MOUNTAIN by Eichar and it's very good. As someone itt said, the narrative jumps about a bit and spends a fair amount of time with the narrator encountering characters and obstacles in his investigation but that is a pretty standard writing technique. He is thorough and includes a lot of photos. He seems to tie up most of the loose ends in a logical way. His solution is (with the support and assistance of scientists) wind over the nearby ridge created infrasound waves which induced panic and nausea in the group. Vibration may have suggested to them an earthquake or avalanche. They cut the tent to escape and ran away. Dispersed in the dark, they died of hypothermia or sustained life threatening injuries by falling into a ravine. That last chapter where he describes the sequence of that night and how they all died is really powerful and sad. The only thing that isn't tied up is the final photo, which may have only been an accidental exposure. Two confusing points: I read the camera was set up on a tripod when found. Eichar doesn't mention that. Was it set up or not? If it was set up, that meant they were photoing the landscape/sky at night (because you wouldn't leave it set up overnight). And the lights are dismissed as not having been seen on the night of 1-2 Feb. Yet elsewhere Eichar says there were no testing facilities of bases nearby and he doesn't attempt to explain the lights. Thoughts?
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Mar 1, 2015 11:17
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Jack Gladney posted:I read it around the same time I read Dave Cullen's Columbine, which also stayed with me for similar reasons. Re Columbine: JG, would you recommend the Cullen book? I looked at the reviews and I was curious. It seems that he largely rejects the idea that bullying was a motivating factor and that the killers were actually relatively popular and successful socially. That seems to contradict a lot of testimony. There seems to be a big divide between Cullen and Larkin ( http://www.amazon.com/Comprehending...nding+columbine ), (or at least a division between their supporters) with Larkin suggesting social factors were stronger than Cullen makes out. So, Cullen - psychological motivation, Larkin - social motivation. I'm just going from the online reviews, so it may be an over simplification or even a misrepresentation. Has anyone here read both books and can give a balanced view of them?
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Mar 7, 2015 10:38
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Jack Gladney posted:It's been a while since I've read Cullen, but the killers only account for maybe 1/3 of it. Cullen's account seems thoroughly researched and matches the FBI's report. There's plenty of testimony that describes the killers as bullies themselves, and Cullen draws not only on testimony from their parents and people who knew them, but their diaries, transcripts of their interrogations, and interviews with their court-mandated therapists. It seems solidly researched to me. Thanks! That's good enough for me. Next time I permit myself to buy any books, I'll get Cullen's.
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Mar 7, 2015 13:21
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Dyatlov chat coming up - apologies!  Just read I. Lobatchev's (written with two others) Dyatlov Pass Keeps Its Secret 2013 (available via Amazon). First off (besides its terrible cover), it has serious flaws: the translation from Russian is awful. It isn't so bad that you can't understand any of it and there are many pages without errors. (One example: tent contents list includes "videofilm" - which must be a mistranslation as there were no video cassettes at the time and the team didn't have a 15-mm camera or anything similar. Just a translation goof.) Second, the authors go with the avalanche theory that they completely debunk in their text! Idea not feasible because: avalanches unknown in that location, snow conditions not favourable for avalanche, no evidence for avalanche, tent intact, floor of tent undisturbed, grave injuries of 3 in ravine site probably resulted in immediate incapacity and loss of consciousness. It is 1.5 km from the tent so no way they could have been carried etc. Another few good reasons why not also. So: if the avalanche theory is complete bollocks, why bother raising the book at all? Well, there is mass of newly translated statements from Russian, including lists of tent contents, clothing of bodies, pathology reports, conditions, useful info on weather and preservation of the footprints. (Also a few more unpublished photos.) So, for pure data this has a lot of great data. People worry that one of the bodies was missing a tongue - what they fail to tell you is that it was also missing teeth, lips, eyes and had been partially submerged in running water for months. It was decomposition, my dear Watson.  Like many who read Eichar's book, I thought the case was settled. Eichar's solution seemed to tie up loose ends very well but.... there are many problems with Eichar's theory, undermined (or at least complicated by) the facts that he left out of his account (Lob.'s book appeared before Eichar so he must have known this stuff): * Eichar says they panicked. Apparently not. Although they left the tent in haste, footprint evidence suggests they walked a steady pace away from the camp as a group. It was an orderly evacuation. (But why leave boots and clothing behind?) * Footprints suggested they made directly for tall cedar tree which could be seen from the tent in daylight but not at night. Frustratingly, Lob. does not discuss visibility. She gives evacuation time at about bedtime - 8pm or so (as Eichar does) - well after dark (5pm). Anyway, the fact they headed for the nearest tall tree to build a fire suggests there was some visibility - contradicting Eichar and Lob. * Slobodin was found between cedar and tent. He had a serious skull fracture not consistent with a fall. He was nowhere near the ravine. Was he assaulted? * The injuries to the 3 in ravine Eichar describes as fall injuries are not entirely consistent with falls - no protection injuries (arms held up for protection etc), no broken skin consistent with striking rock. * Grey fluid in lungs consistent with shock-induced vomitting or crush from heavy weight (avalanche). But pathologist did not determine death of any by suffocation (which happens with avalanches). In short, Eichar's solution is very neat but there are many facts that contradict it. For the record, I think the conspiracy stuff is bollocks but the evidence is against Eichar on many points and his statement that (roughly) "everything before and after the abandonment of the tent is explicable" is not true. There are many confusing and contradictory facts about the team in the snow. I think the causes were natural/human and didn't involve anything crazy or outsiders but ....I can't figure it out.  If you think there is too much Dyatlov chat, we can start a thread for it. I don't wanna bug you guys with it. EDIT: Ok, there is a new thread PYF Dyatlov Pass Theory here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3706392&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post442739486 But feel free to reply to this post here or continue the chat on the new thread. EDIT 2: If you guys think the new thread is too much then I'll close it. I suspect it might get shitted up.
Josef K. Sourdust has a new favorite as of 01:15 on Mar 15, 2015 |
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Mar 14, 2015 20:32
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>Nckdictator, can you dig up anything for us on a crazy rear end project? City planners decided that to provide illumination at night instead of providing individual streetlights in every street, they would build a giant lighthouse in the centre of Paris. Real plan. Kind of a shame they came to their senses in the end.
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Mar 26, 2015 14:43
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Nckdictator posted:I'll see if i can find anything on the Paris Lighthouse though. Yeah, I can't find anything either but I read it in at least 2 good factual books about Paris, so I am sure it is true, though....
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Mar 26, 2015 18:21
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AlbieQuirky posted:Josef K., are you thinking about the "moonlight tower" idea that city planners were so excited about for a while? Yep! You got it. Great work. Yes, essentially the plan was to have a giant one of those at the centre of Paris but in the end they went with ordinary streetlighting. Fascinating link. Thanks!
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Mar 26, 2015 18:34
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Mescal posted:I am eating the architecture up. Start another thread for it so it can live on. I'll get behind this. A thread of architectural oddities, lost technology and historical trivia in PYF would be great. It's pretty amazing that such a technologically dramatic and culturally significant event like the establishment of moontowers can come and go without leaving a strong presence or historical awareness 100 or even 50 years later.The PYF scary article thread can go through phases of "PYF serial killer", which I'm not a great fan of. Let's have an alternative: "PYF Ungrossing Engrossing Oddities".
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Mar 27, 2015 09:52
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