From the road, it would be easy to overlook this small, unassuming chapel located in one of the oldest towns in southwestern Poland. But the wooden doors hide a spectacular, macabre interior. The skulls and leg bones of over 3,000 victims of wars and plagues cover the walls and ceiling, and a crypt below, accessible…
No doomed wise guy, the man folded inside this luggage was a criminal who pretzeled himself in and out again and again. (While researching the unfortunate story of a young MI6 codebreaker, we stumbled across this less-lethal, though reminiscent tale.) From the site Robbed in Barcelona, we marvel at the clever immigrant contortionist who willingly…
This Renaissance painting is The Circumcision of Christ by Francesco Bissolo, and according to The Museum of Hoaxes, the subject was a very popular one: The Holy Foreskin first made an appearance in medieval Europe around 800 ad, when King Charlemagne presented it as a gift to Pope Leo III. Charlemagne said it had been…
A man who'd bought six brains online became worried that they hadn't been ethically acquired. Do tell, Daily Mail: Indiana's David Charles was arrested on December 16 after investigators were tipped off by Brian Kubasco, from San Diego, who became suspicious about six jars of brain tissue he'd bought on eBay for $600. Marion County…
And the eyes have it! At least for this fun Halloween treat. Make your guests' stomachs squirm with this finger food! Hat tip to Party City for creating these lovely favors and giving us many more ideas of how to have a ghoulish Halloween.
This isn’t quite a Cremains of the Day post, because it’s not something you can request to have done (I hope). From The Oddment Emporium come these historic notes on a lawman-killing criminal of the 19th century and the strange post-mortem trophies manufactured out of him: In 1878, Parrott and his gang murdered two law…
According to a local TV station, there’s an exotic fish trespassing in a midwestern lake. It has teeth that look like a human’s and is primarily vegetarian according to experts. However, this beauty has an ugly history back in Papua New Guinea when it goes, um, gourmet. As reported in the Daily Mail: A popular…
Stuck for what to bring to that July 4th cookout? Well, contemporary artist Dimitri Tsykalov, a Moscow-born Parisian, has a cool short film demonstrating how to carve a watermelon skull just like this one. (He also works in apples, cabbages, eggplants . . .) But if you’re looking for a sinister main dish to pass,…
At the Colossal Art & Design blog, I saw this magnificent skull carved from a stack of vise-bound, outdated computer manuals. The work of Canadian artist Maskull Laserre, it’s officially titled Incarnate (Three Degrees of Certainty II), and is certainly among the most elegant approaches I’ve ever seen for disposing of the obsolete. Then again,…
Artist Ben Cuevas created an amazing knitted skeleton for a mixed-media installation called “Transcending the Material” as part of the Wassaic Project. It includes more cool elements, but frankly, with my limited knit-one, purl-two, I'm still eye-dazzled by the centerpiece! Which enterprising cozy publisher is licensing this for their cover art? …
