The human body is fantastic

Sometimes the human body can baffle even science as to how it manages to pull through the most critical of scrapes. This page at Cracked.com depicts 7 fatal injuries that were not quite as fatal as they seemed - the people in question survived!

My personal favourite, if such a thing is tastefully possible, is the internal decapitation. If only Anne Boleyn knew this trick, then she could have lived a bit longer to annoy Henry VIII a bit further!

Autumn begins

With the commencement of September comes a reopening of the Museum! Over summer, work has not been lax, so there are some lovely oddities for you to feast your ears on and treat your eyes to.

For the moment, I would like to announce the release of the 8th Gatehouse Gazette, with a wonderfully ghoulish front cover by Myke Amend, who has designed album covers for the steampunk bands Abney Park and Vernian Process. This reflects the theme for this edition - 'forbidden tales of fright and fervour'. ' Click on the image below to access the issue!

Summer hiatus

As you can see from the lack of posts recently, I have taken a bit of a hiatus from curating the Museum. However, once summer is over, you can expect to see much more activity here!

As a point of interest, the dieselpunk blog The Flying Fortress has arisen from its hiatus, which you can access via the link provided!

Don't forget that the Museum will be returning in September!

Gatehouse Gazette - Issue 7 - Metropolis

The latest edition of the Gatehouse Gazette is dedicated to the classic 1927 film and the concept of the metropolis, wandering through the cramped citadel we go. Here is a brief overview of what's in this issue:

In response to the discovery of lost Metropolis footage, issue #7 is dedicated to this 1927 classic of silent film and the metropolis in general.

Of course there is a review of the original Metropolis, by Mr Marcius Rauchfuß, as well as an article about the 2001 anime of the same name, by Mr Sigurjón Njálsson. For the latest about what is going on in that other fine city, the Old Smoke called Londontown, we introduce Brigadier Sir Arthur Weirdy-Beardy of The Steampunk Club, while Mr David Townsend is off to farther realms once again, traveling by the Indian Pacific from Perth to Sydney, Australia.

We are also extremely glad to present an exclusive preview of Mr Toby Frost’s upcoming Space Captain Smith novel, Wrath of the Lemming Men!

And it almost goes without saying that this issue features all the columns and features that you might have come to expect from us: Ms Hilde Heyvaert writes her “Steampunk Wardrobe” about ethnic steampunk; Mr Craig B. Daniel dedicates his “Liquor Cabinet” to a story about beer, and Mr Guy Dampier is back with a Quatermass review. More reviews come from Hilde (Unhallowed Necropolis), Mr Trubetskoy (The Court of the Air and Outcry) and Toby Frost (Gormenghast).

Click on the above image to download the latest issue!

Prodigies: Drawings of Anomalous Humans

The idea of the 'freak show' has a placeholder throughout history as being both a ghastly spectacle and a lesson to be learned. This can be both morally and medically, for those with deformities and abnormalities were certain to be ostracised from normal society and could only find acceptance amongst those who sought to exploit them.

However, disease and deformity are curiosities in their own right - historically for people's own pleasure in the freak show, and also for various levels of study, be it scientific or artistic. James G. Mundie is an artist who specialises in drawing the portraits of such 'anomalous humans - monstrosities - freaks', keeping a gallery of drawings known as Prodigies: Drawings of Anomalous Humans. The website design appears to be inspired by old Victorian adverts and sideshow banners.

The featured picture here is entitled Portrait of an Amateur Pathologist, showing the eponymous pathologist with the skeletons of two conjoined foetuses, known as cephalothoracopagus. More from the artist's gallery can be accessed here.

Crooked House

Not the Agatha Christie novel, but those who have read the Stephen King story Rose Red will find this piece of architectural confusion vaguely familiar.

The story begins in Connecticut, USA when heiress and widow Sarah Winchester consulted a spiritualist for advice following a depression brought on from the deaths of her only daughter in 1866, her father-in-law in 1880 and her husband, wealthy gun magnate William Winchester, in 1881. She had assumed that the Winchester family was cursed from the deaths that had occurred.

The medium she consulted was reputedly psychic and told Sarah Winchester that the family were indeed cursed—by the spirits of the people killed by the Winchester rifle. The medium apparently advised her to move west and build a new house for herself and the spirits.

The twist was that if Sarah Winchester was to ever halt construction on the house, she would also die.

Moving to California in 1884, Sarah Winchester purchased an 8-room farmhouse and started spending her $20 million inheritance on renovating and adding to the house. This work continued 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year, for the next 38 years.

The house itself is a complete confusion of design or forethought: it has doors that open into walls, stairs that lead up to nowhere and end at the ceiling. It is predominantly of redwood frame, and boasts some 160 rooms, 40 of which are bedrooms. There are 47 fireplaces, 10,000 windowpanes and 17 chimneys. The motif of the number 13 is a running theme through most of the house; Sarah Winchester was fascinated with the number 13 as she felt it had some spiritual meaning to her.

The 1906 earthquake damaged the house: it was previously 7 storeys high but today is only 4. Nevertheless, Sarah Winchester died at the age of 83, and construction on the house was stopped. It is said to be haunted today, and is a popular tourist attraction, known as the Winchester Mystery House.

The story of her fear of the spirits of the dead is the most well-known for the reasoning behind the confused architecture. Perhaps Sarah Winchester truly feared the spirits of the dead—or maybe, she was rich enough to build her house how she wanted, and that is what she did.

(cross-posted at The Gatehouse)

Anatomy of the Beast

The above image, Anatomy of the Beast, is by ~korintic. Done in inks and Adobe Photoshop, it gives a great yet ghoulish window into the old-style Victorian lecture theatre autopsies that used to be performed. Public autopsies are illegal in the UK under the 1984 Anatomy Act - being able to view an autopsy is restricted to medical schools. Notwithstanding, Professor Gunther von Hagens' primetime autopsy back in 2002 wasn't deemed to be breaking the law by the police - they just stood around the lecture theatre and watched.

However, I doubt today that if a creature such as the one in the picture above, such an autopsy would be made viewable by the public. I'd expect some sort of clapped-up Roswell alien affair, with shaky cam video recording. Although with the advent of HD-TV and Blu-Ray, technology must have moved on since then?