For Them

Music by Belial

The Belfry, Oddities and Collectables.

 Recently discovered this little gem.... The Belfry, a pair of curators and collectors of the odd, the creepy and all things macabre run this gorgeous House of Curios. 

A wonderful collection of old religious paraphernalia, antique medical equipment, taxidermy and art are housed in this little shop of treasures, the pricing is very reasonable and many of the antiques are very rare and unusual. 

There is a human skeleton for sale housed in a vintage, unearthed coffin; a Victorian Veterinarian's travel bag  complete with medicines, needles, ID cards and medical documents; complete sets of human teeth; a collection of rare and antique taxidermy; a child-sized embalming table, a collection of Victorian Mourning hair portraits and post-mortem photography, and an assortment of other weird and wonderful delights.

Definitely worth taking a look; the curators are very friendly and knowledgeable, and have a real appreciation for curios and oddities....it's pretty easy to spend a paycheck in this place however...you have been warned!!

Source

Wonderland by Kristy Mitchell

 Kristy Mitchell's stunning Wonderland set, dedicated to the memory of her late mother.

"'My aim was to portray time passing, an unsaid journey through four seasons, incorporating every colour in the rainbow."

Source

Mother

Melvin Burkhart, The Original Human Blockhead

Born:  Born 1907 Louisville, KY, Died November 8, 2001 Gibsonton, Florida. Biography: From his obit(Associated Press): TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Magician Melvin Burkhart, known in the heyday of carnivals as ``The Human Blockhead'' for his ability to hammer a spike into his head through a cavity behind his nostril, died Thursday. He was 94.  Burkhart could make both sides of his face do different things, and he could squeeze into enough shapes to be known as ``The Anatomical Wonder.'' ``He was 60 years in the sideshows, and he's the last of them,'' said friend and magician Bill Dahlquist. ``It's the end of the era, it really is. It's sad.'' Burkhart recently was in New York to trade stories with friends and to perform at a wedding. When he returned home, he checked into a hospital, and shortly afterward suffered a stroke. He had time for private goodbyes before his heart gave out.   ``He taught me how to be a rich man,'' said his son, Dennis Burkhart, a biochemical engineer. ``He said a rich man is someone who can make one person smile everyday. If I can be half the man my father has been, I will be a great man.''  The elder Burkhart and his wife, Joyce, with whom he had three children, were to celebrate their 52nd anniversary this month. ``He did what everybody else always talked about doing,'' said daughter-in-law Jane Burkhart. ``He ran away and joined the circus.''

from James Taylor (excerpt of an unpublished essay, "How I Spent My Carny Vacation," 1998): You've seen the act before, though the horrific elements of it probably had you wondering, "Why in the hell would anybody do that?" more than, "Who came up with that act?" Human Blockhead or just Blockhead, the act's straightforward and frightening: The performer takes a hammer, a bottle, the microphone, whatever, and with a maniacal laugh proceeds to pound a spike as big as your finger right into the middle of his head. Well, that's right up his nose. Maybe you saw the blockhead push an ice pick up his sinuses. Regardless, whether you saw it with those implements or others, when the act's done for comedy, a stand-alone act for the gross-out stand-up, it's origins are traceable to Gibtown. Specifically, to Melvin Burkhart, the Anatomical Wonder. The man Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley dubbed the Human Blockhead. The man who took a pretty gruesome piece of fakir performance, made it even more gruesome, and then made it comic.  Melvin's done the act a million times. Taught it to a million wannabes who've taught it to a million others. Some of them don't even bother to invent their own patter. If he'd had a copyright on that material and the wherewithal to file suit, Melvin would be a millionaire by now, that is, if you could ever collect from other blockheads. As it is, he's just proud to know he's left his mark on the business. And on any given day, he'd just as well be doing magic anyway (yes, he's invented acts there, too).  On the day Kathleen and I stopped by to see him this year, he told us before we left that we had to watch him do one more card trick. "I think you'll like this one," and he was all self-deprecating in tone, a sure sign from Melvin he's setting you up. True to form, he handed Kathleen the deck, told her to cut the deck anywhere, look at a card, not show it to him, hand it back, let him shuffle, he gave them back... and he never touched them again. And for the next five minutes, Melvin pretty much told her to do whatever she wanted with the deck. Cut them where she wanted. Divide them into a couple piles anywhere she chose. Pick left, right, middle, her choice. And when it was all over, Kathleen having apparently controlled the entire show, Melvin told her to make a final choice between the face-down piles. Any choice at all. She chose. Randomly. Of course she chose her own card, the one she'd picked at the beginning of that little performance. "That," she said, no small amount of awe in her voice, "was really good." "Good?!" Melvin came back, laughing through it, "That was perfect!" And, as always, he was right. (1998) Source

Cloaked figure fantasy

Can't stop this obsession with gorgeous, mysterious cloaked figures...

After Nightfall....

Halloween Dilemma...

Hello my lovelies, I am faced with a terrible dilemma, what should I go as for Halloween this year!??

Some possible options:

Green Absinthe Fairy? Could go a few different ways with this one; more toward a natural wood-nymph creature or more toward the traditional Absinthe fairy.

Also having thoughts about going as your classic zombie-girl after being inspired by some particularly good make-up I saw on Cabin in The Woods. I've definitely done that costume before but it is a classic...

It's fast approaching, yet I'm all out of ideas,help!!

Sanatorio Lohner

Nestled in a Swiss valley, a small sanatorium lies at about 3,770 feet above sea level and surrounded by beauty. The institution was constructed in 1905 as a private hospital to treat tuberculosis. The 5-story main building is symmetrical and decorated in Art Nouveau style; inside were 76 patient rooms, a breakfast room, a recreation room, sterilization rooms, and various offices. 

Two large verandas faced south towards the opposite side of the valley, and were used for heliotherapy (light therapy) and fresh air treatments. The main building is attached to a semicircular medical villa resting on supports, built in 1934. The facility also includes a doctor's residence, wash house, and staff house. In 1919 the government purchased the property for 470,000 francs and used the sanatorium as a military hospital until 1920. Tuberculosis treatment resumed until the gradual eradication of the disease reduced the number of patients - the hospital was eventually shuttered in 1962.

The doctor's residence is still being lived in, however the rest of the property has begun to deteriorate. Although the main building is in good condition for being closed for so long, it does require some rehabilitation work, while the laundry building is in very poor shape. The once-grand front lawn adorned with a large fountain is now a grazing field for a herd of goats.

* Note: the name "Sanatorio Lohner" is a pseudonym; the real name of this location is currently undisclosed.

 

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