Author: littlebrumble

Tucson, Arizona | Incredible Ruins

Airplane aficionados rejoice! Heaven has been found and it’s on the grounds of the Davis-Montham Air Force Base in Tuscon, Arizona.

The 2,600-acre area, officially called the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) though popularly known as “the Boneyard,” is filled with retired aircraft, including almost every type of plane flown by the United States Armed Forces since World War II.

Immediately after World War II, B-29 and C-74 airplanes were parked here in order to salvage parts. The aerospace junkyard has been growing ever since: B-52 bombers from the Cold War are parked next to F-4 fighter/bombers used during the Vietnam War, while civilian planes like 707s bring some diversity to the neighborhood.

The parts gleaned from the decommissioned planes are used in maintaining and repairing current Joint and Allied/Coalition warfighters. Official figures from the Defense Department estimate that by using replacement parts culled from the Boneyard, every one dollar spent generates eleven dollars in savings through reuse.

Tuscon’s arid, high-altitude make it an ideal storage place; rust and other deterioration occurs here at a much slower rate. Due to its unique landscape, the Boneyard is regularly used by Hollywood to stage post-apocalyptic and action movies.

Colorado, US | Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries

Longtime friend and famous lawman Wyatt Earp had this to say about John Henry “Doc” Holliday:

Doc was a dentist not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew.

Earp’s quote encompasses Holliday so well that little remains to be said, except that one of history’s greatest Western characters also played a pivotal role during the shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizone.

Eventually he died of tuberculosis at the Glendale Springs sanitarium. As he laid in bed, he spoke his last words: “Well, I’ll be damned. This is funny,” referencing his barefoot state, for no one had anticipated Doc meeting Death in such a relaxed fashion.

Today, his headstone can be viewed in the Linwood Cemetery in which he is buried, though the exact spot of his plot remains unknown.

New Orleans, Louisiana | Repositories of Knowledge

“The real characteristic of absinthe is that it leads straight to the madhouse or the courthouse. It is truly ‘madness in a bottle’ and no habitual drinker can claim that he will not become a criminal.”

– Henri Schmidt, a French Absinthe Prosecutor.

It was August 28th, 1905 and Monsieur Lanfray drank five litres of wine, six glasses of cognac, two crème de menthes, and one coffee laced with brandy. However, it would his last two drinks, of absinthe that would make the headlines. When Mrs. Lanfray refused to polish the incredibly drunk Monsieur Lanfray’s shoes, he shot and killed his pregnant wife and their two children, and than shot himself in the head. Incredibly, he was found the next day, conscious, hunched over the bodies of his family. Clearly this had been the work of “The Green Fairy”.

The “absinthe murders” as they were known, would be the last straw for the light green liquor. With the temperance movement going into full swing and absinthism (a concern about the effects of absinthe distinct from just alcohol) and alcoholism fusing into one idea, it was only a matter of time. The United States in 1912 and finally in France, 1915.

In New Orleans, the “little Paris of North America,” absinthe was a large part of the culture. The Absinthe Museum in New Orleans is the “only museum of its kind in the U.S. being solely devoted to the preservation and education of absinthe,” explores this connection as well as the general history of absinthe.

Divided into a “pre-ban” and “post-ban” room, the pre-ban area shows off the sheer amount of fancy paraphanalia associated with absinthe such as “100’s of absinthe spoons and glasses, numerous antique fountains, saucers, balanciers, brouilleurs, spoon and sugar holders, game pieces, absinthe bottles” as well as artwork related to absinthe.

The post-ban room is focused on the re-emergence of absinthe in other parts of the world after the American and French ban on the liqueur. One of the most interesting displays shows “close samples of various herbes used in the distillation process, as well as a step-by-step instructional layout explaining how absinthe is made.”

The museum is located only a few blocks from the Old Absinthe House, the original New Orleans absinthe bar. Traditional absinthe was recently re-allowed into the United States, though they must be low-thujone or thujone-free (thujone being a wormword extract, though it has been shown that thujone was not an “active ingredient” in traditional absinthe’s), such as the French Lucid Absinthe Supérieure.

Portland, Oregon | Museums and Collections

In 1994, the fledgling Cascade Stereoscopic Club began dreaming of a shared space where their passion for the history and art of three-dimensional photography could reach the public. As the years progressed, the members were able to establish the 3D Center of Art and Photography, which remains the only museum in the United States dedicated solely to historic and contemporary 3D art.

Inside the museum and gallery space, cabinets bearing stereographic technology spanning 160 years line the walls. Plastic ViewMaster® toys butt up against equipment used to document the US Civil War, and tables are lined with books of 3D images, along with a variety of glasses through which to view the art. For the more timid visitors, a browse-able reference library provides answers to common and in-depth questions about 3D photography, though friendly staff members are happy to help out.

A constantly changing selection of works by contemporary stereo photographers from around the world are featured on the gallery walls. In the viewing room, curators play an automated slideshow of international artists, while viewers regard the pieces wearing newer, fantastic black plastic-rimmed 3D glasses. Images range from entrancing to the occasional oddball grotesque image of dental work. Each new photograph is a surprise!

The primary objective of the Center is teaching. Workshops and classes in a variety of subject matter relating to three-dimensional imaging are regularly offered. Additionally, the Center partners with local independent movie theaters to host screenings of 3D classics like “It Came From Outer Space.” Proceeds from the (excellent) gift shop and admission fees keep the center up and running for future generations.

Portland, Oregon | Unique Collections

Frank Kidd began collecting antique toys and banks as an adult, filling his automotive parts office with vehicular toys. Throughout the years his hobby expanded, citing a lack of playthings during his childhood. To date he has traveled around the world to amass over 15,000 toys, mechanical banks, and pieces of transportation memorabilia.

In Kidd’s Toy Museum, still located next door to his family auto parts business, the bulk of the toys featured were created from 1869 to 1939. Despite the faintly familiar smell of a grandmother’s attic, the museum stretches deeper than its simple, paper-labeled door would suggest. Rooms upon rooms contain stuffed toys ranging from Disney figurines and plush dolls, die-cast trains and railroad locks, and later sand-casting molds for cap guns, to name a few.

Though the assortment is wide-ranging and the pieces’ ornate details are engrossing, the mechanical banks are the crown jewel of Frank’s collection. Highlights include two banks featuring Jonah as he is swallowed by a whale, metal donkeys that kick coins into collection tins, and several gambling banks in which each (as best as can be gathered) attempts to predict the amount of deposit and spits out five times the dividend if accurate.

The museum is nearly compulsive in its organization, and Julie, the desk clerk is extremely helpful in answering questions about the origins or history behind specific pieces. No matter how impressive the scope of toys housed in Kidd’s Toy Museum, it pales in comparison to the remaining two-thirds of Frank’s collection that remains in storage for lack of display space.

It is requested that large tour groups give warning of their intended visit by calling ahead. Also, special visiting hours outside of those normally open to the public can be arranged via telephone, and it has been suggested that Frank, now semi-retired, occasionally acquiesces to requests for personal tours of his collection.

A note to visitors: Due to the nature of these historical toys, a portion of the collection depicts figures in what would today be considered of a racially offensive manner, for they were a product of their times. However, the sheer confrontation with these antiquated representations of fellow human beings can provide an opportunity for reflection, and are no less valuable despite the reminder of the less pleasant aspects of our collective past. This note is included to prepare families for their visit, should such a sight provoke questions from children or others.

Mexico, North America | Cultures and Civilizations

Thanks to the brush and grasses that had overgrown its walls, the largest man-made structure in the world has been mistaken for a hill. Even today, it’s understandable how this came to pass, thanks to the old Spanish chapel perched at its summit.

Originally constructed over 2000 years ago, the Great Pyramid of Tepanapa (often referred to as the Great Pyramid of Cholula) has boasts a larger volume than any other ancient, man-made structure including the Egyptian pyramids

During the many pre-Columbian power shifts in Mexico, the pyramid itself fell out of use in favor other structures, such as one of the many sacrificial altars on the ten-acre site. It is unclear whether it was through disuse that the pyramid became overgrown with shrubbery, or if, when the Aztecs caught wind of the impending Spanish arrival, the Cholulans literally buried the pyramid in a last-ditch, communal effort to preserve the massive temple, an important piece of their culture.

Either way, when the Spanish arrived at Cholula in 1519, Cortes and his men were so occupied with the decimation of the indigenous people and their more conspicuous holy sites that they failed to recognize the pyramid as such, instead thinking it the perfect hill site for one of their countless new churches! Within the year, La Iglesia de los Remedios was constructed, where it remains to this day.

As the dirt began to fall away, the pyramid revealed itself to archeologists, who have excavated the pyramid’s stairways, platforms, altars, and over five miles of tunnels snaking through the structure’s innards.

The site and its network of tunnels are open to visitors for guided and unguided visits, though it is advised to confine exploration of the tunnels to daylight hours.

Maine, US | Museums and Collections

Loren Coleman first started pursuing unusual, often inexplicable animals in 1960, and has since become one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of cryptozoology. The discipline, as defined by the master himself, “is the study of hidden or unknown animals. These are usually larger zoological species that, to-date, remain unverified by science, such as Yetis, Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, and Sea Serpents, as well as hundreds of other yet-to-be-found animals (cryptids) worldwide… It also encompasses the study of animals of recent discovery, such as the coelacanth, okapi, megamouth shark, giant panda, and mountain gorilla.”

Throughout the years, Coleman has amassed an unrivaled collection of specimens, replicas, and artifacts relating to famous and lesser-known cryptids, including the eight-and-a-half foot tall, 300-pound “Crookston Bigfoot,” a life-size coelacanth, P. T. Barnum’s Feejee Mermaid, and much more.

His newly established International Cryptozoology Museum preserves and presents the collection to the public in a fun and educational manner, while acknowledging that cryptozoology is a “gateway science” capable of giving rise to the next generation’s interest in more popularly-accepted exploratory and research-oriented disciplines.

Besides, as Coleman asserts, it’s not really an issue of whether or not one “believes” in Yetis or the Montauk Monster; for belief “belongs in the providence of religion.” Coleman focuses on exploring the unexplainable with an open mind, gathering evidence before accepting or denying any larger theory.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of his initial foray into cryptozoological fieldwork and in observance of Obscura Day, on Saturday, March 20, Coleman has generously agreed to lead a small band of interested, open-minded souls on a tour of his collection! Limited spots are available, so reserve your place now!

Florida, US | Wondrous Performances

Legend has it that Jose Gasparillo née Gaspar, “the last of the buccaneers,” plundered over 400 ships over the course of 40 years of tyranny on the high seas. In no region did he make more of an impression than the Gulf Coast of Florida.

His primary pirating grounds ranged from the northernmost point of western Florida all the way south to Cuba. Throughout his tenure, Gasparillo developed a reputation for fearlessness and ferociousness, frequently killing all the men aboard a ship. The infamous pirate was also, of course, quite the ladies man, and he routinely elected to either keep the women he encountered as his personal concubines or ransom them back to their wealthy family members. While they waited to be ransomed, the women were trapped on nearby Captiva Island, which some claim gave the island its name.

Fast forward to 1904 when Tampa officials adopted the pirate as the “patron rogue” of their annual celebration. Secret meetings were held in which 40 members of the first “Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla” planned a surprise attack on the city during the main parade. Clad head-to-toe in pirate garb and riding horses, the first so-called “invasion” was such a wild success that the townsfolk demanded it become a permanent feature.

These days, revelers take to the streets of Tampa to witness boats, pirates, parades, merriment, and more during the Gasparilla Pirate Festival (or simply “Gasparilla” to locals), celebrating the world’s yet-undiscovered treasure as well as the pirate’s legacy of being a “hearty old swashbuckler with courtly manners and possibly – just possibly – prankful habits.”

The modern incarnation of Ye Mystic Krewe numbers more than 700 of the city’s most prominent leaders, who continue the traditional invasion by cutting through the harbor aboard the only fully-rigged pirate ship built in modern times (commissioned by the Krewe in 1954). After the invasion, a pirate parade streams through town, tossing beads and encouraging much grog-swilling. Without fail, the turnout for Gasparilla is massive, so come prepared. It’s also advised that you wear your finest pirate garb.

Though the majority of Gasparilla is distinctly adult in nature, a parallel festival known as “Children’s Gasparilla Extravaganza” is held the week prior for more family-oriented good times.

Monroe County, Florida | Anomalous Islands

Pigeon Key has been abandoned twice: first by a devastating hurricane on Labor Day 1935 that killed the vast majority of its road – and railroad-building inhabitants, and again in 1982 when a new Seven Mile Bridge was opened, passing a few hundred meters away from the isle which had previously served as a rest stop between Miami and Key West.

At the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries, Florida tycoon Henry Flagler had a vision to build a railroad extension running from Homestead,a town in the southernmost tip of mainland Florida, along the Keys to its final destination in Key West. It was to be called the Key West Extension, or the Overseas Railroad. Ever the entrepreneur, Flagler sought to corner the trade market via Key West, as it was the closest deep sea port to the new Panama Canal and trade with Cuba was booming at the time.

When Flagler started building the rail extension in 1905, most observers saw it as an old man’s folly: materials shipped from all over the world would, theoretically, be combined to form 128 miles of rail line, spanning 60 miles of unobstructed water, touching occasionally at rocky, mangrove-filled, generally inhospitable islands. Even drinking water would have to be imported.

Despite the odds, by 1908 half of the rails had been laid, but the seven-mile span of open water between Marathon and Bahia Honda Keys was left to navigate. (Incidentally, it was the Overseas Railroad workers who christened Marathon Key, thanks to the seemingly endless and torturous task of building the aforementioned seven-mile-long bridge.) The tiny isle of Pigeon Key served as the midpoint construction base for the project, housing over 400 men.

By the time of its completion in 1912, Henry Flagler road the train into Key West and received a hero’s welcome. Onlookers deemed the Key West Extension of the Overseas Railroad an engineering marvel and was called the Eighth Wonder of the World. One year later, Flagler died at the age of 82, never to know the way in which his railroad fundamentally changed the Florida Keys.

Conversely, Flagler was spared the knowledge that the Key West Extension built as a result of sheer determination, would be destroyed after only 23 years of service. As part of the Great Depression’s New Deal, hundreds of unemployed men – mostly World War I veterans – were hired to build the bridges for the Overseas Highway with supplies delivered to three bases, including Pigeon Key, via Flagler’s rails.

During the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, a belated attempt to usher the men at Pigeon Key to safety went horribly awry when the raging storm derailed their transport train at Islamorada, sending it tumbling into the ocean. The death toll was 432. Famed author Ernest Hemingway published a letter to the editor in which he called such gross negligence nothing less than murder, and correctly predicted that the 30-plus miles of rail destroyed in the storm would never be repaired.

Upon the opening of an updated US Route 1 bridge in 1982, which bypassed Pigeon Key by a few hundred meters, the abandoned buildings were left to fall into disrepair in the scorching sun, pummeling storms and soporific breezes.

Today, the Pigeon Key Foundation has restored the historical buildings, and installed a museum detailing the history behind the Overseas Railroad and the island. Visitors interested in a tour should meet at the old rail car serving as the Pigeon Key Gift Shop on Vaca Key. The price of admission includes a full day’s access to the museum, grounds, free snorkel equipment, and a ferry ride to/from Pigeon Key. Otherwise, the 2.2-mile-long section of the Old Seven Mile Bridge is open to pedestrian, cycling, and golf cart traffic (though please be prepared for the scorching sun, as nary a speck of shade can be found). Fishing from the old bridge is permitted.

San Francisco, California | Repositories of Knowledge

In the heart of San Francisco lies an “appropriation-friendly” collection of printed ephemera, periodicals, and books known as the Prelinger Library.

Visitors are encouraged to copy and reproduce all the information and images contained therein; much of the contents are in the public domain, and every attempt has been made to check the copyright status of the remaining, usually “orphaned,” works.

The eponymous library was founded by Rick and Megan Prelinger in 2004, and 95 percent of its contents were organized and shelved over the course of one week! Effectively, this is a private library with public access, consisting of approximately 40,000 tomes relating to landscape and geography, media and representation, historical consciousness, and political narratives from beyond the mainstream. In August of 2009, San Francisco Bay Guardian designated the Prelinger Library as the “Best Place to See Old S.F.”

Megan devised the library’s unique “serendipity” shelving system to enhance the investigative experience. By organizing information in this manner, emphasis is placed on the idea that each books contains varying degrees of knowledge that supplements that of its neighbor, which can only be discovered through open-minded browsing of the loosely gathered subject matter. Though not everyone can make the pilgrimage to wander the aisles in person, don’t despair! Over 3,700 fully downloadable books, and 1000s of old movies are accessible through their website’s digital archives section.(A strong recommendation can be made for the industrial films made by Jamison Handy or “Handy Jam’ productions.)

While the content of Prelinger Library is intended to be shared, it’s important to note that the physical books and magazines containing said information cannot be removed from the premises. Therefore, it is suggested that visitors bring digital cameras for the easiest capture and transport of information. Just in case, a copier, flat-bed scanner, and cross-formatted USB flash drive are also available for public use in a pinch.

California, US | Geological Oddities

At 5:13 am on April 18, 1906 the San Andreas fault slipped, creating a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that famously set San Francisco ablaze. The earth literally rifted apart for 300 miles from San Juan Bautista to Mendocino, California, and though the epicenter had been near the Bay, tremors were felt as far north as Coos Bay, Oregon. In response to the widespread destruction, teams of scientists explored California’s geography in search of its cause.

These geologists found some of the most prominent evidence from the quake in the area now known as Point Reyes National Seashore. Directly beneath this coastline runs the San Andreas Fault. The scientists who scoured this area found that the west side of crack left in the earth was feet higher than that of the right, and had shifted dramatically to the northwest.

Contemporary visitors to the park can walk the half-mile “Earthquake Trail” from the Bear Valley Visitor Center to the famous Earthquake Fence. While it may seem like a drunkard originally plotted the fence, prior to the quake it had actually been one continuous stretch of pickets. Today, there is a 20-foot gap between two sections, separated in the blink of an eye.

Minnesota, US | Watery Wonders

Every time winter rolls around in Minnesota, hundreds of thousands of people are left with only two options: hibernate for the season, or get on with living. The Art Shanty Project was borne out of the latter mentality as a new take on the local sport of ice fishing, in which dedicated outdoorsmen and women trudge out into the cold, go sit on frozen lake in a little shack, drink beer, and stare at a hole in the ice… for hours.

The shanties built by individuals and teams of artists maintain the requisite hole in the ice and positioning on a frozen lake, but that’s where the normalcy comes to an end. Located just a short drive west of the Twin Cities, the Art Shanties at Medicine Lake have playfully skewered ice fishing for over seven years every year from late January to early February.

A rotating cadre of artists and their creations unite friends and families in outdoor whimsy during winter’s doldrums, with reappearing favorites like The Snapshot Shanty (a photobooth installation made of bubble wrap) and the ArtPost Shanty (the world’s only post office on ice) appear year after year. Daily BIcicle Races [sic] held at noon each day on, yes, an ice track encircling the shanties.

In yet another grand challenge to the weather, an outdoor barbecue can often be found providing sustenance to visitors in the form of traditional summer fare.

Notes for visitors: You never know what you’ll encounter in the Art Shanties, so come prepared. Wear shoes and clothing appropriate for walking across a frozen (therefore icy), windswept environment for hours at a time, but don’t forget a bathing suit should the Sauna Shanty make another appearance!

North Carolina, US | Unusual Monuments

Though any hammock usually suffices so long as it is located beachside, the more hammock the better has been the operating philosophy of Nag’s Head Hammocks since 1974.

Located in mainland North Carolina just before passing over the Albemarle Sound on the Wright Memorial Bridge, the world’s largest hammock stands as both a testament to the ultimate beach vacation, and as a relic of roadside Americana that is rapidly disappearing.

Large and in-charge, the hammock was woven from over 10,000 feet of rope and spans 42 feet. In front of the store, passers-by can stop for a group nap in the hammock strung across a metal frame that is not to be trifled with. No really: jumping into the hammock haphazardly can cause large bruises when one miscalculates and lands on the central span running beneath the webbing!

While the pros and cons of sharing the average hammock shall be left to each individual’s discretion, this one can hold up to 8000 lbs, so bringing friends is a must!

Virginia Beach, Virginia | Repositories of Knowledge

Edgar Cayce was a well-known claimant of psychic and healing powers throughout the early 20th century, and is largely responsible for introducing to the public consciousness such ideas as extra-sensory perception (ESP), paranormal activity, and holistic healing (in the spiritual sense).

From his estate in Virginia Beach, Cayce founded the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in 1931, including a hospital in which he nursed patients back to health. Cayce used his talents for massage, acupressure, dietary regulation, and spiritual guidance to form a center for the ‘scientific exploration of the human metaphysical experience.’

Beyond such outwardly directed clairvoyance, Cayce kept impeccable records of his visions. Perhaps his most memorable vision predicted that in 1968, divers would locate the long sought after ruins of Atlantis off the coast of Bimini in the Bahamas. For decades thereafter, marine explorers scoured the atoll for any sign of Atlantis. Sure enough, in 1968 divers found what is now called “Bimini Road,” a series of six- to eight-foot-tall, precisely angled limestone blocks submerged in 15 feet of water. It is as of yet unclear what natural forces caused such formations.

Of course, Cayce made many other predictions, including that the true age of the Great Pyramid was built over 10,000 years ago B.C. After followers of Cayce attempted to date the temple it was found to be only 3000 years old B.C. some 7000 years later then what Cayce had predicted. Cayce also predicted that 1933 would be a good year (it was the height of the great depression), details of the Lindbergh kidnapping (which were incorrect), and that China would be converted to Christianity by 1968, which, of course, it has not been.

Continuing the family mantle after his father’s death, Hugh Lynn Cayce commissioned the A.R.E. Visitor Center after envisioning a public center to draw attention to his father’s work. Located adjacent to the original hospital, A.R.E.’s headquarters include a meditation garden, a 42-foot-wide labyrinth, and a silence-only meditation chamber with an unobstructed view of the Atlantic on the Visitor Center’s third floor.

Contained within the renowned A.R.E. Library are all 14,306 of Edgar Cayce’s readings, original manuscripts, an ESP testing machine used developed by Cayce that was later used by Duke University for experimentation, and one of the most respected collections of metaphysical literature in the world. Transcripts are cataloged and available for browsing, whence intrepid visitors can pour over Cayce’s predictions in search of clues to humanity’s past, present, and future.

Please note: Guided tours are offered daily at 2:30pm; ESP demonstrations are given every Saturday and Sunday at 1pm. Otherwise, personal exploration is expected, though aides at the Visitor Center reception desk happily answer questions.

England, U.K. | Eccentric Homes

May Savidge raised the bar for all modern windmill tilters when she saved her Medieval house from destruction by dismantling it, ultimately spending the rest of her life rebuilding it by hand out of harm’s way.

After the devastating death of her fiance, May purchased a fixer-upper at Number 1 Monkey Row, Ware in Hertfordshire. The house had been built in 1450 following the ‘hall house’ pattern of the time, in which the living quarters surrounded a two-story, vaulted minstrel’s gallery. Self-taught in woodworking, bricklaying and carpentry, she single-handedly restored the house to its former grandeur.

Her triumph didn’t stand long, for in 1953 the city council informed May that her house was in the way of progress and would be torn down to build a road. The council repeatedly denied her pleas to spare the house for the sake of architectural heritage.

No matter. May had made up her mind; ‘If this little house is really in the way, I would rather move it and re-erect it than see it destroyed.’

For the remainder of her life, May set about climbing scaffolding and systematically dismantling her house in a way that would allow for easy reassembly at her new Norfolk coast property. Beams were numbered and taken to the truck, shingles were cataloged, and over the years all the pieces were carted off to the rebuild site 100 miles away.

Though it was clear that the project seemed an impossible feat for an increasingly elderly lady, May continued her work with the mentality, “I’ve got nothing to do all day, so I might as well do the job myself.”

During the entire process, with only her dog by her side, May called Ward Hall home regardless of whether or not a roof provided shelter from the elements. Only at the age of 80 did she concede to installing a wood stove to heat her partially finished residence, by which point May had admitted that the cement work was getting “a bit heavy.”

After her passing in 1993 at age 81, the shell of a house was left to Savidge’s nephew who wanted nothing to do with the project. His then-wife Christine felt differently, and took up May’s mantle until the Ware Hall was completed. In the process of doing so, Christine’s own marriage fell into ruins, as the house was reborn.

Ware Hall is now a bed and breakfast by the seaside under Christine’s proprietorship, where guests can stay under the very same roof the tenacious women saved with their very own hands.

North Carolina, US | Inspired Inventions

Few diversions are as uniquely and unabashedly American as a good old fashioned monster truck jam. Among the greatest stars in the sport’s history is Grave Digger, specifically when driven by Dennis Anderson.

Way back in 1981, before the dawn of monster truck racing as we know it today, Andersen assembled his first ‘mud bogging’ vehicle by combining the chassis of a 1952 Ford pickup and a high-performance Chevy engine with a body welded together from miscellaneous junkyard parts. After a few years of vehicular experimentation and perfecting his racing style, Andersen, so the story goes, gained enough confidence to talk smack to his opponents saying, “I’ll take this old junk and dig your grave.”

Enter the Grave Digger. With its signature black, old-style body adorned by green flames, skulls and the grim reaper, Andersen and the Digger quickly became a crowd favorite. At first, the driver’s reputation for spectacular finishes often punctuated by debilitating crashes worked against “One Run Anderson,” until he harnessed his strengths (high flying antics, trick driving, and car crushing) to establish the Freestyle Jam as the final element of each rally.

Rollovers, demolition, as well as general wear and tear necessitate more than one Grave Digger. Just like Shamu, to date there have been approximately 20 Grave Diggers, including one passenger-style monster truck in which visitors are taken on a ride for a nominal fee.

Late models that have been put out to pasture can be found at the Digger’s Dungeon, which also serves as home-base for Grave Digger’s drivers and mechanics. Inside the shop, childhood fantasies become real by giving big and little kids alike the opportunity to climb into one of the notorious vehicles, and take pictures with the Diggers parked out front in precarious positions.

Lots of memorabilia can be purchased, but the shards of Grave Diggers hanging from the ceiling are priceless, permanent fixtures.

San Francisco, California | Rites and Rituals

At its founding in 1872, the Bohemian Club was founded as an official regular meeting of journalists, artists, and musicians. The building’s exterior is adorned with plaques bearing owls and the Club’s motto, “Weaving spiders come not here,” just as it had when early members Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, and Jack London roamed its halls. That soon changed, however, when local businessmen and entrepreneurs were granted admission.

Still headquartered today in its original location at Post and Taylor, it has become among the most exclusive men’s clubs and/or secret societies in the United States. Club standards remain so high that honorary membership is offered to only some United States presidents, usually bestowed prior to their inauguration, and a select coterie of international business leaders and policy-makers.

Every year the Bohemian Club holds a two-week-long gathering at their private forest in Sonoma County, Bohemian Grove. The notorious “camp” reunites members from around the world to participate in male bonding, unabashed bacchanalia, and debauchery such as relieving themselves on the surrounding redwood trees in a “display of man’s power over nature.” The half-sanctimonious Cremation of Cares opens the festivities, in which members figuratively (and sometimes literally) burn away the responsibilities of their outside lives.

The present corps are understood to include George Bush (the elder), Henry Kissinger, board members from Halliburton, Bank of America, and international members of the so-called “oiligarchy.” Put bluntly, the Bohemian Club’s roster can read like a complete list of modern day hegemony, replete with powerful, conservative white men. To this day, very few Jews and even fewer black members have been granted admission to the elite circle.

Despite the club provenance suggesting that theirs is an organization for enjoyment rather than networking, historically “lakeside talks” in the Grove have allegedly laid a covert groundwork for successful presidential campaigns (such as the case with Richard Nixon in 1967), the Manhattan Project, and future international policy, to name a few.

Recently the group has attracted public ire for logging Bohemian Grove’s virginal redwoods after attaining a nonindustrial timber management plan, which allows for the production of timber without the usual government oversight associated with industrial forestry.

Given that members inhabit the upper echelons of moneyed society throughout the world, many in the general public have criticized their actions for, in addition to these being among the rarest trees on the planet, it is unlikely that Bohemian Club members are logging their sacred woods to stave off financial hardships.

Regardless of political leanings, visitors will have a difficult time gaining entry to the Club’s headquarters or the Grove itself… Unless cozying-up to an old family friend is an option, in which case please report back with details!

Chile, South America | Eccentric Homes

When searching for a coastal respite in Valparaíso, Pablo Neruda related the following specifications to his friend, Sara Vial,

“It may not be too high or too low. It must be solitary, but not in excess. I wish neighbors were invisible. I wish I did not see or hear them. Original but not uncomfortable. Very light, but firm. Neither too big nor too small, far from everything. But close to the stores. As well, it has to be very inexpensive. Do you think I can find a house like that in Valparaíso?”

Miraculously, “La Sebastiana” fit the vast majority of his requirements. Originally constructed by Spaniard Sebastián Collao, the structure brimmed with character. The third floor had been a birdhouse, the terrace had been created to serve as a heliport, and the house was capped by a tower. Windows with pristine views of the ocean and city resembled ships’ clerestories.

The one drawback: Neruda felt it was too large. After three years of finishing and quirkily furnishing the house, Neruda and his third wife, Matilde Urrutia, moved in with joint-owners and close friends Doctor Francisco Velasco and his wife. It was agreed that Neruda and Urrutia would occupy the top two floors and tower while Velasco and Martner would reside in the lower portion of the house. Neruda later joked that he had gotten the worse half of the bargain, “I bought nothing but stairs and terraces,” knowing full-well that these features afforded him a nearly 360-degree vista of the bay.

La Sebastiana served as the poet’s residence at the time he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Neruda was so greatly inspired by his dwelling that he penned a poem in her honor,

I established the house.
First I made it from air.
Then I hung the flag in the air
and left it hanging
from the sky, from the star
from clarity and from darkness…

And so it remained until Neruda’s death. However, immediately following the military coup in 1973, La Sebastiana was ransacked in retaliation for Neruda’s outspoken support of the previous regime. Thanks to private and public funding the house was returned to its original condition and an interpretive center was created in the garden area, both of which opened to the public in 1991.

San Francisco, California | Outsider Art

Sometimes it can be a challenge when one’s passions and predilections overlap. Just ask Mark McCloud, proprietor of the world’s largest collection of acid blotter art. McCloud recalls that he originally, “kept tabs in the freezer for a long time because I was still snarfing them, but then when I first framed them I realized that truly was the way to avoid eating them!”

Enter the Institute of Illegal Images.

From his home in San Francisco’s Mission District, McCloud has amassed a curio of the Acid Age that is rumored to be larger than that of the entire United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The Victorian house’s lower level is a more ‘official’ gallery of chemically inactive sheets and individual samples of acid collected from the 60’s through the “Noughties.”

Famous artwork ranging from Mickey Mouse in ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ to comics by Robert Crumb have appeared on blotter sheets, but the images are used without the permission of the artists in order to protect them from prosecuted as co-conspirators in illegal activity. McCloud also made blotter art for years, though is careful to note that he is an artist and art advocate, not a chemist.

Curating this flashback incarnate hasn’t come without its share of drawbacks. McCloud has twice been brought to trial based on the Institute’s contents, and his collection has undergone inspection from the FBI. Both times, judges and officials have agreed with McCloud’s original statements: none of the sheets are dipped, it’s just a very specific genre of art!

Of course, part of the potency and perceived danger of the Institute is its demonstration of just the opposite argument: in its personal and societal effects, the image cannot be separated from the hallucinogenic chemical, for the two work together to influence the experience of those partaking in LSD. This idea has provided artists a foundation from which to build the myriad of subject matter appearing on the blotters, ranging from the spiritual (Hindu gods, lotus flowers) to whimsical (cartoon characters), as well as cultural commentary (Gorbachev) and the just plain demented (Ozzy Osbourne).

Whether taking a stroll down memory lane, or appreciating the ingenuity and sense of humor in each framed pane, either way McCloud’s enormous Institute of Illegal Images has a bit of good old subversive fun for everyone.

Norway, Europe | Natural Wonders

Though the Jostedal glacier had bucked the trend by advancing throughout much of the last decade, the glacier’s winning streak came to an end in 2006 when it began retreating along with its other icy brethren.

Soon after, in the autumn of 2007, researchers discovered a spectacularly large, pristine ice cave beneath the Nigardsbreen region of Norway’s Jostedal Glacier National Park. What they found when crawling through the cave’s five-meter opening was so magnificent that one scientist went so far as to beatify the grotto by calling it an “ice cathedral.”

Once inside, the cavernous dome measures up to eight meters in height, 30 meters deep and 20 meters wide. Its water and ice formations appear in deep crystalline blues, while the ceiling is punctuated by large icicles. Due to the literally fluid nature of the ice, the cave’s appearance is constantly changing.

Experts have attributed its unparalleled formation as an bi-product of glacial melting resulting from a steadily warming climate. Huge amounts of water melting from the glacier continue to erode the its innermost surfaces. The lagoon within the grotto simultaneously accumulates the runoff, while encouraging further melting as it ever-so-slightly warms the air trapped within the cave.

Despite its location on one of the most easily accessible glaciers on Earth, the Nigardsbreen grotto is not to be entered by the general public without a guide. This is particularly the case throughout the summer months when warm temperatures and an active melting cycle dramatically increase the likelihood of the cave’s collapse.