Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

A government official proposes cloning an ancient army

In the field of Gothic terror the subfield of mad science occupies a special place.  And few nations do mad science more boldly than Russia.

Case in point: Russian defense minister Sergey Shoygu floated the idea of cloning an ancient army.

Russia's Defense Minister has announced his plan for the DNA cloning of ancient Siberian warriors and their horses. The ancient Tunnug burial site, located in the Valley of the Kings in the Republic of Tuva in Siberia, holds the remains of 3,000-year-old Scythian warriors. Now, Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Defense Minister and one of Vladimir Putin's closest advisors, has disclosed his desire to use DNA cloning to re-create an army of noble warriors.

According to the Daily Mail:

When Shoigu, 65, initiated the Russian-Swiss archeological digs here three years ago a modern-day shaman was even drafted in by scientists to ensure the excavations did not anger the spirits.

The defence chief told a session of the Russian Geographical Society, also attended remotely by Putin, on Wednesday: 'Of course, we would like very much to find the organic matter.'

He was referring to well-preserved remains of ancient people and animals, explained TASS.

'I believe you understand what would follow that,' said Shoigu in a broadcast by Zvezda TV.

'It would be possible to make something of it, if not Dolly the Sheep.'

He added, without explaining more of planned genomic research that 'in general, it will be very interesting'.

Popular Science thinks this is just wild and unlikely.  But they do run a splendid photo of ancient Scythian remains:

Sinkhole eats forklift

Mother Earth's steady campaign against human civilization reached the American state of Pittsburgh, as a sinkhole chewed up a forklift.

(thanks to Ed "The Digging Leviathan" Webb)

Sinkhole opens up, revealing glowing fluid

Another sinkhole opened up this week.  The most recent sign of Gaia's wrath occurred in Toronto, and revealed a disturbing sight:

There is, in fact, a sinkhole on Hastings Avenue, between Queen and Dundas Streets East, filled with bright green liquid that looks exactly like the ooze that birthed everyone's favourite anthropomorphic crime-fighting squad of bros, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles.

The explanation is prosaic, that the liquid is doped with identifying dye.

Blogto adds:

Interesting as the "goo" may look, I'd recommend staying far away from this particular hole of slime: Images posted to a Leslieville Facebook page before it was filled with water suggest there's quite a deep cavern under there.

(thanks to Steven Kaye)

A book which kills

Shadows From the Walls of Death is a terrific book title.  It suggests a cross between Lovecraftian horror and black metal music.

It's also a very real and extremely scarce book, one which can sicken or kill readers.  Because that was the intent.  The author wanted to warn people about the dangers of arsenic in wallpapers, so created a book which consists almost entirely of samples thereof.

As part of his campaign to raise awareness about poison papers, Kedzie produced 100 copies of Shadows and sent them out to public libraries across Michigan. Each one is a slim volume, containing few words—just a title page, a short preface, and a note from the Board of Health explaining the purpose of the book and advising librarians not to let children handle it. The macabre title page reproduces a quote from the Biblical book of Leviticus: “And behold if the plague be in the walls of the house, with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, then the priest…shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place.” The remaining pages, 86 in full, consist of wallpaper samples taken from common merchants.

Before you imagine a book-driven wave of 19th century deaths, know that librarians have your back, as always:

Of the original 100 copies, only four remain. Most libraries, concerned about poisoning their patrons, destroyed their volumes. Two of the surviving books remain in Michigan—one at MSU and the other at the University of Michigan. MSU’s copy rests on an unassuming shelf in the library’s Special Collections division, housed in an appropriately green box. Each page is individually encapsulated in plastic so that researchers and the curious can handle it without fear.

Like so:

Here's the title page, from an NIH scan.  Enjoy the tint:

One edition is available via Amazon, with this description:

This version of ‘Shadows from the Walls of Death’ is a tribute to Robert Clark Kedzie, who produced the originals of which there are now only two left in existence. They are located at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. The originals are approximately 22 x 30 inches containing a title page and an 8 page preface followed by 86 samples cut from rolls of arsenic impregnated wallpaper. The book is sealed in a protective container and each individual page is encapsulated. This particular edition does not actually contain any arsenic. Further to that the content of this volume including both text and images are for entertainment purposes.

PS: interesting Google result, under "People also search for...":

(thanks to Jamie Townsend)

giant death blades out of the ground

A Washington, D.C. street became a site of urban Gothic this week, as a construction crew's glitch presented a dire threat:

The explanation is prosaic: "A construction crew was trying to cut a hole, and their blades got stuck."  Which makes sense.  But until the crew extracts the blades, they remain a clear image of urban horror.

Please scream inside your heart

Today's Gothic story comes from Japan, where people are rethinking personal behavior on rollercoasters in light of COVID-19.

A Wall Street Journal article about this is mostly behind a paywall, but it leads in the open with an awesome phrasee:

"A video showed the two executives, both clad in masks, sternly riding the coaster in complete silence. It ended with a message: 'Please scream inside your heart.'"

A YouTube clip demonstrates:

 

"Please scream inside your heart" may be a great description for the year 2020, and Infocult hereby approves.

(thanks to Tom Haymes for the video)

Another day, another human head found

It is apparently "Human Heads Found" week in the United States.  Yesterday we noted a Florida story about a jogger coming across a head.

Today's story involved half a human skull which turned up in a Michigan fireplace.

The homeowners, who recently had purchased the property, found "half of a human skull, and bone fragments" in a fire pit, said Todd Scheffler, Trenton's chief of police.

The story gets better when you realize that the previous owner had a colorful experience in that house:

The home on Wilson, Scheffler noted, was formerly owned by Mark Eberly, who was killed in a shootout late last month with a Tennessee police officer who was trying to conduct a welfare check on him.

Infocult: your guide to the uncanny persistence of human remains.

Severed head on the road

In Florida - of course - a jogger came across a severed human head.

Police believe the incident occurred in the last 48 hours because the jogger told them she ran in the same area on Sunday and saw nothing unusual. The head was spotted in a grassy area under an overpass around 7 a.m., police said, adding that no video surveillance exists nearby.

And that's where the story ends.  There isn't any active crime, nor any clues, as far as media accounts reveal.

Infocult: always scanning for real-life Gothic horror.

The latest real cannibalism story

Today's real-world Gothic horror story comes from California, and combines cannibalism with a family plot:

According to police, the suspect, identified as Dwayne Wallick, 37, was caught in the act of eating Ruby Wallick, his 90-year-old grandmother, on Monday.

Caught in the act indeed:

At around 2 p.m., Richmond officers responded to a 911 call reporting a man standing over a woman’s body on the 1200 block of Club Court, a residential area near the Hilltop Plaza. Upon entering the home, where both Dwayne and Ruby are reported to live, the officers said they found the suspect cannibalizing the woman.

(Why not say "eating the woman"?)

Another local source added a resonant phrase:

Officers arrived at the residence to find 37-year-old Dwayne Wallick standing over 90-year-old Ruby Wallick, his grandmother, and digging in her flesh. [emphases added]

Ah.  A touch of Gothic flair in that account.

(thanks to Steven "loves his BBQ" Kaye)

Creepy COVID-19 storytelling

From Tiktok, what may be the first Gothic fiction about the COVID-19 pandemic.

(thanks to Jesse Walker)