This post started with 4 eerie pictures I found last year on Triptrivia.com. I saved them, and now I have time to share them. Unfortunately my link doesn’t work anymore, but I copied the words and pictures so I could research them. Original link: https://www.triptrivia.com/answer/5c61be31cca5d000045ca39d Island of the Dolls, Part 1 I don’t think dolls are creepy, but this picture sure is. It’s from the Island of the Dolls. I’d never heard of it until Trip Trivia’s post. The island is in the channels of Xochimilco. That’s south of Mexico City, close to the Estadio Azteca football stadium. Would you believe it’s one of the channel’s main attractions? The story: a girl drowned near this spot. Don Julian Santana owned the island. After the drowning he got one too many scares he couldn’t explain. Then he spotted a doll floating along the shore. He had heard the dead girl still cried out for her missing doll. He decided evil spirits were behind it. Don Julian started searching the canals and garbage for unwanted dolls. He hung them on trees to scare off those evil spirits. That was the 1950’s. Don Julian lived till 2001. The creepy part – he died of a heart attack, close to where he found that first doll. This is the oldest one found on the island, but there are literally hundreds. They’re covered in cobwebs and bugs. YUCK! You can visit if you’d like, but I prefer the toy store ones that are bug and web-free. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_the_Dolls Here’s a tourist map of Xochimilco, just in case you ever find yourself in Mexico City. Map source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xochimilco Capuchin Catacombs, Palermo, Italy, Part 2 I see dead bodies – really – in Palermo Italy. This was once the cemetery for the Capuchin Monastery, but in the 1500’s they ran out of space in the graveyard so the monks excavated the crypts below it. Once they pulled out all the coffins, they mummified the bodies.YUCK! To mummify something you dehydrate it. That means you pull the water out of the dead body. The monks did it by putting the body on the ceramic pipes of the catacomb. After the water was gone, sometimes they washed the bodies in vinegar. P-U! Sometimes they embalmed them, which usually involved 4 steps. Other bodies were sealed in a glass cabinet, but everyone wore their everyday or favorite clothes. At first the catacombs were only for monks, but in time getting entombed there became a status symbol. It was the ultimate form of burial. Relatives donated towards the upkeep, but if they stopped payment, the body was put on a side shelf until the money streamed in again. This is Rosalia Lombardo. She was one of the last people to get a spot in the catacombs in 1871. She looks like a ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ which is the pose she was placed in. Make time if you want to visit everyone – there are about 8000 corpses and 1252 mummies, but please, no photos or touching bodies. Iron grills stop the touching, and I bet a big fine stops those photo ops. The big map is the island of Sicily. The tiny one shows it beside the rest of Italy. If you want to find Palermo, go to the northwestern corner of Sicily. Travel east to the next province. It looks like Palermo is the third bump along the coast line, and it’s Sicily’s hottest tourist spot. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombe_dei_Cappuccini The Hanging Coffins of Sagada, Part 3 Feel like hanging around for eternity? Go to the town of Sagada in the Mountain Province of the Philippines. These coffins are an old Igorot tradition. Not everyone is allowed to have one. One source said you had to have grandchildren. Another said you had to die from natural causes. Being old just might help you hang high in the sky The early coffins were about a meter stick long. They were nailed or wired to the cliff. The higher your coffin, the better your social position. Do you curl up in a ball at night? The Igorot curl their dead up inside the coffin. They might break a few bones, but they believed it gave you peace. Today things have changed. The coffins are now 2 meters long so no more broken bones, but the burials only happen every couple of years. Younger people prefer level ground. This is a map of the Philippines. Find the province on the northwest coast, then go south 2 more provinces. I think that’s where Sagada is, but click the link below to see for yourself. Travel north to the Chinese mainland or south to the island of Indonesia, and you’ll find hanging coffins there too. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_coffins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagada https://filipiknow.net/sagada-hanging-coffins/ https://www.roughguides.com/article/hanging-coffins/ Chernobyl, Ukraine, Part 4 I don’t see dead bodies – I see a region that’s dead, that’s frozen in time. It looks like it did 33 years ago when it was abandoned because of what happened at 1:23 AM on April 26, 1986. That’s when the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. On April 27th the Soviets started evacuating the town next door, Pripyat. By May 14th they’d gotten everyone out of the 18 mile area around the plant. The pictures above could have been taken in 1986 or in 2019. No one has lived there since. By April 28th the world discovered the spread of radiation. Workers at a nuclear plant 680 miles to the northwest in Sweden found radioactive particles on their clothes. The map below shows the levels of radiation. The Confiscated/Closed Zone is probably part of that original 18 mile evacuation, but the radiation spread into Belarus and Russia itself. Here are 5 creepy facts from my research: 1. The radiation in Chernobyl was the same as in Hiroshima, Japan after the atomic bomb. 2. The greatest danger was in the first few weeks, just like Hiroshima. 3. The firefighters suffered the most. They went in to stop the fires, but dozens of them died from radiation sickness. 4. Chernobyl didn’t have a containment building to protect it like a cocoon. If it had, very few people would have died. The environment would have been preserved. 5. Today animals like deer, moose, and boars are back, and so are the plants. Radiation is still there and will be for decades. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster https://www.livescience.com/39961-chernobyl.html https://www.livescience.com/65450-weird-chernobyl-facts.html The Gates of Hell, Part 5 No bodies here! They would have been incinerated already. This fiery furnace has 2 other names - the Door to Hell, and the Darvaza Gas Crater, but I think it looks like the center of the earth. Remember the good old Soviet Union? They were involved in this disaster too. Back in 1971 they found a natural gas field, and a camp of engineers started drilling. They didn’t know there was a pocket of gas. The field collapsed, the crater opened, but no one died. The engineers were worried that poisonous gases like methane would be released. They decided to burn them off, thinking it would only take a couple of weeks. It didn’t. They’ve been burning now for 43 years. The crater is 230 feet in diameter and 65 feet deep. It doesn’t look huge from here, but that’s about 80 yards across a football field and about 22 yards down. If you decide to visit, try camping out in the Karakum Desert that’s pictured above. You won’t need to bring your night light. To find the crater, go east from the Caspian Sea through the Balkan Province. Continue east to the red line that runs north-south from Dashhowez to Ahal. The crater is in Ahal, near the border. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza_gas_crater https://factslegend.org/18-interesting-door-to-hell-facts/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Turkmenistan
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I found Readers’ Favorite in August. Someone on my 12 x 12 writing forum had earned their star, and they were sharing their good news. I decided to check out Readers’ Favorite. You can pay for an express review. That means you get the review within 2-3 weeks, but it doesn’t affect the quality or rating of your review. Readers’ Favorite also has free reviews, but you are not guaranteed one. Reviewers choose the books they want to do. They look over a list in their favorite genres. They look at the cover, read the description, sometimes a little of the book. Then they make a choice. Half of the submissions are reviewed within 3 months. Some are never reviewed. I decided to opt for a free review. I sent my submission out August 30th. September came and went. I was busy working on other manuscripts, and I forgot about the review. Then October 14th I received an email from Readers’ Favorite. I was afraid to open it, afraid of what was inside. I knew it would be an honest review. I hoped for a 5, but I’ve been hopeful before and been disappointed. I prepared myself for a 3. Then I opened the email, and this is what I found: Reviewed By: Emily-Jane Hills Orford Review Rating: 5 Stars - Congratulations on your 5-star review! Reviewed By Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers’ Favorite Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon in 1969, had a passion for flying and aeronautical engineering from a very young age. An outing with his father to watch an airplane race in 1932 launched his passion. In 1935 he had his first airplane ride. As a boy, he built one model airplane after another (and a few paper airplanes in between), always looking forward to sending the finished craft zooming across the yard outside his bedroom window, just to see how far it would fly. He worked odd jobs, earning the money to finance his ever-growing fleet of homemade airplanes and to pay for his much-desired flying lessons at the nearby airfield. As a teenager, he researched and designed a wind tunnel, a project that earned him recognition. He graduated from high school in 1947 at sixteen, the youngest graduate at his school. He earned a Holloway scholarship to study aeronautical engineering at Purdue University. Little did anyone know then that this passionately brilliant young man would someday walk on the moon. I remember that day in 1969. I was twelve. Not usually allowed to watch television during the day, I sat down with my grandmother to watch the historic event on a small ten-inch black and white television. My memories of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon parallels that of author Rinda Beach. A lot has been written about this astronaut’s accomplishments, but what’s interesting is the story Rinda weaves in her book, Neil Armstrong’s Wind Tunnel Dream. Written with young readers in mind, the story tells of a young Neil Armstrong and his growing passion for airplanes, flying, and the world beyond the skies. With occasional black and white sketches to parallel the story, the author develops a plot that will appeal to young readers and encourage them to dream big, to never lose sight of one's dreams and to work hard to achieve them. Every famous adult was once a child with a dream. Having fond memories of this historic event fifty years ago, it was a pleasure to read this story and learn more about the man whose passion encouraged all of us to dream big. A wonderful addition to the library of young people’s stories about flying and space travel. If you’d like to see the review online at Readers’ Favorite, click on this link: https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/neil-armstrongs-wind-tunnel-dream I’m a winner, but I had to buy my own chicken dinner! LOL! I won 4 books this summer, and this was my 1st win. If you want free books, follow an author’s newsletter, especially the ones that feature brand-new books and contests. Authors want to get publicity. They want you to know their books are out there. They want you to look at them and either buy them or check them out from your local library. Book contests give you attention, but they may/may not bring in sales. When I won this book, I looked at it, read a page or two, then put it away for later. It never called me back. Then I read an email from the 4th book I won. The author asked me to take pictures of the book, write a review, post it on Amazon and other sites, and finally share it on social media. I don’t post reviews unless I can give them 4 or 5 stars. All of these books are worthy of those scores. I’ll post their reviews here, and on Amazon too. So, here goes! Untitled Written and Illustrated by Timothy Young Age Level: 5 – 6 Grade Level: K – 3 UNTITLED is an unusual book because it breaks the 4th wall. If you’re wondering what that is, it means the characters are talking directly to you, the reader. In this story the 2 main characters are trying to work out the title and plot for this book. One’s a coatimundi, and the other’s a capybara. I’m not sure which is which, but one is the largest rodent, and the other is a social raccoon. I didn’t enjoy the book till the middle. That’s when something dangerous and unexpected happened. I love when an author can twist the ending. Without giving it away, I hope the coatimundi and capybara live to tell another tale. A Wonderful Day! Written by Michael Samulak Illustrated by Louise charm Pulvera Reading Level: Early Reader This is a simple, easy to read story about a day at the zoo. It’s designed so that you and your child feel like you’re there in the story, meeting each animal at the zoo. You Can Call Me Katelyn Written by Keri T. Collins Illustrated by Marcia Adams Ho Age Level: 1 - 12 Grade Level: P – 4 Poor Carlee Ashley Myers! She’s hated her first name since the day she was born. Carlee decides she has to change it. She picks a new name and comes up with ways to persuade her family and friends to use it. Katelynn/Carlee is so very clever. She’s actually training the grown-ups to adopt her new name. I discovered by writing a review, that this book is a great tool. Katelynn can encourage your kids to learn to solve their own problems. She can also model for parents and teachers how you can allow your children to become problem solvers. A kid who can solve problems can go anywhere, do anything! The world is their oyster! Rosie the Dragon and Charlie Make Waves Written by Lauren H Kerstein Illustrated by Nate Wragg Age Level: 4 - 8 Grade Level: K – 2 This is a great summer read, but it’s also perfect for indoor pools. Charlie loves his pet dragon, but Rosie has a horrible time with rules. Follow Charlie as he tries to teach Rosie proper pool behavior. Then enjoy kid/dragon fun on every page. Surf’s up for Rosie, Charlie, and You too! It’s fall now, and time to enter a few more book contests. Win or lose, it’s fun to try! Here’s to winners and chicken dinners! Have you ever been out somewhere, and something caught your eye? You wanted to know more about it, but how? Sunday I ate lunch at Texas Roadhouse. I looked up and found something looking down at me. I thought it was a buffalo. My husband thought it was either a buffalo or bison, but he wasn’t sure which. Now I was curious. Same animal, or different? There wasn’t a computer in sight, but, I had my phone so I asked it, “What’s the difference between buffalo and bison? I couldn’t believe the answer! The animal we all know from the Wild Wild West isn’t a buffalo – it’s a bison! Real buffaloes come from Asia and Africa. So what’s the difference? Read the paragraph below. Then test your knowledge. First look at the head. There are 2 clues. Bison have huge heads. Buffalo have smaller ones. Bison have beards. Buffalo don’t. I read that bison are the cool cows! LOL! I thought that was funny! Second bison have huge humps for their shoulders. They can use them as snowplows. I could use one this winter – LOL again! Now, can you tell which is which? #1 and #2 Which is Which? Buffalo or Bison? #1 is a bison. See the beard, big head, and shoulder hump? It’s a dead give-away! #2 is a buffalo from Asia. See its small head? It’s missing a beard and a hump! A dead give-away! Did you know Asian buffalo have horns that span 6 feet. This one sure looks that wide! #3 and #4 Which is Which? Buffalo or Bison #3 is a buffalo. It’s from Kenya, in Africa. Its horns are much smaller than an Asian buffalo, but it’s head is small, and there’s no beard or hump. #4 are American bison. All 3 have big heads, beards, and shoulder humps. So how did this happen? How did bison get turned into buffalo? The mix-up started when the first Europeans came over, before Jamestown and the Pilgrims of Plymouth. Think of the explorers in the 1500’s from countries like Spain, Portugal, England, and France. Those explorers had been to Asia and Africa. They’d seen buffalo there, and they thought they saw them in America too. Now looking at them side by side, it’s easy to see the difference, but those explorers couldn’t. And that’s how buffalo and bison got misnamed. Google Source: https://www.livescience.com/32115-bison-vs-buffalo-whats-the-difference.html Google Me That! Same day, same lunch, I was telling my husband about a movie I’d seen called The Fifth Quarter. The 2011 movie was based on a miraculous college football season from 2006, but I couldn’t remember the name of the college. Guess what – I googled it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_5th_Quarter The team – The Wake Forest Deacons. The movie is about what happens when a family loses their 15 year old son in a car accident. They turn a tradgedy into a miracle for the team, for organ donors, and for families who lose their teenagers in car accidents. Do you believe in superstitions, you know black cats, the number 13? If you’re not sure, listen to this song written by Stevie Wonder back in 1972. It won him a Grammy in 1973, and here’s him singing it live in1974: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vjj6J7gXp This version’s from 2015. It’s a minute longer, but at 50 years old, it’s still a great song about superstition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo6LRLWUMwU Superstition cuts both ways. People avoid Black Cats and 13, but they carry around four leaf clovers. In sports players wear lucky socks and jerseys. This version’s from 2015. It’s a minute longer, but at 50 years old, it’s still a great song about superstition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo6LRLWUMwU Superstition cuts both ways. People avoid Black Cats and 13, but they carry around four leaf clovers. In sports players wear lucky socks and jerseys. My superstitions come out for college football. Can you guess my favorite team? It’s the OSU Buckeyes! We may be a bunch of crazy nuts, but we’re pretty tasty whether you wear us, eat us, or watch us on TV. If you’ve never seen my Buckeyes on TV, check out this link. It’s pregame with the best darn band in the land. Oh, the memories! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iar01OwPkAw Did you recognize anything? How about with the photos of Brutus Buckeye and that team in white? I’ve watched them since I was born. In high school my dad took me to a few games, maybe to encourage my choice in colleges. The best thing about those games, calling plays with the legendary Woody Hayes and my Dad. We matched him 80 – 90 % of the time. It was crazy fun! So what does any of this have to do with superstition? I don’t remember how, or when, but I didn’t want my Buckeyes to lose so I started shopping online on Gameday. It gave me something to do, something that made me feel like I was helping. On Saturday, September 21st, the Buckeyes were playing Miami of Ohio. Within minutes they were behind 5 – 0. OUCH! I got to work! I started shopping, but I didn’t buy anything. I window-shopped, and within minutes the Buckeyes scored. They didn’t look back. They won 76 – 5. I bought 3 books I’d been looking at , and I helped my Buckeyes. It was a winning strategy! The game was over, but, not my superstitious shopping. The dogs came out – the Georgia Bulldogs. They played Notre Dame, and the announcers gushed over Georgia and the SEC. Oh My! They thought the SEC walked on water and should have 2 teams in the National Championship. I didn’t shop, not till Georgia tied the score. Notre Dame needed help so I had to! I started looking for a book I needed as a mentor/teacher. I bought it, but Georgia pulled ahead. So I started on shoes, and YES, I let the dogs out, the shoes. I didn’t buy them, but oh, was I tempted! Something stopped me. Maybe I finally realized winning isn’t in my hands. I let God decide, and DARN! He picked Georgia. I didn’t buy the shoes, not till two days later. I still wanted them, and, my husband won’t let me have a dog, so really, this was a great idea! Right? This post was inspired by more superstitious shopping. OSU was playing Nebraska. I had to help, so I shopped on Pixabay and Wikipedia. That’s how I found all these great images – AND – a little inspiration!
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AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
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