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Today I got to have a lovely chat with a Bug Scientist on why Corsets and Cockroaches have similar structure. Because both Historical Corsets of the Victorian Era and Cockroaches of all eras have an exoskeleton or boning made of keratin!
That is so cool! What a neat parallel, I'm assuming because of the baleen "whale bone" in many corsets
... somebody get Guillermo Del Toro female main characters on the phone 
Question! How would Patrik react to Riboflavin-Flavored Non-Carbonated Polyunsaturated Blood? Both the obscure Halloween song by Don Hinson & The Rigormorticians, and if it existed, the drink?
HA! I feel like it would one of those songs he’d listen to ironically “cause vampires” then end up genuinely liking, buying the album on vinyl (same goes for “I Want To Bite Your Hand” by Gene Moss). Though… on a bad day, he would not find it as amusing….
As for the drink….he would definitely try it out of curiosity. He is always down to find other sources of blood.
I saw a clickbait short that stated the following "Fashion Trends Caused by Medical COVERUPS!"
Long Sleeves were designed to cover "Track Marks" from treatments of syphilis in women, specifically. Men didn't suffer from this, and only wore long sleeves cause it looked good.
Choker necklaces were to cover up Cholera. Because it affects the neck.
Makeup covered up Tuberculosis and cholera because it made you look "More Alive" as you were actively dying, and thus, more socially pleasing. I may or may not have left several paragraphs on how bullshit that clickbait was. With sources on why they were full of shit.
I mean, yeah, that's all so absurd that it HAS to be ragebait. Like it's almost not worth correcting- I'd bet money that the video creator straight-up invented some of those ideas themself, because I've never even heard those myths before. And I've heard a Lot Of Myths in my time.
the boldness of claiming that positively ancient clothing concepts were invented for one concrete reason (long sleeves, chokers, and makeup are all almost prehistoric, they've been around so long) combined with the nebulous, undefined time period, implies to me that this person just wants to drive engagement by getting people to argue with them in the comments.
(Now, "tuberculosis chic" is a much more prevalent myth that people DO really believe, and I hate it and want to punch whoever coined that term. But that's another matter entirely)
On the post about "Disappointment Rooms" I worked in a beautifully restored Victorian Mansion turned Bed and Breakfast, and they had a large upstairs attic, and had some very fun history. First, the house was built as a home for a local "lumber baron", for himself, his wife, and his two adult children. When his business went under, the home was sold to the city, where it was turned into University Dorms and low-income housing. The 4 bedroom, 1 bath space was turned into, I shit you not, THIRTEEN APARTMENTS. (Commence screaming about Landlord Specials.) In the 1990s, the home was purchased by a private investor, who did his best to renovate the place into its former Victorian Glory, but, uh, suffered from what I like to call "Woo-Woo White People Bullshit." So the massive attic/storage space on the top floor the house? *CLEARLY* it was a Ballroom for guests to twirl around in fancy dresses! Obviously! Every upstanding Victorian had a HUGE 8ft-ceiling'd BALLROOM on the very top floor of their homes with perfect flooring and no access to the kitchen. Oh but they also had a SEEECREEET HUSH HUSH Séance room built *RIGHT* in the front of the house, facing the street, with windows and an overview of the neighborhood. But SHHH its totally a SEEECRET!!!*
The current owners are very Witchy and *DO* actually use the space for a séance room, unashamedly! (And I sincerely love that for them, especially cause I love seeing the rainbows from the prisms they put up in the windows every time I visit.)
(*Please read with appropriate sarcasm. )
Good grief. Least practical ballroom location, especially since all of your guests would be well aware of the convention that top floors were for nurseries and servants bedrooms almost exclusively. I did work in a house that had an original smoking porch on the upper floor, for primarily the gentleman after dinner parties, but having a dedicated ballroom in your house was extremely rare. Even in the homes of relatively wealthy people. plenty of the rich back then would just rent event space if they wanted to host a ball, kind of like someone would do today
The stupid secret séance room idea is definitely taken from the story they tell at Winchester house – where it’s also a lot of horse dung. Séances were social events and therefore would happen in fairly public spaces, like a parlor. And as you say, having windows makes it not overly secret
If you could have *Any* of Lucille Sharpe's gowns, which one would you want? And: If you had the chance to ferally run in her blood-soaked nightgown anywhere in the real or fictional world, where would you be running?
Probably the black dress. I love all of them, but the blue is a color that very little of my jewelry would harmonize with and the red is, of course, a formal gown that would not be practical for many purposes.
(I say, as if they aren't all gowns with massive trains.)
And if I could ferally run in her blood-soaked nightgown? Well, I wouldn't want to be in the same situation, but honestly...still Allerdale Hall. I'd love the chance to explore it, and see if the attics really hold such a bounty as we fanfic writers like to imagine.
I saw a meme the other day that talked about "If your Haunted Doll is destroying your property, she's probably just bored! Please make sure you have a proper habitat for your haunted doll, and proper love and Enrichment!" in the sweetest, kindest way I've seen in a long while. It made me think of you, and I'm mad I didn't save it to send it. <3
In that vein, is there a Doll you've seen that's been claimed to be "Haunted", that you think just needs proper enrichment and care?
I've seen that one! I love it so much
Here is my haunted doll hot take: I don't think Robert is evil.
I do think he's haunted! That seems pretty widely agreed-upon. But his last private owner, Myrtle Reuter, kept him with her for twenty years even knowing about his haunting. Through two moves, no less. She could have ditched him at any time, but she didn't; she took him to her new home with her. That doesn't scream "malevolent entity" to me, personally.
And all the stories about Robert doing actively harmful things- not pranks or simply moving around -seem rather unsubstantiated. Granted, that kind of thing would be hard to substantiate at all, but like. Listicles repeat the idea that Gene Otto was "obsessed" with the doll and that the obsession destroyed his marriage, or even that Robert killed his wife. And none of that seems supported by less...emotional biographies of the man.
As for all the people allegedly hurt by him for disrespect. Well. You do something you've been told not to, and it's going to throw you off-kilter. You might make mistakes you otherwise wouldn't, and some of those mistakes are bound to be dangerous for at least a few of the many people in this situation. Simply by law of averages. (It's kind of ingenious, if you think about it and assume Robert really doesn't take kindly to being, say, photographed without permission. He wouldn't have to actually do anything at all- people would psych themselves out fretting about the Haunted Doll Curse and inadventently create said curse all on their own.)
(Robert the Doll: actually a Discworld witch? Discuss.)
To be clear, I absolutely believe that spirits CAN be malevolent, and harm people. It's not a question of doubting the story's possibility, or even that the spirit possessing the doll is capable of such things. It may well be!
It's just that, in terms of this specific case, the unembroidered facts and testimony from people not Lost In The Urban Legend Sauce don't seem to match up to the popular conception of the doll in question.
PSST! HEY!! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAY!! <333
THANK FRIEND
Okay but Jonathan and Laura meet somehow, and discuss their misadventures with Vampires. How do you think it's gonna go???
“Welcome to the ‘Fuck The Vampire Who Preyed On Me’ club, where we gather to say ‘fuck you!’ to those assholes.” Jonathan turned, beaming, to Laura. “We have a new member this week! Please welcome Laura...um...what is your surname, Miss?”
“Sterling,” said Laura faintly, realizing she had gravely misunderstood the object of the group.
