WYRM RACKS

A digital bookshelf of paranormal thought-piquers, respectfully searched rituals, elusive creepy creatures, and nightmarish navigators of the natural world. A blog that is slithering about the earth and space, gathering whatever information it deems exciting, ranging from cryptids, to lost cultures, to weird science, and everything in-between. Sidebar and Portrait images © Alexander Semenov

[tanks-a-lot]

The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. The 1,100-man unit was given a unique mission within the U.S Army: to impersonate other U.S. Army units to deceive the enemy. From a few weeks after D-Day, when they landed in France, until the end of the war, they put on a “traveling road show” utilizing inflatable tanks, sound trucks, fake radio transmissions and pretence. They staged more than 20 battlefield deceptions, often operating very close to the front lines. Their story was kept secret for more than 40 years after the war, and elements of it remain classified.

Happy Halloween everyone!

[citizen-undead]

Behind-the-scenes Photos From Classic Horror Films

[wyrmracks]

Remember that strange purple orb deep-sea scientists fought a crab for? It’s revealed itself to be a possible new species of marine slug, a pleurobranch that feeds off plankton and other microscopic organisms.

“On the E/V Nautilus, an exploration ship manned by the not-for-profit Ocean Exploration Trust, the organism’s “ball sort of unfolded into two folds”, said Susan Poulton, a spokesperson for the group, in a call from the ship.

“It revealed a foot and rhinophores, which are these ear-like structures, and you see a sort of proboscis come off the back of it,” she said. “That’s when it clearly became a gastropod of some kind.””

Photo credits: EVNautilus

[blackadder]

[morbidology]

This extremely rare footage of a squid giving birth was captured by a remote operated vehicle in California’s Montery Bay.

[wyrmracks]

A Malayan jungle nymph exhibiting bilateral gynandromorphism - the green half of it is female, while the brown half is male.

“The cause of this phenomenon is typically, but not always, an event in mitosis during early development. While the organism is only a few cells large, one of the dividing cells does not split its sex chromosomes typically. This leads to one of the two cells having sex chromosomes that cause male development and the other cell having chromosomes that cause female development.”

[gentlesharks]

The Goblin shark extends its jaw way out in front of its body, then snaps it back to catch food. The jaw is suspended by ligaments, and not connected to the skull.

[wyrmracks]

Argyria, caused by an excessive buildup of silver dust in the body, has the interesting side effect of permanently dying the skin blue-grey.

Paul Karason, an advocate for the use of silver in medicine, used colloidal silver in attempts to treat various ailments, as well as rubbed silver salve on his face. Dubbed “Papa Smurf”, he passed away in 2013, from causes unrelated to his metallic habits.

There is currently no scientific backing to support colloidal silver having any health benefits or healing abilities, and it has been banned from medicinal use since 1999. In addition, the side effect of skin discolouration vastly detracts from any (unlikely) benefits of silver consumption.

[morbidology]

[morbidology]

In 1986, Expo 86 was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Wanting to be the main attraction, McDonalds built a 57-metre-long barge which was named “The McBarge.”  It had intended to showcase future technology and architecture. However, it wasn’t as popular as they had anticipated and was left abandoned to decay.

[sixth-extinction]

Sunbathing thylacines. Source/date unknown.

[wyrmracks]

While most specimens of Lingcod fish have white meat, a select few - about 20% - sport bright teal flesh and innards. The cause of the colour change is unknown, but some suspect that biliverdin, a bile pigment, could be the culprit.

The fish is still safe to eat, and some even claim blue lingcod taste better than their less eccentric brethren.

Photo credits: Outdoorhub, kfeltme

[morbidology]

Built in 1955, Holy Land USA, located in Waterbury, Connecticut, is an 18-acre them park inspired by Bethlehem and Jerusalem during the Biblical era. It was closed in 1984 by the creator, John Baptist Greco, as he had planned to improve and expand the park. Sadly, Greco passed away in 1986 and Holy Land USA was left abandoned.

[unexplained-events]

The inside of a leatherback turtle’s mouth

[wyrmracks]

Tumblr, I am a spooky blog, why are you recommending me antifeminist posts?

[wyrmracks]

I don't know if you remember your post about the stairs in the woods, from the searchandrescue blog. But do you know where they're located?

The author of the stories is right here. As for the stairs? Dear Anon, they’re everywhere.

[wyrmracks]

Several of the delightful and desiccated specimens featured in the Merrylin Cryptid Museum, an online menagerie fantastique meant to blur the line between reality and unknown.

"You have stumbled upon the Merrylin Cryptid Museum,  the life's work of Crypto-naturalist, Fringe Zoologist and Xeno -Archeologist Thomas Merrylin. This is the online archive of his unique collection of specimens. Creatures and artifacts thought to be nothing more than myth. It is a mystery that challenges our understanding of biology, chemistry and the very laws of physics."

"It is fantastic and absurd, it is a collection of ideas and stories, creatures that have left their indelible mark in the annals of history, in the tapestries and manuscripts of forgotten lore. It is a story of discovery, of dark secrets hidden within sealed vaults. It is a chance to peer into the void and let the void stare back. It is objects of curiosity brought into the light, which stand before you, asking you to place them in the context of reality. They ask, 'What if I was real, what if I had lived?'"

Along with mummified werewolves and dragon skeletons, the site gallery also features an Eldritch study bureau, preserved dinosaurs, Necrotic Manuscripts, and a wraith hunting case.

Photo credits: Alex CF

[morbidology]

[morbidology]

Shadow, a three-legged German Shepherd, has been given a new lease on life after receiving a prosthetic leg. Shadow had his foreleg amputated after he got caught in a trap. He was then abandoned by his original owners and faced euthanasia. That was until he was taken in by Sara May, who campaigned to raise £6,000 for the high tech leg.