« September 2008 | Main | November 2008 »
This apparently simple educational film from 1954 was actually made by the religious Moody Institute. Evangelist turned scientist Irwin Moon demonstrates the amazing properties of the electric eel. Moon was famous in his earlier life for such miraculous acts as frying an egg on a cold stove, and letting one million volts surge through his body, but here he is happy to make some bemused-looking colleagues jump with a shock from the eel, which seems to be called Joe.
Among the curious treasures of the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford is this preserved onion, supposedly used for sympathetic magic - which is not as kindly as it sounds. Anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor produced it as evidence of wizardry done by the landlord of the Barley Mow pub in Rockwell Green, Somerset, in 1891. This essay on the onion has the full story, along with other tales attached to a witch's ladder made of cock feathers; an infant's caul used as a sailor's charm, and a slug impaled on a thorn said to cure warts. All part of "England: The Other Within", an analysis of the collections to "gain a picture of Englishness". Pub sorcery, magic onions and lucky amniotic sacks - yes, that seems to cover it.
Posting may get a little more sporadic than usual around here for a few weeks, as I'm off to do some writing by the seaside. If the gaps get too long, why not take the opportunity to check out some popular posts from the past?
Fun in England
Bird Geniuses
Sounds of Brighton Pier
Your Search is Over
Monks at Play
Blacken Egg on Day You Have an Accident
