During Hurricane Ophelia, tens of thousands of apples were blown off of the trees in an orchard in Clonmel, Ireland — but the fruits landed unbruised and ready for cider processing. The nearby River Suir flooded at the same time the apples were stripped from the trees, and when the water receded, the apples were laid to rest gently, blanketing the ground under the trees. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Today I Learned …
Shuttlecocks used in badminton games at the Summer Olympics are always made of feathers from one wing (left or right) of a goose or duck. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Today I Learned …
Author Ray Bradbury was a descendant of a woman convicted in the Salem Witch Trials. Mary Perkins Bradbury was sentenced to be hanged in 1692 but managed to escape before she could be executed. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Today I Learned …
For an art festival in Kassel, Germany, Argentine artist Marta Minujin built a full-size replica of the Parthenon using 100,000 books that have been banned at one time or another. Constructed with a steel framework, the sculpture was made with books donated by the public from a list of over 170 titles, including The Da Vinci Code, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Catcher in the Rye. And the coolest part? It was built on a former Nazi book-burning site. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Today I Learned …
In April 1935, the Titanian, a tramp steamer carrying coal from Newcastle, England, to Canada, encountered an iceberg in the same area as the Titanic had done 23 years earlier. Crew member William Reeves had a premonition seconds before the iceberg came into view and yelled “Danger ahead!” to the navigator, who quickly reversed the engines and brought the ship to a halt. Reeves was born on April 15, 1912 — the date on which the Titanic sank. (From Eyewitness: Titanic)
Today I Learned …
During his lifetime, Edgar Allan Poe’s best-selling book was The Conchologist’s First Book, a textbook about seashells. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Guess Whose Book Won First Place?
I have news! Good news! I’ve just found out that Days of the Dead: A Year of True Ghost Stories has won First Place in the Bookfest Awards. How about that? And you can go here to get your very own copy, if you haven’t already: https://bookshop.org/…/days-of-the-dead-a…/9781735668987
You can also get it here: Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735668982?ref=exp_hauntedroadmedia_dp_vv_d&fbclid=IwAR3sWUj9_YTBlM–2kxKyMMQo92XiWTOcAYgaBq8f6lHfINp-He4oeOQyH8
And here: Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GJ1XVMN?ref=exp_hauntedroadmedia_dp_vv_d&fbclid=IwAR1zCffiZI4zEu9_leHa_5mAplDFfEE-YvOsqpIu5cSu_haa0zwgcm6-Nf4
Today I Learned …
At one point in his career, actor Gary Oldman had played so many American characters in movies that he lost his British accent and had to go to a speech therapist to get it back. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Today I Learned …
The app RunPee advises users on the best time to take an urgent toilet break during a trip to a movie theater so that they do not miss a crucial moment. It picks out three- to five-minute-long movie scenes that do not contain essential plot twists, exciting action, or laugh-out-loud moments. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Lights Out: Return to Malvern Manor
What’s even better than exploring a haunted location all evening? Getting to spend the rest of the night there! And when the spirits come out to play, that’s when things get REALLY interesting … join me for another visit to one of my favorite haunted places, Malvern Manor. https://youtu.be/AoqSaueVit8
Today I Learned …
The naked mole rat can survive for nearly twenty minutes without oxygen — by effectively turning itself into a plant. It is able to change its normal metabolism so that its body cells are powered by fructose rather than glucose, a process that requires no oxygen. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Today I Learned …
Cows produce three times as much saliva as milk. On average, they produce around twenty gallons of saliva every day, compared to six gallons of milk. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: A Century of Strange)
Today I Learned …
A typo helped the Allied forces crack the famous Enigma code and ultimately defeat the Germans in World War Two. The UK Ministry of Defense recruited Geoffrey Tandy to work at its top-secret Bletchley Park headquarters in Buckinghamshire, England, in the belief that he was an expert cryptogramist — someone who deciphers codes — when in fact he was a cryptogamist, an expert on mosses, algae, and seaweed. Despite the mistake, he stayed, and when a German U-boat was sunk in 1941 and its cryptic documents captured, his knowledge of preserving water-damaged specimens proved invaluable in making the papers readable. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not: Beyond the Bizarre)
Today I Learned …
George Romero, famous for his Living Dead zombie movie franchise, also made videos for Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
When Romero got out of college, he and a few friends started a movie company called The Latent Image, and billed themselves as “Producers of Industrial Films and Television Commercials.” Some of Romero’s earliest jobs were short films commissioned by the show, shown on Picture Picture: “Things With Wheels”, “Things That Feel Soft”, and “How Light Bulbs Are Manufactured”. (Romero still jokes that the scariest film he ever made was “Mr. Rogers Gets A Tonsillectomy.”) With the experience he got on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Romero scraped up $114,000 to make Night of the Living Dead, helped by volunteers and free entrails from a local butcher shop. He really wanted Betty Aberlin, the human actress in the Land of Make-Believe, to play Barbara, the lead in Night of the Living Dead, but Mr. Rogers put his foot down and said NO. (And by the way, Mr. Rogers saw Night of the Living Dead — and loved it.) (From Kindness and Wonder: Why Mr. Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever, by Gavin Edwards.)
Lights Out: The Watseka Wonder
I KNOW, I know, it’s been positively AGES since you guys have enjoyed an episode of Lights Out! (Unless you’ve been watching or listening to past episodes, in which case, good for you!) I’ve got a great excuse — I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a new book for you all, so that’s why I’ve been slacking off a bit on the podcast/YouTube front. But fret not! Here is a brand-spanking-new episode of your virtual campfire.
We’re headed to the town of Watseka, Illinois, for a bit of Victorian-style ghost hunting at the Roff House. https://youtu.be/4UPCovpLzyg Enjoy!
Today I Learned …
When King Louis XVI of France was a child, an astrologer warned him to be on his guard on the 21st day of each month. Consequently, he never conducted any business on that date. Even so, on June 21, 1791, following the French Revolution, Louis, and his queen, Marie Antoinette, were arrested in Varennes while trying to flee France. Then on September 21, 1792, France abolished the monarchy, and finally on January 21, 1793, Louis was executed by guillotine. (From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, Beyond the Bizarre)
Today I Learned …
Zookeepers at the San Antonio Zoo will name a cockroach after your old flame and serve it to a bird or lizard, for the low price of $5. For $25, a frozen rat named after your most coldhearted ex will land a date with a snake. Happy Valentine’s Day! (From Reader’s Digest, February 2021)
Today I Learned …
Salmonella is a bacteria in the Enterobacter family that causes food poisoning — we all know this. But here’s something you might not know: salmonella lurks not only in raw chicken, but also on the skin of reptiles. Which is why you really should wash your hands after handling, say, a red-eared slider turtle or an iguana. It’s also why the FDA came up with the “4-inch law” in 1975. It says that any turtles sold in the US have to have a shell length of at least four inches, because that makes it harder for a child to stick the turtle in his or her mouth. (Do you need to sit down for a minute? It’s okay, take your time…)
Today I Learned …
James Patterson, the mega-uber-bestselling author, used to work in advertising. He came up with the line “I’m a Toys-R-Us kid.” (from Mental Floss: The Book)
Today I Learned …
The State Farm jingle — “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” — was written by Barry Manilow. (from Mental Floss: The Book)
Today I Learned …
More people die every year of constipation (an average of 157 Americans, according to CDC data from 2008 to 2017) than from shark attacks (an average of six people globally, according to the International Shark Attack File). (from Gory Details: Adventures From the Dark Side of Science, by Erika Engelhaupt)
2022 Calendars Still Available!
Are you still looking at your 2021 calendar? The year is over (and thank goodness for that!).
There’s a great way to get your spooky fix for all of 2022. I’ve put together a new calendar, using twelve of the 366 stories in Days of the Dead: A Year of True Ghost Stories. It’s bigger than last year’s calendar, so you’ve got lots of room to write down dentist’s appointments, swim meets, class reunions, stuff like that. $18 gets a calendar sent right to your door.
And here’s what else that $18 gets you: when you order a calendar, using the Contact Me link at the top of the page, tell me a date that’s special to you. Come closer … whisper it in my ear. It could be your birthday, or the day you brought your furbaby home, or the day you watched a really pretty sunset. Tell me about it, and I’ll write a special message on that day in your calendar.
So click that Contact Me button, and get ready to make every day spooky!
Today I Learned …
The string of typographical symbols comic strips use to indicate profanity (“$%@#”) is called a grawlix. (from Mental Floss: The Book)
Welcome — I Think? — To 2022.
What can I say about 2021, besides things that would probably get my mouth washed out with soap? Good grief. (Literally. We lost many family members this past year, including a sweet dog.)
But life does have a way of going on. For instance, there are now two MORE places you can listen to my true ghost story podcast, Lights Out. It can now be found on Amazon Music/Audible (https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a11f3c03-703c-45aa-97a9-7425342d2320), and at reason.fm (https://reason.fm/podcast/lights-out-with-sylvia-shults). So go, check it out, subscribe if you like. I’ve been promising a new episode for, like, forever, but I have several good excuses, including the fact that I’ve been working really hard on a new book for you guys. More on that later.
For now, go out and sneak your way into the New Year. Remember, no sudden movements. (It can’t see you if you hold still, or does that only work for T-Rexes?)
Also remember: I love you guys. Stay safe.
Today I Learned …
When John Williams was tapped to compose the music for “Schindler’s List”, he was really intimidated. (Imagine, John Williams having imposter syndrome…) During an early meeting about the project, Williams told Steven Spielberg, “You need a better composer for this.” Spielberg replied, “I know, but they’re all dead.”
Sylvia Shults, author 