archivist-crow - Tumblr blog

[archivist-crow]

Kate Bush

[archivist-crow]

[archivist-crow]

Cryptid of the Day: Unidentified Flying Humanoids 

Description: Throughout the 20th & 21st centuries, people around the world have seen flying humanoids, usually silhouetted in darkness & floating in the air, sometimes with wings. What they are, has caused speculation, from alien to angels/demons, to mistaken common objects

[archivist-crow]

AH!

[archivist-crow]

[archivist-crow]

On this day:

GLOZEL

On April 26, 1925, because of a disappearing cow who discovered a mysterious treasure trove, amateur archaeologist Albert Morlet visited a farm near Glozel, France, and the world learned of a fantastic collection. No one knows who collected it.

A year earlier, seventeen-year-old Emile Gradin watched one of his cattle drop from sight in the middle of a meadow. After Emile and his grandfather pulled the bovine from an artificial cavity below the field, Emile investigated the cavern. It was lined with interlocking bricks, many glazed by extreme heat. The cavity may have been an ancient kiln or glassworks. Emile dug in the surrounding area, and as word got out, he was joined by many VIPs. A Cambridge archaeology professor dug alongside the king of Romania and other dignitaries. Working in silence for three days, much to the exasperation of the newspapers, the group would lock themselves in their hotel sitting room each night to discuss their finds.

Stone and brick shelves filled the cavity and niches, which in turn were filled with odd archaic objects: statuettes of ancient deities, engraved bone and antlers, and stacks of clay tablets carved with a language that has not yet been deciphered. More than three hundred ceramic objects were found, varying widely in quality and age; they included face urns, phallic symbols, lamps, engraved pebbles, and stone tools. Broken pottery and coins, which were usually found at archaeology sites, were absent.

Controversy raged over the authenticity of the find. In the 1970s a new technology, thermoluminescence, accurately dated the artifacts; the earliest were from 100 BC, and the latest from the 1600s and 1700s. The scope and purpose of the collection is a mystery. Perhaps it is joined to the mysterious, nearby Chateau Montigilbert, which was connected to the powerful Knights Templar, or to the Rennes-le-Chateau, where Father Berenger Sauniere became mysteriously wealthy in the late 1800s.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[archivist-crow]

Willow and Crows by Katsushika Hokusai (1841)

[archivist-crow]

The Cry of the Fox, from the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1886)

[archivist-crow]

Cryptid of the Day: Pumina

Description: The Pumina is a massive snake reported in the Kasai and Katanga regions of Dem Congo around Lake Upemba. Described as 38-46ft long, resembling a rock python, it was photographed in 1959 by a Belgian pilot. 

[archivist-crow]

John Buscema - Avengers Annual #2 Cover Original Art (Marvel, 1968) Source

[archivist-crow]

Black Widow by Adam Hughes

[archivist-crow]

SPIDER-WOMAN #13 (1979). Marvel Comics.

Rejected/unpublished cover by Carmine Infantino. Published cover by Dave Cockrum and Bob McLeod. 

[archivist-crow]

On this day:

NICOLAS FLAMEL, ALCHEMIST

On April 25, 1382, alchemist Nicolas Flamel recorded his success in transmuting half a pound of base metal into gold. Living in Paris with his wife, Pernelle, Flamel had a prosperous book selling and printing business. He lived simply, dressed in plain clothes, and paid his employees very well. In 1357 an angel appeared before Flamel in a dream. Holding out an elaborate book, the being promised the book's secrets would be revealed to Flamel, and then the angel vanished in a golden glow.

When a man showed up in his shop with an old book for sale, Flamel recognized it from the dream. Its binding was worked copper, and its pages of thin bark were covered with an unknown script and gold-patined edges. Every seventh page carried an engraved illustration. The ancient inscription declared it to be the manuscript of Abraham the Jew. Years passed as Flamel copied the mysterious pages and set them out in his shop in case someone should recognize the characters. Eventually, he decided to travel in search of a Jewish scholar who might be able to help him decipher the material.

In Spain, Flamel met a Quabbalah scholar who recognized parts of the copied drawings. On the journey to Paris, the scholar died, but he had given Flamel enough hints to help him begin interpreting the obscure symbols. For seven years, Flamel and his wife worked with furnaces and vessels and the procedures outlined in the book. Their efforts yielded a brilliant white elixir that transmuted lead into silver, and a red powder that transformed mercury into gold. Flamel performed the experiments only twice more in his lifetime, settling into a quiet routine of writing and doing good works. When he died, the neighbors ransacked his house but found nothing.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[archivist-crow]

Portishead - “Glory Box”

Performed live in the Canal+ Studios for Nulle Part Ailleurs, 1994

[archivist-crow]

The Sugarcubes - “Birthday”

Released on this day—April 25, 1988—The Sugarcubes’ debut record, Life’s Too Good.

[archivist-crow]

[archivist-crow]

The Cure, A Forest, 1982