Ferdinand Cheval

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Facteur_Cheval_-_Fa%C3%A7ade_Est.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

French postman Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) tripped on a stone in April 1879 and was never the same again. Claiming he’d been inspired, he began collecting stones during his daily rounds, carrying them home in huge quantities and assembling them at night by the light of an oil lamp.

After 20 years he’d completed the outer walls of his palais idéal (“ideal castle”), combining styles suggested by the Bible and Hindu mythology. But when Cheval finished the project after 33 years of work, authorities refused to let him be buried in it. So he built his own mausoleum.

His dedication was rewarded — he was interred there the following year.

| Art · Oddities

Nihilartikels

In the 1975 New Columbia Encyclopedia you’ll find a biography of Lillian Virginia Mountweazel (1942-1973), an American fountain designer and photographer best known for Flags Up!, a collection of photos of rural mailboxes.

Mountweazel never existed. She’s an example of a nihilartikel, a deliberately fake entry in a reference work. They’re used to catch copyright infringers. For the same reason, telephone directories include fake entries, and maps sometimes include nonexistent features.

It must be fun writing these. According to the New Columbia article, Lillian Mountweazel died in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine.

| Hoaxes

Prince Randian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Princerandian.jpg

Like Carl Herman Unthan, Prince Randian (1871-1934) achieved more without limbs than most of us do with them.

Born in British Guiana, Randian was discovered by P.T. Barnum in 1889, and he toured American sideshows in the 1930s as the Living Torso, “the human caterpillar who crawls on his belly like a reptile.”

In reality Randian could shave, write, paint, and roll cigarettes unaided. He spoke English, German, French, and Hindi and was reportedly a skilled carpenter, joking that he would someday build his own house.

He married and fathered four children and ultimately lived to age 63, touring American carnivals and museums for 45 years.

| Oddities

Ode to a Divorcee

Woman, thou worst of all Church-plagues, farewel;
Bad at the best, but at the worst a Hell;
Thou truss of wormwood, bitter Teaz of Life,
Thou Nursery of humane cares a wife.
Thou Apple-Eating Trayt’riss who began
The Wrath of Heav’n, and Miseries of Man,
And hast with never-failing diligence,
Improv’d the Curse to humane Race e’er since.
Farewel Church-juggle that enslav’d my Life,
But bless that Pow’r that rid me of my Wife.
And now the Laws once more have set me free,
If Woman can again prevail with me,
My Flesh and Bones shall make my Wedding-Feast,
And none shall be Invited as my Guest,
T’ attend my Bride, but th’ Devil and a Priest.

— From The Pleasures of a Single Life, or, The Miseries of Matrimony, 1709

| History · Society

Black Gold

Barrels per day of oil consumption, as of 2003:

  • United States: 20,033,504
  • Japan: 5,578,386
  • China: 5,550,000
  • Germany: 2,677,443
  • Russia: 2,675,000
  • India: 2,320,000
  • Canada: 2,193,263
  • South Korea: 2,168,128
  • Brazil: 2,100,000
  • France: 2,059,843
  • Mexico: 2,015,232
  • Italy: 1,874,380
  • Saudi Arabia: 1,775,000
  • United Kingdom: 1,722,419
  • Spain: 1,544,260
  • Iran: 1,425,000
  • Indonesia: 1,155,000
| Society · Technology