Man Proposes, God Disposes is an 1864 oil-on-canvas painting by Edwin Landseer. The work was inspired by the search for Franklin's lost expedition which disappeared in the Arctic after 1845. The painting is in the collection of Royal Holloway, University of London, and is the subject of superstitious urban myth that the painting is haunted.
It is well-documented that students at Royal Holloway believe the painting is haunted. It comes from the urban myth that a student sitting their exams in the 1920-30s stabbed a pencil into their eye, writing "The polar bears made me do it" on to their exam paper and committing suicide. There is, however, no university record of death in the picture gallery. The college's curator, Dr. Laura MacCulloch, explained about the myth, saying that "if you sit directly in front of it in an exam, you will fail - unless it's covered up".
Due to the perception that the painting is a bad omen, there is a college tradition that requires temporarily covering the painting with a Union Jack when student examinations are ongoing. This is due to an incident during the 1970s where an exam invigilator hurriedly covered the painting with the first thing they could find that would be large enough, as a student refused to sit their exam by the uncovered painting.
V. spooky bears
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
Spooky Bears is the name of my Halloween male revue spectacular.
The newish game from Remedy called Control is heavily influenced by SCP. It's spooky but very much not a horror game. I liked it a lot.
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Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
Update #Lots:
I've been working on the smoke venting system on my Pack because it has become very intermittent to nonfunctional. It works by using a hacked e-cig with basically stage smoke to create an overheating effect like in the GB video game. I found the company for the original e-cig and ordered four new heating elements/wicks of various ohms since they just screw in. They just arrived from Hong Kong and whoops. They were five to a pack so now I have a more than I'll ever need.
Go to swap it out and discover that my entire problem may have been because the original element/wick had become almost completely unscrewed somehow. I replaced it anyway and now I have smoke again.
Still need to tweak it as the smoke is coming out of the N-Filter a bit unevenly. I'm going to let it hang overnight and take another look at it tomorrow.
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
edited September 2019
YOU GLORIOUS MOTHERFUCKERS! I DID IT!
So yeeaaarrrss ago the light in my N-filter stopped turning on. The light is supposed to turn solid on in cue to the sound effects when the smoke gets blown out during overheating to look cool. I had jury rigged a replacement that just strobed and it worked but never looked as good. (I think that temp light is actually for something else on the Video Game style packs as an overheat indicator but since my pack is mostly movie style I've never used it.
Today I decided to figure out what is wrong. It is very technologically simple. I broke the hot glued mount out of the little fan that blows the smoke out and just wired the led directly to the wires to see if it is the bulb that was broken. Sucker lit up for the first time in forever. HOLY SHIT!
I then proceed to work out something that original Macgyver would be proud of using old electronic wiring and sockets and leftover 40k Imperial Guard Leman Russ tank wheels as a bracket and I am now here.
I did not take a before picture because I am a moron.
i think i need to just start writing creepypasta. cuz i was gonna post complaining about the, like, wildly varying quality of even "popular" or, like, well-regarded spooky stories online, and then i thought "well where do YOU get off you dick-face, you've never contributed to the collective artistic consciousness in that way! you've never put your toe into that world!" so i think i'm probably gonna try to write some spooky stories!
you should do it
this is the sound of my blowing my own trumpet but i wrote a spooky story recently and put it on medium here, if, you want to check it out
i think it's weird how there aren't more good online horror stories and also good short fiction generally
There's also a bunch of things that are just natural phenomena that are also not well understood and still pretty spooky.
A random bubble of gas came up from a fucking lake in 1986 and killed 1,700 people. https://youtu.be/JzchV_gQG10
In Death Valley, 400 pound rocks have somehow been pushing themselves across a particular dry lake bed for thousands of years. The way they do it was only figured out five years ago. https://youtu.be/fMm1E8CYSxk
In 1859 the Sun farted and sent so much radiation toward earth that Aurora was bright enough to read by and telegraph machines exploded. If the same thing happened today it could possibly destroy our entire telecommunications infrastructure which would be catastrophic for modern society. https://youtu.be/2Iwpyvou1f4
CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
edited October 2019
My favorite foreboding natural phenomenon is the Cascadia subduction zone, a North America fault that when it last created an earthquake it was so strong it created an 'orphan' tsunami in Japan.
When it comes again it could create a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in cities that have never seen an earthquake. And it's overdue.
The imagery of the investigation of the fault particularly gets me. The ghost forest of giant cedars all dead at once. The oral history of a lost indigenous people and canoes left in trees.
Cambiata on
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
Also harpy eagles are fascinating birds, they're one of the largest species of eagle and typically prey on monkeys and sloths and such, often flying through the jungle canopies of its home habitat with absolutely millimetrically precise wing movements and body adjustments.
They also stand damn near four feet tall and weigh about twenty pounds. They have four inch talons and they're talons spread more than seven inches wide. They're probably one of the most fearsome predators in the world! And eagles used to be WAY bigger according to folklore and fossil records! Carrying off whole oxen and whatnot! They've discovered juvenile human remains with eagle predation marks on them!
Also harpy eagles are fascinating birds, they're one of the largest species of eagle and typically prey on monkeys and sloths and such, often flying through the jungle canopies of its home habitat with absolutely millimetrically precise wing movements and body adjustments.
They also stand damn near four feet tall and weigh about twenty pounds. They have four inch talons and they're talons spread more than seven inches wide. They're probably one of the most fearsome predators in the world! And eagles used to be WAY bigger according to folklore and fossil records! Carrying off whole oxen and whatnot! They've discovered juvenile human remains with eagle predation marks on them!
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
I think they look like big silly birdos but that's just me.
I'll tell you what are crazy to see irl, are big giant owls. They got great horned owls and great grey owls and they're HUGE. They look like ghosts sitting up in the tree, hunched over and brooding.
Shit. I need to buy the remaster. I forgot it came out.
I dunno if I'll have time to play it this weekend or not, since two of my teammates in the Atlanta Ghostbusters are getting married to each-other tomorrow and most of us are gonna be there for it, myself included. It's a good reason to wait on replaying a game but I do get major FOMO during game releases.
I think they look like big silly birdos but that's just me.
I'll tell you what are crazy to see irl, are big giant owls. They got great horned owls and great grey owls and they're HUGE. They look like ghosts sitting up in the tree, hunched over and brooding.
I lived at a golf course resort thing for a year in high school and the hotel restaurant shut down for a year when a great horned owl nested on the balcony. Tourists would show up to take pictures and then be mortified at the quantity of hare and gopher carcasses littering the pathways leading to and from that area. A bird that size and its young was feeding on 3-4 desert hares per day.
It's crazy how big birds can get, and if you think about how much food they have to eat to generate enough energy to get that massive body to fly it really boggles the mind a bit.
Also harpy eagles are fascinating birds, they're one of the largest species of eagle and typically prey on monkeys and sloths and such, often flying through the jungle canopies of its home habitat with absolutely millimetrically precise wing movements and body adjustments.
They also stand damn near four feet tall and weigh about twenty pounds. They have four inch talons and they're talons spread more than seven inches wide. They're probably one of the most fearsome predators in the world! And eagles used to be WAY bigger according to folklore and fossil records! Carrying off whole oxen and whatnot! They've discovered juvenile human remains with eagle predation marks on them!
Are you telling me that giant bird has both large claws and a perfectly indistinguishable human hand also?!
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
that's actually the new flag for my anarcho-birdperson commune.
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DepressperadoI just wanted to see you laughingin the pizza rainRegistered Userregular
I stayed at my friend's house last night, I have to report it is at least medium haunted.
We were playing D&D and the DM got up to go to the bathroom, comes back in and pauses, does a headcount.
"did one of you go past me into the bedroom?" we reply in the negative, and then the bedroom door slammed shut over on the other side of the house.
I slept on his couch and woke up to distinctly feel someone move against my back and settle into like, sleeping cuddle position with me. I sleepily brought my hand up to meet theirs, and then realized what I was doing and yelled and fell off the couch. Spooked me good.
I thought 5:30 in the morning seemed like an appropriate time to go drive home.
+20
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Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
Roommate and I were talking about the unnerving qualities of Neil Breen films (don't ask) and in the middle of it, the idle Chromecast on the TV cycled to this image
He noticed it first and yeah it was pretty spoopy.
Posts
V. spooky bears
INVIGILATE ME, BROTHER!
It seems like you have to see the painting in person for the ill effects.
Even worse: they monitor exams
Wooooooo
I've been working on the smoke venting system on my Pack because it has become very intermittent to nonfunctional. It works by using a hacked e-cig with basically stage smoke to create an overheating effect like in the GB video game. I found the company for the original e-cig and ordered four new heating elements/wicks of various ohms since they just screw in. They just arrived from Hong Kong and whoops. They were five to a pack so now I have a more than I'll ever need.
Go to swap it out and discover that my entire problem may have been because the original element/wick had become almost completely unscrewed somehow. I replaced it anyway and now I have smoke again.
Still need to tweak it as the smoke is coming out of the N-Filter a bit unevenly. I'm going to let it hang overnight and take another look at it tomorrow.
This was a fun episode
So yeeaaarrrss ago the light in my N-filter stopped turning on. The light is supposed to turn solid on in cue to the sound effects when the smoke gets blown out during overheating to look cool. I had jury rigged a replacement that just strobed and it worked but never looked as good. (I think that temp light is actually for something else on the Video Game style packs as an overheat indicator but since my pack is mostly movie style I've never used it.
Today I decided to figure out what is wrong. It is very technologically simple. I broke the hot glued mount out of the little fan that blows the smoke out and just wired the led directly to the wires to see if it is the bulb that was broken. Sucker lit up for the first time in forever. HOLY SHIT!
I then proceed to work out something that original Macgyver would be proud of using old electronic wiring and sockets and leftover 40k Imperial Guard Leman Russ tank wheels as a bracket and I am now here.
I did not take a before picture because I am a moron.
LET THERE BE LIGHT!
I am so happy you guys, you have no idea!!!!!
Somehow, they moved a vortex. :P
Yup. That will do it.
fuck that
you should do it
this is the sound of my blowing my own trumpet but i wrote a spooky story recently and put it on medium here, if, you want to check it out
i think it's weird how there aren't more good online horror stories and also good short fiction generally
Edit: he liked it! Then we watched A Quiet Place, which was only ok.
A random bubble of gas came up from a fucking lake in 1986 and killed 1,700 people.
In Death Valley, 400 pound rocks have somehow been pushing themselves across a particular dry lake bed for thousands of years. The way they do it was only figured out five years ago.
In 1859 the Sun farted and sent so much radiation toward earth that Aurora was bright enough to read by and telegraph machines exploded. If the same thing happened today it could possibly destroy our entire telecommunications infrastructure which would be catastrophic for modern society.
Ghosts are boring.
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
That right there is a bird who will 100% tell me how my parents die.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one/
When it comes again it could create a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in cities that have never seen an earthquake. And it's overdue.
The imagery of the investigation of the fault particularly gets me. The ghost forest of giant cedars all dead at once. The oral history of a lost indigenous people and canoes left in trees.
That friggin owl...
Also harpy eagles are fascinating birds, they're one of the largest species of eagle and typically prey on monkeys and sloths and such, often flying through the jungle canopies of its home habitat with absolutely millimetrically precise wing movements and body adjustments.
They also stand damn near four feet tall and weigh about twenty pounds. They have four inch talons and they're talons spread more than seven inches wide. They're probably one of the most fearsome predators in the world! And eagles used to be WAY bigger according to folklore and fossil records! Carrying off whole oxen and whatnot! They've discovered juvenile human remains with eagle predation marks on them!
I'll tell you what are crazy to see irl, are big giant owls. They got great horned owls and great grey owls and they're HUGE. They look like ghosts sitting up in the tree, hunched over and brooding.
I dunno if I'll have time to play it this weekend or not, since two of my teammates in the Atlanta Ghostbusters are getting married to each-other tomorrow and most of us are gonna be there for it, myself included. It's a good reason to wait on replaying a game but I do get major FOMO during game releases.
I lived at a golf course resort thing for a year in high school and the hotel restaurant shut down for a year when a great horned owl nested on the balcony. Tourists would show up to take pictures and then be mortified at the quantity of hare and gopher carcasses littering the pathways leading to and from that area. A bird that size and its young was feeding on 3-4 desert hares per day.
It's crazy how big birds can get, and if you think about how much food they have to eat to generate enough energy to get that massive body to fly it really boggles the mind a bit.
Are you telling me that giant bird has both large claws and a perfectly indistinguishable human hand also?!
We were playing D&D and the DM got up to go to the bathroom, comes back in and pauses, does a headcount.
"did one of you go past me into the bedroom?" we reply in the negative, and then the bedroom door slammed shut over on the other side of the house.
I slept on his couch and woke up to distinctly feel someone move against my back and settle into like, sleeping cuddle position with me. I sleepily brought my hand up to meet theirs, and then realized what I was doing and yelled and fell off the couch. Spooked me good.
I thought 5:30 in the morning seemed like an appropriate time to go drive home.
He noticed it first and yeah it was pretty spoopy.