Piece Of Art

The Fayette Factor Who--or more precisely, what--is "the Fayette Factor?" It is probably one of the strangest mysteries in American Forteana, first discovered by researcher William (Bill) Grimstad, back in 1977, and written about in "Fateful Fayette," Fortean Times , No. 25, Spring 1978. Namely, the "Fayette Factor" has been the finding of a surprisingly high incidence of Fortean (inexpliable) events linked to places named after one of the USA's Founding Fathers--the Marquis de Lafayette.  Fayetteville, West Virginia Since Grimstad's discovery , several items on this lexilink between Fayette (as well as its related forms - Lafayette, La Fayette, Fayetteville, Lafayetteville) and high strangeness have been published. In his book,   Weird America   (New York: EP Dutton, 1978), Grimstad mentions several Fayette hot spots but did not dwell on them. In exchanges with Bill, a small group of Forteans discussed the Fayette Factor privately throughout the l...

Coincidences? Synchronicity? A Maryland man was charged with killing another man and eating his heart and portions of his brain. Maryland, Miami, and many, many more, as, literally,  cannibals abound . Now, a new movie opens named after a character who had his liver eaten every day. Science fiction becomes reality? Reality becomes science fiction? The newest " cannibal attack " has occurred in Louisiana, in, yes, Lafayette Parish. (Read more about the powerful name game at the " Fayette Factor .") What is going on? What myths are being worked out in front of our eyes? Prometheus (Greek: Προμηθεύς) is a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure who in Greek mythology is credited with the creation of man from clay.  Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to the mortals, an act that enabled progress and civilization. He is known for his intelligence, and as a champion of mankind. The punishment of Prometheus as a consequence of the theft is a major theme of his m...

This is a new cannibal story. Due to the apparent blocking of the word "cannibal" (食人魔) by the Chinese government and/or media, the recent news of a cannibal serial killer has taken some time to be disseminated widely. (Revisit my recent overview of cannibals here .) According to the Washington Post , on May 27, 2012, an arrest of 56-year-old Zhang Yongming in southwestern China occurred. He was accused of killing 11 people and dismembering, burning and burying their bodies to destroy the evidence. He allegedly attacked male victims walking on the quiet road near his home in Jinning county. The word "cannibal" was not used in the American story. Details were graphically being given elsewhere  (as per the photograph above). An article in the Daily Telegraph said it all in their headline: " China's 'Cannibal Monster' Detained ." One critical sentence, tied to the headline, was this one: Zhang, a loner who never talked to his neighbours, had prev...

by Loren Coleman ©2012 Kessel le Vieux Jan van (1626-1679) Peinture sur cuivre Cannibals are in the news this week. Why? Miami , Montreal , Maryland . Did you also hear about Manitoba , as well? Synchromystic cannibals? Synchronicity? Copycat media? Cannibalism The word "cannibalism" originated from caníbales , the Spanish name for the Carib people, a West Indies ethnic social group formerly well known for their practice of cannibalism. Cannibalism, also called anthropophagy, is defined as the act or practice of humans ( Homo sapiens ) eating the flesh of other human beings, although prehistorically Neandertals eating CroMagnons and CroMagnons eating Neandertals has been called cannibalism. Humans eating  Homo floresiensis , the so-called little people, the Hobbits of Flores Island may have taken place, and I'm sure that would be called cannibalism, as well.  A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal. They aren't zombies. They aren't vampires. Both ...

A drawing of the 1631 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius  by Glovan Batista Passaro. The December 7, 1631 Transit of Venus was followed on December 16th by a violent, unexpected eruption of Mt. Vesuvius beginning around 6:00 am. Vesivius have been inactive for a great deal of time, probably since 1139. During the night of December 16-17, earthquakes occurred every 1-15 minutes. At about 11:00 am on the 17th, a large mass of ash, gas, and stones flowed down all sides of Vesuvius, causing the liquefaction of the mountain. Ten minutes later, a tsunami up to 6 to 15 feet of height hit the coast. By 6:00 pm on December 17th, the decline of activity began, lasting several days. The death toll was variously reported to be 3000 to 6000 deceased individuals in Pompeii and other locations. A Transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, obscuring a small portion of the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a sm...