Bizzare & Odd

The Mythical, Magical Member of Grigori Rasputin

Is this the mystical penis of Russian holy man Rasputin?

Grigori Rasputin, the “Mad Monk” who served the Russian Romanov family and indulged in legendary debauchery, was rumored to be pretty stellar in bed. So much so, in fact, that one woman claimed to have had such an intense orgasm that she fainted. According to the 1978 song by euro disco group Boney M, obviously a trusted source of historical accuracy, Rasputin was “Russia’s greatest love machine.” It is only natural, then, that after he was allegedly poisoned, beaten, shot, and drowned on December 30th, 1916, his infamous instrument of love would linger on.

The first phallic object believed to be Rasputin’s penis turned out to be a sea cucumber. The second one, a 12-inch pickled phallus on display at the Museum of Erotica in St. Petersburg, Russia is, according to its owner Dr. Igor Knyazkin, the true mythical member of Rasputin. This one, like the well-endowed echinoderm before it, is said to have magical properties – such as the ability to cure impotence just by looking at it.

But is it really Rasputin’s penis?

According to rumor, Rasputin’s johnson (cut me some slack, it’s hard finding different words for the male sex organ without sounding like cheap paperback erotica) had developed it’s own cult following.

It is said that in the 1920s, Rasputin’s daughter Maria (then a circus performer who later tamed lions with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus) discovered a group of women in Paris had been venerating her father’s penis. They believed it could bestow fertility, and even gave small pieces of it to those in need.

“And then there is the business of Rasputin’s member, supposedly cut off by [Prince Felix] Yusupov and then gathered up and saved by one of Yusupov’s servants, a secret follower of the starets,” Douglas Smith writes in Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. “Sometime later, according to this bizarre tale, the severed penis ended up in Paris where a few of his surviving votaries kept it preserved in an icebox, taking it out only for their strange sacred rites. From there, after further adventures, it made its way to the collection of Russia’s first museum of erotica in Petersburg, a hideous hunk of graying flesh suspended in a jar of formaldehyde.”

Dr. Knyazkin says he bought the penis in a wooden casket from two French antique dealers in 2000 for $8,000. According to them, the organ was cut off and taken to France by a fanatical follower. When Maria discovered it, she took possession of it. But when she needed money in the 1970s, she supposedly sold it.

As Smith notes, however, according to 1917 accounts by Dmitry Kosorotov, who performed the autopsy on Rasputin after his badly mutilated body was dragged out of the Malaya Nevka River, Rasputin’s genitals were intact and undamaged.

“I am 99 per cent sure it is real,” Knyazkin told the media.

Rasputin expert Eduard Radzinsky wasn’t so sure.

“Stories about Rasputin’s penis started almost immediately after his death,” Radzinsky said. “They are all myths and legends.”

NOTE: This post is dedicated to Barbara, who longs for the days when Cult of Weird was actually “weird” and featured things like penises in jars.

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Bizzare & Odd

Nikola Tesla lied that he received messages from aliens from Mars

The Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) completely changed the course of history thanks to his inventions. The AC system, which he championed and improved, remains the world standard for power transmission. Mankind is indebted to him.

It is worth recognizing that many of his ideas and statements were still insane. Investors did not want to sponsor, and banks did not give out loans not for the reason that they were afraid of changes, but because they did not see prospects. For example, Tesla claimed that electricity can be transmitted through the air, but this is absurd.

Tesla loved the myths around him and helped them to spread, since it was the cheapest way to popularize his persona. Going too far, Nikola Tesla said that in 1899 he intercepted the message from intelligent creatures, living most likely, on Mars.

The inventor intrigued onlookers, telling how he repeatedly managed to receive signals from Mars, created by intelligent creatures. He seemed to be clearly aware of the presence of someone there, outside the Earth, but he did not have enough resources to establish bilateral contact.

In 1910, giving an interview to The New York Times, Tesla slowed down and admitted that he had not received messages from Mars (what a “surprise”). He explained that he recorded unusual radio signals from the moon, Venus, the sun, and probably from Mars. So, Tesla himself, destroyed his own myth about himself.

Bizzare & Odd

China announces the completion of its Artificial Sun and expect it to become operational in 2020

One of the biggest problems facing the world today is the issue of energy. Finding a renewable energy source that does not destroy that planet is a complex task that has intrigued many countries for many years.

However, China may have found a solution. Chinese scientists are working on collecting energy from the Sun, but not in the traditional sense of solar energy, but in fusion energy. The “artificial sun” that has developed is actually a nuclear fusion device that is believed to be the future of clean energy.

Fusion reactor

On Tuesday, China announced the completion of its reactor device and declared that they expect it to come into operation as soon as 2020. The real name of China’s artificial sun is HL-2M, which doesn’t make it sound so special. The reactor is located in Leshan, Sichuan Province, where it was built to investigate fusion technology by the National Nuclear Corporation of China and the Institute of Physics of the Southwest. In reality, it has become much more and is potentially the future of the world’s energy.

China announces the completion of its artificial Sun and expect it to become operational in 2020

How does it work?

This is essentially a giant nuclear fusion device, which basically forces atoms to bind, which releases heat, which can then be harvested for energy. While the device is known as an artificial sun, it can actually reach temperatures 13 times higher than the real star. The HL-2M can reach 200 million degrees Celsius (360 million degrees Fahrenheit, compared to just 15 million degrees Celsius (27 million degrees Fahrenheit) in the core of the Sun. The resulting energy is not only cheaper, but also much cleaner than current nuclear options, which means that the Earth would not be damaged.

That said, it is not as simple as it seems. Of course, there are a number of problems when dealing with such high temperatures, the main one being that they are difficult to achieve. Completing reactions like this can be complicated and must be done correctly so they don’t go wrong. The consequences could be dire. Therefore, there are a number of problems that must be resolved before this sun can get to work.

While it is not yet functional, it will be soon, and the artificial sun could possibly revolutionize the world’s energy sources and the way we use it.

Bizzare & Odd

Encounters with giant squid

STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

In the late 19th century, there are several instances where near the rocky island of Newfoundland, in northeastern Canada, have seen huge squid.

Researcher Henry Lee has collected several similar reports. One of them was published in March 1875 in the journal American Journal of Science and Arts.

According to this information, Professor Veril personally reports that since 1870, several huge squid, measuring 30 to 52 feet (9-15 meters) in size, have been observed near Newfoundland.

In particular, one of the squid was found floating dead on the surface of the water near the Grand Bank. Captain Campbell, with schooner BD Hoskins, spotted it in October 1871.

This squid was raised aboard the schooner and parts of it’s body were used as bait for fish. It’s body was 15 feet (4.5 meters) plus tentacles 10 feet (3 meters) long. The beak was cut and sent for testing at the Smithsonian Institution.

Another squid described in the same article was found still alive but stuck in the shallow waters of Fortuna Bay in 1872. It was extracted ashore, and when the researchers began to make their measurements, the creature died.

The body of this squid was 10 feet (3 meters) long, and the tentacles had a colossal length of 42 feet (12 meters). The suction cups on the tentacles were firm and had “serrated” edges.

Another huge squid was also caught in Bonavista Bay. Its length is not stated, but it is reported that its large beak and a few tentacles have been sent for study at the Smithsonian.

On September 22, 1877, another giant squid was spotted in the shallow waters of Catalina, on the north shore of Trinity Bay, near Newfoundland. It was still alive when the fishermen saw it, but when the tide came, the squid found itself on the shore and died soon after.

Two fishermen dragged the squid into the village. All the inhabitants were amazed at its appearance and its enormous size. It was first decided to cut it into pieces and feed the dogs, but a man advised the fishermen to take the creature to the nearest town of St. John’s.

The fishermen did this and the squid’s body was covered with ice and brought into the city. At first, they wanted to sell it to the same Professor Veril, but the deal fell through. After all, squid was auctioned off at the New York Aquarium.

On October 7, 1877, the squid’s body was transferred to New York City and placed in a large glass tank filled with special liquid to preserve it from decomposing. There, it was finally measured for the first time: the squid’s body was 3 meters long, plus the length of the tentacles – 9 meters. One of the tentacles was counting 250 suction pumps.

Henry Lee was very excited about this unusual series of events when, for 7 years, these rare marine animals were caught several times in the same area of Canada. He suggested that the squid may have been attracted by the remains of small fish caught in the nets of cod fishermen.

This version has not been confirmed. Lee realized that giant squid, during those same years, were often seen elsewhere on the planet. Including Japan, in 1873, a huge squid was caught and sold on the Edo fish market.

In 1874, a giant squid was dumped on a beach on St. Paul’s Island, Alaska. Together with the tentacles, it reached a length of 23 feet (7 meters).

In April 1875, a huge squid was seen in the water off the west coast of Ireland. The squid seemed dead and lying still, swaying in the waves. But when the fishermen swam to him and cut off one of his tentacles, the squid trembled and then quickly sailed out to sea.

The fishermen tried to catch it but had to chase it for sbout 5 miles before finally reaching it and killing it. The remains of it’s tentacles can be seen in the Dublin Museum.

Why in those years there were so many cases of giant squid in shallow waters or near the shore, no one has understood.

Nowadays, such large squids are extremely rare.