Drugs! A Donkey Lady! Crocodile Poop!
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Jason Murphy is a novelist, screenwriter, and content creator. Read this newsletter. You’ll like it.
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Crocodile Poop as a Contraceptive
Look, of course, I was going to talk about this one. I'm not a proud man. If someone mentions crocodile poop, I'll pay attention.
People put crocodile poop in their vagina. That's the story. Ancient Egypt. Thousands of years ago. The croc poo was collected and left in the sun to dry. Then they grind it up into a powder, mix it with water, and let it dry. I found some other sources that seemed to indicate they sometimes mixed it with honey or with dough to make … poo bread, I guess? Poo vagina bread? Those are words that I just used in a sentence together. The mixture is then inserted into the vagina where it acts as a barrier to prevent pregnancy. This mixture, as it solidified, was to create a pessary. The jury is still out on if the chemical properties of the mixture prevented pregnancy or actually helped it.
https://reptilecity.com/crocodile-dung-as-a-
contraceptive/https://flo.health/menstrual-cycle/sex/birth-control/ancient-birth-control-methods
When writing, you’re creating a world. Sometimes quite literally, when you’re discussing fantasy stories. And when you’re populating that world, you want them to be real people. Sure, they need to slay the dragon or keep the wizard from summoning the dark lord or whatever, but they’re still people (or dwarves. Or elves. You get it.). And people have more going on than the plot. Their lives are filled with all manner of other struggles that, while you don’t see them on the screen, define them as a character. Let’s say your protagonist is trying to slay the dragon. But maybe she also has to use crocodile poop in her most sacred areas because fighting a dragon while pregnant is hard. I’m not saying you need to have a chapter describing - ahem - application of these contraceptives. That’s not the point. The point is that your characters are people, too, and people have all sorts of struggles - no matter the era - that they’re wrestling with.
Did ergot cause the French Revolution?
Caveat - some history nerd is going to come along and tell me that no, of course the French Revolution wasn’t caused by a hallucinogenic fungus. To say that it did diminishes the actual, complicated reasons for the upheaval. But in the 1980s, Maryland associate professor Mary Kilburne Mattossian published a book, “Poisons of the Past: Molds, Epidemics and History”. It was met with some pushback among academics, claiming that Mattossian was trying to come up with some unifying theory that the fungus was behind many historical events where people were going batshit. Along with the French Revolution, ergotism has been blamed for the Salem Witch Trials and the so-called ‘Wisconsin Death Trip’.
In the Middle Ages, they labeled those suffering from ergotism as victims of ‘Saint Anthony’s Fire’. The ‘fire’ referred to the burning feeling many people experienced after ingesting the infected rye. This wasn’t some one-off incident, either. It was an epidemic. In 994 CE, an outbreak of it in France killed 20,000 to 40,000 people.
https://apnews.com/article/b023159303c4db7fa95c025ed9a4d8a0
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2017/has-ergot-altered-events-world-history
https://www.worldhistory.org/St_Anthony's_Fire/
I’m an easy mark for stories about mysterious drugs. Some completely natural and vaguely threatening thing that hitchhikes on something mundane like wheat, and it can drive people insane? Maybe en masse? Sign me up. There are even theories out there that hallucinogens kickstarted human evolution. Some cultures believe these substances to be sacred, that they have way more power than just a wild trip. Want to get really weird? Dive into the work of psychonaut John Lilly
The Most Notorious Torture Device Wasn’t Real!
The Iron Maiden didn’t exist. The band does, of course. I’m not sure Bruce Dickinson can die. The legendary torture device was just that - a legend. It’s believed that Johann Philipp Siebenkees maybe kind of sort of made it up. It’s unlikely that he fabricated the entire thing. Some historians posit that Siebenkees simply misunderstood when reading about ‘the barrel of shame’, the Schandmantel. This was a real torture device, but a relatively benign one. Criminals were closed into a barrel with their neck sticking out, allowing locals to mock them and throw rotten vegetables. It had no spikes. Siebenkees decided to lean into the sadism and embellish a little bit by adding the pointy bits. Someone along the way decided that it was too wicked to be imaginary and decided to actually start making them.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/iron-maiden-0011517
https://gizmodo.com/the-iron-maiden-was-historys-most-brutal-imaginary-tort-1679890520
https://www.historicalindex.org/what-is-an-iron-maiden.htm
It’s fascinating to me that a mistranslation or a best guess from a historian hundred of years ago can leave such an indelible mark on history. This can’t be the only thing, right? What else isn’t real? Calculus? The island of Sicily? Horses?!?
I guess this is a really good argument for doing your research. As a writer of the morbid and strange, there’s a non-zero chance that I would need a torture device in one of my books. I’ll have to make up my own, I suppose. If you’ve got any ideas, slide into my DMs.
Attack of the Dead Men
Every time I think I’ve heard of all of the horrors of World War 1, something new rears its nasty head. On August 6th, 1915, the Germans laid siege to the Russian-occupied Osowiec fortress in Poland. It was heavily fortified, enabling a relatively small number of Russians to hold the fortress against overwhelming odds. But the Germans had other ideas, ideas that involved chlorine gas. As they unleashed the gas on the fortress, it turned the grass black. It spoiled the food. And it decimated the Russian forces. Their rudimentary masks were no match for the chlorine gas. You see, as the gas interacts with the moisture of the human body when it is inhaled, it becomes hydrochloric acid.
But when the Germans stormed the fortress, they found Russians still standing. The Russians were dying. They were wrapped in bloody rags and coughing up bits of lung. And they were pissed. They fought like wild dogs and the very sight of them terrified the Russian troops, causing the battle to be labeled ‘the Attack of the Dead Men’.
https://www.rbth.com/history/328908-russian-attack-of-dead
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/dead.html?chrome=1
You don’t have to go very far if you want to find something shocking to put into one of your projects. History is full of atrocities.
The Donkey Lady of San Antonio
I won’t lie. I thought this was made up. I mean, all cryptids are made up, but I thought this one was really, really made up. I often put out polls on my Instagram to ask what monsters people would like for me to cover. This was one of the suggestions.
As campfire tales go, this one is pretty ‘by the numbers’. There was a horrible tragedy - a woman and her family were killed in a fire. The woman rose from the grave, burned beyond recognition, but looking … like a donkey? Another one says that she and her pet donkey drowned and when they came back from the dead, they were merged into one vengeful chimera. Either way, she’s mad about it, apparently, and haunts this bridge in San Antonio. I want to go.
https://texashillcountry.com/donkey-lady-bridge-san-antonio/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/donkey-lady-bridge
What you’ve got here, at its simplest, is a ghost story. It’s the core of any good horror movie. Some unknown specter interrupts the life of the protagonist and then they have to delve into its dark past to figure out how to save themselves. And if you’re looking for an interesting urban legend or monster to place in your story, sure, you could go with Sasquatch or the Mothman of Point Pleasant, but those are well-tread paths. Pick something hyper-local, something that only the locals know about.
The Strangerous Channel Updates
We’re hard at work on some long-form videos to go up on YouTube. If you’re subscribed to the newsletter, we’ll be giving you some early peeks. So far, we’ve filmed 2 of them. The edits should be in the 10-20 minute range as we do some deep dives into Strangerous topics.
Along with the longer episodes, we’re preparing to launch a Patreon. Our goals are ambitious and taking waaaay longer than we thought, but I’m excited about the community we’re building.
Speaking of community, the Strangerous Society Discord is launching soon. Stay tuned.
We’ve got some interesting guests lined up to join us on some of these projects. Some of our experts you’ll be very familiar with, while the rest will be exciting surprises. They run the gamut of security specialists, historians, mercenaries, and more. It’s a very special club we’re building together. You’re gonna love it.
There’s a podcast on the way! I can’t share much yet. We’re recording some this weekend, so maybe next week I’ll have a bit more for you.
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Our Favorite comments from the week:
“The ancient Egyptians also had a home pregnancy test that was about 70% effective.” @khaytoe
I had no idea! But it’s true and fascinating.
Strangerous News
Have you been keeping up with the developments in AI? Or rather, have you been trying to keep up with all the news? It’s a tsunami. There’s lots of breathless prognosticating about the future of humanity in relation to AI. Will it be good? Will it be bad? Well, this is decidedly good. Researchers at the University of Texas have discovered a way to turn MRI scans of a persons brain into text, using Chat GPT.