Just the Tip
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Jason Murphy is a novelist, screenwriter, and content creator. He once watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.
This Week on The Strangerous Shorts
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Below is this week’s most popular short Strangerous story. Check it out for more information on the foreskin of Jesus H. Christ!
What Did They Do With The ‘Holy Prepuce’?
The significance of relics in various cultures worldwide is evident, particularly in medieval Christianity, where relics associated with saints played a crucial role in the religion's development. One of the most sought-after relics was the foreskin of Jesus, also known as the Holy Prepuce.
During medieval times, relics closely linked to Jesus Christ garnered immense attention due to the widespread belief in the supernatural and the occult in Europe. Since Jesus was no ordinary saint but the central figure of Christianity, any item he was believed to have touched or used during his life became highly revered by his followers. The specific mention of Jesus's foreskin being removed eight days after birth in the Bible further reinforced the significance of this relic.
Relics in medieval Europe included objects such as clothing, body parts of saints, and even items associated with Jesus. Churches used relics as a means to attract worshippers, with the more relics a church possessed, the more popular it became on the pilgrimage circuit. So of course, the commercial benefit of attracting pilgrims led to fraud, forgery, and theft. These relics were eventually scattered throughout Western Europe during the Fourth Crusade's sacking of Constantinople.
The Holy Foreskin was one of the relics related directly to Jesus Christ, alongside relics like Mary's mother's milk and the True Cross. Common religious belief suggests that Jesus ascended to heaven with his body, leaving no bodily remains on Earth. Therefore, the debate about the importance of the Holy Foreskin as a holy relic is significant in historical context.
The earliest accounts of the Holy Foreskin come from the apocryphal "Arabic Infancy Gospel," which describes the circumcision of Jesus and the preservation of his foreskin. The relic's history includes its journey from the Byzantine Empress Irene to King Charlemagne and Pope Leo III. It was later stolen during the sacking of Rome in 1527.
The proliferation of Holy Foreskin relics in different European churches raised questions about their authenticity. Some churches sought validation from the Pope, while others claimed miraculous signs to support their relics.
The relic's last known location was the Italian village of Calcata, but it mysteriously disappeared in 1983. Some believe the Vatican was involved in its disappearance to prevent further discussion of the relic.
https://www.historicmysteries.com/holy-foreskin/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/how-many-foreskins-does-one-god-need
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Prepuce
Yes, I may have giggled while researching this one. It’s just so … insane. I know it’s supposed to be the greatest foreskin in all of history, but the entire thing is bonkers. From top to bottom.
Circumcision? Weird
Fixation on the foreskin of a prophet? Really weird
Thinking that foreskin is magic, so you fight wars over it and maybe eat it? Holy shit
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Halloween is Black and Orange, but Why?
Black and orange are the two most popular Halloween colors, and they have been associated with the holiday for centuries, but who decided that?
Black, of course, is the color of darkness, and it has long been associated with death and mourning. This is fitting for Halloween, which has its origins as a Celtic festival called Samhain. Samhain was a time to honor the dead and to mark the end of the harvest season. During Samhain, the Celts believed that the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest, and that ghosts and spirits could roam the earth freely. To protect themselves from evil spirits, the Celts would wear masks and costumes and build bonfires.
Orange is the color of autumn and the harvest season. It is also the color of pumpkins, which have been associated with Halloween since the 19th century. Turnips were originally carved by the Celts to ward off evil spirits, but once pumpkins were found in the new world were determined to be easier to carve, they became a staple of Halloween festivities.
Historical References
In the 1880s, the publisher Louis Prang began producing black and orange greeting cards for Halloween. These cards were very popular, and they helped to solidify black and orange as the traditional Halloween colors.
In the 1920s, the Dennison Manufacturing Company began producing black and orange crepe paper decorations for Halloween. These decorations were also very popular, and they helped to make black and orange even more synonymous with Halloween.
https://www.today.com/life/holidays/halloween-colors-meanings-rcna50174
https://www.womansday.com/life/a56608/black-and-orange-halloween-colors/
Be honest. You thought I was going to say that it was a marketing ploy. I really suspected Werther’s or Wonka tried to figure out branding for a holiday so they could sell more candy. How surprised would you be if you found out that Sears had invented Jack-o-Lantern carving? Or that the need for costumes was invented by Spencer Gifts?
This spring, the Strangerous will investigate why pastel colors are associated with Pagan fertility rituals!
What’s the Real Story Behind Annabelle the Doll?
The tale of Annabelle began in the early 1970s when a young nursing student received a seemingly innocent Raggedy Ann doll as a gift from her mother. The nursing student, Donna, quickly noticed a series of strange and unsettling occurrences surrounding Annabelle. The doll seemed to move on its own, changing positions or even rooms when no one was around. At first, Donna and her roommate dismissed these peculiar incidents as mere coincidences. However, they soon discovered that something far more sinister was afoot.
One of the most disturbing episodes involved finding handwritten notes inside their apartment, even though neither of the roommates had written them. These notes contained ominous messages such as "Help us" and "Help Lou," which referred to the boyfriend of one of the roommates, Lou. As the hauntings escalated, the roommates began to feel a malevolent presence in their home and experienced an overwhelming sense of dread.
Fearing for their safety and unable to explain the unexplainable, the young women decided to seek help from paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens, famous for their involvement in cases like the Amityville Horror, examined Annabelle and concluded that the doll was not possessed by a restless spirit but by a malicious and powerful entity.
The entity, the Warrens believed, was attempting to possess a human host, making Annabelle's presence a grave danger. To protect the roommates and contain the malevolent force, the Warrens took Annabelle to their Occult Museum. She now resides within a glass cabinet with a sign warning visitors of the potential dangers associated with the doll.
Though Annabelle herself has remained relatively quiet since her relocation to the Warrens' Occult Museum, the legend of the doll lives on, and reports of unexplained events continue to circulate. Some claim that visitors to the museum have felt an overwhelming sense of dread and unease in her presence.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/annabelle-doll
Read that Vice article above. Or just read the headline - “haunted doll experts”. Today I learned that there are people who are considered haunted doll experts! How does one earn such a recognition. I did four years at a university and we didn’t have any sort of accredited programs. I was taking psychology, history, and business management. But if haunted dolls were on the curriculum, you know damn well I would have been early to class every day.
The Vice article introduces us to Kat Blowers, an Arizona woman who researches haunted items and tries to find “safer” places for them. She actually rehomed haunted dolls through her currently debunked Etsy shop.
I wish you guys could see my face when I read that. They would turn it into a gif for ‘incredulous laughter’.
Even More Strange and Dangerous!
Thanks for reading our online newsletter! Here’s just a bit of our favorite things we’ve found lately.
This weekend, we went to a lovely restaurant in a small town outside of Austin. There were food and friends under a star-filled sky, as we sat on haybales and watched a movie.
Recognize this place?
It’s the house from the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s now a kinda fancy restaurant. I was disappointed to learn there were no weird bone totems or caged chickens inside, but I did keep checking the upstairs window to see if Sally Hardesty would come flying out of the glass, screaming like a banshee.
https://www.hooperskingsland.com/
If you’ve got any strange or dangerous stories to share, or anything you want to hear about, let me know! See you next week!