Rabid Nuns!
The newsletter for the Strangerous Channel
You’ve subscribed to The Strangerous newsletter!
Jason Murphy is a novelist, screenwriter, and content creator. In 1972, he was part of a crack commando unit that was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit.
Before we dive into recent weirdness, I want to thank everyone who came out and supported the launch of the Strangerous channel. The team here (all two of us!) poured our hearts into the 3-day launch and we had a blast. The Patreon is up and running. Come join the Strangerous Society!
This Week on The Strangerous Shorts
You can watch the latest The Strangerous Shorts on Instagram every day.
If you're loving the Strangerous, share us with your friends! See below for a link.
Below is this week’s most popular short Strangerous story. Check it out for more information on the biting nuns!
Biting Nuns
In 15th century Germany, one day a nun at a convent just started biting the other sisters. And like any good zombie movie, the other nuns started biting each other, too! But it didn’t stop there! The behavior spread throughout the country. Then it happened in the Netherlands. And in Italy!
A 15th-century doctor described it thus: “ A nun in a German nunnery fell to biting all her companions. In the course of a short time, all the nuns of this convent began biting each other. The news of this infatuation among the nuns soon spread and it now passed convent to convent throughout a great part of Germany principally Saxony and It afterward visited the nunneries of Holland and at last, the nuns had biting mania even as far as Rome.”
It expanded all over Europe! Records of it are rare, and I have so many questions! Did they draw blood? Were there cannibalistic urges? Did they bite just anyone?
Naturally, the Church thought possession was at play here, so they started performing exorcisms. That didn’t work. So then the Church started threatening to dunk them in water or flog them. After a few examples were set, the biting stopped. It turns out torture is a pretty good deterrent for imaginary rabies.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/mass-hysteria-003717
I know this newsletter is huge in the nun community, so I have to ask, “Hey, nuns? What’s your whole deal?”
As someone who has had only passing encounters with Catholicism, I don’t have a lot of experience around nuns. I’m not sure what I’d say, to be honest. I mean, I know they’re just people expressing devotion to their faith, but they’re also enigmatic members of an ancient sacred order. That’s a variable my programming isn’t equipped to deal with. I’m sure someone reading this knows a nun. If so, could you please ask them what’s up with the biting? I know it was hundreds of years ago, but maybe there’s some werewolf curse among them. Maybe there’s a secret history of the Catholic Church, one where every few generations, the priests have to band together to put down an uprising of nuns with rabies.
Oh, and bring back nunsploitation!
Were They Going to Leave the Astronauts on the Moon?
Getting to the moon was a miracle of science and engineering, but the most dangerous part would not be landing on the moon, but getting off of it. Astronaut Michael Collins was in the orbiting command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. There were so many potential points of failure in getting the two men back to the ship - problems with ascent engine ignition, problems docking with the command module, or even the outrageous. Some scientists believed that the moon dust on their suits may ignite when it contacted the oxygen inside the lunar model.
If they couldn’t get them back, they were going to leave them on the moon! If the unthinkable occurred, NASA was just going to shut off comms with the men. They would either commit suicide or run out of air, with no further contact from earth. That’s right! NASA was going to plug its ears and say, “LALALA! No one is dying on the moon! LALALALA!!!”
They did have clergy on hand to follow the same rituals to bury a sailor at sea, commending their souls to “the deepest of the deep”. That’s … that’s grim.
Here’s the speech Nixon prepared:
“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
“These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
“These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
“They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
“In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
“In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
“Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
“For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.”
https://www.history.com/news/what-if-the-moon-landing-had-failed
How do you grapple with something like this? The space race was so important in the 60s. It had so much cultural pride and momentum wrapped up in it and was the hallmark of American ingenuity and grit. And as the world watches, you have to prepare to acknowledge that two men were sacrificed to the moon. Unfortunately, we still wrestle with grief on a societal scale, but I can’t imagine the psychic impact it would have had on the country if we’d had to let them die on the moon.
What Was Wrong With This Guy?
In the annals of bizarre human history, there exists a character whose story is both fascinating and grotesque - Tarrare, the French showman who could seemingly eat anything. This guy, who lived in the late 18th century, defied the limits of human appetite and biology.
Tarrare had an insatiable hunger that led him to consume astonishing quantities of food. Witnesses reported that he could eat entire baskets of apples, gallons of milk, and even live animals like snakes and eels. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to digest almost anything, whether it was edible or not.
His extraordinary talent led him to join a traveling sideshow in France, where he was billed as "The Man Who Can Eat Anything." He became a sensation, drawing curious crowds from near and far. Onlookers were both fascinated and horrified by his grotesque eating displays. Tarrare would swallow corks, stones, and even live animals, only to regurgitate them unharmed later (sometimes…).
Despite his popularity as a showman, Tarrare's bizarre condition had dire consequences for his health. His rapid weight loss, foul body odor, and relentless gastrointestinal issues made his life a living nightmare. His peculiar gift eventually turned into a curse. Doctors were perplexed by his condition, and he sought medical help to alleviate his suffering, but to no avail.
In 1798, Tarrare was enlisted as a spy by the French military during the Napoleonic Wars. His unique ability was seen as an asset, as he could potentially smuggle messages and small objects past enemy lines by ingesting them. However, his espionage career was short-lived, as he was captured by the enemy and subjected to brutal interrogation.
Tarrare's story ultimately ends in tragedy. His death in 1798, at the age of only 26, remains a mystery. Some sources claim that he died from complications related to the consumption of a golden fork, which was removed from his stomach post-mortem.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/tarrare
https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/tarrare/
https://www.grunge.com/754206/the-true-story-of-tarrare-the-man-who-couldnt-stop-eating/
I’m hard-pressed to think of something more grotesquely American than competitive eating. This isn’t that, but when someone is eating things for the amusement of others, I can’t help but think that their life has gone completely off the rails. I wonder if we can find the equivalent in today’s economy of digital buskers. Is there a modern Tarrare who has turned to Twitch as a way to monetize his horrible condition? Unable to get help for whatever the hell is wrong with him, he starts eating dangerous things online. If you’re a Patron, you get to pick which office supply he swallows! I’m just saying, in the dystopian hellscape of American healthcare, I like to think that the modern Tarrare would turn lemons into lemonade.
Is this Painting Haunted? And why?
In 2001, musician Nikki Stone purchased this painting and soon after, horrible things started happening to him. His dog died. His mother was diagnosed with cancer. Was it the fault of this weird painting? He hadn't even hung it on the wall, but he let friends hang onto it and bizarre stuff started happening to them. One claims that it tormented him into attempting suicide. In 2005, Stone said he just wanted to get rid of it. It even found its way into the hands of Johnny Depp, who allegedly developed a fear of clowns because of it. You see, this painting is Pogo the Clown, painted by serial killer John Wayne Gacy while he was on death row. Gacy would dress up as Pogo the Clown and perform at hospitals and charity events. Until they found the remains of a LOT of children beneath his house. It's now currently in the possession of Ghost Adventures investigator Zak Bagans.
I was going to detail Gacy’s crimes in this paragraph, but … nah. That’s too much and will just ruin your day. There are links below. Proceed with caution.
https://www.newsweek.com/zak-bagans-john-wayne-gacy-pogo-clown-artwork-oddities-collection-1530402
https://artincontext.org/haunted-paintings/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy
There’s a market for this kind of thing. I have to admit, there’s a time in my life where I might have said, “Yeah! I want that in my house!”
I enjoy ghoulish things, but when you acquire something made by a serial killer, in a way, you’re venerating their art. There’s this perverse temptation for some to treat serial killers like rock stars. Sure, I was curious about Charles Manson’s musical endeavors when I learned about them, but having anything like that in your personal collection is just a shade away from a closet full of Nazi memorabilia.
In The Sandman, there’s a convention attended by the Corinthian, one that’s solely populated with serial killers and their fans. Is there something similar for people who sell taboo items? A convention of table after table selling things like actual plastic cups from Jonestown, a piece of the bullet that shot Reagan, or Rasputin’s noose? There’s no way you’re leaving that place without a curse.
Strangerous Updates
Whew! We survived. I am so grateful for the gang of you who showed up for our livestream to launch the channel. We had a blast!
Richard Kadrey read a new short story.
We launched the new longform videos on YouTube.
We had a live podcast with Grant Davis.
Roll Fast//Dice Hard returned!
Here’s some more amazing stuff from our friends:
Checkout Hightailing Through History on Spotify:
Here’s the podcast they did about the Third Wave Experiment, which was truly chilling:
The Lesson Plan Documentary on YouTube:
You can find more of Hightailing Through History here:
Instagram @HightailingHistory
TikTok @HightailingHistoryPod
YouTube @HightailingThroughHistory https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSAWIl5GTjv8xQnqzaLo5Tg
Anthony from the Historical Weapons Guild shared these links if you want to know more about the sword fighting techniques of Thibault!
Thibault - Academy of the Sword:
https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Thibault_d%27Anvers
Kal - Duel between man and a woman
https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Paulus_Kal#Duel_Between_a_Man_and_a_Woman
If you’d like to support The Strangerous, we’ve also launched our Patreon page! The Strangerous community is coming to life on our Discord channel. Hope to see you there!
Support The Strangerous
Want to help support the channel and see us grow?
Follow! Share! Comment! Link! Save! Subscribe! Get Notifications! It really helps and we appreciate it so, so much.
You can share our posts and reels on Instagram, share our YouTube videos and playlists, and share this newsletter.