Li-Ching Yuen

He Was 256

A couple months back, a friend and client piqued my interest in people reputed to have had fantastical lifespans. The other day I happened upon the best-documented case of extreme longevity yet. In Qijiang County, Sichuan province, in the year 1677, Li Qingyun was born. By age thirteen, he had…
August 24, 20223 Comments
St Germain

A Man Who Knows Everything and Never Dies

Recent revelations of occult goings-on have occasioned another of this blog's deep dives into high strangeness. This time, the object of our search is real-life immortals. Are they just the stuff of legend, folklore, and chicanery? Or are there those walking among us who really do live forever? Voltaire seems…
June 27, 2022
garden hermit

Ornamental Men

It turns out that garden gnomes have a stranger and more disturbing origin than you might have thought. Before the days of the ceramic lawn gnome, a human being often played the role of the dour, robe-wearing guardian of flora and fauna — and that person was preferably a grizzled…
April 18, 202216 Comments
K2 West Face 1908

Second Highest Strangeness

Photograph by By Vittorio Sella (1859–1943) We all know the classic weird tale settings: dark woods, moonlit moors, fog-bound swamps. The gothic tales practically write themselves. But for this horror writer's money, the eeriest place on Earth has none of the above features. Indeed, its stark barrenness is what makes…
December 17, 20219 Comments
Weird Tales Distro

Distro Tech

The irrepressible Man of the Atom continues his journey through American comic book history. Continuing his deep dive into comic book distribution, he takes a page--or three--from legendary Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Which distro method is superior: Newsstands or the direct market? Shooter’s and Rozanski’s analyses are well worth your…
December 6, 20219 Comments
Nativity of Jesus

Defending December 25th

Advent is back, and so are the historically illiterate fedora tippers who come out of the woodwork each year to play Grinch. That means it's time to republish this perennial favorite post so my readers can demolish internet atheists' cringe "Christmas is Pagan!" memes. December 25 really is the date…
December 1, 202125 Comments
Pontian and Hippolytus

Pope-Antipope

Instability shakes Western civilization. The worldwide government turns to active persecution of Christians. Confusion strikes the heart of the Church, where the faithful's loyalties are divided between two men claimed to be the heir of St. Peter. That sounds like a summary of recent headlines, but it's nothing the Church…
November 24, 202114 Comments
Nebuchadnezzar Ages

The Ages of Comics

Friend of the blog Man of the Atom pens a learned essay on the origins and ages of American comic books: What about the stories? Where did they originate? Like any good writers, the comic authors typically went to the literature of the times as well as the recent past…
November 22, 20214 Comments
Pray Shroud

An Icon Not Made by Hands

A major point in Christianity's favor that sets it apart from other religions and bolsters its truth claims is the historicity of its central events. Unlike other traditions' myths of demigods and divinized heroes, Christ's birth, ministry, and death are not said to have occurred in some nebulous age of…
September 14, 202126 Comments
Use the Ring

Use the Ring

Conservatives are fond of invoking the Ring of Power from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings as a symbol of government power. It's easy to see the attraction that metaphor holds for them. Having raised individual liberty and limited government to cardinal virtues, a talisman of ultimate control fits their image…
February 3, 202119 Comments