Newgrange, Ireland

I should mention Newgrange since it's the Winter Solstice currently . It's one of the coolest places I've ever been. I saw it when I was 17 on my trip to Ireland. It's an ancient Celtic burial mound which predates the pyramids in Egypt, and is covered with neolithic markings and decorations the meaning of which is still a mystery to archaeologists. The coolest feature is the fact that during the winter solstice sunlight enters through a "roof box" and illuminates the chamber.
I love Pagan astronomy. If you would like to be there for the Solstice you can actually enter the yearly lottery, but you know...good luck!

Biblical Gore

Ever wonder what happened to Judas Iscariot? Turns out it was something gross!
how does this even happen?

"Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

Blajini

From wikipedia:

"The myth of the Blajini

As Romanians generally perceived the earth as a disc, they were naturally creative enough to imagine what existed on the other side. This other earth is imagined as a mirror image of our own, and as a home to creatures called Blajini [blaˈʒinʲ] ("gentle/kind-hearted ones"), sometimes given the name Rohmani [ˈroh.manʲ] in Bucovina. They are described as anthropomorphic and short, sometimes having the head of a rat. They are either described as malicious or as having great respect for God and leading a sinless life. They are considered to fast the year through, and thus doing humans a great service.^[7]

The Romanian holiday Paştele Blajinilor (the Easter of the Blajini) is a way to repay them for the benefits they bring. Since they live in isolation, they have no way of knowing when Easter comes. It is for this reason that Romanians eat dyed eggs and let the shells flow downstream, from there they believe they will get to the Apa Sâmbetei, and from there to the Blajini.^[8]

Moon Woman

Moon Woman: "A Woman who lays eggs and sits on them hatching giants."

Makes Perfect Sense

Found this in "Sea Monsters and Other Dangerous Marine Life" while researching my next show:

"A Greek philosopher named Empedocles, who is considered to be the founder of what we now know as physics, related amazing beliefs that parts of gigantic animals came out of the sea and wandered about. Heads, tails, and massive body sections floundered around until finding themselves compatible parts. All this took place in a land where human parts, such as legs, hands, heads, and torsos, also flopped about. As a result, some very strange combinations were formed: sea monsters with human heads, humans with sea monster heads, or perhaps sea serpents with human hands and feet"

Oh that makes perfect sense!

It's a Doctorate in Druidism...

You know who's amazing? Dr. William Price. In addition to being an incredibly forward thinking vegetarian, believer in equality between men and women, believer in the abolition of marriage (he considered it enslavement of women), and advocate of conservation he was a self appointed arch-druid known for his eccentric habits and dress who made history by protesting the boarder-line illegality of cremation by publicly cremating his dead son who, by the way, he named Jesu Grist (Welsh for Jesus Christ). Read more about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Price_%28doctor%29
http://babylonwales.blogspot.com/2009/02/dr-william-price.html
http://www.llantrisant.net/price.htm

In Russia Cryptid Hunts You

Did you know that Russia has it's own Nessi (Neski) which lives in Lake Chaney and eats people?:

http://cryptoreports.com/siberian-lake-monster-nesski-linked-to-missing-russian-fisherman
http://www.uforadar.com/2010/07/russian-loch-ness-monster-claims-19th-victim-in-three-years/

And many many of their own Bigfoot and Yeti?:

http://www.rense.com/general29/russe.htm

Or that they captured a living missing link named Zana who lived in captivity and then bred with humans to produce children?

Here is her entry from Squatchopedia. Oh yeah, it also turns out there's a Squatchopedia!

http://www.squatchopedia.com/index.php/Zana

I found some of this preliminary stuff while doing reading for my Slavic folklore show, but just learned about Zana today.

First Crud

So I realized with all my dicking around at work, and with all the books I'm reading and all of the strange information rabbitholes I fall down that it would kind of cool to have a place to share it all. Not just for interested 3rd parties but for my future reference. It bums me out to think of all the weird bits of info that have slipped through the cracks. You can pretty much expect a lot of weird creatures (real and fictional), strange folklore and customs, weird bits of forgotten pop culture and history, and probably far too many wikipedia links.

Cool.