Strange and Unusual

"J. C. Ferguson, of the Eclipse Machine Co., using a Morrow Coaster Brake, alongside the Hotel Astor, New York." -------- Printed on the back: "Elmira, N.Y., June 17, 1911. To the Live Ones, When you want a brake that is made good, and has always [been] made good, try a Morrow. No change in construction in seven years. That tells the story. J. C. Ferguson." For a similar postcard advertisement, see Miss Clara Wagner with Her Motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York .

Real photo postcard, postmarked Juneau, Wisconsin, Sept. 21, 1912.

Here we see a happy group of tourists innocently posing for an amusing souvenir photo. While fifteen men, women, and children look on from their seats on the wagon, two women and a man hoist the apparatus at the front and foolishly pretend to pull the vehicle. Little did they know that their frivolous action would cause a ghostly tendril of energy--apparently invisible to the naked eye--to sweep in and engulf the unwitting souls there on the wagon, leaving them oblivious to their fate. Or maybe it's just a light leak. (A light leaks photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Take a look at A Light from Above and Lost in the Mists of Time for more leaks.)

Or at least that's what I thought it looked like!

"The Lititz Express." Printed on the back of this postcard: "Souvenir, July 4, 1907. Power demonstration on Express Printing Company's float." Evidently, the Lititz Express , a newspaper published until the 1930s in Lititz, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, printed this punning illustration with a press on board its Fourth of July parade float in 1907. I've heard of souvenir printings "on the ice" for frost fairs when the River Thames in London froze over in past centuries, and I have some menus and other items that were printed aboard ships during cruises, but I can't recall seeing anything else printed during a parade. Has anyone else encountered any other examples of printing on ice, parade float, ship, train, plane, automobile, or in any other unique circumstances?

These stereographic cards are in poor shape even after some touch-up, but they're intriguing--and almost macabre--for their depiction of the perils of fireworks. Captions: "The Glorious 4th of July. No. 1." "The Fifth of July. No. 2." Printed on the front: "American and Foreign Views. Sold only by canvassers. New Educational Series. Stereoscopic views."

A vintage real photo postcard advertising a now old-fashioned type of washing machine. "Good Morning, Sir: Do you want to know how to make money? It is easy, if you know how. I made and sold washers for 25 years. Many dealers have made big money with my washer. You failed to do much with it. May I help you? All my experience is at your service and will make money for you. Do you want it? Yours for success, J. H. Knoll, Reading, Pa."

Babies in wash basins seemed to be a trend in photographs and advertisements at one time. See Richard Sheaff's discussion of Baby in a Basin on his amazing Sheaff : ephemera site. I haven't located any information regarding Galen Piper, a local photographer in Bainbridge, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In this photo, a scene with a house, fence, and tree is visible on what appears to be a hand-drawn backdrop.

A downright macabre postcard for the Weird Vintage Postcards group. -------- I dreamt I was in a trance, my folks thought me dead. They put me in a coffin; they cried and said nice things about me. All night long the old cat, whose kittens I had drowned that morning, sat on my coffin and gloated over my sufferings; she knew I was alive. I was placed in a hearse and in due time arrived at the grave yard. I could hear the mud hit the lid of the coffin and began to choke when I woke up. Gates ajar. He has went? His chair is vacant. -------- Printed on the back: "Bad Dream Series No. 1." Postmarked twice on Oct. 17, 1910: Once at Middletown, Pa., 7 a.m., and a second time at Manchester, Pa., 9 a.m. Addressed to: "Mrs. Katie May. Manchester, York Co., Pa." Handwritten message: "Dear Sister, I wanted to write this [for a] long time but I had no time. We are having two weeks off at the shoe factory. Why didn't you come over? I was at the river. Answer. From Elva, your sis. R.F.D. No. 1."

"'Pansy' the Roller-Skating Cow, featuring Rose, Betty, and Harry Rapp (A Rapp & Rapp Production)." Pansy the Roller-Skating Cow performed for fairs, carnivals, and circuses throughout the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. Other than some newspaper ads and brief mentions in Billboard magazine that turned up in Google searches, I haven't been able to locate any information regarding Pansy or the Rapps.

I have not been able to determine who Emmett A. Thomas was or why his head was superimposed on the body of a mosquito. Some kind of New Jersey joke perhaps?

A strange and inexplicable New Year greeting! An old woman is tossing a young boy, identified as "1889" across his back, into a steaming kettle of soup that she's cooking over a hot fire. The legs of her previous victim are barely visible at the edge of the kettle. Am I missing something here? Is there a literary allusion or proverb or something else that might explain this? Otherwise, it seems a rather cruel and violent way to greet the New Year. In any case, after initially believing this to be a calling card, I finally discovered that it's number 5 ("Old woman holding boy 1889 over soup tureen") in a series of 50 "New Years 1890" cigarette cards issued by Kinney Tobacco Co. See Kinney New Years 1890 Cards - N227 for additonal information about the card series. By the way, some of the other cards in this series also show strange and unsettling scenes: No. 19 - Boy pushing huge snowball over figure of 1889. No. 20 - Duelist 1890 standing over fallen 1889. No. 36 - Boy 1890 skates round 1889 falling through ice. No. 38 - Whale swallowing 1889, 1890 steps on to floating globe. No. 49 - Sun as spider devouring insect 1889, insect 1890 flies away. A checklist for the card series and illustrations of each card are available at Kinney New Years 1890 Cards - N227 .

A 1970s photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. In the original scan of this photo, the Pennsylvania license plate on the back of the truck looks like it has a "74" or "75" sticker in one corner, so I'm reasonably sure that it dates to the 1970s.

A trick or treat photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten on the back: "Hostetter Farm oats field." This photo doesn't feature a Children of the Corn scenario like Deborah Lundbech's delightfully spooky If You Grow It, She Will Come... , but I wouldn't want to see these sinister Grown-Ups of the Oats coming through the field toward me!

This real photo postcard was addressed to Miss Olive Hanner, Strasburg, Ohio, and was postmarked Akron, Ohio, Nov. 5, 1909. There was no greeting or message.