CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
Reminiscent of a famous scene in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, here's an illustration from a 1902 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "From the smaller organ raved up a pandemonium of ghoulish execrations."
An illustration of a spirit double from an 1889 issue of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly magazine. The caption reads: "It seemed almost like a luminous mist floating in through the window—and out of that mist slowly grew my own face and form."
A ghostly illustration from a 1902 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "He said he wouldn't sit down; he'd prefer to flit up and down the room."
"Memories that come back to life are like ghosts; they emerge, as if from a tiny point, then swell until they suddenly take on a spatial presence of greater beauty and immediacy than they ever had before." —Gustav Meyrink, Walpurgisnacht