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An illustration from an 1897 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "A multitude of crows hopped and fought over the skeletons of the dead."
Dedicated to Gordon.
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1897 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "The weight of the Earth is equal to the weight of 78 moons (nearly)."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1899 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "Retrieving fallen baggage."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1869 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "Heroic self-sacrifice."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from a 1901 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Drawing a mystic half-circle on the floor."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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THIS is someone you guys should know. He's a bona-fide genius. He runs a whole raft of blogs and websites and is the author or co-author of more than 60 books (including WHOLE DICTIONARIES). That's six zero. And he doesn't even look 40. Amazing fellow.Anyway, he's a big Haunted Mansion fan, and he leaves nice comments at el bloggo now and then. He's a voracious reader, going through old journals and magazines and other obscure stuff. Probably reads and writes more before breakfast than you or I do in an academic semester. Today I got an email from him explaining that he's found a couple of precursors to the HM, one in a 1902 Cosmopolitan mag and the other in an 1891 The Strand mag.He's already published the 1902 Cosmo pic HERE, so it's available to see. It illustrates ghosts coming out of a pipe organ as it is played. (Note that there are two organists in the pic, so don't be confused. Look at the lower left. The artwork is not especially clear.)The second one I have seen but can't share yet, as it's pre-blogged and won't be published until the end of March, but it's even better, showing ghosts sitting alongside someone seated on a bench (or in a vehicle?). It's very much like the (original) HHG mirror gag. In fact, IMO, this drawing could be an actual source of inspiration. You'll see it at the end of March.
We'll diligently endeavor to live up to the praise, Doctor! Meanwhile, be sure to lose yourself (as we have done countless times) in the doctor's delightful "Long-Forgotten" Haunted Mansion archives.
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An illustration from an 1895 issue of English Illustrated magazine.
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1891 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "Look! Spiders' webs!"
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1868 issue of The Idler magazine. The caption reads: "I knew that a fearful and agonising death was nigh."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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"'There does not seem to be half enough time in life,' George observed, one day, apropos of nothing in particular." —Edward Garrett, "Crooked Places," Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine
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An illustration from a 1914 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "His head fell against the rose-patterned carpet of the lodging-house room. Diana, raising her arched neck, calmly stared at something beyond the wall of the room."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from a 1902 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "Shooting through barrel balanced on one foot."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1868 issue of Harper's magazine.
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| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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"The answer is simple. Because we want it to, indeed we yearn for it to.”
—ThirdWay (May 2004)
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An illustration of Hindu conjurers, from a 1921 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1892 issue of Harper's magazine.
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| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1897 issue of The Ludgate Illustrated magazine. The caption reads: "Seated by the other Stephen King."
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An illustration from a 1901 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Fear."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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"The placid stream of my existence must mingle with the great river of my kindred that flowed underground, as it were, until it gushed forth at my feet and now bears me away – – –" — Gustav Meyrink, The Angel of the West Window |
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An illustration from an 1891 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "Who was it who hid the Ace?"
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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 "It bears repeating that while the physical property of neurons firing is correlated with the subjective experience we call mental activity, no one knows exactly how this actually occurs." — Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight
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The [blank] That Ate Cleveland:(Thanks, Jonathan!)
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"The Bird-charmer": an illustration from an 1873 issue of Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours magazine.
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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Staring into the depths: an illustration from a 1913 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Gazing at a lighted candle through a paper cone."
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| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1893 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Strangers to the universal panic."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1869 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "The night-watch."
|
| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1898 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "I was a great cloud anchored to my body."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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 "I respect you a lot, so don't take this the wrong way. As long as it doesn't directly affect you, I don't see where you get off making a judgment." — Mariah Stewart, Moments in Time
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Staring into the depths: an illustration from a 1903 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Subject fixes the gaze on dancing mirrors."
|
| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1894 issue of Scribner's magazine.
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| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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| I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
(permalink) |
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Ponce’s Honor Lionized by Scholar
St. Augustine, Florida — An unlikely quest to vindicate Ponce de León’s integrity has led a lexicographer of magic words to demystify the Fountain of Youth.
Equipped with a portable camera obscura and a reference tome of alchemical symbols, scholar Craig Conley formally verified De León’s prediction that the spring of healing waters would not be guarded by "shapes of magic.”
"De León may have been a visionary,” Conley said, "but his head wasn’t stuck in the clouds.”
Conley, author of Magic Words: A Dictionary (Weiser Books), explained his use of the camera obscura, an antique photographic instrument.
"Often, magical symbols are only detectable from oblique angles. The camera obscura projects an upside down image inside its darkened chamber. It offers a way of studying something without directly looking at it, to examine from a fresh perspective, without preconceptions.”
Indeed, a popular preconception about De León’s motives is what inspired Conley’s own pursuit for vindication.
Just as facts can become muddied over time, folklore can devolve into "fakelore,” as oral historian Richard Dorson dubbed it.
Hence, De León’s quest for the Fountain of Youth is now popularly regarded as a childish pipe dream—a castle in Spain, if you will—even though evidence points toward a scientific initiative.
De León’s level-headedness is self-evident in a conversation with King Ferdinand, transcribed by Eugene Lee-Hamilton in 1891. De León explained that the Fountain of Youth is a miracle of nature, not of alchemy:
"No shapes of magic guard the potent spring; no circling dragons watch it night and day; no evil angels sit beside its brink, to mirror their dark wings within its waves. It hath nor spell nor supernatural essence, but is mere natural water,” rich in minerals and salts and filtered through highly potent medicinal mosses.
Ferdinand asked what then guarded the Fountain of Youth. In answer, De León described the wilds of Florida:
"The dreadful guard of Nature: inextricable forests and morasses, haunts of the panther and all clawed assassins, in whose pestiferous depths and clueless tangle no white man yet has ventured.”
Granted, De León didn’t become associated with healing waters until after his death. Yet popular legends possess an authenticity independent of cold fact.
For example, the "higher truths” in accounts of Washington’s honesty, Lincoln’s humility, and De León’s derring-do are crucial to American civilization.
Conley affirms that the integrity of folklore calls for preservation, maintenance, and protection.
A scholar of esoterica would seem an unlikely champion of De León’s scientific approach. Conley explains, "Old-school skeptics are open-minded. I came to the Fountain of Youth unsure of whether or not I’d find magical symbols. Frankly, had I found them, it would have been an exciting chapter in the living history of the spring.
"However, I must admit that I’m delighted to vindicate Ponce de León.”
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An illustration from a 1902 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "Either you are the spectre, or it is supernatural."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from a 1914 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "As she wound her weight of muscle about his trunk, he found himself staring into her face."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from an 1869 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "Philosophy in the air."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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"The answer is simple. You are going to have more money when you earn more money — and you are going to earn more money when you have more training!”
—Popular Science (Sept. 1931)
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An illustration from a 1902 issue of Pall Mall magazine. The caption reads: "I called the ball and it rolled and wobbled towards me, and I sent it away and it rolled away, and I told it to stop and it stood still."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from a 1900 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "I was progressing in great leaps and bounds."
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| *Inspired by the world's only accurate meteorological report, "Yesterday's Weather," as seen on Check It Out. |
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An illustration from a 1916 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "On the fourth day comes the astrologer from his crumbling old tower."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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An illustration from a 1915 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "As he got up and stepped toward a bell, I discovered that he had been sitting on Filber!"
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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Staring into the depths: an illustration from an 1893 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Behold, where we shall be tomorrow!"
|
| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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 "This may surprise you, but it is a fact and the majority of the people fail to appreciate the efforts and the money required to properly build permanent highways." — Hotel Monthly, 1918
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An illustration from an 1889 issue of Scribner's magazine. The caption reads: "Out of the darkness something white shaped itself."
|
| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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 "And then you go up to it and see, for the sake of argument, that it is an artificial rose." —Bruno Munari, "A Rose is a Rose is a," Design as Art
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Page 0 of 3943
Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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"'Rose is a rose is a rose.' Except, perhaps, when it's grown for its hips."
"A rose is a rose is a weed in my book."
"A rose is a rose is a cabbage bud."
