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.
"Weird winged crocodile at the Devil Worshippers' Wedding. As described in the strange publication which is exciting Europe, a spirit woman turned into this grotesque monster and 'played the piano, casting expressive glances at one of the young women.'" Illustration by E.G. Lutz in The World newspaper, December 27, 1896. Via the Tenth Letter of the Alphabet.
This old Moorish house in the tropics was destroyed by two hurricanes, but what remains is beyond bizarre. Like some sort of wizard's museum, every wall features strange niches protected by antique iron grates, containing things like bottled ghosts, imprisoned gargoyles, hoodoo shrines, haunted radios, and crystal balls. Plus, one of the great secrets of alchemy is hidden in plain view.
"He misses all life's joys and light, but when he counts his dimes at night, true happiness is his." Yet coin collecting can't be separated from life or life's joys, so the caption is meaningless. As Bruce Fleming reminds us, "everything is part of life" (The New Tractatus). From The Judge, 1920.
"The rats were wronged, the wind was slandered—both were innocent; in a word, the house was haunted!" From "The Haunted Chamber" in Hogg's Weekly Instructor, 1846.