Here's a precursor to the inflatable dancing tube figures used for advertising.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1873.

Remarkably, on July 81st, 1886, the sun rose upside down.  On Sept. 3/24th, the moon turned to green cheese.  From Fun magazine, 1886.

This is the Parisian panther that Rainer Maria Rilke wrote about in "Der Panther, Im Jardin des Plantes, Paris."

INSTRUCTIONS: Click to set the clock back.

David Methuen in the play Monday Next, Theatre Royal, Hobart, Australia, ca. 1951, photographer unknown.

From L'Ame Amante de Son Dieu, Representée dans les Emblémes de Hermannus Hugo Sur ses Pieux Desirs, 1717.

From The Story of a Candy Rabbit by Laura Lee Hope, 1920.

From Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum, 1908.

From Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail by Howard Roger Garis, 1917.

From Adrift in the Wilds by Edward Sylvester Ellis, 1887.

From King Time by Percy Keese Fitzhugh, 1908.  (We actually once spent a week in this tower.  The door to the clock mechanism is kept locked, which was our biggest disappointment.  There is access to the battlements, however.  The clock face itself isn't nearly as grumpy as it's depicted here.)

Walking the pig, from Goaks and Tears by M. Quad, 1875.

Where's the overlap between the beloved vampire film The Lost Boys and the open world game of Grand Theft Auto V?  Besides the vampire tooth of the game's Roman numeral and besides the boardwalk setting?  Off the top of our head, there are two music-related overlaps.  First, there's the band Age of Consent, who provide GTAV's infectious theme "Colours" (chant it with us: "go out, late night; come home, daylight").  They recorded a cover of Tim Cappello's "I Still Believe" from The Lost Boys soundtrack.  Second, the artist Twin Shadow (who serves as the DJ of Radio Mirror Park in the game and who offers the other standout track in the game, "Old Love / New Love"), has a song called "Golden Light," the chorus of which is an homage to the chorus of the film's memorable "Cry Little Sister" theme (chant it with us: "Thou shall not fall; thou shall not lie; thou shall not fear; thou shal not kill").  Twin Shadow's own lyrics are in the spirit of the film, too -- consider how this line, "Some people say there's a golden light -- you're the golden light -- and if I chase after you doesn't mean that it's true," recalls the film's character Michael who has newly arrived in the golden state and, feeling hopeless, chases after a creature of the night.  

"That's blood, Mother" -- a precusor to Norman Bates' "Mother! Oh, God, Mother! Blood! Blood!" in Psycho.  From English Illustrated, 1907.

Here's a precursor to the amateur singing shows like Idol and The Voice.  The caption reads, "Then all at once, without assistance, the afflicted creature found relief.  And since then the Tune's been all over everywhere upside down and downside upmost, besides other ways."  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1875.

We've answered an age-old question.  Which came first: the inverted cross of black metal or the egg?  Well, it's actually something of a paradox, as an egg with an inverted cross came first.  Our illustration appears in De la Formation du Blastoderme dans l'Oeuf d'Oiseau by M. Mathias Duval, 1884.

"All of the Alps seen from the hall-door," from Alpine Flowers for English Gardens by W. Robinson, 1870.

From our collection of Magic Words & Symbols Spotted in the Wild:

In the late 1800s, the J & P. Coats thread company released Tarot-like trade cards.