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It sounds sensational, but it's true: Gary Numan has sent Chris Isaak straight into Hell, where Isaak is now embedded with His Satanic Majesty Himself.  Some are surprised by this, having assumed that Isaak was angelic and Numan demonic (especially given that black eyeliner and those Numanesque lyrics like, "I am the ghost that reminds Death of you," easily the spookiest line we've ever encountered).  But no — Numan is the angel, and he has sent Isaak to Hell with great panache.

Given the popularity of Isaak's entrancing song "Wicked Game" (1989), it's impossible not to believe that Gary Numan's new masterpiece "And It All Began With You" is a direct response.  There are some subtle harmonic and tonal similarities between the two songs, and to our ears Numan deliberately mimicked just enough of "Wicked Game" to make it obvious that he was sending Isaak directly to Hell.  You will recall the bleakness of Isaak's lyrics, proclaiming "I don't wanna fall in love" and ending with "Nobody loves no one."  To call Numan's response powerful or dramatic would be the understatement of the centuries.  Numan proclaims that not only does somebody love someone, but love can endure anything, in this life and well into the next world:

When you whisper my name, I'll be with you
When you reach out your hand, I'll be with you
When you walk to the light, I'll be with you
When you stand before God, I'll be with you

Here's a precusor to Walt Disney's Fantasia.  From Fliegende Blätter, 1927.

When you can't win for losing.  "They faced death by fire at the bottom of the sea."  From Popular Science Monthly, 1920.

From The Harvard Lampoon, 1891.

"The finger of the spirit touched his breast."  From Allegories by Frederic W. Farrar, 1898.

Pinkie and the Fairies by Walford Graham Robertson, 1909, with additional fairy twinkles punched by Indiana University.

"The light of Ong Zwarba."  From The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany.

"Half-man half-horse: a centaur captured at last," from The Sketch, 1908.

Our custom widget that checks for duplicated images suggested this unlikely pairing.  Click each image for its source.

Here's a snow owl from The Boy's Own Paper, 1880.

Insomnia treated via warm breath to the eyes from under an aluminum mask.  From Popular Mechanics, 1924.

Shimmering as if with the spark of life, this owl figurine has such an uncanny presence that we asked our Spirit Box radio (as seen on the Travel Channel show "Ghost Adventures"), "What is the nature of this owl?" The Spirit Box swept through the otherworldly static in the atmosphere for an answer, and what we heard was quite intriguing:

"It came down … why not … honor him … it's not something you can underestimate … it's great for a lot of things."

Here's an mp3 of the Spirit Box audio:

We have an aunt who won't stoop for a lucky penny.  Perhaps this is why.  From Kladderadatsch, 1931.  

Here's a precursor to William Castle-style gimmick advertising.  From Fliegende Blätter, 1933.

"You can't ignore the rat" (1948).  Courtesy of the Provincial Archives of Alberta.

"An imaginary flight to sun pictured by scienist."  Indubitably.  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

From Die Muskete, 1933.

You've heard that the art of living is the art of dying.  This book about longevity confirms it -- note the appendix on the pleasure of making a will.

"Does anybody know anything about anything in particular?"  From Imaginotions: Truthless Tales by Tudor Jenks, 1894.

"Tom o' the roads," from The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany.

"The disaster-dodger: mascots for motor-cars.  Luck-bringers for the superstitious motorist."  From The Sketch, 1908.

Why not be perfectly happy?  From Popular Mechanics, 1924.

From Jugend, 1902. 

"She said, 'Nonsense.'"  From The Strand, 1908.

Here's a design for a book cabinet.  From Le Rire, 1899.

"When spooks come across my path I shall solve them (to my own satisfaction)."  From Pall Mall, 1895.

"Mountains caused by 'puffs' from inside the earth?"  Indubitably.  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

"A tiny voice said, 'I am Princess Rain Drop.'"  

A tiny voice, to be sure, but recall that "nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands" (E. E. Cummings).

From Loraine and the Little People by Elizabeth Gordon and illustrated by M. T. Ross, 1915.

"Visitors from under the sun."  From Pinkie and the Fairies by Walford Graham Robertson, 1909.

"Good-bye!"  From The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany.

"Wily Willy passes the night in securing a record of the song of Tetrazzini's rival, the nightingale."  From The Sketch, 1908.

"Against," from Black and White Budget, 1902.

From Die Bühne, 1931.

A tale as old as sensationalism -- the exploitation of smaller-statured individuals to make giant things look even bigger.  From Popular Mechanics, 1924.

From Jugend, 1902. 

From Die Muskete, 1911.

"Making the deaf hear."  From Zone Therapy or Relieving Pain at a Home by William Fitzgerald and Edwin Bowers, 1917.

Here's a precursor to "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."  The caption reads, "I can't tell you what tricks they performed, or how they did it."  From The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, 1868.

We, too, nicknamed our planchette "the despair of science."  From Planchete, Or the Despair of Science by E. Sargent, 1869.

"A herd of black creatures" from The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany.

"Oh for the eye of a fly!  The joy of an eye of many lenses: how to see the principal boy a hundred times at one glance."  From The Sketch, 1908.

"I was a child to challenge such a woman to mortal combat."  From Black and White Budget, 1902.

From A Boy's Own Paper, 1881.

They left out one word from this headline.  "Radio static to be [incorrectly] forecast like the weather."  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

You don't have to choose; you can have both!  "Doughnut life-preservers and a poetical horse."  From Andy's Adventures on Noah's Ark by Douglas Zabriskie Doty, 1902.

"Peerless and he won't speak."  From Pinkie and the Fairies by Walford Graham Robertson, 1909.  This should also be of interest: How to Be Your Own Cat.

"Leave a page blank at the beginning to make an index."

From Kladderadatsch, 1937.

If you can't say, "I lava you," it's not a volcanic romance.  From The Phantom CIty, A Volcanic Romance by William Westall, 1886.

Here's a precursor to the Slinky toy, 13 years before its invention.  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

From Die Bühne, 1925.