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.
"One of the most amazing methods of countering the supposed influence of the Evil Eye makes a delightful centerpiece for your garden." From Fate Magazine, 1990.
Inspired by Grumpy Andrew, who traveled to Las Vegas asking, "What Would Prof. Oddfellow Do?" Speaking of Bigfoot, this actually exists: the Bigfoot Bible.
The highly rare Fortello Crystal Ball sold in 1953 for $4.95, which the inflation calculator says is more like $55 today. Made of glass (approximately 5 inches in diameter) and filled with a thick black liquid, it was crafted by Larno Novelties of New York. It worked like a Magic 8 Ball: when shaken and turned upside down, little playing cards inside the ball floated to the top to tell one's fortune. Its full name was "Fortello: The Gypsy Crystal: A Fortune Telling Game." We found a photo on an auction site of one owned by a magician. The ads are from Mystic Magazine and Fate Magazine, 1954, when it had gone down in price to $3.75 (about $42 today). Larno Novelties is itself so little known that we could find only a single ad mentioning them by name, for a lucky fishing lure.