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.
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Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.

Found 17 posts tagged ‘bad luck’

Restoring the Lost Sense – June 7, 2028 (permalink)

From Starting Points in Language Skills B by Moore & Kleitsch, 1976.
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #black cat #superstition #ladder #1970s #broken mirror #illustration #bad luck
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Rhetorical Questions, Answered! – March 10, 2028 (permalink)

Q: "Can the man forced into the ditch truthfully say that the black cat brought him bad luck?"
A: No, but the black cat served as harbinger of the man's accursed neighbor who shouldn't be allowed to drive.
From Thinking and Writing Clearly by Stratton, Blossom & Lanphear and illustrated by Corinne Malvern, 1943.
> read more from Rhetorical Questions, Answered! . . .
#vintage illustration #black cat #superstition #1940s #illustration #vintage automobile #bad luck #automobile
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Old News – November 7, 2027 (permalink)

From Together, 1960.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage illustration #1960s #vintage headline #illustration #handcuffs #bad luck #headline #hard luck
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Restoring the Lost Sense – November 27, 2026 (permalink)

"Are you one of the unlucky 13?"  From Movie Classic, 1934.
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage ad #mirror #1930s #unlucky #13 #bad luck #woman #vintage woman #ad
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Images Moving Through Time – November 20, 2026 (permalink)

"If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me" (Robert Blake a.k.a. Dr. Bob).  Photo from Life Science by Benedict, Knox & Stone, 1941.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#superstition #umbrella #vintage photo #1940s #ladder #bad luck #photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 13, 2025 (permalink)

"The only official and accurate picture of the 'Friday Thirteeth' Jinx."  From the Fort Wayne Sentinel, 1913.
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #demon #imp #friday the 13th #illustration #unlucky #bad luck #1910s #jink
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Restoring the Lost Sense – March 27, 2025 (permalink)

From Life magazine, 1916.
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #luck #good luck #illustration #bad luck #1910s
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Yearbook Weirdness – March 9, 2025 (permalink)

The swamp of tough luck.  From the University of Wisconsin's 1918 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage yearbook #yearbook #swamp #bad luck #sinking #1910s #mire
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Images Moving Through Time – October 7, 2022 (permalink)

Max Linder in "Seven Years Bad Luck."  From Wid's Daily, 1921.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#1920s #vintage hollywood #slapstick #vintage man #hollywood #man #bad luck
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Images Moving Through Time – April 8, 2022 (permalink)

Looks like the book on the table is Deliverance by James Dickey.  From Spoon River's 1973 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#umbrella #vintage photo #vintage yearbook #1970s #bad luck
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Yearbook Weirdness – June 4, 2021 (permalink)

From Mitchell's 1969 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#umbrella #vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #1960s #bad luck
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Restoring the Lost Sense – May 28, 2021 (permalink)

"Avoid having a night owl near or hooting near you day or night."  From a teacher training guide to Navajo cultural beliefs, 1986.
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #owl #native american #navajo #bad luck #1980s #taboo
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Yearbook Weirdness – August 20, 2019 (permalink)

In addition to the standard seven years' bad luck, she has endured bad luck for:
From Salem's 1960 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage photo #vintage yearbook #broken mirror #bad luck
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Restoring the Lost Sense – February 12, 2019 (permalink)

This book failed to prove that Friday the 13th and broken mirrors aren't unlucky.  We remain unconvinced that old superstitions are useless.  From The Business of Life by A. B. ZuTavern and A. E. Bullock and illustrated by Leo Thiele, 1936.
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #black cat #superstition #lucky horseshoe #good luck #four leaf clover #1930s #friday the 13th #bad luck
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Restoring the Lost Sense – April 3, 2018 (permalink)

From Fliegende Blätter, 1941.
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #illustration #bad luck #accident prone #doomed
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Puzzles and Games – October 3, 2017 (permalink)

"An old card superstition that people standing behind one's back during play bring bad luck is well founded."  From Popular Mechanics, 1927.
> read more from Puzzles and Games . . .
#vintage illustration #superstition #playing cards #card game #illustration #bad luck #art
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Restoring the Lost Sense – June 4, 2012 (permalink)

An illustration from an 1891 issue of The Strand magazine.  The caption reads: "The Queen of Spades denotes ill-luck."
[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.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #playing cards #fortune telling #queen of spades #bad luck
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Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.