Hypertrichosis

Hypertrichosis is known as werewolf syndrome but is NOT clinical lycanthropy. Clinical lycanthropy is the defined as the delusion that you are transforming, or has, into a non human and a psychological disorder based around the supernatural creature of legend. Hypertrichosis is an abnormal amount of hair-growth over the body and can be localised to one area or affect the whole body (generalised). This can be congenital and always present at birth or acquired and come after birth, in these cases it can be a side effect of drugs has associations with cancer or has been linked to eating disorders.

It is not something that can be cured in the case of congenital hypertrichosis and instead is often manager. If it has been acquired then finding out the route cause is the way to find a suitable treatment.

Many (both types) cases will result in hair reduction treatment, this however can result in scarring, skin conditions like dermatitis or hypersensitivity. Temporary hair removal may last several hours or weeks, they are purely cosmetic. Permanent hair removal uses either chemical or laser treatment that depends on the type of hair needing treatment.

Congenital versions of hypertrichosis are rare and congenital generalised hypertrichosis has been isolated to one family in Mexico but acquired is more common and not linked particularly to any one familial in particular. Historically some people used this as a way to make money by displaying themselves as a circus or sideshow or barbers.

Annie Jones was an American bearded woman from Virginia and toured with P T Barnum. She was a woman who was well-portraited and photographed. Annie Jones joined the world of P T Barnum at the age of 9 months and died in Brooklyn, in 1902 of tuberculosis. She was 37 years old, divorced from her first husband and widowed from her second.

Alice Elizabeth Doherty was born in Minneapolis and was born with around two-inches of long blonde hair all over her body. None of her known relatives had been recorded with the same or similar condition, she had blue eyes, a lot of hair and was exhibited by her parents as a sideshow attraction from the age of 2 years old. At 5 years of age, she had 5 inch long hair and by the time she was a teenager that hair was 9 inches long and despite not being interested in entertainment she carried on to support her family. She retired in 1915, gladly no doubt, and died in Dallas, Texas on 13^th June 1933.

Julia Pastrana was from Sinaloa, Mexico. She was born in 1834 with her face and body covered in black hair, she also had large ears, nose and her teeth were irregular and was a rare disease Eingival hyperplasia. There are variations of what happened to her in her early life, both accounts do say that he line in the home of Pedro Sanchez, and left the home in 1854. She ended up in America, eloped from her performing role with Theadore Lent and marrying him in Baltimore. He took over her management, they routed Europe and America being advertised as a “bear woman”. Pastrana was touring in Moscow when she gave birth to a baby bearing similar features to her own. The child survived only a few days and Pastrana suffered from post-partum depression, dying just five days later. She died 21^st March, 1860.

Petrus Gonsalus was born in Tenerife, Spain, in 1537 approximately, sources seemed to vary. “The Man of the Woods”, it is theorised that he was the inspiration for the story of Beauty and the Beast, by Gabrielle-Suzanne Bardot de Villeneuve.

He was reportedly a native of the Canary Isles who started life as a slave, at 10 years of age he was gifted to Henry II, France and stayed there for 40 years. Henry gave him an education, taught him as a young nobleman should be for the time and he met and romanced a woman called Catherine. They married and had children, Antionetta, his daughter had the same condition and so did his son. The courts of Italy and France saw the family, who were widely portraited and they were studied by famous physicians. Eventually they retired to a village in Italy and crept quietly into obscurity.

Other notes about it paint a less romantic picture, his wife was set up by Henry II’s wife to get him out of the court, Catherine was kept from seeing the man and that she fainted the first time she saw Petrus. She was still forced to wed him and yet she eventually came to love him.

Catherine was said to have given birth to 7 children, 4 of which had the same disorder as Petrus. In Italy under the care of Duke of Farnese then split the family up by giving the afflicted children away as pets. It is during this period the records became muddy and obscure. They ended up in Capimodonte, Italy and they remained there for about 40 years, married up until his death in 1618.

Perhaps it is suitably fitting that where he was buried did not get recorded, a whole life of being on show to being left alone may well be the peaceful he had hoped for,

Sources:

• thehumanmarvels.com

• wikipedia

• sideshowworld.com

• New York Times

• Mutants: On genetic variety and the human body – Armand Marie Leroi

• Medium.com

By George Wick – This file was derived from: <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Julia_Pastrana,_a_bearded_lady._Reproduction_of_a_photograph_Wellcome_V0007256.jpg” title=”File:Julia Pastrana, a bearded lady. Reproduction of a photograph Wellcome V0007256.jpg”>Julia Pastrana, a bearded lady. Reproduction of a photograph Wellcome V0007256.jpg</a>, Public Domain, Link

Pennhurst State School and Hospital

It was originally known as the Eastern State Institution for the feeble-minded and epileptic, it closed 9^th December 1987 after a decade of controversy. From 1903- 1908 the original buildings were constructed, there were further additions to the site in 1919, 1921 and 1929. It didn’t stop there either, more were contributed in the 1960’s and again in 1971.

23^rd November, 1908, they admitted patient 1 and within four years it was overcrowded and pressured. The patients would be classified, and the status of admitted children would be seen as abhorrent these days. They ranged from the mute, blind, epileptic to deformity, offensive habits and more. Yet somehow they also for the patients into making mattresses, shoes, farming, laundry and other trades.

There were other assumptions, one of them was the Chief Physician (and eugenicist) thought that all of those of feeble mind were potential criminals.

In 1968 a CBS10 correspondent Bill Baldini anchored a five part exposé about the poor conditions. In 1983 there were nine employees on charges of patient abuse and finally the Halderman Case details the wide-spread abuse and finally resulted in its closure.

Halderman was a resident who upon her release filed suit in the federal district court. It had started when she visited her parents and had unexplained bruises, it led to the courts finding that Pennhurst was unsanitary, inhumane, dangerous and violating the fourteenth amendment (an easy summary being an Equal Protection Clause), and essentially the patients rights had been abused.

It has since been through various attempts at reincarnation for use. Now the administration building has been partially renovated and opened as the Pennhurst Asylum haunted house. It attracts quite an interest but those formerly affiliated with the place seem to find this disrespectful and controversy about it remains. Former patients, I presume from some feedback, find the tourism and sensational way it is handled as somewhat akin to a slap in the face.

Pennhurst has attracted its fair share of TV coverage, with shows like Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters (TAPS) and Haunted History in the name.

Reports on the paranormal side involve partial and full-bodied apparitions, the noises of screaming and piano playing. Along with various reports of this, those interested in the exposure of the place will find Suffer the Little Children both interesting but at the same time it can be a quite disturbing watch.

By Smccphotog (talk) (Uploads) – Own work, Public Domain, Link

 

Marbury Hall

This fine place at Comberbach, Cheshire was unfortunately demolished which is a great shame as it was a historically interesting place that once housed valuable art treasures. Living residents and visitors offer up tale and there are some photo’s of the building, which also had some ghostly tales to offer. The hall was once in Marbury Park and research projects continue to ensure that the building was gone is not forgotten.

As late as the 1930’s reports still spoke about an old oak chest with a skeleton kept inside it. A mundane reason might be it was a medical or art students possession but rumours for these macabre items often occur and this has gained one such tale.

At some point in the past one of the owners of the Barrymore family went to Egypt and an Egyptian women fell in love with him. She was obsessed and followed him back to Cheshire, and refused to go home. He had, however, married his English sweetheart, the woman was installed at Marbury as his mistress and she loved the house. She said that when she died her body must remain at the home and she did not want to be buried at the church. She died, or was murdered, and the request was ignored, she was given the usual funerary customs.

Not long after her ghost was seen riding on a white horse, bells rang mysteriously and to stop the strange events her body was exhumed and brought to the house. Later generations tried to remove her to a family vault and others tried to get rid of her by throwing the chest into Budworth Mere, but mysterious happenings would being her back again. In the 1930’s she went missing one last time, some say she was buried in the church at midnight and others that she was walled up into the house.

As the house is now demolished I would hope if there is a truth to this that the churchyard tale is the real one, but it seems this legend and another have been crossed over thanks to the white horse. Supposedly Lord Barrymore wagered the hall that a mare he purchased could go from London to Marbury in a day. He wanted the mare there for a wedding present for his wife and the horse did the gallop. The mare dropped dead after a drink from the trough and was buried in the park.

Lady Barrymore was so upset that she died of a broken heart not long after, she wanted to be buried near the horse but again her requests fell on deaf ears. She now cannot rest and her and the horse ride around the park and are seen now and then.

Pretty much everything I can find out about this seems anecdotal, made harder to look into now that the hall is gone. It also seems that as with many of these types the legends have crossed over and changed. Either way I hope you liked the read.

http://lostbritain.uk/site/marbury-hall/

Jeff the Killer

So I regularly see things come up about this story (and if you do like this PLEASE remember this is MY rant/opinion and I don’t discredit YOU as a person when I generalise, each to their own). It is described as a ‘creepypasta’ by quite a lot of people though you can easily find just as many negative comments about it too. I had seen enough comments about it on my random internet surfing that it seemed it was time to finally read it.

Firstly let me get this 100% clear, it is fiction and anyone claiming otherwise either does it for attention or because they are gullible. You won’t find any credible or real sightings for it. It is the same type of thing as slenderman, sightings are faked and are for the support of the media to go with the tale, nothing more. Of course searching serial killer is going to bring up results…

So it seems that the first emergence of this tale comes from Sesseur on Youtube, then Lyceum514 and LOLSKELETONS wrote the first fictions or ‘creepypasta’. Since then ‘Jeff’ has been given artwork and people’s interpretations with a female version called ‘Jane’ the Killer which is generally given poor support, as a Mary Sue.

Sesseur posted a video with a story, part of it was Jeff doing the world a favour, and killing the humans that infest this world. I am not making this up, I despair, anyway I shall carry on. So apart from a bunch of images that anyone can get off the internet the story progresses to say that he was using a gallon of acid to clear out his bath and slipped on some soap, this resulted in him splashing acid over his face. At this stage I am thinking a better name would be careless Jeff.

Neighbours then rushed him to hospital, no-one wondered why this kid used acid to clean a bath or even spot this series of killings? He’s ridding people how? Yeah I am really reading too much into it I know. So his brother, Lui, the visits him in hospital to find Jeff is a man that has been changed forever.

That was the sum of the video and there was a photo-shopped face with big, wide eyes and a red smile with white skin. So I will get on to that more later but for now it’s a short, pretty rough story, with some pics on Youtube.

There are a few theories, including that the video was made to hype up Saw, the white face etc but I don’t see how an unknown channel and poorly word video could be used for that. Anyhoo the story has since been fleshed out. Summary:

Jeff the Killer has a hobby of murdering people to satisfy his bloodlust. The urges were apparently there from about the age of ten, he had never acted on those urges. His brother Liu is said to have helped to contain this, but the parents never connected with Jeff.

At around 13 years old the family move home and he feels a bizarre pain. The pain comes again on the next day and he beats up three bullies who were harassing him and his brother. The next day he confesses to the police when they come to the door, to stop Liu from getting in trouble he confesses but then Liu steps forwards and confesses. From there on Liu is taken to Juvenile detention for a year and Jeff is depressed by it.

At a birthday part, the family were invited too, Jeff seems happier and is playing with younger children outside. The same bullies (around 12 and 13 years old) come back to take their revenge and it leads to Randy (main bully) attacking Jeff as the other two bullies (Troy and Keith) hold up the rest of the party at gunpoint.

Jeff gets that ‘feeling’ and it somehow leads to his mind snapping, permanently, he kills Randy. He turns on Troy but doesn’t manage to finish off Keith, Keith then sets him on fire via some bleach that gets spilled and Vodka that Randy had smashed over his head during the fight, the combination is set on fire with a lighter.

Jeff wakes up in hospital with his head wrapped in bandages and when they are removed he sees his face and that it is permanently changed. His face is white and his lips are bright red, he is delighted by this and begins to laugh maniacally and tell them it is wonderful. For some reason the doctor says this is normal and it’s because of the painkillers, Jeff is sent home.

Late that night his mother goes to the bathroom, she finds Jeff there carving a permanent smile in his face and then burns off his eye-lids to see his wonderful face all the time. (Join the selfie craze it would be less painful etc). Jeff’s mother then runs to tell her husband that this has happened and to tell him that he needs to kill Jeff, Jeff stops her and he guts both of this parents. Liu wakes up and Jeff goes him, plunging a knife into his chest saying ‘just go to sleep’.

Sometime later an unknown killer goes on a spree and a lone survivor gives the description of this teen, Jeff. From there it is left to the reader to work out what happened.

Right so there you go, so for the record I am NOT a fan of this so evidently my opinions come with bias and so here I go with whys and what-have-you’s.

• There are some that say he is based on Jeffrey Dahmer, clearly this is not the case.

• All the supposed sightings are fake, overly imaginative people of at best others pulling pranks or trying to scare people. At best you could argue the longer it goes on the more there is a chance for a Tulpa, but I am giving this too much credit that way.

• The dialogue is poorly written and switches tense so poorly that it can be hard to follow:

“The kid landed and turned back to them. He kicked his skate board up and caught it with his hands. The kid seems to be about twelve; one year younger than Jeff. He wears a Aeropostale shirt and ripped blue jeans.”

“Jeff screamed and fell to his knees. Randy started kicking him in the face. After three kicks Jeff grabs his foot and twists it, causing Randy to fall to the ground. Jeff stood up and walked towards the back door. Troy grabbed him.”

• I will however say that it is not like they set out to be professional writers but it irks a lot of people when this thing is called a Masterpiece. It really isn’t.

This label of masterpiece is pretty much what has leant me towards looking into some of the faults of the tale, it’s the same sort of thing as telling me that Twilight’s a good vampire series over the likes of Dracula etc. It’s my opinion, I am merely providing it.

Jeff himself is said to feel pain and snaps, you could take this as a psychotic break making him a disorganized serial killer. He is not mission orientated, other than killing everyone, so it’s hedonistic or thrill killing. Basically for no reason at all this teenager goes on some murder spree.

So what about his burnt eyes and his face? I am going to use Muriatic Acid as it is the most commonly mentioned in regards to cleaning so here we go: acid burns do not turn you into a Goth! The idea that there is an acid that would leave you with plain white skin over pain, skin grafts and at risk of infection is absurd. For me, the better plot would have been that the disfigurement was the driving reason for the spree, the pain is so bad they he cannot work out a release unless he causes suffering to others. Slipping on soap and being chemically burnt, or bleach and vodka, won’t give you porcelain skin. Sorry folks, I am the bearer of obvious news.

Burnt/Cut off eyes, the serial killer without eyes? Well he’d spend more time applying eye-drops than being an effective killer. There are people that have lived without eye-lids for varying reasons but the victims of this have to ensure they keep their eyes wet all the time until an operation to place eye-lids back on is successfully done. Oh and more information for you, as Jeff is male, the scrotum makes the best tissue match for eyelids. Jeff’s eventual match up of scrotums for eye-lids is not really frightening me…

Are his parents the dumbest people to accidentally pro-create? The names of the brothers don’t have any cultural match and read like a manga/fanboy badfic +10. They seem unphased by their two children involved in a stabbing, and if your kid is manically happy about permanently being disfigured after killing two children then you would argue with a doctor sending him home wouldn’t you? Also aren’t the fictional doctors in this utterly crap too? This mother sees her kid in the bathroom but doesn’t try to stop him or try to talk to him? She runs off to try and get her husband to kill him? Man these 2:4 parents are utterly crazy!

So I guess by now I really have made my point, the flawed story is over-rated for many reasons in my opinion. If you enjoy it and disagree then fair enough but you won’t be persuading me from my current train of thought, sorry.

So the picture – well the original is a photoshop of someone with a distorted face, white skin and bold wide smile with red lips.

Now I am not the type to go on 4chan or reddit, I usually end up there because I am being directed there with the research (such as SadSatan) and the following is probably a good enough reason why…

A 4Chan post said that they had found their sister in her room in tears, when asked why it had been due to internet bullies calling her out about her weight. She was saying that the pictures of her being photoshopped into this Jeff the Killer thing were really upsetting. That night, according to the original poster, she had committed suicide.

So what this true or another hoax? Katy Robinson is the girl that has been named, and when I looked around I couldn’t find enough to confirm or deny it.

The reality could be that much like Jeff the story could be fictional but there have been suicides directly relational to cyber bullying. Erin Gallaghar (Ireland) and Megan Meier (USA) both took their lives because of internet bullying. So Jeff is fake and maybe this suicide girl it too and unintentionally I just added to the click-bait on Jeff by searching this out.

Goodleburg Cemetery

Wales in New York, an old inactive village lot which has the original settlers of Wales and the surrounding areas buried within the Goodleburg Cemetery. It was a relatively peaceful place to visit until the 1990’s when rumours started up about ghosts and sightings of apparitions. It sparked interest with enthusiasts who were intent on capturing evidence of the Paranormal.

21st June 2003, 11:15PM saw the death of a member of the Western York team, Paranormal Ghost Society when they were struck by an oncoming car. The cause was listed as DUI but partial blame has been laid on the group for being on the road late at night when there are many known blind curves.

Thanks to vandalism there is a harsh restriction on visitors that they can only go from 8am to Dusk. Anyone outside of those hours caught on the grounds will be prosecuted due to the history of vandalism. Also if you want to head that way prepare for a walk, there is no parking within half a mile.

The folklore/urban legend attached to the cemetery is that a man named Dr Goodleberg had been performing illegal abortions behind his home, on a small hill overlooking the cemetery. Any of the aborted foetus or any one that did not survive the abortion procedure was then buried in the cemetery.