We're back, baby!

The Disney story of the Beauty and the Beast that many of us are familiar with today is generally believed to be based on a couple of stories written in the late 1700s. But who were THOSE stories based on?

Take a stroll with me down a very old and dark road and learn about Petrus Gonsalvus, a man born in 1537 with Congenital Hypertrichosis Languinosa; a man who lived anything but an ordinary life.

Instagram: @therainybooknook | Email: [email protected]

SOURCES:

https://youtu.be/inM7P7oYM5Q?si=rcYUf_ueR8ntgnm7  

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/423820 (Published in 2011 - No newer Stat Available for total Cases of Congenital Hypertrichosis Languinosa) 

The Many Myths of Catherine de' Medici 

Secret hand gestures in paintings

The Tragic Life of the REAL "Beast" in Beauty and the Beast  EWU

Petrus Gonsalvus And The Real Beauty And The Beast Story All That’s Interesting

The true stories behind Beauty and the Beast and other Disney stories - BBC News 

The struggles of the world's hairiest family - BBC News 

The Real-Life Beauty And The Beast - Deep English    

https://theroyalwomen.com/2022/01/16/catherine-gonsalvus/  The Royal Women 

The Real Beauty and the Beast Didn’t Live Happily Ever After  The History Collection

Beauty and the Beast: The Man Behind the Myth - France Today
798) Catherine Gonsalvus The Exasperated Historian’s Women’s List #798

Blue: nature's most naturally unnatural color.

Many know that nature has a scarcity of blue, but what you may not know is that what blue there IS, probably isn't blue at all.

Want to know what I mean? Check out this episode of The Rainy Book Nook and learn about why blue butterflies are blue, what the heck a bile pigment is, and your next new favorite color.

Have a topic you want me to look into?

Instagram: @therainybooknook Email: [email protected]

Pictures in IG Post:

https://earthbuddies.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Hewitsons_Olivewing_Nessaea_hewitsonii_Wikimedia-Commons.jpg

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/image/imgsrv.fcgi?cid=102059834&t=l

http://images2.pics4learning.com/catalog/b/blue2.jpg

Why Is Blue So Rare In Nature?

One Common Ancestor Behind Blue Eyes | Live Science 

Rare Colors: How Nature Creates Blue Hues

Why don't Americans have a name for the color 'light blue?' Study finds unique color terms used in Japan, US

Jayarava's Raves: Seeing Blue.   

Carotenoids: 

Carotenoids - Definition, Function and Types | Biology Dictionary

On December 22nd, 1987 over the span of two hours, two separate signal jamming incidents took place in Chicago during late night television.

Max Headroom, "the world's first computer generated television host" was the face on the mask - but who was behind it?

Instagram: @therainybooknook email: [email protected]

Sources:

TV HackThe Max Headroom Incident: The Greatest Unsolved Mystery in Pirate Television

The Max Headroom Incident — Unresolved

 The Masked Lunatic That Hijacked American News • Mystery Files

Dig up the deeply rooted history of the world's most expensive fungus - the Truffle, and learn about how they're hunted today!

Instagram: @therainybooknook

email me: [email protected]

Sources:

Why Real Truffles Are So Expensive

Insider Business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ1nY51txoA 

This Truffle Dog is Facing a Really Challenging Truffle Hunt

Smithsonian, YouTube

This Truffle Dog is Facing a Really Challenging Truffle Hunt | Smithsonian Channel 

Truffles “will be extinct within a generation due to climate change”

The London Economic

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/food-drink/truffles-will-be-extinct-within-a-generation-due-to-climate-change-110046/ 

The History of Truffle Hunting

Valea Verde

https://www.valeaverde.com/en/stories/history-of-truffle-hunting/#:~:text=The%20hunting%20and%20eating%20of%20aromatic%20truffles%20dates,cultures%2C%20such%20as%20the%20Egyptians%2C%20Greeks%2C%20and%20Romans. 

Books Cited: 

Sheldrake, M. (2020). Entangled Life (pp. 25-45). Random House New York.

Part 2 of "The Night That Horror Befell Reaper, Wyoming" concludes the events of Tillie Everts' eventful (to put it lightly) night.

Tillie has to make a very hard decision without having any clue of what the outcome will be. She shows us the strength of her will to live - but will that be enough?

FIND OUT NOW!

Instagram: @therainybooknook email me: [email protected]

WOOHOO! This was SO FUN to do, I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Today's episode is a story I wrote, using contributions from you guys over on Instagram!

Follow the horrifying night that one woman in Reaper, Wyoming experiences, all by herself. This is a tale that picks at all of your worst fears of isolation.

Let's talk about bones, baby, let's talk about jaw disease! (Doesn't have the same ring to it....)

In Episode 17 I talk about a few things that our ancestors thought was 100% normal. Spoiler Alert: It's absolutely anything but normal.

Mummy unwrappings, laws targeting disabled people, and the falsifying of Radium's purported health benefits are featured in this episode of The Rainy Book Nook's "History is F*cked Up" series.

SOURCES:

Mummy Unwrapping Parties:

https://youtu.be/pVDo2tsJeXA 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/victorian-party-people-unrolled-mummies-for-fun 

Egyptomania:

https://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/people/pages/belzoni.htm

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Egyptomania-Sphinxes-Obelisks-and-Scarabs-1688349

https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Obelisk/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk 

Ugly Law:

https://www.allarts.org/programs/origin-of-everything/why-it-was-illegal-to-be-ugly-c8ps4i/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_law 

https://www.english.upenn.edu/sites/www.english.upenn.edu/files/Schweik-Susan_Ugly-Laws_Law-Language.pdf 

Radium Segment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7875DVDdmnE 

https://clickamericana.com/topics/science-technology/marie-curie-tells-how-she-discovered-radium-1921 

https://periodictable.com/Elements/088/ 

https://dustyoldthing.com/deadly-radium-craze/ 

https://www.britannica.com/story/radium-girls-the-women-who-fought-for-their-lives-in-a-killer-workplace 

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/centennial-radium-forged-report/ 

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0200772 

US Department of Labor, Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1936

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112032654953&seq=923 

Welcome Back! It's been a few weeks and this was worth the wait; travel to Colombia and all over the Mammalian Kingdom with your host, Shelby here at The Rainy Book Nook Podcast.

I discuss how Pablo Escobar smuggled animals into Colombia for his Estate Zoo during the 1980s, but one animal remains in the area to this day and continues to grow rapidly, recently being officially declared an invasive species.

It's not all bad news though, discover Zoonomia, the brain child of over 100 researchers.

Instagram: @therainybooknook Email(Submissions Welcome) [email protected]

SOURCES/LINKS:

https://zoonomiaproject.org/

Pablo Escobar’s Hippos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYcZMKv-iEg 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ybg6hd-TUA&t=44s  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pablo-escobar-cocaine-hippos-legally-people-us-judge/ 

Leptospirosis

https://www.cdc.gov/leptospirosis/index.html 

What is Eutrophication?

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/eutrophication.html 

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/wetland-and-aquatic-research-center/science/science-topics/eutrophication 

What is an Invasive Species - The Smithsonian

https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/teaching-resources/life-science/invasive-species

Mummy Unroller - Cambridge.org

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-for-the-history-of-science/article/abs/unrolling-egyptian-mummies-in-nineteenthcentury-britain/56BF3B3408D2E13EB839FFD58CF738B4 

In Episode 15 we travel to Ireland for a new installment of our Folklore Series. Learn about how the Christianization of Ireland effected the Celtic Religion and other ways Irish mythology evolved.

I talk a bit about two Irish mythological beings who really intrigued me.

Instagram: @therainybooknook Email (submissions open): [email protected]

Sources:

General Info: 

https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/the-10-most-famous-myths-and-legends-from-irish-folklore/

https://youtu.be/523gI5kZSSA

Hag of Beara/Halloween:

https://historycooperative.org/cailleach/

https://www.wildernessireland.com/blog/hag-beara-irish-myths-legends/

https://www.wildernessireland.com/halloween-samhain-ireland/

The Hag of Beara - West Cork People.

https://access.historyhit.com/videos/the-hag-of-beara 

Pookas:

https://www.yourirish.com/folklore/irish-pookas

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-legend-pooka

In Episode 14 I talk about 3 heart-wrenching accidents at Amusement Parks from ride safety gone wrong. Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsled ride has seen two fatalities in its lifespan, but what other tragedies have struck the places that are meant to be the most fun?

For the final segment of the episode I talk about a murder case that happened at an abandoned theme park, one that I feel has nowhere near the amount of recognition it deserves. It is the case of the Holy Land USA murder victim, 16 year old Chloe Ottman. Rest in Peace beautiful girl.

SOURCES:

The Matterhorn Bobsleds / Disney Accidents

https://youtu.be/6dHtRxlYAWE

https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/matterhorn-ride-deaths-disneyland-fatal-accidents-16285220.php

https://www.countryliving.com/life/a43183/true-story-behind-disneyland-haunting/

https://youtu.be/cogFWQUl_pE

Joshua Smurphat: Paramount Great America Amusement Park

https://youtu.be/a9AvTpsb5yo

https://www.the-sun.com/news/7235923/mom-moment-12-year-old-son-fall-from-ride/

Murder of Chloe Ottman: 

https://youtu.be/r-fOGQ9ZlmY 

https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/missing-teens-body-found-at-holy-land-friend-arrested/1857665/

https://archives.rep-am.com/2010/07/20/warrant-describes-chilling-details-of-girls-death/

https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/the-father-of-a-murdered-waterbury-teen-speaks-out/2062782/

 “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” - George Eliot 

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