This circular stone building, called a morthouse, houses a revolving wheel upon which a coffin would be placed & kept under lock and key. When another body was deposited, the wheel would be turned slightly to accommodate the new coffin. Eventually, when a coffin had been rotated one full revolution, it could safely be buried because the corpse would be sufficiently decomposed as to be of no use to the body-snatchers. (c 1830s) Udny, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Rat kings are groups of dead rats found with their tails mysteriously and elaborately knotted, stuck together with blood, dirt or excrement.
The photo above is of a mummified rat king comprised of 32 rats, the largest known, on display in the scientific museum Mauritianum Altenburg, Germany. It was found in 1828 in a miller’s fireplace in Buchheim.
The earliest report of rat kings comes from 1564. Historically, there are various superstitions surrounding rat kings, and they were often seen as a bad omen, particularly associated with plagues. For whatever reason, most instances of rat kings reported come from Germany.
There have been reports of rat kings in other species, as well, such as mice and squirrels.
A rat king discovered in 1963 by farmer P. van Nijnatten at Rucphen, Netherlands as published by cryptozoologist M. Schneider consists of seven rats. X-ray images show formations of callus at the fractures of their tails which show that the animals survived for an extended period of time with the tails tangled.
A grave with a window in New Haven, Vermont is the final resting place of Dr. Timothy Clark Smith, who was afraid of being buried alive.
Oregon man Paul Gaylord contracted a rare case of the bubonic plague, as known as the “Black Death” in 2012 when he was bit by a stray cat he had named Charlie. Paul was trying to help the cat, who appeared to be choking on a mouse.
Two days later, he awoke with a fever and the chills.
An average of seven cases of the bubonic plague still occur in the US every year.
Production of the flying saucer-shaped Futuro homes lasted only a few years, but these UFO homes still be found in some unexpected places.
