Gothic Homemaking: In Search of Human Remains with Voltaire

Fresh out of human remains? Voltaire shows you how to track down skulls and bones for some macabre home decor in the new episode of Gothic Homemaking.

In the latest episode of Gothic Homemaking Voltaire goes in search of human remains for his lair, since no goth should be without at least a few skeletons in the closet. His search for a human skull takes him to Nevertold Casket Company in Seattle, The Evolution Store in New York, a visit with Mike Zohn at Obscura, the Morbid Anatomy Flea Market, and a tour of the museum-like home of Ryan Matthew Cohn packed with skeletons, shrunken heads, and wax anatomical models.

In this episode you also learn how to make a gothic skull lamp with Voltaire, and visit Dead Horse Bay looking for bones with Purevile.

The Lost Chapel of Bones in Malta

Somewhere beneath the ruins of the Nibbia Chapel in Malta is an ossuary decorated in human bones exhumed from a nearby cemetery.

This is What $100 Trillion in (Worthless) Zimbabwe Currency Looks Like

With the highest inflation rate in the world, Zimbabwe began printing extremely large denominations that are now entirely worthless outside of the novelty market.
Zimbabwe $100 trillion dollars
Z$100,000,000,000,000

Before their currency became worthless in 2009, a loaf of bread in Zimbabwe could cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000 depending on the current availability of wheat. Prices were rising at least twice a day, and people had to carry bags full of money to the store. “It was terrible,” businessman Shingi Minyeza told CNN. “You’d have to pay for your coffee before you drank it because if you waited the cost would rise within minutes.”

To keep up with hyperinflation to the tune of 231 million percent at it’s height, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe began printing ridiculously large notes like the $10 trillion bills in the photo above. Their largest denomination, the $100 trillion dollar bill, didn’t even get you a ride on a public bus to work for a week according to the Telegraph.

The Zimbabwe currency was finally abandoned on April 12, 2009 for a multi-currency system, which dramatically dropped the inflation rate to -2.3%. In 2015 the Zimbabwean dollar was formally demonetized to zero, and the US dollar was officially adopted. At that time, the bank began exchanging Zimbabwean dollars for the new currency at a rate of 35 quadrillion (that’s 35 with 15 zeros) for one US dollar.

Today the old Zimbabwe currency is entirely worthless, except as a novelty. $100 trillion in $10 trillion dollar bills cost me $30 bucks on ebay. A $100 trillion dollar bill will run you about $50. The Zimbabwe government has stated that it would only consider returning to the use of their old currency when “key economic fundamentals such productivity in key sectors have been achieved.” So if you buy some defunct bills now, maybe one day you’ll be a high roller in Zimbabwe.

That’s my plan, anyway.

Zimbabwe $100 trillion dollar bill
Zimbabwe $100 trillion dollar bill

Titanic dead bodies recovered

What Happened to Titanic’s Dead?

Of the 1,500 people who lost their lives when the Titanic sank, only 333 bodies were ever recovered. What happened to the rest?

Croc Tries to Drag Elephant Down by its Trunk

Video shows a crocodile grab an elephant by the trunk and try to pull it down before other elephants come to the rescue.

A group of elephants are peacefully walking near the water when this startling video takes a horrific turn. When one elephant extends its trunk into the water, a huge crocodile suddenly springs out and clamps its jaws around the trunk.

The elephant immediately begins to thrash around, trying to shake it off, but it’s not until another larger elephant seemingly stomps the croc that it finally lets go.

Video shows crocodile attacking elephant in the water

The video was reportedly filmed by a boater in the Liwonde National Park in Malawi on April 10.