Real-Life Weirdness

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by William

Researchers at an isolated site called Sagalassos, in an isolated Greek-speaking area of the Roman empire, have turned up a tomb with an unusual number of protective charms: protections against the deceased.

Now with link to Arstechnica article

It occurs to me that this would also prevent any undead from disinterring the cremated.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

Now with link to Arstechnica article

It occurs to me that this would also prevent any undead from disinterring the cremated.

Thank you for that, the first link was stuck behind a paywall for me. Honestly, I found the brief account of the Polish woman who was found buried with a sickle around her neck and a padlock on her toe even more interesting. That implies to me that the circumstances of her death made people fear her rising from the dead, but someone with enough influence to make a difference - possibly even the village as a whole if she were a generally-adored person - couldn't bear to see her corpse mutilated in the typical way (staked through the heart, head chopped off, etc), and so there was a compromise: the body was left intact, but a symbolic padlock to hold her down, and a sickle that would either restrain or decapitate her if that failed and she attempted to rise, were put in place.

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Thank you for that, the first link was stuck behind a paywall for me.

Same here.

Originally Posted by Varyon

Honestly, I found the brief account of the Polish woman who was found buried ... a symbolic padlock to hold her down, and a sickle that would either restrain or decapitate her if that failed and she attempted to rise, were put in place.

Must admit I've mentally filed that arrangement away, for use in a future game.

[Varyon]

Just learned of this, but back in the late 19th century, apparently staged trainwrecks were a thing some railways would do as a spectacle (often not charging admission, but instead relying on the fact the most convenient way to reach the location of the spectacle was by taking their trains). A notable instance of this was the Crash at Crush, wherein a Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad employee by the name of William George Crush put together a full spectacle, complete with Ringling Brothers circus tent and infrastructure put in place specifically for the spectacle (wells drilled, telegraph offices erected, carnival games and sideshows arranged, etc), naming the "temporary town" Crush, Texas. But something unexpected happened in the collision - shortly after the awe-inspiring impact, the boilers of both trains exploded more-or-less simultaneously, meaning the minimum safe distance (200 yards) the onlookers had been forced to stay at (the crash was actually delayed about an hour due to people refusing to retreat to said minimum safe distance) was no longer sufficient to be safe from all the incidental fragmentation. Two people died and at least six more were seriously injured (there's a photograph of the moment of impact, and the photographer lost an eye to a flying bolt shortly after taking said photograph). MKT fired Crush immediately (despite having approved his proposal, and their engineers' assurances that a boiler explosion was all but impossible), but they actually avoided any significant negative press over the event (if anything, the event may have benefitted MKT, even after the payouts to those injured and the families of those killed, as it got a lot of press but apparently most of it didn't blame the railroad), so they wound up rehiring him literally the next day (I guess they could see the way the wind was blowing pretty quickly, and saw they weren't going to wind up blasted by the media).

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Varyon

A notable instance of this was the Crash at Crush, wherein a Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad employee by the name of William George Crush put together a full spectacle...

Seriously? the man's name is Crush? or is this some sort of show name?

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Varyon

But something unexpected happened in the collision - shortly after the awe-inspiring impact, the boilers of both trains exploded more-or-less simultaneously, meaning the minimum safe distance (200 yards) the onlookers had been forced to stay at (the crash was actually delayed about an hour due to people refusing to retreat to said minimum safe distance) was no longer sufficient to be safe from all the incidental fragmentation.

I have never understood how that was unexpected.

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

I have never understood how that was unexpected.

Might have something to do with this:

...(despite having approved his proposal, and their engineers' assurances that a boiler explosion was all but impossible)...

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Might have something to do with this:

And that's a really bizarre call for them to have made, is my point.

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

And that's a really bizarre call for them to have made, is my point.

You've never heard an expert in a reasonably new field of technology claim that nothing can go wrong before?

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

You've never heard an expert in a reasonably new field of technology claim that nothing can go wrong before?

"This ship is completely unsinkable." (RMS Titanic)

"No commander would be heartless enough to have his soldiers charge an emplacement protected by such a weapon, which will bring an end to warfare." (the Gatling Gun)

"It is impossible for the Americans to have sufficient material for a second bomb." (Hiroshima/Nagasaki)

"Administering treatment to Nelson Mandela to prevent him from succumbing to his tuberculosis cannot possibly result in a Reality Quake." (FNORD)

I'll also note that this wasn't the first time two trains had a head-on collision for purposes of a spectacle, it was just a notable one due to both the scale of the spectacle and the fact it went horribly wrong.