M.J. Rose

As a follow-up to our recent post about a missing 1940’s Bennington student, here is a bit more on the mysteries of the “Vermont Triangle” —

The Vanished Town of Glastenbury and The Bennington Triangle
By Chad Abramovich

“Those who know me know that I’m a huge cartography buff. That love really perpetuated when I was 10, when my mother bought me a DeLorme atlas of Vermont, and I became enthralled with it, thoroughly memorizing every detail I could. But what is it about maps that are so irresistible to me?

Maybe because of their limitless potential, and their ability to unlock the mysteries of our world. Maps tell us how things in this world relate to one another, they take data and turn it into something tangible, something understandable, and maybe something that provokes thought or feelings. Several different types of information can be conveyed at the same time, melding several different ideas into a united idea. Lines to convey topography, more lines to convey boundaries between rock layers, towns, states and countries. More lines for faults, colors for bodies of water, forest land and types of climates. Maybe it’s because maps provide some sort of order, putting everything where it needs to be. Or just the opposite. They’ve always helped me make sense of my thoughts and ideas, and even draw ideas from things that haven’t been categorized or plotted yet.

I loved getting to know the great state I lived in. But one place really stood out to me.

A perfect square, that yellow dotted line indicating it was the boundary of a town, with the word “Glastenbury” printed inside. But inside the square, there was nothing but contour lines, indicating several mountains and rugged wilderness. I was enthralled by the fact that this town apparently had nothing in it. In the very top left corner, in small print, was the word “Fayville”, plotted on a dotted line that seemed to be a secondary road, meandering its way from Shaftsbury deep into the hills, and ending in the middle of nowhere. Even for rural Vermont standards, this was pretty desolate. I knew there was something different about this place, it challenged my young and naive view of the world. Why wasn’t there anything in Glastenbury like other towns around it?

It had a mystery to it, and I wanted to know more….”

For the rest, click here.

Sleuthing, ancient library-style:

From New Scientist,

Lead ink from scrolls may unlock library destroyed by Vesuvius

This 3000-year-old scroll survived Vesuvius’s eruption
Brent Seales/Lexington Herald-Leader/MCT via Getty

“Lead often gets a bad press. But its discovery in ancient Graeco-Roman ink could make it easier to read an early form of publishing – precious scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Some 800 scrolls, part of the classical world’s best-surviving library, have tantalised scholars since they were unearthed in a villa in the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum in 1752. About 200 are in such a delicate state that they have never been read.

Unrolling the charred scrolls can destroy them, so people have been X-raying the bundles in the hopes of discerning the writing inside. But progress has been slow – it is difficult to detect the difference between the letters and the papyrus they are written on.

Now physicist Vito Mocella of the Italian National Research Council and his colleagues have revealed lead in the ink on two Herculaneum papyri fragments held in the Institute of France in Paris.
The presence of lead means that imaging techniques could be recalibrated to pick up the metal, something at which X-rays excel….”

For the rest, click here.

What could be more mysterious than the discovery of a rare manuscript in a defunct magic shop’s collection?

The discovery of a rare manuscript created for Houdini, of course!

Enjoy…

Long-lost Lovecraft manuscript penned for Houdini found

by Bonnie Burton (cnet.com)

The man who brought us Cthulhu wrote a book for the man known to escape everything. But if you want to read the unfinished work, it’s going to cost you.

“Nothing could be more exciting to fans of legendary horror author H.P. Lovecraft than the discovery of a rare manuscript in a defunct magic shop’s collection.

But it gets better. “The Cancer of Superstition,” written by Lovecraft in 1926, was commissioned by magician Harry Houdini. A Houdini memorabilia collector found the book and is selling it to the public.

Anyone who wants to read the 31 typewritten pages for themselves can buy the work as part of a Houdini lot from Potter & Potter Auctions in Chicago on April 9.

Previously, most Lovecraft and Houdini scholars believed the book might exist only in outline form since the work was suspended soon after Houdini’s death in October of 1926.

The famous magician’s widow, Beatrice, did not want to pursue the completion of the work after his death…”

For the rest, click here.