What is a Sugar Plum?

 We all know the story of "A Visit from St. Nicholas", right? No? Oh! You might know it by a different name, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas". If you don't read the book, you know the tale in some form, whether from it being read in a movie/t.v. show or from a variation of it from someone/somewhere, you know the story. Digimon Season 2 did a variation on it A Very Digi Christmas and Jeff Dunham did a reading of the story with many interruptions and interpretations by Peanut.

But there is a line where the children in the story are "were nestled all snug in their beds/ While visions of sugar plums dance in their heads." I have always wondered what a sugar plum was, but my parents didn't know what it was. They said what everyone thinks, that it is a sugar coated plum... yuck! Well, guess what? They were wrong!

Winchester Mansion

Sarah Winchester was married to William Wirt Winchester, owner of Winchester Repeating Arms Company. They had one child, a daughter named Annie Pardee Winchester. This child had a rare disease, called Marasmus, that didn't allow nutrients to be absorbed into the body. Sarah and William could only sit by and watch as their daughter starved to death. Not long after the infant died, William died from tuberculosis.

Shortly after that, Sarah moved to San Jose, California. As the window, she had inherited more than $20.5 million, and almost half of the rifle company. She earned $1,000 ($23,000 in today's money) a day from the company. There, she began building the Queen Victoria Style Mansion. She began building the house because a Boston medium supposedly channeled her late husband and said she should travel west and build a house for herself and the ghosts killed by the Winchester guns.

Death By Fan

In South Korea, people believe that electric fans can kill. Yes, it is strange that some of the world's smartest people believe in something we Americans don't even think twice about. However, stranger things have happened and are believed in everyday.

Many in South Korea think that you will die in your sleep if an electronic fan is in you room at night, but only if the doors and windows are closed. For this reason, fans sold in South Korea have timers built in so they will shut off after a while.

Ghostly Comics

I was surfing the web so that I could post something, but it was late and already dark. Yeah, spooky stuff gives me nightmares. My room faces a street light so that I have a night light every night. I am not ashamed to have nyctophobia (fear of the dark)! As long as I have light, I will survive!

Anyway, I found some funny stuff. Here you go!

New Year Massacre

On December 31st, a family was preparing for their annual New Years Eve Party. The father was in the lounge ironing clothes, the mother was in the kitchen cutting sausage and cabbage, and their son was running around with scissors and getting in everyone's way.

Suddenly, the boy ran into his mother. The scissors cut the back of her leg. The mother fell backwards and lost her grip on the knife. The boy was right beneath her. The knife fell into his chest and pierced his heart.He died instantly. The mother screamed.

Headless Mule

The name usind in Brazil is Mula-sem-cabeça.

As the story goes, a woman of ill repute and a Catholic priest had relations, so God punished them. The following Thursday, the priest and the prostitute met up as usual. When the sun set, she turned into a purple mule with flames where her head was supposed to be.

The Blind Woman

There was once this old blind woman who owned a farm. Her husband had been sick for many years and eventually died. She cried for days before deciding to keep one of his fingers as a moment.

 At the funeral, she felt around for his middle finger. When she found it, she cut it off. The old woman wrapped it in a handkerchief and kept it in her pocket. For a short time, she was at peace.

Unkillable Gopher

One day, a student finds a gopher at school. He takes the animal to the custodians to be taken care of. The three men had other ideas.

The janitors decided to kill he large rodent. First, they sprayed solvent on the creature. This solvent was used to remove gum from floors and undersides of desks, so it was strong stuff. However, the poisonous spray did nothing to the gopher.

Corney

Corney is a ghost that was just a wee bit mischievous. The family that first owned his in Dublin knew when this poltergeist was around by the mimiced sound of a cane on the floor. He would then speak loudly to the family and servants. He was named Corney by the family. He accepted it butmade sure everyone knew it wasn't his name.

Corney was a complete nuisance. He played pranks on the terrified servants constantly. They thought he was confused to coal cellar in the kitchen and asked for quarters on the upper floors. It was soon clear Corney wasn't confined to one area. One, the pranks moved with the servants. And two, he said so.

The Would Be Graverobbers

Two boys named Juan and Carlos lived in Spain. They were always up to some kind of mischief to impress their friends. They were only 13 years old, so impressing your friends was a big deal.

They decided to do the most horrific, yet really cool, stunt yet: rob a grave. I mean, what is cooler than having a real skeleton sitting on your porch, right? Well, that is what these boys thought.

The Spider in the Toilet

This is a Blush Spider, scientifically known as Arachnius gluteus. In other words, the Butt Spider. According to the email going around, five Florida women with seemingly no connection all had the same symptoms. They all had fevers, chills, and vomited a lot, followed shortly after by muscular collapse, paralysis, and death.

The autopsies showed no injuries to the body that would entail death, though their blood had a high level of toxins. When looking into the women's days since symptoms began, they all frequented the same restaurant. The airport eatery was shut down, but no sign of toxins were found anywhere inside.

Shirime

Shirime is a ghost with no face and an eye on its bottom. The name "Shirime" is made with two kanji characters, 尻目. When translated, it literally means "Butt Eye".

The story goes that, many years ago, a brave samurai was walking to Kyoto alone late at night. Suddenly, a strange man stepped onto the samurai's path from the shadows.

"Who goes there?" demanded the warrior, hand on his sword.