I always joke that I must be on a watchlist somewhere, thanks to my internet search history. It’s made worse by the fact that I’m a multi-genre writer. In an average day, I could research any one (or more) of the following…
- a wide range of serial killers
- decomposition rates in varying situations
- the industry of prostitution
- Zillow for sight inspiration
- size of death row cells
- prison uniforms
- mythological creatures
- folklore
Needless to say, I’ve run across more than my fair share of weirdness as I’ve slogged through the interwebs. Here are some of the hits…
search string: waterside NNY villages
This was a random find, considering it’s in Texas and I was looking for New York!
Adriatica is a village within the Stonebridge Ranch development in McKinney, Texas, 45 acres modeled after Supetar, a Croatian fishing village on the island of Brac.
My question is… how did this come to be?
search string: executions death row
This was for a thriller I’m working on called Paper Flowers, which is in 1st-draft stage. As I tend to do, I went in hard to learn about prison policies, procedures, time of day, last meals, etc.
This is a picture of the death chamber in Huntsville, Texas.
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search string: weird royal facts
And so I discovered some things, including the fact that Queen Elizabeth owns all of the unmarked swans in England. Once this was because swans were prized food at feasts, but they’re protected now. Dead or alive, they belong to the Queen, meaning taxidermists have to ask the Queen’s Swan Marker for permisson. And they can’t be sold for profit… dead or alive.
search string: cat house
To be honest, I was looking for infamous brothels, but accidentally added a space. I ended up here. I’m not mad about it. Here is Aoshima Island in Japan. Apparently, it’s just own of a dozen or so “cat” islands, where the population of cats outnumbers that of humans. On this island, there are over 100 cats, roughly seven per human.
search string: what happens to lost luggage
This was for the same story that gave me cats above. I got my answer… a giant thrift store in Scottsboro, Alabama that’s got the square footage of a city block. The store works with airports and other transportation services all the country, purchasing the luggage after three months of attempting to contact owners has proven fruitless. They receive the bags, examine the contents, and then sort it into three categories: resell, repurpose (donate), or recycle (dispose of). Everything is cleaned and anything of value is authenticated/appraised.
YouTuber Safiya Nygaard also recently did a video here. Check it out here.
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