Ghosts of Gallipoli
Dusk had settled and night was closing in on Beach Cemetery at Hell Spit, on the old Anzac battlefields of Gallipoli, when Fairfax photographer Joe Armao opened the shutter on his last series of pictures for the day – and captured something inexplicable.
Only three people were at the cemetery, or anywhere, so far as we were aware, within kilometres: Armao, guide and local author Celal Boz, and me.
Celal was standing among the silent graves, the only person – no more than a silhouette in the gloom – in the camera's field of vision.
By the time the shutter closed, what appeared to be another ghostly figure had been captured by the camera.
The shadowy silhouette of a figure in a wide-brimmed hat appeared in the frame.
The spectral figure appears in only one of a series of three near-identical frames shot by Armao over 40 seconds. The camera angle had changed no more than 15 centimetres over the series of pictures, and the shutter had been set for a 2.5-second exposure because of the gathering dark.
Armao saw the unexplained apparition when he checked the frames a few seconds later.
He could offer no explanation, but he said the hair stood up on the back of his neck. When he showed Celal and me, we packed up and left the empty cemetery.
Armao, a Walkley-award-winning photographer of 25 years' experience, said he had never seen anything remotely like the picture that appeared on his screen.
Hours of close and sceptical inspection of the frame, including extreme digital enlargement, comparison with other frames and lively discussion of a number of theories about shadows from the flower, tricks of the light and movement of the camera during the 2.5-second exposure offered no conclusive explanation.
It was simply a moment in a darkening graveyard, 99 years since Anzac soldiers stormed ashore at nearby Anzac Cove, captured by a closing shutter.
We offer it for your judgment. - SMH
Gallipoli
Shadows of Anzac: An intimate history of Gallipoli
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South Korean customs find thousands of pills with powdered human baby flesh
Thousands of pills filled with powdered human flesh have been discovered by customs officials in South Korea, it was revealed today.
The capsules are in demand because they are viewed as being a medicinal 'cure-all'.
The grim trade is being run from China where corrupt medical staff are said to be tipping off medical companies when babies are aborted or delivered still-born.
The tiny corpses are then bought, stored in household refrigerators in homes of those involved in the trade before they are removed and taken to clinics where they are placed in medical drying microwaves.
Once the skin is tinder dry, it is pummelled into powder and then processed into capsules along with herbs to disguise the true ingredients from health investigators and customs officers. Read more at Human Baby Flesh Pills
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Apparition runs through stadium crowd
A video showing a strange shadow running through crowds of spectators at a stadium has gone viral.
The dark 'figure' can be seen moving from left to right across the stands, seemingly passing straight through several spectators who appear oblivious to anything being there.
The incident was recorded during Fox Sports coverage of a live football match between Bolivia's "The Strongest" and Uruguay's "Defensor Sporting". Some observers claim to have also witnessed a second shadow towards the northern end of the stadium.
'Ghost' runs through crowd at football game or cut / paste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXLAsFEo7A4
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Bizarre collection for sale
Waddington’s, accustomed to selling antique furniture and fine art, will next week auction off quite a different collection: hundreds of bizarre and troubling objects formerly belonging to the late local collector Billy Jamieson, including Polynesian war clubs, an electric chair, and an almost-life-size (and disturbingly realistic) 20th-century model of a human posterior for proctologists to practise on.
“It’s one of the most interesting and coherent collections to come through Toronto,” said Duncan McLean, president of Waddington’s and a good friend of Mr. Jamieson’s. “And there’ll never be another [like it].”
The sale could fetch as much as $230,000 in total, and is divided into two parts: a live auction, which takes place at the company’s King Street headquarters on Tuesday night, and an online auction running from Monday through Thursday.
Mr. Jamieson died three years ago, on his 57th birthday, at home in his 6,000-square-foot loft on Wellington Street West, surrounded by innumerable tribal objects and oddities. Visitors to the home-slash-showroom had included visiting celebrities, including Steven Tyler and Tim Burton, he said. When he died Mr. Jamieson was working on History Television’s Treasure Trader.
The series aired as a form of tribute after his death.
Asked by the Post in 2007 why he collected tangible remnants of war, torture and exploitation — including human body parts — he said: “They tell an interesting story about our species. Some folks collect cards or porcelain dolls. I’m fascinated by the macabre. And my search for oddities and curiosities takes me to the ends of the Earth.”
Jessica Phillips, the collector’s surviving fiancée, said Mr. Jamieson understood that collections get broken up and scattered across the Earth one day, and was not necessarily sentimental about each artefact.
The collection is a sort of biography of him, she said, noting, “You have to understand that you’re going to die if you’re going to live well. He lived more in his years than 20 people could in a thousand years.”
After drying some tears, she added: “I’m excited about the butt in the box. I want to see what it goes for.”
Because laws about selling human remains can be unclear, the auction does not include Mr. Jamieson’s signature shrunken heads and most other body parts. (Teeth are an exception for some reason, Mr. McLean shrugged.) And buyers should consult legal advice before taking any purchases out of Canada if they contain certain animal parts, such as ivory.
Waddington’s has received a number of inquiries from abroad from interested potential bidders, as well as collectors closer to home.
“People want a piece of Billy,” Mr. McLean said. “They want a souvenir of him.”
The auction takes place Tuesday, April 29 at 7 p.m., 275 King St. E., on the second floor. Previews open to public Saturday through Monday. - NationalPost
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