Mermaid hoaxes were perhaps popularized by P.T. Barnum and his famous circus. He advertised having the remains of a FeeJee Mermaid. FeeJee is the sucker spelling of Fiji I believe. Rotten.com describes these supposed remains as looking like a Hollywood pitch gone wrong: “It’s like Gremlins meets Piranha meets Ebirah!” PT Barnum went ahead and used drawings of traditionally attractive mermaids in order to lure crowds. It’s the damn patriarchy keeping abominations down. The three ring huckster need not have bothered apparently, as the attraction continued to appear before sell out crowds even after Barnum publicly confessed that the mermaid was a hodge podge of glued-together parts from totally unrelated critters. (via rotten.com)

Medical students in New Jersey sure know how to treat a girl. Linda Kay is apparently one uber-goth goth stripper. Police came to her house because they got a report that someone there was suicidal. Very gothic even if the suicidal person was apparently out running errands or something and not actually there. While the fuzz checked things out, they discovered a number of skulls and a sloppily dismembered body portion, specifically a severed arm nicknamed Freddy and given to the exotic dancer in question by the sort of med student who comes courting at a strip club. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that. I’ve always preferred the more offbeat ie spelling Freddie when used as a diminutive. Whichever spelling Ms. Kay applies to her mad scientist body parts, her mom is supportive and family is always important in these situations. (via Blue Blood via NJ Star Ledger)