Journal of the Bizarre

Proof that what goes around doesn't always come around.



One of the things that keep many of us sane is the silly notion that people ultimately get what they deserve. While cosmic justice is a nifty thought, history proves that what goes around doesn't always come around. Below are ten cases which illustrate the fallacy of the theory of karma, or, if you prefer, "The Top 10 Moments When the Karma Police Were Caught Taking a Donut Break".


10. Ty Cobb



During his heyday, this Hall-of-Fame outfielder was just as famous for his bigotry and violent temper as his baseball prowess. Cobb, who often slid into base with his spikes in the air in a blatant attempt to injure his opponent, once described himself as "a sadistic, slashing, swashbuckling despot who waged war in the guise of sport".

Others, however, had less kind things to say about the man nicknamed "The Georgia Peach". Universally hated by, well, everyone, Cobb once bitch-slapped a black groundskeep…

Were Gamblers Victims of the Grimaldi Curse?



Perched along the French Riviera in Monaco, Monte Carlo has been the playground of the world's most adventurous gamblers since the mid-nineteenth century. Monte Carlo may be synonymous with gambling (although gambling is illegal to citizens of Monaco, strangely enough), but it is also synonymous with mystery and intrigue, as the unusual story of the "suicide table" at the Monte Carlo Casino reveals.

From Las Vegas to Atlantic City, every gambling mecca has a higher rate of suicide than other locales; after all, these are places where fortunes are won and lost in the blink of an eye. Yet no other gaming table in any other casino in the world can be said to be responsible for as many suicides as the "cursed" table, which claimed 113 lives in a ten year span between 1890 and 1900.

 Here is the complete and unabridged strange story of Monte Carlo's suicide table, as it appeared in the Chicago Inter-Ocean newspaper …

(The following is a reprint of an interesting article written by F.H. McLean, which appeared in the Washington Herald on June 2, 1909)

Sailors and fishermen are the most superstitious of men, as they are also the most sensitive to ridicule. On this account it is most difficult to get the old salts to relate the yarns of the ocean. For this reason, also, we on land hear little about the phantom ships and the ghosts of the sea. But on a recent trip along the coast of the British Isles, many legends were related to the writer which also recalled other phantom tales of the sea.
On the various parts of the British coast phantoms of the sea have frequently been seen. Cornwell, in the olden days, was notorious for wreckers, who worked their evil will along the ironbound cliffs. Priest Cove is still believed to be haunted by one of the gentry who, during his lifetime, preyed upon the spoils of ships lured ashore by a false light hung around the neck of a hobbled horse. On stormy nights the wre…