Journal of the Bizarre

When October 30, 1893, came and went without Doc Taylor rising from the dead, few residents of a small town in rural western Virginia were surprised. And with Doc Taylor's failed resurrection, one of the strangest chapters in the history of Wise County drew to a close.

Few men living in this mountainous region of Virginia were as eccentric-- or as dangerous-- as Doc Taylor, who earned his living as a preacher and a self-educated country doctor. According to historical records, Taylor was a walking arsenal of sorts, always carrying a Winchester rifle, two Colt revolvers and a belt containing two rows of cartridges wherever he went. He was reportedly a physician of most unusual skill and, in spite of his lack of formal education, attracted patients within a 50 mile radius of the town of Norton.

Taylor was also a well-known Swedenborgian minister, preaching Christianity according to the teachings of 18th century theologian and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. Doc Taylor was known to spend d…

While researching legends and myths of the Portuguese corredor I came across a fascinating article from 1890. In Portugal, the corredor is also referred to the "night ranger"-- a type of shape-shifting creature that shares many similarities with the European "wehr wolf". The following is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in The Fortnightly Review, which was a popular and influential magazine in 19th century England.



Portuguese Bugaboos: Gloomy Traditional Beliefs Existing Among the Peasants of Portugal

The most somber of the traditionary beliefs in rural Portugal certainly go back to far beyond the time of the Moors, beyond even the period of the entry into the peninsula of the nations from Central Europe. The wehr-wolf legend comes from Roman times. The term for the man-wolf in Portuguese is lobis-homem, hardly a change from the Latin lupus-homo, though it is more than likely that in substance if not in form the lycanthropic myth is far older than th…

The Mystery of the Ellensburg Giant




In early 1912, workmen discovered a most unusual skeleton near the Oregon coast, while digging in the present-day city of Gold Beach (formerly known as Ellensburg). It was the skeleton of a veritable giant, measuring nearly eight feet in height. While many archaeologists of the era were unearthing strange skeletons of human giants all across the United States (leading many to believe that an ancient race of giants once roamed North America), the Ellensburg Giant-- as it came to be known-- was rather different.

The most curious feature was the skull, which featured a sloping ape-like forehead, along with not one, but two rows of teeth in its upper jaw. Unlike many of the other giant skeletons unearthed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the skull of the Ellensburg Giant did not feature the high, prominent cheekbones that were the hallmarks of Native American heritage.

The earliest recorded account of this startling archaeological discovery comes fro…