The Specter That Haunted Hitler

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The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. The 1,100-man unit was given a unique mission within the Army to impersonate other U.S. Army units in order to fool the enemy. From a few weeks after D-Day, when they landed in France, until the end of the war, they put on a traveling road show, using inflatable tanks, sound trucks, phony radio transmissions and even playacting. They staged more than 20 battlefield deceptions, often operating very close to the front lines. Their mission was kept secret until 1996, and elements of it are still classified.

Inspiration for the unit came from the British who had used similar techniques on a smaller scale at the battle of El Alamein. The unit had its beginnings at Camp Forrest, Mississippi, and was fully formed at Pine Camp (now Fort Drum), NY before sailing for England in early May 1944. In England they were based near Stratford, and some troops participated in Operation Fortitude, the British simulation of a landing force designated for the Pas des Calais.

Some troops went to Normandy two weeks after D-Day, where they simulated a fake Mulberry harbor at night with lights to draw German fire away from the real ones. Next the full force assisted in bottling up the German defenders of Brest by simulating a larger force than was actually encircling them.

As the Allied armies moved east, so did the 23rd, and it eventually was mostly based out of Luxembourg, where it engaged in deceptions of crossings of the Roehr river, positions along the Maginot line, Huertgen Forest, and finally a major crossing of the Rhine to draw German troops away from the actual sites.

Ghost soldiers were encouraged to use their brains and talent to mislead, deceive and befuddle the German Army. Many were recruited from art schools, advertising agencies and other venues that encourage creative thinking. In civilian life, ghost soldiers had been artists, actors, set designers and engineering wizards. Fashion designer Bill Blass, photographer Art Kane, the artist Louis Dalton Porter and the painter Ellsworth Kelly served as ghost soldiers.

Although the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops consisted of only 1,100 soldiers, the contingent used inflatable tanks and artillery, fake aircraft and giant speakers broadcasting the sounds of men and artillery to make the Germans think it was upwards to a two division 30,000 man force. The unit's elaborate ruses helped deflect German units from the locations of larger allied combat units.

The unit consisted of the 406th Combat Engineers (which handled security), the 603rd Camouflage Engineers, the 3132 Signal Service Company Special and the Signal Company Special.

The visual deception arm of the Ghost Army was the 603rd Camouflage Engineers. It was equipped with inflatable tanks, cannons, jeeps, trucks, and airplanes that the men would pump up with air compressors, and then camouflage imperfectly so that enemy air reconnaissance could see them. They could create dummy airfields, troop bivuacs (complete with fake laundry hanging out on clotheslines), motor pools, artillery batteries, and tank formations in a matter of hours. Many of the men in this unit were artists, recruited from New York and Philadelphia art schools. Their unit became an incubator for young artists who literally sketched and painted their way through Europe. Several of these soldier-artists went on to have a major impact on art in post-war America. Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, wildlife artist Arthur Singer and Kane were among the many artists who served in the 603rd.

The 3132 Signal Service Company Special handled sonic deception. The unit came together under the direction of Colonel Hilton Railey, a colorful figure who, before the war, had “discovered” Amelia Earhart and sent her on her road to fame.

With the help of engineers from Bell Labs, a team from the 3132 went to Fort Knox to record sounds of armored and infantry units onto a series of sound effects records that they brought to Europe. For each deception, sounds could be “mixed” to match the scenario they wanted the enemy to believe. This program was recorded on state of the art wire recorders (the predecessor to the tape recorder), and then played back with powerful amplifiers and speakers mounted on halftracks. The sounds they played could be heard 15 miles away.

"Spoof radio", as it was called, was handled by the Signal Company Special. Operators created phony traffic nets, impersonating the radio operators from real units. They learned the art of mimicking an operator’s method of sending Morse Code so that the enemy would never catch on that the real unit and its radio operator were long gone.

To add to the mix of techniques, the unit often employed theatrical effects to supplement the other deceptions. Collectively called "atmosphere", this included simulating actual units deployed elsewhere by sewing on their divisional patches, painting appropriate unit designators on vehicles and having the companies deployed as if they were regimental headquarters units. Trucks would be driven in looping convoys with just two troops in the seats near the tailgate, to simulate a truck full of infantry under the canvas cover. "MP's" would be deployed at cross roads wearing appropriate divisional insignia and some officers would simulate divisional generals and staff officers visiting towns where enemy agents were likely to see them. In addition, a few actual tanks and artillery pieces were occasionally assigned to the unit to make the dummies in the distance seem more realistic.

Dark Roasted Blend: The Eccentric Brilliance of Stan Mott

Remember this post about the tremendously-great Stan Mott? Well, the equally-great Dark Roasted Blend has just put up a staggering tribute to the eccentrically brilliant artist. Here's three teases - and the rest are on DRB.

Death ray, fiddlesticks! Why, it doesn't even slow them up!

Wiki:

Harry Grindell Matthews (March 17, 1880 – September 11, 1941) was an English inventor who claimed to have invented a death ray in the 1920s.

Harry Grindell Matthews was born in 1880 in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire. He studied at the Merchant Venturer's School in Bristol and became an electronic engineer. During the Second Boer War he served in the South African Constabulary and was twice wounded.

In 1911 Matthews said he had invented an Aerophone device, a radiotelephone, and transmitted messages between a ground station and an aeroplane from a distance of two miles. His experiments attracted government attention and in July 4, 1912 he visited Buckingham Palace. However, when the British Admiralty requested a demonstration of the Aerophone, Matthews demanded that no experts be present at the scene. When four of the observers dismantled part of the apparatus before the demonstration began and took notes, Matthews canceled the demonstration and drove observers away.

Newspapers rushed to Matthews's defense. The War Office denied any tampering and claimed that the demonstration was a failure. Matthews backpedalled and stated that the affair was just a misunderstanding.

In 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, the British government announced an award of £25,000 to anyone who could create a weapon against zeppelins or remotely control unmanned vehicles. Matthews claimed that he had created a remote control system that used selenium cells. He successfully demonstrated it with a remotely controlled boat to representatives of the Admiralty at Richmond Park's Penn Pond. He received his £25,000 but the admiralty never used the invention.

Next, Matthews appeared in public in 1921 and claimed to have invented the world's first talking picture, an interview of Ernest Shackleton. It was not commercially successful. (Other talking-picture processes had been developed before that of Matthews, notably one by William K.L. Dickson: these also were not successful, but they are thoroughly documented. Even if Matthews's process actually worked, it was certainly not the "first".)

In 1923 Matthews claimed that he had invented an electric ray that would put magnetos out of action. In a demonstration to some select journalist he stopped a motorcycle engine from a distance. He also claimed that with enough power he could shoot down aeroplanes, explode gunpowder, stop ships and incapacitate infantry from the distance of four miles. Newspapers obliged by publishing sensational accounts of his invention.

The War Office contacted Matthews in February 1924 to request a demonstration of his ray. Matthews did not answer to them but spoke to journalists and demonstrated the ray to a Star reporter by igniting gunpowder from a distance. He still refused to say how the ray actually worked, just insisted that it did. When the British government still refused to rush to buy his ideas, he announced that he had an offer from France.

The Air Ministry was wary, partially because of previous bad experiences with would-be inventors. Matthews was invited back to London to demonstrate his ray on April 26 to the armed forces. In Matthews's laboratory they saw how his ray switched on a light bulb and cut off a motor. He failed to convince the officials, who also suspected trickery or a confidence game. When the admiralty requested further demonstration, Matthews refused to give it.

In May 27, 1924, the High Court in London granted an injunction to Matthew's investors that forbade him from selling the rights to the death ray. When Major Wimperis arrived at Matthews's laboratory to negotiate a new deal, Matthews had already flown to Paris. Matthews's backers appeared on the scene as well and then rushed to Croydon airport to stop him, but were too late.

Public furor attracted interest of various other would-be inventors who wanted to demonstrate their own death rays to the War Office. None of them was convincing. On May 28 Commander Kenworthy asked in the House of Commons what the government intended to do to stop Matthews from selling the ray to a foreign power. The Undersecretary for Air answered that Matthews was not willing to let them investigate the ray to their satisfaction. A government representative also stated that one ministry official had stood before the ray and survived. Newspapers continued to root for Matthews.

The government required that Matthews would use the ray to stop a petrol motorcycle engine in the conditions that would satisfy the Air Ministry. He would receive £1000 and further consideration. From France, Matthews answered that he was not willing to give any proof of that kind and that he already had eight bids to choose from. He also claimed that he had lost sight in his left eye because of his experiments. His involvement with his French backer Eugene Royer aroused further suspicions in Britain.

Sir Samuel Instone and his brother Theodore offered Matthews a huge salary if he would keep the ray in Britain and demonstrate that it actually worked. Matthews refused again - he did not want to give any proof that the ray worked as he claimed it would.

Matthews returned to London June 1, 1924 and gave an interview to the Sunday Express. He claimed that he had a deal with Royer. The press again took his side. The only demonstration Matthews was willing to give was to make a Pathe film The Death Ray to propagate his ideas to his own satisfaction. The device in the movie bore no resemblance to the one government officials had seen.

In July 1924, Matthews left for the USA to market his invention. When he was offered $25,000 to demonstrate his beam to the Radio World Fair at Madison Square Garden, he again refused and claimed, without foundation, that he was not permitted to demonstrate it outside England. US scientists were not impressed. One Professor Woods offered to stand in front of the death ray device to demonstrate his disbelief. Regardless, when Matthews returned to Britain, he claimed that the USA had bought his ray but refused to say who had done it and for how much. Matthews moved to the USA and began to work for Warner Bros.

The Recycling/Recyclable Paradise

Wiki:

Spiral Island I was a floating artificial island in a lagoon near Puerto Aventuras, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico south of Cancún. It was built by British eco-pioneer Richart (or "Rishi") Sowa beginning in 1998; he filled nets with empty discarded plastic bottles to support a structure of plywood and bamboo, on which he poured sand and planted numerous plants, including mangroves. It was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005. Sowa has built a new Spiral Island II in Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

The original island sported a two-story house, a solar oven, a self-composting toilet, and three beaches. He used some 250,000 bottles for the 66ft (20 m) by 54 ft (16 m) structure. The mangroves were planted to help keep the island cool, and some of them rose up to 15 ft (5 m) high.

Sowa is a musician, artist, and carpenter. Now in his fifties, he is an environmentalist who believes in recycling and low-impact living.

A book about Rishi's journey in building the original island and his philosophies, titled Spiralogically Speaking written by the German author Tanja Samed along with Rishi, is due to be released in 2008.

Spiral Island has been featured in a number of newspapers and TV documentaries around the world, and was featured in an episode of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! TV show.

During the hurricane in 2005, Spiral Island I was washed completely onto the beach in one piece, and a small proportion of the bags of bottles washed up on the beach away from where it landed. The roots of the 7-year-old, 7-meter-tall mangroves were intertwined through the island's base and the strong net that was wrapped totally under the whole Island.

Almost all of the sand Rishi Sowa used for Spiral Island at Puerto Aventuras was taken from the end of the beach, where it came up against the man-made rock pier on the edge of the canal system where the Island was tied. Due to the prevailing winds, beach-sand was constantly being piled up because of the constant motion of the waves and wind. The beach sand was dredged out using large machinery so that boats could continue to come through the canal. Since Rishi gathered 8 to 10 large buckets per week, the builders of Puerto Aventuras canal did not need to dredge it again as Rishi was doing it for them.

In late 2007 and 2008, Rishi Sowa built a new Spiral Island in the waters of Isla Mujeres, the "Island of Women", also near Cancun. It opened for tours in August, 2008. Japanese TV and Korean TV have produced documentaries on the project.

The new Spiral Island is about 20 meters (60 feet) in diameter, and plants and mangroves are already growing on it. It contains about 100,000 bottles. The new island has beaches, a house, 2 ponds, a solar-powered waterfall/river, and solar panels. Volunteers helped with the project. Rishi will continue to make improvements to the Island, so it will always be a work of art in progress.

Ooops!

Wiki:

Chung Ling Soo was the stage name of American stage magician William Ellsworth Robinson (1861–1918). He is famous for dying when his bullet catch trick went wrong

During his early career, William Ellsworth Robinson called himself Robinson, the Man of Mystery. To increase his allure with a touch of exoticism, he changed his name to Chung Ling Soo and took his show to Europe. He took the name as a variation of a real Chinese stage magician - Ching Ling Foo - and performed many of the tricks that Foo had made famous. Chung Ling Soo maintained his role as a Chinese man scrupulously. He never spoke onstage and always used an interpreter when he spoke to journalists. Only his friends and other stage magicians knew the truth.

In 1905 in London, when both Chung and Ching were performing in different theatres, they developed a public feud — possibly a publicity stunt — referring to themselves as the only "Original Chinese Conjurer" and the other as an impostor. Ching challenged Chung to perform his tricks but did not show up at the appointed time. Whether this was by design is unknown.

Chung's most famous illusion—partly because of his death while performing it—was called "Condemned to Death by the Boxers". In this trick Chung's assistants, sometimes dressed as Boxers, took two guns to the stage. Several members of the audience were called on the stage to mark a bullet that was loaded into one of the guns. Attendants fired the gun at Chung, and he seemed to catch the bullets from the air and drop them on a plate he held up in front of him. In some variations he pretended to be hit and spit the bullet onto the plate.

Actually, Chung palmed the marked bullets, hiding them in his hand during their examination and marking. The muzzle-loaded guns were rigged so that the bullet in fact never left the gun. The guns were loaded with substitute bullets, but the flash from the pan was channelled to a second blank charge in the ramrod tube below the actual barrel of the gun. The ramrods were never replaced after loading. The guns were aimed at Chung, the assistants pulled the triggers, there was a loud bang and a cloud of gunpowder smoke filled the stage. Chung pretended to catch the bullets in his hand before they hit him. Sometimes he pretended to catch them in his mouth.

The trick went tragically wrong when Chung was performing in the Wood Green Empire, London, on March 23, 1918. Chung never unloaded the gun properly. To avoid expending powder and bullets, he had the breeches of the guns dismantled after each performance in order to remove the bullet, rather than firing them off or drawing the bullets with a screw-rod as was normal practice. Over time, the channel that allowed the flash to bypass the barrel and ignite the charge in the ramrod tube slowly built up a residue of unburned gunpowder. On the fateful night of the accident, the flash from the pan ignited the charge behind the bullet in the barrel of one of the guns. The bullet was fired in the normal way, hitting Chung in the chest. His last words were spoken on stage that moment, "Oh my God. Something's happened. Lower the curtain." It was the first and last time since adopting the persona that William "Chung Ling Soo" Robinson had spoken English in public.

Chung was taken to a nearby hospital, but he died the next day. His wife explained the nature of the trick, and the inquest judged the case "accidental death".

The circumstances of the accident were verified by the gun expert Robert Churchill.

Some conspiracy-minded theorists suggest that the death was not accidental. In 1955 US stage magician Jack Clarkson claimed that Chung was in debt, that his wife was having an affair with his agent, and that the incident was an elaborate form of suicide. Others have suggested instead that the agent manipulated the gun so that Chung would be killed. Neither theory is supported by solid evidence.

His life inspired the opera 'The Original Chinese Conjuror' in 2006, by Hong Kong born British composer, Raymond Yiu.

The Russian Atlantis

Wiki:

Kitezh (Russian: Китеж) was a legendary town in what is today the Voskresensky District of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia.

The legend has it that Georgy II, Grand Prince of Vladimir, first built the town of Maly Kitezh (Little Kitezh) on the Volga River (today's Krasny Kholm). It is sometimes erroneously identified with Gorodets, which was actually founded some 30 years before Georgy's birth in 1189. Later on, the prince crossed the rivers of Uzola, Sanda, and Kerzhenets and found a beautiful spot on the shores of the Svetloyar Lake, where he decided to build the town of Bolshoy Kitezh (Big Kitezh). According to folk etymology, the name of the town came from the royal residence of Kideksha (near Suzdal), ransacked by the Mongols in 1237, while Max Vasmer labels the place-name as "obscure".

After having conquered some of the Russian lands, Batu Khan heard of Kitezh and ordered his army to advance towards it. The Mongols soon captured Maly Kitezh, forcing Georgy to retreat into the woods towards Bolshoy Kitezh. One of the prisoners told the Mongols about some secret paths to the Lake Svetloyar. The army of the Horde followed Georgy and soon reached the walls of the town. To the surprise of the Mongols, the town had no fortifications whatsoever. Its citizens didn't even intend to defend themselves and were engaged in fervent praying, asking God for their redemption. On seeing this, the Mongols rushed to the attack, but then stopped. Suddenly, they saw countless fountains of water bursting from under the ground all around them. The attackers fell back and watched the town submerge into the lake. The last thing they saw was a glaring dome of a cathedral with a cross on top of it. Soon, there were only waves.

This legend gave birth to numerous incredible rumors, which have survived to this day. It is said that only those who are pure in their heart and soul will find their way to Kitezh (ironically, the road to the lake is still called "Батыева тропа", or the Path of Batu). It is also said that in calm weather one can sometimes hear the wailing sound of chiming bells and people singing from under the waters of the Lake Svetloyar. Some people say that the most pious individuals may actually see the lights of religious processions (called "крестный ход") and even buildings on the bottom of the lake. This is why the Lake Svetloyar is sometimes called the "Russian Atlantis".

Ataque de Pánico!

Musical Interlude: "Always Look On The Bright Of Life" From The Life Of Brian

I'm Not Going To Be Able To Sleep Tonight (Part 7)

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The Leopard Society were a West African society active in the early- to mid-1900s that practiced cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.

Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travelers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. In theory, the ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.

The Tree Circus

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Axel Erlandson (December 15, 1884 - April 28, 1964) was an American farmer who opened a horticultural attraction in 1947 featuring his uniquely shaped trees. The attraction was eventually named "The Tree Circus."

Erlandson was born in Sweden in the province of Halland, to Alfred Erlandson (1850-1915) and Kristina Larsson (1844-1922). He had two brothers, Ludwig (1879-1957), Anthon (1881-1970) and one sister, Emma Swanson (1885-1969). His parents emigrated to the US in early 1886 and settled in New Folden Township, Marshall County, Minnesota, where his father farmed and did construction of barns, houses and churches there. His family also ran a limestone kiln to produce quicklime used in mortar, plaster, and whitewash. The men and boys kept the fires going 24-hours a day during the processing time. The limestone rocks were collected from the surrounding fields. As a young boy, Axel produced a working model of a threshing machine, but was disappointed when he was told by his parents that he couldn't take it along to California. In 1902 the family rented a box car, loaded their possessions, and moved to Central Valley of California along with a couple of other Swedish families to join a new Swedish Mission Covenant Church colony of Hilmar, south of Turlock, which promised irrigated land for farming operations. He married his wife Leona in 1914. He had one daughter, Wilma. He farmed outside of Hilmar near his parents and raised beans and other crops. There, inspired by observing a natural inosculation in his hedgerow, he began to shape trees. He began his work with trees in 1925.^[1] Very few people knew of his early work of grafting trees other than his sister and a few close family friends. He would create designs on paper first and then plant in the specified patterns, pruning, grafting and bending them. This began as a hobby for the amusement of himself and his family.

In 1945, Erlandson's daughter and wife took a trip to the ocean near Santa Cruz, California. There they saw people lined up to pay to see such oddities as tilted buildings at the Mystery Spot. They returned home and mentioned (off hand) that Axel's trees could draw people who would pay to see them if they were on a well-traveled tourist route. Axel jumped on the idea and bought a small parcel of land in Scotts Valley, California on the main road between the Santa Clara Valley and the ocean; and started the process of transplanting the best of his trees to their new home. The Tree Circus opened in the spring of 1947.

On June 4, 1947, Erlandson wrote to Robert Ripley sending him 2 photos of his trees and inviting him to visit. Erlandson’s trees appeared in the column of Robert Ripley's Believe It or Not! twelve times.

To create the "Basket Tree", Erlandson planted six sycamore trees in a circle, topped them all at one foot, then approach-grafted them together one to another to form the diamond patterns. For the first 2.5 meters (8') he left an opening at the top. This specimen today is featured as the centerpiece of Gilroy Gardens.

Erlandson taught himself over a period of decades how to train the growth of trees into shapes of his own design. When children asked how he got his trees to grow like this, he would reply, "I talk to them." Erlandson considered his methods "trade secrets." Income from admission was scant, in 1955 a relatively good year the Tree Circus brought in $321.20. The opening of Highway 17 took the tourist traffic away. Life Magazine ran a pictorial in the January 14, 1957 issue, improving attendance.

In 1963, Erlandson sold the property for $12,000 and died the following year in Capitola, California. The new owners, Larry and Peggy Thompson named the place "The Lost World." They had large fiberglass dinosaurs made to attract the attention of the passing traffic, installed a stream, and prepared to expand the attraction to several times its original size.

Unfortunately, Larry Thompson died before The Lost World could open. Peggy Thompson, left to raise three small children, managed to open the park successfully for a few years. She then tried to sell and the new owners defaulted. Subsequent lease owners went in and out of business.

In 1977 the property was purchased for commercial development by Robert Hogan and the trees were scheduled to be bulldozed. Mark Primack, a young architect, began documenting the trees and their story and received an art grant to draw and record them as they were. Joseph Cahill, a landscape designer, paid Hogan $12,000 for the trees and was given two and a half years to move them. Cahill cleaned up the site, and "Suddenly the good citizens of Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley were upset." A committee called the Friends of Scotts Valley Tree Circus was formed by Joe Cucchiara to keep the old trees put. At times Primack and his friends risked arrest for trespassing in order to water and feed the trees. Primack was quoted as saying "I know of no other single person who has taken ornamental grafting to such an extreme, it is not just an oddity. It demonstrates an intriguing option for improving our environment by creating an absolutely unique space of living sculpture." Efforts to have the trees declared historical or a cultural resource failed and Cahill’s window for moving the trees closed. Hogan's plan for development did not materialize.

In 1985, Michael Bonfante, owner of Nob Hill Foods, a grocery store chain, and Tree Haven, a tree nursery in Gilroy, California, bought the trees from Hogan and transplanted 24 of them to his new amusement park, Bonfante Gardens, now called Gilroy Gardens, in Gilroy, California.

Preserved dead trees from Erlandson's collection reside today in the Museum of Art History in Santa Cruz, California. One tree was loaned to the World Expo 2005, Aichi, Japan for display in the Growing Village pavilion. Erlandson's "Telephone Booth Tree" is on permanent display at the Baltimore, Maryland American Visionary Art Museum.