Marc Derepentigny has created what is possibly the coolest fan-made Transformers costume ever! The 7-foot suit comes complete with servo-actuated claws, moving LED eyes and smoke thrusters.

Our pal Yan of Geeks Are Sexy found out that he lives nearby and went over to interview him:

Marc has been building costumes as far as he can remember, even dating back to his early childhood. It first started with cardboard and hot glue, eventually evolving into styrene plastic and Crazy Glue, which is what the robot is made of. He estimates the time it took him to build it at two years, with around two hours of work per day, and a total cost of about $2000.

Read more over at Geeks Are Sexy (don't miss the video clip!): Link

Ancient tales of vampires later split into two modern mythic characters: vampires and zombies. Movies characterize vampires and zombies as quite different, yet tales from history tell of vampires with characteristics of both: basically undead formerly-human monsters who want to eat humans. An article at the Verge compares the nonfiction book Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus and the novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War to show how the real disease rabies led to the vampire myth.       

Spanish physician Juan Gomez-Alonso explains four connections between rabies and vampire myths in a 1998 Neurology journal article, the most obvious being infection through the blood via bites. Rabies victims also often suffer from facial spasms, lending them an animalistic appearance. The third connection is the time frame: vampire lore had them living for forty days before being turned, the same amount of time it usually takes for the victim of a rabies attack to die after their initial bite. The final connection is probably the most surprising: sex drive. The insatiable sexual desire that’s a trademark of both traditionally gothic and sparkly modern vampires can also be traced to rabies. Male rabies victims often get involuntary erections and have spontaneous orgasms. Unsurprisingly, this was not often spoken of outright, but was alluded to in much of the early medical literature, with one eighteenth century Austrian physician noting “his seed and his life were lost at the same time.”

What's really scary is that 55,000 people still die of rabies every year. Link -via Digg

(Image credit: Flickr user Jere Keys)

The following post consists of two articles from Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader.

For some reason, Great Britain has more than its share of mansions, estates, and old homes that are reported to be haunted.

Leeds Castle is said to be haunted by a dog. He pays no attention to the people who visit the castle, but he's said to bring bad luck to anyone who spots him. (Image credit: Flickr user Gauis Caecilius)

St. Donat's Castle is a 12th-century Welsh castle that's now a boarding school ...and they say a ghost panther stalks the corridors. In a parlor, a piano plays itself ...even when the lid is closed.

Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire supposedly has a mischievous spirit that loves to fling open doors. Billionaire J. Paul Getty said it once terrified him by barging into the room.

Chatham House is haunted by the ghost of the "Hanging Judge" George Jeffreys, the former Chief Justice of England who liked to hand out death sentences. Jeffreys is said to walk around Chatham House in his black judicial robes, carrying a bloody bone.

(East Riddlesden Hall image credit: Flickr user floato)

East Riddlesden Hall in Yorkshire hosts the "Grey Lady." She reportedly paces up and down the stairs, looking for her lover,  who was sealed in a room by her jealous husband and left there to die.

Dover Castle is said to be haunted by a boy murdered during the Napoleanic Wars. The headless ghost stalks the halls, drumming.

(Raby Castle image credit: Flickr user Mark Loveridge)

Raby Castle near Durham is the home to the "Old Hellcat" -a ghoulish old woman who sits in a chair, knitting. (If you get close enough, you can feel the heat coming off her glowing red knitting needles.)

This is not a painting, drawing, or Photoshop. DeviantART member Battledress decorated the head of model Michael Foster at the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show (IMATS) in Los Angeles. This is all makeup, with the exception of tape to hold his eye shut and to cover the eyebrow. The goal was to evoke classical medical illustrations. The project does that well! Link -via Laughing Squid

The following is an article from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader.

Have you ever participated in a séance or tried to contact the "spirits" using a Ouija board? You probably don't realize it, but the modern conception of communicating with the dead only dates back to the late 1840s. Here's the story of the hoax that started spirit-mania.

BUMP IN THE NIGHT

In 1848 a devout Methodist farmer named John Fox and his family began to hear strange noises in their Hydesville, New York, farmhouse. The noises continued for weeks on end, until finally on one particularly noisy evening, Mrs. Fox ordered the two children, 13-year-old Margaret and 12-year-old Kate, to stay perfectly quiet in bed while Mr. Fox searched the house from top to bottom. His search shed no light on the mystery, but afterward, Margaret sat up in bed and snapped her fingers, exclaiming, "Here, Mr. Split-foot, do as I do!"

"The reply was immediate," Earl Fornell writes in The Unhappy Medium: Spiritualism and the Life of Margaret Fox. "The invisible rapper responded by imitating the number of the girl's staccato responses."

Mrs. Fox began to make sense of what she was hearing. "Count ten," she told the spirit. It responded with ten raps. So she asked several questions; each time the spirit answered correctly. Next, Mrs. Fox asked the spirit if it would rap if a neighbor was present; the spirit said yes. So Mr. Fox ran and got a neighbor, the first of more than 500 neighbors and townspeople who visited over the next few weeks to watch Margaret and Kate interact with the spirit. As long as either Margaret or Kate was present, the spirit was willing to communicate.



MURDER MYSTERY

Using an alphabetic code that Margaret and Kate devised, "Mr. Split-foot" explained that in his Earthly life he'd been a peddler, murdered by the person who lived in the farmhouse. The spirit identified the killer as "C. R." Some citizens tracked down a man named Charles Rosana, who'd lived in the house years earlier, but with no body and no evidence other than the testimony of a ghost, he was never charged.

Set phasers to stunning! Tumblr blogger glayish (Kirk), hentaigirl82 (Uhura), izunadrop247 (Sulu) and Technoranma (Bones) make one heckuva stylish Star Trek Away Team for the Katsucon 2013 in Maryland!

An unnamed man in Turkey was diagnosed two years ago with vampirism, dissociative identity disorder, major depressive disorder, alcohol abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The PTSD, and possibly the alcohol abuse, were attributed to the crimes he committed due to the vampirism.

A 23-year-old married male (3rd of 6 siblings) presented with a 2-year history of ‘addiction’ to drinking blood. He used to cut his arms, chest, and abdomen with razor blades to collect the blood in a cup and to drink it. The initial interest in drinking his own blood had subsequently turned to that of others’. These ‘crises’ were characterized by a strong urge to drink blood immediately, ‘as urgent as breathing’. He enjoyed the smell and taste of blood despite finding this ‘foolish’. He also enjoyed biting wounds of others to taste flesh. He was arrested several times after attacking people by stabbing and biting them with the intention of collecting and drinking their blood. He forced his father to obtain blood from blood banks.

The man had suffered from several traumatic incidents before turning to blood. Doctors believe he has now been cured of his "blood addiction." Read the rest of the story at Smithsonian. Link

(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user creepyhalloweenimages)

Got a brown comforter? A bikini? You can dress up as Jabba the Hutt and Princess Leia without spending another penny. These unknown but frugal cosplayers are totally convincing. Especially Jabba's face. That's just perfect.

-via Fashionably Geek | Photo: unknown

Kipling West has a fine collection of vintage valentines that use monsters, skeletons, and other Halloween themes to profess love. Perfect for expressing your romantic side while still getting your goth on! Link -via Seven Deadly Sinners

See her other vintage valentines, arranged into themed sets of clowns, medical subjects, cats, meat, and more! Link

(Image credit: Flickr user pageofbats)

According to the miasma theory of disease, many illnesses are caused by foul odors. These can be avoided by sniffing medicinal vapors, such as vinegar:

Vapours from a vinegar-soaked sponge in the bottom were inhaled through the small holes in the top of the ‘acorn’. If a person felt faint they could also sniff their vinaigrette and the sharp vinegar smell might shock their body into action. The other side of the vinaigrette shows a face and could act as a memento mori – a reminder of death. The skull was probably hung from a piece of cord or necklace and carried at all times.

Link -via TYWKIWDBI

Dogzillalives, maker of horrifying light switch plates, made this beautiful cuff out of polymer clay over aluminum. You know what would make this awsomer? If it could be machined to occasionally blink and twitch. I would definitely wear that to work.

Link

There's a "lawn dinosaur" in Redwood City, California named Dug. His family dresses him up for special occasions. Dug has his own Facebook fan page where you can see more pictures, and his own subreddit, too!

To answer your questions, Dug is made of tin, and was bought at a lawn and garden supply store in California. Link  -via reddit

Neatorama featured this picture entitled Sweet Halloween Dreams a little over a year ago. The inspiring artwork by Alex Panagopoulos (DeviantART member begemott) is now getting its due, by being made into a Dwayne Johnson feature film!

New Line Cinema has bought the movie rights of an illustration that became a meme. The future film, tentatively titled Teddy Bear, will star the wrestler-cum-actor known to most as the Rock. But there is no writer attached to the project yet, and the plot is a furry, fluffy question mark.

The picture, drawn by fantasy artist Alex Panagopoulos, features a little girl asleep in bed while a small bear holding a small wooden sword and shield protects her from a monster. It has since evolved into a meme, the caption reading, "Teddy Bears: Protecting innocent children from monsters under the bed since 1902."

There's no word yet on whether the film will be live action or animated. Link

(Image credit: Alex Panagopoulos)

Ha! Well, she was warned. Lindsay of the Diary of a Crafty Lady made this Halloween craft that provides a neat place to store her broom. She stenciled the letters, screwed in the hooks and glued a plastic spider to the surface.

Link

Cosplayer Florencia Muir clearly thinks clowns should be creepy rather than cheerful, and she saw a terrifying darkness in Harley Quinn's soul which she evoked in session with photographer Jonathan Duran.

It's Harley in her Suicide Squad years, and she's tired of hiding behind the clown prince's fat head...

Link  --via GeekTyrant

It's hard to tell if these guys are one of the lesser known gangs from The Warriors or part of a prison clowning class, but they'd better be really tough if they're gonna prowl the streets looking like that!

Introspective colorful clown boys...they're more of a downer than their makeup would lead you to believe, and they're always worried about their makeup...

Link

Ever wonder what one of those paintings from The Haunted Mansion would look like in real life? Well, here's the girl who walks on the tightrope over the pool of aligators cosplaying for Bat's Day at Disneyland.

Link Via BoingBoing

After a long day of conflict in the wastelands of Pandora it's nice to take it easy for a bit and pose for some pics with your frenemies.

From left to right we have Scarlett, Moxxi, a Psycho, Lilith and an extremely diminutive version of the Gunzerker Salvador.

Hey, they're a pretty good looking bunch when they're not trying to blow your face off!

Link

(YouTube Link)

Zombie love is cute, and kinda gross, in an animated short entitled Love In Decay, which was directed by Ryan Cooper of Mukpuddy.

It's good to know that even when your limbs keep falling off and you smell unbearably bad you can find someone just as repulsive as you are to fall in love with.

--via Geek Tyrant

This colorful fellow is known as the Human Gumball Machine, and when he hits the streets all the girls guys people come looking for a nibble.

His colorful fashion sense has earned him an honorary spot in Candyland, and he's so sweet that kids keep throwing quarters at him hoping for a gumball to drop!

Link

Here's two cosplayers who are really rounding out the world of Green Lantern-they're dressed up as Kyle Rayner and Galius Zed of the Green Lantern Corps.

They both seem to be letting the powers of geekdom go straight to their head, and if Galius isn't careful his big round head (body?) may explode!

Link

Ya gotta be sick to set off exploring in the world of Dead Space, what with all those demonic alien Necromorphs out there waiting to chew on your limbs.

The setting is stark, and so is the outfit worn by the protagonist Isaac Clarke, which is why this is a fine example of Dead Space cosplay, right down to the glowing bits on the helmet and lots of riveted metal bits.

In fact, this costume is so good that it attracted the attention of the game's creators EA Games, who have hired the cosplayer Kevin to do some promo work for them. Just don't let them send you out on a spacewalk!

Link  --via Geeks Are Sexy

The Psychos are crazed bandits that fear neither bullets to the head nor running at the nearest Vault Hunter with a live grenade in their hands in the Borderlands video game series.

Their strange looking masks reflect their twisted psyches, and this fine example of custom made leather masking was created by Epic-Leather, who cannot guarantee that the wearer won't go stark raving mad!

Link  --via Lazorz

Marceline is the rockin' vampire chick from Cartoon Network's hit show Adventure Time, but cosplayer Red Cappy has chosen to portray her as sinister rather than cartoony.

In fact, the only thing setting Red Cappy's Marceline apart from the rest of the vampire brood is that sweet red axe of hers. Still, you wouldn't wanna run into this rockin' hottie in a dark alley!

Link

(YouTube Link)

Netflix is producing an upcoming series directed by Eli Roth called Hemlock Grove, based on the Brian McGreevy novel of the same name. 

From the look of the trailer it will involve supernatural creatures, murder and strange town mysteries ala Twin Peaks, and all 13 episodes will be available to watch on Netflix starting April 19th. 

--via GeekTyrant

Vampirella is one drop dead gorgeous monster, with a sinfully seductive look that makes fanboys eager to part with their blood. She's so alluring that it's easy to forget that she's undead, until she sinks her fangs into your neck and the true horror of her nature comes to life. 

It's hard to find a cosplayer that truly captures Vampirella's pulse pounding appeal, but Micheline Pitt has hit the stake right on the head with her portrayal of the Princess of Darkness, as photographed by Chris Gomez.

Link

(YouTube Link)

Even the Invisible Man gets hungry for some greasy fast food, but his lack of visibility makes it hard to get service in the drive thru!

Will the cashier serve up a bag of fried goodness to a seemingly empty car? Only if some cash floats her way...

--via Obvious Winner

As long as you're willing to laugh at yourself while wearing a ridiculously bad costume you can throw a low budget look together with stuff lying around your house.

Case in point- this Krang cosplayer made her costume out of a cardboard box, duct tape and a bunch of pink (yarn?) glued together in alien form. She may not pose a threat to the Ninja Turtles, but her budget look is definitely going to get her noticed!

Link

(YouTube link)

The dress by fashiontech designer Anouk Wipprecht and engineer Daniel Schatzmar is creepy enough even without the ultra artful video presentation. From the YouTube description:

A prototype of a mechanic dress equipped with sensors indicators and controllers, created with the aim to give more power and 'psychological thrills' to the sugar sweet character that performative wearables often have. Sensoric, servo controlled, mechanic, microcontroller based and reacting//attacking upon approach, inspired by the game LIMBO.

It was unveiled during the EU Robotics Week in Prague. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Flavorwire has a list of ten movie scenes that masterfully elicit a sense of dread in the viewer, even though they're not all horror films (or eleven, if you count Cape Fear discussed in the introduction). Unless you're a youngster, you've probably seen most of them, but videos are included for your convenience. Watch at your own risk. Link