English is a peculiar language, what with its many letters that are left silent. To make pronunciation even more challenging, which letters are silent is not always consistent. This is often due to the introduction of words from foreign tongues, such as French and Texan.

Internet comedian Matt Colbo addresses the complexity of English pronunciation by imagining an encounter in the woods with an alternate universe version of himself--one from a universe in which every letter is pronounced.

As far as encounters alone in the woods with versions of yourself from alternate universes, that's a pretty safe encounter.

CONTENT WARNING: FOUL LANGUAGE.

-via Nag on the Lake

Broken Peach puts a little extra pizzazz in their songs for Halloween. Last year they graced the world with a slasher version of "Tainted Love," and this year we get "Don't You Want Me," originally by The Human League. If you're not familiar with the song from 1982, you'll still recognize the story as that from the many movie versions of A Star Is Born. Broken Peach also invites you to listen to their full concert called The Night of the Halloween Specials, which was recorded live in one take. -via Metafilter

Sleepwalking is totally separate from acting out one's dreams. It is more like zombie behavior. Yes, sleepwalking occurs in the deepest part of sleep, and we don't have control over what we do when sleepwalking. So how do we do it? That's the creepy part. We have a lot of behaviors that don't require conscious control, including walking, eating, and even driving while we're asleep! You know how your mind sometimes drifts off while you're driving and you end up at some familiar location that wasn't where you were going? That's how we act when we sleepwalk, but its even more dangerous because we are really asleep, often with our eyes closed. This TED-Ed lesson from Emmanuel During explains what is really happening during a sleepwalking incident.

We know about haunted houses, asylums, hospitals, hotels, castles, and other buildings, but nature has its own legends of horror that scare people even today. Forests can be scary even without ghost stories attached to them, and sometimes it's even a single tree that is said to be haunted, like the haunted apple tree in Douglass, Massachusetts.

Legend says that, in the 1800s, a traveling peddler stopped to rest under this apple tree, and someone—likely the orchard owner himself—slashed the peddler’s throat and killed him. The victim’s spirit haunted the murderer, following him everywhere, until the man moved away to escape it. Passersby later reported seeing apparition standing under the apple tree, holding its throat and crying shrilly. The flesh of the apples grown on this tree are stained red, reminiscent of the blood that gushed from the peddler’s neck.

Read about ten such haunted trees and forests and the legends behind them at Mental Floss.

Mondrian painting has been hanging upside down for 75 years https://t.co/TKyyo0g84H

— The Guardian (@guardian) October 28, 2022

In 1941, the Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian painted this untitled work, which was first displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1945, and then the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany.

Recently, curator Susanne Meyer-Büser researched Mondrian’s work to prepare for an upcoming exhibition on his work. She determined that Mondrian tended to put thicker lines at the top of his paintings. Furthermore, a photograph of Mondrian working on this piece shows with it rotated from its usual direction on his easel.

Thus, this painting certainly upside down—and had been for over 75 years.

The Guardian reports that the exhibition, which will open today, will not reflect this new conclusion. The Mondrian piece will continue to be hung in its traditional orientation—upside down.

-via Dave Barry

Polaris Dawn is a planned private space mission from SpaceX that may be launched as early as March of 2023. The four astronauts training for the mission are pictured above, but if you look long enough, you'll see that their left eyes do not match their right eyes. It's not Photoshop; those are contact lenses, developed for a specific science reason.

The University of Colorado has been studying a condition called spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). That's when people who spend time in space experience swollen optic nerves and changes in the eye's shape. These hi-tech contact lenses equipped with micro-sensors will measure the changes in the eye as space flight proceeds. It is hoped that the data will test the theory that shifting fluid is responsible for SANS.  

Eye will be back…for research. Polaris Dawn will carry with us on our mission 38 experiments from 23 partner institutions, including this device that measures intraocular pressure through a contact lens. See https://t.co/VHKqpel7BB for more! pic.twitter.com/QBGqziW4Ij

— Anna Menon (@annawmenon) October 24, 2022

-via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Polaris Dawn)

👻 That "something strange in your neighborhood" turns out to be a clever promo by Vacasa. The vacation rental company transformed an old 1900's firehouse in Portland, Oregon into the iconic Ghostbusters Firehouse. If you're lucky, you can rent it out (on Halloween weekend, of course) for $19.84 per night - in honor of the 1984 release of the blockbuster movie. No word whether there'd be ghosts inside.

🏠 From the outside, this house looks normal enough ... but wait till you see the inside! 👀

🤖 This ugly sweater is an invisibility cloak that makes you invisible to AI. Take that, Skynet!

🤣 What happens when a teenager swallowed a squeaker from a dog's squeaky toy?

🎭 Great Scott! Back to the Future is back ... to Broadway! Behold, Back to the Future: The Musical.

🦔 These cute streaked tenrecs of Madagascar are the only known mammals that communicate via stridulation. Stridu-what-now? We can explain ... but it's so weird that you should just watch it for yourself.

👹 Friends don't lie, these are truly 10 Amazing Stranger Things-inspired Fan Art T-Shirts.

🎃 ICYMI: 10 Halloween T-Shirts that are Spooky and Fun

Please check out our new sites: Pop Culturista, Pictojam, Homes & Hues, Infinite 1UP, Supa Fluffy, Shirt Stack, Laughosaurus and Spooky Daily. Thank you!

(Images: Vacasa and Good Idea Ryan & DAObiwan)

The feeling of fear can be pretty unpleasant, but we developed it for a reason. That scary feeling is a warning that things are not right, and we need to flee or hide or fight or do something for our own safety. But humans also seek out fear experiences, from climbing trees to watching scary movies to bungee jumping, for the thrill of fear they give us. Is that just for the adrenaline rush or is there a benefit to seeking out fear?

The scientists at the Recreational Fear Lab in Denmark think it may be an instinctive educational technique. Just the right amount of fear, in a fairly controlled situation, helps us learn to deal with real world fear. One study shows that horror movie buffs fared better psychologically during the COVID-19 lockdown than those who never watched scary films. Maybe a regular dose of moderate fear helps us to cope with those feelings, or learn to control them. Read more about the effects of recreational fear at Smithsonian.

Read more about the Recreational Fear Lab and its haunted attraction from Dystopia Entertainment at Atlas Obscura.

My friend's sister's Halloween costume is too good not to share pic.twitter.com/4V0eMy7CIm

— Steph (@EristicEnigma) October 26, 2022

Some environmental activists are keeping busy lately by vandalizing famous works of art and/or gluing themselves in public places, such as roadways or convention centers. A couple weeks ago, two such activists threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, then glued themselves to the wall on which the painting hung.

The good news from that incident is that the precious painting is safe. It was protected by a sheet of glass.

An acquaintance of Twitter user @EristicEnigma was inspired by the incident to make this amusing Halloween costume. She's dressed as the defaced painting.

-via Super Punch

Bar-tailed godwits are known for their spectacularly long flights during their annual migration. The haul from Alaska to Tasmania is brutal, but #234684 was up for the task, even though he lost half of his bodyweight during the ordeal.

ABC News reports that for 11 days, without interruption, #234684 flew 8,426 miles, which is about 311 miles longer than the previous record for a bird migration, which was also held by a bar-tailed godwit. Scientists were able to track his movements with an electronic device.

#234684 didn't rest or feed. That's because godwits don't have webbed feet. If they land in the water, they die because they can't get airborne again. And as most of these godwits weigh just under a pound, they don't have a lot of body fat to burn through. So they just have to persevere, as #234684 did.

-via Massimo

This is not just a LEGO Ferris wheel, which would be impressive by itself. This one loads and unloads sports balls (um, "passengers") by machine into the 64 carriages as it goes along. Designing this and keeping it going in sync is quite an accomplishment! Berthil van Beek built this contraption for the Eurobricks TC23 competition. Just watching this machine do its thing is soothing and satisfying. We also get an idea of the work involved. When van Beek loads 64 balls and finds that two fell along the way, he redesigns the mechanism to make sure that doesn't happen again. I would be surprised if I got one to load properly! -via Geeks Are Sexy

In the glorious ending of The Shawshank Redemption, Warden Norton realizes that Andy Dufresne has not only escaped from prison, but trapped him in his own. He opens his safe and finds Andy Dufresne's Bible inside. It's inscribed with a simple message:

Dear Warden,

You were right. Salvation lay within.

Andy Dufresne

Norton turns to the Book of Exodus, where pages have been hollowed out to hide Andy's rock hammer--the one that he used to tunnel out of the prison.

That prop Bible used in the film will go on auction on November 3. Fine Books Magazine expects that it will sell for perhaps $115,000-$172,000 USD. That sale will also feature the prop newspaper that breaks the story about Warden Norton's corruption.

-via John Overholt | Photo: Propstore Auction

There's a thriving new profession in Brazil. Universa (English translation) interviewed a few women who work as "loyalty testers". Women hire them to hit on their boyfriends or husbands and see if the men reject the advances of these seducers.

One of these testers, who is named Nicolly, was approached by a married woman who hired her to "accidentally" message her husband on WhatsApp. The man enthusiastically continued the conversation with the strange, beautiful woman. Nicolly then took screenshots of the conversation and sent them to her customer.

Nicolly earns about $750-940 USD per month at this job.

Other gigs in this line of work are more unsavory. Nicolly has been hired by women who are interested in married or otherwise taken men. Such customers want to see if their prospective lovers are open to the idea of an affair or even destroy the married man's marriage in the hope of creating an opening.

Nicolly works solo, but Universa reports that this market is launching professionally organized businesses. One of them has 16 employees to offer customers a variety of options when selecting a temptress.

-via Marginal Revolution

pic.twitter.com/j8zCG4a4js

— Out of Context Simpsons Treehouse of Horror 🎃 (@OOCCouchGags) October 25, 2022

Death Note is an acclaimed manga and anime series about a high school boy who encounters a magical notebook dropped by a death demon. If he writes someone's name in it, that person dies. This young man suddenly has the power to kill anyone he can name.

The Simpsons is usually less disturbing--until now. The upcoming Halloween episode, "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII", depicts the people of Springfield in an anime style. The death demon once again drops his "death tome". This time, it falls into the hands of Lisa Simpson.

I can't wait to see this episode! In the meantime, let us content ourselves with screenshots from it at Kotaku.

In 1929, a pilot's wife went into labor, and they boarded his plane and flew around until she gave birth to a baby girl they named Airleen. That started a long line of rare births on airplanes. Twenty-eight years ago, Shona Kirsty Yves (note her initials) was born on a flight from the Ivory Coast to London. While she was premature, there was an obstetrician on the flight. She has done the research and has found around 50 people who were born in-flight, an exclusive group called Skyborns.

Skyborns are almost always premature, as airlines do not want to risk airborne births, but all cases so far have resulted in live births. The nationality of the child is almost always considered to be the nationality of the parents, but there are exceptions. The real confusion comes later in life, when people have to explain their place of birth for procedures like obtaining a passport. But it also comes with perks such as airline upgrades when they tell their stories. Read about the phenomenon of sky births and how it effects those who were born in the air at Conde Nast Traveler. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Bill Larkins)