Some of the most over-the-top horror films are based on real-life stories, though you wouldn't know it to watch them. For example, the story in The Exorcist was based on the exorcism of a 12-year-old boy named Robbie Mannheim.

According to the attending priest, the boy attempted to contact his late aunt using an Ouija board, after which paranormal activity started in the home including unexplained noises and an occurrence of a poltergeist-like event involving blankets flying around of their own accord. Robbie then began to show signs of possession, speaking in tongues and blisters and cuts appearing. He was taken to a mental institute in St. Louis where he was treated both mentally and spiritually. It was here that a group of priests started to perform various exorcising rituals to try and extract the demon. After a staggering total of 30 attempts, the priests were satisfied that they had successfully banished the demon from Robbie's body.

After the ceremony he went on to have a very normal life, including a successful career at NASA. If my mother only knew that demon possession could lead to working for NASA, I'm positive that she would have made me play with Ouji boards every night.

Each of the 13 horror stories has a video clip from the film, and many have documentary clips from the stories that inspired them. Link

In October, internet users always look for the strangest, most inexplicable Halloween costumes to post. Here's one that illustrates how little Americans and the British understand each other, despite the supposedly common language. This costume of a World War II Evacuee was posted at reddit. Some commenters thought it might be a costume from the Chronicles of Narnia films; others thought it was supposed to be Anne Frank. It actually depicts one of the many children who were temporarily sent away from Britain during the war. But the explanation has to do with schools in the UK, which teach history by designating dress-up days.

Parents get letter informing them that their little darling has to dress up as an Evacuee, Victorian child, Roman, etc.

Time-poor, stressed parents don't want to have to spend ages researching and making said costume when they could be spending their time w/their actual child (or OK watching TV) (this doesn't really apply for the Roman one because that costume is a sheet)

Parents grumblingly shell out their 15 pounds or so. All kids at school end up dressed identically. Costume company laughs all the way to the bank.

Well, there you go. Link

The paint is still drying on the shirt, but the redditor with the appropriately relevant username DRAGON_FARTS has completed his Sriracha Sauce Halloween costume. I think it's a winner! Link

A Tokyo art collective known as ChimPom recycles exterminated rats as art objects. These rats have been painted and posed as the Pokémon character Pickachu. Is this weird or what? See more pictures at Smart Stop. Link -Thanks, Dan!

What does astronomy have to do with Halloween? You'd be surprised!

Halloween is coming, and while people are out trick or treating or enjoying a costume party, the Universe will continue to go about its business.

The business of DEATH, that is. Black holes will continue to tear apart stars and gorge themselves on the tasty, gooey insides; galaxies will erupt with high-energy radiation, blasting out killer rays for hundreds of thousands of light years; giant clouds of gas will collapse, form stars, and promptly have their interiors eaten out from within.

Bad Astronomy Blog has a gallery of creepy astronomy pictures that appear to have sprung from our nightmares, but are actually things that exist in our universe. The picture here is of the flaming skull of Perseus: actually Perseus A, a huge galaxy that blasts out x-rays. Link -Thanks, Phil!

The world population is expected to reach seven billion within the next few days. Wonder what number you are? A calculator from the BBC helps you find out approximately where you fit in. I have a relatively low number, as there weren't even three billion people when I was born. Link -via Breakfast Links

Orange County Deputies in Laguna Hills, California were summoned by residents who heard screams from a creek bed Tuesday morning. They arrived to find an unnamed man stuck inside a tree trunk.

Firefighters and deputies said they are not sure why, but the man climbed into a narrow hole located near the base of the tree. The hole led inside the hollow tree trunk and about four or five feet underground, said Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion of the Orange County Fire Authority.

It took firefighters about 90 minutes to get the necessary equipment and safely cut through the branches of the tree to free the man from inside, he said.

The only body parts visible outside the tree truck were the man's head and arms, he said. Part of the body was underground.

The man was checked for injuries and mental health. Link -via Arbroath

This, friends, is a shrimp. Yes, it's called a harlequin shrimp, for good reason because it doesn't look like any shrimp you've ever been served. They're too small to eat, but are deadly predators to starfish. The harlequin shrimp is one of 6 strange-looking species you'll find in this list at Environmental Graffiti. Link -via the Presurfer

(Image credit: Flickr user MoToTo)

You can spray a coat of gold (or silver, or red, or blue) on your food, and still eat it! Each can of this tasteless color coating will cost you €24,80, but hey, that covers shipping, too. Link -via Buzzfeed

Once again, it's time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Do you know what the pictured item is? Can you make a wild guess?

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

For more clues, check out the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

Update: No one guessed the correct answer for this one! According to the What Is It? blog, this is a raisin seeder. How effective it was in real use, I do not know. Most raisins these days are made from seedless grapes. As for the funniest answer, Thomas said this is a pair of salad tongs designed by M.C. Escher for his 'Relativity' salad. If you noticed the odd way the ends of this thing would match up, you'd think that, too! So Thomas wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Until about fifty years ago, the town of Guanajuato, Mexico, had a grave tax. If you didn't pay, your loved ones were dug up and displayed in a museum! The climate is very arid, so the disinterred were already mummies. In fact, the museum and the mummies are still there. But that's not the most bizarre part of this story.

Santo or "the Saint" is "one of the most famous and iconic of all Mexican luchadores" Over his life he produced numerous B-Horror/Action films for Mexican cinemas. In 1972 he may have made his greatest film ever. Co-starring Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras, the plot is fairly straight forward. The wrestlers stop in Guanajuato and all the mummies come alive to attack them. Obviously. (There is a motive. Something about one of the mummies avenging his defeat by Santo's grandfather… or something…)

The film proved to Santo's most successful, and the mummies even got their own series, starring in such films as Robbery Of The Mummies and Castle Of The Mummies.

Atlas Obscura has clips from the movie, in which the real mummies appear, but they do not perform in action sequences -they have real live stunt doubles for that. Link

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.

In the New York Times Magazine, 72-year-old fitness guru Jerome I. Rodale had declared proudly sand defiantly: "I'm going to live to be 100, unless I get run down by a sugar-crazed taxi driver." The very next day, the confident health guru made an appearance on the then-popular TV talk show The Dick Cavett Show. The date was June 5, 1971 and I repeat (with apologies) "health fitness guru" Jerome Rodale was chatting amiably in front of a studio audience with the always clever host, Dick Cavett.

If a comedy writer was writing a sketch for a sitcom, and he or she wanted to write about the funniest, most ironic person who could possibly die in the middle of a talk show, what profession would they write the character in as? Hmmm ...a health expert? The gods, merciless as they apparently are, must indeed have a sense of humor. Obviously, no man's death is funny or amusing, but "Tragedy plus time equals humor." (I once politely argued with Tim Conway over whose quote that was: I said it was Steve Allen's, but Tim said it was Carole Burnett's. Whoever.)

Rodale was a slight man, he looked like Leon Trotsky with a goatee. He was extremely friendly with host Dick Cavett for a half-hour, chatting about health foods, and soon he offered Cavett some of his special asparagus, which he said was "boiled in urine." Cavett, always a ready wit, remembers asking, "Anybody's we know?" Cavett enjoyed the interview and made a mental note to invite Rodale back. The next guest came out: Pete Hamill, a columnist for The New York Post. It was during the interview with Hamill that Rodale suddenly made a snoring sound, which got a laugh from the audience. (Comics sometimes make this sound sarcastically, as if the other person talking is dull or tedious.)

(YouTube link)

No, I don’t want to wear a pumpkin on my head. No. Never. What? What’s that? You’ll let me eat chicken if I wear it? Hmm… What? You’ll hand feed it to me? As much as I want? Gimme that pumpkin hat!

This cat is named Jumbo Pillow. Isn't that perfect? The food is boiled chicken dipped in pumpkin. (via Cynical-C)

While searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, US Forces found some pretty interesting things in the desert, like this MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor. It was hidden underground with its wings removed. Military personnel dug it up by hand in 2003 and transported the jet to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for examination. Eventually, it will go on display to the public. Read the story of this reclamation project, and see more pictures at Urban Ghosts. http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2011/10/buried-mig-25-foxbat-jet-uncovered-in-iraqi-desert-preserved-us/

An Elvis tribute at the Holiday Inn in Rochester, Kent, England was held Saturday night to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. An unplanned event was added when a malfunctioning smoke machine set off a fire alarm, and the building was evacuated.

Guests leaving the hotel were stunned to see a group of around 60 impersonators, dressed in wigs and full rhinestone costume, gathered in the car park.

"I was in a bit of a state getting out of my room," one guest told the Daily Mirror. "But I was more confused when I got outside to see all these people dressed as Elvis.

"There were people in full Elvis jumpsuits and wigs standing by a roundabout, looking a bit worse for the wear."

About 250 people attended the event. Link -via Arbroath

(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user adm)