Hoosier Oddities

My first thought was "you've got to be kidding me". It's hard to believe, that these works of art are indeed paper. And not just paper, but paper snowflakes. Yes - paper snowflakes.

Ryan Hoffar, one of Indy's own, possesses the unique talent of taking the old snowy-day afternoon kindergarten art class project of making a paper snowflake and turns it into intricate abstract designs, motifs and even silhouette images. Instead of the traditional scissors, Ryan switched to using razor blades, but the effect is stunning nonetheless.

You can see (and purchase) some of Ryans incredible work on his website.

Listening to internet radio does interesting things to you. First of all, it makes you realize the passion and dedication that many people outside of the mainstream have for their craft. Take Ghostly Talk for instance. I stumbled upon this show in October and I'm hooked. It turns out this gang is from Michigan and takes ghost hunting trips to Indy - neato!

But it was also through this radio program that I learned about Weird Indiana. Written by a slew of folks, including Troy Taylor (Weird Illinois, Weird Virginai, Ghosts of the Praire, etc), the book catalogs the myriad of oddities around the state. But what caught me was the mention of... The World's Biggest Ball of Paint! Exciting...

As a kid I was told many ghost stories by my relatives. One of my favorites was a tale told to me by my father about a haunted tombstone in a remote cemetery. The story goes something like this: a man was beaten to death by a chain. Shortly after the burial, an image of a chain appeared on his tombstone. Repeated attempts to remove the image from the stone were useless. The image of the chain was -in- the stone. Finally, the family removed the stone and replaced it with a new one. Soon after replacing the stone, the image of the chain appeared again on the new stone. According to the story, on the anniversary of the man's death the number of links on the chain changes. Each year a new link gets added or taken away.

Continue reading "Image of Chain on Haunted Tombstone"

Walking into work the other morning, I saw the front end of what looked to be a "fuzzy" van parked in the lot outside our building. As I circled around it, I noticed a Dark Side of the Moon logo on the side of the van. From a few feet back, the whole thing could have been mistaken for a black velvet painting on wheels.

Too good to pass up, I pulled out my camera to get a good shot of the artwork. As I was getting ready to snap my second shot, a friendly voice behind me said, "what do you think?" Henry Pelc had just caught me in the act of checking out his ride.

Continue reading "Henry Pelc's Magic Carpet Ride"

A couple guys from Muncie produced their own response to Saturday Night Live's "Lazy Sunday" Chronicles of Narnia rap -- Lazy Muncie.

If you don't like it here, move your ass to Fort Wayne.

The Indiana Office of Tourism Development is planning on replacing the old standby "Enjoy Indiana." The Indy Star's Andrea Neal has some comments on their plans to come up with a slogan using research and focus groups rather than voting as in other states. But she notes at the bottom of her article that the IOTD is taking suggestions for a new state slogan on their website. Although she doesn't link to the page, like we do.

If you send them a suggestion, feel free to throw it in our comments, too.

Which reminds me, what ever happened with our new city motto?

Have you seen the bumper stickers that read, "I'm Not Lost, I Live Here. Rocky Ripple, Indiana"?

I've long been curious about these bumper stickers. I thought it was some sort of political statement. An African-American woman I used to work with had been pulled over several times in a mainly-white Indy suburb, and asked by the police officer if she was lost. She swore she was going to get a bumper sticker that said, "Cityname: I'm not lost, I live here." When I saw the Rocky Ripple bumper sticker, I thought that perhaps something similar was going on.

Continue reading "I'm Not Lost, I Live Here"

Continue reading "Social Commentary on the Wall"

I just found out today that the IU Axolotl Colony is moving to the University of Kentucky. I worked at the Colony during my undergrad days and also again when I returned to IU for grad school.

Never heard of an Axolotl? Most people haven't either.

Continue reading "IU Axolotl Colony Moving to The University of Kentucky"

I drive north on college from downtown everyday on the way to work on the north side. And every day I pass this cool fake S.W.A.T. van (which appears to be an old delivery van repainted) that's usually parked on the street near the intersection of 49th Street and College Avenue. And everyday, I think, "That's cool. I wish I could drive around in a fake S.W.A.T. van."

Continue reading "Fake S.W.A.T. Van and Other Weird Stuff I See Driving To Work"

Just east of Westfield Boulevard and north of Broad Ripple Avenue is the Broad Ripple dam, a wooded area of the White River that's fenced off and not accessible, just north of the Broad Ripple pumping station. On a sunny summer day a few years back, my friends and I climbed up the painted wall next to Westfield Blvd., shimmied through a hole in the fence, and hiked back through the woods to the dam.

Continue reading "Hidden Indy: Broad Ripple Dam"

Back in the early nineties, my friend Dennis Williams was a Franciscan friar. We met doing volunteer work, and once we were working on a fundraiser together and we needed folding chairs. Dennis asked the staff of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church (one of the oldest and the only Franciscan church in Indy) if they would donate the use of some chairs for the fundraiser. Dennis didn't mention until we were in the church that we were going down into the catacombs beneath to retrieve them.

Continue reading "Hidden Indy: The Catacombs Beneath Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church"

Back in the early nineties, I lived in the Marleigh Apartment building in the 1400 block of Delaware in downtown Indianapolis, which is in Old Northside neighborhood. Across the street was an impressive array of old Victorian houses with all the gingerbread and other bling they put on houses back in the 1800's. I used to walk down the street and daydream about owning one of them. One day on a walk, I stumbled across something really strange.

Continue reading "Hidden Indy: The Mystery Tao on Delaware"

Indiana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff, by local media celebrity Dick Wolfsie. You'll enjoy this book even if you don't live in Indiana -- and you'll definitely enjoy it if you do. Packed with the odd and unusual, this book was filled with surprises even for me, and I've lived in Indiana for almost 20 years. Strange things you'll see along the road, folks who collect or build weird stuff, bizarre legends and history... Dick Wolfsie explains them all with both wit and respect, and turns in a first-rate book that you should have with you on any daytrip you take around the Hoosier state.

In an effort to ease her son's fear of dead grandfather's cane, mother puts cane up for sale on Ebay.

Mary Anderson of Hobart, IN sold her father's cane on Ebay earlier this week for $65,000 to an online casino. The same casino, GoldenPalace.com, paid $28,000 for a grilled cheese sandwich believed to bear the image of the Virgin Mary.

Although he was reported to be a nice guy, in the last days of the grandfather's life he was cross with the boy; tapping him with the cane. When he died, the boy was convinced that the grandfather's ghost was in the cane.

Check out posting on Ebay listing while it is still up (auction ID: 5539709069).