Horror photography!

I just got back from hiking the East Highland Way in Scotland. While I was up there I discovered a new setting on my camera. In the "text" option for taking photos of print, there are four settings. One looks indistinguishable from a regular portrait setting, one is black and white, one is negative black and white, and then there's this one, a reversed color image. Looks like a cover for some Gothic horror novel! This is the cathedral at Durham in northern England.
Another view of the same cathedral. Not sure why the sky changed color.
Julián, my four-year-old son, took this one of Papa emerging from the grave.
This decayed tomb is carved in the image of a knight. What horrors lurk beneath?

Next time: more mucking about with the camera!

Dowsing for graves

In the course of my research I come across some strange stuff. I've been invited to Cass County, Missouri, to present one of my history books and while searching around their historical society website I discovered an article on dowsing for graves. Apparantly two volunteers who have been participating in recording local cemeteries use a rather unorthodox technique to find them, and have published their methods in case you want to try it out for yourself.

First you need to practice on a marked cemetery to get the hang of it, and then you can venture off into likely spots to find unmarked graves. The technique is so accurate you can even tell the height and sex of the body by how the dowsing rods move.

While you're probably getting skeptical by this point (I know I am) the author claims she has actually tested this method by using it on a family plot and found three unmarked graves. When the funeral home checked two of the spots, they found coffins.

Hmmm. When I go to Cass County for the reading, I think I'll ask to see this in practice.