The Mystery of Mereana Mordengard Glasgow

Mereana Mordengard Glasgow is an odd term related to an even odder (and possibly sinister) video. It's hard to find much information on the subject, but according to one Web site it refers to a video that shows a man's still face for close to two minutes, then in the last few seconds, shows a close-up of the face, with the man smiling.

If that Web site can be believed (I have no idea if it can), Mereana Mordengard Glasgow (also called Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv) has a disturbing history:

"'The full video lasts 2 minutes, and was removed by Youtube after 153 people who viewed the video gouged out their eyes and mailed them to Youtube’s main office in San Bruno. Said people had also committed suicide in various ways. It is not yet known how they managed to mail their eyes after gouging them out. And the cryptic inscription they carve on their forearms has not yet been deciphered.

Youtube will periodically put up the first 20 seconds of the video to quell suspicions, so that people will not go look for the real thing and upload it. The video itself was only viewed by one Youtube staff member, who started screaming after 45 seconds.'"

Sounds like an urban legend to me, especially the send-your-eyeballs-to-YouTube: how do people package and mail their eyeballs if they have no eyes to see what they're doing?).

Anyway, the Mereana Mordengard Glasgow / Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv legend makes for a creepy story, and might make a good scary short story or movie.

'Tis the Season for Baby in the Oven Stories!

Along with turkey and cranberry sauce, those "baby in the oven" stories are another Thanksgiving tradition. You know... some mother (or uncle, or brother, or stranger) accidentally (or not) puts a child in the oven, either to shut it up or keep it warm, or maybe the child looks like a turkey. Every year such stories make the rounds on the Internet, and some of them are true.

Very few baby in the oven incidents actually happen. People searching for them on the Web will find some articles, but the most recent one I found was from January 2007, and a couple others were older than that. The baby in a microwave oven seems to be just a more modern variation on this oft-rumored tale.

So rest easy... there is no holiday epidemic of cooks putting their babies in the oven, whether intentionally or accidentally. But just like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, those baby in the oven stories, a holiday tradition, are back.