Friday, October 06, 2006

An Oblique Oddity



*Note: The accompanying picture is an obelisk, not the obelisk.

This was in the morning paper and immediately captured my attention and got my imagination fired up. The item is from a local column which focuses on esoteric questions and enlists the public's help in finding the answers.

The question was posed by a woman who went some years ago with her father to a cemetery a county over. While searching for family graves, the man directed his daughter's attention to a unique tombstone in the corner of the cemetery.

The stone was an obelisk approximately four feet tall, bearing the name of Zack L. Hooper, 1881-1957. What has intrigued the woman ever since was the odd things written on the obelisk. Among them:

"Abolish war from the earth: it can be done."

"Raise and improve one billion people on earth. At six or eight corners of the earth. Arizona is one good corner because it is good for young turkeys and babies."

"Encourage those who are fit to reproduce and discourage the unfit: I mean discourage them."

Those were among the arcana written on the front. On the back, there was information regarding an enormous pyramid with a 30-square mile base, which would have "living and working space for 20 million human beings."

The question, thus, was, "Does anyone have information about Zack Hooper and why he was so concerned with the health of young turkeys, Arizona, and reproduction of the unfit?"

And there you have it. It's strange and unusual, mind boggling in some regards, and just weird enough for the Halloween season. And if, by the way, anyone knows who Zack L. Hooper was, do let me know and I'll pass the information along.

Today's Bad Words. Bad. Bad.

famiouse - A famished mouse.

scurity depeosit - Ah, screw it. Doo-dah, doo-dah.

puyramid - A smelly pyramid, or a perfectly reeking pyramid scheme.

check my senteses out - This is an attempt at flirtation by a real tease.

fireghttrain - A train that's on fire.

sall over the blace - What a drunk who's just thrown up might say.

locul - A warning against either low culverts or locos in the neighborhood.

fallow me around - Another way of saying "I'm getting plowed."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hanson woman? Serena, are you a Hanson fan? You can admit it. You are among friends here.

I like the idea that guy had. Put random saying on your headstone and people will talk about you forever.

Serena said...

Well, dang, Steve -- thank you. Now I'm blushing.

Kan, I have wrinkles older than Hanson. LOL. That was a pretty cool idea with the headstone. I wonder what I should put on mine to keep people talking. Ideas, anyone?

thewriterslife said...

You know, I love what the guy who invented Bugs Bunny has on his tombstone "That's All He Wrote, Folks!" Well, don't know if he invented Bugs Bunny, but you know what I mean. I hope. I know one thing, though, I always said I wanted the word "author" on my tombstone, but I don't have to worry about any tombstone anyway because I want my ashes spread over the Smokies. Maybe I can get an airplane to go by and with the words "And that's all she wrote, folks!" LOL

Serena said...

I like the airplane idea, Dorothy. I guess you don't get an actual headstone for ashes, but you get a little plaque, maybe. If I can get only one word on my plaque, I'm going to have to wrack my brain to figure out the one. Goddess? Vixen? Lunatic? LOL.

Anonymous said...

As eccentric as I am - I thnk Zack was missing a few screws. It was kind of nice of him to leave us something to ponder, though.

Serena said...

Oh, tell me about it, child. Next to Zack, we look pretty darn together. That was some cool stuff he left behind to keep people scratching their heads, though.

Thank you, thank you for the darling goodies!