Ever wonder what exactly becomes of you when you sign up to donate your body to science?  Well, once you become a cadaver, your corpse can be used for all sorts of informative and educational purposes, including safety studies (aka you become a human Crash Test Dummy) and medical training (aka students cut you open and play around with your innards).  Or, you just might end up on a body farm...

While most farms are all about creating life, body farms are all about studying death.  These morbid research facilities help anthropologists and forensic scentists better understand the process of human decomposition, providing them with valuable information that they can apply to real-life investigations.  But make no mistake, though body farms are a controlled and staged environment, the decomposing bodies that litter the grounds are quite real, some of them donated by the individuals while others are donated by families or medical examiners.

At the time of writing this, four body farms exist in the United States, with the first one being started in Tennessee in 1981, by anthropologist Dr. William M. Bass.  The others have more recently sprung up in North Carolina and Texas.  Texas State University's is the largest of them all, and unique among body farms in that the effects of vulture scavenging on the decomposition process are studied there.

Yea, no thanks.  Just toss my body in a box and let me rest in peace, please!

New comic book Wednesday has come and gone. The dust at your local comic shop has settled. An eerie silence descends as you finish reading your last superhero book of the week. Now it's time for something a little more sinister. Welcome to Bagged and Boarded: comic reviews of the sick, spooky, twisted and terrifying!

Hide No. 1
While the big companies are eating cookies and drinking egg nog this week (with some choice exceptions) the little guys keep grinding away. Hide, written, drawn, and brought to Comixology's Submit program by Vernon Smith, is an awesome, taut little thriller. It's a perfect day with the perfect family. Everyone gets along, everyone loves each other. And then everyone wakes up the next morning, and everyone over the age of eighteen is trying desperately to kill everyone under the age of eighteen!

Bag it or board it up? Whoa! This was a fun little surprise. This comic sets the reader up to knock them back down. Everything is so cheerful, so sappy, it's almost painful to read in the beginning. But then the hammer falls down, and the twisted scenario of parents trying to kill their children blooms in the harsh second half of the comic. Read this comic. Download this comic. It's the next Crossed (but it won't make you squirm).

Winter City No. 1
Here's another great little indie comic from the Submit program. Winter City tells the story of the titular town, a grimy, cold, nasty metropolis full of bad people. When a wealthy philanthropist is murdered in his home the detectives on the force set out to find his killer. But we've seen who his killer really is… the grim reaper! With glowing green eyes and robes made of nasty brown rags, Death could be coming for you next.

Bag it or board it up? This comic feels a lot like Spawn in a lot of ways. Flowing, mysterious central figure. Detectives trying to piece together the craziness all around. Add to that the very attentive artwork that flows from page to page. It's all there! This is a fun little comic about murder and bad people, what's not to love?

Monsters of the Silver Age No. 1
People are being turned to stone! The city is gripped in terror! This looks like a job for Immortal Victor. The hero of Monsters of the Silver Age is a mullet-donning, sword and gun wielding, wise-cracking beefcake. The villain, an evil Medusa-type monster who's also someone's girlfriend. And then there's a man made of stone who's very powerful, and a falconer with a cool mask. And… eh, it just goes on and on with this crazed comic.

Bag it or board it up? I don't know if this comic is the perfect comic for the hyperactive mind… or the worst thing for one. In a whirling love-letter to every hyped up Jack Kirby comic, every frantic early-career Stan Lee, Monsters of the Silver Age crackles with energy (and insanity). The story leaps from thought to thought, the monster lurks and screeches, it's a ton of crazy fun.

Forever Evil No. 4
Evil alternate reality versions of the Justice League have come to earth, killed or defeated all of the original Justice League, and have claimed our world as their own. Underground forces, like Lex Luthor and Captain Cold, Batman and Catwoman, and other odd bedfellows all have to team up and work together to get rid of this very dangerous problem. Meanwhile, the evil doers are falling apart at the seams. You can jump in on the action with this issue, but I recommend going back and picking up issues one through three.

Bag it or board it up? Let's be honest: who can resist a DC Comic titled "Forever Evil?" It's so ridiculous, high-drama, and full of references, cameos, and easter eggs. This is fan service at its best. And there is so much back-stabbing and villainy in these issues that I can heartily recommend them to the diehard horror fan. Check it out, this issue is dark and fun.

Whenever a new technology is developed, it is used... well, usually it is first used for porn. But second most popular after porn is using it to scare people. When photography was in its infancy, people often stood in stiff, unsmiling poses. It took several minutes to take the photograph, and subjects had to remain perfectly still. It wasn't long before photographers started experimenting with cameras, and it wasn't long before the headless photos became popular. It's weird, it's creepy, and it's totally fascinating - and we've got a whole gallery of the weirdest for you:

Researchers in Switzerland have devloped something they are calling the Cubli. Using a sophisticated system of wheels and motors, the Cubli is a 15cm cube that can balance on its corner, jump, and "walk" on its own. Because of the sophisticated mechanics inside, it can stabilize itself in microgravity, making it ideal for various tasks in space.

More worrying is that, according to the disconcertingly soothing narrator, they can be used for self-assembling robots. If robots no longer need humans to construct them and repair them, how long before they figure out that they can wipe us out, or enslave us? Artificially intelligence is already making leaps and bounds. Can you imagine Siri's "brain" in a body constructed of Cubli bits?

Maybe it's not the zombie apocalypse we should be worrying about - maybe we should be concerned with the robot apocalypse.

Find out more on the official Cubli project page.

Last year saw the launch of a new line of retro-themed action figures from NECA, with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees being the first two to get the vintage treatment.  With a whole lot of articulation and real fabric clothing, the figures harkened back to the days when MEGO dominated the toy scene, and I personally was hoping to see the company continue the line, and add other horror icons to it.  At the tail end of last month, we found out that they are indeed doing just that.

NECA recently posted the above photo on their Facebook page, announcing that Ash is set to go retro in March of this year.  The toy is essentially the same as the 'Hero Ash' figure they released in 2011, only given a MEGO makeover.  Pictures of the packaging will soon be revealed, so be sure to keep your eyes locked on NECA's Facebook page, so you're among the first to see it.

In the meantime, you can tide yourself over by checking out my picks for the ten most must-own Evil Dead toys of all time!

The Jardin d'Agronomie Tropicale (or Garden of Tropical Agriculture) in Paris has been left abandoned for the better part of the 1900s. But this is more than just a spooky, beautiful modern ruin; it has a strange, dark history.

First built in 1899, the garden was a place where scientists could experiment with plants and grow rare crossbreeds.

But in 1907, the garden was built into Exposition Coloniale, an exhibit that was meant to promote French Colonialism. Six villages were built, representing six different colonies owned by France: Morocco, Tunisia, Madagascar, Sudan, Indochine, and Congo. Each village was built to mimic the native lands, agriculture was shipped in, and visitors could buy knickknacks representative of each village. But it didn't end there. The curators actually brought in natives from these colonies and made them live in these fabricated homes, in mock-ups of their native dress, and put on shows while the public came and observed them. It was essentially a human zoo. 

The "exhibit" was only open from May through October of 1907. When it was over, the "specimens" were sent home (although there seems to be some who believe the villagers were exploited into joining other human zoo attractions) and the garden quickly fell into disrepair. It was essentially abandoned until the city of Paris bought the garden in 2003 and re-opened it to the public in 2006. The buildings and "villages" are still off-limits, and while the Indochine pavillion is going to be turned into a museum, there are no plans for the refurbishment of the other buildings.

For more info, visit Atlas Obscura, MessyNessyChic, and Invisible Paris.

The classic Hammer film Frankenstein Created Woman is getting a spiffy new blu-ray release loaded with special features: episodes of "World of Hammer," commentaries, and a new documentary. Inside each package are five exclusive collector's card, and we have your first look at just one of the cards in the set:

In addition, if you are in Los Angeles, stop by the Fangoria-hosted release party for Frankenstein Created Woman on January 11th at the Jump Cut Cafe. There will be giveaways and a free screening of the film. For more info, check out the official Facebook events page.

Frankenstein Created Woman hits blu-ray on January 28th.

Reports of strange and elaborate formations in crop fields date back to the late 1600s, and the phenomena known as crop circles continues to fascinate and bewilder, all these years later.  Are they the work of humans, or are extraterrestrial beings responsible for the incredible artistry?  This is a question that we will perhaps never truly know the answer to, and one that is being raised over in California this week.

While flying over a field in Salinas, California this past Monday, aerial photographer Julie Belanger noticed intricate patterns on the land below, and snapped several photographs of what many believe to be the work of the little green guys.  The circular pattern is massive in size, spanning an entire acre, and many of the crops on the farm were destroyed by its creation, reports ABC News.

Where this story gets really interesting is when you watch a video uploaded onto YouTube on December 30th, which shows two friends driving down the road, and capturing several flashes of strange green lights.  How does this relate to the story about the crop circle?  The video was filmed in the early morning hours of this past Monday... in Salinas, California.

Check out the video below, which also shows the two friends discovering the field of damaged crops.  Could this truly be the work of alien beings?  We'll let you decide!

These days you can't throw a rock without breaking a vital piece of a serious, strategic, horror board game. But just because the board game industry is blowing up now doesn't mean we didn't have plenty of awesome games in ages past! The years have afforded us tons of bizarre, fun, challenging, and silly horror board games, and we'd hate to see them lost to the sands of time. Here's a look at our first collection of vintage games worth revisiting: Vampire Board Games!

The Fury of Dracula - Games Workshop (1987)

Here's a game of cat and mouse (or should we say bat and mouse) that was truly ahead of its time. 'The Fury of Dracula,' for two to four players, set one player against the rest of the table in a race to control Europe. One player assumes the role of Dracula, who sneaks around a map of the European countryside. The other players play as vampire hunters intent on thwarting the evil Count. Dracula hides his trail, sets traps, encounters, and evil minions for the vampire hunters, and tries to create six new vampires before he's caught. The other players will try to deduce where Dracula's been, where Dracula's headed, and what he's up to next. This is not to to be confused with the 2005 board game 'Fury of Dracula' in which its rules were re-implemented for a new generation. 'The Fury of Dracula' was a game of deduction, horror, and mystery long before those types of games became popular. And that's why we love it… that, and the insane art on the box cover.

Game of Dracula - Waddingtons Games (1977)

Beware the kiss of Dracula! In this fun little suspense-filled game players take a romp through Dracula's castle. Each player has their own pawn, and there's a pawn for the menacing Dracula. If, through unlucky dice rolls, Dracula and a player end up on the same space the Dracula pawn actually engulfs the player pawn. That player is now turned into the Green Vampire, wears a special mask, and must try to bite another player's pawn before he can return to normal. This is an awesome, old, highly collectible board game (in mint condition). If you like sneaking around and screwing over your friends, find an old copy of this game and go to town.

The Count Duckula Game - Milton Bradley (1990)

You remember Count Duckula, right? That oft-forgotten vegetarian vampire and his cooky cohorts are the stars of this Milton Bradley game. We love this game for a bunch of reasons. A, it's about Count Duckula. The cartoon character could barely hold up his own show, and yet he got a board game. B, it's actually a pretty fun game. You're moving all around, trying to match, pick up, and deliver certain treasures. If you're the first to find all four treasures that correspond to your color, you win! But, that damn castle keeps teleporting all over the map. This is a wacky game, but it's a total blast to play. If you can find it, scoop it up!

Dracula Mystery Game - Hasbro (1963)

Here's a true vampire classic. 'Dracula Mystery Game,' produced by Hasbro in the early sixties, takes all of its inspiration (and licensing) from the Universal Pictures flick from 1931. It doesn't have a lot of depth to it (players spin a wheel and move their pawns, a Dracula pawn does the same), but that's not why we love this game. This board game has some of the moodiest, weirdest artwork we've ever seen on a vampire board game (or any board game for that matter). The box cover is a bizarre collage of macabre images, and the game board is simple, almost folk-art, with grim sixties imagery. If we find a clean enough copy of the board you won't be invited over to play… you'll be invited over to see it framed on our wall!

I Vant To Bite Your Finger - Hasbro (1979)

Ah, 'I Vant To Bite Your Finger,' the creme de la creme of vampire board games. Equal parts terrifying and ridiculous, 'I Vant' asked children to stick their finger inside Dracula's mouth. Two to four players roll dice and move their pawns around a board. If they reach a certain marker they have to turn Dracula's clock a corresponding number of times. If he "wakes up" his cape flies open to reveal a terrifying gaping mouth. The player puts his or her finger in the mouth, presses a button, and if he or she's been "bit" they have to go back to the start. Yes, for real. With the use of two felt-tipped red markers to make fang-like bites on players' fingers, this is realistic enough to be a super weird experience. As insane as that summary sounds, there was a precedent for games like this (such as 'Don't Wake Daddy,' where you pray your pressing of an alarm clock won't send your plastic Daddy jolting out of bed). This was childhood fun for the sick and twisted little ones in your family. Don't believe us? Watch the frenzied commercial: 

2013 will go down in history as the year that people discovered horrifying and disgusting things on and in their food.  From spiders on grapes to a severed snake head in a bag of frozen veggies and worms in a fast food salad, it was not a very appetizing year, to say the least.  And so, it seems only fitting that 2013 ended on a revolting note for one New Yorker, who found more than plants and veggies in her salad.

As reported by Gothamist, an employee for the Wall Street Journal was horrified to discover a fairly large dead frog in her albacore tuna salad at a healthy New York eatery earlier this week, and the above photo was snapped and tweeted out by Kathryn Lurie, a fellow employee of the paper.  "She was pretty shaken," Lurie wrote, when asked how her friend reacted to the disgusting sight.

Gothamist reached out to a rep for the eatery, who wrote back that a lack of pesticide use is to blame for the frog finding its way into the salad.  "Our lettuce is sourced from farms that do not use any pesticides on its produce," writes the rep, "therefore organic matter does very rarely manage to pass through our production process."

I've heard of a Cobb Salad, but a Frog Salad... now that's a new one!

Ready or not, the 'Sorority Party Massacre' trailer is upon us! And judging from the sample, if you're looking for something along the lines of the 90's era murder mysteries ala 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' but with a whole lot of camp, then this is probably for you. Beautiful sorority babes, an isolated island with nowhere to hide, a crazed killer targeting them one-by-one? What more could you want?! With a bevy of familiar faces including Tom Downey ('Mirror Image'), Kevin Sorbo ('Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'), Ed O'Ross ('Six Feet Under'), Leslie Easterbrook ('The Devil’s Rejects'), Richard Moll ('House'), adult film legend Ron Jeremy and Marissa Skell, Eve Mauro and Yvette Yates, it's bound to be a fun time. Directed by Chris W. Freeman and Justin Jones, 'Sorority Party Massacre' comes to DVD on February 11th! Check out the official trailer below.
 

We've introduced you to many of the weird, terrifying and sometimes deadly creatures native to Australia, and the thorny devil is definitely one of the strangest Aussie oddities we've come across so far. But if you're a fan of dragons or dinosaurs (or both), you'll probably find this little guy more adorable than scary.

Photo © National Geographic

If you didn't know beforehand that the lizard known as Moloch horridus was harmless to humans, you might be intimidated by the name alone – taken from the god Moloch, a title later adopted by Western mythology and many horror tales as that of a powerful demon. But the only ones truly terrified of this 8-inch-long beast are ants... and they should be scared, because he gobbles up hundreds of them a day.

Photo: W.A. Zoologist

Moloch's most memorable feature is obviously its namesake thorny armor, which covers its entire body and pretty much takes it off the menu for most predators. But its creepiest trait is a formation on the back of its neck that looks like a second head, which pops up when the lizard tucks its real head down.

Photo: Bäras/Wikimedia Commons

The most prestigious home video treatment a movie can be given is inclusion in the famed Criterion Collection, which truly solidifies a film's status as an imporant piece of cinema.  To date, only a handful of horror films have seen release by the company, films like Silence of the Lambs and Brian De Palma's Sisters making the cut.  David Cronenberg has also been honored by Criterion a few times over the years, with both Videodrome and Naked Lunch finding their way into the collection.  Could Scanners be next?  I'd bet good money on it!

At the start of each year, Criterion unveils a fun doodle that hints at the releases they'll be putting out throughout the year, which turns the release schedule into a fun little guessing game.  Perhaps the most obvious impending release teased on this year's drawing is the image of a man whose head has completely exploded into a mess of blood and gore, which seems to quite clearly be a tease that a Criterion release of Scanners is headed our way this year.

Another horror release possibly being teased is Ringu, which many fans feel is being depicted by the drawing of what looks to be Sadako, playing on top of the cliff.  Only time will tell!

Can you spot any other horror films in the drawing?  Comment below and let us know.

Designed by British architect Milner in 1866, Castle Miranda became the opulent home to a wealthy French family in the Belgian village of Celles. Sadly, today it lies in ruins... but amazing ruins.

Photo © David Herreman via Flickr

After World War II, the castle became the residence for children of Belgian railway workers, and it remained open as a children's home until 1991. From that point, the castle's condition quickly deteriorated; with no one in charge of its upkeep, the once palatial estate fell victim to the elements and vandals, including some with a macabre sense of humor, who “accented” some of the rooms with creepy mannequins and dolls... as if the place weren't creepy enough already.

Photo: Xacor.com

Despite its many structural dangers – including collapsing stairways and ceilings – Castle Miranda remains one of the most popular destinations for urban explorers and photographers, and we can definitely see why.

Photo: P.J.L Laurens/Wikimedia Commons

We're also wondering why someone hasn't pounced on the opportunity to use the castle as a filming location for a haunted house flick – seriously, it looks ready to shoot, no set dressing needed. This crumbling staircase even calls to mind Bela Lugosi's legendary entrance in Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula.

Photo © David Herreman via Flickr

You can see more amazing photos of the castle at urban exploration blog Environmental Graffiti.

First built in 1963 in Panama City, Florida, the Miracle Strip Amusement Park was a small park across the street from the beach, whose claim to fame was the Starliner wooden roller coaster, the first roller coaster in Florida and the only ride to have existed throughout the park's duration. The park was segregated until the late 1960s, which is about when expansion on the park started, and more rides were added throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

The Miracle Strip Amusement Park closed in September 2004, due to waning attendance and increased expenses. Many of the existing rides were sold off to other amusement parks. Those that remained turned into the terrifyingly beautiful abandoned constructions you see here.

Dante's Inferno

Clearly, walking through the gaping maw of a lecherous cartoon demon is weird enough; add the ravages of time and disrepair, and it is enough to give you chills. When operational, Dante's Inferno was known for strobing lighting effects and loud music. Halfway through the ride, the car would stop and go in reverse.

The Haunted Castle

A campy haunted house attraction, this one featured scenes that included dismemberment, spiders, and the electrocution of a prison inmate. And of course, no campy attraction would be without lots of blacklight effects. After the park's closure, Halloween enthusiasts bought elements from the Haunted Castle to use in Halloween displays.

The Dungeon

The Dungeon was basically your standard Tilt-A-Whirl, but it was enclosed in a dome so that it could have lighting effects (strobe lights or sometimes complete darkness). It also had a spider theme, which included webs to walk through as you navigated a maze of tunnels to get to the ride itself.

The Abominable Snowman

Like many of the other rides, this one was a fairly standard "scrambler"-type ride. Built inside a dome, the air was smoky and chilled, and mirrors lined the walls, with music and lighting effects added once the ride got going. In order to enter the ride, guests had to walk between the legs of an Abominable Snowman, who now just looks like a mutant Smurf taking a dump.

Like all good horror movie villains, The Miracle Strip Amusement Park will be reborn as a smaller park nearby, called Miracle Strip @ Pier Park. The original Starliner roller coaster will be rebuilt, and many of the above rides will also be part of the new park - though it seems like they will be stripped of the campy extras that make it a fascinating relic.

All photos from Steve Sobczuk's Flickr page.

There are, of course, countless ways in which to wrap a vampire story in new clothes -- and yes, "countless" was meant as a pun (sorry) -- but you have to give the new German import Bela Kiss: Prologue some credit: not many vampire stories manage to revolve around WWI battlefield atrocities and a modern-day story about bank robbers who hole up in a secret hotel in which everyone assumes an ominous nickname... with a bunch of romantic entanglements, double-crosses, and gruesome murders tossed in to keep things weird.

READ FEARnet's PARTNER REVIEWS OF BELA KISS

Bram Stoker Award-winning author and editor Michael Knost’s new novel, Return of the Mothman, is in some ways a classic monster story, drawing on the Mothman legend, but in other ways, it is something different, a small-town, character-driven horror story reminiscent of early Stephen King. When Ted Browning receives a phone call that his grandmother is dying, he rushes back to Logan, West Virginia, a town he’d fled after the death of his best friend. Once there, he rekindles a lost connection with his dying grandmother, his cousin, and his first love, but as old bonds become new, old nightmares resurface, old tensions rise, and legends become truth. Drawing on local stories and a past he’d rather forget, Ted uncovers the Mothman’s purpose and plan, but can he find a way to stop it and save those he loves before it’s too late?

Knost’s story moves quickly, and in some ways that’s its weakness. It moves too quickly. There isn’t as much time spent developing relationships and connections and memories as this reviewer would have liked. On the other hand, the frantic pace mirrors the action in the story and the tension never lets up, creating a brisk and breath-stealing read that will keep readers turning the pages until the very end. What Knost does exceptionally well—as horror legend Tom Monteleone points out in the book’s introduction—is create and use place. His portrayal of Logan is so strong that the town becomes a character, one the reader cares about as much as any other. In this way, the novel is reminiscent of Charles L. Grant’s Oxford Station books and Stephen King’s Castle Rock novels and stories. It’s that good.

If you’re looking for a page-turner with a little heart and a big helping of scares, this is the book for you. Check it out.

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Return of the Mothman by Michael Knost, 978-0-9912301-0-5

Release Date: January 15, 2014 (Woodland Press)

The founder of Something Weird Video, Mike Vraney, died on January 2nd after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 56.

Something Weird was founded in 1990 as a way for Vraney to rescue many obscure exploitation, sexploitation and grindhouse films from obscurity and deliver them to the masses on video and DVD. The company was known for specializing in the films of Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and, especially, H.G. Lewis. The name of the company, as well as its logo, was taken from Lewis' 1967 film Something Weird. I remember first seeing the ads for Something Weird Video when I was a child, in the pages of Fangoria magazine and dreaming of the day that I could afford to start buying from their collection. 

Vraney's love for exploitation began during his teen years as a drive-in projectionist. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was deeply involved in the Seattle punk music scene. He helped start the seminal music venue The Showbox, and managed acts including Dead Kennedys, TSOL, and The Accused.

Mike is survived by his wife and two children. The crew at Something Weird Video vow to honor Mike's legacy by continuing the company and putting out a strong product.

Source: Facebook