The Strange And Unusual Oddities Parlor

On our recent trip to visit Noir Dark Spirits, we made a stop in Kingston, Pennsylvania to check out The Strange & Unusual.  It's been open for ten years and what sets this Curious Goods shop apart from most is the presence of an amazing cafe in the front of the store - a cafe that sells spooky brews all year long, and not just during the autumn season.  If we lived closer, this would be our coffee shop.  

Before perusing the store, we ordered two Pumpkin Juice Lattes.  As the barista placed our drinks on the counter, she said "Here are your drinks...and here is a little magic!"  She waved her hand and a tiny burst of flame floated over our drinks.  In the world of Magic, that's achieved with a thin piece of "Flash Paper."  Typically, this requires ignition by a small flame.  I saw no flame, and I honestly have no idea how she ignited it.  I have chosen to believe it was magic.  Coffee magic.  And it was a perfect start to our time in that spooky store.

Below are some photos we took (and some links)...

Check out their site here.

And their Instagram here.

The Oddities & Curiosities Expo

On the first cool(ish) day of the summer, we ventured to an Oddities & Curiosities Expo.  I was very impressed with the number of vendors and the strange piles of twisted things for sale.  There were rows of tables with rusted metal, bleached bones, taxidermized fur and feathers, specimens drifting in small jars, and loads and loads of dark artwork.  

Spook Haus

There are cool pads, and then there are cool pads...

Tons of cool images here at Spook Haus' IG.

Victorian Petrified Bat

Many years ago, I entered an antique store and found the coolest oddity for sale - a framed taxidermied bat from the Victorian era. The price seemed so high at the time, $150. I stared at it and walked around the store a couple times. I kept coming back to stand in front of it. A tiny petrified bat. I wanted it. Badly. But I lost the argument going on in my head and I left the store. A week or so later, I decided that the bat was one of those items where the regret was greater than the price. I returned to the store and found this in the bat's place:

A stupid spider. I asked the store owner what happened to the Victorian bat and he informed me that someone had bought it a few days prior, then he offered me the stupid spider.

Life lesson learned: If you see something and KNOW you're going to regret the purchase and you're not going to be able to find it anywhere else, get it. I've seen some overpriced framed bats since then, but none from the Victorian era and none that were just a simple tiny bat in an elegant black wooden frame.

Stupid spider.