Unfakely

Is the Origin of Karate in Okinawa?

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The Origin of Karate

Did Karate originate from the Japanese island of Okinawa just as Mr. Miyagi claims in the film Karate Kid?

yes or no?

The Origin of Karate can be found as far back as the dawn of man.

Karate is actually not unique at all. Hand-to-hand combat has been practiced for at least 2500 years and probably much longer than that. The first weapons the first humans had were sticks, stones, rods, and other things they could find in nature, And when that wasn’t enough, they probably just used their hands and feet. It’s not strange to suppose that in the beginning, everybody used some sort of primitive martial art.

Later, soldiers and war-folks always tried to train and prepare for every kind of opponent as well as every kind of situation. The Roman and Greek soldiers trained with weapons, and they trained without weapons. The training techniques with weapons became the foundation for track and field… And hand-to-hand combat techniques became the foundation for a series of martial arts from Scandinavia to South Africa, from Japan to America. Kicking, throwing, punching, and holding is in no way unique to the east. 

The seeds of modern Karate.

Japan stretches from northeast to southwest between the Russian Sakhalin Island and a point south of Korea. But the Empire of the rising sun doesn’t finish there. From Kyushu in the south, Japan continues almost all the way to Taiwan. These are the Ryūkyū Islands and of these Okinawa is the biggest. 

The history of Okinawa goes back thousands of years. But let’s focus on the last six hundred of them. In 1429, Okinawa was unified as the Ryūkyū Kingdom. With a large and effective administration, little internal warfare, and a perfect geographic position right there on the border of the East China Sea, their Empire grew in importance. Through effective trade between China, Southeast Asia, Korea, and of course Japan they slowly became a lively, cultural melting pot. And it is in this context we should try to find the origin of karate.

The seed germinates…

origin of karate

Okinawa at the time had a very complex caste system. The Okinawans were born into their respective roles in society. 

  • There was the King and the King’s family. 
  • Below them, there were several noble classes and priests. 
  • Then came three levels of Pechin, the feudal warrior class. These were charged with enforcing the law and providing military defense to the nation, similar to the Japanese Samurai. 

In 1477 a general weapon ban was issued by King Shō Shin. He also moved most of the local district rulers to the capital, Shuri. All this to eliminate any possibility of uprising or rebellion in the districts. The ban lasted for 50 years until the King’s death. 

In 1609 the Shimazu family of the Satsuma-han (today’s Kagoshima prefecture) in southern Japan invaded and conquered Okinawa. From that point on, Okinawa has always been, in at least some way, a part of Japan. This was the time when a second weapon ban was introduced. 

Although these bans weren’t total and didn’t include all sorts of weapons, they still had a big influence on the way the Okinawan warriors trained. They had to adapt to the new rules. So, they developed and elaborated various techniques to fight with bare hands Te (手)… And they formed the Kobudō (古武道), which is a collective term for battle techniques with various weapons that were not forbidden, like staffs, hooks, sticks, etc. The chain stick, Nunchaku, is a weapon in this category.

The old Okinawan masters generally practiced Karate and Kobudō together. These two branches were originally one as fighting with and without weapons was all a part of the general technique of warfare. They complete each other.

China and the origin of Karate. 

Having close relations with all the surrounding countries, the Okinawans picked up useful skills from all of them. That included not only China but also other countries in the neighborhood.

origin of karate

It is sometimes described as if the origin of Karate was just Chinese Kung Fu, and the Okinawan Pechin just modified it.

The truth is that hand-to-hand fighting techniques were not at all unique for their particular origins or location, Chinese, Japanese, or otherwise. There were hundreds of various disciplines, and styles, and every corner of the landscape had its own schools and masters. 

Having said that, it is true that China and Okinawa had a long history of mutual economical and cultural exchange. 

After 1609 Okinawa still wasn’t yet fully Japanese. It was a Satsuma (Japanese) vassal state, and as such enjoyed quite a lot of independence. Interestingly it was also a Chinese tributary state.

China requested the tributary status to engage in trading relations. And as Japan didn’t have good relations with China, and as China straight out banned all economic transactions with Japan, Okinawa became the backdoor for anyone who wanted to exchange goods between the dominant powers of the region. It was a win-win situation for all. And it also allowed for China to continue dominating the cultural influence over the Ryūkyū islands.

Sakugawa Kanga.

Very little is known about this extraordinary master of Karate. He was born in the second half of the 18th century, probably in Akada Village outside the capital of the time, Shuri. He studied the traditional Okinawa hand-to-hand fighting technique, Te (手).

Karate punch wall

When he was in his thirties (.. or twenties.), he traveled to China, once or several times, and studied Chinese martial arts. Once home again, he started a school in Shuri where he taught his own merged variant of Te. 

The name of his technique was Tōde Sakugawa.  

  • Sakugawa, well that part is obvious.
  • Tōde is made up of two parts: De is the character for hand, Te (手) in Japanese. 
  • Tō is the character for Tang, as in the Chinese Tang dynasty. To (唐) in Japanese, but pronounced Kara as Karate (唐手) in this Kanji. The reason for calling the Chinese Tang was that Okinawa had made its first contact with the Chinese during the Tang dynasty. After that Tang (Tō) continued to be used for Chinese and Chinese goods in general… As well as “foreign” in general.

So, the translation would be Chinese Fist/Hand of Sakugawa. 

Ancient Okinawan Te bears a resemblance to Chinese Kung Fu.

Now, let’s sail over to Japan

Over in Japan, big things were happening. In 1868 the last Tokugawa shogun had to resign, and that was the end of the Edo period in Japan’s history. After that, the country returned to imperialism with its 122nd Emperor, Meiji. In 1872 an imperial order abolished the feudal domains, and overnight most of the samurai found themselves without a job. From being the backbone of Japanese society, suddenly they were obsolete. 

If you’ve seen the film The Last Samurai, you get the sort of general idea.

What followed was 15 years of brutal westernization. And in that process, the old ways of a feudal warrior didn’t fit in.

To that, we have to add, modern weapons… If you face rifles and canons, that could shoot you from hundreds of meters, the traditional battle techniques fall kind of short. Never bring a sword to a gunfight.

The result was a surplus of instructors, masters of ancient fighting techniques who nobody needed.

Karate as entertainmentThe origin of Karate – Public entertainment.

So, everything had to be European or American. The old Japanese culture was looked upon with skepticism The only martial art that still was popular during this period was Sumo. Because Sumo wasn’t a martial art connected to warfare and the feudal Tokugawa period. It was a sport, an entertainment, more tied to Shinto performance. It didn’t suffer as much from the anti-domestic movement in the late 1800s.

Kendo

In 1873 Sakakibara Kenkichi, who himself was one of the Samurai, engaged in organizing traditional Japanese sword battles, Gekiken Kogyo. As real swords were too dangerous, as well as banned, they used training swords made of bamboo. And so, Kendo was born. 

But even though I wasn’t supposed to write about Kendo, the birth of Kendo still has a lot to do with the origin of Karate. It was the first time one of the old battle techniques was used as entertainment rather than a way to kill your enemy in battle.

What Sakakibara Kenkichi did was to add a few very important details to his exhibitions, all borrowed from Sumo:

  • He introduced Sudden Death, the possibility to win with one strike if it’s correctly done. 
  • He introduced an independent referee. 
  • And lastly, he introduced commentators whose job was to explain the various rules, strikes, and how they were carried out. That made it enjoyable to watch, even if you didn’t understand anything about the event.

Judo

Judo vs Karate
Jigoro Kano (right) and Kyuzo Mifune (left)

In 1882 Jigoro Kano created another Japanese sport based on the old hand-to-hand fighting techniques. He called his sport Judo and added two more very important attributes that would become a great advantage for all the Budo – Modern Japanese martial arts. 

  • He added a universal ranking system loosely based on the ranking system for the popular board game Go. The Judo ranking system allowed any student to compete against any other student based on their respective rankings. It also made it possible for a student to go from one Master to another without having to start all over. Everybody agreed upon the standards that had to be met for each level of ranking. The Judo ranking system was based on several classes, Kyū (級), with colored belts, and normally 10 steps, Dan (段) with black belts. 
  • Jigoro Kano chose to name his sport: Judo, instead of keeping the form Jujutsu (jiu-jitsu). Although the most radical westernization was softened considerably by 1882, the old battle techniques weren’t fashionable. The lingering sense that the Samurai methods were outmoded, remained. By adding the word do (道) meaning way, as in “the way of…”, Kano introduced the idea of personal development through sport. And that was a stroke of genius. 

Karate, just like Kendo, Judo, Aikido, can be referred to as Karate-do… The way of the empty hand (空手道). 

karate borrowed the colors from judo

Karate later also adapted the white uniform from Judo, the Judo gi. As Karate don’t use holding, grappling, and throwing, and subsequently the material doesn’t need the same strength, the Karate gi is much lighter.

Back to Okinawa.

After the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, the new government in Japan wanted to solidify its grip on Okinawa. The subordinate status was not well defined and could possibly open for claims from other countries. China still had vassal claims on the island, and when they upgraded Taiwan to a formal province, Japan saw that as a motive to tie up Okinawa harder. In 1887 they annexed the whole Ryūkyū archipelago and established Okinawa prefecture. 

The politics were therefore very different from that in Japan. After the annexation, there was not only a westernization in Okinawa but more so a Japanization. The Japanese language was mandatory in schools, and much of the Okinawan culture, such as the Martial Arts, was banned. The reaction was that of hostility towards the intruders and secret admiration for the domestic trademarks. 

Gichin Funakoshi

basic kata
Gichin Funakoshi

Gichin Funakoshi was born in 1868, the same year as the Tokugawa shogunate ended in Japan. He was of Pechin class and desired to become a medical doctor. But as his father was a hardened traditionalist and insisted on the boy wearing his hair in the traditional Pechin-hairstyle, he practically couldn’t even approach any prestigious education facility, necessary to accomplish his dream. Instead, he became a teacher.

Already in primary school, he had come across Asato Ankō, the father of one of his classmates. He also met Itosu Ankō. Funakoshi started training Karate secretly with those at night and continued doing so during all his school years and even as a full-grown teacher. His masters taught him not only Karate but also about Okinawan traditions, and language.

So, when the ban was lifted in 1901 and Funakoshi finally could open his own Dojo, he was trained not only in Karate, Okinawan culture, Chinese and Japanese philosophy, and language but also in the art of teaching. 

Funakoshi chose a name for his school that was identical to the pen name he had used when writing traditional Chinese-style poetry… Shoto (松濤) meaning waving pines. The school was called the house of waving pines – Shoto-kan (松濤館). 

Funakoshi went to Japan in 1917, but it was his trip there in 1922 that really made the difference. He was invited by the founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano, to demonstrate Karate at the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo. He was supposed to stay only for the demonstration but ended up staying for the rest of his life.

Growth.

At the end of the 19th century, Japan had a brand new, western-style education system. And just like the schools in Europe and America, physical education was an important part of educating the new generations. And so, a lot of funding was put into the schools, and a big part of this money went to hiring coaches.

The various new Martial Arts that had sprung up, all wanted a piece of that, rather juicy, cake. They competed with each other, but very soon they found out that the biggest adversaries were the western styles, the European and American sports, such as Baseball, Football (Soccer), Track and Field, and of course Boxing.  

In an attempt to unify the resources and work together to promote their various Martial Arts, they formed the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, DNBK  (大日本武徳会). An important selling point was the possible positive effect these domestic sports could have on the ethics and personality of the Japanese students… Remember the “do”. This argument increased in value during the 20th century when extreme nationalism grew in Japan.

At that time the DNBK tightened its bonds with the military and the police force. 

But long before that, the DNBK introduced and popularized the label, Budo, meaning some kind of Martial Art with the goal of moral cultivation and physical exercise.

The DNBK was and still is today an umbrella organization for Japanese Martial Arts.

Boxing and Karate.

At the beginning of 1900 Japan strengthen its hold on Southeast Asia. Japan was on the winning side in WW1, and they had captured German possessions in the Pacific and in China. 

Domestic politics went from nationalism to Shōwa Statism, an ultra-nationalism similar to the movements in Italy, Spain, and Germany at the time. Now it was more important than ever to have cultural manifestations that were truly domestic.

The match of the century between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier in 1921 turned everybody’s heads toward the ultimate sport – Boxing. The young crown prince Hirohito was in Europe when the fight occurred, and could follow the hysteria from the UK. Back in Japan, he was crowned Emperor later that same year. As he was a big fan of sports, and Martial Arts, in particular,  he wanted something similar but of Japanese origin. And nothing suited better than Karate. 

But the popular Okinawan styles at the time were too complex. So, a transformation started in the Dojos on the Japanese mainland. This transformation also depended on the need to somehow unify the techniques (Kihon), forms (Kata), and rules. For this reason, much of the holding and grappling that until that time was present in Okinawan Karate, was removed.

What was left was a sport, much more similar to boxing than the complete fighting technique that it had been at the beginning.

Kenwa Mabuni

Emperor of Japan
Emperor Hirohito

Many of the old masters from Okinawa were horrified by these changes.

Kenwa Mabuni, the founder of the Shito-Ryu school, said this about the new sport:

  –  The Karate that has been introduced to Tokyo is actually just a part of the whole. The fact that those who have learned Karate feel it only consists of Kicks and Punches, and that throws and joint locks only exist in Judo and Jujitsu can only be put down to a lack of understanding. Those who are thinking of the future of karate should have an open mind and strive to study the complete art.  

Jigoro Kano comes to Okinawa.

Another very important event was Jigoro Kano’s visit to Okinawa in 1927. He wanted to experience the birthplace of Karate himself. And that’s probably when the name of the sport started to feel a little too controversial, being labeled Chinese. The organizers of the event called their styles  Shuri-te (首里手), Nahari-te (那覇手), and Tomari-te (泊手) from three the cities Shuri, Naha, and Tomari from where the performers originated. These villages are only kilometers from each other and they are today parts of the city of Naha. 

The development into a worldwide, Olympic sport. 

In an attempt to be accepted in the Butoku Kai the name changed… Sort of. The many schools from Okinawa were all referred to as Chinese Hand (唐手) So, they dropped the “Chinese” (唐) together with names of Kata that were of Chinese origin. Instead, the name became Empty Hand (空手). These two words are pronounced the same, Kara-te. It’s just the meaning that changes.

In 1935, Karate was formally accepted in the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.

So, that’s where it came from… From Okinawa. But once Karate had reached popularity in Japan it continued to conquer the world.

  • Although many prominent Okinawan instructors had been to Hawaii in the thirties, the introduction of Karate to the US mainland came after WW2. Soldiers that had been stationed in Okinawa or Japan during and after the war brought the new sport home.
  • Also after WW2,  Karate was introduced to Europe mainly by Japanese instructors. The  European Karate Union was formed in 1965.
  • In 1970 the international karate union was created. It almost immediately was disbanded as it didn’t include Japan. Shortly after, the World Union of Karate-do Organizations (WUKO) was born, which was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1985. 
  • In the 2020s Olympics, postponed to 2021, Karate made its debut as an Olympic sport.
  • Karate has more than 100 million active practitioners, in 192 countries worldwide.

  • …  The 2024 Olympics organizing committee has announced that karate will officially be dropped…


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Yes, the origin of Karate is in Okinawa. But the Karate we see in competitions today, in the World Championship and the Olympics, although that seems to be over for this time, is very far away from that origin.

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The Mansfield Reformatory

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Mansfield Reformatory

Mansfield Reformatory, aka Ohio State Reformatory, is said to have been a particularly inhumane environment for the prisoners. That resulted in Mansfield Reformatory today being one of the most haunted places in the US…

yes or no?
Mansfield Reformatory
Courtesy of Mike Sharp under the CC BY-SA 1.0 DEED license.

Ohio State Reformatory

Correction facilities all over the world are filled with suppressed anger, unspoken despair, and insufferable anguish. Through the centuries they have gathered long lists of sad stories and tragic characters. Death was always a loyal companion to most in these godforsaken environments… And still is today. Life in prison is hard.

It is not difficult to see a connection between the nature of the activity in a prison and paranormal activity. Many stories about ghosts and hauntings originate in violent and unjust deaths, and nowhere are those more common than in prisons. As a result, many of the world’s most haunted places are those where people have been incarcerated… In older times castles and strongholds, in the last few hundred years in state prisons and reformatories.

In the US there are haunted prisons in every state… From Alcatraz in San Fransisco to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, from Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie to the Old City Jail in Charleston.

But maybe the most terrifying of them all is the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio

A short history.

architect of the Mansfield reformatory
Levi T. Scofield

The beginning of the Mansfield Reformatory can be dated as far back as the 1860s when 30 acres of land were purchased for the new institution. Ohio already had two facilities, the Ohio State Penitentiary, in Columbus which functioned as a high-security prison, and the Ohio Reform School outside Lancaster for boys between 8 and 18 years of age. But the state needed something in between. So in 1886, the construction of the Mansfield Reformatory started. It was intended as a Reformatory halfway between a prison and the Boys’ Industrial School. The inmates were supposed to be prepared, educated, and reformed to be able to retake their positions in society. They were supposed to be first-time offenders only, and the age of the inmates should be between 18 and 30.

Construction works didn’t finish until 1910 because of problems with funding. But already in September 1896, the first 150 men were transferred. These, together with other prisoners for the fifteen years to follow, helped with the completion of the building. 

The architecture, by the Cleveland architect Levi Tucker Scofield, was a result of the ideas of the time. Just by being in a morally uplifting environment, the prisoners were supposed to better themselves. Especially since the inmates were young and adaptable. 

From a model prison to Hell’s forecourt.

The Reformatory character changed after a few decades though. Although the intention always was to take on younger prisoners, not to have inmates that were convicted for the worst felonies, and to continue reformation programs to at least some extent, by 1930 the Mansfield Reformatory had become a real high-security prison, although for younger male interns.  

the hole Ohio state reformatory

Between 1920 and 1930, the average population in federal prisons tripled nationwide and between 1930 and 1940, it nearly doubled again. And after the devastating fire in the Ohio Penitentiary in April 1930, where 322 inmates were burned to death, the Mansfield Reformatory came under even more pressure. 

By then cells that were built for one prisoner housed two, and cells for two housed three or more. The sanitary problems were evident, and that definitely didn’t help when trying to keep interns and staff safe. 

From the early sixties, Mansfield Reformatory was classified as a maximum-security prison. 

Testimonies.  

Two prison guards were killed in the line of duty on prison grounds, Urban Wilford in 1926 and Philip Orleck in 1932. In 1948, two paroled inmates, Robert Daniels and John West, killed the prison farm superintendent John Niebel together with his wife Nolanda, and daughter, Phyllis. Before that, they had killed four more and injured several.  

But the inmates themselves took the hardest blow. In the hundred years of activity, over 200 interns died in the Mansfield Reformatory.  Some of them by suicide but most were assassinated by fellow convicted. Diseases also flourished in the cramped cell blocks.

One of the worst penalties was the so-called hole. These were Solitary Confinement cells, with only a toilet and a sink, but no bunk. The convict was fed only bread and water and had to sleep on the floor, sometimes naked. 

Ohio state reformatory

  –  There were so many cockroaches that you had to put toilet paper in your ears and nose to keep them out, said one inmate. The ones that got into your mouth just counted as an additional protein supplement.

Once, two inmates were put in the same isolation cell, dimensioned only for one person, After three days only one of them came out. The other was dead, killed by his cellmate.

The end and closure.

In 1978, the Counsel for Human Dignity filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the inmates. At that time there were around 2500 interns on-site, while the official capacity was 1900. The lawsuit claimed that prisoners had to live in “brutalizing and inhumane conditions.”, and thus their constitutional rights were being violated. 

It took the court five years to agree upon a consent decree. The officials were to improve conditions while preparing for the closure of the Manfield Reformatory by 1986. The closing date was then extended and the prison was finally closed in 1990. 

While still officially a first-offender prison with convicts between 18 and 30, many exceptions from this rule were made continuously. 

Gary Mohr, former director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, reformed the whole organization in the last second half of the 80s. A Decentralized Management system was implemented, and not only in the Mansfield Reformatory but in all the state. It supposedly diminished problems in the prison and created a safer and calmer environment.

Many inmates from that time, do not always agree, though. They generally had to arm themselves at all times with razor blades, pens, and other self-made weapons for defense. Mansfield Reformatory was a very violent and unsafe place. Injures like cut wounds, and traumas to the head, arms, and legs after disputes were common. Murders occasionally happened within the prison, and they continued even after the reformed management was in place.

The many possible ghosts of Mansfield Reformatory.

So, finally to the ghosts. 

The many stories about hauntings were told between inmates and guards already long before the prison closed. Footsteps, whispers, thuds, and other strange, unexplainable noises could be heard from time to time. The many deaths within the premises make it difficult to determine who this ghost really is. Or even if it’s a single, definable entity, many entities, or just the building itself. 

Mansfield reformatory

There are locations though, that are more probable than others to produce paranormal phenomena. 

  • One such place is the so-called called “Jesus Room” in the west wing, accessible via a staircase off of the west cell block. It’s named so after a big Jesus painting present in the room. 
  • Another spot is the West Attic where supposedly banging and scraping can be heard even in broad daylight.
  • There is a room with a chair on the third floor of the entrance building. This is a blind room with no windows, and with just one piece of furniture, namely the wooden chair. It is said that if you close the door and turn off the light, the chair will have moved when you come back.
  • The hole, the solitary confinement cells.
  • The old hole under the barber at the east diagonal. This part is closed to the public, but people who have set foot there say that it’s the creepiest part of the whole prison.

The strange death of Helen Glattke.

Arthur Glattke was the warden of the Mansfield Reformatory from 1935 to 1959. He was much liked and respected by both the inmates and his staff. His wife Helen, born Bauer, was a beautiful woman and they and their two sons lived on the premises together with a few other families in managerial positions.

Around 10:15 Sunday morning, November 5, 1950, Helen Glattke was getting ready for church. She reached up to her closet shelf for her jewelry but for some reason, she put her hand on a hidden .32-caliber semi-automatic handgun. The weapon fell to the floor but by doing so it accidentally fired a bullet into her left lung. 

She died at Mansfield General Hospital two days later. 

Strangely, no outside investigation was carried out, and the death was labeled an accident. A number of gun experts stated that it is “very unlikely that a 32-caliber semi-automatic pistol could have discharged in the manner stated in the official account”. And the odd facts surrounding the case made rumors spread like wildfire inside the prison. 

“Helen could have found her husband with another woman, and Arthur had killed her to avoid a career-damaging divorce.” Arthur died nine years later in a heart attack at the age of 57. 

Soon after the death of Helen, many inmates, as well as guards, reported seeing the Ghost of Helen. The distinctive odor of her rose-scented perfume can be felt in her former quarters in the Entrance building.

Ohio hauntingsWhat do the YouTube experts say?

If you search Ohio State Reformatory or Mansfield Reformatory on YouTube, you’ll find a long list of videos. From self-proclaimed ghost hunters with just a cell phone to professional TV teams with all kinds of electrical gadgets and EMF toys. They are more or less all made in the same manner. And that’s the manner in which all the other ghost-hunting videos from all over the world are made as well.

Darkness, flickering lights from flashlights, scared faces, night-vision cameras, and the pulsating EVPs that every now and then say… “scratch”, which is interpreted as “Mike” or “Death”… And all the ghost hunters confirm in a low voice that:

  –  This is a haunted place… I feel uncomfortable here… There definitely is someone here with us…

But from the YouTube clips, there’s really not much certainty at all. We have many, actually loads of testimonies, audio recordings of voices, and videos of almost undetectable shadows moving around. But many uncertain, unconvincing testimonies do not add up to one true, convincing testimony. That’s just the way it is.

The Special Bias problems with the Mansfield Reformatory. 

The Mansfield Reformatory is a very popular ghost hunting site. And the reasons are two:

  • The structure itself. Even though the wall around it is gone, and so are all of the adjacent structures, the main building is awesome. The Romanesque- and Gothic style was inspired by European castles. Today, the totally grey facade, with its black, huge windows, gives it an eerie, uncanny atmosphere. It’s not strange that another popular name for the Ohio State Reformatory was Dracula’s Castle. And inside, with its cramped prison cells, long corridors, old, molded walls, and rusty steel bars, it’s even worse. It’s a scary place. 
  • The management focuses quite a bit on ghost hunts and other paranormal events. They take part in national and international events with various spooky themes, and they actively try to profile the Mansfield Reformatory as a haunted location.  
Mansfield reformatory

The new fashion of having old prisons being converted into haunted amusement parks has met criticism. Some social workers, scientists, and historians call it a distraction from the grim realities of the criminal justice system. We turn a violent and tragic past into a tourist attraction. 

This kind of activity makes it even more difficult to find the real deal under all the fluff. Every Youtuber wants substance to get visitors and likes, and if the big channels are ready to fake footage and recordings to make a good show, what should prevent the less resource-full small YouTube channels to do so as well? We need to try to penetrate the obvious fakes to see if we can find something true underneath.

Paranormal investigations of Mansfield Reformatory.

Real, true, skeptical investigations are always hard to find. Here’s a list of the famous TV channels that have had their ghost hunting program series covering Mansfield Reformatory on various occasions:

  • Ghost Hunter (Sci-Fi channel) was there in 2005
  • Ghost Adventures (Travel Channel) was there in 2009
  • Ghost Hunters Academy (SyFy) was there in 2009
  • Inside Secret America (National Geographic) was there in 2013
  • Ghost Asylum (Destination America) was there in 2015
  • BuzzFeed Unsolved (BuzzFeed) was there in 2018
  • Portals to Hell (Travel Channel) was there in 2020

As you see it’s been quite a flow at the Mansfield Reformatory. But not much solid and useful has come out of it. It’s an endless row of flickering footage, mumbling voices, and the ever-present pulsating EVPs. 

prison 1900
Courtesy of Brenda Gottsabend under the CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED license.

Conclusion

No, sorry but no serious investigation has ever been made in the Mansfield Reformatory. As long as you don’t count the many TV shows that have documented the prison. We just don’t have the facts. 

And the main difficulties when it comes to determining if there actually are ghosts roaming the property, are as follows:

  • The site is highly commercialized. The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society which is the present owner does an incredible job in preserving the property. But they don’t stop there. The goal is to be able to restore all of the interior as well as the exterior of the buildings. So far they’ve completed the restoration of the first floor, but they’d need funding for the continuing efforts. And that’s where the guided tours come in… Guided tours that cover everything from normal tourists visiting, to nightly ghost tours and Shawshank Redemption tours. All of which profit from the rumors the Mansfield Reformatory has of being one of the most haunted places in the US. We just can’t tell if the many stories are legit or if it’s just PR. 
  • The Mansfield reformatory is a very scary place by itself. Its atmosphere is that of an old haunted castle. And we know that the human brain is easily manipulated. I would say it’s much easier to imagine sounds, shadows, and touching in a vast correctional facility than elsewhere. Especially after dark. And all of the ghost hauntings are carried out after dark.

Janice Urban of the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society:

  –  I’m never afraid in this building. I can walk in here at any time and I’m never uncomfortable at all.

Final words

And I would actually agree with her. I do not feel any special hauntings or any sort of negative energy inside the Mansfield Reformatory. It’s just a fascinating building with a fascinating history… Very sad and disturbing but fascinating. There is no need to add Ghosts and Phantoms to it. It is quite enough just by itself.

The Mansfield Reformatory has its own merits, its own memories, and most of all, its own many real-life stories. We should respect that, and remember her hundred years of history and maybe we can learn something from it. 

… But please, make up your own mind.

haunted mansfield reformatory

Check out this photo, and read the article by Ryan Clark.

… I’ve traveled the country seeking out the weird and fantastic. I’ve been to supposed haunted houses and asylums. I’ve searched the skies for UFOs and hunted the woods for cryptids.

Never have I seen anything that made me truly question what I know. And I want to see something. I do. It’d just never happened.

… That is, until I visited The Ohio State Reformatory.

And check out this video. Are the claims credible?

Fun facts

  • The east cell block in The Mansfield Reformatory is the biggest free-standing steel cell block in the world.
  • Many TV shows and movies have used the intriguing interior of the Ohio State Reformatory for shooting prison scenes. The most famous being The Shawshank Redemption from 1994 (who actually used it for most of the scenography of the film), and Air Force One from 1997. Tango & Cash from 1989 shot various prison scenes inside while the prison was still in use.
  • The ground where the prison stands were previously used as a training camp for soldiers in the civil war. It’s been suggested that some of the ghosts derive from that time.
  • Warden Arthur Glattke was a creative person. In line with the ideas of the time, he installed loudspeakers and played music in the cellblocks. It was supposed to have a calming effect on the inmates. 
  • You could say that the film The Shawshank Redemption saved The Ohio State Reformatory. It was planned to be demolished. Then Castle Rock Entertainment needed the location for its film project and the demolition had to wait. After filming had ended, a local group of enthusiasts called The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society bought the estate for a symbolic $1. For that price, they are compelled to restore and maintain the buildings. 
  • Today The Mansfield Reformatory generates $16 million annually.


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Conclusion.

It is difficult to say for sure because of all the prejudice and commercial interests in the building. It’s a creepy place, but I don’t see any signs of real paranormal activity.

An extra star just for the awesome environment, and the fascinating history.  

… And The Shawshank Redemption is an awesome movie. You should see it if you haven’t already.

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Were there music videos before MTV?

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Were there music videos before MTV?

The history of music videos starts somewhere in the 20th century. But were they around before MTV started in 1981? Is the format of music videos older than that?

yes or no?

What is a music video?

A music video is a short film that illustrates, comments, or at least in some way interprets the music within the video. It is mostly relatively short, as it reflects the song, although some videos can have substantial parts before and after the music, and thus become longer.

It is an artistic format that in some way promotes the song and the band/singer in the video. 

It is also disputable if simply shooting an artist playing his music, really is to be regarded as a music video. The format suggests some creative touch to the footage even if it centers around a live performance.

What is MTV?  

For those of you who don’t know, MTV is an American Cable TV channel centered around Music. The channel started out in 1981 as a music video-only TV, where so-called Video Jockeys presented bands, singers, and musicians for the audience, playing their videos. 

It later developed into a more complete and complex channel with reality, drama, and comedy TV shows, live concerts, and documentaries. 

But why focus on MTV? Well, the cable channel was closely connected to the format and was fundamental in the history of music videos. Without MTV, the music video would probably never have become what it is today.

The first music video ever.

With the definition above, the history of music videos started in the 60s. But long before that, there was music and images tied together in an expressive and imaginative way…

  • history of music videosIn the very first years of 1900, something called illustrated songs were widely performed in vaudevilles, theaters, and nickelodeons. The illustrated song consisted of music, often a singer accompanied by piano. Together with the song, still-, or moving images projected from glass slides were shown. They were often done before the show, and in the case of nickelodeons, after, or in between at reel changes.

  • Before

    sound movies had conquered the world in the early thirties, there were the “talkies”. These were the first steps toward full-length

    films and they were immensely popular, especially in the US. The first sound systems in the mid and late twenties had a synchronized disc instead of the soundtrack printed directly on the film itself. For technical reasons, the talkies had to be short and they were particularly suited for music/songs. Many of our greatest sound-film movie stars started out in these short films. 

  • The Bessie Smith short film “St. Louis Blues” from 1929 has some of the music video features mentioned above. It’s set in a bar with extras and the chorus placed around the tables. Mrs. Smith acts naturally at the counter, fingering a beer in front of her. It’s very far from the normal stage performance, and could, if you stretch it a bit, be regarded as the very first music video.
  • From 1939, the Mills Panoram offered 3 minutes-musical videos from a wooden furniture-like movie jukebox. It was often seen in bars, in nightclubs, and in restaurants as a curiosity of modern society. For 10 cents you could see a b/w “soundie” with a random famous singer.
  • In the 60s the Panoram-idea was reinvented with the French Scopitone and the Italian Cinebox. These had films in color, a choice of artists, and much better audio- and video quality. Still, they had a hard time competing with TV.

Why were music videos made before MTV?

The TV entered our homes after WW2. But it wasn’t until the late 50s that we started to have some serious TV listings. In those days, many TV shows and programs weren’t perfectly timed and the birth of TV advertisements made TV schedules unpredictable. Often there were spaces of 5, 10, or even 15 minutes between TV shows that needed to be filled with something. The short 3 minutes music video format was perfect for this. 

history of music videos
Nat King Cole

Jack Teagarden and Phil Moore, together with Louis Snader who funded the enterprise, invented a 3-4 minute format aimed at TV and featuring some of the best singers and musicians of the era. Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Sarah Vaughn, and Lionel Hampton are just a few names on the Snader Telescriptions team.

These are sometimes labeled the first music videos, but the problem is that they were pretty much just filmed gigs. And if we need creative video editing to be able to call it a music video, we have to wait another ten years. 

In this category, we have the music video credited by the Guinness world of records as the first ever. In 1958 Jiles Perry Richardson Jr, also known as The Big Bopper, recorded the superhit Chantilly Lace together with two other songs. 

Check it out yourself to see if you agree with Guinness…

Films

To distinguish a music video from a full-length film is not difficult. The film is much longer and usually has a different type of plot. But in the sixties, there were movies that contained songs with footage that if you cut them out of the film, they would fall into the music video category.  Two films are worth mentioning here:

The Beatles’ first music video.

In 1966, the world’s best-selling and most famous pop band, the Beatles, stopped touring. They sort of got fed up with the tight schedule, the screaming fans, the impossible playing conditions, the hotels, and the constant traveling. Instead, they started recording short promo videos for their newly released singles. 

The first one was We can work it out, coming out more or less like a straight-up concert gig in a studio. But already a few months later they released Paperback Writer and the style was different. Now there were inserts of the band members not playing but doing other things or just posing. In 1967, the videos Strawberry fields and Penny Lane showed even more creative tendencies, and so the modern music video format was born.

Why did they start making music videos?

The reasons for producing music videos were always to promote the artist or artists. From the beginning of the 20th century until today, advertising and selling was always the goal. Today the music industry has undergone a true metamorfosi. There is much more money to be shared from many more sources. But the music video is still one of the major tools for reaching the audience.

A good video can reach billions. The song Despacito by Luis Fonsi has an astonishing 7,4 billion views on Youtube. Compare that to the Mills Panoram at the entrance of the nightclub in the 1920s and its total public of maybe a few hundred inebriated guests.

live performance

Interestingly, today’s music-stars generally make much more money on live performances than they do on copyrights from music files and videos. So, even though artists proportionally make less direct money from the music videos, They have an increasing impact on the artist’s possibility to promote those prosperous live performances.

Today, the music video boosts much more than just the song. It is selling a whole package in which the image and personality of the artist are the main features.

How were music videos made before MTV?

After the Beatles’ first videos in the mid-60s, many other singers and bands started making creative videos showing more than just them playing the music. The form was new and nobody knew for sure where it was heading. Without complex video editing programs, the products were quite simple. Still, many of the directors of the first releases showed a strong desire to experiment. Here is a random collection of some of the videos from that time :

The first music video on MTV.

MTV was launched on August 1, 1981. The first video] was the Buggles with Video Killed the Radio Star, followed by Pat Benatar’s You Better Run. The idea was to play music with music videos around the clock. But although the idea was revolutionary and the concept a winner, the channel struggled in the beginning.

One reason was the simple lack of videos. There were so few around that MTV had to let the VJs talk too much, they had to use concert footage, and they had to repeat the artists that actually produced music videos a bit too frequently.

But after Viacom bought the channel in 1985, together with a broadening of the music segments, MTV slowly grew until it totally dominated music promotion. In the late 80s, and the 90s as much as 90% of an artist’s total budget for promotion went to MTV. 

… And at that point everybody was making music videos. But that’s a subject for another article.

I should mention Thriller by Michael Jackson. It aired in December 1983, and it opened the doors for Afro-American artists, who before that were rarely seen on the channel. Apart from the racial issues, the spectrum of music styles widened significantly after Thriller. Soul, R&B, Rap music entered the previously Rock-based channel, and that helped in building the totally dominant position MTV reached in the late 1980s. Thriller is regarded as one of the most influential music video of all times.

Music Videos – Records

These records are evidently subject to interpretation. The format is not defined, and what is or what is not a true music video can be debated. 

  • First ever…   1958 The Big Bopper, with Chantilly Lace.
  • First ever…   I would put my money on one of the early Beatles videos. Penny Lane, Strawberry fields, but the first was obviously Paperback Writer.
  • Longest ever…   Could be Ghost by Michael Jackson, 38 minutes. 
  • Longest ever…   Or it could be Level of concern by Twenty One Pilots, with an astonishing 4264 hours (… yes, that’s 177 days, 16 hours, 10 minutes, and 25 seconds, puh!). But that’s a loop of the three minute-song where fans were invited to send their own videos to the song. Your choice if that’s a true music video.
  • Most expensive…  Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson. 7 million dollars was the price tag.
  • Most influential artist…   Maybe Beyonce. Rolling Stones has her Formation video from 2016 as the best music video ever. Single Ladies won three Grammys, as well as a truckload of other awards, and is regarded as one of the best and most innovative videos ever. 
  • Weirdest music video…  Now, there’s quite a pick. Here are a few:

… But there are many, many more.


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Yes, music videos are definitely older than MTV. It’s just that the definition isn’t all that clear, and depending on what you consider a music video, the starting point changes.

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How much of our brain do we use?

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How much of our brain do we use?

Do we actually only use about 10% of its capacity, and leave the other 90% dormant, waiting to be awakened by strange training procedures and costly enhancement supplements?

yes or no?

How is our brain constructed?

The human brain is a miracle of efficiency. It controls all the very complex activities in our body, like the Engine Control Module of a modern car. From simple walking to sports at elite levels, from digestion to astrophysics… It’s always there to give us its best and solve every predictable or unpredictable issue. We have a lot to thank the brain for.

Without spinning away on technicalities (… Which I’m not competent to do anyway), the brain is a big blob of neurons and glial cells. It weighs in the span of 1 – 1,6 kilos, ( 2,3 to 3,6 lbs.) with a substantial individual variation. The total number of neurons was for a long time thought to be around 100 billion, and the total number of Glial cells was thought to be ten times as much. More recent research by Suzana Herculano-Houzel points to 86 billion neurons, and the same amount of other, non “thinking” cells. Most of which are Glia.

Although the weight is less than 2% of the total body weight, the brain consumes about 20% of the total energy consumption in our body. It’s very expensive for the organism to think. But more about that later. 

And how does it work?

how much of our brain do we use

The big blob is divided into two parts, known as the right and left hemispheres. It looks a bit like the two parts of a walnut. These are connected via a thick bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. Each hemisphere is divided into 6 lobes, and each lobe has its specific function. 

The two halves also have different tasks. The left side is normally responsible for speech and abstract thinking, while the right side handles visual images and spatial thinking. 

Apart from actual thinking, the brain also controls all bodily functions, conscious and non-conscious. Interestingly, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left.

Even though we don’t know everything there’s to know about the human brain, a few things are worth noting:

  • The brain doesn’t seem to be hardwired so that the various parts do only what they’re supposed to do. New research has found that if a region of the brain is damaged, another region can at least to some extent take over and perform the non-functional part’s tasks. It’s flexible, something that is quite unique among human organs.
  • The brain is always “on”. Even when we’re not conscious it’s still carrying out all the physical necessities. But not only that. It’s also surprisingly active during, for example, sleep. And even completely unresponsive patients in a coma, sometimes show brain activity. And not only doing the basic stuff but responding to commands with cognitive activity. Basically, the brain hears you. 

Why it would be completely senseless for any organism to carry around that much dead weight.

So, back to the 10%. And no, we don’t only use a small part of our brain. That would be a gigantic waste of resources. 

In the wonderful world of evolution, any feature that is beneficial tends to remain, and any feature that is disadvantageous tends to disappear. Now, you might say that we still have a small tail at the end of our spine, and we still have a seemingly useless appendix. 

Yes, we do, but all remnants from previous species still tend to diminish with the ages. 

The human brain does not diminish, instead, it has increased in volume over the millennia.

The brain consumes huge amounts of energy, as much as ten times as much as its respective weight. And even more, if you think hard. It is heavy and fragile, and it’s high up on the top of our strange, disharmonious body structure. There are so many disadvantages, that if it wasn’t useful at its fullest, nature would never have maintained it that big. It would have been diminished and made small. 

So, how much of our brain do we use?

Well… All of it. We use all of the brain. Not all contemporarily, but it’s all there accessible to us.

Almost all lobes are active all of the time. That is not difficult to check. Just connect it to an MRI scanner and you see that even performing very simple tasks most of the brain is working. And as previously mentioned, even when sleeping, much of the brain is still active. 

  –  But, you might say, maybe it’s working but not working at maximum, but only at 10% of its capacity?

Ok, let’s use a technique called Single-unit recording. With it, you can detect the electrical activity of a single neuron. Even if the information we get from this intervention is very limited, we can accurately see if the cell is active or not. And it is. That is, there’s no part of the brain that is dormant or inactive all the time.

famous American psychologist
William James

Look at it as a kitchen. You have all the tools, the stove, mixers, and a microwave. Even though you do not use all of it all the time, you use all of it some of the time. Nothing in there is completely useless.  

The origins of the myth

Actually, nobody knows where it comes from. Many suggestions have been made over the years, but no one knows exactly.

  • The famous Harvard psychologists William James at the end of the 19th century, stated many times more of a possible explanation than a verified fact, that we only use 10% of our brain capacity.
  • Lowell Thomas wrote in the foreword to “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, by Dale Carnegie in 1936: “Professor William James of Harvard used to say that the average man develops only ten percent of his latent mental ability”.
  • Albert Einstein supposedly once told a journalist when asked about his high IQ… “And still, I only use 10% of it…”
  • The American psychologist Karl Lashley found that when removing large pieces of the cortex from the brain of rats, they could still learn tasks. This made him conclude that only a small part of the brain was actually functional.

But, as said, we do not know where it all started. 

The popularity of the myth

My own consideration is that it was a very lucrative idea. Many single people as well as companies and organizations have had a lot to gain. If there was a way to unlock the 90 percent and gain access to it, then that way would get a lot of attention… And of course, a lot of money. 

And millions of pills, herbs, medicines, diets, and supplements, as well as techniques for training, relaxation, yoga, and every other possible invention on the subject have been published and sold over the last hundred years. 

chimpance

I would say that economic interests are at least a part of the reason why this myth has been so hard to get rid of. It’s simply good business.

The 2014 motion picture Lucy by Luc Besson was based on the idea that it could be possible to increase the cerebral capacity tenfold.

Do we have the biggest brain in the animal kingdom, and that’s why we are so smart?

We don’t have the biggest brain of all animals. Brain size is somehow connected to the size of the body. A blue whale has a bigger brain than a mouse. But we have very big brains compared to other mammals of our own size. And it is possible that the size of the brain in relation to the total body is crucial for intelligence. 

Let’s say any animal needs a brain with 0,5 percent of the body mass to cope with the basic functions. A human brain with 2% of the body mass has 75% of its capacity free to accomplish other more complicated tasks such as thinking. The bigger the brain in relation to the body, the greater the possibility of developing higher intellectual capacity. 

It could also be that our body mass is the perfect size. A small animal would still have a small brain for mathematical equations, even if it used 75% of its very small brain. And a big body could be too occupied with all the different basic stuff. 

how much of our brain do we use

I imagine the brain activity to just move the tail of a 26 meter (86 feet) long Dreadnoughtus dinosaur. Maybe for him, there just couldn’t be very much capacity to spare when all the bodily functions were taken care of.

… And no, they didn’t have two brains. That too is a myth.

Fun facts about the brain

  • The human brain is incapable of multitasking. It switches back and forth between the tasks.
  • There is more cholesterol in the brain than in any other part of the body. Fortunately, the brain cells can’t absorb cholesterol from the blood. Instead, the brain produces its own, and it’s just beneficial with no negative side effects.
  • The brain has no pain receptors, and consequently, it can’t feel pain. But to get there you have to penetrate the skull and the tissues surrounding it, and that hurts.
  • The brain keeps developing until we’re in our late 40s. That’s the only organ that has such a long growth curve. After that, it starts shrinking.
  • Alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells. But it makes the brain shrink, just like aging does. It is thought that if you stop drinking, the volume, to at least some degree, could be restored.
  • Physical activity increases intellectual capacity. It is actually so beneficial that some studies suggest that it’s better to do aerobic training than to study. 

So, there you have it. Stop studying, get out, ride your bike, go run in the park, play some baseball, football, or tennis… And you can become a genius.


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No, we use all of the brain. Not 100% of it all the time, but we use most of it continuously. There are no hidden resources that can be awakened. By using it, you can train it and make it more efficient, though.

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The chromatic scale – Is there any divine, or universal reason why the scale of a keyboard is precisely 12 notes, and not 11 or 13?

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The chromatic scale

Is there any divine, or universal reason why the chromatic scale of a keyboard is precisely 12 notes, and not 11 or 13?

yes or no?



chromatic scale

… And why are they organized in that specific way… With 7 whites and 5 blacks?

It has something to do with the physical laws, something to do with our ears and the way we perceive sounds, and a little to do with practicality.

Disclaimer: This is a very interesting subject, if you’re into music, sound, recordings, and such. Be aware though, that the article is a bit technical

The magical world of pitches and harmonies.

In the physical world there are sounds. Every sound has a pitch, a frequency, and the frequency is measured in Hertz, Hz. 

chromatic scale

An interval between two notes means that the frequency of the two notes is different. The more mathematically logical the relationship is between the notes, the more consonant the interval sounds to our ears. Consonant roughly means that it seems harmonical, pleasant, and in tune. Dissonance means disharmonic, unpleasant, and harsh.

For the vast majority of people, the actual pitch doesn’t really matter. We can’t immediately detect if the song is played in E or E♯. What we hear are the intervals, the distances between the notes, and from them, we decide if the song is pleasant and if the singer and the instruments are in tune or not. That is why we can transpose songs, and play any music in any key, and it sounds just as good.

The mathematical connections between notes

If you double the frequency, you get a pitch exactly one octave up. The A (A4) above the middle C on a keyboard is normally tuned at 440 Hz. The A (A5) one octave up is 880 Hz. And the A (A6) another octave up is 1760 Hz, and so on. 

So, the most simple, mathematically logical relationship is doubling. Consequently, the octave is the most consonant interval. It’s so pleasant and harmonic that we actually use the same name for the notes, all over the keyboard. In this case A. To our ear, they seem like two versions of the same note. 

Consonant intervals

  • The most consonant interval is the octave, obtained by doubling. 
  • The second most consonant interval is a perfect fifth, which is 3/2 of the original frequency. C to G on a keyboard. 
  • The third most consonant is the perfect fourth, 4/3 of the original frequency, C to F on a keyboard. 
  • The fourth most consonant interval is the major third 5/4 of the original frequency, and the major sixth 5/3 of the original frequency followed by the minor third and the minor sixth. But now we are closing in on the dissonances. 
chromatic scale
chromatic scale
C major. A very consonant chord.

In fact, a harmony, major or minor, consists of three notes, The keynote (the perfect prime), the third (minor or major), and the perfect fifth. And if you look at it, the distance from the fifth to the octave is a perfect fourth. So, there you have the consonant intervals, the prime/octave, the third, the fifth, and the fourth.

Dissonant intervals

  • The most dissonant interval is the note halfway between the octave, the diminished fifth, the tritone. It is 17/12 of the original frequency, and as you see, now we’re quite far away from any close connection. 
  • The second most dissonant intervals are the minor second 17/16 of the original frequency and the major seventh 19/10 of the original frequency. 
  • Other dissonant intervals are the major second, and the minor seventh.
  • As the notes in the musical universe aren’t limited to the whites and blacks of a keyboard, even more, dissonant intervals can be obtained by using notes that are in between the semitones of the keyboard. A quarter of a tone, an eighth of tone. But more about that later.
chromatic scale

The diatonic scale

The diatonic scale, which is the basis for all western, traditional music theory, is made of 5 whole tones and 2 semitones. The whites of the keyboard.

  • On a major scale the sequence of the intervals is 1 – 1 – ½ – 1 – 1 – 1 – ½. 
  • If you do these intervals, it doesn’t matter where you start on the keyboard. The intervals will produce a perfect major diatonic scale. 
  • The C major scale is C – D – E – F – G – A – B – (C)

Overtones

Any note played by any instrument or sung by a voice, has overtones. The only sound that doesn’t have overtones is a computer-generated sinus tone, sine wave. 

The overtones come from the simultaneous vibration of different parts of the vibrating object. Let’s take the cord of a guitar. When the cord vibrates in its full length, it also vibrates in its half length, and the third of its length and so on. So even if the full length of the cord produces the note that we want, the half cord produces a very weak octave, the third of the cord a very weak fifth over the octave, and so on. These overtones, their distribution and strength, give the sound its character. And together with the attack of the note, they let us distinguish a guitar from a flute, a piano from a voice, etc.

relationship frequency of overtones
Overtones

As you can see, the overtones match the consonant intervals pretty accurately.

Now, let’s say we have five of the overtones in a C-note. That would be C – C – G – C – E. 

The special case of the dominant.

The fifth note in music theory is called the dominant, and a chord made up from the fifth note of the scale is the dominant harmony. It has a very close and special relationship to the first note. It would be the G in the C-scale, and any harmony built up from the fifth note of any scale is privileged, and special. 

harmonic series C and GIf we do the same overtone-trick from the G note but with seven notes, we’ll get G – G – D – G – B – D – F.  

If you combine the two overtone series, you get C – D – E – F – G –  – B. It’s not a perfect C scale, but it’s close. The only note missing is A.

Another way to get to a diatonic major scale is playing perfect fifths in a sequencE. You will have to start from a fifth below the C… F – C – G – D – A – E – B.

And you can play a series of thirds, minor and major… A – C – E – G – B – D – F (A technique that is used very frequently in jazz…)

Or it can be described as two tetrachords.

… But these are more of an intellectual – philosophical description, that doesn’t really add anything to the understanding of why the chromatic scale has 12 notes and the diatonic scale has 7.  

The thing to remember here, is that there is a physical relationship between the notes in a consonant harmony, and thus in a consonant diatonic scale. The notes are not just there by chance.

The chromatic scale

cluster
Jerry Lee Lewis playing all the notes in the chromatic scale with his foot.

So, the diatonic scale is made of 5 whole tones and 2 semitones, the whites of the keyboard. 

If, instead of using whole tones and semitones, we just use the semitones. Then you would have to fill up the 5 whole steps with the half step that lies between. Since there are 5 whole steps in a diatonic scale, you have to add five semitones to get a scale of only half steps, a chromatic scale. 7 + 5 makes 12.

The chromatic scale is the 12 semitones equally distributed between one note and the same note one octave up or down. This perfectly equal distribution is called temperament, and it’s a compromise between the perfect pitch of the natural tones, and the practical need to be able to play in any key.

But it doesn’t necessarily have to be 7… There are many other ways to combine the notes.

During the centuries, and in different parts of the world, various ideas of tuning and constructing scales have been offered. 

  • Maybe most notable is the pentatonic scale: With the major third C – D – E – G – A. 
  • Or with the minor third A – C – D – E – G
  • The hexatonic whole tone scale C – D – E – F# – G# – A# 
  • The hexatonic blues scale C – E♭/E (gliding pitch) – F – F# – G – B♭

And there have been many others. All these different ways to combine notes normally still consider the fifth and the fourth as fundamental. Their close connection to the unison, the keynote, make them indispensable in most scales.

And it doesn’t necessarily have to be 12 notes in the chromatic scale either… 

There are numerous other ways to separate the different notes from each other. Here are just a few examples, but there are so many more used in different time periods, and in different regions. 

  • You could for example double the number and tune the scale in 24 steps.
  • Or you could use 19 steps, which in some way would be rather close to the 12 tone scale, with a few notes added. 
  • The 72 equal temperament, or 72 edo divides the octave into 72 equal steps.
  • The Byzantine music theory uses the 72 equal temperament scale 
  • The Arab tone system is based on 24 equal steps in the octave.

The problems with alternative scales.

The difficulties become obvious when you actually try to play music. How do you play a note that is between one and the other? A keyboard would have to be completely reconstructed. But even instruments like a violin are still constructed to play the 12 notes of the chromatic scale.

And the preparation, and training of the musician often doesn’t prepare him for playing between the notes.

The only real exception would be the voice. A human voice doesn’t have finger positions where the note should be. A singer tunes with the ears and sings according to what he/she hears. The Arabic singer who is trained in a 24 note scale can produce a perfect intonation within that scale. 

The wonderful compromise of the 12-tone equal temperament.

If you have a keyboard tuned in just intonation, and you start from C and put E, and G on top of it, you end up with a beautiful C major chord. Now, if you start from G and put B, and D on it you will have a G major. But while the interval between C and G is a perfect 5th, the interval between G and D is not. Remember that the keyboard was tuned perfectly with the C as the root. The G is in perfect tune compared to the C, but not compared to the D. 

And the further away you get from C, the more out of tune the instrument would seem. G♭ major would sound quite awful. 

If you look at old classical music, before the 18th century, they almost never used keys with a lot of flats or sharps. It didn’t sound well at the time. 

To resolve this, we use something called a temperate tuning system. Instead of tuning the various intervals perfectly, we tune only the octave perfectly, by doubling the frequency. Then we distance the 12 semitones in between equally. Every half note has the exact same space, 100 cents. 

The distance of an octave is 1200 cents.

At the end, the piano is slightly out of tune, but it’s so little that you don’t hear it. The benefit is that you can play in any key and it sounds just as good as in any other.  

C equally tempered

C just intonation

C# equally tempered

C# just intonation

So, it’s easy to hear that the last chord is out of tune. If the keyboard is tuned in just intonation with the C note as a base, the C# will come out quite distorted, as it has 5 sharps. 

J.S. Bach and the Well-Tempered Clavier.

the well-tempered clavier

In the beginning of 1700 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two books of 24 preludes and fugues in each. They were equally distributed between the 12 keys. He wrote them in enthusiasm over the newly invented temperature. Something that permitted composting in any key with equally good results.

In the 16th and 17th centuries there had been many suggestions to resolve the problem with the equal temperature, and not even Bach had our modern equal temperature at his disposal. It would take more than a hundred years before the equal 12 tone temperament was widely accepted. The two books with the total of 24 preludes and 24 fugues are regarded today as masterpieces of technical perfection. 

Conclusion

The scales and music theories of the world depend very strongly on traditions, preferences, practicality, and fashions and trends. Still, the foundation for the 7-tone diatonic scale, the 12-tone chromatic scale, as well as almost all other scales, to at least some degree is the physical relations between the various natural overtones of any pitch… The vibration of the half cord, the third of a cord, the fourth, and so on.


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Yes, the reason why the chromatic scale has 12 notes, can be found in the physical laws of the universe. Although we humans have made these laws more practical, more flexible, and better tuned.

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Theremin – Can you play music just by moving your hands in the air?

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Theremin

Can you play music just by moving your hands in the air?

yes or no?

What is a Theremin?

The Theremin is an electronic instrument created in the 1920s and patented in 1928 in the US by the Russian inventor and musician Leon Theremin. The instrument has two antennas, one for pitch, and the other for volume. The musician moves his hands in the air closer and further away from the antennas, thus controlling the height and strength of the sound. It is the only musical instrument you can play without touching it.

The sound is smooth, flowing, and with a very electronic, eerie touch. The typical Sci-Fi-/Horror movie from the 50s type of touch. And it was actually extremely popular in the early sound motion picture days.. Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Robert Siodmak’s The spiral staircase, and Cecil B. DeMille’s The ten commandments are just a few of the many films that included the Theremin in their soundtrack.

The tech-talk

theremin

The Theremin generates electromagnetic fields around two antennas. One is standing up, controlling the pitch, and the other one placed horizontally in a u-shaped bow at the side of the instrument, controlling the volume.

Two oscillators are connected to the pitch antenna, one with a slightly variable frequency and one with a fixed frequency. The two signals are mixed, and the frequency from one antenna is subtracted from that of the other, through a process called heterodyning. The hand and body of the musician act as the earth in the electromagnetic field. It interferes with the frequency of the variable oscillator, and changes the pitch. 

The volume antenna works in a similar way.

Have you ever desperately tried to adjust the antenna of an old radio or a tv, only to discover that when you hold your hand around the antenna the sound/picture is ok, but when you move it away, it gets all distorted? That’s the principle we are talking about.

Can you really play music on a thing like that?

Of course, you can. But… And that’s something to consider before starting a career… It’s regarded by many as the most difficult instrument in the world. 

theremin
Lydia Kavina, one of the greatest Thereminists of today. Courtesy of G2pavlov

You move your hands closer and further away from the two antennas. The closer the hand is to the pitch antenna, the higher the tone. The closer the hand is to the volume antenna, the weaker the tone. That means that you will need a lot of precision training to get the distance right. It doesn’t have frets that are tuned in semitones, like the guitar. It doesn’t even have strings that you can look at and feel, to determine where to put down your finger, like the violin. 

The difficulty in playing and the rather limited repertoire have produced very few who truly mastered playing the Theremin. Many have tried but few have succeeded. 

The most famous Thereminist is without a doubt Clara Rockmore from Lithuania. She was a professional violinist with innate absolute pitch (She knew the exact frequency of a tone just by listening to it without having to confront it to an instrument.). That probably helped her a lot when reaching for the perfectly tuned note.  

It was the world’s first truly electronic musical instrument 

Jimmy Page playing the Theremin-solo of Whole Lotta Lovin’

I’ve already mentioned the usage of the Theremin sound in the film industry. Its strange and futuristic color made it an attractive partner in all movie production from the thirties and onwards. 

The portamento-type gliding pitch and the typically spacy sound was something brand new in the music industry. Today, with all our computerized music, maybe it is difficult to understand, but in the thirties, forties, and fifties the instrument was sensational. It was a completely new approach to sound making and it gained a lot of attention.

  • The Beach Boys used it in their smash hit “good vibrations”
  • Pink Floyd used it on the song “The Great Gig In The Sky” from the album Dark side of the Moon
  • Led Zeppelin used it on Whole Lotta Love from the album Led Zeppelin II. Although this was a modified version. Jimmy Page only controlled the pitch, not the volume.
  • … And many more.

These are somewhat old songs, and it’s logical. The Theremin was the first and only electrical sound source apart from more conventional electronic pieces like the Hammond organ. The Theremin’s typical synthesizer-ish sound had no competition until Robert Moog started creating his Moog-synthesizers in the 60s. From then on, the Theremin’s attraction diminished. 

Fun fact:

Robert Moog was fascinated by the Theremin. His own development of the Moog synthesizer was very much based upon the Russian invention. The whole Moog industry actually started out as a retail for Theremin kits. Today Moog’s biggest selling products are Theremins in various shapes.  

A short history

After the Russian revolution and the following Russian wars at the beginning of 1900, the newborn Soviet Union invested a lot of money and human capital into various scientific projects. Many of these aimed at developing various new weapon techniques, as well as ways to spy on foreign and domestic enemies. One of these fields was proximity sensors, gadgets that can sense people and objects without any type of physical contact.

The young Lev Termen was recruited, and very soon the talented scientist had invented a device with which you could detect electromagnetic interference from a distance. Unfortunately, the distance was just a foot or two and completely useless as a spy device. Instead, a completely new musical instrument was born… The Theremin, named after the inventor. 

Leon Theremin
Leon Theremin

In 1927, after having toured Europe and Russia, Termin moved to the USA, where he changed his name to Leon Theremin and patented his invention in 1928. In the following years, the instrument slowly conquered the western world, and Leon Theremin continued to develop his creation, as well as invent new things. He created the very first metal detectors for the Alcatraz prison, and he continued to work on his own television technology.

Leon Theremin was more of a visionary than a down-to-earth technician. And he was still a Soviet citizen and had frequent contacts with Russian agents.

The tragic fate of Leon Theremin

In 1938 he suddenly left the US to go back to the Soviet Union. His homecoming didn’t go as expected, though. The Russian authorities arrested him upon arrival and sent him to prison. Shortly thereafter he was put to work within the State financed research and development laboratories, the so-called Sharashka, as a convict. 

Here he developed many “useful” devices. 

In 1945 a wooden plaque of the Great Seal of the United States was presented to the Ambassador in Moscow. Inside it, Theremin had constructed a passive electronic bugging device… “The thing”. It was operational for 7 years inside the Embassy, until it was accidentally exposed in 1952. 

In 1947, he was released from forced participation in espionage technology development but remained within the KGB until 1966 when he retired. 

He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1947.

Isn’t it dangerous with all that electricity?

theremin
Courtesy of Livioenrico. Reproduced under the GNU Free Documentation License.

No, it’s not. The frequency of around 500 kHz is very low. That kind of electromagnetic radiation is called non-ionizing and there has never been any confirmed alteration in cell structure caused by non-ionizing radiation. And you are holding your hands around the instrument, but reasonably far away from it. 

It is probably much more hazardous to use a normal cell phone. A cell phone operates in the area of around 2 GHz. That’s four thousand times the frequency of a Theremin… And you hold it close to your head. 

Special difficulties when playing the Theremin

Since there are no references whatsoever to where the notes are – you’re holding your hands in the air, playing depends entirely on your ear… What you hear. Having said that, it is extremely important to have a very good understanding of intonation. Just like when you sing, but singing is much more natural and innate. You play the Theremin with your hands, and your hands are not used to intonation in the same way your vocal cords are. Many Thereminists explain it as thinking of the note coming in from underneath, moving the hand inwards. Then stopping when the correct pitch is reached. 

Another difficulty consists in the fact that it is your body’s position, in this case, your hands, that determines the pitch and volume. One, small motion, an uncontrolled breath, an itch on your back, a change in weight on your feet, could completely alter the whole intonation thing. Close to the antenna, the semi-notes are just a few millimeters apart. The musician needs to be able to stand perfectly still for a long time. To do that, you need a good posture and good understanding of it 

The Theremin today

It is still in use. Thousands of people all over the world continue to struggle with its relentless difficulties. It’s an odd member of the orchestra, but it is unique in the way it is played, and it being able to move all over the tonal spectrum without limits. It also has some theatrical characteristics, as the performer moves the hands in a sensual, expressive way while the body is completely motionless. 

The initial flat model has grown into various shapes. Many have invented new versions, and many improvements have been made over the years. New techniques make it easier to play today than it was a hundred years ago. It still is one of-, if the most difficult instrument to master of all. 


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Yes, utilizing the hands as ground in an electromagnetic field, you can play just moving them in the air around two antennas. The instrument is called Theremin.

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Alexandra Stepanoff

Does shaving make hair thicker?

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Does shaving make hair thicker?

… And does cutting the hair make it grow faster?



does shaving make hair thicker

This myth is well-founded and looked upon as an axiom in many parts of the world. When I was young I heard it from more or less everybody… If you shave, the beard will grow fuller and richer. The idea was somehow that the hair would compensate for being cut off, and the hair follicle would strengthen the new hair so that it can resist better. At least that’s how it was explained to me.

Anyway, it was common knowledge that shaving and cutting would create thicker and maybe darker hairs. 

Our very different goals

does shaving make hair thicker

Having more, richer, and stronger hair can be a good thing, or a bad thing… It depends. Because we have very different goals with hair growth. Typically we want less hair on our bodies, while on the head, we prefer more. Especially if you’re a woman, you normally want little or no body hair. 

For a man, body hair could be of less importance. While, for example, the beard should be rich and full, which could be a problem if you’re young or just don’t have a lot of facial hair. 

So, even if the question “Does shaving make hair thicker?” could seem of little importance, it’s actually of great concern to many. And the healthcare- and make-up industry takes advantage of this, with thousands of products for either making your beard fuller, your curls richer, or making your legs smoother.

The truth of the matter

Your hair grows as it grows independently if you cut or don’t cut. When you shave, the hair is cut straight off, and the blade leaves a square tip instead of the smooth, soft tip of natural hair. That can sometimes make the hairs feel rougher the first days after a shave or a cut, but it’s really an illusion. Mechanical cutting doesn’t change the way the hair is produced in the follicle in any way.

The clinical aspect of hair growth.

hair growth faces

The hair follicle produces the hair over time, it reaches its full length, and then it falls off. After that, the follicle rests for some time before it starts with a new hair. The complete cycle is, by scientists, divided into three faces, the anagen, the catagen, and the telogen face. 

  • Anagen phase – This is the growth face. The hair is growing until it reaches its full length. That can take many years if we’re talking about scalp hair. Hair on your head grows one or two cm per month. The growth rate varies with age, sex, genetic factors, and to some extent, with external components, such as temperature, sunlight, nutrition, and general well-being. 
  • Catagen phase – This is when the hair is released from the follicle, and pushed out. The dermal papilla diminishes in size and detaches from the hair, which simply falls off. 
  • Telogen phase – This is the resting face. It lasts for a few months before the follicle wakes up again and restarts the cycle. 

full rich hairIs it at all possible to affect hair growth?

Well, of course, it is. Everything in our bodies is connected to everything else, and hair is no exception. If you’re healthy, happy, and physically strong, your hair will be fuller and richer. If you eat well, don’t take drugs, or drink too much alcohol, you will definitely have more beautiful hair, just as you would be more beautiful all together. And we’ve already concluded that sunlight, temperature, vitamins, minerals, and even products sold as a hair-growing enhancement by the makeup industry can affect hair growth.

To this, we would have to add medical disorders, secondary effects from treatments, alopecia, and common male baldness. 

It’s just shaving or cutting that doesn’t make hair grow faster… or fuller, or stronger. It doesn’t affect the life cycle of the follicle at all.

It’s still a good idea to get a haircut every few months, though. The professional, caring hand of a hair stylist has many benefits. It levels the tips of the hair on your head, and the products used can in some cases be good for you… And you look better coming out from the hair salon, and that’s a major issue.

But, still, the hair doesn’t grow more or less, fuller or thinner.

closeup skin hairDoes shaving make hair thicker? Nope, it doesn’t

But it feels that way.

The anagen face – the growth face – is divided into 6 sub-faces. And it’s not until the fourth of these faces that the melanin production is fully activated. At the beginning, not only is the hair thinner but it’s also not colored. 

So, a natural body hair of, let’s say, 5 millimeters is very soft and almost transparent because it’s actually the tip of the new hair. If, on the other hand, you cut it straight off and let it grow out 5 millimeters from the cutting point, then that would be the middle part of the hair, with a full diameter, and full color. And the feeling, when you caress your leg, is very different. 

Waxing vs shaving

Again… Waxing or shaving has no effect on the long-term growth or quality of the new body hair. The follicles on your skin will repeat their growth cycle in exactly the same manner if you wax or shave… Or you don’t do either. 

blond hair

Waxing pulls out the whole hair, root and all. The follicle has to start all over again, and waxing, therefore, leaves the skin hairless for a much longer time. Shaving just cuts the hair, and the growth continues where it was cut off. Shaving causes the new hair to be wider and colored, just as explained before.

Waxing lasts longer while shaving is easier. 

Both methods can cause problems due to the invasiveness of the skin. The process of cutting, scraping, and pouring hot wax should be done with caution. 

There is a specific hazard for women, especially those with curly hair… Frequent shaving can cause ingrown hair. To avoid this, always cut in the direction the hair grows, never against the grain. And shave after or while showering, never on dry skin.

There are many other ways to remove unwanted body hair, some are claimed to do so permanently. Any of these methods should be used acknowledging the risks, and always at a certified clinic with a good reputation. Check reviews, and references, and ask around.


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No, nor shaving, waxing, cutting, or anything else you do with the grown-out hair, has any bearing on the long-term health, width, or length of future hairs.

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Surströmming – The stinkiest food on the planet.

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What is Surströmming?

Surströmming, salted fermented Baltic herring… Is it the stinkiest food in the world?

yes or no?


surströmming

What is surströmming?

Surströmming is a traditional dish, regarded as one of the smelliest and most disgusting foods in the world. You buy them in tin cans, and eat them cold. 

Surströmming is made from small herrings from the Baltic sea, fished in May or June. After 48 hours in a high-salinity brine, they are cleaned and put in barrels in a lower salinity brine. At a temperature of about 15°C (60°F), they ferment in the barrels for 5-8 weeks. It is this process that gives it the characteristic smell. In late July or early August, they are canned and distribution starts on the third Thursday in August.

surströmming
Clupea harengus

But why on earth would someone spoil food on purpose?

It is not as strange as it may seem. If you think about it… Functional refrigerators have been around for no more than a hundred years. Before that people had to use other methods to conserve food. And one very popular method was fermentation.

Fermentation doesn’t require any particular equipment or additives. It’s cheap and practical. Some of our most popular modern products originate from using fermentation as a method of conservation… Fermented milk such as Yogurt, Kefir,  Ayran, etc, Pickles, all other kinds of fermented vegetables, Sauerkraut, etc, Indonesian Bagoong, Italian Bottarga, Egyptian Fesikh, and the dreaded Icelandic Hákarl, which isn’t a vegetable but a shark.

And, of course, beverages such as wine and beer…

People actually eat it, and they even enjoy it.

The surströmming is smelly, you can’t argue that. The fermentation process is completely natural. Enzymes already present in the spine of the fish (a process called autolysis) start the fermenting process. These enzymes together with bacteria produce among others, propionic acid, butyric acid, acetic acid, and hydrogen sulfide. 

All these substances are each very smelly on their own, but put together they create a pungent odor, so penetrating and foul that it is impossible to even open a can in the vicinity of other people, who do not participate in the consumption. It smells like rotten eggs, or simply… Shit. 

Fortunately, the actual taste of the fish is not anywhere near the putrefied odor. Once you have gotten rid of the can and rinsed the fish in freshwater, much of the smell disappears… Not all, but the whole thing becomes much more manageable. And the taste of the fish meat is very different from the first impression when you opened the lid. It is an interesting dish, particular, exotic, and in the right environment, enjoyable. 

Surströmming is a very old Swedish traditional dish.

Yes, it’s a very old Swedish dish. Archaeological findings from 7000 BC in southern Sweden, suggest that fermentation already was a well-established method for food conservation. And the technique was known all over the world. The ancient Romans as well as the Greeks used fermentation to preserve food.

surströmming
Gustav Vasa, King of Sweden

In Sweden, the commonly used method to preserve their basic food, the herring, was salting.  But salting requires salt, and when Gustav Vasa, the first King of modern Sweden, started a decades-long campaign of warfare against practically all of Sweden’s neighbors at the beginning of 1500, the salt import came to a halt. Sweden had no domestic production of salt and that meant higher prices and less supply. 

We don’t know if the farmers knew exactly what they were doing or not, but when they suddenly put much less salt on the herrings, the fermentation process began. And the surströmming was invented. 

Surströmming today

The production is concentrated in the north of Sweden. And so is the eating of the smelly fish. It’s much more common in the northern parts of the country, where the big forests are with bears, wolves, and moose. The production was once concentrated in the area of Höga Kusten (The high coast… From the characteristic rocky coastline.), between Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik. 

Here there used to be a lot of small, often family-owned companies, that produced the famous round tin cans. Especially on the island Ulvön, where every corner of the road used to have its own surströmming factory. The classical round tin can became the classic package around 1890.

surströmming production
Ulvöhamn on Ulvön, Höga Kusten, Sweden

Another reason why this part of Sweden became the center for surströmming production is the quality of the herring. The last part of the name -strömming indicates a smaller type of herring found in the Baltic sea. It is not only smaller than the Atlantic variant but less fat and, honestly, quite different in taste. The fat content is crucial when fermenting. And in the southern Baltic sea, the herring is too fat, while in the north it’s too lean. The perfect herring for fermentation is found right there, between Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik. 

Eating surströmming the correct way.

Well, the natives eat it just like any other fish, without any distinct recipes or special tricks… But if you would want to try it, and succeed, you would need a little guidance. Here is the best advice from the experts:

  • Open the can far away from the table. Be prepared… The smell is overwhelming. You can even open the can inside a bucket of water, and flush the fish right there. 
  • Rinse the fish filets in sparkling water. Store the empty cans safely in a closed space.
  • The accessories can vary quite a lot. There are some basic items that definitely should be served. Those are boiled potatoes (mandelpotatis, almond-shaped, small potatoes boiled unpeeled, if you have access to it.), onion (white or red is preferable), sour cream (gräddfil)(…or any other sour dairy product), and tunnbröd (flatbread). 
  • The best way to enjoy the surströmming is to make a roll (klämma). Fill a flatbread with potatoes, onion, and sour cream. Add small pieces of surströmming, as a condiment rather than the main ingredient. Roll it up and eat it with your hands.
  • … And it should be accompanied by local beer, and snaps (vodka)

There are loads of videos out there showing people doing the surströmming challenge. They sit indoors with a can, but without anything else. Then they open it and eat the herrings right out of the package dripping with the oozing marinade. The most enthusiastic surströmming-expert would never, ever come near a situation like that. It’s completely and utterly foolish.

Is it healthy to eat?

Fermented food in general has many beneficial properties and a few harmful effects. The good thing about it is mostly connected to probiotics — live micro­organisms. Those are extremely important for digestion. And the bad is much the same… Some of the microorganisms could turn out harmful. 

An additional hazard comes from the health of the seawater. High levels of PCB and dioxins have been found in fatty fish like salmon and herring from the Baltic sea. Although the levels are decreasing, it’s a very slow process. The European Union has issued a permanent exception for consuming herring and salmon from the Baltics, as the levels of PCB and dioxin currently are over the safe limit.

Eating it once or twice a year doesn’t have any implications, but if you open a can two or three times a week, it could be harmful, especially if you’re are pregnant, plan to have children, or simply very young. 

Is surströmming rotten?

an open can of baltic fermented herring

No, surströmming is not rotten. Rotting is an uncontrolled, natural process. Many different bacterias cause the decomposition of organic material. Putrescine, cadaverine, indole, and skatole are among those most frequently produced. These are not present in surströmming.

Fermentation, on the other hand, is accomplished under controlled circumstances. The precise salt level limits the process and allows only certain enzymes and bacteria to work. I.e. those that enhance the development of the aroma and the flavor, such as hydrogen sulfide.

So which is the stinkiest food in the world?

It is difficult to say.  Salinity and spiciness can be measured in the laboratory, although not 100% objectively. The Smell is more difficult. The substances that stimulate our nose are many, not only one. And we are differently sensitive to all of them. The Guinness Book of records doesn’t have a record for smelliness, and there’s probably a reason for that. 

Still, when I search for the most stinking and putrid foods in the world, surströmming always comes up, and more often than not in one of the top positions.

Other stinky foods include stinky tofu, fruits like Locust and Durian, and the Japanese Nattō. But there are many more. Many of these are restricted, you can’t take them on flights, they don’t serve them in restaurants, etc. I’ve eaten some of these myself, and some of them are frankly quite disgusting.

But comparing this to surströmming seems ridiculous. If you would ever open a can of fermented Baltic herring on an airplane, they would have to refurbish it completely. The stench would penetrate everything that isn’t steel or smooth plastic… And the smell of surströmming isn’t just strong… It smells rotten. So I would say the type of smell is more disturbing than many others.

The final verdict

  • Surströmming isn’t all that bad to eat. It’s the smell that hurts.
  • The smell is of a kind that is very disturbing to us humans, feces, rotten eggs, death, and decay.
  • Surströmming is exclusively served outside, and very far away from everybody else. It could never be served in a restaurant, not even outside. 
  • The can is hermetically closed. Compared to more traditional packings like fruit, eggs in clay, or even plastic or paper boxes, the sealed can is odor-free. If it wasn’t, it could never be distributed. 

Considering all this, I would consider it the winner. Surströmming is the stinkiest dish in the world. Obviously not counting things that are smellier but not digestible… Like food gone bad, or edibles not normally sold, distributed, and anyway reasonably healthy.


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Yes, it is. Surströmming is the smelliest dish in the world.

round can of baltic herring

If you don’t agree, just open a can from last year… A can that was ready in August but was left for another entire year to amplify the fermentation and decay of the herring muscle tissues. A can containing something so putrefied that it’s become spherical, like a ball…

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Sinking in quicksand – Is it really as deadly a threat, as shown in the old b&w movies?

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Sinking in quicksand

Sinking in quicksand – Is it really as deadly a threat, as shown in the old b&w movies?

yes or no?

Quicksand – the hidden deathtrap

If you are as old as me, then you have probably seen it in the movies… The black and white movies about heroic adventurers heading into the jungle, fearless, and proud. There they had to fight the bad guys, the ferocious indigenous, the hostile environment made up of dangerous cliffs, rivers, and waterfalls, insects, and bigger man-eating animals. Last on that list, there was usually the quicksand. 

We saw a character falling in, while the others stopped immediately. The one who was sinking in quicksand screamed and waved his arms, while the others shouted at him to not move. Then they tried to reach him with a branch, a rope, or even a snake. Sometimes they succeeded, while other times the person in the quicksand slowly, inch by inch was consumed by the deadly trap. Often we could see a stretched-out hand sinking down slowly into the mud. Sometimes leaving a piece of fabric, or a hat on the surface.

But what is the truth about all that?

What is quicksand and how does it form?

First of all, it’s not only sand. Any granular material can in theory form some sort of quicksand-ish substance. Most common is still quicksand made from sand, slit, or clay, mainly because that’s what you would find in nature. 

Under normal conditions, rainwater or sea water will sink through the soil to the groundwater level. But sometimes, a pocket of water without drainage can form, or there can be streaming water under the surface, sideways, or upwards. In some cases, the material, usually sand or clay mixes with the water and creates a kind of porridge. On top, it will appear solid, and you won’t know what it is until you’ve put your weight on it with your foot. The saturated sediment that forms the surface will suddenly break and you will fall in.

sinking in quicksandWhere can you find quicksand?

In the old movies, quicksand was sometimes found in the desert. That wouldn’t be very probable. As water is a necessary ingredient, deserts probably do not host any quicksand. Instead, you should try riverbanks, marshes, and areas close to lakes and the sea. 

Can sinking in quicksand swallow you whole?

sinking in quicksand

No, it can’t. Not under normal conditions, and not the so-called wet quicksand. The reason for this is that even though it’s much denser than water, it still follows the laws of nature. A body with lower density will float. Water has a density of about 1 kilogram/liter. A sand/water mix in quicksand, on the other hand, has a density of around 2 kilogram/liter. It is practically impossible to sink lower than to half your body, about your waist-line. 

If you fall in, what should you do?

Here are a few tips:

  • If you’re in deeper than your knees, you can’t walk out, so just forget that, and do the following.
  • First… Always move slowly. For every inch you move upward, let the sand fill the space underneath. It takes time, but it’s the only way. If you get tired, rest. You are not in a hurry.
  • Lose weight. Throw away your backpack. If you can, take off your shoes, your jacket, etc.
  • If you can, take a step backward. It’s possible that you could reach the solid ground from where you came if you weren’t walking too fast when you fell in.
  • Try to lean backward to a back-floating position. When your feet reach the surface, try to move very slowly to the “shore”.
  • Try to find a branch or something to hold on to. If you have a trekking pole, use it horizontally under your back when getting up to a floating position. 
  • Breathe deeply. This will increase your buoyancy as well as keep you calm. 
  • Remember that the biggest threat is exhaustion, not the suction. 

The special case of dry quicksand

Dry quicksand made out of sand shouldn’t really be a problem. Dry sand is just sand, although scientists have succeeded in creating low-density sand in laboratory environments. This lightweight sand can swallow heavy objects. It has never been found in nature, though.

But the quicksand phenomena can occur in other, lighter granular materials… Like grain.

In 2002 a man fell into a grain silo in Germany. By the time the firefighters came, he was already down to his armpits. With every breath, his lungs emptied and he sunk a little. At a certain time, the pressure from the grain on his chest started to cause severe pain, and the rescue team feared that he would suffocate. They gave him oxygen, but as he just couldn’t expand his chest to inhale they had to try something else.

They lowered a huge cylinder over the entire body of the man, Then they sucked the grain out from the surrounding space with an industrial vacuum. The man survived.   

Has anybody ever died as a result of sinking into quicksand?

sinking in dry quicksand

Well, I could say no, nobody ever dies directly from falling into quicksand. Because it’s not possible to be sucked down and drowned by it, like in the old movies. That’s just not how it works.

But, there are still casualties caused by secondary effects of falling into quicksand. If you don’t get swallowed whole by it, being stuck can be very dangerous in some ways. 

Apart from the very rare deaths in silos, and other places where there is light, dry, granular material, many casualties are caused by people being stuck in quicksand when the tide returns. As you will find quicksand where there’s water, people get trapped and then they die from drowning. That could also happen on riverbeds. Other dangers include attacks by wild animals, dehydration if you’re stuck for long, and other medical complications that happen while you are trapped and can’t find help.  

Conclusion. 

Sinking in quicksand is not a death trap, as portrayed in the old movies. It just isn’t. You will fall in and you can get stuck there, even for long if you’re in bad physical shape or you panic, etc. But you could not die from drowning in the mud unless you’re wearing lead pants and a golden sweater.

Having said that, there are dangers connected to the fact that you are stuck. The biggest hazard by far is the possibility that water could submerge you while you are trapped. Either as the returning tide on the beach or the increased water flow in a river. 


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No, it can’t pull you down the way it was shown in the old movies. It’s physically impossible for quicksand to drown someone just by submerging him or her into the mud. 

Other things can kill you while you’re trapped though… Like a returning tide. 

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The legendary Inunaki Village – If you go there, you might never come out again.

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Inunaki Village

The legendary Inunaki Village, Japan – If you go there, you might never come out again.

The Inunaki Village

The Inunaki Village is supposedly situated somewhere around the Inunaki ridge, Fukuoka Prefecture, some one hundred miles north of Nagasaki in Japan. It’s a fictional village, and it has its name from Inu-Dog and Naki-lamenting, crying. The meaning in English would be howling dog, which connects to a well-known legend about a dog and its owner. But first I’d like to tell you the most famous story referring to the Inunaki Village and the Inunaki Tunnel.


inunaki village

The Inunaki Tunnel

Sometime in the early 1970s, a young couple was driving up the slopes of the Inunaki ridge. They were heading for Hisayama on the other side of the mountain, and to get there from Miyawaka they had to pass a narrow road up the hill. Just before the Inunaki tunnel, a clunking sound was heard from the car. As they came out on the far side, the engine died, and they found themselves stranded. They noticed a passage on the right side of the road. So they left their car and headed up the forest to seek help. After a short while, they came across a handwritten sign reading “The constitution of Japan does not apply beyond this point.”. The trail was getting more difficult, and overgrown as they continued, but a few hundred meters further in they suddenly entered a small village. 

It was a town like they had never seen before. It seemed abandoned, the houses were all dark and dilapidated, and nobody could be seen from where they stood at the entrance. They couldn’t hear any sounds of people or animals. Even the wind had calmed. It was dead silent. 

The horrors of the Inunaki pass

inunaki village
Inunaki tunnel from the northeast side – Miyawaka side.

They slowly ventured in on the main road passing the shadows of the hovels. No one was to be seen or heard. The atmosphere was eerie. When they figured their curious hearts had had enough, and they decided to walk back again, something moved inside one of the houses. And suddenly a man stood on the porch of a big grey building not more than 30 meters away. 

  –  Howdy there… Welcome to Inunaki village, he shouted. 

And with just a few steps, incredibly long and fast, he suddenly appeared right in front of them. 

  –  We love visitors here, he said… We just don’t like it when they leave us again.

And with a swift motion, he cut down the young boy from his neck straight down to the side of his belly with a sickle. The young man just looked at him astonished, before he collapsed to the ground. 

The girl tried to back away but the old man seized her in a firm grip. He seemed to have some internal force that made his hands and arms stronger than anything she had ever felt before. With an almost inaudible groan, he lifted her straight up with one hand, and threw her down on the graveled street with such brutality, that she felt her ribs break.

When the sickle came down on her she turned her head towards the closest house. With horror, she saw what they hadn’t noticed before… Behind and between the small buildings there were dead people, and decaying corpses all around. The reason for the silence and the darkness was that everybody was dead… Killed by the mad, old man with the sickle. 

  –  He killed all of them, she thought as the curved knife extinguished her life force in one single motion. The crazy old man murdered them all…

Nobody heard from them again. The white sedan still waits there, now covered with rust, and punctured tires, parked on the side of the road, right where the small pathway leads into the forest. 

The Inunaki Village – The dog legend.

huge concrete dam in japan
The Inunaki dam

Now, let me get back to the legend about the dog, the very legend that could have given Inunaki its name:

A man killed his dog because it wouldn’t stop barking. Shortly after that, the man and his whole family were killed. The dog had just been warning his master about the approaching danger. 

… And here’s another legend: When the Inunaki dam was constructed, the unscrupulous agents from the local Energy company, simply barricaded the houses of people who didn’t want to sell and didn’t want to move out. When the dam was ready, they were left to drown right there, in their own homes. And now their poor souls haunt the area.

This is one terrible legend, but there are many others…

The story of the young couple who was murdered in Inunaki village is famous all over Japan, and even outside of Japan. And it seems the supposed paranormal phenomena reach far beyond Inunaki.

In fact, the whole area around Miyawaka is regarded as very haunted. Nature is incredibly dense, with forests, hills, and difficult terrain making it an unforgiving area to venture into. The paths are narrow and can be tough to follow. The absence of houses and people gives the whole area a spooky character. And the many myths and stories about strange sightings and scary encounters within the dark woodland, attract all kinds of paranormal investigators, ambitious YouTubers, and teens just doing dare games.

Still, most hauntings are concentrated around the Inunaki Pass, and the tunnels passing under it… 

Because there are two tunnels under the hill to connect the two sides of the mountain. One is old and short, less than a hundred meters. It’s tied to the surrounding valleys through a narrow road with a lot of hairpin curves. The other tunnel is newer, wider, straighter, and much longer. 

The new tunnel, built in 1975, is heavily trafficked and doesn’t seem to be very disturbing. The ghosts are probably scared away by all the trucks and other heavy vehicles. 

inunaki village
Howling Village

But the old tunnel is a different story. 

It’s so scary, in fact, that in 2019, the Japanese horror-movie, Howling Village, with the tunnel as a main ingredient, scared the wits out of half of Japan, and a big part of the rest of the world.

Together with the film, a horror game called Inunaki Tunnel was released in November 2019.

Legends about the Inunaki Tunnel:

We’ve already mentioned three urban legends about the tunnel and the village, but there are many, many more. The common feature is that they all originate from modern times. Here are a few:

  • While working on the Inunaki tunnel project, an accident made the tunnel roof collapse killing more than a hundred workers.
  • At night time, you can hear screams and children crying from within the tunnel. Sometimes the voices call and implore you to follow them into the tunnel.
  • There are testimonies about finger- and handprints on the windshields after passing through the Inunaki tunnel.
  • The Inunaki Village came to be during the early Edo period. Persecuted and mistreated peasants choose to live in exile and cut all bonds with society.
  • The Village was ravaged by disease, and the authorities simply cut it off and prohibited anyone from entering or leaving the village, counting on everybody dying off in there before they could open it up again.
  • The isolated status of the town promoted inbreeding to a point where even simple human behavior and decency were abandoned.
  • The man with the sickle was a peasant who one day for no reason started attacking his fellow citizens. After having killed everybody in the village, he still waits for new arrivals. 
  • Another legend tells about all the people of the village being prepared to kill anyone who enters their sanctuary. Tales about cannibalism are connected to this legend.
  • Inunaki Village once was a Leprosy colony.
  • The bridge just south of the dam is known as a suicide spot. 
  • Anyone who goes into Inunaki Village never comes out alive.

… And there are others, as well as variants of these ones.

Just remember that none of these narratives are confirmed… They are all stories, told and spread in modern times.

So, are they true… The legends and the stories?

Local residents around the tunnel try to hinder gangs from driving up the abandoned road.

What do the locals say?

First of all, let’s check what the locals have to say about all this. 

Lately, the locals have had quite a bit to say about the Inunaki tunnel. Since the film, Howling Village was released, the Inunaki tunnel has gained even stronger attraction to the public. Before the film, there were quite a lot of people coming to investigate the supposedly haunted spot. But after 2020, despite the Pandemic, the site has become something of an overcrowded throng.

The site is now full of litter, graffiti, and all kinds of leftovers from partying and drinking. Both outside and inside the tunnel. People living in the area have become scared to even approach the tunnel, not because of the hauntings and paranormal activity, but because there are gangs of youngsters, often drunk, driving the narrow roads, and gathering around the tunnel openings.

Or as one resident of the area said to the local newspaper…

  –  Every day, young people hang out in the woods, close to the tunnel. They are throwing away their trash where they stand, drinking, and making a nuisance, one man says to the  Nishinippon Shimbun newspaper. We are scared to even go there as it stands.

unfakely.com
The Castle of Inunaki Gobekkan ruins. From mid-1800.

From February, when the film Howling Village premiered, to May 2020 the police made 182 interventions… Compared to 0 the three months before that.

The whole area is thought of as a paranormal hot spot, but not by the locals. They just want to be left in peace, with or without ghosts. The idea of haunted tunnels and villages does not come from them. 

What do the experts say?

You can check for yourself. On YouTube, there are numerous videos of people who went there, filmed, heard some strange noises from inside the tunnel, and then with an apologetic expression explain why nothing special turned up in the footage. 

  • In February 2020 the  Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation sent a small group of journalists, who with the authorization of the Miyawaka City Council approached the Old Inunaki tunnel from the Miyawaka side. On that side, the northeast, the tunnel is sealed all the way to the tunnel roof and you cannot enter. Much like any other visitor, the group heard strange noises from the inside of the tunnel. They also registered a drop in the temperature from 12° centigrade to 9 when closing in on the tunnel opening. That would depend on the stable soil temperature. A difference in air temperature from outside a cave to inside is not extraordinary in any way. They didn’t really find anything.
  • Other than that, I’ve not been able to find any serious paranormal investigation. One reason is probably the closed-off area, with frequent police controls, CCTV cameras, fences, and gates, and a road that is in decay after years of negligence.  
dirty and filthy
The unpleasant inside of the tunnel.
Inunaki tunnel from Hisayama side
Entrance from southwest/Hisayama side.

The incoherence in the stories.

The howling as in the word Naki, and the legend about the man who shot his dog. This tale has an infinite number of variations. The attackers are a black dragon, mercenaries, a snake, other dogs, a neighbor, etc. And so is it with all of the legends around the Inunaki tunnel and the Inunaki village. They vary quite a lot depending on who you hear them from. The car, the abandoned sedan, can be found before the tunnel, after the tunnel, or before you arrive at the village. The path to get there is sometimes a road, while other times it’s not even a pathway… 

The true and confirmed facts about Inunaki village. 

There once was a real Village called Inunaki at the Valley of Inunaki… Or really Inunaki Danimura or Inunakiya. It was established during the Edo Period, and it lived well from producing ceramic products and manufacturing steel. Later, coal mining was established and a Castle called Inunaki-gobekkan was founded in 1865, the ruin still stands today. The town was abandoned when the Inunaki dam was created in 1970, and the population moved to the neighboring Wakita area. This village has nothing to do with the ghost town described above.

Inunaki Danimura before the construction of the dam.

The true and confirmed facts about Inunaki Tunnel. 

The old tunnel was built during and after WW2, possibly with POWs as a part of the labor force. It was completed in 1949 and then replaced with a new tunnel in 1975. This latter made driving from one side of the mountain to the other, much easier, and faster. As the old road wasn’t used anymore, and it soon became a very dangerous passage with all the curves, high mountain sides, and lack of maintenance, it was blocked with solid steel gates from both directions. 

On 6th December 1988, a criminal gang murdered the factory worker, Koichi Umeyama near the tunnel. The gang had asked Umeyama for his car. When he refused, they pulled him out of his car, dragged him to the tunnel, and killed him. They then set his body on fire. The cruelty and lack of even the basic sign of humanity shown by the murderers is well documented and was, at the time, told to a terrified, and appalled public. All perpetrators were arrested shortly after, and at the trial in 1991, they were all sent to life imprisonment.

The Old Inunaki tunnel is not long from one side to the other. It’s completely sealed off from the Miyawaka/northeast side. From the Hisayama/southwest side the entrance is closed only to a certain height, and it’s possible to slide over the concrete blocks and get in. You will still have to access the tunnel from the east side since both roads leading up to the Inunaki tunnel are closed.

So, if there’s not really anything spooky at all about the tunnel, where is all the fuss coming from?

map of inunaki tunnels

It seems that the Inunaki Village story originated from an anonymous letter to Nippon TV in 1999. The writer of the letter tells about a small path, easy to overlook, in the neighborhood of the old Inunaki tunnel. He then goes on to describe the sign with the text “The Japanese constitution is not in effect past this point.”, the young couple that was murdered, and the violent villagers. 

The Inunaki Ridge and the tunnel first became famous for its paranormal activity after the tragic death of Koichi Umeyama in 1988. 

The stories about ghosts, howling dogs, and lawless villages aren’t older than that. A little more than 30 years. Of course, hauntings do not necessarily increase with the passing of time. I suppose a place can become haunted in modern times too, even right now. 

But the substance to claim this spot is more paranormal than any other is just too weak. At least, in this case, the proof, and documentation is practically nonexistent… Nothing, nada. 

Or as one representative for the Miyawaka city expresses herself:

  –  Students from Kyushu University come here to do vegetation surveys every year. Boy Scouts are also frequent guests. All over Chikuho, nature lovers come to climb the mountain stream, and of course, to fish. The Yamame trout is abundant, as is natural wasabi in the river beds. 

approaching inunaki village

The Inunaki River and surrounding area are just another example of the beautiful countryside and remote naturalistic sceneries that still can be found in one of the most densely populated countries in the world… Japan.


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Conclusion.

The problem isn’t so much if you could get out again, as it is if you could ever find Inunaki Village… The fact is that it doesn’t exist. And there’s nothing scary about the tunnel either if you don’t count all the litter and the drunken teenagers that roam in the neighborhood.

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sources

Japanese Wikipedia / Inunaki pass 

Inunaki River Pioneer History 2

Steam / Inunaki tunnel

Kowabana / Is Inunaki Village real?

Nishinippon Shimbun / Old Inunaki Tunnel

Crossroad Fukuoka / Introducing the Turbulent Last Days of the Edo Era

Kaoru Torikai / Rumors of Inunaki Village

FBS / Arne / Thorough verification of “Inunaki Pass”