#type read

[whitepolaris]

Ghosts of Alcatraz

by Troy Taylor

San Francisco Bay's barren Alcatraz Island, long nickname The Rock, was originally a fort and then served as a military prison from 1859 to 1934. With the arrival of social upheaval and rampant crime in the 1920s and '30s, the federal government chose Alcatraz as the perfect site for an escape-proof prison that would strike fear into the hearts of criminals thanks to the isolated location and the swift currents surrounding the island.

From the time Alcatraz became a federal prison in 1934 under the stern and watchful eye of Warden James A. Johnston until it closed in 1963, its steel doors clanged shut on then 1,000 hardened convicts, criminals, and would-be escape artists.

From the start, the most incorrigible inmates from across the country were sent to The Rock. Each train that arrived in San Francisco to dispense prisoners seem to have a "celebrity" of sorts on board. Among the first inmates were Al Capone, perhaps the most famous gangster of all; Doc Baker, the last surviving member of Ma Baker Gang; George "Machine Gun" Kelly, the privileged son of a wealthy Memphis family who became one of the Prohibition period's most notorious gangsters; Floyd Hamilton, a gang member and driver for Bonnie and Clyde, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, a Canadian-born former Public Enemy No. 1 who arrested by J. Edgar Hoover himself; and Robert Stroud, the amateur ornithologist who would later become known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.

Noteworthy or not, the inmates found that Alcatraz was a place where they had but five rights-food, clothing, a private cell, a shower once a week, and access to a doctor. Their methodical daily routine never varied.

While the cells the prisoners lived in were barren at beast, they must have seemed like luxury hotel rooms compared to the punishment cells. In these, men were stripped of all but their basic rights to food-and even then, they barely survived. Confinement in the single Strip Cell was punishment for the most severe violations. In the Hole, the name for cells in the bottom tier of the main cellblock, the punishment usually included psychological torture, and sometimes physical torture as well. In D Block, inmates in cells above the Hole couldn't escape the screams of those imprisoned there. Prisoners who emerged from the Hole would often be senseless or sick and bound for the prison's hospital ward. Others never came out alive.

Even worse were the dungeons. A staircase in front of A Block led down to a large steel door, behind which were catacomb-like corridors and stone archways leading to the sealed-off gunports from the days when Alcatraz was a fort. In the dungeons off the corridor, the prisoners were chained to the walls, their screams unheard in the rest of the main cellblock. Food and sanitation in the dungeons were minimal, dignity nonexistent.

Early Ghost Activity

A number of guards who worked in Alcatraz between 1946 and 1963 experienced the strange and the unexplained. From the grounds of the prison to the caverns beneath the buildings, they heard people sobbing and moaning, smelled strange odors, discovered cold spots, and saw what they described as ghosts. Even families who lived on the island and the occasional guest claimed to have seen the ghostly forms of prisoners or phantom soldiers. The sound of what seemed to be gunshots mdae the guards think prisoners had escaped and obtained weapons.

A deserted laundry room would sometimes fill with the smell of smoke, though nothing was burning. The guards would be sent running from the room, only to return momentarily and find the air clear. Like the other mysterious happenings at Alcatraz, the phantom fires were never explained.

Even Warden Johnston, who had no time for those who believed in ghosts, once heard the unmistakable sound of a person sobbing in the dungeon as he led a group of guests on a tour. The sound was followed by an ice-cold wind felt by the entire group. Johnston could never arrive at an explanation for this weird occurrence.

During the twenty-nine years Alcatraz operated as a prison, there were at least fourteen escape attempts. Almost all the prisoners who tried to flee were either killed or recaptured, and only one is known to have made it ashore. The most traumatic and violent attempt, later dubbed the Battle of Alcatraz, took place over two days in May 1946.

What started as a well-planned breakout from the "escape-proof" prison turned into a disaster when the six inmates involved saw their plan fall apart. Realizing they couldn't succeed, they decided to fight it out. Before it was over, they had taken a number of guards hostage, killed three of them, and wounded several others; two of the guards were murdered in cold blood in cells 402 and 403 (later renamed C102 and C104). The failed escapees fared no better. Three of them climbed into a utility corridor to avoid the constant gunfire, only to die after being hit by bullets or shrapnel.

An escape attempt in 1962 was later documented by Hollywood in the film Escape from Alcatraz. Released in 1979, the movie was a big hit in the box office, but the prison had closed long before. Too expensive to renovate and properly secure, what could be called the world's most famous prison shut its doors for good in March 1963.

Mysteries of Cell 14D

In 1972, the federal government put Alcatraz Island under the purview of the National Park Service, and after opening to the public, it became one of the part service's most popular sites. While in the daylight hours the old prison teems with tour guides and visitors, at night it is filled with mystery. Many believe that the energy of those who served time on The Rock remains, making the Alcatraz complex one immense haunted house.

Night watchmen patrolling the main cell house, divided into A, B, C, and D blocks, say they've heard the sounds of what seems to be running coming from the upper tiers. Thinking an intruder has gained entry, the watchmen investigated the sounds but always found nothing.

One Park Service employee reported that on a rainy afternoon the sparse number of tourists allowed her some time off from guiding tours. She went for a walk in front of A Block and was just past the door leading down to the dungeons when she heard a loud scream from the bottom of the stairs. She ran away without looking to see if anyone where there.

Asked why she didn't report the incident, she replied, "The day before, everyone was ridiculing another worker who reported hearing men's voices coming from the hospital ward, and when he went to check the ward, it was empty. So I didn't dare mention what I heard."

Several guides and rangers felt something strange in one of the cells in the Hole: Cell 14D. "There's a feeling of sudden intensity that comes on when you spend more than a few minutes around that cell," one of them said.

Another guide described Cell 14D as "always cold. Sometimes it gets warm out here-so hot that you have to take your jacket off. The temperature inside the cell house can be in the seventies, and 14D is still cold."

The tour guides weren't the only ones to have strange experiences there. Several former guards at the prison have told of terrifying incidents that took place near the Hole, and in Cell 14D in particular.

During one guard's stint in the middle 1940s, an inmate was locked in 14D for some since forgotten infraction. According to the officer, the man began screaming within seconds of being locked in. He claimed that a creature with "glowing eyes" was locked in with him. Yet no one took the convict's cries of being "attacked" very seriously, probably because tales of ghostly presence wandering the nearby corridor were a continual inducement to practical jokes to the guards. The man's screaming continued into the night, until finally there was silence. The following day, guards inspected the cell and found the convict dead. A horrible expression was frozen on his face, and there were hand marks around his throat. An autopsy revealed that the strangulation couldn't have been self-inflicted. Some believed that the man might have been choked by one of the guards, who had been fed up with all the screaming, but no one ever confessed to the crime.

On the day following the tragedy, several guards who were performing a head count noticed that there were too many men in the lineup. Then, at the end of the line, they saw the face of the convict who had recently been strangled in the Hole. As they all looked on in stunned silence, the figure abruptly vanished.

Banjo Strains

A park service employee who worked at Alcatraz in the late 1970s had a weird experience in another of the main cellblock's chambers. He was down near the shower room when he heard something he couldn't explain.

"It was banjo music," he said. "The room was empty, but I definitely coming from there. Maybe back in the days when it was a fort or army stockade, there was some guy here who played that instrument."

What the employee didn't know was that during the most traumatic days of his life, Al Capone, rather rick going out to exercise yard with the other inmates, would sit in the shower room strumming on his banjo.

Perhaps this lonely and broken spirit still plucks at the strings of a spectral musical instrument that vanished decades ago. Even today, tour guides and rangers who walk the corridors of the prison alone occasionally building. Could Al Capone be its source? Or could it be another of the countless ghosts who continue to haunt Alcatraz year after year?

#type read #weird ghosts #long ass read

[bardofavon]

not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…

‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.

‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.

even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.

I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.

fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.

idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.

#ao3 #archive of our own #fanfiction #tbh even if I got a comment that said ‘I hate you I’m going to kill your family’ on chapter 75 it still means they read 75 chapters first…. #it just makes me sad to see so many writers shouting into the void #and also see ppl complain openly about the specific types of comments they receive #posting screenshots on Reddit like ‘should I be mad at this’ CALM DOWN #sigh

[majunju]

graphic design is my passion

#genshin impact #my art #this wld be the corniest romance manga known to man kind #the type that you’d have to read one chapter per week bc it makes ur toes curl w cringe

[ale-arro]

been going a little bit insane about this sentence from Ace by Angela Chen for the past week

#replace this with any other type of significant relationship too #also! this book actually rules btw i really recommend it #i didnt read it when it first cane out bc i was like. well i am already pretty familiar with asexuality and not rly interested in 101 stuff #but it turns out it doesnt feel 101-y at all its a super awesome piece of queer theory and also chen has Good opinions #and not weird watered down ones that i am sometimes wary of in aspec communities (frankly especially ace ones) #i think maybe if more people approached asexuality the way chen does (including and maybe even especially ace people) #i would be more inclined to still ID as ace #but anyways! #aro #aromantic #<- tag selections that reflect how i personally engage with this quote #also #described in alt text #also also #j tag #:/ #aro media

[cordspaghetti]

She doesn’t look anything like her pictures…

#lyrics from concrete blonde ‘jenny i read’ #definitely not a 1:1 but parts of it get me thinking about this type of character from gerarde #gerard way #mcr #x #digital art

[ahhrenata]

Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie hears him. He keeps his eyes closed and just listens- to Steve grumbling to himself when his hair doesn’t sit quite right, who starts to hum and whisper some catchy song. Eddie turns his sleepy gaze onto Steve as he shuffles around their room- watching quietly as he slips on his clothes, his shoes, a simple chain with Eddie’s ring around his neck. A warm, affectionate smile breaks across his face. Before he leaves, Steve glances at what he expects to be a sleeping Eddie, but instead, he’s met with a rasped, ‘Hey.’ Eddie sits himself up, stretches his arm across Steve’s side of the bed, and reaches, fingers wiggling. Steve crosses the room to cradle his face.

Their foreheads press, noses bump, and Steve brushes his fingers across scars and dimples.

He breathes a quiet,

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’

Eddie huffs a tired laugh,

‘You know I never mind.’

Because, yeah.

Every morning Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie always hears him.

( another one from the poll | WIP )

#in my feels this fine morning #eddie cant let steve go without his goodbye smooch #i imagine eddie would sleep through anything #but i also like to think he lets himself wake up #he likes to watch Steve’s morning routine #which may or may not include winking at himself in the mirror when his final once over checks out #steddie #steddie fanart #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #i changed Steve’s face from the WIP.. it needed better angling #I’m not a writer so please ignore grammar and whatever other problems lol #i type like i read it in my head #so hopefully it sounds alright

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

#dc comics #dc #damian wayne #dick grayson #talia al ghul #batfamily #dc robin #nightwing #anyway. yes im a self-indulgent ''dick as damians secret third parent'' truther #like i DO think it's way more complex and nuanced than the schmoopy affectionate fan portrayal of it #they're brothers they're father and son they're partners they're the dynamic duo except only in past tense etc etc #but consider! I'm not immune to schmoopy affection in fanworks. it compells me despite itself #anyway it's technically not that crazy when it comes to dick and damian. they hug! often! at least they did #it's not as big a leap to these types of scenarios #also talia ''somewhat absent for complex reasons on both her and damians part but very loving and loved by her son'' al ghul #you will always be famous to me #son of the demon origin...bwahhh #anyway. someone made a comic kind of like this/like a post i made abt this topic #but way funnier bc dick and talia starting trying to beat each other up #so go look at that as well #anyway. it's been a somewhat difficult few weeks so I'm. desperately trying to take it easy #i got some reading with me (first vol of kevin smiths GA run that i found second hand and jaimes BB run vol 2!) #so we'll see how far i get through those. considering there's demons in my head telling me to re-read things (LET ME OUT!!!) #when i finish GA and BB i do plan on rereading robin 2021. as a treat to myself #it's a run I've really warmed up to as time went on #I'm keeping up w/ the current b&r run even though it is. admittedly very slow w/ some weird dialogue #i read it for the damian content more than anything. also nikas back so that's neat :] #idk I have a feeling that after absolute power shakes out we might get some more creative team switch ups #so if anyone at dc is interested in taking over the reigns on b&r...that could be very neat #(it's me they should hire me. please DC i have ideas listen to my red hood pitch PLEASE-)

[braxiatel]

Enough grumbo AUs where Mumbo is a diehard Ariana Griande fan. More grumbo AUs where global musical sensation Ariana Griande is absolutely obsessed with this little freak of a man she found under a rock one time

#/light hearted and silly #everyone keep writing the aus that make you happy #I love to be on the train on my way to work #typing unhinged things on my phone where anyone might read them over my shoulder #hermitcraft #hermitshipping #grumbo #mumbo jumbo #Grian #ariana griande #the void collection

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

got a worm nibbling my brain. can someone help me find a piece of obscure media?

webcomic/indie comic from the 2010s. basically a sci-fi short story about a young girl (with red hair?) who was being raised by scientists as part of an experiment. she receives a haircut/has her head shaved, in preparation for her annual brain scan/testing. it is revealed that while her body is human, her "brain" is artificial, made of computer implants throughout her skull and spine. at some point her biological mother (also a scientist on the same campus?) encounters her and is repulsed, viewing her as a machine who has murdered her daughter.

it was very poignant and it bruised my heart and i can NOT find it anywhere

#i thought it was made by the creator of 'O Human Star' for some reason but apparently not? #goddammit goddammit goddammit #'i don't have to write down the title of this piece of media i encountered in my formative years bc i'll always remember it' #*cut to ten years later frantic googling* #fun fact 'a.i.' is now a completely useless search term #google in general is useless #and stuff i read 3+ years ago regularly vanishes from the internet #bookmarks are not enough! if you like indie media--download that shit! buy digital/physical copies while you can #save it to the cloud back it up and organize that shit!!! #keep a list of the stuff you read (organized by date/media type and possibly with keywords if you want it to be useful longterm) #(or a spreadsheet even if you're like me and rabidly consume short stories/comics like a pack of amnesiac piranhas on a feeding frenzy) #(that stuff PILES UP over the years ok. if you wanna make sure you'll be able to find it again a decade later--curation is key) #because art WILL touch your soul and then vanish into the void leaving naught but a 404 Error in its wake #i am an old man shaking my fist at the kids on my lawn but the kids on my lawn are me and my longterm digital planning skills circa 2012

[mjulmjul]

Castiel’s creation

#artists on tumblr #illustration #spn #supernatural #castiel #my best friend etc #me: it is my own tumblr i can draw what i want #also me: i should really stop drawing variations of the same thing and innovate #:’) #do you guys remember that scene from season uhhh 4? where jimmy gets possessed by cas (again)? Yeah that one #for ONCE I’ll type castiel instead of cas cos cas’ reads so awkwardly here

[whitepolaris]

Spring-heeled Jack

In 1837, a frightening humanoid, bedecked in a black, leathery cape and equipped with batlike wings and pointy horns, allegedly began assaulting women in England. This rogue's myth grew into an enduring legend, with reports of sightings being quite common throughout the nineteenth century. Some people say the creature was ultimately the inspiration for Jack the Ripper and comic book characters such as Batman. Still others have noted the resemblance to the legendary Mothman, a frequent bogeyman in Victorian times.

This creature was dubbed Spring-heeled Jack, for his ability to leap great distances in a single bound, a feat testified to by many sworn eyewitnesses of the day. Even the British army became convinced that Jack was no mere urban legend when he was spotted leaping onto the rooftop of one of their sentry buildings in 1870. They tried to trap him, but to no avail.

Could Spring-heeled Jack, whoever or whatever he was, have sprung across the big pong to Kentucky? Researcher Jim Brandon tells of reports from 1880 describing a "tall and thin weirdo" that appeared out of nowhere and began a terror campaign in Old Louisville, frightening the locals and ripping the clothes from females in the streets. Eyewitnesses described his superhuman ability to escape by jumping impossible distances and springing over objects as tall as a horse-drawn carriage, leaping and climbing away to safety on rooftops. This creature was described as wearing a cape and helmet, and having an eerie glowing light emanating from his chest. The descriptions of his outfit seem to oddly match the British entities. We can also deduce that the creature appeared in outlying farms as well as downtown, because one sighting has him jumping over haystacks and completely disappearing on the other side of one.

Even stranger, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that on July 28, 1880-the very same day that the Jack-like person began his attacks-many citizens downtown spotted a tiny open-platform craft of some sort flying through the area. It flew low enough so that they could see that it was being piloted by a seated man surrounded by machinery, which he operated with his hands and feet. It sounds quite like an autogiro-a tiny, helicopter-like modern craft often not much bigger than the pilot's seat. But this was years before the invention of said craft, and even more years before they became that compact. Perhaps this Jack also had wings to go along with his springed-heels?

#type read #weird kentucky

[hajihiko]

two shorties getting along 🤭

#an art #fuyuhiko kuzuryu #chihiro fujisaki #Chiaki too... Fuyuhiko has a bit of a type maybe .... #Just because I don't wanna talk about Chihiro doesn't mean I can't appreciate these cute ass interactions! #I also read over more interactions. Ryoma and Impostor bond a lot as expected! And Mondo and Chihiro... 😭 #These R all quick work doodles that's why quality #sdr2 #super danganronpa 2 stage #danganronpa #danganronpa 2 #danganronpa trigger happy havoc #Danganronpa thh

[raepliica]

one of these nights

#trigun #trimax #trigun maximum #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #vash centric? #vashwood #<- if u want it to be #its about the codependency of it all🤌 #going back to my old art from this past summer and trying to finish them part.1 #tried to fix the dialogues so many times bc no they wouldnt fcking say that #was reading trimax vol.1-2 at the time so i got inspired to sprinkle some of the slight tension they had going on👍👍 #vash turning miserable & acting like a dog who got left in a cardboard box under the rain when the guy who keeps him in check leaves shortl #if 98' vash is the silly over-drinking with strangers type when he's by himself then trimax vash is the moppy lone wolf drinker #i need more miserable drunk vash #also the way i ended the last page unintentionally makes it look like the prequel to my <Heartbeat> comic haha #drafted both around the same time and i didnt even realize #raepliica_art

[bahoreal]

#felt the need to add the only fanfic option cos i know that so many people would put that as fiction #but for this i am mostly interested in purchasing or finding actual published books. #for the purpsoes of this poll comics/graphic novels count in the 'i dont read fiction or nonfiction books' as id classify them as a type

[nichecollection]

more tim drake

#fang does art #dc #timothy drake #tim drake #i gave him a skateboard #cross body bag type of guy i dunno #anyway goodbye for now and if you read the tags feel free to suggest something else for me to draw

[rustyelias]

“It's a good day to be Magnussy” ALEX??? BDKDKDJFJF

#SOBBING #he had to type that out read over it and post it #WHY ALEX BSJDJDJDJ WHY #tmagp #tma #alexander j newall