Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Blood Stained Search Bar Tag



The wonderful Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer tagged me for the Blood Stained Search Bar Tag (which she created), and I am really excited for this. What could possibly go wrong? Thank you, Melissa! 

The Rules

Dig deep into your computer history and list five of your most recent and interesting searches for writing research: how to murder someone, is the sky blue, anything! And if you please, share a little about what you learned from these searches. 

Thank and link back to whoever tagged you. 

Have fun. 


Perfectly-Preserved Corpses

*cough* Ahem. This is…this is not what you think. I know how it looks. I do. But I promise you, I am mostly perfectly sane. I was simply curious about the assorted methods of embalming used throughout the centuries, and I was especially interested in the remarkable successes, as well as the various corpses that failed to rot even without being embalmed. 90% of my reason for researching this was for a story (granted, the other 10% was morbid curiosity, but let’s not talk about that). Something tells me including pictorial evidence would not be my brightest idea, so here’s a link to a lovely example if you’re morbid like me (be forewarned though, it’s a picture of a dead body, in case you weren’t paying attention and are bothered by these things). 

Let’s, um…let’s just move on to the next one shall we? 


Famous Women Serial Killers


*clears throat, more nervously this time* I know what you’re going to say. I just, I just really wanted to get an idea of the psychology behind various serial killers, women especially, and I figured looking up the famous ones would be a great jumping off point. And yes, I took mental notes, but they were for my story and definitely not for real life or anything. My favorite woman serial killer is probably Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed because we have the same first name because she is a special sort of messed-up. 

Maybe the next one won’t be so mor—

Never mind.


Flowers that Smell Like Corpses


*awkward laugh* I happen to be extremely interested in botany, thank you very much. And it strikes me that if a serial killer were to store decomposing bodies in their home for some reason, they might also like to keep a giant vase full of voodoo lilies, so when the police come by asking about the foul smell, our precious serial killer can just blame it on the floral arrangement. I’m not planning anything, I promise. No, I have not put too much thought into this. I’m a writer. Please don’t arrest me.


Abandoned Lunatic Asylums


This one is more innocent, right? So I’ll just neglect to mention that I was specifically interested in seeing all the abandoned torture devices medical equipment from back in the days when they used shock therapy and various other medieval methods of curing madness (which, for your information, usually made the madness worse). I don’t find abandoned asylums at all beautiful or morbidly intriguing, what are you talking about? *awkwardly moonwalks out of the room* 


Krokodil

Again, I’m not going to provide pictorial evidence (and I’m not going to give you a link either) because some of the shots of people who are addicted to Krokodil are…graphic.  Extremely so. DO NOT look them up if you are at all squeamish. (That's okay, I'll sit here while you look them up anyway.) And while I have a strong stomach and am not bothered by these sorts of things, I absolutely do not blame you if you are a normal person not the same. Krokodil (also known as desomorphine) is a drug that has been especially popular in Russia. It is highly-addictive and simultaneously much cheaper and easier to make at home than other street drugs, such as heroin. Typically it is made by mixing codeine with such lovely substances as hydrochloric acid, paint thinner, ethanol, gasoline, and other fun stuff. And because it is made with hydrochloric acid, it will literally eat away your skin, muscle, and other soft tissue. (I’m great at dinner conversations, what are you talking about?) It will often turn your skin green and scaly, hence the name, which is Russian for crocodile. No I do not know way too much about this drug. I would tell you why I was researching this for my writing, but you probably don’t want to know. *casually deletes entire search history* 


Runners up in this search history include: rabies in humans, ergotism, lobotomies, and “How long does it take to burn a human body?” 

Now that we have established that I am deeply psychologically disturbed well-researched on a myriad of morbid curiosities, it is your turn to pull away the veil from your dubious writerly search histories. 

I therefore tag: 

Aimee // Cait // Heather // Imogen // Opal // Victoria 


What about you, my little coffee beans? What are some slightly-suspect facts you’ve looked up for your writing? On a scale of one to ten—one being the lowest, ten being the highest—exactly how frightened of me are you right now? Be honest. Your answers will be most useful for my research. *tents hands*

18 comments:

  1. I've spent time reading about women serial killers for fun, so... :P Krokodil sounds interesting - I need to do some research into drugs for my current writing project :)

    Thank you for the tag!

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    1. Ah, it's like we're twins in creepiness! *high fives you* Researching drugs is strangely satisfying. I had a health curriculum that shared way more about drugs than was probably wise, but I loved it.

      You're welcome, and thank you for commenting! :)

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  2. Awesome post! I'm so glad you took part in my tag, and thanks for doing so! All your searches are really cool (if mildly terrifying). If all of these are for the same story...wow. I am super interested. XD

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    1. Thank you! It was so much fun! Mildly terrifying is exactly what I was going for. *polishes nails* Yep, most of it's all for the same story. *evil laugh*

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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  3. I'm doing this tag in the near future! I have a bunch of weird searches to talk about. This is such a brilliant idea of Melissa's. ^ ^ Krokodil is such a morbidly fascinating name for a drug. XD I'm not looking up pics, but I have to appreciate the morbid beauty of that name.


    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

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    1. Ooh, yay! Weird searches are the best. I loved her tag idea! It is a great name. (And yeah, not looking up pics is probably a wise course of action.)

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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  4. Should I be concerned here, Liz? (Although to be honest, you'd be absolutely amazing at a dinner party. Sure, everyone else might quietly slip away but I'd have way more fun listening to you talk about your gruesome interests than the weather or whatever normal people talk about.) I CANNOT wait to do this tag!

    (And I actually love abandoned lunatic asylums? I get pictures of them on Pinterest all the time and they're just amazing. To think that humans did that kind of stuff to other humans. There's this one black and white movie, "A Page of Madness" and it was super cool. This dude takes a job as a janitor (it's set in Japan) because his wife is in the asylum. There's like no talking but was awesome. It's on YouTube, I think, if you're interested. It really gets you inside the head of a mentally disabled person.)

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    1. Oh yes, you should be very, very concerned. *tents hands* *waggles eyebrows* (I would be such a joy. You're right. I'm glad you appreciate my morbidness. I can't really turn it off. Recently I was at a dinner party, and I started talking about how chickens will cannibalize their dead before I realized that was probably not the best thing to talk about while others are eating. :P)

      (They are the best. I get pictures of them on Pinterest too. I will definitely have to look into "A Page of Madness". It sounds like it would be right up my alley. And in turn, I recommend "A Madness so Discreet" by Mindy McGinnis, because a;ldsfaslfj.)

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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  5. This is absolutely hilarious - thanks for sharing these!

    Either these searches will make for the best, most graphic book in the history of novels, or you'll be imprisoned. *nervous laugh& That Krokodil drug sounds horrific! People genuinely ingested paint stripper/ethanol/hydrochloric acid by choice?!

    This tag is definitely going on my list of ones to do!

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    1. Thank you, and you're welcome! :)

      Maybe both, tbh? But there's no need to be afraid of me. *hides knife collection* It is pretty horrific. I feel so bad for the people who get addicted to it. I guess they choose something that awful when they're already addicted to similar substances but don't have the money to continue the habit.

      You should definitely do it!

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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  6. Wow! This is really interes-- Uh, creepy. Yeah. Things like warfare, poisons, assassin, plagues, torture, prison camps, and the like sound like unusual things to research, but not for a fantasy writer.

    I do like psychology. I like seeing what make people tick. One time I got sidetracked while researching for a government college project and ending up reading a bunch of articles about female murders/serial killers and how they were different from male serial killers. Apparently, one of the reason you hear of female serial killers less often is because they're harder to catch. They're *normally* more inclined to make the death look like it was from natural causing leaving little room for people to think it was actually murder. Ahem. Anyways. . .

    That link about the Countess was very interesting.

    Your flowers that smell like corpses theory would actually work. Genius! Hopefully, nobody's tried to blame the flowers before, but hey, it would make a great novel.

    That krokodil stuff sounds scary. It mildly makes me think about Lizard from Spider-Man. . .

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    1. Writers can have the most colorful search histories. I'm just waiting for the men in dark sunglasses to show up at my door and start asking questions. Which will be great, for research purposes. *sits and waits*

      Psychology is the best. :) Females make the best serial killers. I'm so proud of my gender. *glances over shoulder* I mean, how awful.

      'Tis indeed.

      Aww, thank you! I am a genius, am I not? *misses doorway* Now I'm giving all the criminals ideas. For shame, Liz, for shame!

      Yep, scary and gross. Just the sort of thing I like researching. I can see where it would remind you of him. :P

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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  7. HAHAHHA YOU TAGGED ME...oh dear.😂 Actually would you believe that my writing searches have been rather innocent of late?!? I know. It's hard to believe too. I was trying to plot out an actual NICE KIND contemporary...I mean, I spent a lot of time researching jail sentences and stab wounds, but that's like measly stuff compared to yours. (And yes, my "nice" books involve stabbing. I mean, whose wouldn't?)

    Also I'm super interested in those flowers...that could be useful....I MEAN, AHEM, WAIT. I SWEAR I'M NORMAL TOO.

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    1. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Innocent? Cait, you disappoint me. Why would you write something nice and kind when you could amass a list of search terms that would be more than enough to put you in jail for life? (But stabbing is always great. Nice books require stabbing. I've researched stab wounds for nice books as well.)

      You can't fool me. You're just as normal as I am, which is to say, not at all.

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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  8. WELL you were right Krokodil has some pretty nasty effects. I really kind of feel bad though, because aside from those nasty wounds, they're also eating away at their skin which is their best immune organ and that can open the door for all sorts of infections and they could kill you and that is so very sad. :(

    Corpse flowers were cool! They had one that was in bloom last year at the Botanic Gardens and I watched the live feed of its blooming and went and visited it a few days prior and it was just fun. XD

    Also, it's funny, but I never really thought about how I don't know much about women serial killers. I took a Forensic Science class and when we went over the unsolved mysteries/serial killers range... I don't know, it seemed normal then, but now that I think about it, there were a lot of guys on that list.

    I don't know how interesting mine is going to be, though... I really have tame searches. Ah, well.

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    1. I see you researched them. Although I can't say I'm surprised. :P But yeah, it is sad to see such large wounds. And also, some of them are bad enough on the limbs that they might require amputation. It's like looking at an advanced brown recluse bite, but worse.

      They are! Ooh, I want to visit a corpse flower!

      Guys get caught more often, I guess. And I think women serial killers get swept under the rug because a) there aren't as many known, and b) it's embarrassing for chauvinistic males to admit that women are intelligent enough to be better murderers. If you don't think women are smart, why would you highlight their accomplishments, negative or positive?

      *sad face* I expected more from you. *stomps off in a huff* :P

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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  9. I'm actually... scared of you now...

    Haha, just kidding.

    But since I share this computer with my family, I'm just going to remove this from my history... just because of the title *chuckles nervously*

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    1. Be afraid. Be very afraid! (Says the girl who impaled her foot twice in one day.)

      *dies laughing* Yes, I can see where that might be a good idea. :P I'm such a good blogger, so clean and not at all scarily morbid.

      Thank you for commenting! :)

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