The Lunar Mystery of 1178: A Mini-Essay

     On the evening of June 18, 1178, five monks in Canterbury witnessed a bizarre occurrence. Shortly after sunset, the bright new moon appeared to split open. As flames and sparks jutted outward from the lunar surface, the moon appeared to writhe uncontrollably. The phenomenon was repeated a dozen times before the sky went dark and the men sat in dazed silence.[1] The entire account was later recorded by one of the monks, Gervase from the monastery of Christ Church, in his Chronicles of Gervase and, since then, it has baffled scientists for centuries. What exactly had the men viewed that Sunday evening? 
     In 1976, Jack Hartung, a scientist at the State University of New York, offered a possible explanation. According to Hartnug, the event depicted in Gervase's Chronicle details the formation of the thirteen-mile-wide lunar crater Giordano Bruno. As the scientist attests, the flames and sparks seen by the monks were the product of space debris colliding with the moon's surface, with the turbulent atmosphere encompassing the moon creating the writhing motion and sunlight reflecting through particles in that atmospheric cloud giving the illusion of flames.[2] Hartung's analysis intrigued the scientific community and, within a few months of his paper's publication, it drew criticism from Glenn Huss and H.H. Nininger, researchers at the American Meteorite Laboratory in Denver. For Huss and Nininger, it seemed improbable that the monks would have been able to see a sixty-mile-long cloud on the moon's surface with the naked eye. Furthermore, the scholars questioned Hartung's atmospheric disturbances and reflected lights. To them, Gervase's text was not the description of a lunar impact, but a meteor passing in front of the moon and burning up in the Earth's atmosphere in a spectacular show of flames and sparks.[3] Just as Hartung's theory had prompted debate, so had Huss and Nininger's rebuke. In 1978, Odile Calame and J. Derral Mulholland used data collected by the Apollo astronauts to support Hartung's claims and asserted that, not only had the debris created the Giordano Bruno cater, but the moon is still vibrating from the force of the impact.[4] In 1994, though, images from the spacecraft Clementine revealed reddish, weathered material along the sloping walls of the crater, which prompted some geologists to question whether Giordano Bruno was truly formed in 1178.[5]
     Currently, Hartung's thesis remains controversial and scientists continue to debate whether or not the event witnessed by Gervase and his peers was a lunar impact, the spectacular destruction of a meteor in the Earth's atmosphere, or something entirely different. 

Works Referenced

Calame, Odile and J. Derral Mulholland. "Lunar Crater Giordano Bruno: A.D. 1178 Impact Observations Consistent with Lunar Ranging Results." Science 199 (1978): 875-877.

Hartung, Jack. "Was the Formation of a 20-km-Diameter Impact Crater on the Moon Observed on June 18, 1178?" Meteoritics 11 (1976): 187-194.

Ingram, Jay. The Barmaid's Brain and Other Strange Tales from Science. New York: MJF Books, 1998.

Nininger, HH and Glenn Huss. "Was the Formation of Lunar Crater Giordano Bruno Witnessed in 1178? Look Again." Meteoritics 12 (1977): 21-25.
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[1] Ingram, 174-176.
[2] Hartung, 190.
[3] Nininger and Huss, 21-25.
[4] Calame and Mulholland, 875-877.
[5] Ingram, 182-183.

Skull Rosaries

$10 - $15 (based on 2017 prices)

Makes two rosaries

2017’s theme explored the legend of La Llorona, so many of the builds incorporated elements of Catholicism and Mexican culture. For this prop, I chose to incorporate two major elements of Día de los Muertos – polychromatism and sugar skulls – into my macabre interpretation of the Catholic rosary.

• One to two yards of nylon string
• Two small cross stone beads
• One strand of small skull stone beads (roughly fourteen beads per strand)
• Two strands of small round stone beads (roughly fourteen beads per strand)
• Three strands of small square stone beads (roughly fourteen beads per strand)
  

1. Thread the beads onto the string to assemble the loop that will comprise the five decades. In a traditional rosary, each decade (ten beads) is separated by a bead marking one of the five Mysteries of Our Father. For my version, I shortened the loop to thirty-six beads total, since I needed the rosaries to be short enough to drape over the corners of picture frames and crown the tops of skulls. You, of course, are free to lengthen or shorten the prop based on your specific needs.

2. Draw the two ends of the loop together and knot the strings. Thread both strings through the beads which will form the centerpiece and the pendant. Here, too, I shortened the length of the rosary to fit my desired purposes.

3. Finish the prop with the crucifix, knotting and trimming the excess string. For added reinforcement, I glued the knot to ensure that the weight from the stone beads would not break or unravel it.

“A Skeleton Once in Khartoum” (A Poem)

The author and original publication date of “A Skeleton Once in Khartoum” are unknown; however, the limerick has reappeared in numerous Halloween-themed texts for decades, including Peter Pauper’s Limerick Book (1940), The Haunted House and Other Spooky Poems and Tales (1970), Halloween Crafts (1995), and How Do You Make a Skeleton Laugh? (2012).

A skeleton once in Khartoum 
Asked a spirit up into his room; 
They spent the whole night 
In the eeriest fight 
As to which should be frightened of whom.[1]

Works Referenced

“A Skeleton Once in Khartoum.” The Wordsworth Book of Limericks. Ed. Linda Marsh. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1997. 412.
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[1] “A Skeleton Once in Khartoum,” 412.

Cemetery Cake

$10 - $15 (based on 2016 prices)
Makes one cake

This creation was inspired by a Halloween staple: dirt cake (get the traditional recipe here). For this version, I kept the edible dirt concept and used it as filler between the cake's layers. Although I made the treat from scratch, the time-pressed haunter can achieve the same results with a store-bought mix and frosting.

Cake

• 2 1/3 Cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ¾ Teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ Cups sugar
• ½ Cup butter
• 3 Egg whites
• 1 Cup milk
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1 10.7 oz. bag of Oreo cookies

Frosting

• 2 ½ Sticks softened butter
• 5 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons milk
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and, in a large bowl, sift together baking powder, flour, salt, and sugar.

2. Add butter, egg whites, milk, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and beat with a hand mixer on low for roughly three minutes or until everything is well blended.

3. Pour the batter into greased baking pans and bake for thirty minutes or until the cake reaches a golden brown and a toothpick inserted in their centers comes out clean.

4. As the cake cools, make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer until it becomes creamy. Then, gradually add milk, vanilla, and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes fluffy.

5. In a food processor, mince the Oreo cookies. You can chop them into fine crumbs or leave larger chucks to give the dirt a more realistic look. To prevent the cake from being too sweet, remove the cream.

6. Assemble the cake, frosting the first layer and adding a coat of crushed Oreos. Garnish the final version with the remaining Oreos. To emphasize the cemetery theme, top the cake with rubber worms and a skeleton's hand.