Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: disconcerting

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of Halloween (costumes, masks, jack-o'-lanterns, decorations, ghosts, gravestones, or anything else spooky or scary; no limit—post as many Halloween photos as you'd like) . A photo of a man (or possibly a woman) wearing a grotesque mask, overalls, suit jacket, gloves, neckerchief, and straw hat. He's carrying a cane in one hand and a package wrapped in newspapers in the other. Could this be a Halloween costume? If so, is he dressed as a farmer? Or do the cane and package suggest a stick-type bindle characteristic of a hobo? This is an unused real photo postcard with an AGFA-ANSCO stamp box on the other side, which indicates that it may date to the 1930s or 1940s. A couple of other details point to a specific locale. First, under magnification, the heading on part of the bundled up newspapers says, "New Era," so it's possible that it was the Lancaster New Era , a paper published in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Secondly, a pouch of "Good Bite" chewing tobacco with a fish logo is sticking out of the breast pocket on the man's suit jacket. The Good Bite brand of chewing tobacco originated in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For some other disconcerting masks, see Costume Creepiness .

See also a cropped version of this real photo postcard.

An additional Halloween photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park ( post as many photos as you want--no limit!--that relate directly or indirectly to Halloween ). I'm not certain whether this photo was actually taken at Halloween, but I wouldn't want to run into this scary group in a dark alley on trick-or-treat night. See also the full version of this real photo postcard.

"My Wife's Up in an Airship. Words by Arthur Longbrake. Music by Ed. Edwards. Published by Longbrake & Edwards, 50 N. 8th St., Phila., Pa. Miss Camp." Handwritten: "Jane H. Banks. J.H.N., 7-22, 1911." An amusing sheet music cover featuring an early airplane (" airship " referred to any type of flying machine in 1911 when this was published, but today the term is used only for dirigibles). It's disappointing, however, to discover that the lyrics of the song (see below) express the "henpecked" husband's spiteful wish that the airplane will take his wife away permanently because "It's my one chance you see / To live here happily." For York University's copy of the sheet music, which includes a PDF version of the inside pages, see My Wife's Up in an Airship (the Web address is an alias that takes you to YorkSpace, York University's digital repository). My Wife's Up in an Airship Words by Arthur Longbrake. Music by Ed. Edwards. Jonesy was a henpecked man For him life was a joke, His wife made him give up his dough She always kept him broke; One day she said I'm going up In an airship for a ride, Then Jones pretended to be scared But he smiled on the side. And when she sailed away Some friends heard Jonesy say, Chorus: My wife's up in an airship Hooray! hip, hip, hooray! I hope she likes the trial trip So much she'll want to stay; For should she stay up in the air Ye ho! my lads, ye ho! With her up there most anywhere I'd have some peace below. Jonesy said I wished her luck When she left mother earth, But if that airship would get stuck I'd give all I am worth; I hope the lad who drives the ship Will attempt a spiral glide, Or land her in the middle of A river three miles wide. It's my one chance you see To live here happily. Chorus

A trick or treat photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten on the back: "Hostetter Farm oats field." This photo doesn't feature a Children of the Corn scenario like Deborah Lundbech's delightfully spooky If You Grow It, She Will Come... , but I wouldn't want to see these sinister Grown-Ups of the Oats coming through the field toward me!

A strange and inexplicable New Year greeting! An old woman is tossing a young boy, identified as "1889" across his back, into a steaming kettle of soup that she's cooking over a hot fire. The legs of her previous victim are barely visible at the edge of the kettle. Am I missing something here? Is there a literary allusion or proverb or something else that might explain this? Otherwise, it seems a rather cruel and violent way to greet the New Year. In any case, after initially believing this to be a calling card, I finally discovered that it's number 5 ("Old woman holding boy 1889 over soup tureen") in a series of 50 "New Years 1890" cigarette cards issued by Kinney Tobacco Co. See Kinney New Years 1890 Cards - N227 for additonal information about the card series. By the way, some of the other cards in this series also show strange and unsettling scenes: No. 19 - Boy pushing huge snowball over figure of 1889. No. 20 - Duelist 1890 standing over fallen 1889. No. 36 - Boy 1890 skates round 1889 falling through ice. No. 38 - Whale swallowing 1889, 1890 steps on to floating globe. No. 49 - Sun as spider devouring insect 1889, insect 1890 flies away. A checklist for the card series and illustrations of each card are available at Kinney New Years 1890 Cards - N227 .

Stamped on back: "Hill Studio, 1415 Derry Street, Harrisburg, Pa." Handwritten on back: "Dec. 23, 1947." A puzzling photo of a masked Santa Claus (evidently a woman wearing a skirt) sitting next to a pile of wrapped presents and a Christmas tree. Newspapers are strewn about on the floor, and the walls in the background seem to be either water-stained or wet (could it be the inside of an unheated shed or trailer with condensation running down the walls?). The tips of what appear to be ironing boards surround Santa on both sides. Could this show early preparations for a gift distribution of some sort? Or has a downtrodden Santa taken up residence in a storage unit?

For previous comments about this real photo postcard, see the discussion on Flickr: Two Girls with Bows .