Chris Mikul, in addition to authoring several books and the ‘zine Biblio-Curiosa, editions of which I have discussed many times on this site, also authors another ‘zine called Bizarrism. While Biblio-Curiosa focuses on strange or arcane books and the people who write them, Bizarrism is more diffuse, discussing unusual people, places and ideas. For fellow travelers, there is guaranteed to be something in Bizarrism that appeals to their interests.

Before I discuss the content of Bizarrism No. 13, I want to mention how visibly appealing this ‘zine is. Artist Glenn Smith, who has worked with Mikul on other projects, notably his book that documents unusual people, The Eccentropedia, provided illustrations for one of the articles, and Mikul’s photographs from his travels in Singapore are featured in his discussion of Tiger Balm Gardens, as well as on the front and back covers.

Bizarrism No. 13 has nine articles, and five of them earn the description of what I like to call “price of admission,” which means they alone make the ‘zine worth reading. Any piece of media that has one price of admission element gets a thumbs-up, so having five of them in one ‘zine issue is outstanding.

The ‘zine begins with a well-researched article about the fairly famous Somerton Man case, “The Man on the Beach: The Enigma of Somerton Man.” For those interested in unsolved mysteries, they may also know this as the Tamám Shud case. In 1948, a dead man was found sitting back in the sand on a beach in Adelaide, Australia. There were no obvious causes of death and later his death was chalked up to a heart attack. No one had any idea who he was, all possible avenues of identification were either non-existent or led the investigators down labyrinthine paths that never wholly cleared up who he was. Because this man had no clear cause of death, no identification and had taken steps to hide his identity – even the tags and cleaner marks had been removed from all his clothes –  there was some belief that he was a spy from the United States.

Also feeding into this theory was a piece of paper found in his pocket. It was ripped from a library edition of  The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The page had the phrase tamám shud printed on it, which means “it is finished,” with what appears to be an encrypted, very short hand-printed message on the other side. The message has yet to be decoded. Investigation showed links to a woman named Jessica Thomson, a woman who may also have been involved in some sort of espionage, and later her granddaughter, married to researcher Derek Abbott, believed strongly that the Somerton Man had an affair with her grandmother and was her biological grandfather. Later DNA tests disproved this theory, though Jessica revealed in private conversation that she knew the identity of the Somerton Man but would never reveal his name. This article appears to have been written before 2022 because eventually Somerton Man’s identity was discovered and I am not going to spoil this mystery solution here out of respect for any newcomers to this case.

The second article is “A Visit to the Tiger Balm Gardens.” Mikul visited this strange garden in Singapore, filled with bizarre, unsettling sculptures that represented what would happen to certain sorts of sinners when they died. It read like a southeast Asian take on Dante’s circles of hell. For example, one of the statues represented in fairly gory and violent detail how those who engage in selling slaves are cut in half. This was a “price of admission” article for me because I’d never heard of it before and Mikul’s photographs were captivating. In addition to showing his readers this unique and bizarre garden park, Mikul tells the story of the family, specifically two sons, who created this garden after making a fortune selling “Tiger Balm.” Truly a fascinating look at something wholly new to me.

This is followed by a charming, short article called “Nature vs. Nurture.” Here Mikul presents two drawings, one he drew and the other drawn by his father, marveling at the similarity between his and his father’s artistic talents.

The fourth article is another price of admission piece. “Jimmy Savile and the Process Church” was unsettling because it showed that Jimmy Savile left all kinds of little breadcrumbs that if analyzed properly showed who he was and what he was about. For those unfamiliar with Jimmy Savile, he was a British entertainer who had ties to politicians and the royal family, and after his death was revealed to have been a profligate pedophile and necrophile. He spent his life protected from repercussions from his acts, though it seems plenty of people in the British entertainment industry had followed the bread crumbs but couldn’t speak out due to the powerful people who protected Savile.

This article discusses an interview that Jimmy Savile did with the Process Church in 1968 that was printed in the cult’s SEX edition of the magazine they published at the time. The Process Church, undeniably a cult, is seen as either a font of absolute evil that encouraged the Manson murders and Son of Sam killings (Maury Terry’s The Ultimate Evil details that belief) or a strange but mostly harmless cult that later became Best Friends animal rescue in Utah. Regardless of what the Process Church is or isn’t, the fact remains that the interview, given what we now know about Savile, is creepy

“Eternal Life – Guaranteed” was my favorite article. It discusses Guy Ballard, a miner who evidently stumbled across an ascended master who inspired him to start his own sect that promised immortality. And it makes perfect sense that he was inspired to create his church, which he called I AM, after meeting that particular ascended master because evidently Ballard canoodled with Comte St. Germain. Ballard borrowed heavily from or was inspired by Helena Blavatsky of Theosophy fame, and a lot of the vocabulary and terms used in her beliefs come up in Ballard’s credo. Ballard and his wife, a genteel-appearing harpist, traveled the country with their son to recruit people to his sect. They called themselves Mommy and Daddy and managed to amass a decent following while making a lot of money, and as we all know, money leads to taxes and debtors wanting their share, which never bodes well. This is a whacked religion mini-masterpiece.

“My Favorite Dictators, No. 7: Gaddafi” was, ironically, my least favorite article in the ‘zine and I don’t know why. It’s not the article’s fault, though, and for the right person, this even-handed synopsis of Gaddafi’s life would be a great entry into studying the late dictator. I just despise Gaddafi to the point that I prefer not to think about him. A lot of people in Scotland feel the same way. Luckily, he’s dead now so… yeah.

“The Fabulous Adventures of Denisa, Lady Newborough” is my second-favorite article in this ‘zine because Denisa was wholly new to me and I adore stories of wild women. Much of Denisa’s life cannot be verified, but Mikul still found evidence that showed that at least some of the time Denisa was telling the truth. Born in Serbia in 1913, Denisa ran away to join a circus at age six and learned to walk the tightrope but two years later a family member recognized her and she was sent back home. She continued to run away, eventually making her way to Budapest where she became a nude dancer. She traveled Europe, taking lovers, amassing jewels and even apartments that wealthy men gave her.

The tales of her travels and activities are a hoot but there are a couple of absolutely batshit claims that I just want to believe are true. One is that after she saw his face on a magazine, she realized the man who tried to sweep her off her feet on a train to Rome was none other than Benito Mussolini. He might have succeeded if only his five o’clock shadow hadn’t scratched her neck. Later she claims that she met Hitler and he was very taken with her, declaring that he wished she were German because her beauty was of the Aryan variety. She met Hitler a couple of times but he bored her, gurned his mouth in a way that she found revolting, and she upset him because she smoked. Mikul tends to think Hitler had no interest in a Slavic woman of questionable virtue, but who knows. He managed to pander to Unity Mitford, a tiresome, pudding-faced woman who wore too much makeup, smoked and loved eating meat. There is so much more to this article that I cannot hope to discuss, and I now need to find a copy of her autobiography.

In “The Venice Biennale – 2013” Mikul shares his dismay when he saw what was considered art in the various countries that submitted work to the show. He says, “Depressing is hardly the word for this parade of absolute rubbish masquerading as art.” The entire experience was a let down and Mikul’s disgust and dismay at the state of contemporary art was a pleasure to read. It’s a known fact that bad excursions generate far better stories than good ones and this was strangely satisfying to read.

The final section reviews several books, the most interesting to me being his take on Eugenia by Mark Tedeschi. Eugenia Falleni was a woman, born in 1875, who assumed a male identity and married a woman with a son. It appears as if the wife discovered that Eugenia, who assumed the name Harry Crawford, was really a woman. She later died under very suspicious circumstances and Harry received the death penalty for the murder. The sentence was later reduced to a life sentence and Harry was paroled in 1933. This book review stood out to me for the stupidest reason – Harry Crawford bore a startling resemblance to disgraced talk show host Ellen Degeneres.

There are a lot of modern magazines that wish they could be as interesting, well-laid out and as visually appealing as this one-man ‘zine (though maybe I should say two-man because Glenn Smith’s drawings add to the value). If you would like to order this or any Bizarrism back issues, contact Chris at chris.mikul88@gmail.com.