Creepy and kooky: Weird in Alabama
By Kelly Kazek
kelly@athensnews-courier.com
MM: That book was such a success that our publishers asked us what we wanted to do next. We told them we wanted to chronicle the unwritten folklore, creepy cemeteries, cursed locations and outlandish roadside oddities that were to be found in every state. And so the Weird U.S. book series was born, each tome focusing on the peculiarities of a particular state.
The series now includes dozens of books specific to particular states, though “Weird Alabama” has not yet been written.
KK: What do you think is compelling about weird things?
MM: By definition, “weird” is a word that describes something so out of the ordinary that it stand outs from that which we’ve come to expect. I think people need that kind of stimulation to snap them out of the mundane realities of daily life. Weird things remind us that life is truly a mysterious, fascinating and unbelievably amazing adventure.
Something weird is not necessarily scary or haunted, sometimes it’s just odd or out of the ordinary––out of place. Sometimes it is just something so absurd and ridiculous that all you can do is laugh about it. Other times though, it is something so disturbing that it makes you uncomfortable and ill at ease. Weird is often an intangible thing, hard to describe, something that gives you a feeling that you can’t quite put your finger on. For us it is the spice of life and something to be savored. It could be anything from a mysterious ancient stone structure in the woods to a person who spends all his days waving to passersby from his front lawn.
KK: What have you learned?
MM: We just never know what crazy adventure we will be on next. One day you’re spending the night in an abandoned insane asylum in Ohio, trying to make contact with a long dead inmate, the next day you’re interviewing a man in the Mojave Desert who has constructed a Technicolor mountain of mud in tribute to God. It's all good, and weird.
It’s been our experience that the more weirdness you discover, the more you realize how much more is out there yet to be found. One can only imagine the countless tales out there across the country yet to be told. Even after years of traveling, we know that we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. In this respect Weird U.S. is a lot like life; it’s the journey itself, not the destination that is really important.