Most fascinating, strange thing you've read?

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

What's the strangest, weirdest, most fascinating thing you're read? it doesn't have to be well-written, or award-winning, just something that caught your attention.

A few of mine.
1: Mindhunter, written by John Douglas. It spawned the Netflix series. I read it several years ago and I am convinced he's one of the smartest people on the planet. It captivated me, the way he and his team were able to build profiles of serial killers and used that info to track others. Truly fascinating that they were able to find patterns and quantify things that were seemingly unquantifiable.
Sorry, no link.

The Blue People of Appalacahia (the Fugates): The “Blue People” of the Appalachian Mountains | Appalachian Magazine

Finally, Sweet Connie Hamzy, a famous groupie (though I never heard of her, until someone here posted a story or mentioned her). This one truly leaves me gobsmacked. She's something ....
Oldest Living Confederate Groupie Tells All

 

[Vombatus]

sj.com

 

[swingline]

I found "Mindhunter" to be fairly poorly written. Riveting subject matter, but pedestrian writing.

When I had a different bathroom, I liked reading all the ingredients in a tube of toothpaste or a random cleaning product while doing my business.

 

[typefitter]

It's fiction, but Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders is trippy as hell. There's a ghost in it with a massive ****. Like, one he has to drag around.

 

[swingline]

Tom Robbins' "Skinny Legs And All" starts off trippy as hell and kind of stays that way throughout with a talking can 'o' beans, purple sock, painted stick, little spoon, and, later, a vibrator.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Did that story about Connie get cut off or is that all there is? Also, too, she tells great stories. So great that I’m not sure they are all true.

 

[CD Boogie]

"Fiskadoro" by Denis Johnson is weird as hell. Takes places in Key West, a place that didn't need to look weirder than it already is. This was nothing like "Tree of Smoke" or "Jesus's Son." As a joke, I recommended it to my buddy, who had read and enjoyed "Jesus's Son" (because who doesn't?).

To this day, he'll say to me, "Read any good books lately, Mr. Fiskadoro?"

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Did that story about Connie get cut off or is that all there is? Also, too, she tells great stories. So great that I’m not sure they are all true.

Not sure ....
I tried to find the one I had originally read.. I thought that was it .. but it, cut off or choppy. Again, not well-written, but fascinating to me..

 

[TrooperBari]

"Uzumaki" by Junji Ito. Just... astoundingly twisted and weird. It takes up three volumes, but if that's not your thing they're apparently going to make an animated series of it.

 

[qtlaw]

The Hot Zone; freaked out my ignorant a**.

 

[garrow]

"The Cuckoo's Egg." A true tale of a hippie astronomer who hunts down an E. German computer hacker in the 80s.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Barry Sanders on a 2 a.m. supermarket run.

 

[Pilot]

The Hot Zone; freaked out my ignorant a**.

Hey, The Hot Zone features the world’s most prominent mention of my hometown! The main character doctor (doctors? I read it ~20 years ago) are from there.

Steelers OL BJ Finney is (kinda) from there, so he’s our next best chance to make it big.

 

[swingline]

Naked Lunch.

End of thread.

 

[Neutral Corner]

"The Cuckoo's Egg." A true tale of a hippie astronomer who hunts down an E. German computer hacker in the 80s.

I loved that book. I saw Cliff Stoll in an extended interview and he came across as every bit as strange and twitchy as you would expect him to. Brilliant in his narrow lane, but... strange.