Three Interesting Facts From Our Strange World: Part 1

I consider myself to be a very curious person, one who loves to learn and discover new things. (And a person who frequently annoys my family and friends by whipping out my phone during a discussion to google a fact and then, not being content with just that one fact, will begin quoting the Wikipedia page to share all sorts of newly acquired trivia).

In this series, which I plan to make a regular feature, I will showcase various fun, interesting, and strange facts and trivia from our incredible world. Hopefully, we all learn some new and interesting facts!

In this first installment, I look at those misleading doors, the connection between the University of Michigan and Slippery Rock University, and a phantom cat that influenced a cartoon character.

Norman Doors

We have all encountered the frustration of a door that, based on its appearance, seems like a push door (or a pull door) but it is actually a pull door (or a push door). Every single one of you knows exactly what I am referring to. Not a single one of us has been spared the embarrassment of not being able to figure out how to work a door.

However, what many people probably don’t know is that there is actually a name for this type of door. It is called a Norman Door. Norman Doors are doors whose design and appearance can confuse or mislead a person trying to open it, such as a push door with a handle that makes it seem like a pull door. Fixing this often necessitates a sign telling people to push or pull in order to negate user confusion created by the door’s counterintuitive design.

Norman Doors were named after (and not named by) Don Norman, who is a well known author and engineer in the field of usability engineering and cognitive science.

Announcing the Slippery Rock Score at The Big House

The first time I went to a University of Michigan football game at The Big House, I noticed that during the game the announcers announced the score of the Slippery Rock University football game. Slippery Rock University is a relatively small public university in Pennsylvania with a Division II football team.

I asked my friend Andrew about this, both because he was with me and because his family have been die-hard University of Michigan fans for generations, and he explained to me that this is one of the many traditions at University of Michigan home football games, and that it started decades prior when Slippery Rock played a football game at Michigan Stadium.

I always thought that this was a really cool story and a unique tradition, but I only recently looked into it. As it turns out, Slippery Rock has played at The Big House on more than one occasion, including most recently in 2014, but it appears they didn't play there until after the scores began being announced.

It appears the modern connection with Slippery Rock began in 1959 when the Wolverines' announcer, Steve Filipiak, began regularly announcing the Slippery Rock scores as part of his announcing of the scores from other teams’ football games (something that is often done at football games). It appears Filipiak did this in large part because he thought Slippery Rock was a fun name that would excite the crowd. He was right, and reading the Slippery Rock score became a tradition. This led to University of Michigan fans becoming so invested in Slippery Rock football that they were eventually invited to play a game at the Big House, and eventually played two more there. (These games were not against the Wolverines but instead were played against other Division II football teams.)

Interestingly, the scores of the Slippery Rock games used to also be announced by other schools during their games - likely due to an interesting 1936 debate over who the nation's top college football team was, which Slippery Rock was caught up in - but it seems that today only the University of Michigan still carries out this tradition.

The Fiskerton Phantom and its Inspiration on The Secret Saturdays

There have been reports of a phantom cat near the village of Fiskerton in Lincolnshire, England. This phantom cat, referred to as The Fiskerton Phantom, has become famous in the area. In fact, The Fiskerton Phantom is even mentioned on the village’s website.

According to the village’s website (which cites/quotes Wikipedia), "The Fiskerton Phantom is a cryptozoological phantom cat or other creature, which was reportedly sighted near Fiskerton . . . This is one of many alleged non-native British big cats about which a variety of theories have been proposed. The sighting was reported by four girls, between the ages of 14 and 9, staying at a caravan park next to the Tyrwhitt Arms pub at Short Ferry, a small hamlet near to Fiskerton, who described a four-foot-tall jet-black, bear-like creature feeding on a pheasant. The girls, who fled immediately to seek help in the pub, also reported finding large paw prints at the location when they returned later. Dave Brumhead, the Landlord of the Tyrwhitt Arms, reported that a motorist had made another sighting that evening, near where the girls had been. There were several further reports of a panther- or bear-like animal in the area in 1997."

In addition to being a local attraction, this phantom cat was the inspiration for the character of Fiskerton on the show The Secret Saturdays, which was a cartoon series about a family of cryptozoologists. Even though The Fiskerton Phantom inspired the character of Fiskerton, the character is only loosely based on it, and Fiskerton's appearance differs drastically from descriptions of The Fiskerton Phantom.

The Fiskerton Phantom has been described as a panther or bear-like creature. Meanwhile, according to Wikipedia, "Fiskerton is a seven-foot-tall 'gorilla-cat' with glowing red eyes..." Furthermore, while The Fiskerton Phantom has been described as having black fur, Fiskerton has tawny fur. Interesting, the show's Fandom community notes that Fiskerton actually more closely resembles a different cryptid, namely the Am Fear Liath Mòr (the Big Grey Man).

In addition to the character of Fiskerton, The Fiskerton Phantom also appears to have inspired a song by Aaron Steinberg call Fiskerton Phantom. Some people even believe it may have inspired a Pokémon.

Conclusion

That is it for this installment. I hoped you have learned something new and interesting, and please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts or interesting facts! Please also let me know if you would like to continue with this series, and, if so, if you have any suggestions or feedback.