11 Famous Authors Who Were REALLY Strange

About this video

Dale Roberts walks through an article from Grunge.com listing 11 famous authors described as really strange, adding his own reactions to each. He covers Bram Stoker, portrayed as a conspiracy theorist about the Queen; the Marquis de Sade, whose work was banned for a long period and whose personal behavior is described as depraved; and Agatha Christie, whose unexplained disappearance in 1926 is recounted, including that she was later found at a hotel after checking in under another name. He then discusses Ray Bradbury as a technophobe who disliked cars, computers and the internet despite writing science fiction; Virginia Woolf and the incident in which she and friends in disguise toured a Royal Navy ship; and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s deep belief in spiritualism, including a seance involving his friend Harry Houdini that strained their friendship. The remaining entries are Charles Dickens and an obsession with corpses and related imagery, T.S. Eliot deliberately wearing makeup that made him look ill or corpse-like, Truman Capote’s superstitions around numbers and everyday habits, Philip K. Dick’s visions after dental surgery in 1974 that he interpreted as cosmic truth and ancient Rome and during which he wrote a very long work, and P.L. Travers, the Mary Poppins author, whose reliance on astrologers and mystics led her to adopt only one of a pair of twins and keep the separation secret for years. Roberts repeatedly notes that some entries seem stranger than others, questions whether some belong on the same list, and invites viewers to share authors they think are stranger.

Key takeaways

• The video is a reaction to a Grunge.com list of 11 famous authors presented as particularly strange, not original research by the creator.
• Several entries center on beliefs: Bram Stoker’s conspiracy theory, Arthur Conan Doyle’s spiritualism, and P.L. Travers’ reliance on astrologers and mystics.
• Other entries center on personal obsessions or habits, including Charles Dickens with corpses, T.S. Eliot with corpse-like makeup, and Truman Capote with number-related superstitions.
• Agatha Christie’s entry focuses on her 1926 disappearance and being found at a hotel under another name, with no recollection of how she got there as told in the video.
• Roberts treats some authors, notably Ray Bradbury for disliking technology, as far less strange than the others and questions their inclusion on the same list.

Episode details: published July 27, 2020 · 15:16 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

← Previous: Should You Microwave A Book?! · Next: Buy Your Way Onto a Best Seller List? →

All Dale L. Roberts videos · Dale L. Roberts profile · Dale L. Roberts on YouTube