A wee bit weird.... (castle-brass.co.uk)

Member Name: cathy

Product:	castle-brass.co.uk
Date:	05/08/00 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ....there's a lot to read

Disadvantages: ...but why would you want to?

I visited castle-brass.co.uk because I thought it might have something to do with science-fiction. So, it came as a surprise to discover that it is, in fact, the Archive of Strange Deaths.

That's it basically. You can access brief summaries of strange deaths that have been reported in the press. Each short article has the reference for the source and date of publication. No commentary or links to moe information.

There's a search engine you can use - but it's a bit confusing. I had to run a search to get into the archives.

Site navigation is poor and not very user friendly. The small, white serif typeface is tiring to read across the dark graphic background. (Why don't sites who think a black background is cool give some consideration to readability when they select their typefaces?).

All in all I found the site a bit dull and pointless. But to be fair, someone has gone to a lot of time and trouble to set it up and keep it updated. There are many year's worth of archives - so it must have taken ages to type all the summaries. Maybe it's just not my thing. Obviously, the owner, at least, finds it quite fascinating.

Maybe I would have found it more interesting if the data was better organised and presented and there was some sort of explicit 'raison d'etre'. Still - try it for yourself, you might like it.

The following extract is an example of the entries. In this particular case - you can't help thinking the victim did seem to get particularly rough deal, can you?


Stephen Hyett, 38, of Haverhill, Suffolk, who six years ago survived a pioneering transplant in which his stomach, liver, kidney, pancreas, duodenum and small bowel were replaced, died from head injuries after falling off a chair while changing a light bulb. Express -15 April 2000

Summary: