June 28, 2004

The Rock That Grows - Mildred Price is a collector of bric-a-brac & weirdness. The weirdest thing she owns has to be the rock that she claims has grown since she found it - and is still growing.

"I didn't want to tell anyone else, because I didn't want people to think I was going insane," Mildred says. "If I told someone, they would have thought something was wrong with me." "We have all watched it grow over the years," says her eldest daughter. "It wasn't like it was growing while you looked at it. It was like, from time to time you would see it and say, 'Well, yeah, OK.' I just wish that we had taken measurements of it before now, because everybody just thinks we are crazy."

posted by Nostrildamus 20 years ago
  • "It was a little rock, and over the years it's gotten bigger and bigger. I'm scared of that rock." most fun story EVER. heh.
  • I, for one, welcome... (snore)
  • She said the president of the center had taken her to his office and called in a staff geologist to examine the rock. "He told him to test the rock to see if there was any radiation or a heartbeat," she said. "He did and found out that there was no radiation or heartbeat. ... " well THANK GOD for that.
  • oh, and i've sent the story to "ask a geologist" and a friend of mine who's a geologist at the smithsonian to see if they can solve the mystery.
  • Reminds me of the classic 'moving rocks' of .. uh.. Arizona or somewhere. The ones that leave tracks on a dry lake bed. They always used to turn up in 'mystery' books when I was a kid. Can't be bothered looking up a link right now, leave that to some other monkey here. There are also many folktales in Europe, particularly England, involving 'growing' rocks, so this isn't a single instance. It's probably a manifestation of some kind of uh.. archetypal.. growing rock thing. You know. Whatsit.
  • I don't think there is much of a mystery, here, SideDish. She's probably just fucking nuts. Her tales of other people who supported the concept remind me of the delusions of schizos I have known, and their crazy fake memories. And your geologist friend will simply say 'rocks don't grow'. Now, if Charles Fort were still alive..
  • I prefer my rocks to shake & roll.
  • I WANT MY GROWING ROCKS, DAMN IT! WITH HEARTBEATS! AND RADIATION! GODDAMN IT!
  • "... And he said that somebody was probably changing the rocks on me or either it floated down the river and got that large. It hurt me so bad inside, I just started losing interest." The idea of wanting to believe in something as frivolous as a rock, wanting to believe so intensely that hearing otherwise hurts you, is so depressing to me. I almost feel bad that somebody humored her enough to take a stethoscope to the thing. They didn't just take her aside and tell her, "Mrs. Price, rocks don't grow. Also, I shot the Tooth Fairy."
  • ****BULLETIN**** this just in from my friend, a REAL LIVE GEOLOGIST here in d.c.: Hmmmmmmm.... well, I love a good mystery, but it seems to me that there are two possibilities: 1) A rock in St.Louis has acquired the magic ability to grow larger. 2) Somebody switched rocks. As always, the simpler explanation makes more sense.
  • The simpler explanation is that your geologist friend is IN ON THE CONSPIRACY!!!
  • As a geologist myself I have to say I'm shocked to see that this story has leaked out. Does the CIA (Geological Anomaly) team do nothing for its vast and ever growing budget? Anyway, this thread will soon be gone but before it does would everyone who read it please supply your address and phone number. Our operatives will be in contact with you shortly. Move along, nothing to see here ...
  • I think there is an error in your post. This is the only Mildred Pierce for me. Monte: Drink? Mildred: You drink too much. Monte: I know, I do too much of everything. I'm spoiled. Mildred: You've too many sisters... They all seem to be my size too. Monte: I know, I like them your size. [raises glass] Monte: To brotherly love. Sorry to derail.
  • Oh damm, I misread the name. So sorry. Purge me if you must.
  • Shotsy, I read it as Mildred Pierce too. And I imagined a woman who is living among us but is stuck in the 1940s. And if you go visit her house she'll show you the growing rock and her collection of green stamp premiums and feed you lemonade and ginger cookies, the whole time discussing the hardships of war and rationing.
  • Mmmm. Ginger cookies.
  • I too sent an inquiry to a prominent geologist. He has sent me his reply (bowl not included)
  • Of course there's a simple explanation. The rock isn't growing. The Earth is shrinking, and you are all educated stupid!
  • Of course, there's a simple explanation: it isn't a rock!
  • It is a rock. It is just a rock which for some undetermined or undisclosed reason is traveling backward through time. Geologists are not the ones to seek information from about such a phenomenon -- need to consult an antichronological expert.
  • Holy Cow! Magic Rocks are EIGHT BUCKS?? For years I had a collection one of the kids had put together in a jar. They used six or seven packs and put them in a big office water cooler bottle. It really was pretty impressive. I finally threw it out. Damn! There went my early retirement.
  • It is a rock. It is just a rock which for some undetermined or undisclosed reason is traveling backward through time. That's good. Now, it's obviously travelling at an accelerated rate, so what happens when it reaches the Big Bang?
  • *another one who can't help trying to integrate this scenario into Mildred Pierce*
  • Set this in Latin America, make the rock somehow evocative of her frustrated romantic desires, and this could be a Gabriel Garcia Marquez story. Oh, and the obvious solution - it's just breathing in. It'll start breathing out again in a few decades. It's not surprising they didn't find a heartbeat - the average heart rate for a small rock at rest is only about one beat every 27 years. It's probably asleep right now. Aw, bless.
  • "I know it's strange, but it's very special to me," she said. "It's just my pet rock. I rub it and say 'I don't know what you are, but God gave you to me for a reason.' I believe one day I will find out." Change just one letter of the word "rock" and these lines coulda been written about me.
  • the quidnunc kid: goddamn, you sir are hilarious.
  • It's a children's story. Or a play. On reflection, Nostril is right - it's an archetype type thingy.
  • goddamn, you sir are hilarious. I consider it a point of point of pride never to laugh at anything whatsoever the quidnunc prrrson says. This does not mean I that do not wish himself a long and happy life.
  • I feel so lowbrow :(
  • *brow sinks*
  • this just in from "ask a geologist"... I read the story you are referring to. I would have to agree with the other scientists who examined he rock. While certain minerals can precipitate from a liquid, this rock could not have grown. Rocks and minerals are inorganic and do not grow. Minerals can be deposited on rocks if they are in an unusually concentrated solution. I would tend to think that either the power of suggestion is working on her memory or someone may have switched the original rock with a slightly larger one. Sincerely, Fred Stumm
  • Except that the rock is the opposite end of a small artificial black hole than is being used by an alien call-center employee as a trashcan. All the collected alien trash it's just popping up there inside the rock as condensed matter.
  • Change just one letter of the word "rock" and these lines coulda been written about me. You have a pet sock?
  • A pet called Rick?
  • You're both right! Lil' Rick's my only friend ... *cries*