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William Seabrook

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Author

The Resume

    (February 22, 1884-September 20, 1945)
    Born in Westminster, Maryland
    Reporter for the New York Times, Reader's Digest, Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair
    Wrote the books 'Adventures in Arabia' (1927), 'The Magic Island' (1929), 'Jungle Ways' (1930), 'Asylum' (1935), 'Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today' (1940) and 'No Hiding Place: An Autobiography' (1942)
    Committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills

Why he might be annoying:

    After being unable to partake in a cannibal feast in Liberia, he acquired the remains of a young worker who had died in an accident in Paris, then had different parts of the body roasted, broiled and prepared as ragout and described the meal in 'Jungle Ways' as if it had taken place in Africa.
    He tried to cure his alcoholism by plunging his elbows into boiling water so he would be unable to lift a glass to his lips.
    He was married three times and divorced twice.
    His first wife married his second wife's first husband.
    On the birth of his son he complained, 'I am the seventh William Seabrook and there have been too damned many of us.' (He then named the kid William anyway.)
    His second wife, author Marjorie Worthington, wrote, 'Lovemaking for Willie was a complicated process, all mixed up with his complexes, fetishes and compulsions.'
    His biggest fetish was tying up prostitutes and chaining them to pillars or suspending them from the ceiling.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He joined the French army in World War I, was gassed at Verdun and received the Croix de Guerre.
    According to Time magazine, his book 'The Magic Island' introduced the word 'zombie' to the English language.
    The women he tied up were well paid for it, and he never whipped or otherwise hurt them.
    Worthington wrote, 'He was a fine intelligent, and lovable man, with a touch of genius as well as madness.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 20 Votes: 55.00% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 20 Votes: 60.0% Annoying