Lifelong Collector and Internet CEO Team Up To Collect Amazing True Stories

“If you want to read about someone picking their nose or some other stupidity go to Twitter where you will find every internet savvy idiot micro blogging to let the world know he just farted. While www.MyWeirdStory.com may be a grass roots effort, at least our collection of strange yet true stories are stimulating to the mind. We offer tales which may be difficult to believe but are truly educational, inspiring, humorous, bone-chilling, or just straight up weird,” says Eric C. Caren, a noted author and collector of historical printed items.

When Eric C. Caren met Vladimir Gendelman of Orange Creative Solutions, they were both attending the International Gift Show in New York, and began discussing Eric’s role as CEO of RetroGraphics Publishing, a NJ based firm set up at the tradeshow to sell NY Times licensed products as well as collectibles for the mass market.

“Vlad expressed to me that my stories were interesting and that there are many people who would enjoy listening as much as he, so I told him about the dozen or so publications that I had written with Castle Books and The Smithsonian based on my collection known as “The Caren Archive” in the Antiquarian world,” said Caren. “When I mentioned that these books were based on items not people, and how I was looking to do a book about all of the fascinating people and amazing stories which I have come across in my lifetime, I could see the gears moving in his head.”

Vladimir brainstormed and then came up with a proposal that would include building an interactive website dedicated to nothing but interesting true stories and compilations of life’s different degrees of experience. The site, www.MyWeirdStory.com, already has 20 categories containing a multitude of different themed stories that range from paranormal to synchronistic happenings. Their first contest offers T-shirts to the most entertaining and believable stories submitted and are voted on by the users themselves.

“The contest is a way for us to encourage visitors to submit their own weird stories and take part in our community,” Gendelman states. “We all have our own stories, some more interesting than others, but variety is the spice of life and this is the approach we are taking with the website.”

The idea to combine Caren’s experience with interesting artifacts and Gendelman’s knowledge of web development was a mutual agreement. “I was living in the past with my historical collections and business interests, not to mention having built a large part of what is now the permanent collection of The Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue,” the 49 year old Caren reflects. “Vlad always seemed to be looking towards the future with his endeavors and we agreed it would be a good move to merge forces in the present!”

MyWeirdStory.com is a free platform which allows everyday people to add their true stories to the site with ease. Some of the “Truth Stranger than Fiction” themed tales are archived into categories which include Paranormal, Embarrassing, Animals, Kids, One in a Million Moments, Near Death Experiences and, of course, Collecting to mention a few. The motto of the site is that “Everyone has a great story to tell and we would like to hear it, see it, or experience it for ourselves,” said Caren. The site promotes the use of social media such as video and images to help get the stories across in a rich and fulfilling manner.

MyWeirdStory.com assures users that their stories will remain anonymous if they so chose.