I've got the four story ideas below rattling around in my head, all at the same time. Hopefully, by showing them here, I can weed out the ones that don't have anything more to say so I concentrate on the one or two with potential.

1. A directionless guy in his mid to late 20's, with a fresh diploma from a correspondence course in private investigation, gets a job at a small, struggling firm run by a pair of foreigners. He takes the job because no one else he's interviewed with has offered, and they offer him the job because their case closure rate is dismally low, and they're desperate to get a professional investigator to help them with the more confusing cases. The guy quickly realizes that the firm's files are stuffed with cases involving unusual and inexplicable things, such as ghosts, zombies, astral projections, vampires, and whatnot. More slowly, he comes to realize that his new bosses don't recognize, and can barely comprehend, the strangeness they have encountered. Eventually, it comes out that his bosses are aliens sent to Earth to study humanity, possibly as precursor to invasion. They have no frame of reference for any sort of supernatural event, because that sort of thing doesn't happen where they come from. This gives them an odd, sometimes useful, perspective. This could be short stories, or a book, or a series of books.

2. Trevor Lockhart and the Misplaced City of Gold. Screenplay. The sort of movie they used to make in the 50's and 60's about American scientists going on a journey to discover wondrous things, and trampling all over native customs and civilizations in the process. Broad comedy. Dr. Trevor Lockhart is some sort of scientist, possibly a guy who authenticates antiquities. He's handsome, strong, and brave, the kind of guy who managed to be starting quarterback of his college football team while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in a science curriculum. In other words, totally unrealistic. An associate of his from the local university, Prof. Theophilus Wainwright, brings to him an artifact to study, which provides the clues needed to correct the intentional errors in a well-known map to a legendary South American city that is the basis of the story of El Dorado. The misplaced city of gold being thus located, they set off to South America to prove their information is true, taking along Prof. Wainwright's beautiful senior grad student assistant, Elizabeth (Betty) McAllister. Wainwright is absent-minded. Lockhart is a pompous, condescending ass. Betty is the only one who should be allowed in public unsupervised, but she never gets credit, which chafes her. Oh, and it's 1938, so there's Nazis, who want the publicity for having found the city, and the money to fund their impending war.

3. 2000 years ago, in a part of the story later officials kept out of the account, as a way to prove to his followers that Jesus was actually dead, after they crucified him they cut off his head and set it on a spike outside the temple. After the resurrection, the head was taken to Rome, where the flesh was boiled off. Roman emperors started drinking out of the skull, partly to symbolize their superiority to this Christian upstart, and partly because they believed it might impart some power to them. This began the reign of the crazed Roman emperors. Nero, Caligula, and so on. The skull was fashioned into a goblet, which came to be known as the Holy Grail, because Skull of Jesus was a bit too confrontational. Eventually, the Grail fell into the hands of the Vatican, where it was kept safely until WWII, when the fascists stole it and sent it to Hitler. He drank from it, went nuts, and became immortal. At the end of the war, Catholic commandoes faked Hitler's death and smuggled him out of Berlin to Vatican City, where he was kept in the catacombs for decades. The Grail itself was lost. Recently, rumors arose that the Grail had surfaced again, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The newly-sworn Pope decided he had to retrieve it personally, as one of the few people who wouldn't be tempted to claim its power for himself. However, he needed someone who had previously had contact with the Grail to help track it down. So, he dug up Hitler, and the two of them set off to America.

4. A man shows up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, Australia. He tells people he's come to see the Southern Cross, a constellation. People find that very strange, but most don't have a problem with it. The few exceptions have a good reason. Several years ago, a man stole an armored car with 12 million dollars in it. His getaway took him through this town, where the locals either convinced him or were forced by him to hide the truck and money in town while he made good his escape. After the heat was off, he was supposed to come back. He got arrested a couple days away. Now, a few of the townsfolks are waiting for the statute of limitations to lapse, so they can split the money among themselves. This person with the implausible story shows up about a week before the time is up, leading to a flurry of activity that has repercussions all over town. One of the conspirators gets arrested by the local sheriff for an unrelated matter, and spills the beans. The sheriff finds the truck, but not the money, because the others had enough warning to move the money. But, the sheriff does have to call in the proper authorities at that time. Meanwhile, the crook has been released from prison and is heading back to town to get his money. Wackiness ensues.