I was thinking the other day.. I know that can be dangerous at times, but
this is waht I came up with...

For VLF and LF receiving, wind some wire around a ferrite rod. Place the
rod vertically and feed at the bottom with coax. Of course there would have
to be a good ground connection.

Would there be any advantage of this compared to a short vertical antenna?

Yes, yes, I know...'everbody' uses loop antennas for VLF.

Jim