Often lost in all the broomstick bluster that goes on in Salem, MA, is the fact that the witch hysteria actually started in the neighboring town of Danvers, where most of the participants lived.... »

Unusual Monuments, Memento Mori | Edited by JWOcker and Rachel

Kyrgyzstan’s National Museum harbors numerous interesting exhibitions, ranging from excavation finds to fascinating ethnographical collections, partly housed in dusty cabinets. But for the few... »

Museums and Collections, Wonder Cabinets, Outsider Art, Unique Collections | Edited by Tawsam and Rachel

A strenuous multi-day trek is necessary to reach Merzbacher Lake, a lake so far away from anything, that even the label "remote" would be an understatement. The lake is located at the confluence... »

Natural Wonders, Watery Wonders, Geological Oddities | Edited by Tawsam and Rachel

Yale College in New Haven, CT, is well-known for its tomb societies—also called senior societies, and landed societies. These elite, secretive self-run student organizations have been around for... »

Memento Mori, Rites and Rituals, Eccentric Homes | Edited by JWOcker and Rachel

Prior to 1990, Semipalatinsk (today known as Semey) was one of the numerous closed cities of the Soviet Union. Only high-ranking officials of the politburo knew about the going-ons within these... »

Disaster Areas | Edited by Tawsam and Rachel

The story of Witch Rock follows the same general pattern as just about every other spook story of this ilk. It begins with Native Americans shunning the area due to evil spirits and then switches... »

Unusual Monuments | Edited by JWOcker and Rachel

Lake Champlain is the defining feature of Burlington, VT, although the body of water is large enough that it’s also the defining feature of quite a few other places as well, but perhaps most... »

Fascinating Fauna, Unusual Monuments | Edited by JWOcker and Rachel

Close to the town of Shetpe in Western Kazakhstan lies the Valley of Balls – or Torysh, as it is known in Kazakh. It consists of numerous ball-like rock formations strewn across a wide range of... »

Natural Wonders, Martian Landscapes, Geological Oddities | Edited by Tawsam, Rachel and others

In 1920, The S.S. San Pasqual was launched by the Pacific Marine Construction Company in San Diego as one of the oil tanker ships of the World War I Emergency Fleet. In 1921, she was damaged by a... »

Watery Wonders, Incredible Ruins | Edited by katiebaker4, Rachel and others

Legend has it that a Scottish earl named Henry Sinclair took a crew of explorers and discovered America in 1398, a whole century before Christopher Columbus. According to the story, they explored... »

Memento Mori, Dead Explorers | Edited by JWOcker and Rachel