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In the span of 65 years, from 1663 to 1728, France sent boatloads of carefully selected women to its American colonies to boost population and settlement. Among them, the Casket Girls of New Orleans stand out, shrouded in mystery and dark legends.
From passports to Senate dress codes, the article explores the slow unraveling of coverture laws in America, revealing the tenacity required for women to secure legal independence and illustrating the lingering impact of centuries-old gender norms.
George Washington’s hair discovered in Schenectady, New York, thrilled historians, while sparking intrigue and debate over its true historical significance and monetary worth. A find that raises questions as much as eyebrows!
In the 17th century, the colony of New France in modern day Québec faced a dire population problem that required an inventive solution. Without suitable wives, most men weren’t interested in settling in the colony: until King Lous XIV sent the Filles du Roi, the King’s Daughters.
Hannah Ocuish was 12 years old when she was hanged by the state of Connecticut in 1786 for the murder of Eunice Bolles, marking her the youngest person to have ever been executed in the United States. The story of her conviction and death leaves room for serious doubt about whether it should have happened at all.
Fordlandia, Henry Ford’s attempt at building an industrialized utopia in the Amazon rainforest, is a story of hubris and failure on an impressive scale. The titan of American manufacturing thought he could create a picture-perfect, self-sustaining city that would produce rubber for Ford tires, but it never did.
The Hasanlu Lovers are a unique archaeological find: two ancient skeletons from a doomed city, locked in a tender embrace long after their deaths. The revelation that they were both male has sparked controversy and debate.
In 1184, during the resolution of a land dispute in Erfurt, dozens of German nobles met a grisly end when the floor collapsed beneath them, plunging them into a lake of human excrement. More than 60 of them drowned in the latrine, and the future Holy Roman Emperor barely escaped with his life.
For more than two centuries, young Italian boys were castrated to preserve their pre-pubescent singing voices. They became hotly sought-after in church choirs and operas around Europe. This is the story of the castrato singers.
Until just recently, there lay, inside the Enjuin Temple in Asakuchi, Japan, one of the most intriguing mummies in the world. It was not of an ancient human or an animal, but of something in between, something which should ostensibly exist only in legend: a mermaid.
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