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Once upon a time, in a rotating chicken-legged hut in the depths of the forest, there lived Baba Yaga, the preeminent witch of Slavic folklore. Don’t let her wrinkled face or bony leg fool you—she is a fierce enchantress, a force to be reckoned with!
At the Boomerang Nebula, 5,000 light-years away, a dying star is shooting out gas so quickly that it actually cools down as it expands; the surrounding clouds are barely above absolute zero, making it the coldest place in the universe.
Billionaire Marc Lore is building the utopian mega-city of Telosa from scratch in the American desert. Here’s why he’s doing it, what the city will look like, and how he plans to get it done.
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.
In Iceland’s rugged wilderness, legends of the huldufólk linger on. These mysterious elves, said to be able to jump between dimensions, reside within the very rocks and hills themselves—which is why Icelanders are careful not to let American companies disturb their landscape!
When a plan to eradicate cobras in 19th-century Delhi backfired spectacularly, the incident became known as the “Cobra Effect.” It has since become a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of well-meaning policies, and a reminder of the importance of understanding the systems within which we operate.
John Harvey Kellogg was a Seventh-Day Adventist who believed that self-gratification was the sin of all sins. But did he invent cornflakes as a sort of anti-masturbatory meal? A sticky question, for sure, and one we just have to flake…
Surfers worldwide recognize the hang loose sign, or shaka, as a symbol of goodwill and friendship. But the story of its Hawaii origins aren’t as simple as one might think. Through a combination of language, tragedy, mystery, and advertisements, the hang loose sign found its way into the cultural zeitgeist.
One of Santa’s most intriguing companions, Knecht Ruprecht is a legendary figure in German folklore, attested as early as the 17th century. A wild, shaggy-haired figure dressed in dark, fur-trimmed clothing, he is said to roam the countryside during the Christmas season, dolling out punishments to all the naughty children, while Santa rewards the good.
Dwight K. Shrute: What about an authentic Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas? Drink some gluhwein, enjoy some hasenpfeffer. Enjoy Christmas with saint Nicolas’ rural German companion, Belsnickel. Jim Halpert: Yes! That, that, that! We’re definitely doing that. Are we all in agreement? OddFeed: Yes, yes, a resounding yes!
Can’t Help Myself, a famous art installation by Chinese artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, has divided viewers on its interpretation since its 2016 debut in the Guggenheim Museum. The robotic exploration of futility may never be fully understood, but the story of its creation and reception offer insights into its meaning.
The life and works of Zdzisław Beksiński are each engrossing in their own ways. His journey from war-torn Poland in the 1940s to a fantastical style of painting in the 70s and beyond gave the contemporary art world a visual jolt of deformed bodies and vivid hellscapes that were horrific and mesmerizing to behold.
The 19th-century children’s book Der Struwwelpeter is a fascinating collection of illustrated tales about misbehaving children and their horrific punishments. While these stories would be considered highly inappropriate for today’s children, they have greatly influenced modern children’s literature, comic books, and pop culture.
Albert Einstein believed his youngest son Eduard had the potential to follow in his footsteps. Tragically, the brilliant young man’s battle with mental illness and his family’s inability to find effective and cruelty-free treatments led to a life of loneliness and anonymity.
In 1941, Jorge Luis Borges invented the Library of Babel, an infinite repository of knowledge, and a dizzying plunge into the depths of uncertainty and ignorance. Several decades later, we invented the internet. The two are linked—and have a lot to do with several ancient philosophers and Émile Borel’s million monkeys.
On July 28, 1945, in response to the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan’s unconditional surrender, Japanese prime minister Kantarō Suzuki uttered a now-famous phrase: mokusatsu-suru. The phrase can be translated to mean either “ignore” or “no comment.” The Allies heard the former. The atomic bombs were dropped several days later.
In the eastern woodlands of the Canadian North, there lives—in the chill of the air and in the fearful whispers of the local people—the wendigo, a horrendous creature of evil with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. There is only one thing the locals fear more than being eaten by the wendigo—becoming one.
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