The year was 1848. It was nighttime in Hydesville, New York when a flustered Margaret Fox dragged a neighbor from their home to witness the frightening phenomenon that had scared her so badly. Upon entering the farmhouse, Margaret led the neighbor to the bedroom of her two young daughters, fifteen-year-old Margaretta “Maggie” Fox and eleven-year-old […]
California, the Golden State, was first explored by Europeans in the sixteenth century when Spanish explorers began traversing the Pacific coastline. By the late-eighteenth century, the Spanish had established a series of missions which ran along the state which was referred to as “Alta California.” After a relatively brief stint as a Mexican province, California […]
Is there anything that quite embodies the pioneering spirit of the United States better than the Gold Rush? In 1848, gold was found in the Sacramento Valley, beginning a series of events in which hundreds of thousands of prospectors and fortune-seekers would flock to the “Wild West” over the next several years in search of […]
From the hidden treasure trove of the pirate Samuel Bellamy to the misplaced remains of the bizarre and mysterious Pedro Mountain Mummy, lost artifacts and treasures are scattered throughout history and sought after by fortune-hunters and historians alike. Amongst all of history’s most intriguing unsolved mysteries, few can hold a candle to that of the […]
A lost city of legend, a trio of adventurers, and a mystery that persists to this very day: this is the story of Percy Fawcett and his ill-fated final expedition to find the fabled “Lost City of Z.” Who Was Percy Fawcett? When picturing the quintessential adventurer, one might fall back on certain tropes. From […]
Pier Gerlofs Donia, often referred to as “Big Pier,” “Grutte Pier,” or “Greate Pier,” is an oft-forgotten pirate as well as a beloved folk hero of Frisian legend. Perhaps one of the strongest pirates in history, Grutte Pier is said to have been capable of lifting a horse on his shoulders and decapitating several opponents […]
“Don’t wear white after Labor Day!” This popular fashion rule is not quite as relevant these days as it used to be, but the general sense of this old adage is that one should retire summer clothing by early September and begin wearing more “seasonally appropriate” attire for the incoming autumn and winter months. Such […]
The Renaissance in Europe was a period of art and renewal that brought with it many advancements in both culture and empire. The advent of the Church of England gave birth to the rise of English Protestantism, expanding imperial power set the stage for the upcoming Age of Exploration, and the most famous playwright of […]
The name “Black Bart” is synonymous with outlawry. As a matter of fact, this name has belonged to not one but two notorious outlaws over the years. During the so-called “Golden Age of Piracy,” Bartholomew Roberts was known by the moniker of “Black Bart” and is considered to have been one of the most successful […]
In January of 897 AD, the Basilica San Giovanni Laterano in Rome bore witness to one of the strangest “trials” in human history. Referred to as either the Cadaver Synod or Synodus Horrenda, this event remains a dark blemish upon the history of the papacy as well as that of Rome itself. The reason that […]
