Biography History Mystery

The Strange Story of Mesmerism and its Namesake Franz Mesmer

What is Mesmerism? The phrase “animal magnetism” evokes mental images of emanating sensuality, of raw primal attraction. Colloquially, this is what animal magnetism means. However, animal magnetism once held a very different definition. There was a time, in fact, when it was thought, albeit by a small group of believers, that animal magnetism would completely […]

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Biography History Mystery

The Fox Sisters: How a Prank Created the Modern Ghost Story

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 […]

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