The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

"religion"

Give me that old time religion! Or that new time religion. Or any religion at all, really, as long as it’s interesting.

The Reverend May S. Pepper

A Good Thing to Die By

the Reverend May S. Pepper and Bright Eyes

This one has it all: the afterlife, evil stepmothers, Kickapoo princesses, the Romanovs, bigamy and fraud, ghost farts and spirit chickens.

Categories: Biography, Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 13

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"Commander William B. Cushing with Ghost Image"

What Joy to the Troubled Heart!

the tale of William H. Mumler, spirit photographer

In 1862, William H. Mumler took the first known photograph of a ghost. Maybe. What unfolded next was an epic story of fraud and self-deception...

Categories: Biography, Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 13

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illustration from an edition of The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk

Nuns on the Run

The Awful disclosures of Maria Monk

In 1835 Maria Monk claimed that Montreal's Hôtel-Dieu convent was a vice den. She was making it all up... but Americans desperately wanted to believe her.

Categories: History, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Series 13

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George Jacob Schweinfurth

Holy Ghost Babies

ten times worse than Brigham Young (or so they say)

George Jacob Schweinfurth was a charlatan who mocked religion, stole money, and despoiled women with his hypnotic powers. Then he did something unexpected.

Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, People & Places, Series 11

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Dr. John Ballou Newbrough

Suffer Little Children

John Ballou Newbrough, Oahspe, and the Faithists of SHalam

In 1880, God dictated a new Bible to J.B. Newbrough, and then told him to move to New Mexico and open up the weirdest orphanage the world has ever seen.

Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, Most Popular, People & Places, Series 7

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