The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

"United Kingdom"

The history of the United Kingdom is full of all sorts of weird and wonderful stories. Here are a few.

medium Helen Duncan "manifests ectoplasm"

Deeply Impressed

Helen Duncan goes on trial

Helen Duncan was the last person persecuted in Britain for being a witch. Except she wasn't the last, she wasn't a witch, and she wasn't exactly persecuted either...

Categories: Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 14

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a (historically inaccurate) woodblock print of the flaming steamship CAROLINE being carried over Niagara Falls

Dangerous Excitement

good times never felt so good

The Canadian revolution seemed over... and then the Redcoats seized an American ship, set it on fire, and sent it plunging over Niagara Falls.

Categories: History, Series 13

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Dorothy Cadwell Taylor

The Realest Housewife of Beverly Hills

confidante of kings, movie stars, and mobsters

The Countess di Frasso was the most famous hostess in the world, who threw parties for kings; actors, athletes and aviators; Nazis and mobsters.

Categories: Arts & Culture, Biography, Eccentrics & Prophecies, Entertainment & Media, People & Places

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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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detail from Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso by James McNeill Whistler

Crepuscule in Blood and Guts

the most curious incident in the life of James McNeill Whistler

This one has it all: sibling rivalry, country club politics, adultery, duels, the Civil War, Spanish colonial policy, and three giant piles of bird poop.

Categories: Arts & Culture, Daring & Epic Journeys, Series 13

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The CSS Shenandoah

The Sea King

the last Confederate ship

In 1864 the Confederacy sent a privateer to destroy the whaling industry. It succeeded beyond their wildest dreams... but not until after the war was over.

Categories: Daring & Epic Journeys, History, Series 11

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the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull

Lost Legacy

the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull of Doom

It is the embodiment of all evil? Can it kill with a thought? Can it unlock the secrets of the universe? Whatever it can do, it's the Skull of Doom!

Categories: Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Series 9, Wild Card

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