Why Is Mischief Night Different From All Other Nights?

In 2013, graphics editor Josh Katz created what would become that year’s most-visited New York Times story: a linguistic quiz for Americans. “I was studying statistics, and I've always found linguistics interesting,” he says. “So it seemed like a dataset that would be interesting to apply some statistical methods to.” That quiz, with uncanny accuracy,...

7h

Remembering ‘Witch Cakes,’ the Evil-Fighting Baked Goods of the 1600s

Depending on whom you ask, the Salem Witch Trials were the result of fear, confusion, psychological trauma, or possibly even a hallucinogenic fungus. But as the fervor was just beginning, the village reverend blamed another culprit: cake. The origins of the tragic trials lay within Reverend Samuel Parris’s own home. In January 1692, his daughter,...

7h

Berkeley Plantation in Charles City, Virginia

The history of the property now known as the Berkeley Plantation begins back in 1619, only 12 years after the establishment of Jamestown. A small group of European explorers would land at a tranquil spot on the banks of the James River and dubbed the land Berkeley Hundred, after a noble family from England. The men, led by Captain John Woodlief, were...

9h

Sea Tunnel at St. Anthony’s Canal in Šibenik, Croatia

The channel is a natural phenomenon and was named after Saint Anthony the Abbot. It is the only natural water route to Šibenik.  From the sea or the opposite shore you can see two holes in the coast, which locals call "Hitler's eyes." These are the entry into an underground water bypass built by the Germans in the 20th century. This construction allowed military...

10h

Pirelli Building in New Haven, Connecticut

One of the most infamous remnants of New Haven's urban renewal period looms over an IKEA parking lot. The Pirelli Tire Building, designed by Marcel Breuer, has been a striking feature of the city’s harbor for decades. In 1966, when the Armstrong Rubber Company was looking to build a new headquarters near the intersection of Interstates 91 and 95,...

12h

Rockland (Woodhill) Tunnel in Kennerdell, Pennsylvania

Take a detour north off I-80 in western Pennsylvania and visitors will come across the remains of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, first designed during the late 1860s. Initially, a four-mile railroad loop was created in Woodhill as part of a section of track designed to help export crude oil from the region. However, this loop proved inefficient due...

13h

St. Ann's Shrine and Grotto in New Orleans, Louisiana

The city of New Orleans offers many ways for the devoted to practice in their faith, including the opportunity to climb the steps of a unique two-story shrine in Treme. The massive gate-enclosed shrine was built over 100 years ago and, due to its magnificent stature, has been a focal point for devotion since. The shrine fits into the wider historical...

14h

Memorial to the Edelweiss Pirates in Cologne, Germany

Under the Ehrenfeld railway bridge stands a plaque and memorial mural that commemorates the heroic group known as the Edelweiss Pirates. The Edelweißpiraten, as they were called in Germany, was a youth subculture group that emerged in the 1930s.  The movement grew in response to Nazi totalitarianism, which included the indoctrination of children and...

15h

'Sweet Brown Snail' in Munich, Germany

Street art often has a meaning tied to its look and location, perhaps the best example of this is a gigantic sculpture of a snail, looking longingly at a Munich museum filled with cars and other vehicles.  The sculpture called 'Sweet Brown Snail' is a 29 fold enlargement of a popular tourist trinket, now towering at four meters high. The statue was...

16h

This British University Has an Archive of Ye Olde Haunted Houses

The photographs housed at the University of Sheffield’s National Fairground and Circus Archive aren’t really meant to be spooky, but there’s just something about a vintage snapshot of a vacant carnival ride or empty sideshow stage that feels like a peek onto a horror movie set. That makes sense to collections manager Arantza Barrutia. She points out...

17h