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People used to be buried with bells attached to their coffins in case they woke up.

  • Premature burial prevention, 1905
Premature burial prevention, 1905
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Author Bess Lovejoy

September 24, 2025

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In the 18th and 19th centuries, fear of being buried alive was widespread. Newspapers and pamphlets — not to mention gothic novels and “penny dreadfuls” — reported cases of mistaken death, and even famous figures took precautions to avoid being buried prematurely. Composer Frédéric Chopin reportedly asked that his body be cut open to ensure he was truly dead, while George Washington had his body watched for two full days before burial.

The concern was not entirely unfounded. Death is a gradual process, and faint pulse, shallow breathing, or illnesses that mimic death could easily fool the untrained observer. Early methods to confirm life included placing a feather by the mouth or using a mirror to detect breath. Later, more inventive techniques emerged, such as brushing invisible silver nitrate messages onto glass above coffins; decomposition gases would reveal the words “I am dead.”

Fear of premature burial also inspired a wave of “safety” innovations. The most famous was Russian Count Michel de Karnice-Karnicki’s 1897 safety coffin, known as Le Karnice. A spring-loaded ball rested over the chest, and any movement released air and light into the coffin, which rang a bell and raised a flag aboveground. A tube allowed a conscious occupant to call for help. 

Thousands of French citizens requested Le Karnice in their wills, and it was demonstrated in New York, though false alarms caused by natural postmortem body movements kept it from widespread use. Other safety coffins were also patented and demonstrated, including one in New Jersey that included a receptacle for refreshments.

While there’s no evidence that safety coffins actually ever saved anyone, they reveal a fascinating mix of ingenuity and anxiety. They are a reminder that for centuries, people sought practical ways to assert control over one of life’s most unsettling uncertainties: the line between life and death.

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Germans once created “waiting houses” for the dead.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Germans developed a unique solution to widespread fears of premature burial: Leichenhaüsers, or waiting mortuaries. These corpse chambers were designed to hold the recently deceased until decomposition — considered the most definitive proof of death — confirmed that burial was safe. The first Leichenhaüser was established in 1791 in Weimar by Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, a physician-turned-philanthropist. It could accommodate eight bodies at a time and was kept warm with steam pipes to hasten decomposition. Over the following decades, Leichenhaüsers spread across Germany and beyond, sometimes including additional features to assuage public fears. Bodies were occasionally adorned with scented flowers, and bells or wires were attached in case a corpse showed signs of life. A vigilant porter would remain on duty to monitor the occupants. Some waiting houses even allowed visitors to wander among the corpses, paying admission to observe the “safety” of the practice. Despite the expense and elaborate precautions, there is no record of a single corpse reviving while in a Leichenhaüser.

The ‘phantom time hypothesis’ claims 297 years of history never happened.

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Wooden analog clock
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Author Kerry Hinton

April 19, 2024

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What would happen if two emperors and a pope decided to fast-forward the calendar 300 years into the future? According to the “phantom time” conspiracy theory, that’s exactly what happened around a thousand years ago in Europe. This startling hypothesis was put forth by German amateur historian Heribert Illig in his 1996 book The Invented Middle Ages: The Greatest Time-Falsification in History, which suggests the years 614 to 911 CE — a sizable chunk of the Middle Ages — never happened. Illig argues that Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly Roman Emperor Constantine VII conspired to make up 297 years of history — including the reign of Charlemagne, the Viking raids on Europe, and countless other historical events — in order to place Otto’s rule in the year 1000 CE. The main reason? That date was exactly a thousand years after the birth of Christ (although some scholars now believe Jesus was born closer to 4 BCE).

Illig supports his claim by pointing out discrepancies between the Julian and Gregorian calendars that could be explained by the fabricated dates. He also suggests that Otto III and Sylvester II ordered scribes to create manuscripts from the missing centuries. Historians, however, have offered considerable evidence that debunks the theory, not least of which is that Illig’s hypothesis ignores the development of other cultures around the world during those 300 years. Astronomical science offers additional proof that a royal and holy alliance didn’t invent centuries of history. As astrophysicist Brian Koberlein wrote in Forbes, “If 300 years of history were simply added to the record, the forgery would be written in the stars, and this simply isn’t the case.”

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Experts have proposed a simpler version of our modern calendar.

The Gregorian calendar, which has been in use for more than 400 years, improved upon the mistakes of the Julian calendar that preceded it, but it's still a complicated way to keep time. At Johns Hopkins University, professors Steve H. Hanke and Richard Conn Henry have come up with a revised, simpler version: the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar (HHPC). Unlike our current calendar, the HHPC uses fixed dates — each date is identical every year. For example, someone born on Monday, February 3, would always celebrate their birthday on a Monday. Instead of using leap years, the HHPC includes 364 days in a year, plus a weeklong "Mini-Month" that occurs once every five to six years.

The Pilgrims settled at Plymouth partly because they were running low on beer.

  • Pilgrims land at Plymouth, 1620
Pilgrims land at Plymouth, 1620
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Author Timothy Ott

September 24, 2025

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The old proverb holds that for want of a nail, the kingdom was lost. And yet, it seems that for want of beer, a colony was founded. The religious separatists known today as Pilgrims, who left England aboard the Mayflower in September 1620, endured cramped conditions and frightening storms as they waited out their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. As described in Susan Cheever’s Drinking in America: Our Secret History, one of the few sources of relief for this troubled lot was the daily ration of up to a gallon of beer. Besides helping to calm harrowed nerves, the fermented beverage provided health benefits to imbibers, as it was safer to drink than the algae-laced water supplies.

The Mayflower passengers were ecstatic to finally reach the shores of America when they landed in Massachusetts in November, but they were bound by contract with the Virginia Company of London to settle farther south. However, the ship was blown off course, and dangerous rocks and shifting shoals prevented it from progressing to Virginia, prompting captain Christopher Jones to turn his storm-battered ship back toward Cape Cod. According to William Bradford, an early governor of Plymouth Colony, the Mayflower crew still had some beer left when they landed in Massachusetts, but they were saving it for the return trip and thus pushed the Pilgrims to go to shore and drink water. 

After a few weeks of scouring the region, the Pilgrims realized the importance of finding a spot to bunker down for the winter and beyond; as one passenger wrote in a surviving journal from the period, “[W]e could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer.” The newcomers promptly began building what became Plymouth Colony in the area of an abandoned Wampanoag settlement, with a brew house unsurprisingly among the first structures to be raised.

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Before carrying the Pilgrims, the Mayflower primarily transported wine.

While the transatlantic voyage that brought the Pilgrims to America was an outlier in the life of the Mayflower, the transportation of large stores of alcohol was par for the course. The merchant ship was purchased by Captain Christopher Jones and a few co-investors around 1608 and used for trading goods across Europe over the next dozen years. A typical round-trip passage carried cloth and wine between England and the French ports of Bordeaux and La Rochelle. Immediately prior to taking on the Pilgrims, the Mayflower docked at London with 50 tons of French wine for a Mr. William Speight, while a Mr. John Crabbe claimed 19 tons along with another hogshead of wine. It's unclear what prompted Captain Jones to accept the assignment of ferrying passengers across the Atlantic, but he resumed his usual trading routine after returning to England in May 1621.

King Richard III’s grave was discovered underneath a parking lot.

  • Richard III, 1480s
Richard III, 1480s
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Author Bennett Kleinman

April 19, 2024

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Many English monarchs are buried inside ornate tombs located at sites of great reverence. The same can’t be said for Richard III, whose long-lost remains were found and excavated underneath a parking lot in Leicester, England. Richard III served as king of England from 1483 until he was slain at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. After the battle, his remains were brought to a nearby friary in Leicester that was operated by the Franciscans. He was buried inside, but the building was torn down in 1538. Centuries of new construction thereafter transformed the city’s layout, and the exact location of Richard III’s grave was lost in the annals of time.

In 1975, a researcher named Audrey Strange published an article theorizing that Richard III could be buried under a parking lot used by the Leicester City Council. In 2012, a team of researchers at the University of Leicester took it upon themselves to find the monarch’s body once and for all, honing in on that very car park. After just six hours of digging, the king’s remains were uncovered, though it took five months of further analysis to confirm the bones belonged to Richard III. The grave they discovered was oddly short in length, with Richard’s head and torso crammed in tightly at one end. There was also no evidence of a shroud or any personal ornaments, suggesting the king had been hastily buried without fanfare. In 2015, Richard III’s remains were finally reinterred at Leicester Cathedral.

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George Washington approved a plan to kidnap the future king of England.

William IV served as king of Great Britain from 1830 until 1837, succeeding his brother George IV. But decades earlier, in 1779, the 13-year-old future monarch, then known as Prince William Henry, enlisted in the British navy as a midshipman. Two years later, William’s ship arrived in New York Harbor, coincidentally making him the only member of the royal family to visit the continent during the American Revolutionary War. Word of William’s arrival spread among members of the Continental Army, who devised a scheme to kidnap the young prince so he could be used as leverage in future treaty discussions. Colonel Samuel Ogden presented the idea to General George Washington, who approved the plan, saying, “You have my authority to make the attempt in any manner and at such a time as your judgment shall direct.” Ultimately, the plot never came to fruition; William safely returned home and eventually ascended to the English throne.

The world’s oldest bread loaf is more than 8,000 years old.

  • Loaf of bread
Loaf of bread
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Author Sarah Anne Lloyd

April 19, 2024

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Bread is such a staple food that it’s often synonymous with sustenance itself, as in “putting bread on the table,” “breadwinner,” or “daily bread.” Indeed, humans have been eating bread for a long, long time. The earliest loaf of bread ever discovered is a whopping 8,600 years old, unearthed at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement in what is now southern Turkey, comprised of mud-brick dwellings built on top of one another. 

While excavating the site, archaeologists found the remains of a large oven, and nearby, a round, organic, spongy residue among some barley, wheat, and pea seeds. After biologists scanned the substance with an electron microscope, they revealed that it was a very small loaf of uncooked bread. It had been fermented, like a sourdough loaf, and someone had pressed their finger in the center of it. The dough had been encased in clay, which allowed it to survive for thousands of years.

The preserved loaf dates back to around 6600 BCE, but by that point, humans had already been baking bread for thousands of years. Some baking even predates agriculture, meaning our prehistoric ancestors were making the food with foraged grains. The oldest known evidence of bread, found in the Black Desert in modern-day Jordan, dates back around 14,000 years. Researchers recovered crumbs from large, circular stone fireplaces — one archaeobotanist compared it to the charred crumbs at the bottom of a toaster. This ancient bread was made of wild wheat and root vegetables, kneaded, then baked on hot stones. The process would have been labor intensive, so archaeologists theorize that bread was a treat reserved for special occasions.

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Figs are the earliest known cultivated plant.

For the most part, humans started growing their own food rather than hunting or gathering it between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago, when Neolithic peoples began planting wheat, barley, lentils, peas, chickpeas, and flax. But there’s evidence that cultivated fig trees predate what’s known as the “founder crops” by as many as 1,000 years. In 2006, archaeobotanists discovered several figs in a building that had burned down near ancient Jericho, leaving a slight char that preserved the fruit well enough to analyze it. They found that the figs had a genetic mutation that produced sweet fruit but no fertile seeds, so new plants had to be propagated by humans.

Hollywood was established in Los Angeles to get away from Thomas Edison.

  • Hollywood clapboard
Hollywood clapboard
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Author Bennett Kleinman

April 16, 2024

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Hollywood most likely wouldn’t be the movie mecca it is today if not for filmmakers traveling west to escape Thomas Edison’s stranglehold on movie production. In 1891, Edison positioned himself at the forefront of the budding film industry after patenting an early camera known as the Kinetograph and a viewer called the Kinetoscope. Two years later, he opened the very first movie studio, Black Maria, in West Orange, New Jersey. He went on to produce nearly 1,200 films over the ensuing decades (including the first Frankenstein movie). To ensure the success of his films, Edison formed an alliance with other industry patent holders to quash competition. Called the Motion Picture Patents Company, the group inundated independent filmmakers with copyright infringement lawsuits to ensure Edison’s iron grip over the industry.

Because Edison’s operations were based on the East Coast, however, his sphere of influence was weaker in Western states such as California. This led independent filmmakers to seek refuge out West, and many settled in a newly incorporated neighborhood of Los Angeles called Hollywood. (The area was initially founded as a religious community before the migration of filmmakers.) Edison’s legal team, however, continued to hound West Coast producers until the 1915 Supreme Court case United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co. ruled that Edison could no longer use his patents to impede or disable rival moviemakers. With Edison’s monopoly finally busted, the film industry began to thrive in its new Hollywood home.

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Thomas Edison administered a 146-question intelligence test to prospective employees.

Thomas Edison demanded a great deal of his employees, and wanted to ensure that he hired only the most knowledgeable individuals. To do this, his company administered a lengthy test to all prospective hires, containing 146 seemingly random bits of trivia. The quiz included questions such as, “What is the capital of Pennsylvania?” and “What cereal is used all over the world?” Many people who interviewed for a job at Edison’s company decried the test as impossible to pass. Even Edison’s own son, a student at MIT, failed the exam, as did Albert Einstein, who took the test after it was published in the newspaper. Despite the criticism, Edison defended the questionnaire as a necessity, claiming that each memory lapse from his employees cost the company $5,000 (roughly $86,000 today).

The most valuable U.S. bill is the ‘Grand Watermelon’ $1,000 Treasury Note.

  • $1,000 “Grand Watermelon” Treasury Note
$1,000 "Grand Watermelon" Treasury Note
Credit: Kris Connor via Getty Images Entertainment
Author Michael Nordine

September 24, 2025

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Money might seem like an odd collector’s item, given that we tend to think of a $100 bill as being worth, well, $100. But several discontinued banknotes are worth far more than face value. That’s especially true of the 1890 $1,000 Treasury Note nicknamed the “Grand Watermelon,” which, with a valuation of $3.3 million, is now considered the most valuable U.S. bill. 

No actual watermelons adorn the note, alas, but the wide, green zeros on the reverse bear a striking resemblance to the beloved fruit. A portrait of George Meade, a Union general during the Civil War, is on the obverse (front). The bill didn’t last long, as neither the Treasury Department nor the public was enamored with the design, and only 18,000 were produced.
As for why it’s so valuable more than 130 years later, the answer is simple: scarcity. There are only three known collectible examples of the “Grand Watermelon” note still in existence, one of which sold for $3.29 million in January 2014. Also quite valuable is the 1891 Red Seal $1,000 Treasury Note, with one selling for $2.5 million in April 2013. Maybe one day your 50 State Quarters will fetch a similar price.

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The $2 bill is still printed.

Despite being thought of as a collectible, the $2 bill is still printed in the United States — albeit at smaller quantities than it used to be. Its reputation is apparently self-perpetuating, as the reason so few of them are used as actual currency is that most people prefer to hang on to them instead. 

The bills have been in circulation since 1862, when the U.S. first started printing paper currency, except between 1966 and 1972, when the Federal Reserve decided they’d outlived their usefulness. Once $2 bills returned from their six-year hiatus, hardworking Americans began collecting them rather than exchanging them for goods and services. The Federal Reserve estimates that there are still 1.7 billion $2 bills in circulation. That’s not a lot when compared to the 14.9 billion $1 bills that are out there, but it’s not exactly rare, either.

Alcatraz operated for less than 30 years.

  • View of Alcatraz prison
View of Alcatraz prison
Credit: Shelby Cohron/ Unsplash
Author Nicole Villeneuve

April 11, 2024

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Alcatraz is one of the most infamous prisons in U.S. history, but its reputation has outlived the relatively short time it was operational. The small Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was transformed into a fortress in the mid-19th century, and during the Civil War, it was used as a military prison. By the early 1900s, the fortress was no longer considered an effective defense outpost, and in 1934, the U.S. Department of Justice repurposed it as a federal prison. 

Violence and crime were prevalent during the Prohibition era and Great Depression, and Alcatraz was seen as a maximum-security solution for some of the most feared criminals of the early 20th century. Throughout the summer and fall of 1934, groups of prisoners including mobster Al Capone and violent robber George “Machine Gun” Kelly were shipped to “The Rock,” as the island became known; other infamous figures such as mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, Robert “Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud, and drug and gambling kingpin Ellsworth Raymond “Bumpy” Johnson joined in later years. 

The prison’s operating costs, however, were unsustainably high. A 1959 report revealed that Alcatraz cost three times more to operate per prisoner than other comparable facilities, and in March 1963, just 29 years after it opened, the prison was closed. The island sat neglected, and discussions about its future use lingered for years. In 1972, after a group of Native American activists had occupied the land for almost two years, the property came under the purview of the National Park Service. Today, Alcatraz Island welcomes more than 1.5 million visitors to its storied rocky shores each year.

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Al Capone played banjo in an Alcatraz prison band.

He’s known for running a powerful organized crime empire, but Al Capone spent his time behind bars as a banjo player in the prison band. The Rock Islanders were made up of inmates — including notorious gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly on the drums — who would occasionally perform concerts in the famed prison. When Capone wasn’t performing music, he spent time learning to play songs on both the banjo and the mandola. In a letter to his son, he boasted about knowing how to play more than 500 songs. Capone spent just over four years in Alcatraz, and in the years since the prison closed to inmates, banjo sounds have reportedly been heard drifting from his old cell.

Spain is home to the world’s oldest active military unit.

  • Castile regiment, Spanish Civil War
Castile regiment, Spanish Civil War
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Author Timothy Ott

September 18, 2025

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In 1248, King Ferdinand III of modern-day Spain successfully completed the Siege of Seville — part of the ongoing effort to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule — with the assistance of a plucky fighting group known as the Band of Castile. Said to be impressed by the bravery of this band of fighters, Ferdinand designated it a permanent division under his service, thus inaugurating what is now regarded as the world’s oldest active military unit.

The unit was reorganized numerous times over the following centuries as it took on a series of name changes, from the King’s Guard Colonelcy under Philip IV, to the Regiment of Castile under Philip V, to its current identity as the King’s Immemorial Infantry Regiment. No matter the moniker, the unit has participated in virtually every major conflict in the country’s history, including the 18th-century War of the Spanish Succession and Napoleonic Peninsular War, as well as overseas efforts that both aided the American Revolution and later fought the burgeoning superpower in the Spanish-American War.

Nowadays, the King’s Immemorial Infantry Regiment is largely charged with providing security at the Spanish army headquarters of Palacio de Buenavista, with other members assigned to service in the automobile and music divisions. Many of its duties are ceremonial, such as the palace’s monthly changing of the guard, or the traditional induction of the heir to the throne as an honorary soldier in the unit. While the call to arms is no longer a regular occurrence, this ancient regiment remains ready to aid the monarchy in any way it can, even if that means simply ensuring a smooth drive for palace personnel or fostering good vibes by striking up a jaunty tune.

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Since World War I, the Swiss Guard has worn some of the world's most colorful military uniforms.

Although the Swiss Guard has been charged with the all-important task of protecting the pope and other denizens of the Apostolic Palace since 1506, one could be forgiven for mistaking this colorfully clad unit for some sort of traveling performance troupe. Its blue, red, and yellow-striped ensemble with a feather-tipped helmet is courtesy of early 20th-century commandant Jules Repond, who studied the frescoes of Rafael for inspiration before publicly unveiling these distinctly Renaissance-era getups in 1915. 

These ceremonial "Gala" uniforms are far from the only ones seen around Vatican City; officers don a red velvet outfit for special events, and guards otherwise wear a less-distracting blue tunic in areas with significant foot traffic and even a suit when serving on security detail. Nevertheless, the striped version remains the showstopper for onlookers and a reminder of the prestigious unit's historic roots.

The entire country of Malta was awarded a medal during WWII.

  • Maltese learn of award
Maltese learn of award
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Author Rachel Gresh

April 11, 2024

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Malta is now a Mediterranean tourist haven with beautiful landscapes and famous filming sites, but something more sinister sits hidden below its waters: remnants of military planes, vessels, and bombs left over from the heaviest sustained bombing of World War II. The country’s location at the crossroads of Europe and Africa made it a valuable military base, allowing the Allies to support and resupply their troops in North Africa. It also made Malta a prime Axis target, and its citizens watched their cities turn to rubble as they bore relentless aerial attacks by the German Luftwaffe and Italian Air Force. 

The worst bombings began in January 1942 when Adolf Hitler ordered the neutralization of the island nation ahead of a German invasion. For six months, there was only one 24-hour period when bombs did not fall on Malta; the country holds the record for the heaviest sustained bombing during World War II, with a total of 6,700 bombs dropped in 154 days. Still, the Maltese people did not waver in their support for the Allied forces. As food and medical supplies dwindled, residents were forced into underground bunkers to wait out the siege, and poor living conditions led to a typhoid epidemic, scabies, and widespread malnutrition. An estimated 10,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, including most of the capital city of Valletta. Many residents were evacuated to the center of the main island, but they never surrendered. Amid the bombings, Allied troops managed to launch several pivotal amphibious attacks from Malta into Axis-held territory, including North Africa, Sicily, and mainland Italy. The bombs finally stopped when Axis forces were defeated in North Africa in May 1943.

The bravery of the citizens of Malta, which was a British colony at the time, did not go unnoticed. On April 15, 1942 — amid some of the worst attacks on Malta — Britain’s King George VI awarded the entire country of Malta the George Cross, one of the highest honors for civilian bravery. The king wrote to the governor of Malta, “To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history.” The country gained its independence in 1964, and today, the upper-left corner of its national flag is emblazoned with the symbol of the George Cross, serving as a reminder of this harrowing chapter of its history.

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A Maltese church displays a replica of a bomb that failed to destroy it.

Not all visitors to Malta’s Parish Church of St. Mary come to worship. For some, the highlight is the church’s replica of a World War II-era bomb, displayed as a reminder of the “Miracle of Mosta.” The church, which is also known as the Mosta Dome, after the city of Mosta, was targeted by the German Luftwaffe on April 9, 1942, just as 300 parishioners arrived for service. As the crowd gathered in their pews, they began hearing the telltale signs of an oncoming air raid — but it was too late to seek shelter. A bomb broke through the church’s massive dome and landed on the floor, rolling across the ground in front of the crowd. Miraculously, it did not explode, and no lives were lost. Two more bombs fell around the church, both of which also failed to detonate. As the bombs were dismantled and thrown into the Mediterranean Sea, the people of Malta celebrated the event as a miracle. Since then, the church’s dome — one of the world’s largest unsupported domes — has been restored to its former glory, and a replica of the bomb that pierced through it is on display.

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