Without life-sustaining processes like blood circulation and metabolism, the body begins to degrade. Skin falls away, eyeballs disintegrate, hair turns to dust, and eventually, so, too, will your bones. All of this is good news for the worms and bacteria that live in soil and feast on decaying material like your dead body. And it [...]
Archives
The Mysterious Case of Gil Pérez
Gil Pérez was a Spanish soldier of the Filipino Guardia Civil who allegedly suddenly appeared in the Plaza Mayor of Mexico City (more than 9,000 nautical miles from Manila, across the Pacific) on October 24, 1593. He was wearing the uniform of the guards of Palacio Del Gobernador in the Philippines, and claimed he had [...]
Famadihana: Dancing with the Dead
Famadihana is a funerary tradition of the Malagasy people in Madagascar. Known as the turning of the bones, people bring forth the bodies of their ancestors from the family crypts and rewrap them in fresh cloth, then dance with the corpses around the tomb to live music. The Famadihana custom appears to be a custom [...]
Oak Island Money Pit
Oak Island is a 140-acre (57 ha) island in Lunenberg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay and rises to a maximum of 35 feet (11 m) above sea level. Oak Island is noted as the location of the so-called [...]
Spontaneous Human Combustion
[Warning: contains graphic images] Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is a name used to describe cases of the burning of a living human body without an external source of ignition. There is speculation and controversy regarding SHC – some regard it as a unique and currently unexplained phenomenon, while others feel that cases described as SHC [...]
Voyager Syndrome: Travel Madness
Voyager Syndrome is the term given to a group of mental disorders relating to travel. The three most famous (which will be explained in more detail below) are Paris Syndrome, Jerusalem Syndrome, and Florence Syndrome. Voyager syndromes are a kind of culture shock, which refers to the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, [...]
Bog Bodies: Preserved Corpses
Bog Bodies, or the Bog People, are extremely well preserved and ancient corpses that have been discovered all over northwestern Europe. Typically Bog Bodies are found when workers drain sphagnum bogs and extract the peat moss. No one knows for sure how many Bog People have been uncovered in the past. Today, documented discoveries of [...]
Feral Children: Living With Beasts
A feral child (feral, – wild or undomesticated) is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language. Feral children are confined by humans (often parents), brought up by animals, or [...]
The Dancing Plague of 1518
“Somewhere amid the narrow lanes, the congested wharves, the stables, workshops, forges and fairs of the medieval city of Strasbourg, Frau Troffea stepped outside and began to dance. No music was playing and she showed no signs of joy as her skirts flew up around her rapidly moving legs. To the consternation of her husband, [...]
Ossuaries: Walls of Bones
An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary. The greatly [...]
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