Whatever the impartial historian may write, he can never induce the people at large to understand that this queen was far from queenly, that the popular idea of her is almost wholly false, and that both in her domestic life and as the greatest lady in France she did much to bring on the terrors of that revolution which swept her to the guillotine.
Read MoreIn the 17th century, English travelers, merchants, and physicians were first introduced to cannabis, particularly in the form of bhang, an intoxicating edible which had been getting Indians high for millennia. Benjamin Breen charts the course of the drug from the streets of Machilipatnam to the scientific circles of London.
Read MoreOn New Year's Day, the queen did not disdain to receive presents from her servants. A laundress bid the Queen's acceptance of three pocket handkerchiefs. Another sought favor with a cambric nightcap. Apothecaries presented packets of green ginger, orange candy, and the sergeant of the pastry a great quince pie with gilt ornaments.
Read MoreIn Germany, biscuits, often of animal or human shape, are conspicuous on Christmas Eve. In Berlin a great pile of biscuits heaped up on your plate is an important part of the Christmas Eve supper. These of course are nowadays mere luxuries, but they may well have had some sort of sacrificial origin.
Read MoreAt the first Massachusetts Thanksgiving, in 1621, the Indians brought in five deer to the colonists for their feast. That year there was also "great store of wild turkies." These beautiful birds of gold and purple bronze were at first plentiful everywhere, and were of great weight, far larger than our domestic turkeys today.
Read MoreAs the French Revolution evolved, there emerged in print a recurring figure, the collective power of the people expressed as a single gigantic body — a king-eating Colossus. Explore the lineage of this nouveau Hercules, from Erasmus Darwin’s Bastille-breaking giant to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Read MoreExplore how the witch craze of early modern Europe, along with the concurrent rise of the mass-produced woodcut, helped forge the archetype of the broom-riding crone — complete with cauldron and cats.
Read MoreWilliam of Auverne, who wrote in the thirteenth century, states that when the Witches of his time wished to go to the place of rendezvous, they took a reed or cane, and, on making some magical signs, and uttering certain barbarous words, it became transformed into a horse, which carried them thither with extraordinary rapidity.
Read MoreIn Italy on the night of All Souls', the spirits of the dead are thought to be abroad. In Naples the skeletons in the funeral vaults are dressed up, and the place visited on All Souls' Day. In Salerno before the people go to the all-night service at church they set out a banquet for the dead. If any food is left in the morning, evil is in store for the house.
Read MoreThere are three ghosts at Doughoregan Manor. One is the shade of an ancient housekeeper, whose quiet tread may be heard in the corridors. Another is the spectral coach—its wheels grind on the driveway when death rides to claim a member of the household.... The third is no gruesome phantom, but the warm lively pervading spirit of Charles Carroll himself.
Read MoreThe Celts worshipped spirits of forest and stream, and feared the powers of evil. They believed nature abounded with tiny supernatural beings, who may work good or evil, lead them astray by flickering lights, or charm them into seven years' servitude unless they are bribed to show favor.
Read MoreIt's now 200 years since "The Year Without a Summer", when a volcanic sun-obscuring ash cloud caused temperatures to plummet. Explore how it offers an alternative lens through which to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a book begun in its midst.
Read MoreA curious case of supposed dream telepathy at the end of the US Civil War, in which old ideas about the prophetic nature of dreaming collided with loss, longing, and new possibilities of communication at a distance.
Read MoreSaid to be spawn of the devil and possessed with prophetic insight, Mother Shipton was Yorkshire's answer to Nostradamus. She wielded power for centuries — from the Tudor courts, through civil war, to the spectre of Victorian apocalypse.
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