Category: America
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Will You Be My Vinegar Valentine?
No declarations of love this year? It could be worse, you could be receiving a pile of vinegar valentines.
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The Curious Phenomena of Spirit Blush-Writing
When Victorian mediums weren’t delivering messages from the dead and manifesting spirits, some claimed to produce words on their bodies. Introducing, blush-writing.
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Jim Morrison’s Bedroom Shrine
Fans of The Doors created an unofficial – and sometimes unsettling – interactive shrine to their deceased vocalist, Jim Morrison.
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The Fays: Psychic Tokens and Spiritualist Identity Theft
In the late 19th century, two fields really took off – personal merchandising and token collecting.
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The Grave of XYZ
In December 1899, the Deep River Savings Bank in Connetticut received a tip-off that a robbery was about to take place.
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The Strange Tale of the Gold Leaf Lady
In 1988, a Floridian housewife began producing patches of gold leaf across her face and body…
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The Loveland Frogman
According to local legend, the Loveland Frog was an enormous creature that lived in Loveland, Ohio, measured approximately 4ft tall and walked on two feet.
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Bones in Brooklyn: The Journey of a Wandering Coffin
In 2015, an old coffin, complete with bones, was found dumped on a Brooklyn street. But why, who was it, and who did it?
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Remembering Evil Elmo
Instead of friendly phrases, the freshly juiced-up Muppet suddenly started to say, ‘Kill James’.
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The Alien Grave of Aurora, Texas
In 1897, 50 years before the Roswell incident, a UFO complete with alien passenger was said to have crashed in Aurora, Texas.
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The Shoe Grave of Buster Brown
“Hi, I’m Buster Brown; I live in a shoe. This is my dog, he lives there too!”
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The Car Park Grave of Mary Ellis
Beneath the tarmac of Loews Theater car park in New Brunswick lie the remains of Mary Ellis. For the last 193 years, she has occupied…
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The Weirdest Epitaph in America: Sterling Hallard Bright Drake
“‘An idealist and a dreamer, he died of loneliness and a broken heart, searching for a shrine he never found.”
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D.C. The Demon Cat
The snappily named ‘Demon Cat’, or ‘D.C.’ for short, is one of several reported ghosts that haunt the sprawling government buildings in Washington D. C
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The Curious World of Dollhouse Graves
Sitting like miniature residences between the headstones, these doll’s house graves are a striking example of non-traditional funerary art and changing ideas of grief, innocence,…
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Thomas Lynn Bradford – Dying for Eternity
Professor Thomas Lynn Bradford died on February 5th, 1921. Afterwards, the world waited for his message.
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Collection Feature: Funeral Fans
Cardboard fans, whether folding or attached to a handle, were a particularly popular means of advertisement from the 1920s-60s.
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4 Fake Cemetery Ghosts: The weird, the drunk and the monkey.
The long and delightful tradition of going ‘wooooo’ in cemeteries to frighten passers-by is a rarely celebrated phenomenon.
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Mind that Ectoplasm! A Short Popular History of Masturbating Ghosts
Can’t a spirit enjoy a little self-love after death?
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Nancy Luce, The Chicken Lady
For company, Nancy may not have had humans, but she had her chickens…
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Ice, Ice, Body: Introducing Ice Caskets
In the age before embalming and refrigerated storage, keeping bodies preserved and cool was a serious issue for undertakers and families alike.
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The Curse of Robert the Doll
His sailor suit is pressed and clean, a faint smile dancing across his pockmarked face. He’s remarkably well-preserved for being over 114 years old…
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Timothy Clark Smith: The Grave With a Window
Instead of considering glass coffins and mausoleums, physician Timothy Clark Smith had rather more practical ideas…
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Victorian Iron Mummies: The Fisk Casket
Fisk’s patent explains that ‘the air maybe exhausted so completely as entirely to prevent the decay of the contained body on principles well understood; or,…
Burials & Beyond 