Myths & mysteries
Discover facts about myths & mysteries. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Myths & mysteries
Bideford killed three women for turning into a magpie
By 1682, the scientific revolution was supposed to be in full swing, yet the English town of Bideford still hung three women because the locals couldn't…
Discover more
Annemarie Schimmel decoded the mystic meaning of cats
While most academics are dryly documenting dates and battles, legendary Islamic scholar Annemarie Schimmel spent part of her career proving that medieval Sufi…
Discover more
Pentecostals thought babbling bypassed learning languages
Early revivalists at Azusa Street were utterly convinced their ecstatic gibberish was perfect, fluent Chinese or Swahili, entirely eliminating the need for a…
Discover more
Grumpy dead man spoke through a possessed British tween
Nothing strikes terror quite like an 11-year-old girl suddenly barking in the gravelly voice of a deceased, foul-mouthed old man. The 1973 Enfield poltergeist…
Discover more
Bernadette ate literal mud to appease a divine vision
Proving you are actively conversing with the Virgin Mary sometimes requires a little light snacking on dirt. During the 1858 Lourdes apparitions, a teenage…
Discover more
Mutus Liber explains alchemy with zero actual words
Imagine trying to assemble IKEA furniture, but instead of a bookshelf, you're trying to build the elixir of immortality. The 'Mutus Liber' is a 17th-century…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Swamigal locked a door and dissolved into light
We all have days where we just want to disappear, but Ramalinga Swamigal allegedly took it to a molecular level. In 1874, the Tamil saint grew tired of his…
Discover more
Dead ghosts created the ultimate paranormal puzzle
Even in the afterlife, academics apparently can't resist a complex puzzle. In the early 20th century, several unconnected mediums across the globe started…
Discover more
Tennessee ghost successfully murdered a guy
Most poltergeists just throw plates and flicker the lights, but the Bell Witch was a massive overachiever who opted for straight-up homicide. In early…
Discover more
Flammarion applied scientific rigor to poltergeists
Nothing screams "hard science" quite like taking meticulous notes while a table levitates. French astronomer Camille Flammarion decided that psychical…
Discover more
Al-Idrisi hid apocalyptic realms on his world map
Modern GPS has nothing on 12th-century Islamic sacred geography. When al-Idrisi created his massive silver world map for King Roger II, he didn't just chart…
Discover more
Ghost hunting gear measures faulty plumbing
Investigators use electromagnetic meters to find supernatural entities in dark basements. In reality, those blinking lights are usually just reacting to…
Discover more
Tarot decks started as a simple parlor game
The mysterious major arcana sets were invented purely for playing a complex trick-taking match. Fortune tellers simply hijacked perfectly innocent printed…
Discover more
Legendary lake monsters were mostly just swimming whales
Many terrifying aquatic beasts drawn by sailors were likely just mundane animals behaving weirdly. Experts believe some famous serpent sightings were actually…
Discover more
Popular numerology finds the integer zero useless
Since esoteric digit manipulation requires reducing everything to a single value between one and nine, the void digit is completely disregarded. An absolutely…
Discover more
Holding hands in the dark to bother dead folks
Séances are awkward social gatherings where people sit in near pitch blackness hoping a deceased relative will casually rattle a table. It is peak arrogance…
Discover more
Cryptids like the Chupacabra are mostly just mangy coyotes
Terrifying supernatural beasts prowling the countryside usually turn out to be ordinary wildlife suffering from extreme hair loss. Folklore constantly…
Discover more
Reading vague sentences that apply to absolutely everyone
Opening a newspaper to find a deeply profound statement like 'you will face challenges today,' which is utterly meaningless but feels like a personal attack.
Discover more
Rearranging your entire living room to fix your sad life
The profound belief that shifting your sofa slightly to the left will finally bring you wealth, prosperity, and inner peace.
Discover more
Letting application horoscopes dictate life
Allowing a push notification from a random application to aggressively dictate whether or not you should quit your job today.
Discover more
Staring aggressively at a spoon until it bends slightly
The ultimate psychic fantasy is the ability to manipulate physical matter using absolutely nothing but intense mental concentration. The fact that the…
Discover more
Bigfoot sightings peak strictly during bear season
Reports of giant terrifying apes roaming the vast wilderness magically skyrocket the exact moment local black bears stand up to aggressively scratch their…
Discover more
Ancient curses were the original cease and desist
Before formal legal frameworks existed to sue your annoying neighbors, you just hired a weird guy in the woods to cast a debilitating hex on their livestock.…
Discover more
A crystal ball can focus sunlight strongly enough to set nearby objects alight
The iconic transparent orbs used by seers have a nasty habit of focusing ambient sunlight and causing the immediate area to combust. Peering into the future…
Discover more