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Celery Was a Status Symbol in the Gilded Age, and 4 More Foods the Rich Craved

In the Gilded Age, wealthy Americans showed off celery. They displayed the stalks upright in special glass celery vases at the center of the...

The Great Lakes Had Dozens of Names Before 1744, From Lac du Chat to Karegnondi

Lake Erie was once Lac du Chat, the "Lake of the Cat." Lake Huron appeared on a famous 1656 map as Karegnondi, and Lake...

A Town Where Stairs Were the Streets, and 9 Other Real Places Out of a Fantasy

High in the Chilean Andes sits a town where staircases served as the streets, and 15,000 people once climbed them every day. Elsewhere, people...

A Ghost Army of Rubber Tanks and 9 Other Fakes That Saved Lives in World War II

In March 1945, a U.S. Army unit of 1,100 men convinced German forces it was two full divisions, about 30,000 soldiers. Its weapons were...

Google Was Once Called BackRub, and 5 Other Famous Brands With Forgotten Names

Before it was Google, the world's best known search engine was called BackRub. Vaseline started life as Wonder Jelly, Nike began as Blue Ribbon...

Hitler Visited His Eagle’s Nest Only 14 Times, and 6 More Secrets of the Retreat

The Eagle's Nest is one of the most famous buildings of the Nazi era, yet Adolf Hitler went there only about 14 times. He...

Disney World and Mount Vernon Sit Under No-Fly Zones, and So Do 8 Other U.S. Sites

Pilots cannot fly over Walt Disney World, and they cannot fly over George Washington's home at Mount Vernon either. Both sit inside permanent no-fly...

Africa Is 14 Times Bigger Than Greenland, and the Mercator Map Hides It

Look at the world map that hung in most classrooms and Greenland seems roughly as large as Africa. In reality Africa covers 11.7 million...

A Melted Candy Bar in 1946 Led Percy Spencer to the Microwave

The history of technology is full of happy accidents. Penicillin was one. So were Popsicles and Velcro. The accident that changed daily domestic life more...

Women’s Jeans Pockets Are 48% Shorter Than Men’s, and Here Is Why

If you know one thing about how women's clothing differs from menswear, it is the pockets. Dresses usually have none. Trousers have them in...

The Bison Fell From 30 Million to 1,000 Before America Saved It

Bison once moved across North America in herds that ran from Alaska to Mexico. In the 19th century, in the name of expansion, profit...

In Longyearbyen, Norway, It Is Famously Illegal to Die, and Nine Other Odd Towns

Most cities follow the same script. Ordinary streets, office buildings, houses, a park. A few places skipped the script entirely. Underground mining communities, abandoned settlements...

The Egyptian Book of the Dead Was a Custom Order, Not One Book

In the movies, somebody reads aloud from an Egyptian book of spells and a mummy sits up. Ancient Egyptians did believe written words carried...

The Tower of London Held Polar Bears, Spies and a Nine-Day Queen

William the Conqueror took the English crown in 1066 by beating King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Holding it was the harder part,...

A Darth Vader Grotesque Hides on Washington National Cathedral

Spires, stained glass and vaulted windows are the things people photograph. The better reason to look up at an old building is the ghouls. A...

Mount Rushmore Was Supposed to Have Torsos, and 11 Other Landmark Secrets

Everybody has seen the postcards. Plenty of people have stood in front of the real thing. Knowing what a landmark looks like, though, is...

What the Pilgrims Actually Ate at the First Thanksgiving in 1621

In the autumn of 1621, a group of English colonists and members of the Wampanoag tribe sat down to eat together in Plymouth, then...

How a Failed 1605 Plotter’s Face Became the Anonymous Protest Mask

Every 5 November, bonfires burn across the United Kingdom to mark a plot that did not work. The same face the holiday mocks now...

Arizona and Hawaii Skip Daylight Saving Time, and Here Is Why

Gallup found that 54% of Americans would like to stop resetting their clocks twice a year. Two states already have. Arizona and Hawaii do not...

Iolani Palace in Honolulu Is the Only Royal Palace on U.S. Soil

The United States was born out of an anti monarchical fervor, so there is something fitting about where its only royal palace stands. It...

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