 The Texas Horned Lizard That Was Entombed for 31 Years
The Texas horned lizard is a hardy creature, but its hardiness might have been overestimated. The Native American legend holds that the rugged species could survive up to 100 years in hibernation. So when a 4-year-old boy named Will Wood caught a horny toad in Eastland County, Texas, one July morning in 1897, his father, Eastland County clerk Ernest E. Wood, decided to use the reptile to test the ancient belief. The horned lizard (named Blinky by Will) was placed in a cornerstone of the Eastlan
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Frog Battery
The term 'battery' was first used by Benjamin Franklin in 1749 to describe an apparatus he had designed to produce electricity. Franklin linked together a number of Leyden jar capacitors so that they would hold a stronger charge, and thus more power would be available on discharge. He called the device an 'electrical battery', a play on the military term for weapons functioning together.
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Grace Darling's Daring Rescue of Shipwreck Survivors
In 1838, a young woman pulled off a heroic rescue saving several survivors from a wrecked merchant ship off the coast of Northumberland in northeast England. Her name was Grace Darling, and she was the daughter of a lighthouse keeper. Grace's display of courage and strength struck a cord with the Victorian society, thrusting her into the media limelight where she was feted as a heroine. Even today, Grace Darling's name invokes admiration among people who know her story. "Grace Darling a...
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Attacus Atlas, The Largest Butterfly in The World, Has No Mouth And Cannot Feed
It seems like something that we could only find in fiction or a horror film, an animal that does not have a mouth with which to feed or that is completely sealed, leading it to an inevitable end after just 5 days of life. But it exists and it is also the largest butterfly in the world, the Attacus Atlas, which lives in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, the archipelago of Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo. It is called Atlas for the titan of Greek mythology and for its great size. Photo: N
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Gol Gumbaz: The Taj Mahal of South India
In the city of Bijapur, in the south India's state of Karnataka, stands one of the grandest royal tombs to be ever constructed in India. Aptly called the Taj Mahal of South India, this majestic structure houses the remains of Mohammad Adil Shah, who was the Sultan of Bijapur between 1627 and 1656 AD. Its name Gol Gumbaz (literally, "Round Dome") comes from the mausoleum's gigantic dome, which is one of biggest free-standing domes in the world. Photo: Mukul Banerjee/Wikimedia
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Code of Ur-Nammu: The Oldest Law in History
Some of the earliest legal codes concerning crimes and offenses and their punishment were formulated in the ancient Middle East. The Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Elamites, Hurrians, Kassites, and Hittites, each had their own laws. Among them, the Code of Hammurabi is perhaps the best-known, but there have been many law codes that predates Hammurabi's famous code. The earliest law code from Mesopotamia was the Code of Urukagina, written in the 24th century BCE. No surviving cuneiform tab...
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Simeon Stylites: The Ascetic Who Lived Atop a Pillar For 37 Years
Many monks and hermits go to great lengths to deny themselves of simple pleasures in order to atone their sins and pursue spiritual goals. Some live frugal lives. Some renounce meat and alcohol. Some live in seclusion. Some even go to extreme cases of self-torment such as fasting and self flagellation. And then, there were the pillar-dwellers that became very common during the early days of Christian monasticism. These type of ascetic, known as stylites, or pillar hermits, lived on top of pillar
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Carlton Tavern: The Pub That Was Reborn From Rubble
Carlton Tavern in Kilburn, London, was the heart of the community for nearly a hundred years until it ceased to exist one spring morning in 2015. It's owners had it demolished to make way for a block of flats. The demolition had taken place without permit. The developers thought they could get away with the infraction with a slap on the wrist and a fine, but not this time. The city council ordered the developers to rebuild the pub "brick by brick". Six years later, when the Carlton Tavern ...
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The Talking Stamps of Bhutan
Bhutan, a small landlocked country sandwiched between India and China, barely attracts attention in the international arena. Its postage stamps, however, are the most sought after by philatelists. Among those most prized are stamps that are printed on silk and steel foil instead of paper, and the strangest yet are printed on miniature vinyl records that could be played on a record player. Vinyl record stamps of Bhutan.
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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The Two-Headed Boy of Bengal
In May 1783, in a small village named Mundul Gaut, in Bengal, India, a strange child was born. It had two heads. The midwife assisting the birth was so horrified by its appearance that she tried to kill the monstrosity by throwing it into the fire. Fortunately, the baby was rescued with some burns in one eye and ear. The parents, after recovering from the initial shock, began to see the newborn as a money making opportunity, and with that in mind, left their village for Calcutta where their def
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The Vanishing of Flannan's Lighthouse Keepers
During the cold December days of 1900, three men disappeared off a remote island in the Outer Hebrides. They left no trace or trail, save for a chunk of unusual sights: a set yet untouched dinner, an oilskin left behind amid the stormy gale of the Atlantic and a log book recording some strange happenings. These men were the keepers of the lighthouse of Eleanor Mor, a tiny speck in the Flannan Isles near Scotland. Over a century has passed, and no one knows what could have taken away three men in
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Watson's Hotel: India's Oldest Cast Iron Building
Early one morning In 1867, a traveler walking through the familiar streets of Kala Ghoda district in Bombay noticed something strange "like a huge birdcage had risen like an exhalation from the earth." The birdcage was the skeleton of the Watson's Hotel, later to be called Esplanade Mansion, India's oldest surviving cast iron building and one of the few in the world. When it was completed in 1869, it was heralded as one of the finest examples of cast-iron architecture in the world. Wa...
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The Trilingual Inscriptions of Darius and Xerxes at Ganj Nameh
About 12 kilometers southwest of the ancient city of Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) in western Iran, and 2,000 meters above sea level on Mount Alvand, are two huge panels carved into the rock. They are cuneiform inscriptions made in the time of Darius I the Great and his son Xerxes I. At some point in antiquity, possibly after Alexander's conquest, the inscriptions became unreadable as there was no longer anyone who knew how to read the ancient cuneiform script. Local people began to make legen
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George Lawrence's Mammoth Camera
In 1899, the Chicago & Alton Railway introduced a new intercity rail service between Chicago and St. Louis. Pulled by a 4-6-2 steam locomotive, the Alton Limited consisted of six perfectly symmetrical cars, including two Pullman parlor cars, strikingly decorated both inside and outside. The Alton Limited was billed "The Handsomest Train In The World." According to the company, no railway train in the world had ever presented a design so uniform and symmetrical. The windows were of the ...
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Dyrehavsbakken: The World's Oldest Amusement Park
Just 10 km north of central Copenhagen, in the woods of Dyrehaven, sits Dyrehavsbakken, or simply Bakken, an amusement park that attracts close to 3 million visitors per year making it the second most popular attraction in Denmark. While the rides and roller coasters are modern additions, there has been a park here in some form or the other for more than four hundred years, making the Bakken the oldest amusement park in the world. Dyrehavsbakken in 2016. Photo: Insights Unspoken/Flickr
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Coal Gas Vehicles
Contrary to popular belief, vehicles run with natural gas was very common in the early 1900s in America and parts of Europe. However, this gas was not derived from petroleum (as in the case of CNG in modern vehicles) which became intensely scarce during the two World Wars, but from two unconventional sources—wood and coal. Wood and coal gas are derived from burning wood and coal respectively in a oxygen-deprived environment to produce a gas rich in hydrogen and carbon monoxide. In wood gas ve...
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Who Was The Man in The Iron Mask?
The man in the iron mask has been a historical enigma since the 18th century. Born circa 1658, he became a prisoner that hopped across the tightest facilities of France his entire life. But in all this time, his identity remained hidden behind a face mask. Several theories about who he was were floated and shot down over centuries, and only a few have held ground till date. The man was first imprisoned in Pignerol in 1681. From there, he went from one prison to another, always under high securit
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What is Galvanism, And How Did it Inspire Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?
On 18 January 1803, George Foster was hanged by the neck. The jury had found him guilty of murdering his wife and child by drowning them in London's Paddington Canal. The judge sentenced him to death, and as was the practice in those times for violent crimes, his body was awarded to the medical institution to be dissected and experimented. Shortly before his execution at the Newgate prison, Foster made a full confession of his gruesome crime. After his swift execution, George Foster's life...
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The Ruins of Khara-Khoto
In the westernmost banner of Inner Mongolia, in the middle of the Gobi Desert, there once stood a prosperous kingdom. It was a center of religious learning, of art and a trading hub. But all that remains now are the crumbling ramparts that once protected the city, a few shattered mud buildings, and scattered sun-bleached bones. Photo: Twitter
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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When Iceland's Women Took a Day Off
Iceland is today known as one of the world's most feminist countries. But the roots of this progressive title lies deep within ground-breaking moves that shook the country's core time and again and pushed it to rethink the value of women in a nation. One such move was the Women's Day Off—or KvennafrÃdagurinn—of 1975, when 90 per cent of Icelandic women went on strike to make a point. Women take a day off on 24 October 1975. Photo: kvenrettindafelag.is
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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The Cults That Worship Cargo
Picture this: the second World War is unleashing upon the world, but in a far corner across the seas from America, patches of land remain untouched by its wrath. In a paradisiacal world near Australia, tribal natives go about their lives surrounded by glorious waves and lush greenery. Devoid of material treasures of modern civilisation, their life goes on oblivious to the greed that strangles the rest of the world. That, until one day, curious-looking machines bring in uniformed men that change
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The Book That Became Famous Before it Was Published
Fly Fishing: Memories of Angling Days is one of those books where the story behind is more interesting than the book itself. It's not that the book is terribly uninteresting—it has 244 reviews in Amazon with an average rating of 4.6. But seldom does a book get popular before it is even published. Photo: Joseph/Flickr
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Eigerwand, The Railway Station Carved Into The Mountains
The Jungfrau massif is flanked by the Grindelwald and Rhône river valleys in the south-central Swiss Alps, between the towns of Brig and Interlaken. Its main peaks are the Jungfrau itself (in German, the maiden ), which reaches 4,158 meters in altitude, the Mönch (the monk ) with 4,099 meters and the Eiger (the ogre ), with 3,970. Precisely the latter, the Eiger, is famous for its mythical north face, a vertical wall of 1,500 meters whose extreme difficulty is legendary in mountaineering. Mor...
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The Westinghouse Atom Smasher
For almost 80 years, a huge lightbulb-shaped device stood in Forest Hills on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, United States. Towering 65 feet in the air, the device was the world's first industrial particle accelerator, and a pioneering laboratory for one of the world's first large-scale nuclear physics research programs. When it was built in 1937, it was cutting edge technology, capable of shooting high-energy particles at target atoms and allowing scientists to observe the res...
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The Round Towers of Ireland
A unique feature of the Irish landscape are its free-standing round towers or Cloigtheach, which literally means "bell house". As their name suggests, they were originally thought to be bell towers, because nearly every tower was found near a Celtic church, though they might have been used for additional purposes, such as for temporary refuge during sudden attacks. Devenish round tower. Photo: Caroline Johnston/Flickr
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Mahabat Maqbara: A Forgotten Testament of Artistry
In Junagadh, Gujarat, the confluence of cultural influences in India epitomises in the form of an overlooked monument. Mahabat Maqbara—an epic-looking mausoleum of the 19th century—stands in what was once a no-man's land. From eloquent carvings to spiral staircases, each element of the building displays a unique testimony to various architectural styles. But for all its glory, not many people know about the mausoleum, and even fewer about its history. Photo: Gopikapadia/Wikimedia
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Elephant Execution in The 19th And 20th Centuries
Performing elephants were very common in circuses during the 19th and 20th centuries. Circus owners would often treat these animals with cruelty and subject them to great physical and mental stress. Under the strain of captivity and regular performance, elephants turned increasingly violent and turned upon their trainers, and at times, upon the spectators. If the elephant, because of its temperament, was deemed unsuitable to continue performing in the shows, it was put to death, sometimes in spe
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The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower—Twice!
Even if you think you know who Victor Lustig is, you don't. Beyond the charming salutations, the livid scar on his left cheekbone and the made up story about being born in the Czech town of Hostinne in 1890, there's little knowledge of his identity. In fact this description might just bring another name to your mind—maybe Robert V. Miller, or one of the 47 aliases he rolled with during his conning days. There is one thing that sets him apart from all other swindlers in the world of con ar...
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Luna 9: The First Soft Landing on Another Planetary Body
The first spacecraft to achieve a survivable soft-landing on the moon was the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Luna 9. It was an exceedingly difficult milestone to reach, because making a soft landing required incredible precision. Luna 9 was also the first spacecraft to transmit photographic data from the Moon's surface to Earth. The probe also proved that the lunar surface could support the weight of a lander and that an object would not sink into a loose layer of dust as some experts had predic
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Auguste Piccard: The Man Who Flew To The Stratosphere
Auguste Antoine Piccard was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer, who became the inspiration behind one of Tintin's most lovable characters—Professor Cuthbert Calculus. The eccentric, hard-of-hearing professor made his first appearance in Red Rackham's Treasure, where Professor Calculus demonstrates a new kind of diving machine for underwater exploration, which too was inspired by one of Piccard's invention. Using Calculus's submarine Tintin locates the wreck of the sunken 17th c...
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Mary Ann Bevan: The Ugliest Women in History
Mary Ann Bevan may have made a name as the ugliest woman in the world. But in her endeavours she also became an epitome of opportunism and optimism. Born in Plaistow, London, on 20 December, 1874, Mary was one of eight children born to working-class parents. She lived a commonplace life for many years, and married Thomas Bevan, a market gardener in 1903. But in May 1914 Thomas died suddenly, leaving Mary with four young mouths to feed. She was a normal looking woman of five feet seven, but afte
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The Leaning Kiipsaare Lighthouse
In the sea, off the coast of Saaremaa, Estonia, stands a slender lighthouse leaning dramatically towards the sea. When it was built in 1933 out of reinforced concrete, it stood on solid ground, more than 150 meters inland. But since then, the sea had encroached upon the coast, gradually gnawing at the shoreline until the the waves had taken the land away from the lighthouse's foundation. The lack of stable ground has caused the lighthouse to lean as it stands engulfed by the Baltic Sea, more t...
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The Churches of Antarctica
In an article in Vice, Brian Merchant argues that the first structure that humans will probably build on Moon after they have completed building a base there will be a church. Indeed, Christian missionaries and clergymen have built churches in the most harshest of climes, whether they be the tropical jungles of Africa or the sun-drenched deserts of Australia. When the Ross Sea Party of Shackleton's Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917 landed in Antarctica, among the men was an ...
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The Longest Place Name in Europe
On the island of Anglesey off the north-west coast of Wales, just across Menai Strait, lies a small village with a big name: or Llanfairpwll in short. With 58 characters, it is the longest place name in Europe and the second longest one-word place name in the world. The famous sign at Llanfairpwll's police station. Photo: Rob Koster/WikimediaÂ
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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The Shortest War in History Lasted Less Than An Hour
How do you define a war? Should both sides have a fair chance of winning? Is a coup within a protectorate justified as war? Does the conflict end even if the reigning individual survives amidst desolation and complete destruction of his kingdom? And how short do you think the shortest war in history was? A few minutes, maybe about an hour, a day at large if you account for the mundane details. That's how long the Anglo-Zanzibar war lasted. Was it fair to call it a war? Soldiers at the palace ...
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Shapira Scrolls: Forgery or Genuine?
In 1883, a Jerusalem antiquities dealer named Moses Wilhelm Shapira announced the discovery of a remarkable artifact—15 fragments of ancient manuscripts written on leather which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The manuscript contained bible verses from the Book of Deuteronomy, but they were slightly different from those used in churches and synagogues. Shapira explained that the different text and the paleo-Hebrew inscription suggested that the manuscripts were older than the Book...
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How Sin Eaters Saved The Dead & The Dying
In 18th and 19th century England and Scotland, sin eating was a profession. Beggars, destitute and those in want of a measly morsel of nutrition took to the career path of relieving the deceased of their sins, by eating them. When a loved one lay dying on the bed, families would call one of these sin eaters home. They would lay a piece of bread on their chest and hover a glass of ale or wine in a customary manner. The sin eater, sitting at the tip of the bed, would then eat the bread off the che
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The Strange Petroglyphs of Dighton Rock
On the shores of Taunton River at Berkley, Massachusetts, stands a small museum with a single but massive exhibit—a 40-ton rock that was fished out of the riverbed and installed here in 1963—the famous Dighton Rock named after the former town of Dighton where it was found. The rock's fame lies in the indecipherable inscriptions carved on its face that has puzzled scholars since the 17th century. The petroglyphs, primarily made up of straight lines and geometric shapes, are accompanied by ...
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Pont Ambroix
Pont Ambroix, also called the Ambrussum Bridge, was a major Roman bridge across the Vidourle River connecting the end of Villetelle to Gallargues-le-Montueux in modern-day Lunel, France. The bridge was part of the Via Domitia, which was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now Southern France. Pont Ambroix was built in the first century BC and originally consisted of 11 arches. The bridge carried the traffic west of Nîmes co...
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Baby Cages: The Strange Practice of 'Airing' The Baby
It's true—no one can go to the lengths that our parents cover for us. It's truer that no one can go to the lengths that parents of the 20th century went to for their kids. These city folks hung their kids in baby cages by their window sills. Because something had to be done to provide their little ones with sunshine and fresh air in a land that was dense with smoke and concrete. Right?
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Leaning Tower of Zaragoza
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is undoubtedly the most famous of all towers that lean at alarming angles, but it is the tallest. That credit belonged to the Leaning Tower of Zaragoza, sometimes called by its Spanish name, Torre Nueva, in Spain. Unfortunately, the tower no longer stands. At 80 meters, Torre Nueva was the icon of Zaragoza. It was also the highest Mudejar-style tower ever built.
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Taxidermied Dogs of Bitov Castle
About 25 kilometers northwest of Znojmo, in Czech Republic, where the rivers Želetavka and Dyje meet, lies the small village of Bitov. Here, on a dramatic promontory overlooking the confluence and the vast swaths of forest and wilderness stands the Bitov castle. Built in the 11th century, BÃtov is one of the oldest and largest Moravian castles. Throughout its long history Bitov was owned by a number of different noblemen and rulers, each of whom have left their imprints on the castle's hist...
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Lasseter's Reef: Australia's Fabled Gold Mine
In 1929, Australia got its own living and breathing Indiana Jones. It was Lewis Harold Bell Lasseter, a gold prospector who would become the face of the greatest outback mystery of all times. Harold claimed that some 30 years before he had discovered a gold bearing reef in central Australia. His hopes were to go back into the vast expanse and rediscover the lost treasure. Were the claims vague? Yes. Was there evidence? Not exactly. But did the news make waves among historians and gold prospector
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Trajan's Bridge
On the east of the Iron Gate Rapids near the present-day cities of Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Romania and Kladovo in Serbia, there once stood an arch bridge. It was ordered by Roman Emperor Trajan, who led one of the greatest military expansions in Roman history. Under his rule the Roman empire attained the greatest territorial extent stretching from Mauretania in the west to Syria in the east, and Britannia in the north to Egypt in the south. Trajan ordered the bridge to be built so that his legi
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History's Strangest Duel Was Fought in Blimps
They say that every action arises from either love or hate. Imagine then, what a creative catastrophe would unfold if a man was inspired by both. That's probably what happened in the France of 1808, when two men ended up fighting the strangest duels of all times to come. In a story wrought with infatuation and betrayal, a love triangle ascended into a hot air balloon duel that probably became one of the first airborne fights in history.
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Chinchorro Mummies: The World's Oldest
When we say mummies, we think Ancient Egypt. Indeed, Egypt has some of the most famous mummies in the world, such as Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. But the ancient Egyptians were not the first culture to practice mummification. The Chinchorro people of Chile's Atacama Desert were the first to mummify their dead. The Chinchorro people inhabited the Pacific coastal region of present-day northern Chile and southern Peru some 9,000 years ago until about 3,500 years ago when they disappeared. The
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Fidel Castro And His Miraculous Bovine
For all their love of dairy, Cubans have always remained starved for milk. In the tumultuous history of necessity, invention and recurring dearth, no scientist nor entrepreneur of the highest intelligence could save the country. Only a cow, singular in her kind, ever came close to satiating the hunger of millions, and of course, their milk-craving president. 1987 picture of Ubre Blanca cow, stuffed inside a glass box, in a cow ranch East of Havana. Photo: STR/AFP via Getty Images Her name was U
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The Mysterious Pillar at The Center of The Circular City of Gor
In the year 330 BC, Alexander the Great advanced through the Persian territory, conquering its cities and regions, culminating in the capture of Persepolis. A little further south of the ancient Achaemenid capital was the city of Gor, which offered him such resistance that to surrender it he had to resort to a stratagem, the legend of which is told in Iranian history. He built a dam in a nearby gorge, retaining the water of a river that crossed the plain in which the city was located, completel
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Mehrangarh Fort: Of Brick, Mortar & Death
In Mehrangarh fort of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, murals lend insight into the infernal past of Hindu traditions. Its imprinted walls and resounding zenanas continue to tell legends of yore. One such element of conversation is the 15 handprints on the innermost gate of the fort, left by women that once inhabited the fort. Photo: Michael Foley/Flickr
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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The Great Comet of 1861
The 19th century was a great time for sky watchers. Between 1811 and 1882 as many as eight great comets became visible from earth dazzling scientists and common man alike, and inspiring artists and composers. Probably the most beautiful one was Donati's Comet of 1858, which became the first to be successfully photographed. Three years later, another dramatic comet appeared in the sky. The Great Comet of 1861 was exceptional because it passed right across Earth's orbit, and for two days the...
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Staglieno Cemetery: Where Death is Beautiful
The cemetery of Staglieno represents more than the dead. It represents a confluence of movements that furthered the cause of the living. Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno—as it's called—sits on a quaint hillside in Staglieno district of Genoa, Italy, with beauty wrapping like a wreath of hope around the memory of death. A cemetery isn't what pops into mind when you think of a tourist destination, but this burial site has attracted visitors from around the world for its monumental sculp...
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Lyveden New Bield
Lyveden New Bield is an unfinished Elizabethan summer house located in the parish of Aldwincle in North Northamptonshire, England. The National Trust, which currently owns the building, calls it a 'building of exceptional interest' because of the religious symbolism in its architecture. Lyveden New Bield was constructed by Sir Thomas Tresham, who was a devout Catholic, which made him a threat to Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant belief. Tresham was frequently imprisoned for his beliefs an...
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Historical Personalities Who Suffered Comically Horrific Deaths
Death can come in many forms. For many it is usually mundane such as passing away due to old age or due to some illness. For some it is traumatic, such as involving in an automobile accident. And for a tiny few, death is so bizarre that it beggars disbelief. Yet, I can assure you that each of these stories below is true.
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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The All-Women Guard of The King of Siam
"Exceedingly warlike." "Warrior queen, castle defender or besieger, pirate, or street duelist." "Chivalrous or cruel." These are only a few phrases that Jessica Salmonson uses to describe the female Amazons of world history. And once upon a time, an esoteric group of such fierce women pervaded over the Kingdom of Thailand. This group was the all-women bodyguard of the King of Siam. The establishment replaced 600 European mercenaries and Christian samurai troops in 1688, and was respo...
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The Tomb of Bibi Jawindi
The ancient city of Uch, founded by Alexander the Great, in Pakistan's Punjab province, is home to several funerary monuments and shrines dedicated to Muslim mystics, or sufis, from the 12th to the 15th centuries. One of the most beautiful is the Tomb of Bibi Jawindi. This octagonal tomb is embellished with extensive tile work, but is now in a dilapidated state. Photo: Saadnadeem/Wikimedia
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Roman Dodecahedron: History's Mystery
It is safe to say that there are secrets to the ancient Roman civilization that even a lifetime of scrutiny will not reveal to us. Yet historians and archaeologists continue their pursuit, discovering ever so often an artifact that is at once perplexing and revealing. One such object is the Roman dodecahedron. The hollow object is a bronze enigma with a decahedral shape of twelve flat pentagonal faces. Its presence in central Europe reveals nothing of its purpose. But there are a few hypotheses
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The Mysteries of Nidhivan
Every year millions set foot on Vrindavan with one motive: to witness Krishna's raasleela. This dance of coquetry has riddled the pages of Indian mythology for ages, and has lured people from around the world into the folds of Brajbhoomi, Krishna's land. While Mathura was where Krishna was born and Gokul where he was raised, it was Vrindavan that witnessed his youthful dalliance with gopis. A wooded corner of this dusty city continues to sing of the lovestruck mysteries of the lord even in t...
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Natural Gas Extraction by Nuclear Explosion
In the late 1950s, the United States of America launched a new kind of nuclear program called Project Plowshare aimed at finding ways to better utilize the tremendous energy released by nuclear bombs. Until then, nuclear energy meant only one thing—weapons. But scientists wanted to find whether nuclear energy could be used for peaceful purposes such as blasting a new harbor in Alaska, or digging a new canal through the Isthmus of Panama, and other such projects that involved moving large quant...
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Vicuña: The World's Most Expensive Wool Comes From a Llama
Deep within the Andes of Peru gallops an animal that's treasured across the world. It belongs to the family of Llamas but is called a Vicuña, identified by its slender 1.8mtr tall body and glistening mane. The coat of wool, sheer and soft and uncompromisingly warm, is sold more expensive than your finest cashmere. Stunned? The Vicuña's wool is warm enough to keep its body temperature comfortably regulated against the harsh Andean temperatures at 4,000mts; imagine the magic it would wield i...
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A Thunderstorm Called Hector
Nearly every afternoon, from September to March, a thunderstorm develops over the Tiwi Islands in Northern Australia. It happens so regularly that meteorologist refer to it by name—Hector. The cumulonimbus thundercloud appears at roughly 3 PM, and is said to be so reliable that one could set their clocks by him. Hector, also known as Hector the Convector, earned its name during the Second World War, when pilots and mariners in the region used the thundercloud's recurring position as a sort ...
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Bera, The Indian Village Where Man and Leopards Live Together
Along the sun-soaked Aravallis of Rajasthan thrives the leopard country of India. In and around Bera, a small village in Pali district, majestic looking cats roam with untamed freedom while locals keep their heads bowed in reverence. A perfect harmony exists around these villages, wherein leopards attract tourism and livelihood for the people and the people let them animals prey on their possessions. A leopard near a shrine in Bera. Photo: Shatrunjay Pratap
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Did Abbas Ibn Firnas Make History's First Flight?
Just outside Baghdad International Airport there is a statue of a man wearing a turban with feathered wings strapped over his arms, about to jump from a high pedestal. The statue is identified as Abbbas Ibn Firnas, the father of aviation. But who was Abbbas Ibn Firnas? The statue of Abbas ibn Firnas near Baghdad International Airport. Photo: BaghdadiHistory
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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1875: When Locusts Ruled Over America
A species disappears from our planet about every 30 minutes. From climate crises to man's carelessness, there are endless factors that drive the living into a black hole of non-existence. Till date, the most extraordinary of these eliminations occurred in a family of tiny insects—the Rocky Mountain locusts which became in 1902 the only agricultural pests to face complete extinction. But this notorious species has continued to swarm the minds of farmers and entomologists long after their myst...
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Franz Halder: The Only German to be Decorated by Both Hitler and Kennedy
During the Third Riech, Hitler fortified his leadership atop bastions of war, invasion and politics. One of them though dared to traipse across party lines and contribute to both Nazi propoganda and the downfall of Hitler. Franz Halder played an instrumental piece in the working of the German Wehrmacht, but was also awarded accolades by the President of the United States. He served as chief of Hitler's army general staff from 1938 to 1942. During this time, he oversaw the victorious takeovers ...
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The Peculiar Locks of Dindigul
In India's Tamil Nadu, some 420km south of Chennai, sits Dindigul. In this city of over two million people, families have slept without a worry for centuries while thieves have been known to tiptoe in fear and desperation. This is the city that began creating unique locks on the request of Tipu Sultan in the 18th century, and has since then garnered a reputation for being the most skilled locksmith of India. A shopkeeper displays a wide variety of Dindigul locks. Photo: Kamala Thiagarajan/Atl...
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The Neanderthals of Gorham's Cave
Long before modern humans walked the earth, there lived in Europe another species off humans—the Neanderthals. It's unclear exactly when Neanderthals appeared on the scene. Estimates range from 300,000 years to as far back as 800,000 years ago. Their date of extinction is also uncertain. It's generally accepted that the Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago, but there are several isolated pockets around Europe where Neanderthals appeared to have survived for much longer. One suc...
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America's Ugly 'Ugly Laws'
In the 1880s, you could be fined for being ugly in public. Ordinances across the United States disallowed anyone who was "diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object" for appearing in public places. These 'ugly laws' were as real as the American Civil War, and in fact came into circulation just as the war came knocking on the country's doorstep. And they were no joke either; the laws were not just about morning puffiness or acne brea...
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Why The Soviet Union Advertised Products That Didn't Exist
The purpose of commercials is to advertise products and drive sales, but in Soviet Russia under communism they served an altogether different and totally useless purpose. The Soviet Union was a planned economy where all industries were controlled by the state. There was no private sectors and no competition, and hence the tools that apply in a free market had no place in a state-controlled economy. Yet, consumer goods were still advertised on the television.
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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Ne Win: A Story of Power, Tyranny and Dolphin Blood
Once upon a time, there was a man who bathed in dolphin blood. He believed it would keep him young and healthy while his Stalin-inspired regime retained liberation for the people of Burma. This man was born as Shu Maung or "apple of the eye", until in 1941 he was renamed Ne Win or the "radiant Sun" during his rise to a terrifically ruthless dictatorship. For the next 26 years, the name struck images of tyranny and violent extravagance among the people of Burma (also known as Myanmar). Th...
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The Fish That Swims Upside Down
Fishes are great swimmers, and this ability comes not from practice but from anatomy. Fishes have a slender body which they flex back and forth to cut through the water, and several fins that help them move, turn, stay upright, stop and so on. In addition, most fishes have an internal air sac called the swim bladder that allows them to control their buoyancy and orientation without having to continuously swim and thus expend energy. When fishes want to stay afloat, they gulp in air and inflate t
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How a German Air Raid in Bari Helped Discover a Cure For Cancer
On December 2, 1943, the Germans launched a surprise attack on a key Allied port in Bari, Italy, sinking more than 20 Allied merchant ships and killing more than 1,000 American and British servicemen and hundreds of civilians. Among the ships sunk was the SS John Harvey, an American Liberty ship carrying a secret cargo of mustard gas bombs. The deadly attack, which came to be dubbed as "the Little Pearl Harbor", released a toxic cloud of sulphur mustard vapor over the city and liquid mustard...
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Uncombable Hair Syndrome
In a world of 7.87 billion people, there are only about a 100 cases of Uncombable Hair Syndrome (UHS). It is commonly visible in children of three to 12 years of age, which is why its intriguing effects are usually visible only on adorable babies that take to modeling for social media, making us feel better about our own bad hair days. Their spikes are not because they gave a finger into the cartoonish light socket or because they managed to evade the morning combing. In fact, there's a lot be...
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Rohonc Codex
The Rohonc Codex is a 448-page illustrated manuscript book written by an unknown author in an unknown language that has baffled scholars and historians since it was discovered at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in mid 19th century. The codex is named after the Hungarian city of Rohonc, where it was kept until it was donated to the Academy in 1838 by Count Gusztav Batthyany from his Rohonc estate, along with 30,000 other books in his possession. The town is now called Rechnitz, is in Austria, c
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Kugelpanzer: The Mysterious Nazi Ball Tank
When the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria in 1945 after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Red Army recovered a strange vehicle from the possession of the Japanese. It was a small armored vehicle in the shape of a circular drum with only enough room to hold a single person. Currently at the Kubinka Tank Museum in Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, the curious vehicle is referred to as the Kugelpanzer, and is the only known example of a ball tank. Photo: Morpheios Melas/Wikimedia
© Amusing Planet,
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Mike The Headless Chicken
Once upon a time in 1945 there was a couple who owned a farm in Colorado. Lloyd Olsen would spend afternoons chopping off chicken heads, while his wife Clara would look over their cleaning. The two-person assembly line produced the same results everyday: some 50-60 chickens readied and delivered to the meat market. But on 10 September, normalcy of the routine broke when despite being beheaded by Lloyd, a chicken refused to die. As related by Troy Waters, the couple's great-grandson, the chic
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Can Tapeworms Make You Beautiful?
"The loveliness of a rival eats into a girl's heart like corrosion;" says The Ugly-girl Papers: Or, Hints for the Toilet. The Victorian era novel by SD Power may be chewed up and spit out by many of you, but there were large sections of the corset-wearing society back then that swore by its stringent standards of beauty. Even today, many might not know of the existence of the book, but societal discrimination and self judgement keeps them hunting for alternative ways to meet the prevalent ...
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Deciphering Fragments of Egyptian Ceramics
In February 2022, archaeologists discovered over 18,000 Egyptian ostraca in Athribis. The news was full of headlines about pottery fragments, and everyone knew what a big deal it was. But the road to such an awareness has been long. It has taken years to discover, analyse and understand the relevance of what ostraca are, and what they signify. Even today, historians and Egyptologists continue to approach the extant evidence to reiterate the cultural narratives they reveal. Here is what we know a
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The Flying Santa of New England
Every Christmas, the families of lighthouse keepers along the coast of New England receive presents from a flying Santa Claus, but the jolly old fellow doesn't come riding in a magical reindeer-drawn sledge but in a helicopter. The New England tradition of a "Flying Santa" delivering gifts to lonely and isolated lighthouse keepers and their families started over ninety years ago in 1929, when a Maine pilot named Captain William Wincapaw, started delivering gifts for his lighthouse keeper ...
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The Lake of The Dead: Roopkund
At a breathtaking altitude of 16,500ft, pristine waters of the Himalayas lay frozen to their depths for most part of the year. Come summer though, the dangerous torrents are unleashed from their icy shackles to reveal a riverbed of bones, flanked by a shore of skeletal remains camouflaged by nude shades of the rugged slope. This is Roopkund or the Skeleton Lake in Uttarakhand, India—straight out of figments of your wildest imagination, into true accounts of history. View of Roopkund from Juna...
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Murchison Falls: Uganda's Most Powerful Waterfalls
Murchison Falls, also referred to as Kabalega Falls, is located on the Nile River between Lake Kyoga and Lake Albert in Uganda. The waterfall is created when the entire Nile river, which is some 100 to 120 meters wide before the falls, is forced through a narrow gap in the rocks only 7 meters wide, creating one of the most violent waterfalls in Africa with a flow of more than 300 cubic meters of water per second. The huge masses of water that squeeze through the rocks create a constant roar and
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The 17th Century Astronomer Who Designed The First Steam-Powered Vehicle in History
On October 9, 1623 Ferdinand Verbiest was born in the town of Pittem (present-day Belgium). Of his early years it is only known that he studied humanities, philosophy and mathematics in Bruges, Cortrique and Louvain. On September 2, 1641 he entered the Society of Jesus, which sent him to Seville to study theology. In the Spanish city he was ordained a priest in 1655 at the age of 32. In Rome he completed his training by studying astronomy. Ferdinand wanted to be a missionary in Central America,
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A Cannulated Cow Lives With a Hole in Its Stomach
Imagine being able to look inside a cow. Call it curiosity, or the craving to reveal all of the world's truths, but the cannulated cow is man's experiment to discover what goes on in the digestive systems of a bovine, and how best its milk output can be increased to its maximum potential. In 1928, Arthur Frederick Schalk and RS Amadon of North Dakota Agricultural College became the first men to eagerly peep inside a cow with a porthole studded on its body. Since then, scientists and agricult...
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The Hammersmith Ghost Murder Case
In the winter of 1803, residents of Hammersmith, which at the time was a small village on the outskirts of London, was terrorized by a ghost. Most of who had seen the specter described it as a figure covered in a large white shroud. Others said it sometimes wore a calf skin wrapped around its body and had large glass-like eyes. The ghost instilled fear among the villagers because the specter was not a mere apparition but appeared to be full of malevolent intent. It attacked and harassed people
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The Day BBC Had No News
You could be idle, but the world is still unfolding. Even in hours of boredom within the four walls of our homes, we are aware of the tremendous developments taking place around the world at any given point. Today, there's a war banging at our doorstep, a global pandemic has tomorrow in its unpredictable clutches, and every hour despite such morbid details our people are progressing forward in little ways. Could you, in such an environment, imagine a day of no news? The BBC broadcasting house...
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Burana Tower, Kyrgyzstan
Set against the backdrop of lofty, snow-covered peaks of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too mountain range in northern Kyrgyzstan, stands a tall isolated minaret. A thousand years ago what is now a deserted valley was once the ancient city of Balasagun, founded by the Karakhanids in the 9th century, and the Burana tower was part of a mosque. Balasagun was a flourishing city of the Karakhanid Dynasty with a citadel, mausoleums, mosque, church, and a bath-house, until it was destroyed by the Mongols in 1218. The
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Reverse Waterfalls: When Water Flies Up
Every monsoon, the Indian subcontinent turns into a land of natural marvel. Cascading waterfalls, dense greenscapes and the smell of earth take over life and seep into the mind's eye as ever-lasting impressions of beauty and wonder. One such awe-striking monsoon phenomenon is the reverse waterfall that takes place along the western ghats of the country. In seeming defiance of laws of physics, the flow of water takes an upwards course against the pull of gravity. Reverse waterfall in Visapur, ...
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The Ruins of Sutro Baths
Within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, just north of Ocean Beach, in San Francisco, you can still find the ruins of what was once the largest indoor swimming pool in the world—the magnificent Sutro Baths. The baths were built by wealthy entrepreneur and San Francisco mayor Adolph Sutro as an addition to his dramatically perched Cliff House, located on the edge of a cliff, overlooking Ocean Beach. A postcard of Sutro Baths, circa 1896.
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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In The Gambia, Votes Are Cast With Marbles
Along the smiling coast of Africa, nature abounds and all sorts of sights, smells and sounds reveal the beauty of harmonious living. One of these is the sound of marbles clinking against metal containers—a unique expression of democratic choice in the Gambia. In this west African country, votes are not cast by the push of a button or the filling of a ballot, but by the dropping of a marble in favour of the preferred political party. Polling officials show the marbles that are used to cast vot...
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The Ripple Rock Explosion
Between Vancouver Island and the Discovery Islands in British Columbia, lies a narrow body of water called Seymour Narrows, which is part of larger strait called Discovery Passage. The Discovery Passage is frequently used by vessels, including cruise ships and freighters, because it enables them to avoid some of the bad weather in the open ocean. The Seymour Narrows, however, has its own hazards. It is very narrow and is known for strong tidal currents. And right in the middle of the strait, bel
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The Oldest Name in The World
Humans have been calling each other by names probably for hundreds of thousands of years ever since the first human beings evolved from Homo heidelbergensis and emigrated out of Africa. We don't know what these early names sounded like because there was no method to record sounds. Writing would not be invented until very late in human history—about 5,500 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians were the first to develop a script to record information. Known as cuneiform, it used a com...
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Antarctic Oases
Antarctica is one of the most inhospitable places in this earth, with all-year-round freezing temperatures, violent katabatic winds and ice that covers almost the entire continent. But there are regions where the southernmost continent is free of ice cover. These regions are termed "oases" or "dry valleys" because of the comparatively favorable conditions that prevail here for the development of life. Their areas range from several dozen to several thousand square kilometers. Here are so...
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The Abandoned Village of Kuldhara
Some 30 kilometres from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, a dusty track meanders towards the abandoned town of Kuldhara. Deserted land of scanty vegetation straddles this road in silence, and a mirage rises from its surface under the unrelenting sun. Despite the arid land and the sultry heat, there is much that has attracted tourists to this secluded village. There is mystery and legend here, and enough room for the imagination to fly and the heart to feel scared. Photo: Pierre Doyen/Flickr
© Amusing
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How The Soviet Union Tried to Abolish Weekends
About a hundred years ago in August 1929, the Soviet Union moved to alter the most fundamental tool of daily functioning: the calendar. An industrial revolution had already set the stage for radical reforms in labour, each of which were fuelled by the need for faster economic growth and infrastructural development. Stalin's government was pushing its proletariat to achieve new and steadier goals with a renewed vigour. Flowing in this momentum of socialist progress, a Bolshevik economist, Yuri ...
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The Mysterious Phaistos Disc
The Phaistos Disc is an enigmatic disk of fired clay discovered in the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the Greek island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium BC). The disc is about 15 cm in diameter and covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols. The purpose and the meaning of these symbols have been the source of much fascination and dispute among scholars for the past hundred years. The side A of the disc of Phaistos, as displayed in t
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Razia Sultan: Delhi's First And Only Female Emperor
Tales of female courage and prudence, power and fortitude run long in the pages of Mughal history. Women who were daughters, who were begums and concubines, led development and won politics from behind the purdah, taking charge under their sultan's pervasive reign to transform cities and develop military strength. But one out of them, the exceptional Jalâlat-ud-Dîn Raziyâ, altered history by taking over the reins right at the forefront, becoming the first and only woman to rule over the Mug...
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The Corpse of Elmer McCurdy
What happens to our bodies when we die? Some are buried with grandeur in oakwood caskets, some cremated on holy pyres of amber flames. But the homeless, unfamiliar and the strange often remain unclaimed, left to wander the streets in death as in life. One such orphaned vagabond was Elmer McCurdy, the ghost of whose life came back to haunt the living some 60 years after his death. He was a man who crawled through a desultory career in his life, but gained fame and prosperity in death. This was be
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The Bat Libraries of Portugal
Bibliophiles aren't the only ones that love hanging out in the library. Given the chance bats too would love to roost there and eat the bugs and bookworms that feast on old manuscripts. That's exactly how generations of bats have been keeping safe the prized collection in two Portuguese libraries—the Mafra Palace Library in Mafra and the Biblioteca Joanina in Coimbra. The Biblioteca Joanina. Photo: xiquinhosilva/Wikimedia
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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The 1866 Transatlantic Communications Cable
Much of today's lightning speed communication that happens between computer terminals or between mobile phones located in different continents is possible due to a network of communication cables that lie across the seabed. These submarine communication cables made of copper and fiber-optics are responsible for carrying nearly the entirety of all intercontinental communications traffic. They represent a major technological revolution, but these cables are not a new technology. In fact, the fir...
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The Lake Peigneur Drilling Disaster
Near the northern tip of Vermilion Bay in the US state of Louisiana, lies a small saltwater lake called Peigneur. Although pretty modest by surface area (about 1,100 acres), the lake is 200 feet deep, making Peigneur the deepest lake in the state. However, just over forty years ago, Lake Peigneur was an unremarkable body of water just ten foot deep, until an unusual man-made disaster on November 20, 1980 changed the lake and the surrounding land forever. Lake Peigneur
© Amusing Planet
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The Pacific Island Where Prince Philip is God
At the other end of the sea from where Queen Elizabeth sits on her throne in England, photos of her husband holding a unique club rest safely under the supervision of two tribal villages. These are Yakel and Yaohnanen, settlements in the Vanuatu archipelago of the south Pacific where the Duke of Edinburgh has been worshiped as god for decades. Photo: Roman Kalyakin/Flickr
© Amusing Planet, 2022
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