A sphinx is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. According to the ancient Greeks, any traveler who wished to enter Thebes had to first solve “The Riddle of the Sphinx.” Those who failed to answer it correctly were strangled and eaten. What was the riddle? And…
In 1967, Dial Press published a book called Report from Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace. It remains one of the most controversial works of all time. Who wrote the Report from Iron Mountain? What does it say? And most importantly…is it real? What is the Report from Iron Mountain? The Report from…
On July 18, 1817, Jane Austen, the famed author of Pride and Prejudice, died. Over the years, researchers have attributed her death to a number of ailments, including Addison’s disease, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, bovine tuberculosis, and typhus. But recently uncovered evidence suggests a startling new possibility…arsenic poisoning. Was Jane Austen Poisoned? A couple of years ago,…
During the 1500s, a group of European missionaries traveled to South America hoping to convert the locals to Christianity. To their horror, they discovered that Amazonian witch doctors actively used a strange potion…a potion which they considered “the work of the devil.” But modern analysis indicates that this mixture, known as Ayahuasca, is far from evil. Could this…
On November 26, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter breached the tomb of Tutankhamun, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Almost immediately, whispers of a curse began spreading throughout the region. And then the deaths began. Was the curse of Tutankhamun real? Or just a myth? The Curse of King Tut? Soon after entering the tomb, Carter sent a…
On April 9, 1873, Governor John Adams Dix signed the Beach Pneumatic Transit bill into law. After more than three years of legislative battles, Alfred Ely Beach was finally poised to begin work on New York’s City first real subway system. But the proposed system was never built. What happened? The Chaos Book Club Today…
In 1912, city officials and representatives with the Degnon Contracting Company were preparing to excavate for the planned BMT Broadway subway line. Holding lanterns above their heads, they climbed into a dark ventilation shaft in City Hall Park and proceeded to find themselves in a well built, but slightly dilapidated tube. They quickly discovered a…
On August 6, 1945, the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, it dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. These bombs remain the only two nuclear devices ever deployed during war and, according to many experts, decisive reasons for Japans’ subsequent surrender on August 15. But a substantial…