Bummer And Lazarus: San Francisco’s Beloved Dogs
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 1, 2022
The California Gold Rush brought not only people to the gold fields but dogs as well. These canines served foremost as companions to miners,...
Showing posts with the label USA
The Knox Mine Disaster
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 19, 2022
On January 22, 1959, miners at the River Slope Mine of the Knox Coal Company in Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania, were digging under the Susqu...
The New England Vampire Panic
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 10, 2022
In the 19th century, a mysterious illness struck rural New England. Those affected had hacking coughs, a wasting fever and weight loss. The ...
The Windham Frog Fight of 1754
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 6, 2022
Drive through the small town of Windham in Eastern Connecticut, United States, and you’ll wonder why the people here have a strange obsessio...
Chung Ling Soo: The Magician Who Led a Double Life And Got Shot on Stage
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 29, 2022
One of the most dangerous and daring illusions that a magician can attempt is the famed bullet catch trick. There are several variation to t...
Why Two Prestigious American Universities Fight Over a Cannon
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 27, 2022
Most college rivalries revolve around academics or sports, but the rivalry between Princeton and Rutgers Universities is as much about sport...
Insectothopter: CIA’s Dragonfly-Shaped Bug
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 23, 2022
Is that buzz above your head an insect, or is it a miniature flying machine? With current technology and progress in mechanical miniaturiz...
The 1904 Olympic Marathon Was The Worst Race Ever
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 20, 2022
On a hot August afternoon in 1904, with temperatures hovering above the nineties (32 degree centigrade), thirty-two men dressed largely in w...
The Texas Horned Lizard That Was Entombed for 31 Years
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 6, 2022
The Texas horned lizard is a hardy creature, but its hardiness might have been overestimated. The Native American legend holds that the rugg...
The Calutron Girls Who Helped Built The Atomic Bomb
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 17, 2022
The Manhattan project that developed and built the world’s first atomic weapon employed some 130,000 people, of which only a small number of...
Clark Stanley: The First Snake Oil Salesman
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 9, 2022
The term “snake oil” is frequently used to describe any substance that has no real value but sold as a remedy for a particular set of proble...
Photophone: How Alexander Graham Bell Transmitted Sound by Sunlight
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 3, 2022
Alexander Graham Bell’s greatest invention was the telephone. But if you told that to Mr. Bell, he would have disagreed. On June 3, 1880, ...
Painless Parker: The Showman Dentist
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 27, 2022
At the Temple University's dental museum in Philadelphia, there is a small section dedicated to one of the most notorious dentist of Ame...
George Lawrence’s Mammoth Camera
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 21, 2022
In 1899, the Chicago & Alton Railway introduced a new intercity rail service between Chicago and St. Louis. Pulled by a 4-6-2 steam loco...
The Westinghouse Atom Smasher
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 9, 2022
For almost 80 years, a huge lightbulb-shaped device stood in Forest Hills on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, United States. To...
Elephant Execution in The 19th And 20th Centuries
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 7, 2022
Performing elephants were very common in circuses during the 19th and 20th centuries. Circus owners would often treat these animals with cru...
The Strange Petroglyphs of Dighton Rock
Kaushik Patowary
May 25, 2022
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 fis...
Baby Cages: The Strange Practice of ‘Airing’ The Baby
Anonymous
May 24, 2022
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 ...
Natural Gas Extraction by Nuclear Explosion
Kaushik Patowary
May 12, 2022
In the late 1950s, the United States of America launched a new kind of nuclear program called Project Plowshare aimed at finding ways to bet...
1875: When Locusts Ruled Over America
Anonymous
May 9, 2022
A species disappears from our planet about every 30 minutes. From climate crises to man’s carelessness, there are endless factors that drive...
