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6 Very Specific Ways to Remember the Titanic

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The replica Titanic in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Photo: Madison Berndt on Flickr)

Today marks the 103rd anniversary of the tragic maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. The floating giant, full of hope and hubris, set sail on April 10th, 1912, embarking on a trip from Southampton, England to New York. Yet as everyone knows, this tour did not end well, as the ship hit an iceberg just four days after launch, and sank to the bottom of the ocean, claiming around 1,500 souls. In remembrance, you could simply fire up 1997 film, Titanic, and call it a day, but there a number of far more unique memorials around the world that look at the tragedy from their own angles. 


1. TITANIC MEMORIAL LIGHTHOUSE
New York, New York

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As you can see, the lighthouse now belongs to the South Street Seaport Museum. (Photo: (vincent desjardins) on Flickr

Now if you want to know how to remember the Titanic right, take right from the Unsinkable Molly Brown. The most famous survivor of the Titanic insisted that this lighthouse be created to commemorate those who died in the crash. Originally the ball on top of the lighthouse would drop each day to signal that it was noon. The ball no longer works and the structure has been moved further inland, but the ironic symbolism of a beacon that helps ships avoid collisions is still easy to see.

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Always trust a plaque for the full story. (Photo: Nightscream on Wikipedia)


2. TITANIC MUSEUM ATTRACTION
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

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Lookout for that iceber- aw, never mind. (Photo: Jared on Flickr)

Not content to just see a boring ole plaque and be sad for those who died? Well this Tennessee attraction lets you essentially enter a replica of the steamship, complete with artificial iceberg. While there is a somber memorial wall, the amusement park-like attraction also features scale replicas of the ship's grand staircase and a kid's section called the Tots-Titanic. The brightly-arranged informational displays are museum quality, but this replica ship is definitely there for those who are looking for a bit more spectacle in their memorial.

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A disastrous amount of fun. (Photo: Joel Kramer on Flickr


3. RMS TITANIC MEMORIAL
Queens, New York

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You have likely never been as devoted as this to anything. (Photo: Jason Eppink on Flickr)

Erected on the facade of "Titanic Joe" Colletti, this homemade memorial lets people remember the world's largest steamship with one of its biggest fans. Colletti has been collecting clippings and ephemera related to the Titanic for years, even going so far as to contact some of the survivors. His eclectic little shrine is adorned with little porcelain angels and bits of newspaper, as well as a little scale description of the ship. This uniquely personal monument is charming and watched by security cameras, often manned by Colletti. So try not to loiter.

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Far more touching than a heartless stone memorial. (Photo: Jason Eppink on Flickr)


4. ADDERGOOLE TITANIC MONUMENT
Mayo, Ireland

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Later, guys. (Photo: Pamela Norrington on Geograph.org)

When the Titanic went down, over 1,000 people lost their lives, but no single location lost as much of their population in the disaster as Addergoole, Ireland. Known as the Addergoole 14, a small and tightly knit group of young people left the small parish, looking to emigrate to a more prosperous life in America. Eleven of the people from the town were killed, while three survived. But even this relatively small number of deaths still made a huge impact in the tiny, impoverished community. Today there is a memorial park dedicated to the disaster with a large bronze replica of the ship's prow, and a historic church bell that is rung 14 times every April 15th. 


5. TITANIC BANDSMEN MEMORIAL 
Broken Hill, Australia

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And the band played on. (Photo: Mattinbgn on Wikipedia)

Everyone has heard the story of the band that played while the Titanic sank, but few thought to make a memorial for the musicians. Well except for an Australian city half-a-world away from the tragedy. The city of Broken Hill has no direct connection to the musicians who died on the Titanic, but when news of the tragedy reached them, a group of local bandsmen erected a stone memorial in solidarity. The monument, which is designed in the classic "broken column" motif still stands today, although not many people in the area know why it's there.

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Most bands will never make it as big as this in the Australian market. (Photo: Amanda Slater on Flickr)


6. THE TITANIC MORTUARY BAG AT THE MARITIME MUSEUM OF THE ATLANTIC
Halifax, Canada

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I hope that red spot isn't blood. (Photo: Luke Spencer on Atlas Obscura)

This is not a monument in and of itself, but the canvas body bag that is on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is maybe the most grimly specific reminder of the human toll the sinking of the Titanic took. The bag was used to ship home the body the ship's steward E.J. Stone, and then to get his personal effects to his family. The bag is now in visible storage, but if you want to pay singular pilgrimage to the tragedy this is as good a place as any.

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Considering how often I lose my luggage tags, its a miracle that this exists. (Photo: Luke Spencer on Atlas Obscura)    









The Hidden Trick To Unlock Wikipedia Magic

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What is this fossil? Only a dedicated Wikipedia user will find out! (Photo: Didier Descouens/Wikicommons.)

Of all the internet wormholes to fall down, Wikipedia might be the deepest. An offhand remark in a movie or a wayward glance out the window or a flash of random thought across the brainpan and then, boom, hours of bouncing from one article to another. We can sometimes get stuck in our ways, though—I myself end up buried in the same pages about species of weasels and micronations over and over.

But recently a friend taught me simple trick to move out of my Wikipedia comfort zone, which also allows us to explore more deeply into Wikipedia’s dark core, the weird articles that have been seen only a handful of times—unincorporated districts in Indiana, obscure Bangladeshi political figures, middling Australian Rules Football players, specific brands of Polynesian animism, totally unremarkable species of Ecuadorian moths

These are articles you’d never have discovered on your own, bizarre articles sometimes obviously shoddily translated from Hindi or Romanian, sometimes lacking punctuation, sometimes composed without any of the famously strict rules of article construction. These are articles that may have been created by the subjects themselves, articles that don’t link to any other articles, articles that hardly anybody will ever have any reason to seek out. And you can see them!

To pull yourself into this world is easy: we’ll simply be setting our web browsers to open a specific URL when we open a new tab. The URL will be Wikipedia’s Special:Random page, which opens a totally random Wikipedia article.

For Chrome users:

  • Download this Chrome extension.
  • To put in our Special:Random URL, click on the three-horizontal-line menu button (the hamburger, if you will) all the way to the right of the address bar. article-image
  • Go down to “More Tools” and click on “Extensions.”
  • Find the New Tab Redirect extension and click “Options.”
  • Then, in the “Redirect URL” box, paste this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

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Now, when you open a new tab, it should open a random Wikipedia page!

 

For Firefox users:

  • Download this Firefox extension. When it installs, it’ll ask you to restart.
  • After restarting, click on Firefox’s three-horizontal-bar menu button, and click “Add-Ons.”
  • Click on the “Extensions” tab, then hit the “Preferences” button under NewTabURL.4.  Of the four first options (“blank page,” “current page,” “homepage,” “URL”) select URL, and paste in this URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

Make sure the next two boxes are unchecked, and you should be good to go!

For Safari Users:

  • This is the easiest one of all. In the top menu bar, click “Safari,” then “Preferences.”
  • Make sure the “New tabs open with” box says “Homepage.”
  • In the “Homepage” box right underneath that, paste that same, lovely URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

And that’s it! Now you can get exploring.








The Lovely Ruins of America's Borscht Belt

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Chairs sit in front of an abandoned theater in Hotel Adler. (Photo: Bryan Sansivero.)

In upstate New York, deep within the Catskill Mountains, exists a whole world of empty buildings. They are reminders of a time and place in American culture, when summer leisure and family vacations were the norm. The Borscht Belt, was an area consisting of hotels, resorts, bungalows, and summer camps where many Jewish American families vacationed from the 1920’s until the 1970’s. Post WWII, these getaways were filled with American Dream ideals, that would later dissolve, as American culture changed in the 1960’s.

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From top: A vintage postcard during the heydays of Hotel Adler; Dishware and China lie all around in the Hotel Adler dining hall; Keys and safety deposit boxes at the front desk of the Homowack Lodge. (Photos: Bryan Sansivero.)


At a time there were over 600 operating resorts year round, and at its peak saw approximately 150,000 visitors annually. With an entertainment market featuring popular comedians and musicians performing daily, the appeal was great. It was a thriving getaway community that the Jewish American people could escape to. However, there was a decline in visitors in the 1960’s and various factors contributed to the downfall of these resorts. The breaking down of ethnic barriers, a loss of interest by younger members of the community, and cheap available air travel were all causes.

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From top: A bedroom in The Empire Hotel; Stacked dishware in the Empire Hotel. (Photos: Bryan Sansivero.)

Some of the most notable abandoned Borscht Belt resorts include Grossinger’s, Hotel Adler, and Tamarack Lodge. The latter recently being destroyed in a fire. Stepping inside many of these hotels you’ll find rooms filled with furnishings, brochures, and other everyday items. It is a time capsule into a long bygone era. Below, photos from the abandoned Hotel Adler, Columbia Hotel, and The Empire Hotel in Sharon Springs, NY.

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From top: A couch sits alone in the lounge of the Hotel Columbia; TVs stacked in a bedroom at Hotel Adler; Furniture left behind in a bedroom at Hotel Adler. (Photos: Bryan Sansivero.)








7 Places That Could Give You Superpowers, but Will Probably Kill You

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Don't be a Daredevil. Stay away from radioactive waste. (Photo: [AndreasS] on Flickr

Getting superpowers from a freak accident is one hell of a gamble. Historically, IE, in comic books, normal humans' options for extrasensory perception or incredible strength involve things like radioactivity, toxic waste, and/or mysterious cosmic rays. In the real world, contact with these vectors usually only results in sickness and death. But in the interest of hoping for a more magical world, let's take a look at the most likely places to acquire superpowers (although, again, prolonged contact at these spots would probably, seriously kill you).


1. PRIPYAT AMUSEMENT PARK
Pripyat, Ukraine

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This would also be a great set for a villain's lair (Photo: calflier0011 on Flickr

After Chernobyl's infamous nuclear disaster, the area produced a number of tragic mutants, but none with psychic powers or optic blasts. Despite clean-up efforts making the fallout zone somewhat safer to current visitors, much of the exposed land still emits too many rads to be healthy. Possibly the most evocative victim of the meltdown was the Pripyat Amusement Park just kilometers away from the plant which is still radioactive in portions. Having been evacuated without ever having been officially opened, many of the attractions remain, including the iconic ferris wheel. What better setting for an origin story than a haunting radioactive fair ground?

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Gaining the power to control ferris wheels would be a pretty big let down. (Photo: calflier001 on Flickr)


2. PICHER, OKLAHOMA
Picher, Oklahoma 

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This abandoned house could be your ticket to becoming invisible. Or being diagnosed with lead poisoning. (Photo: Kelly on Flickr)

The ghostly mining town of Picher, Oklahoma was once considered the most toxic town in America after the majority of the children living there were found to have unhealthy levels of lead in their blood. The town was once a bustling center of zinc and lead mining, but after the operational waste seeped into ground, the entire area became hazardously contaminated. The government began buying people out of the town, but to this day a small number of citizens refuse to leave. Are they harboring a community of powered people? Probably not, but hopefully someone there will get superpowers instead of just getting sick.

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This doubles as an effective suicide prevention billboard. (Photo: peggydavis66 on Flickr)


3. SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD
San Francisco, California

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That dock can fit aircraft carriers, also a whole lot of toxic garbage. (Photo: Sanfranman59 on Wikipedia)

This abandoned military base is a double threat as it has a history of both irresponsibly disposed of toxic waste AND radioactive testing. Built way back in 1870, the large base and the nearby landfill contributed to a caustic amount of hazardous waste on the site, while the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory that was eventually based there brought radioactive materials from the first atom bomb to the party. The resulting mess was eventually abandoned in 1994, and is still hazardous to this day. Clean-up efforts are ongoing, but lucky urban explorers might pick up some metal skin or a horrifying transformation if they act quickly.

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Abandoned radioactive and toxic building? Super-speed, here I come. (Photo: Thundt on Wikipedia)


4. PRIMO AUTOBODY REPAIR
Flushing, New York

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The most radioactive spot in New York City also has reasonable rates on flat fixes. (Photo: GoogleMaps)

Located in a 100-year-old building that once housed the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company, the Primo Autobody Repair shop in Flushing, New York City is the most radioactive spot in the city. While it is not immediately lethal, it is said that the workers at Primo Autobody receive up to three-times the safe amount of radiation each day. The mild-mannered mechanic who gained car-based powers, thanks to his radioactive auto shop is tailor-made for a New York superhero story. I'm waiting by the phone, Marvel.


5. SUPER-KAMIOKANDE
Hida, Japan

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In a world where something like this exists, we need superheroes. (Photo: Property of Super-Kamiokande)

Rogue cosmic rays are a bit hard to come by here on Earth, but we have more than enough facilities who are trying to capture rare particles. Take Japan's Super-Kamiokande which is a massive, underground chamber where scientists are attempting to capture and observe neutrinos, otherwise known as "ghost particles." If so-called "Gamma radiation" created the Hulk, woe be it to the unlucky scientist that becomes the victim of ghost particles. Will they become able to phase through solid matter? Possibly become permanently intangible, living the rest of their days in a hellish non-corporeal existence, neither seen nor heard by their fellow man? Again, probably not, but the lab itself certainly looks like something from a comic book.

article-imageWhat did you expect a ghost particle collector to look like? (Photo: Property of Super-Kamiokande)


6. GEAMANA, ROMANIA
Geamana, Romania

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Where's Captain Planet when you need him? (Photo: Sergiu Bacioiu on Flickr)

The once-picturesque village of Geamana is now drowned under a lake of toxic sludge. When communist dictator and real-life Romanian super-villain Nicolae Ceausescu opened a copper mine near the village, he soon had more toxic waste than he knew what to do with. His solution was to flood the valley in which Geamana was located and start dumping the toxic waste into his newly made lake. Today the lake is still an unnaturally colored slurry with the haunting peaks of the former village poking above the surface. Wanna roll the super-dice? Just take a swim.

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By the time you make it out to that church you will be paddling with eight arms. (Photo: Sergiu Bacioiu on Flickr)


7. LOVE CANAL CONTAINMENT ZONE
Niagara Falls, New York

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Taken in 1978, this photo is of a home being eaten by toxic waste. (Photo: EPA on Wikipedia

The granddaddy of American toxic waste disasters, this horrific case of contamination was actually the one that spurred on the creation of the Superfund (no relation to superpowers) program. Reading like something out of a comic book, the town of Love Canal discovered in the late 1970s, that their entire town had been built on a pile of terribly toxic garbage that had been buried there by the shady Hooker Chemical company. The signs were hard to miss what with a hugely disproportionate number of birth defects, random puddles of strange goo, and actual waste-disposal drums surfacing in peoples' yards. The area was evacuated and cordoned off, as it remains to this day. With so many toxic sites in New York, it's no wonder so many comic book superheroes are based there.

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That was the last thing I read before my eyes became lasers. (Photo: EPA on Wikipedia)








Everything You Wanted To Know (And Then Some) About Skull Racks

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Stone representations of the once-enormous skull rack culture. (Photo: Kurt Bauschardt/Flickr.)

In ancient Mexico, there were once walls built with thousands of human skulls. When Spanish soldiers and explorers made contact with the people of Mesoamerica in the 16th century, they found many new things—including tzompantli, wooden scaffolding used to display human heads.  Tzompantli is an Aztec word that means “skull rack,” “wall of skulls,” or “skull banner.”   

While the existence of these racks is undeniably macabre, their discovery has been a boon to archeology. Through histories written in the 16th century and forensic analysis of the skulls, we know details about the ritual human sacrifice the Aztecs performed to construct the tzompantli and how human heads were processed before they were skewered on the racks.

Like a giant abacus constructed with human heads instead of beads, the Aztec tzompantli were constructed with wooden beams with skulls skewered in rows on horizontal poles. The skulls displayed on these racks were harvested from victims of human sacrifice or from soldiers who died on the battlefield.   The most infamous of these structures was the huey tzompantli, or Great Skull Rack, in Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire. 


Model of skull rack. (Photo: Javi M/Flickr.)

The huey tzompantli was an impressive, but gruesome, structure that was so big it held tens of thousands of skulls.  According to one account described by Diego Durán, a Dominican friar who chronicled Aztec history and culture in The History of the Indies of New Spain (1581), more than 80,000 people were sacrificed to celebrate the dedication of the Great Temple of Mexico-Tenochtitlán and their skulls were used to erect the huey tzompantli.  These skulls were changed out regularly and replaced with fresh human heads after human sacrifice rituals.


More ruins with stone skulls in Templo Mayo in Mexico. (Photo: Gildardo Sanchez/Flickr.)

The process of human sacrifice, strangely, can also be understood as a kind of manual labor. The Aztecs worked in shifts during the human sacrifice rituals because the people tasked with the killing got “tired.”  It seems that cutting open dozens or hundreds of chests at once is hard work.  From The History of the Indies of New Spain:

 “The prisoners were lined up at the tzompantli, the skull rack…The king sacrificed many of the prisoners until he tired.  Then Tlacaelel took the sacrificial knife and continued cutting out hearts until he too became tired.  After Tlacaelel stopped, the surrogates of the gods continued sacrificing the prisoners until all seven hundred captives…had been killed.” 

Although tzompantli is an Aztec word, a variety of skull racks have been recorded throughout Mesoamerica and were built from the 7th to the 16th centuries.   Different types of skull racks have also been noted at archaeological excavations in Mayan and Toltec cities.   In Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España(The True History of the Conquest of New Spain) written in the late 16th century by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (abt. 1498– 1584), a Spanish soldier who traveled with Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico, Castillo describes finding skull racks throughout Mexico:

“…They had many heads hung on some beams from one end to the other, and guarding those bones and skulls were three papas, who, as we understood, were in charge of them.  We saw more of this when we got further in land, in all the towns it was like this…”

During an excavation at Tenochtitlán’s twin city, Tlatelolco, in 1962 archaeologists found 170 skulls with their mandibles still attached and large holes on both sides of the cranium in the temporal and parietal areas.  The holes and the alignment of the skulls in groups of five suggested that they were once displayed on a tzompantli.   Archaeologists Carmen Maria Pijoan and Josefina Mansilla Lory analyzed 100 of these skulls for their paper titled Evidence for Human Sacrifice, Bone Modification and Cannibalism in Ancient México.  By analyzing these skulls Pijoan and Lory were able to find out more about the victims and how the heads were defleshed. 


An offering site with 240 stone skulls covered with stucco. Photo: Spot Us/Flickr.

According to Pijoan and Lory, the skulls belonged to 43 females and 57 males who were between 18 and 40 years old when they were killed.  86 of these expertly prepared the skulls had bilateral perforations to hang on the beams of skull racks, and 13 only had holes on one side of the skull, which suggested they were likely the last skulls on the rows.  Pijoan and Lory argue “specialists” defleshed the heads of the corpses because of the skilled cutting techniques used to make large holes in the temporal bones without damaging the skull.  It’s hard to fathom but because the Aztecs sacrificed hundreds or thousands of people at one time, putting heads on a skull rack was once a job.

 

 

 








The Business of Bones: Relic Trafficking in the Middle Ages

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 Full-body relic of Saint Hyacinth in the former Cistercian monastery Fürstenfeld Abbey, Germany. (Photo: Wikicommons.)

It’s hard to fathom now but there was a time (specifically, ninth-century Holy Roman Empire) when the bones of Christian martyrs provoked the same kind of energy of, say, a Woodstock set or a Beyoncé concert. And in the quest to acquire these sacred relics, like some kind of ancient Taylor Swift sighting, an underground economy sprung up to match demand with supply.

The bones of saints…had fixers.

The market for relics spanned both high and low classes: Everyone, from peasants to bishops, to kings like Charlemagne himself, clamored to see them. After all, these divine ‘rockstars’ had the power to give direct blessings from God. On feast days, droves of pilgrims flocked to cathedrals and parishioners swooned and fainted, each one hoping to witness a miracle. The veneration of relics was even a part of Frankish law:

“Charlemagne ordered that every altar should have relics and he also made it obligatory for oaths also to be sworn in a Church or over the Gospel or Relics.”

The only problem was that acquiring top relics, like scheduling any A-list superstar, required a lot of time and money. It was a big business, and the most desirable relics were the ones that were hard to come by. The closer they were found to The Holy Land, the older and thus holier they were. Trips to Palestine were hardly a walk in the park, but Rome the Eternal City—with its cemeteries, ruins, and stature as the seat of Christianity—was the ultimate treasure trove. Certain popes however, placed restrictions on the trade; largely because of the uproar of Roman citizens who were tired of foreigners looting their cultural heritage.

These limits were somewhat relaxed in the 820s by Pope Eugenius II, who enjoyed the political and financial support of Lothair, Charlemagne’s grandson. The pair’s allegiance made it possible for high-ranking Carolingian churchmen to place orders for priceless relics, like the bones of St. Sebastian in 826. Nevertheless, in many cases, abbots who were strapped for gold had to recruit discreet ‘fixers’who knew how to work around the law.


Supposedly the bones of Saint Séverin, in Paris' Church of Saint-Séverin. Who's to say, though, really. (Photo: Dennis Jarvis/Flickr.)

One of the most famous of these professionals was a Roman deacon named Deusdona.  Along with his brothers Lunisus and Theodorus and their associate Sabbatino, Deusdona ran a family business that specialized in relic-smuggling.

It was a relatively easy hustle. After receiving a request from a northern clergyman or noble, the Italians would descend into sepulchers along the Via Appia, Via Pinciana-Salaria, or the Via Labicana. Once the bones were retrieved, they were occasionally stored at a family home in Benevento, probably for security reasons. The most strenuous part of the process was undoubtedly transport. Most clients operated cathedrals beyond the Alps, which meant that the men had to prepare for extensive days on country roads.


The reliquary of Saint Munditia, St. Peter's Church, Munich, Germany. Actually does look pretty rockstar. (Photo: Wikicommons.)

Although there were other thieves at the time with their own shticks, Deusdona’s gang was particularly infamous for its acquisition of the saints Marcellinus and Peter for Einhard, the private secretary to Louis the Pious, Charlemagne’s son. Apparently, the transaction went down like a scene out of Oceans Eleven. After sweet-talking the courtier over dinner in Aachen, the imperial city, Deusdona was given the green-light and returned with the relics sometime after, making sure to gain other customers on the way.

Fortunately, the Einhard job wasn’t Deusdona’s crew’s only success. The group also sold at least five other saints to the Benedictine monastery at Fulda, including the saints Urban and Fabian. There isn’t any record of any members of the operation getting pinched, so business probably continued as usual until their deaths.


Emperor Charlemagne by Albrecht Durer (1512). Like everyone at this time, he was desperate for relics. (Photo: Wikicommons.)

While dealers like Deusdona’s rival Felix mined their merchandise from places like Ravenna, others made their bones haggling for dead Christians in Al-Andalus. Roughly 300 years later, thieves from all over the Mediterranean world hit the jackpot due to the crusader-led Sack of Constantinople in 1204. However, the cult of the saints’suffered major public relations scandals in the late 15th century as a result of the ongoing criticisms of ecclesiastical materialism by Christian thinkers such as Martin Luther and Erasmus of Rotterdam. In response to the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) reaffirmed the veneration of saints. Even so, many extravagant reliquaries happened to find their way into private cabinets of curiosities during the Age of Reason.

Despite the vast reduction of trade in unsanctioned relics throughout the centuries, the Catholic Church didn’t stop requiring all altars to house relics until 1969. In 2011, The British Museum hosted the Treasures of Heaven exhibition, displaying some of the Vatican’s costliest art and saints’body parts in all their splendor. Deusdona’s adventures are certainly a thing of the past, but the legacy of the secret commerce that once galvanized Europe is evidently alive and well.








The Manhunt for John Wilkes Booth

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Click on the red dots to follow Booth's journey. Map: Steven Melendez.

It was the crime of the century followed by one of America's most intense manhunts: for 13 days after shooting President Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was on the lam. The drama was baked into the act itself: "Sic semper tyrannis,” yelled John Wilkes Booth as he leapt onto the stage at Ford Theater after shooting the 16th president in the back of the head. Hobbling on a broken leg, Booth escaped through the backstage door, familiar to him as actor. He shoved it open to find a horse waiting for him and then took off into the mild spring night. 

But how did he avoid the authorities for almost two weeks? On the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination, here is an account of Booth's time on the run—and, ultimately, his capture and death. 

Friday, April 14th  (Day 1) 
Ford’s Theater to Surratt’s Tavern

It is about 10:30 PM as John Wilkes Booth rides past the Capitol, along Pennsylvania Avenue and onto 11th street. He sees his destination in the distance —he old Navy Yard Bridge (today, the 11th Street Bridge). But Booth’s escape almost ends before it starts: a guard stops him. Booth calmly tells him that he was heading home at this late hour because he had wanted the moon to light his way. The guard allows him to pass.

Booth meets up with a friend and co-conspirator, David Herold, on the road to Surrattsville, about eight miles from Ford’s Theater, right near Soper’s Hill.  Together, they go to Surratt's Tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland (now called Clinton) where they retrieve items they had asked Mary Surratt to leave for them, namely guns, binoculars, ammunition, and a bottle of whiskey. There’s a drunken tavern keeper there, but he pays no mind to them.


Booth's friend and partner in crime, David Herold. Photo: Alexander Gardner courtesy of Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons

Saturday, April 15th (Day 2)
Surratt’s Tavern to Dr. Mudd’s House to “Rich Hill”

Around 4 a.m., they arrive at Dr. Samuel Mudd's House. The good doctor sets and splints Booth’s broken leg. He allows the men to sleep in his house, not knowing who exactly these men actually are. 

About 15 miles away, at 7:22 AM, Lincoln is pronounced dead.

When Booth awakens from his slumber, he shaves off his mustache to disguise himself. He also demands a glass of brandy from Mrs. Mudd, who tells him they only have whisky. Disgusted, they leave the residence or more likely, Mr. Mudd kicks them out. Booth still pays Mudd $25 for his help.

The pair head east of Zekiah Swamp, but get lost in the dark. This won’t be the last time these two will lose their way. Eventually, they find the home of Oswell Swann’s, a half-African American, half Piscataway Indian tobacco farmer at today’s corner of Cracklingtown Road and Burnt Store Road near Hughesville, MD. Booth offers to pay Swann $2 to lead them to William Burtle, a Confederate agent, who lives just west of Swann. Swann also provides them with foodstuffs for another $5, like milk, bread, and whisky.

On the way there, Booth changes his mind and gives Swann another $5 to take them to “Rich Hill,” the home of Samuel Cox.

 


A ticket to President Lincoln's funeral. Photo courtesy of Special Collections Lehigh University.

Sunday, April 16th (Day 3)

Pine thickets near “Rich Hill” - Bel Alton, Maryland

They arrive at Rich Hill at about 1 a.m. Cox knows who these men are, but let’s them in anyway. At about 4 AM, they come out of the house to see that Swann is still waiting for them. He wants his 12 dollars. Booth pays him and he goes away.

Realizing his own danger, Cox decides the two men can’t stay in the house. So, he instructs them to go to the pine thickets beyond his property. He says he will send a man to help them later in the morning. Booth is rather perturbed about this, thinking that a Southern sympathizer should show some Southern hospitality.

Mid-morning, Thomas Jones arrives and instructs the men to cool their heels until the next day. Herold and Booth spend Easter Sunday in very uncomfortable conditions, in a pine thicket.


News of Booth's escape traveled far and wide. Photo: Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons.

Monday, April 17th (Day 4)
Pine thickets near “Rich Hill” - Bel Alton, Maryland

At 10 a.m. the next morning, Jones whistles a “secret melody” to let Booth and Herold know that he is not an intruder. He comes bearing food, whisky, and newspapers, in which Booth is eager to see. He wants to know how the country is reacting to his “good deed.” Needless to say, not well.

Jones, a Confederate agent and former scout, tells the men they must wait longer to cross the Potomac into Virginia. He can hear Union troops in the distance and moving from their hiding spot now would be dangerous.

This news and the worsening condition of his leg put Booth in a foul mood.  

Tuesday, April 18th (Day 5)
Pine thickets near “Rich Hill” - Bel Alton, Maryland

Twenty-four hours later, Jones comes back to the pine thicket. He brings the men whisky and food, but instructs Herold to dispose of the horses at once. They are neighing too loudly.

Later, as Booth lies feebly on the ground, Herold takes the horses to a nearby quicksand morass and shoots them in the head. They sink.


The killer. Photo: Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons.

Wednesday, April 19th (Day 6)
Pine thickets near “Rich Hill” - Bel Alton, Maryland

As Lincoln’s funeral service begins shortly after noon in the White House East Room, Booth and Herold are still in the pine thicket near Rich Hill. They are impatient, but heed Jones’ warning. Plus, they have plenty of whisky. 

Thursday, April 20th (Day 7)
Pine thickets near “Rich Hill” in Bel Alton, Maryland to Dent’s Meadow to Nanjemoy Creek, Maryland 

At dusk, Jones comes back to the makeshift campsite and whistles the familiar three-note tune. As Booth and Herold approach, he tells them “darkness favors us.” They walk three and half miles to the Potomac River, making a pit stop at Jones’ house. He doesn’t allow them inside, but brings them food and whisky.

They continue on, with Booth riding Jones’ horse. They arrive at Dent’s Meadow and board a skiff owned by Jones. Booth tries to offer him money for his help, but Jones’ refuses - save for the 19 dollars he paid for the skiff in Baltimore a year ago.

They venture out into the Potomac, aiming for Virginia (Machodoc Creek to be exact.) They again get lost due to the darkness and fog. They end up in Nanjemoy Creek, Maryland.

Friday, April 21st (Day 8)
Nanjemoy Creek, Maryland to “Indiantown Farm” back to Nanjemoy Creek

They hit shoreline and conceal the boat. Booth and Herold walk to “Indiantown,” a farm owned by Herold’s friend Peregrine Davis. They find Davis’ son-in-law John J. Hughes there. He agrees to feed the fugitives, but they must hide somewhere else. 

Annoyed, they go back to the marshland where they parked their boat, waiting for the cover of darkness to try again at conversing the Potomac into Virginia.

Rather oddly, as night settles in, they don’t go anywhere. They remain in the marshlands. Perhaps Herold is too fatigued to row further or Booth is in too much pain to keep moving. Or maybe they just both fall asleep, not rising until the sun awakens them. Either way, they remain there another day.

Saturday, April 22nd (Day 9)
Nanjemoy Creek into the Potomac River

Well rested, they again wait for darkness to embark on the next leg of their escape. Almost immediately after dipping into the Potomac, they cross into the path of a Union gunboat. Luckily for them, it doesn’t spot them. The fog might have concealed them. They are rowing for hours in the cold.  

Sunday, April 23rd (Day 10)
Gambo Creek to Mrs. Queenberry’s Place to Stuart’s Farm to William Lucas’s cabin

In the early morning, they touch down in Gambok Creek, Virginia. While Booth is thrilled to be in Virginia, they are still in the wrong place. They were trying to get to Machodoc Creek and Mrs. Queenberry’s Place. Fortunately, the large farm is only a mile southwest. Herold hikes it as Booth waits by the boat.

Mrs. Queenberry has been expecting the fugitives, though a few days prior. Upon meeting Herold, she sends for Thomas Harbin, a Confederate agent. Together, they all go back to Gambo Creek, fetch Booth, and ride the eight miles to  Dr. Richard Stuart’s house in Cleydael

They arrive around 8 p.m. Stuart gives them food and whisky, but refuses to treat Booth or allow them to stay at the house. Instead, he directs him to the cabin of a free African-American couple, William Lucas and his wife.

Monday, April 24th (Day 11)
William Lucas’s cabin to Port Charles to the Peyton House to the Garrett farm

Booth and Herold arrive around midnight, angry that they were again denied “proper treatment.” They force Lucas and his wife from their own home at knifepoint. Booth drinks all of Lucas’ whisky and dozes off. 

The next morning, Lucas’ son, Charlie, drives them the ten miles to Port Charles, where they meet up with Confederate soldier William Jett. He takes them to the Peyton House, a few miles down the road. The only two people in the home are two unmarried women, who initially invite them to stay the night but that offer is rescinded when they realize how “inappropriate” it would be for two men to stay alone in a house with two maids.

They venture on to Richard Garrett’s farm about three and half miles away. Booth convinces the family that him and Herold are cousins and he is a “wounded Confederate soldier” in need of shelter. They agree to give Booth an actual real bed. For some reason, Herold decides he is going to town to get a new pair of shoes. He doesn’t return until the next day. 

Booth’s journey will end here at the Garrett Farm.

Tuesday, April 25th (Day 12)
The Garrett Farm

Booth sleeps late into the morning, tired from his journey and unaware of farmer hours. The Garrett sons are forced to awaken him. He eats breakfast, like a “civilized man,” and helps himself to whisky. He also plays games with the kids.

The Garretts are suspicious and, again, question Booth. He keeps up his story. 

Herold returns with a new pair of shoes. Booth tells him of his intention of staying another night. Herold doesn’t like this idea, for he thinks they should keep moving. Booth disagrees and says they are staying.   

Unlike the night before, they are not allowed to sleep in the house. The family makes them sleep in the tobacco barn. 

Wednesday, April 26th (Day 13)
The Garrett Farm

Booth and Herold don’t get much sleep. At 2:30 a.m, the 16th New York Cavalry surrounds the barn. It is unlikely the Garrett family has tattled on the fugitives, but they certainly are not getting in the Cavalry's way. David Herold immediately surrenders. Booth does not.

The Cavalry sets the barn on fire, smoking Booth out. Trying to escape, he gets shot in the neck. Less than five hours later, at 7:15 AM, John Wilkes Booth dies. David Herold would later be hung.


Execution of Mary SurrattLewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1865. (Photo:Alexander Gardner courtesy of Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons.)

Special thanks to these sources for the story:


Object of Intrigue: Edwin Booth's Letter to a Grieving Nation

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An 1864 production of Julius Caesar starred Edwin Booth as Brutus (center), John Wilkes Booth as Marc Anthony (left) and their brother Junius Booth Jr. as Cassius. (Photo: Public domain)

Poor Edwin Booth. In 1865, the great Shakespearean actor was well on his way to establishing himself as a formidable tragedian, having trod the boards as Hamlet in 100 consecutive performances at New York's Winter Garden Theatre. Then, on April 14th,  Edwin's younger brother and fellow actor John wrought his own theatrical tragedy that would forever overshadow any of the Booth family's accomplishments: he stormed Ford's Theatre and assassinated the president of the United States.

Two months after John Wilkes Booth's heinous crime, capture, and death, a distraught Edwin dictated a letter to his friend John B. Murray. Addressed "To the People of the United States" and published in several major newspapers in June 1865, it consists of three somber, shame-laden paragraphs in which Edwin speaks of being "prostrated to the very earth by this dreadful event." 

Two copies of the letter—one printed, the other in the handwriting of John B. Murray—are on display in the library of The Players, the private social club for actors that Edwin founded in New York in 1888.

Here is the printed copy: 

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(Photo: Ella Morton)

In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, Edwin's good friend, New York judge J.W. Edmonds, wrote the actor a sincere and empathic note, having predicted his anguished state of mind. The reassuring words, published in the New York Times on April 19, 1865,  promise that despite the nation's grief and shock, "all will be well, and you may be assured of the earnest sympathy of the good and the true everywhere."

Though Edwin initially decided to retire from the stage in response to his brother's crime, his audience did not abandon him. In 1866 they turned out in droves to see Edwin reprise his Hamlet—a role he would continue to play for the next 25 years.



The Complete Guide to America's Sexiest (And Totally Real) Presidential Nicknames

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On the anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, AKA the Great Emancipator, Honest Abe, The Liberator, etc., we couldn't help but notice how hilariously sexual presidential nicknames can be. From Bonny Johnny (John Adams) to The Grim Presence (Andrew Johnson), these nicknames can't, won't and don't stop.


1. George Washington: "The American Fabius"
Based on his use of the Fabian military strategy, this pet name makes him sound like he belongs on the cover of a romance novel.

2. John Adams: "Bonny Johnny"
Even though this name was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Adams' weight, "bonny" also means attractive. So we're going with the modern interpretation as, "Hot John."

3. Thomas Jefferson: "Long Tom"
The 3rd president was 6'2, thus his nickname. But you know that's what he called his junk later in life.

4. James Madison: "His Little Majesty"
The 4th president was 5'4, thus his nickname. But you know that's what he called his junk later in life.

5. James Monroe: "The Era of Good Feelings President"
Monroe was all about feelin good, and got this name based on his work to encourage partisan cooperation. He was also known as, "The Last of the Cocked Hats," but we're not touching that one.

6: John Quincy Adams: "Old Man Eloquent"
The second Adams in office got his nickname from his oratory skill, but imagine if he turned that skill elsewhere.

7. Andrew Jackson: "The Old Hero"
This is actually a shortened version of "The Old Hero of New Orleans" for his famed victory in the War of 1812. But like many on this list, you simply have to add, "in the Bedroom" to it for a little sex appeal.

8. Martin Van Buren: "The Careful Dutchman"
The wild-haired Van Buren had almost too many ready-for-innuendo nicknames including, The Red Fox of KinderhookThe Little MagicianThe Enhancer, and Martin Van Ruin. But the best of the bunch goes to the nickname he was given because his first language was Dutch. 

9. William Henry Harrison: "Tippicanoe"
This is another nickname given thanks to a military victory at a battle of the same name. It might not be the steamiest around, but it does make a cute pet name.

10. John Tyler: "Accidental President"
Tyler wasn't the most popular POTUS in his day, taking office after the death of William Henry Harrison. However there are worse things to be described as in the context of sex.

11. James K. Polk: "Polk the Purposeful"
The 11th president earned this nickname thanks to his clear four-point plan for what he wanted to achieve in office. It also doubles as a great name for a hilariously efficient lover. 

12. Zachary Taylor: "Old Rough and Ready"
Nailed it.

13: Millard Fillmore: "The American Louis Philipe"
The man named Millard was compared to French king, Louis Philippe, because of his taste for the finer things, so you know Fillmore was into sexy candlelight dinners. 

14. Franklin Pierce: "Handsome Frank"
Pierce's nickname is pretty self-explanatory, although it may have been meant to imply that he was nothing but a pretty face. Nonetheless, he could get it.

15. James Buchanan: "The Bachelor President"
Buchanan never married, so he was given a nickname that could double as a Lifetime Original rom-com title.

16. Abraham Lincoln: "Grand Wrestler"
It's a little known fact that Lincoln was a notable wrestler in his day, earning this overtly-masculine name as a result. Although the modern, Baberaham Lincoln, may be a bit more direct.

17. Andrew Johnson: "The Grim Presence"
Look, there was just nothing sexy about some of these guys, but at least this nickname, given to Johnson thanks to his dour attitude, sounds sort of smoldering. 

18. Ulysses S. Grant: "Unconditional Surrender"
Grant got this name for his uncompromising positions in the Civil War, but this could just as easily double for the title of a Lionel Ritchie song that would make your heart melt.

19. Rutherford B. Hayes: "Old 8 to 7"
That's how many minutes his lovers could depend on! ZING! (But really he got this name from the scandalous election that put him in office.)

20. James A. Garfield: "The Canal Boy"
Sure, Garfield got this name due to his work on the Ohio River as a boy, but lets just imagine it's implying something closer to a free-spirited cabana boy. 

21. Chester A. Arthur: "Gentleman Boss"
Step back, 50 Shades of Grey. The 21st president, known for his delicate tastes and elegant demeanor, was the original gentleman BOSS.

22. Grover Cleveland: "Uncle Jumbo"
Nuff said. Also, gross.

23. Benjamin Harrison: "The Human Iceberg"
Anyone looking for that cold, distant partner need look no further than our 23rd President, who was so unpleasant to talk to, it became his nickname.

24. William McKinley: "Wobbly Willie"
Maybe he drank too much? 

25. Theodore Roosevelt: "The Rough Rider"
A name given to him thanks to his famed calvary unit, we're gonna leave this one alone too. And before anyone thinks this nickname makes him marriage material, note that another of his nicknames was, The Trust-Buster

26. William Taft: "Sleeping Beauty"
Taft was known for being somewhat overweight, and regrettably, most of his nicknames revolved around this. This nickname was given to him thanks to his habit of falling asleep all the time. So let's just say he was a cuddler. 

27. Woodrow Wilson: "The Schoolmaster"
Hot for teacher? America wasn't, and the bookish Wilson only barely got reelected on the platform of, "He kept us out of war." Of course we then promptly entered World War I.

28. Warren G. Harding: "Wobbly Warren"
Another heavy drinker? Nah, just another indecisive president.

29. Calvin Coolidge: "Cool Cal"
Yikes. With a slick name like that, its a good thing sunglasses weren't widely available in Coolidge's day. He would have been irresistible.

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30. Herbert Hoover: "The Man of Great Heart"
Herbert Hoover: Boyfriend Material.    

31. Franklin D. Roosevelt: "The Sphinx"
Mysterious. Cat-like. Possibly a dashing secret agent? Unfortunately none of these apply to FDR, who got this name by acting cagey about running for a third term.

32. Harry S. Truman: "The Haberdasher"
Truman could make his own hats. He even owned a haberdashery briefly. That's surefire Tinder detail.

33. Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Kansas Cyclone"
Ike got this nickname from his days playing football. But this also sounds like something everyone should try at least once with a trusted partner. 

34. John F. Kennedy: "Crash Kennedy"
As though the sexiest president needed a cool nickname, he received this moniker after he crashed a pleasure boat into a dock. Classic Kennedy. 

35. Lyndon B. Johnson: "Uncle Cornpone"
Poor Lyndon B. Johnson. The Texas-born president got this insulting name from the Kennedys, who were mocking him. Nickname-wise, Johnson may be the least sexy president.

36: Richard M. Nixon: "Tricky Dick"
Natch.

37. Gerald R. Ford: "Mr. Nice Guy"
Nice guys are sexy.

38. Jimmy Carter: "Cousin Hot"
This one is a little weird. It was innocently given to Carter by his cousin, whose memoir was entitled, Cousin Beedie and Cousin Hot. Still rings a little like a controversial foreign film.

39. Ronald Reagan: "The Great Communicator"
Boyfriend Material 2: The Reagan Years.

40. George H. Bush: "Papa Bush"
Creepy? Yes. But hey, maybe some people are into that sort of parental dynamic.

41. Bill Clinton: "Slick Willie"
Shockingly this nickname was given to him early in his career, and has nothing to do with the sex scandal that would mar his presidency. But let's pretend it does anyway. 

42. George W. Bush: "Bush 2.0" 
About the only way this president could be considered sexy is if he was some sort of pleasure-bot. So this digital nickname wins. 

43. Barack Obama: "No Drama Obama"
Possibly the sexiest name on this list is the current POTUS' sing-song nickname. Because nothing says a good night, like one with no drama.    








Assassination Artifacts: 6 Items From Lincoln's Last Moments

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The moment everything changed. (Image: Currier & Ives, 1865, on Wikipedia

With April 14, 2015 marking the 150th anniversary of the audacious Lincoln assassination, museums across the country are taking the opportunity to exhibiting their artifacts from that dark night in new and novel ways. Here's where to find the remnants of a traumatic evening at Ford's Theatre:

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The deadly Derringer. (Photo: Tim Evanson on Flickr)

1. FORD'S THEATRE MUSEUM
Washington, D.C.

Located at the site of the assassination, this museum is the jackpot for Lincoln relic hunters. Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination is the current exhibition at the museum's Center for Education and Leadership. Items on display include the Derringer pistol John Wilkes Booth used to fire his lethal shot; the top hat the president wore to the theatre; the black velvet coat Mary Todd Lincoln wore to accompany him; the bloodied sleeve that actress Laura Keene wore as she cradled the president's wounded head; and a playbill for Our American Cousin, the show interrupted by Booth's shocking behavior. 

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 (Photo: Michelle Enemark)

2. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HEALTH AND MEDICINE
Silver Spring, Maryland

The slug pulled from the President's head during his autopsy is encased in a tiny glass orb at this institution. Also on display are fragments of Lincoln's skull, the probe used to locate and retrieve the embedded bullet, and the blood-stained shirt cuffs of Dr. Edward Curtis, the assistant surgeon who performed the autopsy. 

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Lincoln's last ride. (Photo: Derek Jensen on Wikipedia

3. STUDEBAKER NATIONAL MUSEUM
South Bend, Indiana

Amid the old-timey automobiles at this museum is an even old-timier conveyance: the carriage that Lincoln rode in to get to Ford’s Theatre on what would end up being the last night of his life. The Lincoln carriage is currently on loan to the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., but returns to its home at the Studebaker museum in June, where it will be the centerpiece of an exhibit entitled Lincoln's Final Journey: A Nation Mourns.

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The president's death bed. Too short for Lincoln, but that was the least of his worries. (Photo: Kevin Burkett on Flickr)

4. ABRAHAM LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM
Springfield, Illinois

In the aftermath of the shooting, Lincoln was too weak to be transported by carriage over cobblestones. His attendees therefore gathered him up and took him across the street to Peterson House, where they laid him in a bed that was much too short for his six-foot-four frame. Lincoln therefore died diagonally. The bed on which he took his last breath is on display at this museum until February 2016, as part of the Undying Words exhibit focusing on Lincoln's oratory prowess.

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A rocker forever tarnished. (Photo: Shannon on Flickr)

5. HENRY FORD MUSEUM
Dearborn, Michigan

The comfy rocking chair Lincoln sat in at Ford's Theatre is now at this museum. Its plush but tattered red upholstery makes for a poignant sight, but don't go thinking the stains at head-level are presidential blood. Museum workers recently told the Associated Press that the marks are oil from the hair of those who sat in the chair before Lincoln.

6.MUTTER MUSEUM
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

If you think you may gain an insight into John Wilkes Booth's murderous ways by examining teeny bits of him, head to the Mutter Museum. There you will find a chunk of vertebrae swiped from the body of the assassin during his autopsy.

                                     








The Strange History (And Future) Of Lincoln's Funeral Train

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The rebuilt United States, ready for its 2015 journey. (Photo courtesy of Lincoln Funeral Train.)

Before there was Air Force One, there was The United States, a luxury steam locomotive built in the waning days of the Civil War. But its first and only official use came after the death of the president for whom it was built: Abraham Lincoln actually never even set eyes on the train. Instead it became best known as the vehicle that took Lincoln’s coffin from Washington to Springfield, Illinois.

The train’s very strange history has an even stranger modern chapter. It is, somehow, back up and running.

The U.S. Military Railroad, a sort of predecessor of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, began constructing The United States in 1863, sensing the coming end of the war. The department predicted, correctly, that the president would need a vehicle to travel around the country after his presidency returned to some semblance of normalcy. “Lincoln was aware of the construction but really shelled the idea anytime it came up,” says Shannon Brown, media director for the modern-day Lincoln Funeral Train. “He felt that there was no reason to be spending money on something like that.” Lincoln kept putting off seeing the train, even after it was finished, in 1865.

Eventually, Lincoln was worn down enough to make an appointment to see the train—on April 15th, 1865. “He never used it while he was alive,” says Brown.


The "Old Nashville." The locomotive pulled the funeral train of President Abraham Lincoln from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois. (Photo: Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons.)


Lincoln’s body, however, went on a grand tour. The United States was used officially for the first and only time to transport Lincoln’s coffin through over 150 communities between the capital and Lincoln’s hometown, present at 12 separate funerals in major cities on the way. Reporters boarded for individual legs between stops, waxing poetic for the magazines and newspapers of the time about the luxurious, presidential train Lincoln would never see.

The history of the train after that is spotty and inelegant. It was put up for sale before it even reached Springfield, and ended up in the hands of Union Pacific, which stripped out the opulent touches and transformed it into an ordinary passenger car. Eventually it ended up in a shed owned by a private citizen in Minnesota, where it was destroyed in a fire. But fire and near-total destruction isn’t enough to deter Lincoln-lovers.

In 1999, Dave Kloke, an engineer from Elgin, Illinois, decided to fulfill a lifelong dream and build himself a fully-functioning steam locomotive. “It took 10 years, strictly a hobby, just one of those bucket list things,” says Brown. It can be hard to track down the blueprints for that kind of train, but it turns out that the Parks Department had them for the Leviathan 63, the very model that The United States was based on. By the time he finished the project, he realized that the 150-year anniversary of Lincoln’s death was coming up, and realized he could transform his train into a replica.


The United States, Lincoln's funeral train. Photo: Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons.

Reconstructing the train has been difficult—or, the interior has. There are plenty of extant photos of the original train on which to model the new reconstruction, but the inside is a different story. “There are no known photographs of the interior, that's sort of our holy grail,” says Brown. Instead his team relied on descriptions from bureaucrats and engineers and, especially, journalists, who at the time tended to be much more flowery and extravagant in their language. “We figure we're probably about 90-95 percent historically accurate inside. Outside, probably closer to about 98 percent,” says Brown.

The interior reflected the timely conception of luxury; Brown used the word “garish” to describe it. Think leather-bound walls, huge heavy furniture, decorative rosettes sewn into the ceiling. It had a bedroom and, innovative for the time, a bathroom. The new model is as historically accurate as possible, meaning, yes, it has a working water closet on board.

The new train, dubbed the Lincoln Funeral Train Tour, will begin on May 2nd in Springfield. The tour is designed to mimic the original tour the first train made with Lincoln’s coffin; in fact, they have two replica coffins today. The locomotive can really run on today’s tracks, up to around 40 miles per hour (though it’s not likely to even reach half that), but it can actually be mounted onto what’s essentially a tractor base to be towed around the country. It might be hard to explain to Amtrak or a metropolitan regional rail operator why trains will have to run at 20 miles per hour behind a luxury train with a fake coffin and probably some children on a field trip inside.

The team hopes to raise enough funds to take the train due east, ending up in Alexandria, where the original train was conceived and constructed. And why not? Lincoln did it.








3 Dragons, 1 Unicorn: 4 Places That Claim to Hold the Remains of Fantasy Creatures

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Dragon bones? (Photo katieandtommy on Flickr

In some ways, science is a real buzzkill. Take for instance, dragons. Across countless cultures and endless centuries, humanity has told tales of great and wondrous beasts that hoard gold or breath fire or grow magical horns. Unfortunately science has long since disproved the existence of such creatures as dragons and unicorns (along with goblins, fairies, pegasus, trolls, mermaids, and a whole universe of made-up monsters). But no matter what the facts say, there are still a few places in the world that refuse to let the magic die. Take a look at the remains of three dragons, and a cave that was said to be a unicorn graveyard.


THE DRAGON RIB OF ATESSA
Atessa, Italy 

article-imageThis is a dragon bone. I'm just RIB'n ya! (Photo: Tax Controller on Wikipedia)

For a book that many people insist on reading as non-fiction, the Bible sure has a lot of dragons in it (or did before the NEW King James version edited them into other creatures). In fact, a number of saints and church figures are said to have had run-ins with dragons that needed slaying. Such was the case with the Dragon of Atessa which is said to have been slain by Saint Leucius of Brindisi: As the story goes, the saint was brought in to take care of the beast that was keeping the villages of Ate and Tixa (later joined as Atessa) apart. Leucius faced the dragon in its lair and was able to conquer it using naught but his willpower.

Today the supposed rib of this mythical dragon is still held in the The Cathedral of Saint Leucio in Atessa. The bone is held in a glass-topped case behind iron bars and certainly LOOKS like it could be the rib of a dragon. But with no frame of reference, who is to say. 


BRNO DRAGON
Brno, Czech Republic

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"Dragon Dundee" just doesn't have the same ring. (Photo: Don Meliton on Flickr)

Okay, the Brno Dragon is clearly a crocodile. Nonetheless, the legend claims that it was a dragon. The legend states that a dragon was terrorizing the city of Brno (as they are want to do), and as you might expect, they could not figure out how to stop it. Finally, a foreign butcher stopped by the city and came up with a plan. They wrapped a heaping helping of lye in an animal skin and left it out like a big poison burrito. The dragon devoured the offering and promptly died. There was much rejoicing.

Now, the supposed carcass of the creature is hanging in the old Brno Town Hall, but as was previously stated, it is clearly a crocodile corpse. Many people in the city claim that is truly the dragon of the legend, but the more likely scenario is that the hanging taxidermy was a gift from a visiting ambassador.

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This is what happens to you when you go around eating mysterious burritos. (Photo: zarco on Wikipedia)


THE BONES OF THE WAWEL DRAGON
Krakow, Poland

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No bones about it, those probably aren't dragon bones. (Photo: Nick Richards on Flickr)

Smok Waweleski was a dragon that is said to have lived beneath Wawel Hill in the days before the founding of Krakow. A villain, like all of his kind, Wawaleski demanded a tribute of a young woman each month, which the nearby villagers dutifully provided. One day, a local apprentice came up with the idea (possibly after talking with the butcher from Brno) to try and feed the creature a poison lamb. Because all dragons are real idiots, Wawaleski housed the whole lamb which made him so thirsty he then went to the river and drank water until he exploded. Sometimes legends are so weird they are amazing.

Apparently someone sifted through the water-logged gore and fished out some souvenirs because the modern Wawel Cathedral claims to display a jumble of the dragon's bones. Hanging high up against one of the cathedral's walls, the bones certainly seem big enough to have belonged to a dragon. The more likely explanation is that they are the remains of a mammoth or whale. However the bones have been hanging in the church for centuries, so the truth may never be known.

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There are few things more metal in this world than dragon bones held together with black chain. (Photo: Yohan euan o4 on Wikipedia)


UNICORN CAVE
Harz, Germany

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That is one grumpy unicorn. (Photo: tracy the astonishing on Flickr)

Located in Germany's Harz Mountains, Unicorn Cave was first discovered in medieval times when the only logical explanation for all of the bones in the cave were that they belonged to magic horses. The cavern (the largest in the entire mountain range!) was first mentioned in 1541 when a chronicler visited the site and found that the locals were harvesting the rich cache of unicorn bones from the cave floor and crushing them up to make folk medicines. With our smug modern understanding we can of course look back and laugh, secure in the knowledge that they were just eating regular, un-magical animal bones.

Modern excavations have failed to turn up any trace of unicorns, but miraculously, researchers have identified the remains of dozens of other prehistoric animals. Apparently the large cave made for a perfect natural shelter. Unicorn Cave is now open as a show cave, and even has a delightful unicorn skeleton out front. It might not be magic, but it's close.

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Germany is magic. (Photo: Norbert Kaiser on Wikipedia)








Lincoln’s Assassination Was Not the Worst Thing That Ever Happened at Ford’s Theater

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Ford's Theater the day after the 1893 collapse. (Photo: National Park Service.)

Few locations carry the historical weight of Ford’s Theater. Like Dealey Plaza, Little Bighorn, and now the Twin Towers, the site of Lincoln’s assassination is infamous, a shorthand for tragedy. But what’s eerie about Ford’s Theater is that the murder of the president 150 years ago today was not even the worst thing that happened there. 

Soon after Lincoln’s death, John Ford tried to reopen his downtown Washington theater. As BoothieBarn recounts vividly here, the public was outraged, and the federal government ended up buying the theater from Ford. At first, the government used as the Army Medical Museum. Then, in the 1880s, it became a War Department pensions office. In 1893 Col. Fred Ainsworth, the chief of the pension bureau, ordered construction to install electric lights in the building, “for the comfort and convenience of the employees,” the New York Times reported at the time. The electric light plant required extensive renovation to the basement, and employees began getting edgy when they noticed plaster falling from the ceiling on the upper floors.

On Friday, June 9th, during the workday, a beam in the basement collapsed, and a huge portion of the interior of the building collapsed, killing 22 people and injuring more than 100, most of them War Department employees.


Account from day after tragedy. (Photo courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle.)

A fraught inquest followed, with a “mob spirit” raging against Col. Ainsworth for his carelessness and indifference to the obvious danger. An account of one early hearing:   

Here the tempest broke in its full fury. “Hang him,” was shouted from a dozen throats. Every man in the spectators’ seats rose at the cry. “Hang him, hang him,” the shouts grew louder. Col. Ainsworth sat cool and collected.

Ainsworth’s defenders, including the Times, claimed he was a victim of spiteful employees and former employees, and that the building had been in fine shape. The initial coroner’s inquiry found Ainsworth, the contractor, and others criminally negligent, but prosecutors never pursued charges against any of them. Ainsworth continued as head of the pension bureau. The federal government ended up paying $5,000 to the family of each victim, about $130,000 in 2015 dollars. 

Since that 1893 tragedy, the building has had a gentler history. Rebuilt immediately, it served as a government printing office until the 1930s, then as a Lincoln museum until the late 1960s. In 1968, it was restored to its 1865 appearance, and reborn as a theater. 








Places You Can No Longer Go: Gettysburg National Tower

The Hall of Fame Hall of Fame: 6 Weird and Wonderful Places to Honor Just About Anything

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C-3POMG (Photo: Jiuguang Wang on Flickr

No matter your profession or area of interest, recognition is important. It's no wonder then that people will start up a "Hall of Fame" for just about anything: Forget sports halls of fame, these are all about the barbers, the burlesque dancers, and the pinball machines. Let's explore six hallowed halls that celebrate things that most people didn't know needed honoring.


1. ROBOT HALL OF FAME
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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Metropolis FTW. (Photo: Jiuguang Wang on Flickr)

Located in the Carnegie Science Center, the Robot Hall of Fame honors mechanical life both real and fictional. Each year a number of new robots are added to the honor roll, and some are put on display in the Carnegie Exhibit. Past inductees include WALL-E, Robbie the Robot, and the Roomba.

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Gort. Best robot name ever? (Photo: Jiuguang Wang on Flickr)


2. BURLESQUE HALL OF FAME
Las Vegas, Nevada

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Exquisite form indeed. (Photo: Robert Kimberley on Flickr)

Many people confuse burlesque with the kind of entertainment offered in so-called gentlemen's clubs all over the world, and while there are some thematic similarities, the art and history of burlesque are much richer. Las Vegas' Burlesque Hall of Fame celebrates the art of the tease and the stars of the form who go too often unsung. The museum holds thousands of costumes, photos, and props from all across the history of burlesque. Plus, the names alone warrant attention—past honorees include Chesty Morgan and Candy Barr.  

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A museum as diverse as it is undressed. (Photo: Property of the Burlesque Hall of Fame)


3. THE NATIONAL BARBER MUSEUM & HALL OF FAME 
Canal Winchester, Ohio

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Don't mess with this guy. He'll cut you. (Photo property of the National Barber Hall of Fame)

Ah the humble barber. A profession as old as style and razors, barbering has come to have a number of symbols and relics, as well as its own share of superstars who are honored at the National Barber Hall of Fame. The museum itself has large collections of barber poles, barber chairs, razors, shaving cups, and all other manner of hair-cutting accouterment. The hall of fame seeks out people who have made "significant and lasting contribution to the barbering profession." Any barber can be nominated and they can join the ranks of such greats as Edwin C. Jeffers and William Marvy.

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Barber were into poles long before strippers. (Photo property of the National Barber Hall of Fame)


4. PINBALL HALL OF FAME
Las Vegas, Nevada

article-image This is easily the funnest hall of fame. (Photo: Dylan Thuras on Atlas Obscura)

Once considered the downfall of American youth, pinball has stood the test of time and continues to be a popular, if niche, pastime. Las Vegas' Pinball Hall of Fame celebrates the pinging, flashing history of the classic game by collecting hundreds of machines ranging from old mechanical boxes to more modern models. The hall of fame is not discriminating about what games make the cut. If it's got a silver ball and flashing lights, it's in.  

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The vintage games in the pinball hall of fame won't let you down. (Photo: Avoiding Regrets on Atlas Obscura)


5. NATIONAL TOY HALL OF FAME
Rochester, New York

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This guy didn't make it into the hall of fame, but he is in the museum. (Photo: Cory Doctorow on Flickr)

Curated by the Strong National Museum of Play (maybe the best-named museum in the country), the National Toy Hall of Fame honors playthings that never go out of style. While it does not currently have its own permanent exhibit, one is being created, and in the meantime, the hall of fame welcomes new items into the club each year. Some of the inductees to the hall of fame include the Slinky, marbles, Star Wars action figures, and of course such timeless classics as stick and cardboard box. 

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Lunch boxes have not made it into the hall of fame yet, but cardboard boxes have. (Photo: Cory Doctorow on Flickr)


6. STICKBALL HALL OF FAME
New York, New York

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Stickball, a game from the streets, finally gets its own street. (Photo: lauren on Flickr)

Despite earlier stating that you should forget sports halls of fame, this one is the exception. Located in uptown Manhattan, this hall of fame honors a game from the streets by presenting a collection of the simple tools used to make it come to life. Played with nothing more than broomsticks and a rubber ball (called a spaldeen), stickball was designed for city streets. The hall of fame honors many of the historic teams that once battled in the street including the Young Devils and Milton's Playhouse.









Steampunk... Or Just Punk'd?

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article-imageThe Periscope machine captures a viewer's likeness and displays it on the top monitor. 
(All photos courtesy of Wright.)

Before there was the Periscope app, there was the Periscope machine. Said to have been built in the late 19th century, and—like Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment—powered by static-electricity-capturing Leyden jars, it captures moving images of the viewer and transmits them into the ether.

Or does it?

When film editor and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) professor Burton J. Sears died in August 2014, he left behind a collection of mysterious machines purportedly created during the 19th century, including the Periscope. On April 16th, all of 11 of the steampunk-style contraptions go up for auction at Wright in Chicago.

While potential buyers have been dazzled by the aesthetics of Professor BJ Sears' Technological Rarities, many are a little confused by their backstories. And with good reason.

Take, for example, Reddington's Phonelescope, pictured below. According to Sears' explanatory notes, the machine was built by a mining engineer named Whispering Jack Reddington, who graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1899. Sears wrote that Reddington, a deeply religious man, was fascinated with the transmission and amplification of sound waves, and believed that the dynamic range of the human voice was divine.

"The scientific beliefs of the day were that light waves, like sound waves, needed a medium for transmission," wrote Sears. "Jack spent all his off-hours trying to alter what was called the luminiferous aether ('aether wind') that carried them. This was in complete contradiction to the early Michelson-Morley experiments. Jack’s belief was that using different wavelengths of light in the presence of the divine sound could slightly alter the aether itself and thus produce sounds never heard by man before."

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Reddington's Phonelescope, one of the 11 mysterious machines up for auction. 

According to Sears, Reddington conducted several unsuccessful sound-wave experiments in the nooks and crannies of a Colorado mine, resulting in cave-ins that saw the man relieved of his duties and banned from the premises. "Reddington’s Phonelescope," wrote Sears, "is the only surviving machine from Jack’s ill-fated experiments."

It's a fascinating story. It's also not real. Well, not all of it—the Colorado School of Mines exists, as does the concept of luminiferous aether. The Michelson-Morley experiments did take place during the 1880s. But Whispering Jack Reddington was a man who lived only in Professor Sears' imagination. Sears built all 11 of the mysterious machines himself between 2009 and 2014.

Sears' confluence of mythology and reality, which is found in the backstories he wrote for the machines up for auction, is one of the reasons Wright auction specialist Peter Jefferson decided to take on Professor BJ Sears' Technological Rarities. “It is a little bit outside of what we’re normally selling," he says, "but I thought it was the perfect melding of three things: science, history and art."

article-imageThe Electrophonic Anachroscope, which is equipped with an inscrutable time-travel function.

Sears, whose film editing credits include the features Jacob's Ladder, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Henry and June, built the steampunk-y machines out of scraps he found on his travels. “He was always fascinated by the World’s Fair, new discoveries, expositions, underground transportation, underwater transportation, all of these things," says Jefferson. "It fascinated him to collect and gather these objects that are old and have their own stories and backstories and histories."

During summers when he was teaching at his school's campus in Lacoste, France, Sears would browse flea markets and yard sales for pipes, dials, gauges, and other debris from the distant past. After shipping them back to his Savannah home, he began to assemble the pieces into machines. As he built each piece, he constructed a plausible history to go along with it. Having spent three decades in the film industry, Sears was adept at melding truth and fiction.

"The stories are just really compelling, and it makes you wonder what it is that you’re really looking at," says Jefferson. "I had someone come in yesterday to drop off something unrelated and the person was asking me, 'So, these are all re-creations of objects that existed?' He was convinced that these things were actual replicas."

It's an understandable belief. One of the machines, the Sinehouse Archive, is described as "a replica of a device made in the summer of 1860 by Dr. Wolfous Sinehouse." Plausible so far, but read a little further and you'll discover that Sinehouse, a man dreamed up by Sears, was apparently the leader of a highly controversial utopian separatist community with strict rules. ("To better bathe in the glow of their creator’s majesty," Sears wrote of the community, "the members kept clean-shaven heads and never wore hats of any kind.") Sinehouse is said to have used these community members for his own mysterious experiments.

The history of the Sevastopol Travel Clock, pictured below, is similarly truth-adjacent. According to Sears, the device was "abandoned by Major General Adolphus Tull of the Grenadier Guards and was found on the battlefield, in September 1855. Contrary to Florence Nightingale’s reports of horrendous living conditions in the Crimea, this clock may be evidence that some in the officer corps soldiered on." Sears helpfully noted that "the clock doubled as a tea pot."

article-imageThe Sevastopol Travel Clock

It's not just the backstories that are surprising: these machines combine history and technology in unexpected ways. Six of the devices incorporate concealed iPhones, which are used to run looping video and audio. “They’re hidden in compartments or drawers inside of encasements or on the furniture that the piece rests on," says Jefferson. "He built little trap doors that are hinged or completely hidden and isolated. You wouldn’t know—unless you knew.”

Professor BJ Sears' Technological Rarities are auctioned on April 16, 2015, from noon CST at Wright in Chicago and online. Price estimates range from $10,000 to $30,000.

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The Mills Device, purported to have been built in the 1850s.

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The Satellite Monitor, a companion piece to the Anachroscope.

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The Cartesian Kiosk, an ode to the invention of the light bulb.

article-imageThe Lyndhurst Unit, said to have been discovered in a country house on the Hudson.

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The Muybridge Experiment, which features video of a galloping horse.

 








7 Theme Restaurants That May Have Gone Too Far

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Yum? (Photo: riNux on Flickr)

It's no secret that we here at Atlas Obscura enjoy a good theme restaurant. Whether it's a place where your dinner is served by ninjas or you eat in complete darkness, the strange and wonderful ways that people have come up with to enhance the experience of dining never cease to amaze. Yet, there is such a thing as being too bold when it comes to sitting where you eat. Be it bombs, toilets, or trash check out the odd themes and decor of the world's restaurant that have gone too far.


1. CRATERS RESTAURANT
Phonsavon, Laos

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Started Eating Next to Some Bombs (Photo: James Antrobus on Flickr)

Feeling a bit peckish after a day of backpacking through Laos? Stop by the Crater Restaurant, where the specter of the Vietnam war never goes away. The patio of this little eatery is fenced in using old bomb shells leftover from the war. After the US dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs in the area to try and stop Vietcong soldier who were suspected of escaping through the area, the old armaments can be found all around. In fact the restaurant is right next door to an Unexploded Ordnance Visitor Information Center where the main question is probably, "how do I get rid of this bomb?" Eat well!  

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 Curious about the bombs you're eating near? Why just visit the Unexploded Ordnance center next door. (Photo: Prince Roy on Flickr)


2. MODERN TOILET RESTAURANT
Datong District, Taiwan

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Chicken bowl. (Photo: riNux on Flickr)

It seems like ever since someone came up with the term "toilet bowl" people have been dreaming of eating out of commodes. Well anyone dead set on a little lavatory luncheon need look no further than Taiwan's Modern Toilet Restaurant. As you might have guessed, everything here is bathroom themed, from curry that comes in a ceramic toilet bowl to ice cream served off of a little platter shaped like a urinal. Even the chairs are disused toilets. This restaurant is far from crappy however and has expanded to multiple locations.  

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Notice that the chairs are toilets as well. It's toilets all the way down. (Photo: riNux on Flickr)


3. EL DIABLO RESTAURANT
Teguise, Spain

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Who need ovens when you have a volcano? (Photo by Ned Trifle on Atlas Obscura)

This restaurant is not so much gross or depressing as needlessly dangerous. Perched atop an active volcano, the El Diablo Restaurant uses the natural heat from the subsurface magma to cook its dishes. While this is undoubtedly the most marvelously macho way of preparing a meal, it does seem a bit hubristic to sit an eatery with a view on a caustic hilltop.   

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Careful guys. That's a live volcano (Photo by Christine McIntosh on Atlas Obscura)


4. THE NEW LUCKY RESTAURANT
Ahmadabad, India

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Yes. Those are green graves. (Photo: www.ynaija.com)

When it is said that the New Lucky Restaurant is built on an Indian burial ground, it is no exaggeration. In fact the sarcophagi are sitting in plain sight, right in the middle of the dining area, with customers blithely skirting the short fences surrounding them. The graveyard was already in place when the restaurant was built, and the owner decided to just embrace the hassle have the graves become a selling point for customers. And before anyone cries "disrespect," note that the graves are cleaned and given new flowers each day. Whether this makes eating next to a coffin more appealing is anyone's guess. 


5. ALCATRAZ ER
Shibuya, Japan

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No, that's okay, I'm good. (Photo: Alcatraz ER

This kitschy, horror-themed restaurant in Japan is not unlike horror-themed restaurants around the world, but where most go for a playful, Monster-Mash-vibe, the Alcatraz ER really goes for the extreme. The decor, which could best be described as hellish mental institution, is strictly haunted house as some diners are seated in little cells and must rattle the bars for service. With drinks served in heads and syringes, if the general theme of body horror doesn't kill your appetite, the regular shows the staff puts on likely will. Every so often the mad clowns with drag out some poor diner and "experiment" on them with giant syringes and fake penises. I think I'll skip dessert.   


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Wouldn't want to forget some religious imagery. (Photo: Alcatraz ER


6. BEI TOU INCINERATOR
Taipei, Taiwan 

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Try not to choke on the garbage fumes while you finish your meal! (Photo: 玄史生 on Wikipedia)

Just because you have a tower doesn't mean that you are obligated to build a revolving restaurant on top of it. However that did not stop the makers of the Bei Tou Trash Incinerator smokestack. The Star Catcher, as the eatery is known, sits above the waste disposal complex slowly rotating, powered by the very process of garbage burning happening below. Thanks to special air filters, the noxious stench does not reach the restaurant. Yet with every bite, it might be hard to forget that you are riding a garbage carousel.   


7. FUNNY SEX
Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

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There's just a restaurant in there. Sorry to let you down. (Photo: emailer on Flickr

Food and sex have often been linked (I'm looking at you 9 1/2 Weeks), but Taiwan's Funny Sex restaurant may have found the limit to how much erotica you can mix with your food before things start getting weird. The ethos of the restaurant is all right there in the name, as the they take a tongue-in-cheek view of the human netherparts which are incorporated into almost every aspect of the space and its fare. Your milage on how appetizing Funny Sex's offerings are, will vary. 

article-image Yep. Ice cream penises. (Photo: ipeen.com)








Pigeon Towers: The Rise and Fall of a 17th-Century Status Symbol

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A dovecote at Niort in the Poitou-Charentes region of France. (Photo: dynamosquito on Flickr)

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the richest people across the United Kingdom and France built beautiful towers, just for pigeons. 

Known as dovecotes, pigeonniers, doocots, or colombiers, these buildings served as apartment blocks for hundreds of pigeons who were waiting to be eaten by members of the nobility. Early 20th-century pigeon expert Arthur Cooke estimated that by the 1650s, there were 26,000 dovecotes in England alone. Though many dovecotes had similar designs, each had its own flair. In his 1920 Book of Dovecotesthe seminal tome on the subjectCooke waxed lyrical on the grandeur of the pigeonnier:

"Are not all dovecotes pretty much alike?" it may be asked. The answer to this question is emphatically "No." It would be difficult to find two dovecotes quite identical in every detail, architectural style, shape, size, design of doorway, means of entrance for the inmates, number and arrangement of the nests. ... They were designed and built by craftsmen gifted with imagination, who, though they worked to some extent upon a pattern, loved to leave their individual mark upon the thing they fashioned with their hands.

Dovecotes were used primarily to keep pigeons for their meat. (The birds' guano was also collected and used for fertilizer, gunpowder, and tanning hides.) At the time, root vegetables had not yet arrived in Britain, meaning that in winter, farmers could not rely on their usual crops to feed livestock such as pigs and cows. They were therefore bereft of beef and bacon, and turned to alternative sources of meat. Pigeons were easy to maintain: as natural foragers, they spent their days seeking food, then came home to roost at night. A farmer needed only to have a tower lined with nest-friendly alcoves in order to keep hundreds of squabs at the ready.

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The interior of a colombier on the French island of Oleron. (Photo: pascal_nl on Flickr)

This Elizabethan convenience food, however, was not available to all. "Dovecotes for the time were a badge of the elite," says John Verburg, a dovecote devotee and self-styled "Jane Goodall of pigeons." During the reign of Elizabeth I, a pigeon tower was a privilege reserved only for feudal lords. And this law was enforced: Cooke wrote of a case in England in 1577 in which a "tenant who had erected a dovecote on a royal manor was ordered by the Court of Exchequer to demolish it." 

Among the elite crew of pigeon tower people, there was an additional hierarchy. The usual wealth-conscious rules applied: bigger was better, and ornate meant important. "The larger, the more beautiful dove­cote, the higher your societal esteem," says Verburg. "Commoners were not allowed to keep pigeons, and the size of the dovecote one was allowed depended upon status and land ownership."

Around the mid-17th century, the feudal-lord requirement started to be relaxed a little—in practice, if not in common law—causing a boom in dovecote construction and a decline in the prestige of the pigeon tower. "When that set of rules fell, and commoners were allowed to construct dove­cotes, the status element was lost and the incentive to build dove­cotes gone," says Verburg. "We are a vain people."

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A dovecote at Nymans in West Sussex, England. (Photo: sidebog7 on Flickr)

Another innovation then came along to hasten the death of the dovecote: the introduction of root vegetables. "It will be neither jest nor paradox to say that dovecotes were in a great measure doomed when first the turnip and the swede were introduced to British agriculture, early in the eighteenth century," Cooke wrote. With pigeons no longer needed as a winter food source, dovecotes stopped being built.

Three hundreds years later, many of these pigeon towers still exist, in various states of neglect and disrepair. Using Cooke's tome as a guide, Verburg, whose interest in dovecotes comes from a "synergism of style, architecture, and, yes, pigeons," has traveled through England, France, and several other European countries in search of surviving towers. They are still there, dotting the countryside, although pigeons have obviously lost their cachet among the elite. For insight into how far these former status symbols have fallen, one needs only to visit Trafalgar Square or any puddle in Manhattan. Once nobility fought to build huge towers to raise pigeons; now we call them "rats with wings."

BONUS: Highlights from the dovecoat tour.  Cotehele, pictured below, an estate in Cornwall that dates back to England's Tudor era. The domed dovecote on the premises is dotted with moss and surrounded by wild greenery, giving the whole scene a tranquil feel.

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An overgrown dovecote at Cotehele in Cornwall, England. (Photo: Roger Lombard at geograph.co.uk)

The pigeonnier at Planguenoual in France was another highlight, notable for its unusual three-towers-in-one design:

 article-imageA pigeonnier at Planguenoual in Brittany, France. (Photo: John Verburg)

France is the prime destination if you're interested in seeing dovecotes, particularly the Brittany region. Verburg recommends it both in terms of sheer numbers of towers left and the variety of styles on display. "Many are architectural wonders matching that of the elegant estates themselves," he says.

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A dovecote at Avebury in Wiltshire, southwest England. (Photo: Varun Shiv Kapur on Flickr)

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The remains of a doocot in a corn field at Parbroath Castle in Scotland. (Photo: B4bees on Flickr)
 

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Inside a dovecote in Wales. (Photo: Smabs Sputzer on Flickr)








Swamped: Gorillas, Dolphins And More Snippets From Inside The World's Wetlands

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article-imageThe Gator Hook Strand of South Florida's Big Cypress. (Photo: Sarah West)

What’s the planet’s mightiest swamp?

It’s a surprisingly tricky question, given the terminology. Ecologists define wetlands by different criteria, and the classification and naming schemes aren’t universal. Marshes, fens, bogs, mires, moors, wet prairies—these words all have technical definitions that can align, overlap, or flat-out contradict their vernacular meanings. In casual use, “swamp”—maybe because it’s such a resonant, evocative term—can serve for nearly any sodden lowland.

 article-imageBibon Swamp, NW Wisconsin. (Photo: Ethan Shaw)

In North America, though, “swamp” typically refers to a wetland dominated by trees or shrubs (and not peat-choked, like a bog). By this definition, then, many of the world’s waterlogged ecosystems aren’t swamps. By far the vastest wetlands, for example, are the bogs of the pancake-flat West Siberian Lowlands, which collectively sprawl across more than a million square miles between the Urals and the Yenesey Valley. The Florida Everglades is often conceived of as swampland, but—though it does support scattered baldcypress domes and strands—it is, at heart, a great rain-fed sheetflow marsh. Not a swamp.

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The Everglades proper is a huge freshwater marsh complex (photo by Ethan Shaw)

For sheer ambience, though, a forested wetland—a true swamp—is hard to beat among global ecosystems: Even a pocket-sized example is fiercely wild. Swamps may arise where rivers regularly leap their banks in rainy-season or snowmelt pulses to inundate their timbered floodplains; or where trees invade the basins of dead or dying lakes and marshes; or where the waves and the seabed and the mix of fresh- and saltwater along a seashore are conducive to trees called mangroves.

What we'll survey here—in the spirit of all the countless morasses that have been drained, logged, and burnt off—are some of the very greatest tracts of swampland left. From the Florida tidewater to the depths of the Congo, these wilderness bottomlands are still big enough to get lost in, big enough to embody those primal swamps of our imagination.

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The sort of disturbing/wonderful sight that makes some folks fret about swamps: an American alligator hauls off a white-tailed deer in Georgia's Harris Neck NWR.(Photo: Terri Jenkins, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.)

The Flooded Forest: Amazon Basin

In the great drowned forests of Amazonia, the pink river dolphin, or boto, cruises among the stilt roots of Cecropia trees in the murk; parrots flash in the aguajale palm swales; heavy-jawed tambaqui fish munch floating tree fruits while immense catfish spawn. As heavy rains swell the Amazon system, rivers and tributaries overspill and mingle their floodwaters across grand reaches of bottomland rainforest. Reckoned (by Paul A. Keddy and Lauchlan H. Fraser in The World's Largest Wetlands) at some 670,000 square miles, these seasonal floodplain wetlands—which prevail to varying degree from December to June—may constitute the planet's biggest swamp mosaic. 

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The boto, or pink river dolphin, roams the Amazonian flooded forest; it also favors the confluences of black- and whitewater rivers. (Photo: Jorge Andrade/via Wikimedia Commons.)

The inundations are divided between the várzea floodplains of so-called “whitewater” rivers (silt- and nutrient-rich flows out of the Andes) and the less fertile igapó bottoms of “blackwater” and “clearwater” rivers. Amazonia’s flooding regime conjures a striking diversity of wetland habitats, from dense canebrakes to waterlily-strung oxbows, and establishes the foundational ecological schedule below the higher terra firme rainforest occupying most of the basin.

The Gorilla Swamps of the Cuvette Centrale

Some 73,000 square miles of swamps and associated wetlands fortress the Congo Basin, second only to the Amazon in overall size. The broadest expanses of swamps lie southwest of Mbandaka, cloaking tributaries like the Oubangui, Likouala-aux-Herbes, and Sangha as they feed the Congo River. Across the Congo, impressive morasses also shroud lakes Tumba and Mai-Ndombe. This sparsely populated region has long harbored legends of a semi-aquatic dinosaur-like beast called the Mokele-mbembe.

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Western lowland gorilla, Congo Basin swamp-walker. (Photo: Trisha M Shears/via Wikimedia Commons.)

Hardwoods dominate the seasonally flooded bottomlands, while the wettest reaches are often bristling jungles of raffia palm and pandanus. These Congolian swamp forests, critical refuge for forest elephants, are also some of the world’s most important remaining homes for great apes: western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. Gorillas—which survive here in some of the greatest numbers and densities left anywhere in Africa—wade through the quagmires, gnawing on raffia pith and constructing high-and-dry nests out of palm fronds.

Bottomland Swamps of America

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Baldcypresses in the Okefenokee Swamp. (Photo: Ryan Hagerty, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/via Wikimedia Commons.)

The swamps of the Atlantic-Gulf Coastal Plain and especially the lower Mississippi River valley constitute one of the planet’s great concentrations of forested wetlands. Prior to Euro-American settlement, the Mississippi alluvial plain may have nourished some 81,250 square miles of bottomland swamps and forests. Today, drainage, dams, and levees have greatly diminished this extent, but outstanding remnants—the dominion of alligators, water moccasins, and black bears—remain. Baldcypress (which may live 1,000 years or more) and tupelo/gum wall in deepwater sloughs, while slightly higher floodplain ground supports richer canopies of silver maple, sweetgum, sycamore, and other hardwoods.

Strictly speaking, the Atchafalaya and the Okefenokee may be America’s two single-largest swamps. The former comprises nearly a million acres of bottomland hardwood forest and baldcypress-tupelo swamp blanketing the basin of Louisiana’s 135-mile Atchafalaya River—a floodway distributary of the Mississippi that offers that river a shorter, steeper course to the Gulf of Mexico. The 700-square-mile Okefenokee Swamp on the Georgia-Florida line occupies the sand- and peat-filled depression of a former seaway, where baldcypress, tupelo, and bay swamps intergrade with marshes, wet prairies, tree hammocks, and sprawling lakes.

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The Atchafalaya Swamp. (Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/via Wikimedia Commons.)

Out on South Carolina’s coastal plain, meanwhile, the great Congaree Swamp is America’s biggest old-growth bottomland hardwood forest and brandishes one of the loftiest canopies of any broadleaf forest on the planet: Many of its vine-draped trees, including persimmon, sweetgum, and baldcypress, exceed 130 feet in height, and there are cherrybark oaks and loblolly pines here nearly 170 feet tall. Congaree National Park protects the ancient floodplain woods—laced with tributary sloughs locally called “guts”—on the north side of the Congaree River.

New Guinea’s Giant River Swamps

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The Fly River, Papua New Guinea. (Photo:National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency/via Wikimedia Commons.)

By any measure, the island of New Guinea—divided between Indonesian Papua in the west and Papua New Guinea in the east—is one of the planet’s swamp hotspots. Mammoth alluvial forests occupy the floodplains of the Mamberamo and Sepik rivers in the north and the Digul, Lorentz, Fly, Purari, and others on the more extensive coastal plain in the south, all fed by voluminous rainfall in the Central Highlands. Tall hardwoods such as Campnosperma as well as pandanus and sago palm define these mires, many virtually trackless to outsiders. The Asmat Swamp (part of the homeland of the Asmat people) draining to the Arafura Sea in southern Papua covers close to 12,000 square miles. It has been called the biggest river swamp in the world.

The Mangal: Great Coastal Swamps of the Tropics

Mangrove swamps—also called mangal—flourish along tropical and subtropical seashores and estuaries; they’re the low-latitude counterpart of the temperate salt marsh. “Mangrove” isn’t a taxonomic but an ecological grouping, referring to a diverse array of evergreen hardwoods (and even a palm—the nipa) adapted to brackish conditions. Mangal tends to be naturally patchy in distribution, but some big tracts exist, particularly along well-watered deltas.

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Satellite view of the tiger-haunted Sundarbans mangal on the Bay of Bengal. (Photo: Jesse Allen, NASA/via Wikimedia Commons.)

Encompassing some 2,510 square miles along the convoluted mouths of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in West Bengal and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans is often said to be Earth's biggest mangrove swamp, though actually several others are comparable in extent. Size aside, this mangal—named for the swamp’s dominant mangrove, the sundri—is unquestionably magnificent: a salty, cyclone-battered jungle prowled by Indo-Pacific crocodiles, freshwater dolphins, sharks, and—most notorious of all—several hundred Bengal tigers. Roughly 10 people a year, mostly woodcutters, honey-gatherers, and fishermen, are killed by these half-amphibious big cats.

Other great mangals (identified in the exhaustive World Atlas of Mangroves) include two huge West African expanses, in the Niger Delta and on the seacoast between Senegal and Sierra Leone (a tract that, at 3,045 square miles, may be the largest mangrove complex on Earth); and the tidal tangles draping western and southern New Guinea’s coastal lowlands. The mangal with the greatest biomass carpets about 2,516 square miles of the Brazilian coast between Belém and Sao Luis.

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Mangroves in Papua New Guinea. (Photo: Natalieragan/via Wikimedia Commons)

One of the largest contiguous mangals in the Western Hemisphere lies along the southwest Florida coast, where the Big Cypress Swamp and the two main conduits of the Everglades—the Shark River and Taylor sloughs—drain into the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay. The northwestern portion is the Ten Thousand Islands, a dizzying maze of mangrove keys; to their southeast, brackish jungle enfolds the Chatham, Lostmans, Broad, Harney, and Shark rivers.

article-imageRed mangrove (the "walking tree"), South Florida. (Photo: Ethan Shaw.) 

 








Taiwan’s Yehliu And The Debate Over Geotourism

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Yehlui Geological Park (All photos: Giulia Pines)

Yehlui Geological Park is a misty oasis, a sprawling moonscape of pockmarked rock towers. You can climb over crevasses and in between cliffs, with the delicate outlines of fossilized sand dollars underfoot. A little over an hour by bus from Taipei, the whole place is just a spit of land jutting out of the northeast coast of Taiwan.

But over this tranquil scene, superimpose the image of hundreds of Chinese and Taiwanese tour groups, all clamoring to nab a spot in front of the most impressive rock formations. This is the other experience of the park.

It also represents one of the biggest debates in geology today: At what point do you risk destroying a place in order to save it?

For most of the last century, Yehliu stood as a military fortress closed to the public. “It wasn’t until 1962, when the famous Taiwanese photographer Huang Tse-Hsiu took pictures of Yehliu’s natural landscape, that it was introduced to the world,” explains the manager of Yehliu’s Planning Department, Mu-Hsiang Hsieh.

The site is something of a geological anomaly: Its otherworldly atmosphere seems to exist outside of time, yet it owes its existence, in the most literal way possible, to time's effects. Its so-called “mushroom rocks” are towers of pockmarked, honeycombed stone, most of them eroded over centuries, their large, tufty heads standing on spindly bases barely strong enough to hold them.  Indeed, some of them are in danger of breaking, like the famous “Queen’s Head,” who appears rather regal, almost Nefertitian from her perch overlooking the sea, her long neck arching into a crown.

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Tourists clamber for a spot in front of her, and must wait in line, aided by several diligent guards stationed around the park, making sure no foot strays over the somewhat garish pink lines that have been drawn across certain sections of the terrain, no amateur photographer gets too ambitious.

Many Taiwanese think of Yehliu fondly, the way Americans think of Disneyland: as a place they went many years ago with their parents but haven’t been back to since.To a geologist, however, Yehliu is a perfect example of the dilemma faced by today’s geotourism industry: parks like these must make money to pay for their upkeep, yet making money can really only mean one thing: bringing in the hoards of tourists whose stomping feet may only hasten its demise. The fragility of some of the rocks, coupled with the attractiveness they pose to eager climbers and picture-posers, means that the park not only posts warning signs and 20 different park patrols at strategic locations, it also adopts crowd-control measures in the high seasons, requiring groups to register in advance. Still, it’s a toss-up as to whether the most damage will come from visitors or the weather itself.

“The truth of the matter is in the real world, the short term economic incentives [of tourism] are almost always stronger than the conservation incentives,” lamented Jonathan Tourtellot, Geotourism Editor, National Geographic Traveler, in a phone conversation about the hazards and benefits of geotourism as he prepared to catch a flight from Washington, DC to Patagonia. “This is a big problem worldwide with any type of tourism dealing with a delicate destination.” As his National Geographic article “UNESCO’s Geoparks “Clarify” Geotourism” put it, “Done wrong, mass tourism [can ruin] places, but done right, tourism could help protect a destination from irresponsible development, exploitation, and other pressures.”

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For that 2011 article, Tourtellot had happened to be reporting from an international congress in Arouca, a town in Northern Portugal with its own fossil-filled geological park where a consensus was reached—first, on what the term “geotourism” even meant, and second, on how its mission could be met. The Arouca Declaration on geotourism that resulted from this congress was meant to be the first step in clarifying when those millions of stomping feet were actually helping to sustain a region, and when they were crossing a line. “Geological tourism,” it read, “is a basic tool for the conservation, dissemination and cherishing of the history of Life on Earth.” Arouca, of course, was just one of the locations that could benefit from such a declaration, but the struggle between tourism and environmental conservation is playing out worldwide, in renowned spots like the Grand Canyon, the Galapagos, and countless others

Those who work at the Yehliu Nature Center, founded in November 2012, would essentially agree. Their mission involves attracting a healthy mixture of laymen and academics—joining those who merely appreciate the landscape with those who have the tools to document its erosion over time. The mission, explained Hsieh, is to “allow the public to make good use of local resources, explore and experience nature in a happy learning environment, and attain a sustainable lifestyle through sharing.”

 “With the aim of monitoring the changes in the rocks, the Park has entrusted academic groups to assist in rock monitoring, using a 3D scanner to record the size and shape of every rock to study the degree of weathering,” explained Hsieh. “The Park has also invited academics to research and develop protective methods to delay the weathering of the rocks.” If the bet pays off, this geological destination will be charging those who visit the park with the task of saving it. 

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