Author: Ms. R.

Atlas Obscura and Epic Magazine have teamed up for Monster Mythology, an ongoing series about things that go bump in the night around the world—their origins, their evolution, their modern cultural relevance. You’re a banker, living in a cottage in Dublin. It’s autumn and the wind is brisk but pleasant, so you decide to take a nighttime stroll. You latch your gate behind you, and turn to find a stranger dressed in a fashionable suit. He begins to tell……

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Atlas Obscura and Epic Magazine have teamed up for Monster Mythology, an ongoing series about things that go bump in the night around the world—their origins, their evolution, their modern cultural relevance. As night settles across Togo and Ghana, the adze, it is said, slips through keyholes, under windows, around doors. They fly to the bodies of the sleeping, appearing as mosquitos, beetles, fireflies, or simply balls of light. The adze prey on men and women, but enjoy the……

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Almost everyone in Japan knows of the 17th-century swordsman Miyamoto Musashi and the legendary duel between him and his rival, Sasaki Kojirō. Musashi allegedly arrived at the duel purposefully late, wielding a wooden sword made out of an oar. Enraged by this disrespect, Kojirō lost his calm and was struck on the forehead, knocked unconscious, and was defeated. Although, accounts vary.  While there are numerous theories about the date of the event, there is one undoubted fact—the duel took……

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After losing year-long friendships with composer Richard Wagner and philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer over intellectual quarrels around the mid-1870s, the mental and emotional health of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche started to deteriorate. In search of a cure for his ails and his ever-increasing migraines, Nietzsche started to roam the warmer climates of Northern Italy and Southern France, living as a free philosopher and eventually coming to some of his more radical philosophical ideas.  From December 1883 to April 1884, Nietzsche settled……

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Trajan is considered one of the greatest Roman emperors, having expanded the empire to its largest size. While leading the conquest of Dacia, he ordered the construction of a large forum around 105 CE. The most integral part of the forum was a market. It’s believed the project was designed by Apollodorus of Damascus, an architect and close associate of Trajan. Today, it’s often referred to as the world’s oldest shopping mall. It’s believed that shops were built in……

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Inside Carnfunnock Country Park is an old ice house that was constructed during the mid-1800s. It was designed to provide ice for the former estate grounds known locally as Cairncastle Lodge. The ice house was constructed into the side of a hill and would then be covered in dirt to keep the facility cool and away from direct sunlight. The chamber reaches depths of 65-feet (20-meters) where the ice blocks were stored. There was also a drain at the……

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The Jewish Medieval Museum is located in a historical quarter of the small town of Fondi, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) south of Rome, in a district that was originally known as “La Giudea,” or the “Jewish District”. Fondi was located on the northern fringes of the Kingdom of Naples. At different times in its history, Fondi provided a safe haven for Jewish communities, otherwise threatened and persecuted across the neighboring Papal States. Fondi prospered as a commercial border-town…….

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