Author: Ms. R.

In Seoul’s historic Jongno district, a building with an elegant cream-colored front and a portico is nestled within a block patched with various medical facilities. Low-slung at a modest two stories, it has the qualities of an ornately crafted shoebox and is immediately distinguishable from the surrounding blocks of grey. The building, constructed in 1938, was first inhabited by a Korean mining mogul, who was a mercenary timeserver. In 1945, upon Korea’s liberation from the Japanese Colonial Empire, he……

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The Aztec Hotel’s astonishing facade has drawn travelers for decades as they journeyed down what was once a part of historic Route 66 in Monrovia, California. For nearly as long, it’s has been ringed with rumor, scandal, innuendo, and suspicions that unrestful ghosts may roam its halls. Opened to the public in September 1925 with a star-studded debut party, the hotel almost immediately ran into serious financial trouble. According to author, photographer, historian, and paranormal researcher Craig Owens, who……

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Pierfrancesco Cenni flicks a switch on a portable fluorescent lantern, turns a knob to increase its intensity, and heads into the dark. “Use your phones’ flashlights, and put your feet where I put mine,” he calls out as he descends into the cool, damp underground air. At the bottom of a narrow flight of concrete stairs, with another flick, he turns on a massive fluorescent lamp, revealing a vast, two-story chamber, where thick cement pillars shoot up from bare……

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On the other side of the sea from the glamorous Cannes, the silhouette of Île Sainte-Marguerite harbors an unsolved mystery. The island is part of the Lerins Islands and is articulated by several paths that run between pine and eucalyptus forests. At the island’s fortress, known as the Fort Royal, the mysterious “Man in the Iron Mask” was held captive for 11 years in the 17th century. In his 1751 work The Age of Louis XIV, Voltaire told the story of……

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Tucked away on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln‘s East Campus, the International Quilt Museum boasts the world’s largest quilt collection. Numbered in the thousands, quilts in the collection date from the 1600s to today and everything in between. While visitors may see quilts they may recognize from their own life, there’s plenty more to uncover. The IQM has an extensive collection of works made from around the world. Some of the most notable international collections include pieces made in China,……

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On the Adriatic coast of Italy, under the hot sun, shirtless and barefoot as is the tradition, Oscar Turroni moves a long rake over a pool of water, separating salt from water and mud and pushing the salt into a mound in a crystallizing pond. There, the water will evaporate, leaving a gleaming mountain of crunchy white salt that Turroni will take to a burchiella, a flat-bottomed barge somewhat like a gondola, that will transport it across shallow lagoons……

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The town of Bethel, Maine with a population of under 3,000 is home to the unassuming, yet nevertheless, stunning Maine Mineral & Gem Museum (MMGM), which opened in 2019. The main exhibit hall takes a local approach to geology, with the official Maine state mineral, tourmaline, on display along with other locally-sourced minerals such as amethyst, beryl, quartz, and many others. The MMGM also showcases a geological history of Maine, including the official state fossil, Petrica quadrifaria, believed to……

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