Author: Ms. R.

In 1482 Leonardo Da Vinci was challenged to build the largest equestrian statue the world had ever seen. Despite the legendary artist and his patron’s best efforts, the monumental Cavallo dello Sforza would not become reality until a retired airline pilot from Pennsylvania took it on as his own personal mission. Charles Dent was a retired pilot and collector of Renaissance art who lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In 1977, he read about Leonardo Da Vinci’s recovered notebooks and the……

Read More

When the reality of the pandemic hit, nearly a year ago, something unexpected happened: Americans began gardening. Alarmed by a possible breakdown in food supply chains, and inspired by wartime Victory Gardens and lockdown boredom, people across the country who never grew food before developed green thumbs. For many pandemic gardeners—including me—the experience was a revelation. I watched as, on the windowsill of my apartment, roots unfolded, leaves unfurled, and small fruits swelled into ripeness. It was a persistent……

Read More

The find was perplexing. In 2015, cave explorers inching through a vertical passage in northern Italy’s Marcel Loubens Cave discovered a partial human skull. The cranium was missing its jawbone, and sat upended on a slim ledge near the top of the shaft. No other human remains were found there, and there was no sign of who might have placed the skull there, or when, or why. Marcel Loubens Cave sits near the center of Dolina dell’Inferno, or Hell’s……

Read More

Turn on any television in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or New York during summer in the early 1980s, and you were likely to catch a commercial featuring a creepy mime trapped behind an invisible wall, the shadowy figure of a hunchback rounding the corner of a darkened staircase, and a headless woman swatting away the attentions of a handsy mad scientist. The organ sounds of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor played hauntingly in the background,……

Read More

On the corner of the property of the Prophett-Chapman, Cole, & Gleason Funeral Home stands a memorial, but the subject of its dedication may surprise you. The plaque on the statue’s front reads, “This seal is for the children of Bridgewater… Never lose your imagination” The granite statue of a seal might seem incongruous to the business out front of which it sits, but the funeral home owners said they wanted something that would catch the eye of drivers and……

Read More

Situated in the center of Milan, not far from the famous Duomo, is a less renowned but equally impressive architectural monster. The Torre Velasca was designed by renowned architectural group BBPR and constructed in 1958, and stands well of 300 feet (100 meters) tall. It has a peculiar, mushroom-like shape, design to resemble a Medieval tower, to hommage the city’s medieval history. The tower is a great example of Brutalist architecture, which despite being in vogue at the time……

Read More

The Castle Amphitheater, sometimes called the Provo Castle, is a unique historical building found on the grounds of the Utah State Hospital in Provo, Utah.  The Castle Amphitheater was constructed between 1936-1937 and was one of around 230 public works constructed in Utah under New Deal programs. The amphitheater could seat around 800 people and had several interior rooms.  During the 1970s, the Castle Amphitheater was used as a “haunted castle” during Halloween. The haunted castle was open to the……

Read More