Author: Bess Lovejoy

This mailbox may look ho-hum, but when it was strapped to a missile and fired from a submarine on June 8, 1959, the only hum was that of a Regulus I missile hurtling a hundred miles with important letters in tow. That’s right—this missile was the first (and last) of an ambitious, abandoned plan to send mail across the U.S. using Cold War-era weaponry.

That weaponry wasn’t exactly in short supply in 1959. That year, despite Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to the United States, East and West were still in a tense stalemate. On both sides of the Iron Curtain, tons of nuclear weapons were produced, and each side had a vested interest in showing just how terrifying its arsenal could be.

Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, who helped Dwight D. Eisenhower win the presidency, was steeped in postwar American exceptionalism. It’s no wonder, then, that he dreamed of helping the country’s abundant nuclear technology go postal. Inspired by stories of the accuracy of the United States’ new missiles, Summerfield dreamed up a way for the Post Office and the Department of Defense to collaborate to make the mail even more efficient. Why not use the fast, targeted missiles being developed by the U.S. military to deliver mail?

Summerfield’s idea wasn’t exactly new—people had been experimenting with mail delivery via rocket for decades. In 1936, an experimental rocket-powered glider delivered mail from Greenwood Lake, New York to Hewitt, New Jersey in the first successful American attempt, and the idea was repeated in Germany and other countries through World War II. And just months before this mailbox made its fateful mission, naval officers had shown off the capacities of their new guided missiles by loading them with letters.

New or not, Summerfield was determined to make an official attempt to prove that missile mail was viable. At his suggestion, a grandiose experiment was undertaken by the Post Office Department, as it was then known, and the U.S. Navy.

Two special metal mailboxes were designed to hold a total of 3000 letters and be strapped onto the side of the Regulus I missile, a formidable weapon and the United States’ first nuclear deterrent to be entirely sea-based. The 42-foot-long missile weighed about seven tons and was designed to be guided and shot from submarines.

On the assigned day, the mailboxes were stuffed with 3000 identical letters from Summerfield to a slew of dignitaries, including the president, his cabinet, each member of Congress and members of the Supreme Court. The missile was fired from the USS Barbero, one of the subs assigned to patrol the Pacific and Atlantic and threaten Soviet targets, while it was off the coast of Florida. Twenty-two minutes later, it landed at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport, Florida, about 100 miles away [PDF].

The letters were given special postmarks, the formerly secret experiment was publicized, and missile mail was declared a success—not least because it not-so-subtly suggested that messing around with the United States’ hyperaccurate guided missile system wasn’t wise.

“Before man reaches the moon,” Summerfield gloated, “mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to England, to India, or Australia by guided missiles.” But he spoke too soon—apparently no serious consideration was ever given to his idea, and by the time his successor took office the idea was dead in the water. Today, one of the 11×11.5-inch mailboxes sits in the collection of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., a reminder of the first and only time the United States used guided missile to deliver mail … and a message.

Although they frequently include some pretty epic crowns, crown jewels are not necessarily just crowns—they can also include scepters, jewels, necklaces, tiaras, and enormous gemstones. A nation’s crown jewels are used during a coronation ceremony, with the regalia often being used to represent the transfer of power to the new monarch. Over the years, the crown jewels of many nations have been lost or destroyed—sometimes in very mysterious circumstances.

1. THE HAWAIIAN CROWN JEWELS // REPLACED WITH PASTE

Hawaiian king Kalakaua and his queen Kapiolani decided to hold a lavish coronation eight years into their reign, after witnessing many foreign royals performing such ceremonies. They had two solid gold crowns designed and made in London by Hoffnung and Co., for which they paid £1000. One crown was said to contain 521 diamonds, 54 pearls, 20 rubies, 20 opals, and eight emeralds, among other jewels.

The coronation went ahead on February 12, 1883 and the impressive crown was ceremonially placed upon Kalakaua’s head—the only occasion on which the crown was ever used. Kalakaua died of kidney disease in 1891 and his sister Liliuokalani inherited the throne, but already much of her constitutional powers had been eroded, and by 1893 she was deposed by an American-led military coup. The custodian who took over the provisional government ordered an inventory of royal possessions, but when staff fetched the satin-lined box in Iolani Palace in which crown had been stored, all they found was its twisted and bent remains. Every single jewel had been pried from its moulding and stolen.

Detectives immediately set to work to try and find the lost jewels, and before long one of the guardsmen, George Ryan, was found to have some of the smallest diamonds in his jacket pocket. Ryan was jailed for the theft for three years but no other jewels were recovered. Kalakaua’s crown was restored with glass and paste jewels costing $350 in 1925 and is today displayed alongside Queen Kapiolani’s crown (which had been stored elsewhere and thus remained intact) in Iolani Palace.

2. IRISH CROWN JEWELS // LOST WITHOUT A TRACE

The Irish crown jewels included no crown, but a diamond brooch, five gold collars, and a diamond, ruby, and emerald encrusted star of the Order of St. Patrick, an honor created in 1783 as an equivalent to the illustrious British Order of the Garter. In 1903 the jewels were moved to a special safe in Dublin Castle which was supposed to be kept in a newly re-enforced strong room. However when staff came to move the safe into its new position, they realized, a little late, that the safe would not fit through the door. Instead, the Officer of Arms, Arthur Vicars, allowed it to be stashed outside the strongroom in a library.

In 1907 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were due to visit Dublin Castle, intending to use the jewels to bestow the Order of St Patrick on a local Lord, but when the custodians came to check on the jewels the found the safe empty. Panic and suspicion swept the castle—the crime was clearly an inside job, because keys had been used to unlock the safe. All fingers pointed to Arthur Vicars, the person in charge of the keys, but he vehemently protested his innocence and instead accused his assistant, Francis Shackleton—brother of the famous Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and later a convicted fraudster. Both men were investigated by a Royal Commission which cleared them of the theft but admonished Vicars for not exercising due vigilance. Vicars became a bitter recluse, blaming King Edward VII for making him a scapegoat and continuing to accuse Shackleton of the crime, even using a statement in his will to take another swipe at his former colleague. Modern historians largely agree that Shackleton appears to have been the most likely culprit, but the jewels have never been tracked down and their disappearance remains a great mystery to this day.

3. ENGLISH CROWN JEWELS // LOST IN THE FENS

King John of England (known as King John the Bad) had a huge cache of crown jewels. In October 1216, just a year after the famous Magna Carta was signed, King John was trying to suppress a rebellion and made a trip through the boggy Fens of eastern England. He and his large entourage travelled with many carts laden down with supplies, including one holding all of King John’s crown jewels. It’s thought that John had fallen ill, and so was in a hurry to get across The Wash, a tidal area criss-crossed with creeks, streams, and treacherous patches of quicksand. The riders got across safely, but contemporary chronicles tell us that the baggage carts laden with jewels sunk forever into the silt. To cap a really terrible week, just a few days later King John the Bad died of dysentery. The legend of the lost jewels has grown over time and archaeologists have sought the treasure in vain—the huge, boggy Fens seem unlikely to ever reveal their resting place.

4. THE SCOTTISH CROWN JEWELS // LOST THEN REDISCOVERED

The Scottish crown jewels are known as the Honours of Scotland and consist of a crown that was remodeled by James V in 1540, a scepter given to James IV in 1494, and the sword of state, which was given to James IV in 1507. The jewels were first used all together at the coronation of all Scottish monarchs starting in 1543, but during the English Civil War, when Oliver Cromwell had Charles I executed, the Scottish crown jewels were spirited away and hidden to prevent Cromwell from destroying them.

The monarchy was restored in 1660, and in 1707 Scotland officially became unified with England under James I. At that point, the historical pieces were placed in storage in Edinburgh Castle for safekeeping. Largely forgotten, they were thought lost until 1818, when the celebrated novelist (and ardent Scot) Sir Walter Scott led a search party through the storerooms of Edinburgh Castle in search of the jewels. Scott stumbled upon a locked oak chest, and there, hidden underneath piles of linen, were the Scottish crown jewels, exactly where they had been left in 1707. Since then the rediscovered jewels have been on display at Edinburgh Castle for all to admire.

5. RUSSIAN CROWN JEWELS // LOST TREASURES OF THE ROMANOVS

The Romanov family ruled Russia for over 300 years: from 1613 until they were overthrown during the Russian Revolution in 1917. The Russian tsars had amassed an amazing collection of crown jewels, and in the chaos following their departure it would not have been surprising had the jewels gone missing. However, despite some revolutionaries arguing that the jewels should be sold as they represented the oppression of the people, historians were able to preserve the collection due to their national importance—or so it was thought. In 2012 researchers uncovered a large photographic record of the jewels from 1922 in the U.S. Geological Survey Library in Reston, Virginia. When they compared this record to the official inventory of the crown jewels from 1925 they discovered at least four pieces were missing, including a sapphire brooch that they later found had been sold at auction in London in 1927. The other three pieces—identified as a diadem, a bracelet, and a necklace—have so far not been traced and their whereabouts remain a mystery. As for the rest of the still extremely impressive Romanov crown jewels, they are on display at the Kremlin in Moscow.

6. FRENCH CROWN JEWELS // SOLD OFF

The incredible French crown jewels were last used at the coronation of Louis XVI in 1775 and were thereafter on display in the treasury. They included the priceless Charlemagne Crown, Charles V’s medieval gold scepter, and the coronation sword, as well as an enormous collection of gemstones collected over hundreds of years by the French monarchs.

After the French Revolution it was agreed that the crown jewels should be sold, because keeping them might encourage attempts to restore the monarchy. It took many years for the plan to be put into action, but in 1887 many of the crown jewels were put up for sale (fortunately some of the most historically interesting pieces were preserved for the nation and some can still be seen on display in the Louvre). The auction caused quite a sensation and jewelry fans from all over the world flocked to try and secure a piece of history. The gross proceeds of the sale were put into government bonds for the benefit of the nation.

In 2008 one of the jewels sold at the 1887 auction again came up for sale. The stunning diamond brooch [PDF] had been made for Empress Eugenie in 1855 and was bought by jeweler Emile Schlesinger for Mrs. Caroline Astor at the 1887 auction. When the jewel came up for sale in 2008, it was quickly snapped up by the Louvre so that it might join their collection of surviving crown jewels.

7. ENGLISH CROWN JEWELS // MELTED DOWN

After the Civil War in England, when Parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell defeated the Royalist forces of Charles I, all emblems of the monarchy were ordered destroyed. Charles I was executed in 1649 and the Parliamentarians agreed that the ancient English crown jewels must be melted down, preventing them from being used as a symbol of the lost monarchy. It is unclear exactly what items were in the crown jewels at this time, but they are thought to have included the diadem of St. Edward the Confessor, used at his coronation in 1043, as well as many other crowns, jewels, and plate. Details of the historical vandalism are scant, but it is thought that the golden crowns were melted down and made into coins.

However, one item survived: the golden Ampulla and spoon used to anoint the monarch with holy oil during the coronation ceremony. Today the English crown jewels—created after the Restoration for the coronation of Charles II in 1661—are kept on display at the Tower of London. The Imperial Crown of State includes a sapphire that once belonged to St. Edward the Confessor and was buried with him in 1066. It’s said, somewhat gruesomely, that the stone was retrieved from the king’s casket in 1101 and set into a crown for Henry I. It is unclear how the jewel managed to survive the destruction of the crown jewels but it thankfully reappeared at the Restoration and now represents the oldest surviving jewel in the current royal regalia.

Traveling salesmen and pharmacies packed with colorful bottles claimed to have all the medical cures for what ailed you in the 19th century, although the contents of their remedies were more likely to be opiates or snake oil than any scientifically sound healing. The era of patent medicine—which stretched from the 17th into the 20th century and was especially prolific in the United States and England—was a response to the shortcomings of medicine at the time, which often relied on questionable treatments like bloodletting and purging. The patent in the name didn’t refer to any government approval, but proprietary concoctions marketed with extreme promises and flamboyant showmanship.

Brimming with alcohol, opium, cocaine, and other unregulated substances, it’s no surprise their users felt like the pills and tonics were doing something, even if they became addictive or, worse, fatal. Federal regulations eventually cut off this free trade of drugs, as did exposés like a 1906 issue of Collier’s that depicted the industry as “death’s laboratory” with an illustration of patent medicine being pumped out of a skull flanked by moneybags. Nevertheless, you can still find popular treatments like Sloan’s Liniment and Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound nestled in the drugstore, survivors from the golden age of quackery.

1. OPIUM

Opiates were readily available as painkillers, and also marketed for all sorts of woes, even the treatment of children’s coughs and colds or just to keep fussy babies quiet. McMunn’s Elixir of Opium [PDF] was developed in the 1830s by John B. McMunn in New York, who mixed it with alcohol and advertised the result for “nervous irritability” as well as rabies and tetanus. Meanwhile shoemaker Perry Davis [PDF] manufactured his opium-based cures for cholera and other infectious diseases, the benign bottle boasting the medicine was “purely vegetable” and “no family should be without it.”

2. BLOOD

The consumption of blood is not itself an oddity, and became part of the tonic offerings in patent medicine through manufacturers like the Bovinine Company in Chicago. A truly unsettling 1890 ad for Bovinine shows a woman with her eyes closed, a small glass of red liquid beside her, and the words: “Look on me in my lassitude reclining / My nerveless body languid, pale and lean; / Now hold me up to where the light is shining / And mark the magic power of BOVININE.”

When the postcard is held up to a light, suddenly her eyes open and a ghostly steer appears outside the window with the words “My life was saved by Bovinine.” And the drug probably was quite eye opening, being a tantalizing and alcoholic mix of beef blood, glycerine, and sodium chloride (salt).

3. COCAINE

Famously, Coca-Cola was named for one of its more shocking 1880s ingredients: coca leaves. It’s unclear exactly how heavy the cocaine dose was in the soda, then marketed as a “brain tonic,” and it was among many medicinals that included coca leaves in their brews. The drug was legal until 1914. In 1890, you could pick up Allen’s Cocaine Tablets for your hay fever, “throat troubles,” or headache at 50 cents a box, and in the early 1900s both Ernest Shackleton and Robert F. Scott carried “Forced March” cocaine and caffeine pills for endurance on their Antarctic expeditions.

4. PRAIRIE FLOWERS AND INDIAN OIL

Being an Englishman from Yorkshire didn’t stop William Henry Hartley from adopting an eccentric Buffalo Bill-like persona to sell his Sequah’s Prairie Flower and Sequah’s Oil, cures supposedly based on Native American traditions. The evocation of the exotic and indigenous in advertising was prominent in patent medicine, although almost always completely fictional. Hartley, who operated his Sequah Medicine Company in the UK between 1887 and 1890, was one of the more bombastic personas in this appropriation, with a Wild West-styled circus that rolled into town. The show would start after dark, with teeth pulled to the music of a brass band (playing loud, to drown out noises of pain) to draw in the crowd. On more atmospheric evenings, there were even séances. All this pomp was aimed at selling Hartley’s Prairie Flower and “Indian oil” cures for a variety of ailments, like stomach issues and liver disorders. Later the ingredients were revealed to be organic material from the East Indies and cheap fish oil cut with turpentine.

5. PETROLEUM

Petroleum jelly is still a common part of our medicine cabinets, but in the 19th century oil was marketed as a treatment for everything from ulcers to blindness. Samuel Kier in Pennsylvania was trying to use up the incredible amount of oil created by his salt wells, and in 1852 launched his “Kier’s Petroleum, or Rock Oil” as a 50-cent cure-all. It likely was potent, as he later distilled the same petroleum and successfully sold it as a lighter fluid.

6. CANNABIS

Cannabis appeared in Western medicine through William O’Shaughnessy’s studies with the British East India Company in the 1830s; he saw it as an effective prescription for pain. Soon patent medicine was getting in on the action, selling it as a cure-all. For instance, Piso’s Tablets were advertised for “women’s ailments,” and contained a punchy mix of cannabis and chloroform.

7. TOMATOES

“Tomato Pills Cure Your Ills” crowed the ads for Dr. Miles Compound Extract of Tomato. Before ketchup took off as a condiment, people were ingesting tomato pills for remedies for all sorts of illness. Others like John Cook Bennett, a physician in Ohio, also proclaimed the benefits of tomatoes to treat stomach issues like diarrhea and indigestion. It’s likely the lycopene in the tomatoes actually did some good, and eventually the vegetable that was once nicknamed the “poison apple” in the 18th century was on its way to 20th-century popularity.

8. ARSENIC

Arsenic was long used in traditional Chinese medicine, as well as a Victorian cosmetic. Patent medicines regularly incorporated the poison, with or without the user’s knowledge. Mercury and lead were also sometimes present in the more toxic remedies, and both arsenic and mercury would be used to treat syphilis. Pharmacy offerings, like Fowler’s Solution, proposed arsenic as a tonic and treatment for ailments like leukemia and malaria, while Donovan’s Solution was advertised for skin diseases, and “Tabloid” had arsenic mixed with iron for heart conditions.

9. HAIR TONICS

Hair tonics were big business for patent medicine purveyors, promising to stop grayness, dandruff, and regrow lost locks. Ingredients included lead, borax, cochineal (smashed red insects), silver nitrate, arsenic, and heavy doses of alcohol. Not surprisingly, these tonics were popular during Prohibition in the United States, packing the same boozy bang as a shot of whiskey. And having about the same effect on hair loss.

10. RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES

Radioactive solutions emerged in the early 20th century after radioactive decay was identified in 1896. One of the more infamous of these was Radithor, a patent medicine with distilled radium, made by self-proclaimed doctor William Bailey, who had previously sold strychnine as an aphrodisiac.

Socialite and industrialist Eben Byers took Radithor following an arm injury in 1927, and continued consuming it through the 1930s, when he slowly died a grotesque death involving snapping bones and lost teeth. Byers’s demise prompted an investigation into Radithor, and ultimately its removal from pharmacies, although poor Byers was buried in a lead coffin due to the contained radiation in his body. As a 1932 Wall Street Journal article quipped: “The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off.”

11. MERCURY

Victorians were fanatics for pallid skin, and freckle removers were marketed to this obsession. Some of these products included mercury, such as Dr. Berry’s Freckle Ointment made in Chicago. Amelia Earhart was known to detest her freckles, so when a pot of the poisonous cream was found on the Pacific island of Nikumaroro, many believed it was a sign of the lost aviator’s crash.

12. OBESITY BATH POWDER

If a hot bath with the right powder could reduce obesity, humans would have evolved gills by now. Sadly, remedies like “Healthone-Obesity Bath Powder” were all quackery. The pitch was that soaking with the powder a couple times a day would take the extra pounds away. Examining the powder revealed it was mostly perfumed sodium carbonate, which probably did make for a mineral-feeling soak.

13. SWAMP ROOT

 
Swamp root doesn’t sound like something you’d want to ingest, yet it was wildly popular as an advertised ingredient in patent medicine. Products like Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root were said to “promote the flow of urine,” as well as treat invented illnesses like “internal slime fever” [PDF]. Whatever organic material it contained, like so many patent medicines, it seems the most active ingredient was alcohol.

14. DR PEPPER

Like Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper has its roots in patent medicine. The drink was created in 1885 by a Texas pharmacist named Charles Alderton, and sold as a “brain tonic.” The period after “Dr” was reportedly later removed during its 20th-century mass marketing in order to not suggest any medicinal properties.

15. PINK PILLS FOR PALE PEOPLE

 
Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People were among the treatments aimed at anemia, with the alliteration intended to catch the attention of customers—particularly British colonists. Made of iron oxide and magnesium sulfate, they certainly weren’t among the most dangerous of patent medicines, but they far from fulfilled their promise of curing everything from paralysis to cholera. George Fulford, who sold the remedy around the world, is often remembered for quite a different legacy. His vehicle was hit by a streetcar in 1905, and at the age of 53 he became Canada’s first automobile death.

High waves, violent winds, and extreme droughts can wreak terrible destruction—but they can also uncover amazing treasures. Severe weather has exposed Mayan hieroglyphics, medieval skeletons, ancient footprints, and much more. Here are 15 remarkable things revealed by weather.

1. THE OLDEST HUMAN FOOTPRINTS OUTSIDE OF AFRICA

In 2013, strong storms and erosion at Happisburgh, England cleared away sand and revealed curious depressions in mud. Archaeologists determined that they were human footprints—the oldest ever found outside of Africa. These people who made the footprints belonged to a different species of Homo than our own, and they lived between 1 million and 0.78 million years ago.

2. A CIVIL WAR SHIP—AND A BOTTLE OF TERRIBLE WINE

During the U.S. Civil War, President Lincoln ordered a blockade around southern ports to stop goods from passing through. The Confederacy responded with blockade runners, ships helmed by daring captains who ran cotton, medicine, ammunition, and other goods through the blockade.

The Mary Celestia was one such vessel. It served in this role for only two years before it hit a reef and sank. In recent years, severe hurricanes have stripped away sand from the wreck, and they’ve exposed all sorts of interesting archaeological artifacts—including a sealed bottle of wine. Was the vino still drinkable? Experts sipped it and declared that it mostly tasted like sludgy seawater with notes of … gasoline. Eww.

3. A MEDIEVAL SKELETON HANGING FROM TREE ROOTS

In 2015, a tempest in Collooney, Ireland toppled a huge beech tree—and hoisted half of a skeleton into the air. The bones belonged to an early medieval man who met a violent death from some sort of sharp blade. When the beech tree was toppled last year, the roots popped up from the soil, carrying the top half of the skeleton with them.

4. A PREHISTORIC FOREST

Wild weather at Cardigan Bay in Wales periodically strips away sand and uncovers an unusual sight: an ancient forest of tree stumps. In 2014 an especially powerful set of storms exposed much of the forest, giving us amazing views of the ancient trees, which died over 4500 years ago as sea levels rose and salt water inundated the land. Archaeologists also found a wooden walkway dating to between 3000 and 4000 years ago; perhaps the local people built it in an attempt to deal with rising seas.

5. THE WRECK OF A COAL SCHOONER—PROBABLY

When Hurricane Sandy blew through New York state’s Fire Island, it exposed the hull of a large ship. Experts believe—though they can’t confirm—that this vessel is the Bessie White, a Canadian coal schooner. The ship ran aground in 1919 or 1922 after it became lost in heavy fog. Fortunately, the naval disaster didn’t claim any lives. The whole crew survived, including the ship’s cat.

6. UNEXPLODED SHELLS FROM WORLD WAR II

Explosives from past wars can still be found in our seas, and bad weather sometimes washes them ashore. In 2012, for example, crews in New Jersey found two unexploded shells while combing the beach after Superstorm Sandy. And in 2014, the Royal Navy was called in to examine a shell on a beach in Devon, England.

7. A CALIFORNIA “SIN SHIP”

In the 1920s and 30s, you could evade the law and gamble to your heart’s content on “sin ships” off the California coast. Many of these vessels had once been used for honest work—some had belonged to the military—but they were rebuilt for drinking, gambling, and partying.

The Monte Carlo, a former oil tanker, was one such vessel. As a sin ship, it hosted such illustrious visitors as Mae West and Clark Gable. But on New Year’s Eve in 1936, a tremendous gale arose and the ship broke free of its moorings. Luckily, there were only two caretakers aboard, and they were safely rescued.

The ship washed up on the beach at Coronado the next day, New Year’s Day, and it still lies buried in the sand. But every now and then, storms remove enough sediment and it reappears. This past winter, El Nino storms gave beachgoers an impressive view of the wreckage— and a chance to stand where Hollywood stars once partied the night away.

8. IRON AGE SKELETONS

Rough weather battered Shetland in Scotland during the 2012-2013 holiday season. It caused a cliff collapse that exposed a grisly sight: human remains. Archaeologists and police were quick to the scene—but it soon became apparent that the remains were a little too old for a homicide investigation. The bones dated from perhaps 2000 years ago. Unfortunately, a further cliff collapse reburied the site, laying the bodies to rest once again.

9. A NEOLITHIC TOWN

In 1850, a tremendous squall hit the Orkney Isles in northern Scotland. It stripped grass and dirt from a large, lumpy knoll known as Skerrabra—and revealed something amazing. The knoll was actually an ancient town. This settlement, known as Skara Brae, dated back to 3200-2200 BCE. It gave archaeologists a glimpse into Scotland’s remarkable ancient past: Skara Brae’s inhabitants raised sheep and cows, feasted on now-extinct great auks, and slept on beds filled with heather.

10. A HUGE WOODEN STEAMBOAT

The steamboat Montana, built in 1882, was the largest ship that ever traveled on the Missouri River. But she lasted just two years before she struck an underground tree and was sunk. During a severe 2012 drought, water levels in the Missouri dropped low enough to expose the enormous wreck.

11. A GIGANTIC ANCIENT POT

In 2015, a storm’s powerful waves uncovered a nearly 5-foot-tall pot at Palmahim Beach National Park in Israel. Dating from between 300 and 500 CE, the vessel contained artifacts such as an incense pipe and an oil flask. Why would anybody make a piece of pottery as tall as a person? The ancient Romans used these containers, called dolia, to store food and drink.

12. A WHOLE BUNCH OF OIL

Earlier this year, an oil spill hit a beach in Norfolk, England. But no oil tanker had sunk or run aground in the area …. at least, not for 40 years.

In 1978, the Greek oil tanker Eleni V collided with another ship and capsized. It was later blown up by the army. At the time, policy dictated that the ship’s oil should be buried in trenches along the shore. But storms and erosion eventually exposed the oil, coating a mile of coastline in dark glop—nearly four decades after the offending shipwreck.

13. A SHIPWRECK INCLUDING A BODY DELIVERY GONE WRONG

In 1888, the French vessel Jeune Hortense approached the shore at Cornwall, England. It was carrying the body of a Cornish man who had died in France. The crew of four hoped to return the body to its homeland. Unfortunately, the ship ran aground. Fortunately, the crewmembers—and most of the 450 cows onboard—were rescued.

Over time, sand covered the vessel. Now and then, though, wild waves blast away the sediment and expose it, giving visitors a glimpse of the wreck.

14. MAYAN HIEROGLYPHICS

In 2001, a hurricane hit Guatemala and blew away the sediment that had covered a Mayan staircase. But these were no ordinary stairs. They were covered in hieroglyphics [PDF]—and they told a remarkable story of a massive and incredibly bloody regional conflict, complete with a huge pile of skulls.

15. AN UNUSUAL WHALE SKELETON

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused massive beach erosion in Volusia County, Florida. An Orlando couple who were searching for sand dollars made an incredible discovery: the skeleton of a whale that had been buried for decades. But it was no ordinary whale: it was a Gervais’ beaked whale, a member of a group so poorly known and mysterious that we’re still discovering new species even today.

Many people who have a passing familiarity with Washington, D.C. know it was originally styled after famous European locales by architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant, then completed by Andrew Ellicott after L’Enfant was given the boot in 1792. Too few tourists and history fans, however, know that the U.S. capital might have been a very different place if not for the surveying work of Benjamin Banneker—a highly accomplished mathematician, astronomer, and scholar who challenged Thomas Jefferson and his peers to recognize African-American achievement when it was right under their noses (and feet).

Benjamin Banneker was born November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland, to Robert and Mary Banneker. While scholars still debate almost all the specifics of his background and early life, according to the most popular story, both sides of his family suffered under enslavement in the soon-to-be United States. Although records are scarce, it’s said that Benjamin’s maternal grandmother, a woman named Molly Welsh, was falsely convicted of theft in England and sentenced to indentured servitude in Maryland (not an uncommon practice at the time). After earning her freedom, she rented land in Baltimore County and purchased two slaves to help farm it. Several years later, after the farming operation was established, she freed both men.

One of them, who is said to have been abducted from a royal family in Africa earlier in his life, displayed a keen interest in astronomy and other scientific subjects. He was called Bannake or Bankka, and Molly Welsh married him, violating state law that forbid marriage to slaves. Later, their daughter Mary and her husband—a Guinean man who’d been abducted, enslaved, and then baptized as Robert and freed—chose to adopt the surname Banneker at the time of their own marriage. Just a few years after regaining his freedom, records show that Robert was able to purchase a 100-acre farm (possibly the same one his mother-in-law rented), where his family would live out much of their lives and where his son’s scholarship would bloom.

Benjamin Banneker grew up as one of only 200 free African-Americans among 13,000 whites and 4000 slaves in Baltimore County. His experience with formal instruction was limited to a brief stretch in a one-room, mixed-race Quaker schoolhouse, but he was a keen study from his earliest years. Perhaps with his doting grandmother Molly’s help, he learned to read and soon became especially interested in mathematics and mechanics, often performing calculations and experiments on his own.

Once he was old enough to work on the family farm, Banneker settled into a lifestyle that combined this work with scholarly achievement. After his father’s death when Banneker was 27, he continued running the farm with his mother and sisters. The horses, cows, garden, and multiple beehives he kept enabled a simple, comfortable life for the family, according to one 19th-century account presented to the Maryland Historical Society. Using crop rotation and irrigation techniques that wouldn’t catch on in the U.S. for many decades, he also raised profitable tobacco crops that were sold alongside his produce in the Ellicott family’s store. Taking heed of food shortages during the Revolutionary War, Banneker also swapped tobacco out for wheat to help feed American soldiers.

Throughout his life, Elizabeth Ross Haynes writes, Banneker “found time to study all the books which he could borrow.” He became well-versed in topics throughout the sciences and humanities. The 19th-century account presented to the Maryland Historical Society remembered Banneker as “an acute observer, whose active mind was constantly receiving impulses from what was taking place around him.”

For example, one rather illustrative 1797 journal entry reads:

Standing at my door I heard the discharge of a gun, and in four or five seconds of time, after the discharge, the small shot came rattling about me, one or two of which struck the house; which plainly demonstrates that the velocity of sound is greater than that of a cannon bullet.

Some historians have speculated that Banneker’s many childhood lessons with his grandmother Molly, who may have gained a sophisticated understanding of astronomy from Bannake, could have fostered his particular expertise with the subject. However, it was his prowess with mathematics for which he first became renowned throughout Baltimore County, according to a 1912 article. As word spread of his exceptional skills, far-away scholars began sending Banneker complex mathematical problems, and they continued to do so throughout his life. Banneker reportedly always solved them, often responding in verse and with a fresh problem.

As a young man, Banneker also gained fame and admiration for miles around due to one of his earliest known mechanical feats: building a working clock almost entirely out of wood from scratch. It may have been the first clock ever assembled completely from American parts, according to Haynes (although other historians have since disputed this). Banneker reportedly only had a borrowed pocket watch to use for reference on clockwork mechanisms, while his wooden version contained functioning, carved-to-scale components. The clock continued working until a few days after Banneker’s death, when a fire destroyed his cabin home and many of its contents—clock included.

However, Banneker’s accomplished scholarship remained mostly unknown outside the region until he encountered the Ellicott family. In 1772, the Quaker Ellicotts purchased the land next door to Banneker’s and began building new gristmill facilities there. Banneker’s fascination with the mill’s mechanics made him a frequent visitor to the site. In keeping with Quaker tradition, the similarly scholarly Ellicotts were adamant proponents of racial equality, and they collaborated with Banneker as well as encouraged wider application of—and recognition for—his unique skills.

George Ellicott, a close friend of Banneker’s for decades, was himself a student of astronomy and eagerly shared both his resources and queries with his neighbor. Banneker took great advantage of the borrowed tools and books in performing exquisite astronomical calculations, such as predicting a solar eclipse near-exactly in 1789. He also began building the foundations for several atlases and technical treatises he’d release in the decades before his death. In 1791, George’s cousin, Major Andrew Ellicott, gave Banneker a national stage, after Andrew had gone to George requesting help with a new job. George, being otherwise busy, suggested Banneker’s assistance. The job was surveying land along the Potomac River for what would soon be the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.

The plans for the large city were laid out by French architect and engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who volunteered for service in the American Revolution’s Continental Army and was hired for the project by George Washington in 1791. Before long, however, tensions mounted over its direction and progress of the project, and when L’Enfant was fired in 1792, he took off with the plans in tow.

But according to legend, the plans weren’t actually lost: Banneker and the Ellicotts had worked closely with L’Enfant and his plans while surveying the city’s site. As the University of Massachusetts explains, Banneker had actually committed the plans to memory “[and] was able to reproduce the complete layout—streets, parks, major buildings.” However, the University of Massachusetts also points out that other historians doubt Banneker had any involvement in this part of the survey at all, instead saying that Andrew and his brother were the ones who recreated L’Enfant’s plan. It’s an intriguing myth, but it may only be that.

Yet Banneker’s valuable contributions to the project drew attention, and set the stage for later correspondence with Thomas Jefferson. During the project, the Georgetown Weekly Ledger made public note of Banneker as “an Ethiopian, whose abilities, as a surveyor, and an astronomer, clearly prove that Mr. Jefferson’s concluding that race of men were void of mental endowments, was without foundation.”

In 1791, Banneker had finished his “painstakingly calculated ephemeris,” or table of the position of celestial bodies, which he would publish alongside charts, literature, and humanitarian and political essays in six almanacs with 28 editions in the following six years. Upon its initial completion, he first sent a copy of the ephemeris to then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, along with a famously direct, yet perfectly polite, letter challenging Jefferson’s opinion that African-Americans suffered an innate intellectual disadvantage [PDF]. Among other things, the letter observed:

Sir, I have long been convinced, that if your love for yourselves and for those inestimable laws, which preserved to you the rights of human nature, was founded on sincerity, you could not but be solicitous that every individual … might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof, neither could you rest satisfied [short of] their promotion from any state of degradation, to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them.

Sir, I freely and cheerfully acknowledge that I am of the African race … and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the supreme ruler of the Universe, that I now confess to you, that I am not under the state of tyrannical thraldom, and inhuman captivity to which many of my brethren are doomed, but that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings, which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty, with which you are favored, and which, I hope you will willingly allow, you have received from the immediate hand of that being … [and] that the present freedom and tranquility which you enjoy, you have mercifully received, and that it is the peculiar blessing of heaven.

Jefferson’s letter of response the same year was significantly shorter than Banneker’s, and not without traces of the mindset Banneker sought to defeat. But it also documented the scholar’s triumph in gaining some respect for his accomplishments, and in helping to dislodge certain prejudices from the minds of the era’s most learned men.

On August 30, 1791, Jefferson wrote:

SIR,

I THANK you, sincerely, for your letter of the 19th instant, and for the Almanac it contained. No body wishes more than I do, to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men ; and that the appearance of the want of them, is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence, both in Africa and America. I can add with truth, that no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced, for raising the condition, both of their body and mind, to what it ought to be, as far as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances, which cannot be neglected, will admit.

I have taken the liberty of sending your Almanac to Monsieur de Condozett, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and Member of the Philanthropic Society, because I considered it as a document, to which your whole color had a right for their justification, against the doubts which have been entertained of them.

I am with great esteem, Sir, Your most obedient Humble Servant,

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

The discrimination African-Americans suffered from Jefferson and other bigwigs is well-documented, and Banneker’s brave, considered opposition to it stands forever among his many admirable achievements. The 1854 document A Sketch of the Life of Benjamin Banneker reflected:

He appears to have been the pioneer in the movement in this part of the world, toward the improvement of his race; at a period of our history when the negro occupied almost the lowest possible grade in the scale of human beings, Banneker had struck out for himself a course, hitherto untravelled by men of his class, and had already earned a respectable position amongst men of science.

Records suggest that Banneker also suffered discrimination by lower-profile white Americans, and had his achievements belittled and questioned. Despite the many pushbacks he withstood, however, Banneker remained joyfully curious and generous of spirit throughout his life. According to A Sketch of the Life of Benjamin Banneker, he was able to slough off the bitterness of others in part thanks to his prevailing interest in study. “His equilibrium was seldom disturbed by the petty jealousies and inequalities of temper of the ignorant people,” the book notes, “with whom his situation obliged him frequently to come in contact.”

Benjamin Ellicott, who prepared extensive notes on Banneker’s life for the Maryland Historical Society, remembered him as such in a letter:

Although his mode of life was regular and extremely retired, living alone, having never married,–cooking his own victuals and washing his own clothes, and scarcely ever being absent from home, yet there was nothing misanthropic in his character … [He was known as] kind, generous, hospitable, humane, dignified and pleasant, abounding in information on all the various subjects and incidents of the day; very modest and unassuming, and delighting in society at his own home.

Given Banneker’s wide-ranging interests and enthusiasm, then, it is perhaps fitting that a variety of parks, schools, awards, streets, businesses, and other public and private institutions and facilities all bear his name today. Admirers can learn about the accomplished scholar at Benjamin Banneker Park and Memorial in Washington, D.C., for example, or at Baltimore, Maryland’s Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum. Others can choose to follow in his footsteps by exploring their passions and hobbies at community centers named for Banneker in Washington, D.C., Bloomington, Indiana, and Catonsville, Maryland. It seems possible, however, that the man himself might have been most fond of—or, at least, a very frequent visitor to—Maryland’s own Banneker Planetarium.

Header images via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

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Many of the most prominent people in the world once belonged to an exclusive college society, from President Theodore Roosevelt to former British Prime Minister David Cameron. Some of these societies, based at the top universities, meet to debate issues of the day, while others focus on the literary, the philanthropic, fine dining, or hell-raising. One thing they all have in common: secrecy. Discovering the details of what goes on in their meetings or how to gain membership is fiendishly difficult, but what we know about 10 of the most exclusive college secret societies in the world is summarized below.

1. SEVEN SOCIETY, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA // GRAFFITI AND PHILANTHROPY

The Seven Society of University of Virginia is so secretive that very little is known about its history, activities, or membership. It was rumored to have been established around 1905, when eight students made plans to get together for two tables of bridge but only seven turned up. It was probably originally based on a Masonic system, and its visibility is maintained by daubing the society’s symbol on college buildings.

Over the years a number of very generous gifts have been donated by the society (often revealed in theatrical fashion). For example, during the commencement address in 1947, a small explosion interrupted the proceedings and all assembled were surprised to see a check for $177,777.77 float dramatically to the ground. The amount was used to create a fund to help bail out any faculty member or student who found themselves in financial difficulties. Members of the Seven Society are only revealed on their death; at one time, a wreath of black magnolias in the shape of a seven was always placed at their grave.

2. THE BULLINGDON CLUB, OXFORD UNIVERSITY // DRUNKENNESS AND VANDALISM

One of the most notorious, riotous, and exclusive of the college secret societies in the United Kingdom is the Bullingdon Club of Oxford University, which was founded around 1780. Its members are selected from the aristocracy and the most prominent banking, business, and political families in Britain. Former members have gone on to form a network of individuals in the top seats of power.

With such a successful alumni one might think that the Bullingdon must be an intellectual society, but it is far more concerned with fine dining. The club meets regularly for elaborate dinners and it has been alleged that many of these affairs have ended with restaurants being trashed, mischief being made, and the police being called. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron, former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, and former Mayor of London Boris Johnson have been dogged by a famous photo of them all dressed up in their bow-ties and tails for a group photo of Bullingdon Club members in 1987—such was the toxicity of the photograph that it has been withdrawn from use as the politicians struggled to distance themselves from the hell-raising society.

It is rumored that the initiation ceremony is to have your dorm room ransacked by fellow members, and tales abound of drunkenness, vandalism, and strippers (perhaps unsurprisingly, women are not allowed in the club). Despite its bawdy reputation former members of this exclusive club have gone on to great things, perhaps proving that a misspent youth is no barrier to success.

3. SKULL AND BONES, YALE // PRESTIGIOUS POLITICAL ALUMNI

One of the most famous (and infamous) secret college societies in the U.S. is the Skull and Bones at Yale. Previous alumni include such notables as George Bush senior, George W. Bush, and John Kerry. Established in 1832, the very secretive society has just 15 senior members at any one time, who they meet twice a week in their windowless private meeting room known as “The Tomb.” Each year 15 new members are chosen to join the select club, and it is rumored new members each receive $15,000 and a grandfather clock. Prominent families often make up much of the membership and the subsequent success—both politically and in business—indicates the prestige and level of exclusivity that membership bestows. Many legends surround the group, the most famous perhaps being that in 1918 a team of Bonesmen (allegedly including Prescott Bush, father of George H. W. Bush) stationed near Fort Sill, Oklahoma dug up the skull of Apache leader Geronimo (who died there in 1909 after years as a prisoner of war) and took it back to their HQ as a trophy.

4. ORDER OF GIMGHOUL, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA // CREEPY …

One of the spookiest college secret societies is the Order of Gimghoul, created in 1889 for students of the University of North Carolina. The society was originally called the Order of Droomgole after the mysterious disappearance of Peter Droomgole, who vanished from campus in 1833 after losing a duel with a love rival, but the name was later changed to Gimghoul because it sounded more sinister. The all-male Order of Gimghoul has its headquarters in a spooky castle on campus and is said to have its basis in Arthurian traditions of chivalry and honor. But with its creepy castle, fondness for satanic iconography, and veil of secrecy, the society’s reputation is more likely to send shivers down your spine than conjure images of noble knights.

5. FLAT HAT CLUB, WILLIAM AND MARY // AMERICA’S FIRST COLLEGE SECRET SOCIETY

The F.H.C. club, also known as the Flat Hat Club—although its initials are thought to actually stand for its stated aim of “fraternitas, humanitas et cognito” (brotherhood, humanity and knowledge)—was established way back in the 1750s and is thought to be America’s first secret college society. Thomas Jefferson was famously a member of the club in the 1760s, although he was said to have remarked that he felt the society served “no useful object.” Membership of the society lapsed during the Revolutionary War but has reportedly since been revived twice: in 1916 and again in 1972.

6. THE CORPS HANNOVERA GOTTINGEN, GEORG AUGUST UNIVERSITY, GERMANY // ACADEMIC FENCERS

The Corps Hannovera Göttingen was established in 1809 for the gathering of students from Hanover, Germany, and has since grown into a network of groups based on the principles of academic fencing (also known as mensur). Mensur is distinct from the sport of fencing in that despite the wielding of weapons it is perceived as an intellectual discipline for developing good character. Practitioners of mensur face each other with protection around their eyes, bodies, and necks, and aim for the unprotected areas of the face; it’s thought that this noble style of dueling breeds superior powers of concentration and scars to the face are worn like a badge of honor. The German Corps, like American Secret Societies, likes to keep details of their meetings private, but it is known that these all-male groups are formed from the upper classes and remain an exclusive and elusive membership. The most famous member of the Corps Hanover was Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck, who was an enthusiastic member of the dueling club.

7. PORCELLIAN CLUB, HARVARD // ALL-MALE CLUB

This exclusive finals club was established in the 1790s and is named after the Latin for “pig,” since their first meeting included a hog roast. As with many of these elite college societies, only those from the “right” families can secure membership. Alumni includes: President Theodore Roosevelt, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., yachtsman Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, polo player Thomas Hitchcock Jr. and the Winklevoss twins. Members often wear neckties adorned with a pig’s head to signal their membership of the club and their headquarters is nicknamed the “Old Barn.” The Porcellian was thrust into the news in April 2016 after the rigidly all-male society refused to allow female members, somewhat bizarrely claiming that allowing female members could increase “the potential for sexual misconduct.”

8. THE APOSTLES, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY // LITERARY GREATS AND SPIES

The Apostles are a secret society dedicated to intellectual debate on ethics, morals, and religion. They were established in around 1820 by George Tomlinson, who later went on to be Bishop of Gibraltar, and they gained their name because the organization was founded with 12 members. Over their history, the Apostles have included some of the foremost thinkers of the day and membership is generally made up from the elite students from King’s, Trinity, and St John’s Colleges in Cambridge, UK. The famous Bloomsbury group, which went on to shape the intellectual climate of the early 20th century, had its roots in membership of the Apostles, with Leonard Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, and Lytton Strachey all doing their time in the club.

The Apostles gained notoriety during the Cold War when it was discovered that three Russian spies from the infamous “Cambridge Five”—Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross—were Apostles. To become an Apostle, a potential recruit must be nominated by an existing Apostle, and they only gain membership once members have unanimously agreed on them (the select group has welcomed female members since 1970). All Apostles must swear a secret oath and sign their names in a leather-bound book, which contains the signatures of all previous members and is the most treasured possession of the exclusive club.

9. THE CADAVER SOCIETY, WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY // BLACK CLOAKS AND SKULL MASKS

Cloaked in secrecy, very little concrete is known about the Cadaver Society of Washington and Lee University, but the rumors of this secret society are so intriguing it deserves a mention. It is thought that members of the Cadaver Society are mostly pre-med students with the best grade averages and they are said to wander the campus at night, dressed in black, their faces covered with skull masks as they scrawl the sign of the society (a skull and the letter “C”) around the place.

Certainly the graffiti is one of the most tangible signs of this clandestine group, but the society is also visible through its philanthropy: in 1988 the Cadavers reportedly gave $150,000 to the university to renovate the frat houses. Perhaps the most alluring rumor about the Cadavers is that they travel around campus via a series of secret tunnels, and one of the more far-fetched stories says that the Cadavers are a branch of the mother of all secret societies—the Illuminati.

People like to look for signs and symbols in the natural world, and what creature invades our daily lives more often than the humble insect? Much folklore and tradition has grown up around insects, from the wealth-giving properties of spiders to the ability of a snail to cure warts. So the next time you go to squash a bug, perhaps it’s worth pausing to consider if its very presence is trying to tell you something.

1. BEES // PART OF THE FAMILY

Due to their attractive appearance and helpful role in nature, bees are associated with productivity, industriousness, and creativity. Many superstitions have sprung up around the bee, including a Central European tradition instructing a bride to walk her future husband past a beehive to test his fidelity; if a bee stings her intended, it indicates that he will not be a faithful husband. In Greek folklore, if a bee lands on your head, it is said to mean that you will be very successful in life, and if a bee touches the lips of a child, the child will grow up to be a wonderful poet.

In Britain and Ireland there is a strong tradition of bee folklore—one superstition tells that if a bee flies around your house or buzzes at your window it means a visitor will soon arrive, but if anyone kills the bee the visitor will bring nothing but bad news. Bees are also believed to be very sensitive creatures and in Britain they must be spoken to politely and informed of all the family news (indeed, if you wish to rid yourself of bees the quickest way is to swear at them, as they despise bad language). The tradition of “telling the bees” varies from region to region, but the most important information to impart to your bees is when their owner dies—the bees must be sensitively told of the death or they will desert the hive, cease making honey, or die. In some cases in Britain and America, treating the bees as part of the family became so well-integrated that bees would be invited to family weddings or funerals and given a piece of the wedding cake.

2. SPIDERS // LUCK WITH MONEY

Despite the fact that many people are terrified of spiders, they are often associated with good luck. Indeed the Linyphiidae family of tiny spiders are popularly known as money spiders and some believe that seeing one signals luck with money; in English tradition, if one crawls across your palm you will soon come into money.

Spiders are perhaps thought to be associated with wealth because they work hard building their webs, which then bring them rewards—this industrious imagery has meant that spider symbolism is traditionally used on jewelry and good luck charms across the world. It is considered very bad luck to kill a spider because their presence in your home symbolizes good health, wealth, and cleanliness. Some cultures have a tradition that if you absolutely must kill a spider then you can negate the bad luck by apologizing profusely to the creature first.

In Vietnam, it is believed that when you are asleep your soul leaves your body and becomes a spider, therefore to kill one is taboo and regarded as a tragedy.

3. BUTTERFLIES // TINY MESSENGERS

Butterflies symbolize renewal and metamorphosis because of their journey from humble caterpillar to beautiful butterfly. In Japanese folklore, butterflies represent the souls of people and so are treated with great reverence. If a butterfly flies into your home it is said to predict that the person you love most will soon visit. In other traditions butterflies may portend good luck, especially if the first butterfly you see in a year is a white butterfly; however, if the first butterfly you see is black, it’s not such good news.

In some traditions it is believed that butterflies can predict the weather. The Zuni tribe of Native Americans believed that the color of the first butterfly you see in a season will indicate the weather to come: a white butterfly signifying the start of summer, a yellow butterfly predicting plenty of sunshine, and a black butterfly indicating stormy weather.

4. LADYBUGS // OUR LADY’S BEETLES

These very cute bright red beetles with black spots are generally associated with good luck. Many folkloric traditions relate to counting the number of spots on a ladybug’s back—some say the number of spots will reveal how many children you will have, others that it indicates how many months of good luck you will have, or how much money you are about to receive.

In the Middle Ages ladybugs were seen as a sign of protection. If a farmer’s crops were being devastated by aphids, they would pray for ladybugs, who would come and eat the aphids—thus saving the crops. Ladybugs have long been associated with the Virgin Mary—she is the “lady” of their name—and the spots on their backs have been variously described as representing Mary’s seven sorrows or Mary’s seven joys. In English folklore it is said that if a ladybug lands on your hand you will be married within the year.

Ladybugs are also associated with renewal. It has been thought that a ladybug landing on some old clothes might be indicating that the clothes will soon be replaced, and that a sick person might find a ladybug flying away with their illness—gifting them with a renewal of health.

5. SNAILS // WARD OFF ILLNESS

Snails were sometimes used as amulets to ward off illness. In Brittany, France if a villager was sick they would go to their local chapel in the month of May and harvest some snails from the chapel walls. These snails would then be placed into little linen bags and worn around the neck until the fever lifted. Once cured, the patient would return to the chapel to bury the body of the snail in thanks.

Snails were also believed to cure warts. One classic old wives’ tale comes from Wales, where black snails were rubbed onto warts alongside a certain rhyme before being placed on a thorn bush and fastened there with as many thorns as there were warts. It was believed that once the snail had rotted away, the warts would disappear.

6. MOSQUITOES // BUZZING FOR LOVE

Mosquitoes do not have the quaint associations of some of our cuter insects, but are almost universally perceived as a menace due to their nasty bite. It’s therefore no surprise to learn that most superstitions around mosquitoes relate to ways of preventing them from biting. One such superstition is that if you eat green vegetables on Maundy Thursday (which is also known as Green Thursday), then mosquitoes will not bite you for an entire year. An old wives’ tale also states that if you make your bed on new hay during the harvest time then the mosquitoes will not bite.

A West African folktale explains why the mosquito buzzes in your ear: A long time ago, Ear was a beautiful woman and was courted by all the animals. Mosquito also wanted to marry Ear and asked for her hand. Ear refused, telling mosquito that she could not marry someone who only lived for a week. Heartbroken, every time Mosquito saw Ear he would buzz at her saying “Here I am, I’m not dead!”

Not all superstitions are based on fantasy, however: When the British arrived in Somalia in the 1850s they dismissed the local belief that mosquitoes spread malaria as a superstition—much to their cost.

7. DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES // TOOLS OF THE DEVIL

Damselflies and dragonflies belong to the same insect family (Odonata) but the damselfly is distinguished from the dragonfly because they have four wings of roughly the same size whereas the dragonfly has large wings at the front and smaller wings at the back. In English folklore damselflies were known as “The devil’s knitting (or darning) needle,” because it was believed that if you went to sleep next to a stream the damselflies would use their long bodies to sew your eyelids shut.

The idea of dragonflies and damselflies as the devil’s tool pervades European folklore and the many names colloquially given to the creatures reflect this. In German, they’ve been given a number of folkloric names including Teufelspferd (“Devil’s horse”) and Wasserhexe (“Water witch”), whereas in Danish they were known as Fandens ridehest (“Devil’s riding horse”). In Sweden it was believed a dragonfly would pick out your eyes, and in Old Swedish the insects are called Blindsticka (“Blind stinger”).

In Norse mythology dragonflies and damselflies are associated with the Freya, the goddess of fertility and love, perhaps because when two dragonflies mate their wings appear together in the shape of a heart. In American folklore, dragonflies were thought to be “snake doctors,” since the two creatures are often seen together. It was believed that if a snake was cut in two, the dragonfly would use its long, thin body to sew the reptile back together.

8. CATERPILLAR // WEATHER PREDICTORS

American Woolly Bear caterpillars, with their brown and black stripes, are traditionally said to be reliable predictors of winter weather—the thicker the black stripes, the worse the weather is going to be. In European folklore, it is said to be bad luck to handle a hairy caterpillar, which may have something to do with the fact that touching one can leave nasty spines in your hand. However, it is said that the bad luck can be negated by tossing the poor creature over your left shoulder.

All images via iStock.

This dried-out daisy (Chiliotrichum amelloides Cass.) might not look like much, but it tells the story of one of history’s most ambitious journeys. It was collected by botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during Captain Cook’s first voyage in 1769. Though the goal of the ship Cook commanded, the HMS Endeavour, was primarily to document the transit of Venus from Tahiti, the ship also acted like a floating science lab for more than budding astronomers. Banks and Solander boarded the Endeavour in 1768 with an ambitious goal: Document everything they could about the plants they encountered as they circumnavigated the globe.

At every stop, Cook’s crew of botanists conducted one of history’s most incredible scientific studies, braving harsh conditions and an inhospitable landscape to collect specimens of an estimated 100 previously unknown plant families and at least 1000 unknown plant species. (Yes, Botany Bay is named after Cook’s crew of frenetic plant collectors.)

Banks and Solander plucked this daisy in Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South American mainland. When they returned to English terra firma in 1771, the pair became instant celebrities. (Sydney Parkinson, the young botanical illustrator who accompanied them on the voyage, tragically died of dysentery on the trip home.) Everyone wanted accounts of the journey and the seemingly untouched landscapes encountered by Cook and his men, but they also became charmed by something else: the flowers, plants, and botanical specimens the explorers had brought home.

Banks was lampooned as “The Botanic Macaroni” for his fashionably foppish embrace of floral collecting, but the moniker didn’t seem to bother him much. He ended up becoming Britain’s preeminent botanist, advising the king on the makeup of the now-famous Kew Gardens and dispatching seemingly countless explorers to the ends of Earth in the name of science.

But Banks’s reputation came at a cost: the fame of Solander, who died young and whose achievements were eventually buried beneath the weight of Banks’s botanic fame. Solander may have had a stronger scientific legacy if the massive Florilegium, a 34-part book featuring over 700 plant drawings and descriptions from Cook’s first voyage, had been printed during his lifetime.

Despite the sad story of Solander and Cook—the latter was famously attacked and killed by Native Hawaiians on his third voyage—the men and their captain helped spark a flower frenzy throughout Europe. Flower collection hadn’t exactly been Cook’s initial goal—the botanical aspect of the expedition was foisted on him as a condition of commanding the journey. Though Cook often differed with the botanists who overran his boat, they seem to have developed an eventual rapport. Fueled by specimens that had never been seen before, the plant obsession they set in motion lived well into the next century and prompted the development of botany as a serious science.

Once the botanists brought their precious specimens back to England, they were dried and pressed. The specimens eventually made their way into collections the world over—a rare remaining glimpse into one of history’s greatest botanical adventures. The daisy that helped start it all is tucked into a folder in the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden, a repository that’s home to nearly 8 million plant specimens. It may be nearly 250 years old, but the dried, pressed flower is expected to bear testimony to a swashbuckling era of scientific exploration for centuries to come.

The words “Antonin Dvořák” are often followed by phrases like “New World Symphony” or “folk music meets classical Romanticism.” But when the Czech composer wasn’t at his piano or conducting a symphony in Prague, he was often doing something quite different: obsessing over trains.

Born in Bohemia on September 8, 1841, Dvořák came of age alongside the railroads that changed life in Europe forever. As a child in Nelahozeves, a village between Prague and Dresden, the arrival of the railroad that connected the two cities also changed his life. Workers from all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire made their way to the village during its construction, and the young boy watched soldiers and celebrities fly by on the trains, pulled by newly constructed steam locomotives, from a house across the street from the train station.

The train may have ended his town’s sleepy way of life, but it also inspired the young musician with a love for technology and progress. Eventually he followed the train to Prague and, as a young and increasingly famous composer, crisscrossed Europe on steam trains. His home base of Prague was a rail hub and the site of not one but two impressive train stations. Dvořák, who lived within walking distance of the Franz Josef I station, spent much of his spare time there, befriending railroad workers and reportedly escaping boring concerts to watch international express trains depart and arrive. He became obsessed with the arrivals and departures of the trains, memorizing their extensive schedules and becoming a bona fide trainspotter.

Dvořák’s obsession even showed up in his personal life: At one point, he asked a student who was dating his daughter to note the number on an international express train, then jokingly told his daughter he would forbid her to marry him because he botched the task. And when he visited the United States, he continued his trainspotting [PDF], though Grand Central Station apparently disappointed him due to its lack of opportunities to watch trains pass one another. His love of trains was so great that he once declared: “I would give all my symphonies for inventing the locomotive.”

You’d think that someone so into trains might have made more train-like music, but it’s hard to find locomotive influences in Dvořák’s folk-inspired songs. That’s not to say he didn’t find inspiration near the tracks: At one point, the composer was waiting for a festival train at the Prague station when he came up with the theme for the opening movement of his Seventh Symphony. And weirdly enough, his “Humoresque” was used as the background to a popular joke song in the 20th century that transposed potty humor about train toilets over the classic melody. It’s even said that trains eventually killed him—while standing at the Prague train station during a trainspotting trip, the composer caught a chill. He died soon thereafter.

Trains fascinated Dvořák so much that he rearranged trips to see them and begged acquaintances to describe their rail journeys to him. But why? He himself told a student that he loved the ingenuity with which each train was built. “It consists of many parts created by many different components,” he said. “Everything has a purpose and role and the result is amazing.” Kind of like a symphony.