Author: Erika Berlin

True crime has been a compelling feature of television for decades (Forensic Files and Dateline, anyone?), and now, it’s hard to remember a time when true crime podcasts weren’t all the rage. The trend can largely be traced back to Serial, which debuted in 2014. The podcast examined the case of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 2000, when he was 18; Syed, who is serving life plus 20 years for the crime, never confessed and proclaims his innocence to this day. Serial was a sensation, becoming the fastest podcast ever to reach 5 million downloads, and reaction to the podcast infused new hope into Syed’s defense. (He was recently granted a new trial.)

After Serial‘s incredible success, it wasn’t long before other true crime podcasts were being created and downloaded in droves. These 10 podcasts cover ground both episodic and serial and combine great storytelling with expert theorizing—and they’re all addicting.

1. SWORD AND SCALE

Sword and Scale, hosted by Mike Boudet, has been unraveling stories of lesser-known crimes since January 2014. In each episode, Boudet weaves together fact (expert commentary, witness statements) and drama (sound effects, eerie music) to create an extremely compelling way to deliver information—and you’ll get a lot of information, from detailed timelines to mental health diagnoses. One of the most riveting episodes is actually the very first: It follows the case of Bruce Blackman, a young schizophrenic man who murdered his family in Canada.

2. CRIMINAL

Created in 2013, Criminal stands out from a sea of true crime podcasts that seem to focus almost exclusively on murder. Criminal covers every kind of crime imaginable, some sad, some scary, some actually funny. They do so in very digestible doses, too: episodes are about 20 minutes long. The main mission of producers Lauren Spohrer and Eric Mennel and host Phoebe Judge is to find the personal angle in each story. Who did this crime affect; how and why? They’ve interviewed a mother-daughter coroner team and a man who broke up a Venus flytrap crime ring. Every episode is so different from the last, and yet all feel so fully fleshed out with commentary right from the people involved in the crime. For crime with a touch of humor, try their episode on the sought-after bourbon Pappy Van Winkle.

3. SNAPPED

Snapped is nothing new to Oxygen viewers. The TV show is on its 18th season. But just this past August, producers launched a podcast version of the episodes—and it doesn’t feel like anything’s missing not being able to watch the action on TV. Snapped features women who killed or attempted to kill—their life stories, circumstances surrounding their crimes, and the fallout of their actions. What’s unique about Snapped is that it often includes interviews with the women in question. Guided by host Sharon Martin, the suspects or convicted killers, family and friends, witnesses, police officers, and lawyers tell the tale. Start with episode one, in which Carol Kopenkoskey herself remembers the day she shot her husband.

4. ACCUSED

Accused will appeal to those still looking to fill the Serial void, since it is, in fact, a serial. Amber Hunt and Amanda Rossmann are two Cincinnati journalists who spent a year investigating the 1978 murder of Elizabeth Andes in her Oxford, Ohio apartment. Andes’s boyfriend, Bob Young, confessed, then recanted. Two juries—one criminal, one civil—acquitted Young, but police never looked into any other suspects. Hunt spends each episode taking listeners through the facts, Elizabeth and Bob’s relationship, evidence for and against Bob and other suspects, and where Elizabeth’s family stands on the case now. Every episode is brimming with the emotional accounts of Elizabeth’s friends, and Hunt and Rossman’s Serial-like experiment—driving from point A to point B in the police’s proposed timeline for Bob on the night of the murder—will leave you constantly questioning your own conclusions. Of course, you’ll have to start from the beginning with this one.

5. REAL CRIME PROFILE

Real Crime Profile is not only riveting, it’s incredibly satisfying. It features carefully explained theories from two expert hosts: Jim Clemente, former FBI criminal profiler and NYC prosecutor, and Laura Richards, former New Scotland Yard crime analyst. Guided by co-host Lisa Zambetti, Clemente and Richards unpack cases currently under the media spotlight and explain some of the most confusing elements of the crimes and trials. They invite questions from listeners so they can shed light on things like DNA evidence, motives, and prosecution loopholes. Fans of Making a Murderer might be most intrigued by the podcast’s first six episodes, which concentrate on Steven Avery’s arrest, Brendan Dassey’s confession and Jodi Stachowski’s Nancy Grace interview.

6. CASEFILE

“Fact is scarier than fiction.” That’s Casefile’s tagline, and from the ominous sound effects to the anonymous host’s voice, this Australian podcast really lives up to it. Casefile covers crimes from all over the world, and whether it’s a mystery from the 1940s or a string of murders from the 1990s, every subject has the common thread of eeriness. The darkness of the stories is tempered by the redeeming accounts of rescuers, survivors, and witnesses. Casefile doesn’t rely on interviews, but is clearly impeccably researched—carefully told even when the mood does feel like a Halloween-appropriate ghost tale. For one such example of this balance, check out episode 31, about a killer couple that abducted girls from Perth in the 1980s.

7. GENERATION WHY

Generation Why is the podcast for you if you’re fascinated by the circumstances surrounding true crimes but not so into the gory details. Hosts Aaron and Justin don’t dwell on the dark or disturbing elements of murders and abductions, and never go for the scare or gross-out with their stories. While the mood is conversational (they’re real-life friends, after all), Generation Why takes a somewhat intellectual approach. Aaron and Justin spotlight both well-known and relatively unknown cases, and they play down the drama, choosing to concentrate on things like evidence supporting a wrongful conviction or events in a murderer’s life that might have caused him or her to break. Episode 196 features an unsettling case you might not know about: the Baton Rouge serial killer.

8. TRUE CRIME GARAGE

Nic and Captain, hosts of True Crime Garage, discuss cases over brews. (They pair every episode with a craft beer.) Their back-and-forth effortlessly guides what might otherwise be complicated tales of mysteries, trials, and controversies so you get all the facts in a very absorbable way, with a sprinkling to humor (which provides a sometimes necessary mood-lightener). Nic and Captain cover all bases, discussing legendary serial killers, oft-debated missing persons cases, and theories like whether Kurt Cobain’s death was indeed a suicide. Even if you think you know all there is to know about Ed Gein, sit back for the roller coaster that is Nic and Captain’s intricate retelling, episode 49.

9. TRUTH & JUSTICE WITH BOB RUFF

Michigan firefighter Bob Ruff was a Serial fan who started Truth & Justice to dissect theories about Syed’s case. Researching that case led him to the vast number of other either wrongful or in-question convictions there are out there, inspiring him to retire early and commit to looking into these cases. His podcast, therefore, is more than just that—Ruff actively investigates the cases each season concentrates on. His second season focuses on Kenny Snow, serving a 40-year sentence in Tyler, Texas, for an aggravated robbery he may not have committed. Ruff is in constant contact with the sheriff’s department, as well as the town, obtaining and poring over any documents he can get his hands on, and he’s also traveled back and forth to Tyler. His podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at the work he’s doing with hypotheses about Snow’s possible innocence. Start from the beginning of the Snow story with episode 201.

10. THINKING SIDEWAYS

Thinking Sideways occupies a middle ground between true crime and mystery. Hosted by Joe, Steve, and Devin, the podcast takes the familiar but reliably appealing approach of a few friends talking crazy cases—and their light banter is a welcome breather from some of the heaviest moments. Thinking Sideways fixes its attention on the open questions in history and crime. They discuss the “Paul [McCartney] is dead” conspiracy and the disappearance of Amelia Earhart along with the 1907 theft of the Irish crown jewels, Jack the Ripper, the Monster with 21 Faces crime organization, and the Mad Axeman of New Orleans. There’s definitely a history lesson vibe among this eclectic range of episodes, but one that’s always exciting and never dry. For a lesser known case with lots of surprisingly well-known tie-ins, listen to their episode on the Wonderland murders.

With more than 11 million copies sold, the kooky country Christmas classic that is “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” is a musical gift that keeps on giving—and that can evidently never be returned. It’s the fantastical tale of a tipsy old lady who’s trampled to death by Santa’s sleigh, and the story behind the song is nearly as good.

It begins, like all Christmas fables should, with a blizzard. It was December 1978, and a San Francisco veterinarian named Elmo Shropshire, a.k.a. Dr. Elmo, was booked at the Hyatt in Lake Tahoe with his then-wife, Patsy. The couple had a comedy-bluegrass duo called Elmo & Patsy, and just before taking the stage, they got a visit from one Randy Brooks, a Texas singer-songwriter who’d played the hotel before them and gotten stuck there by the snow.

“I was never what I’d consider to be much of a singer,” Dr. Elmo tells mental_floss from his home in California. “I always sang novelty songs, so it didn’t matter if I could sing or not. At the time, we were doing a lot of funny songs. Randy saw our show and said, ‘I’ve got this song I think would be perfect for you.'”

The song, of course, was “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” which Dr. Elmo deemed “the most original take on Christmas music” he’d ever heard. “I didn’t know how long it would last,” he says. “But I knew it would get people’s attention the first time he sang it.”

Funnily enough, “Grandma” didn’t get much of a reaction from the audience at the Hyatt, where Elmo & Patsy played it with Brooks the night they met. “They thought it was kind of cute,” Dr. Elmo says. “There are some songs that are more in your face than that one. The song has all the trappings of Christmas in it, except for that one thing.”

That one thing—the old woman getting blindsided by St. Nick, plus the indifferent response from her family—made all the difference. In 1979, an early recording by Dr. Elmo found its way to influential San Francisco DJ Gene “The Emperor” Nelson, who made it a local sensation. Then December 26 rolled around, and Dr. Elmo figured the fun was over. Not even close.

“The following year, word spread from radio station to radio station,” says Dr. Elmo, who wisely secured the publishing rights early on. “This wasn’t anything that started out with any big-time radio hype. We weren’t giving DJs cocaine or women or anything. I didn’t have the wherewithal to do all that stuff.”

Dr. Elmo self-released 500 copies on 45 rpm vinyl, and by 1981, as the buzz continued to build, he dared to think bigger. In 1982, a company in Nashville contacted him about pressing up 250,000 copies. Dr. Elmo feared he’d be stuck with a garage full of unwanted product, but the records flew off the shelves like Santa’s caribou. That’s when he decided to sell his veterinary hospital to finance a music video, which he shot for $30,000 at his home. At this point, he still didn’t have a record deal.

“After I made the video, I had what you’d call filmmaker’s remorse,” Dr. Elmo says. “I paid all that money, and nothing was happening. The 250,000 copies was a good sell, but we didn’t make any money—not enough to pay for the video.”

But the investment soon paid off. In November 1983, Dr. Elmo got a call from MTV. The network loved the clip, and it’s easy to see why. Although Grandma lives in the end—a happy ending Dr. Elmo figured was necessary to sell the thing—the video has a vaguely subversive, charmingly low-budget quality that was bound to appeal to teenagers. In the last week of the Christmas season, with the vid in heavy rotation, “Grandma” passed Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” on the Billboard holiday charts.

“My father would’ve rolled over in his grave,” Dr. Elmo says with a laugh. “He thought Bing Crosby was the greatest singer in the world. And so did I.”

As Bing felt the sting of the public’s changing tastes, Dr. Elmo was finally in a position to make some money. In previous years, every record company he’d queried had mailed back his letter with the same message: “Stop sending us this crap.” With his crap now smelling like gingerbread, Dr. Elmo flew to L.A. and signed a deal with Columbia Records. The label reissued the full-length Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer album he’d recorded the previous year, and in December ’84, the LP became the label’s top seller, outpacing Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which was two years old but still plenty popular.

In the 30 or so years since, Dr. Elmo has basically become the Michael Jackson of novelty holiday tunes about hilariously slain matriarchs. Despite the occasional protest from groups like the Gray Panthers, who once gave Dr. Elmo a major publicity boost by labeling the lyrics sexist and ageist, “Grandma” returns each year to leave hoofprints on the popular imagination. The perennial radio favorite has spawned numerous commercial tie-ins, including a 2000 animated TV special and a line of Hallmark musical greeting cards, buttons, and an ornament. This year, fans have their pick of “Grandma” hats at Shopko and dozens upon dozens of apparel options at Walmart.

According to Dr. Elmo, there are even plans for a full-length feature film, so clearly, the franchise still has legs. And so does Dr. Elmo. When he’s not singing his holiday jam, the 80-year-old can be found outrunning the competition at senior track meets and road races. In 2005 at age 69, he finished the New York City Marathon, and in 2013, as a member of Team USA’s 4×400 relay, he won a gold medal at the World Masters Games in Porto Alegre, Brazil. On the day he spoke with mental_floss, he was gearing up for the Florida Senior Games.

Win or lose, he’ll probably be the only participant able to say he’s shared bills with Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne and rocked with The Roots on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. For a one-hit wonder, Dr. Elmo has had a remarkably fruitful career—one that likely wouldn’t be possible today. As he says, “Grandma” went viral at a time when major labels still mattered and radio stations were the source of new music. With everything moving toward streaming, it’s harder for any single artist or song to really capture the public’s attention.

“Everyone just listens to whatever they want to hear now,” Dr. Elmo says. “That’s the difference. That’s both good and bad. If you’re a person who likes music and likes to listen to what you want to hear, there’s never been a better time.”

As for why people still dig “Grandma,” Dr. Elmo says it continues to fill a void in the holiday music market. “All those hits from the early ’50s were really sweet and wonderful and lovely,” he says. “They liked to play them in shopping malls so people would buy stuff. When this song came along, another generation of people—and even the younger generations now—embraced it because it’s a little dark. It was much more to their sense of humor. It wasn’t too syrupy sweet.”

The song’s darkest moment comes in the second verse, where Grandpa responds to his wife’s death by swilling beer and watching football, like nothing happened. There are two possible ways to read his reaction: Either the old man is coping as best he can, or he’s quietly relishing his newfound freedom. Dr. Elmo is a veterinarian, not a psychologist, but he has a theory.

“He was just kind of tired of the old woman,” he says with a laugh. “Grandpa is old. He likes to drink beer and watch football. That’s it.”

While you’re probably familiar with pies, croissants, cream puffs, and tarts, there are plenty of other tantalizing pastries to discover. Using a simple base of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and shortening, pastry chefs can create a cornucopia of delicious desserts. If you’re looking to expand your pastry horizons, consider these 12 delectable pastries from around the world.

1. FRANZBRÖTCHEN // GERMANY

Most popular in Hamburg and other parts of northern Germany, Franzbrötchen are croissant-like spiral pastries made with butter and cinnamon. Germans usually eat Franzbrötchen at breakfast with their morning coffee, and they sometimes add raisins to them.

2. GULAB JAMUN // INDIA

We can thank India for gulab jamun, a glorious pastry that combines balls of fried dough with sweet syrup. Shaped like doughnut holes, the balls of dough are usually made with milk powder or corn flour and then fried in ghee. Gulab jamun packs a powerful dose of sugar, but cardamom, rose water, and saffron add more subtle notes to the pastry.

3. PASTELITOS // CUBA

Cubans and Cuban-Americans in Miami know pastelitos well. Similar to jelly doughnuts, the pastries are typically made with flaky filo dough and contain a filling of guava and cheese. Some pastelitos have more unusual sweet and savory fillings, such as pineapple, coconut, ham, and crab.

4. BAKLAVA // TURKEY

A popular Middle Eastern dessert, baklava consists of layers of chopped pistachios and sweetened filo dough. The pastries may also include chopped walnuts or pecans as well as plenty of honey, butter, and sugar. For an authentic Turkish experience, savor baklava after a meal while sipping tea.

5. CANNOLI // ITALY

Cannoli got its start over 1000 years ago in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Today, Italians still enjoy biting into the cannoli’s shell of fried dough to taste the creamy, sweetened ricotta filling. And thanks to Italian-Americans making and selling cannoli, most of us are familiar with the decadent Italian pastry.

6. SUFGANIYOT // ISRAEL

Sufganiyot are Israel’s answer to jelly doughnuts. The balls of deep-fried dough are filled with jelly and topped with powdered sugar. The Jewish recipe is popular around the world now, especially each December when they are served during Hanukkah.

7. LINZER TORTE // AUSTRIA

The beautiful latticework on the top of Linzer tortes makes them instantly recognizable. Said to date to the mid-1600s, people in Linz, Austria began making these tortes, layering pastry dough with currant preserves. Today, the torte usually contains a filling of berry preserves, and the pastry dough is made with butter and ground nuts.

8. KOLOMPEH // IRAN

Native to Kerman, Iran, kolompeh are cookie-sized pies made with minced dates, walnuts, cardamom, saffron, and sesame. Before baking the pastries, Iranians stamp them with kolompeh stamps, creating beautiful, intricate designs on the top of the pastries.

9. BIRNBROT // SWITZERLAND

Pear lovers will enjoy Birnbrot, a pear-centric Swiss pastry that incorporates dried fruits, spices, and nuts. The sweet bread is made from yeast dough and filled with everything from dried pears, dried apples or figs, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, clove, and coriander.

10. MOONCAKE // CHINA

Every fall, Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by gathering to view the full moon and giving mooncakes to their friends and family, symbolizing completeness and unity. The pastries are round (like the moon), sweet, and filled with a paste made of lotus seeds, red beans, or dates. Some Cantonese mooncakes also contain a salted duck egg yolk inside.

11. CROQUEMBOUCHE // FRANCE

If you’re at a wedding or special event in France and spot a tower of desserts, you’re probably looking at a croquembouche. This triangle-shaped tower consists of carefully stacked profiteroles (a.k.a. cream puffs) decorated with strands of caramelized sugar. It’s fancy, elegant, and downright delectable.

12. PINEAPPLE BUN // HONG KONG

Pineapple buns—also called Bolo Bao—are soft, sweet, chewy, and slightly crunchy on top. They don’t actually have any pineapple in them; rather, the pastry’s crust has a grid pattern that resembles a pineapple. If you’re not in Hong Kong, you can probably find pineapple buns in Chinese bakeries.

San Pellegrino’s green, glass bottle has become synonymous with high quality sparkling water. Whether you drink it as a fancy, fizzy alternative to still water or mix it with lemon or lime juice, S.Pellegrino can jazz up (and possibly add health benefits to) any drink. If you’re thirsty for knowledge about the sparkling water brand, read on for 10 hydrating facts about Pellegrino.

1. THE WATER IS NATURALLY FILTERED FOR THREE DECADES BY THE ITALIAN ALPS.

San Pellegrino (which is also styled S.Pellegrino) comes from natural springs in San Pellegrino Terme, which is in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. Snow and rain gradually flow from the top of Italy’s Dolomite Mountains down to the foothills of the mountains. The water travels for 30 years through the sedimentary rock of the Italian Alps, picking up minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium.

2. LEONARDO DA VINCI REPORTEDLY TASTED THE SPRING WATER.

According to legend, Leonardo da Vinci traveled from Milan in 1509 to taste the water and test its purported healing powers. Although it’s unclear if da Vinci’s connection to Pellegrino is true or apocryphal, the natural spring water’s properties as a liquid salve reportedly attracted visitors as early as the 1100s.

3. IT WAS FIRST BOTTLED IN 1899.

Today, every Pellegrino bottle has a label that says “1899,” indicating the first year it was bottled. Because of the reported healing powers of the water, spas opened around the spring, and 35,343 bottles were produced and sold between 1899 and 1900. By 1905, a newly built plant allowed 50,000 bottles to be produced per day.

4. A SPA, HOTEL, AND CASINO WERE BUILT NEAR THE SPRING.

The Palazzos, a prominent Italian family, built a spa near the San Pellegrino Terme spring. Opened in 1901, the San Pellegrino Bath Facilities and The Refreshment Hall featured the supposedly healing mineral water from the spring and attracted wealthy European tourists. Besides the spa, the ornate, Art Nouveau-style Grand Hotel was commissioned in 1902 and inaugurated in 1906. The hotel housed 250 rooms and featured an adjacent San Pellegrino Casino. By 1928, the spa included medical facilities [PDF] such as an x-ray room and laboratory.

5. THE CARBONATION PRESERVES THE MINERALS.

In the early 1900s, Pellegrino didn’t contain carbon dioxide bubbles. The company added carbonation to preserve the minerals when the bottle was shipped. The added CO2 also made the taste of the water a bit sweeter and crisper than flat water, and was so popular with customers that it’s been a staple ever since.

6. ARANCIATA, PELLEGRINO’S FRUIT FLAVORED WATER, WAS INTRODUCED IN 1932.

Back in 1932 in Milan, Pellegrino’s owner, a chemist named Ezio Granelli, began selling carbonated mineral water with a splash of orange juice and sugar. Called Aranciata, the line of sparkling fruit drinks has expanded to include other flavors such as lemon (Limonata), blood orange (Aranciata Rossa), grapefruit (Pompelmo), and prickly pear and orange (Ficodindia e Arancia). Starting in 1976, Pellegrino’s sparkling fruit drinks became available in their now familiar aluminum cans.

7. LIMITED EDITION BOTTLES HAVE FEATURED JEWELRY COMPANIES, FASHION HOUSES, AND AN OPERA SINGER.

Every Pellegrino bottle has a shoulder label that depicts the San Pellegrino Casino and the Alps. But Pellegrino has changed the main label, with its recognizable red star, over the years. In 2011, to celebrate Bulgari’s 125th anniversary, a limited edition bottle featured a gold label with an image of a necklace made of Bulgari jewels on it. Other special edition bottles have promoted the Expo Milano 2015, Vogue Italia, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, and fashion house Missoni.

8. BIOHACKERS DRINK IT FOR THE SULFATES.

Some biohackers drink Pellegrino because it’s pure (no chemicals) and contains 459 milligrams of sulfates per liter. Sulfates reportedly help our muscles, joints, and nervous system perform optimally. Because hard water (water that has a high mineral content) is more likely than soft water to contain sulfur, some people swear that drinking Pellegrino (a hard water) can significantly improve our bodies’ performance.

9. GIANT FLORAL ART WAS MADE TO CELEBRATE ARANCIATA’S NEW FLAVORS.

To celebrate the launch of Pomegranate and Orange (Melograno e Arancia) and Clementine (Clementina) fruit drinks, Pellegrino constructed giant cans of the fruit soda made of flowers. In late April 2014, the flower cans were in an installation at Eataly, a gourmet Italian food store in New York City. The idea was that the lavish installation would gradually “blossom” and reveal the two new fruity flavors.

10. PELLEGRINO IS FINDING THE WORLD’S BEST YOUNG CHEFS.

Last year, the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 competition crowned Irish chef Mark Moriarty as the world’s best young culinary talent. Moriarty was chosen out of more than 3500 chefs under 30 years old from 191 countries. Together with ALMA (an international school for Italian cuisine) and Vogue Italia, Pellegrino hosted a cooking competition for the finalists in Milan. The 2015 competition was so popular that they held a second competition; the 2016 winner was American chef Mitch Lienhard.

With the Thanksgiving leftovers long gone and holiday cards starting to roll in, now is the perfect time to pop some popcorn, pour some eggnog, and park yourself in front of the tube for … a nearly 14-minute music video starring dancing zombies and a teen werewolf? Believe it or not, Michael Jackson’s landmark “Thriller” video premiered on December 2, 1983—weeks after the holiday it’s now synonymous with.

How could Jackson not have unleashed “Thriller” on Halloween? The explanation for this apparent monster of a marketing fail seems to lie in the project’s timeline. The idea for the video wasn’t spawned until the summer of 1983. By this time MJ’s Thriller album—out since the previous November—had already sold roughly 10 million copies and sat atop the Billboard 200 album chart for 17 straight weeks (February 26 to June 18, 1983). Any normal pop star would’ve been cool with seeing it slip to No. 2, but as Jackson would say in the “Thriller” video, he was “not like other guys.”

He wanted badly to reclaim the No. 1 spot, and his bosses at Epic Records knew that neither of Thriller’s final two scheduled singles, “Human Nature” or “P.Y.T.,” would get him there. They also knew his previous hits “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” had gotten nice little boosts from their memorable music videos. (Shout-out to light-up sidewalks and dancing gangsters.) Epic’s head of promotions, Frank DiLeo, suggested Jackson shoot another promo clip—this time for the album’s title track. “It’s simple,” DiLeo recalled telling Jackson in a Vanity Fair interview. “All you’ve got to do is dance, sing, and make it scary.”

But it wasn’t quite so simple. In August of 1983, Jackson phoned up John Landis, the director behind 1978’s Animal House, 1980’s The Blues Brothers, and 1983’s Trading Places. Landis had also helmed An American Werewolf in London, a 1981 horror-comedy Jackson had seen, loved, and recognized as a good template for “Thriller.” Approached with the idea of shooting the video, Landis suggested they do something more ambitious and make a short film worthy of theatrical release. They’d get Hollywood makeup and costumes and shoot on 35mm—the whole bit. Jackson was thrilled.

The trouble was, someone had to pay for it. Landis’s original budget was $900,000—far more than Epic was willing to shell out for the seventh single on an album that was nearing its one-year anniversary. Landis and his team next approached MTV, but execs there balked, fearing it would set a dangerous precedent to pay for something they’d always gotten for free.

Jackson nearly put the money up himself, but then his lawyer, John Branca, and Landis’s production partner, George Folsey Jr., came up with a brilliant idea: If they shot both a “Thriller” video and a making-of documentary, they’d have an hour’s worth of fresh content featuring one of the world’s hottest entertainers. Surely, networks would be willing to pay for that, right?

Indeed they would. MTV dropped $250,000 to air the vid and doc exclusively for a week, and Showtime coughed up $300,000. It was now nearly September, and Landis and Jackson had their financing. The next step was figuring out what, exactly, they were going to shoot.

In the six weeks leading up to October 11, when filming began in Los Angeles, Jackson’s team scurried to complete pre-production on the most ambitious music video the world had ever seen. Landis co-wrote the story with Jackson and hired his costume designer wife, Deborah Nadoolman Landis (who’d dressed Harrison Ford for Raiders of the Lost Ark and made John Belushi’s “College” sweatshirt happen) to handle costumes. He also re-enlisted “Beat It” choreographer Michael Peters, who began dreaming up dances the undead might do.

Principal photography took place throughout October, and given the scope of what they were creating, a Halloween premiere probably never would have been possible. It certainly would’ve suited the material, though. As just about everyone on the planet knows, “Thriller” features Jackson transforming into two creatures: a werewolf (or, technically, a “werecat”) in the film-within-a-film opening segment, then a surprisingly nimble zombie in the oft-reenacted second half. Joining Jackson in both sequences is actress Ola Ray, a former Playboy playmate (who has admitted to some on-set smooching with her co-star).

But while Jackson was game to share the screen with a Playboy model, the video’s supernatural themes didn’t square with his Jehovah’s Witness beliefs. At one point, weeks before the premiere date, Jackson called Branca and asked him to destroy the negatives. The church had learned of the video and threatened to excommunicate him. Branca saved the day by suggesting they slap on the now-famous disclaimer: “Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult.”

MJ’s warning gave the video an extra level of intrigue—like the images to follow were really going to mess you up. Final frame notwithstanding, “Thriller” is actually pretty tame, but it sank its fangs into the world’s imagination. Aided by constant MTV airplay, the video transformed Jackson into a new kind of celebrity and, yes, shocked Thriller back to life. The album reclaimed the No. 1 position on December 24 and stayed there through April of 1984 for a total of 37 weeks at the top. By the end of that year, it had sold 33 million copies.

Over the years, “Thriller” has sold more than 9 million home video copies (a Guinness World Record) and topped numerous lists of the greatest and most influential music videos. In 2009, it was selected for the National Film Registry, and this past Halloween, Barack and Michelle Obama did the zombie dance at the White House.

Simply put: “Thriller” devoured pop culture. But just think of how much bigger it would’ve been had it dropped on Halloween.

Countries like France and Switzerland may be world-famous for their exceptional chocolate, but they’re not the only places that have a variety of finely crafted, processed cacao. These U.S. chocolate companies will have you looking no further than your own backyard for some of the best in artisanal chocolate.

1. THEO CHOCOLATE // SEATTLE

Theo Chocolate is known for its specialty bars made from organic, fair-trade cacao specifically sourced by owners Joe Whinney and Debra Music—former spouses-turned-business partners. Since 2006, Theo Chocolate has created “bean-to-bar” chocolate, meaning cacao beans are roasted, ground, and turned to chocolately bliss in one location. At times, Theo Chocolate is so slammed for orders that it manufactures chocolate bars—like its coconut dark chocolate and black rice quinoa crunch—24 hours a day.

2. RECCHIUTI // SAN FRANCISCO

Many small-scale chocolate creators look for quality ingredients sourced from organic cacao farms to produce high-quality bars. Recchiuti takes its chocolate production one step further by creating bars with local ingredients, including Napa Valley champagne. Owners Michael and Jacky Recchiuti opened the artisanal chocolate company in 1997 and focused on producing small-batch chocolates featuring quality ingredients, often sourcing fresh herbs from area farmers’ markets. Plus, earlier this year Recchiuti teamed up with brewmasters from two California breweries to craft beer that needs no pairing: a chocolate stout featuring the Recchiuti’s signature chocolate and burnt caramel syrups.

3. ROGUE CHOCOLATIER // THREE RIVERS, MASSACHUSETTS

Rogue Chocolatier is run by one man, features two simple ingredients, and is based out of Three Rivers, Massachusetts. The small bean-to-bar chocolate producer, lead by Colin Gasko, focuses on highlighting chocolate’s underlying flavors by using only cane sugar and single-source cacao. If you’re a fan of chocolate add-ins and flavoring, Rogue Chocolatier may not be your first pick, as Gasko believes “it’s a wasted effort to make really great chocolate and then throw some nuts on it.” But when you’re craving a pure, premium chocolate bar? Even Martha Stewart is a fan.

4. BEDRÉ FINE CHOCOLATES // DAVIS, OKLAHOMA

Potato chips, corn twists, and sandwich cookies are all high-demand, chocolate-dipped snacks sold by Bedré Fine Chocolates. But the company’s unusual cacao-based snacks aren’t the only thing setting this American chocolatier apart from other confectioners. It’s also the only U.S. chocolate factory owned by a Native American Tribe. In 2000, the Chickasaw Nation purchased the company, at the time operated out of a former elementary school in south-central Oklahoma. Since then, the company has created local jobs while boosting tourism—not to mention producing a variety of fancier chocolates such as its fudge, filled “meltaways,” and filled chocolate bars.

5. FRAN’S CHOCOLATES // SEATTLE

If the White House is asking for more boxes of your chocolate, you know they’re doing something right. Seattle-based Fran’s Chocolates became a favorite of not only the Obamas when they were on the campaign trail in 2008, but also their Secret Service agents (despite President Obama’s reported unwillingness to share). Fran’s Chocolates opened in 1982 under the charge of Fran Bigelow, a chocolatier inspired by a trip to Paris, and has created high-quality truffles, caramels, chocolate bars, and dipped fruits and nuts since.

6. CHRISTOPHER ELBOW CHOCOLATES // KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

You may have to throw an elbow to get a bite of these Midwestern candies. Christopher Elbow Chocolates is known for its small batch, artful chocolates, as well as its lengthy line of customers waiting to snag a few treats. Chocolates are hand-painted like small canvases, but the flavors—such as citrus praline, mango basil, and whiskey walnut—are the real masterpiece. But owner Christopher Elbow isn’t just focused on the final look; chocolates are made from scratch featuring fresh ingredients and no preservatives—meaning they have a short shelf-life (which shouldn’t be an issue for chocolate lovers).

7. BON BON BON // HAMTRANCK, MICHIGAN

The owner of Bon Bon Bon was told that she’d have to move to a big city for her chocolate shop dreams to be successful. But Michigan native Alexandra Clark chose to stay close to home, sharing artisan truffles and chocolates in nearly 100 flavors with Hamtranck (and nearby Detroit) chocolate lovers. Since 2014, Bon Bon Bon has seen staggering support for the tiny chocolate treats, selling more than 2000 per day of its artisan chocolates such as Goat Honey, Margarita, Sticky Bun, and Johnny Cashew. While many flavors are seasonal, like Fried Green Tomato and Caprese, Bon Bon Bon takes time to honor its hometown with a specialty “Detroit Collection,” with flavors inspired by the city’s classic culinary tastes.

8. TCHO // SAN FRANCISCO

If you can’t easily pronounce this chocolate brand’s name right off, that’s OK—tasting it is more important anyway. Considered a tech start-up meets culinary delights kind of company, TCHO (pronounced “choh”) relies on its own cloud-based technology to determine the best time to pick cacao beans for maximum flavor and minimal rejection for farmers. The end result of this technological influence is a variety of bean-to-bar flavored chocolates, such as Mint Chip Gelato, Mokaccino, and Coconut Crisp.

9. NO CHEWING ALLOWED // NEW YORK CITY

You don’t have to visit France to find mouthwatering chocolate truffles—No Chewing Allowed takes a 75-year-old French recipe and creates swoon-worthy truffles here in the States. Beyond the classic truffle, chocolate lovers can enjoy Coffee Beans, Candied Orange Peels, and Salted Toffee flavors, among others. As for the name? Owner Lior Genzel means it. The best way to savor a truffle is to let it slowly melt on your tongue, otherwise you’ll miss out on the full chocolatey experience.

10. K’UL CHOCOLATE // MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

Chocolate is known to have some health benefits, and K’ul Chocolate aims to make the best use of them. Owner Peter Kelsey is a cancer survivor on a mission to show that high-quality cacao has healthful antioxidants and glycemic index levels. Following radiation treatment, chocolate was one of only three flavors Kelsey could taste (next to coffee and protein), and in 2015, he launched K’ul Chocolate with the idea of returning chocolate to its roots as a health food. Since then, the company has focused on bean-to-bar chocolate in Minneapolis, featuring pumpkin seeds, guarana, and other nutritional ingredients in its bars. And with chocolate bars created to boost endurance and restore electrolytes, there’s no reason to feel guilty for indulging your taste buds.

Born on this day in 1832, Louisa May Alcott led a fascinating life. Besides enchanting millions of readers with her novel Little Women, she worked as a Civil War nurse, fought against slavery, and registered women to vote. In honor of her birthday, here are 10 facts about Alcott.

1. SHE HAD MANY FAMOUS FRIENDS.

Louisa’s parents, Bronson and Abigail Alcott, raised their four daughters in a politically active household in Massachusetts. As a child, Alcott briefly lived with her family in a failed Transcendentalist commune, helped her parents hide slaves who had escaped via the Underground Railroad, and had discussions about women’s rights with Margaret Fuller. Throughout her life, she socialized with her father’s friends, including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although her family was always poor, Alcott had access to valuable learning experiences. She read books in Emerson’s library and learned about botany at Walden Pond with Thoreau, later writing a poem called “Thoreau’s Flute” for her friend. She also socialized with abolitionist Frederick Douglass and women’s suffrage activist Julia Ward Howe.

2. HER FIRST NOM DE PLUME WAS FLORA FAIRFIELD.

As a teenager, Alcott worked a variety of teaching and servant jobs to earn money for her family. She first became a published writer at 19 years old, when a women’s magazine printed one of her poems. For reasons that are unclear, Alcott used a pen name—Flora Fairfield—rather than her real name, perhaps because she felt that she was still developing as a writer. But in 1854 at age 22, Alcott used her own name for the first time. She published Flower Fables, a collection of fairy tales she had written six years earlier for Emerson’s daughter, Ellen.

3. SHE SECRETLY WROTE PULP FICTION.

Before writing Little Women, Alcott wrote Gothic pulp fiction under the nom de plume A.M. Barnard. Continuing her amusing penchant for alliteration, she wrote books and plays called Perilous Play and Pauline’s Passion and Punishment to make easy money. Alcott wrote about cross-dressers, spies, revenge, and hashish. These sensational, melodramatic works are strikingly different than the more wholesome, righteous vibe she captured in Little Women, and she didn’t advertise her former writing as her own after Little Women became popular.

4. SHE WROTE ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE AS A CIVIL WAR NURSE.

In 1861, at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, Alcott sewed Union uniforms in Concord and, the next year, enlisted as an army nurse. In a Washington, D.C. hotel-turned-hospital, she comforted dying soldiers and helped doctors perform amputations. During this time, she wrote about her experiences in her journal and in letters to her family. In 1863, she published Hospital Sketches, a fictionalized account, based on her letters, of her stressful yet meaningful experiences as a wartime nurse. The book became massively popular and was reprinted in 1869 with more material.

5. SHE SUFFERED FROM MERCURY POISONING.

After a month and a half of nursing in D.C., Alcott caught typhoid fever and pneumonia. She received the standard treatment at the time—a toxic mercury compound called calomel. (Calomel was used in medicines through the 19th century.) Because of this exposure to mercury, Alcott suffered from symptoms of mercury poisoning for the rest of her life. She had a weakened immune system, vertigo, and had episodes of hallucinations. To combat the pain caused by the mercury poisoning (as well as a possible autoimmune disorder, such as lupus, that could have been triggered by it), she took opium. Alcott died of a stroke in 1888, at 55 years old.

6. SHE WROTE LITTLE WOMEN TO HELP HER FATHER.

In 1867, Thomas Niles, an editor at a publishing house, asked Alcott if she wanted to write a novel for girls. Although she tried to get excited about the project, she thought she wouldn’t have much to write about girls because she was a tomboy. The next year, Alcott’s father was trying to convince Niles to publish his manuscript about philosophy. He told Niles that his daughter could write a book of fairy stories, but Niles still wanted a novel about girls. Niles told Alcott’s father that if he could get his daughter to write a (non-fairy) novel for girls, he would publish his philosophy manuscript. So to make her father happy and help his writing career, Alcott wrote about her adolescence growing up with her three sisters. Published in September 1868, the first part of Little Women was a huge success. The second part was published in 1869, and Alcott went on to write sequels such as Little Men (1871) and Jo’s Boys (1886).

7. SHE WAS AN EARLY SUFFRAGETTE.

In the 1870s, Alcott wrote for a women’s rights periodical and went door-to-door in Massachusetts to encourage women to vote. In 1879, the state passed a law that would allow women to vote in local elections on anything involving education and children—Alcott registered immediately, becoming the first woman registered in Concord to vote. Although met with resistance, she, along with 19 other women, cast ballots in a 1880 town meeting. The Nineteenth Amendment was finally ratified in 1920, decades after Alcott died.

8. SHE PRETENDED TO BE HER OWN SERVANT TO TRICK HER FANS.

After the success of Little Women, fans who connected with the book traveled to Concord to see where Alcott grew up. One month, Alcott had a hundred strangers knock on the door of Orchard House, her family’s home, hoping to see her. Because she didn’t like the attention, she sometimes pretended to be a servant when she answered the front door, hoping to trick fans into leaving.

9. ALCOTT NEVER HAD CHILDREN, BUT SHE CARED FOR HER NIECE.

Although Alcott never married or had biological children, she took care of her orphaned niece. In 1879, Alcott’s youngest sister May died a month after giving birth to her daughter. As she was dying, May told her husband to send the baby, whom she named Louisa in honor of Alcott, to her older sister. Nicknamed Lulu, the girl spent her childhood with Alcott, who wrote her stories and seemed a good fit for her high-spiritedness. Lulu was just 8 when Alcott died, at which point she went to live with her father in Switzerland.

10. FANS CAN VISIT ALCOTT’S FAMILY HOME IN CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

At 399 Lexington Road in Concord, Massachusetts, tourists can visit Orchard House, the Alcott family home from 1858 to 1877. Orchard House is a designated National Historic Landmark, and visitors can take a guided tour to see where Alcott wrote and set Little Women. Visitors can also get a look at Alcott’s writing desk and the family’s original furniture and paintings.

People around the world celebrate Advent, the period of time each December where Christians prepare for Christmas and wait for the second coming of Jesus Christ. But if your knowledge of Advent begins and ends with Advent calendars—those Christmas-themed calendars with 24 perforated windows—read on to learn 10 things about Advent.

1. IT ORIGINATED AS A PERIOD OF FASTING.

Advent, from the Latin word adventus, meaning arrival, refers to the arrival of Jesus Christ. Although scholars aren’t sure exactly when Christians began observing Advent, we do know that monks in the 5th century CE began fasting thrice weekly in November, either to prepare for Christmas or Epiphany, during which new Christians were baptized each year. Similar to Lent, in which Catholics fast and pray for 40 days before Easter, Advent encourages Christians to fast so they can focus on repentance and prayer.

2. ITS START DATE MAY VARY.

In most Western churches, Advent begins on the Sunday four weeks before Christmas Day. So depending on the calendar, Advent may start at the end of November rather than beginning of December in some years. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Advent is called the Nativity Fast and usually begins in mid-November, so it lasts approximately six weeks instead of four.

3. IT’S A TIME OF SORROW AND JOY.

During Advent, devout Christians take the time to pray, reflect on the past year, and mourn for the sin and evil in the world. Although Advent is a time of sorrow, it’s also an opportunity to express hope. Christians prepare for new beginnings, look forward to the second coming of Christ, and renew their faith.

4. OBSERVANTS LIGHT CANDLES IN AN ADVENT WREATH.

Representing hope and everlasting light, candles have been traditional symbols of Advent for centuries. On the four Sundays prior to Christmas, most churches light an Advent candle, with each candle corresponding to an anecdote from the Bible. Some Christians also light Advent candles in evergreen wreaths, called Advent wreaths. Depending on the denomination of Christianity, believers may light a fifth candle inside the wreath on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to represent the birth of Christ.

5. VIOLET IS A POPULAR COLOR.

While green and red are typically associated with Christmas, the period leading up to December 25 is all about purples or violets. The candles in advent wreaths are usually violet or purple, churches are decorated with violet, and priests may wear the color in the weeks before Christmas. To Christians, purple represents repentance and fasting, though some denominations use blue or pink instead of violet.

6. CHOCOLATE ADVENT CALENDARS AREN’T THE ONLY ONES WITH LITTLE PRIZES.

Most advent calendars are simple cardboard affairs, and each opened window reveals an illustration of a Christmas-related item such as a reindeer or a stocking. But if you want to inject the countdown to Christmas with more anticipation and excitement, buy an advent calendar filled with chocolate, candy, or other sweet treats. Don’t have a sweet tooth? There are also advent calendars containing 24 LEGO pieces and 24 diamonds.

7. THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT IS A DAY TO REJOICE.

On the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday, Christians take a break from repenting to celebrate Christ’s imminent arrival. Churches use rose-colored candles and decorations, and the clergy preach about joy, redemption, and blessings. Christians may pray and reflect on the things for which they’re grateful.

8. IT’S TOO EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS MUSIC.

Although stores and radio stations begin blasting Christmas songs long before Thanksgiving, devout Christians don’t celebrate Advent by singing Christmas music. Instead, they sing Advent-specific hymns, such as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” and they postpone the Christmas tunes until Christmas Eve.

9. SUNDAYS ARE IMPORTANT.

On each of the four Sundays of Advent, most churches focus on a specific religious topic such as the Prophets, the Messiah, or John the Baptist. Clergy may give sermons and light candles, and Christians spend time both remembering the first coming of Christ and anticipating His second coming. Because Sundays are so important during Advent, some churches don’t allow funeral masses on those days.

10. MOST CHRISTIANS NO LONGER FAST DURING IT.

Today, some devout Christians still fast during Advent, while others simply avoid consuming certain foods such as meat, dairy, or desserts. Still other Christians focus on praying and repentance rather than fasting. In general, current members of Eastern Orthodox churches are more likely to fast than members of Western churches.

All images via iStock.

 
Besides writing The Scarlet Letter (1850) and other famous works, Nathaniel Hawthorne is best known for studying transcendentalism and hanging out with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and 14th President Franklin Pierce. But his daughter, Rose Hawthorne, had an arguably even more compelling life than her father. Although she belonged to a wealthy Protestant family and had connections to the literary and political elite, she switched careers from writing to nursing at 45 years old. While caring for poor terminal cancer patients in New York City tenements, she became a Catholic nun, founded a religious order, and took a new name. Today, she’s on her way to becoming a saint.

On May 20, 1851, Nathaniel wife’s Sophia gave birth to Rose, the couple’s third child, in Massachusetts. Two years later, the Hawthorne family moved to Britain so Nathaniel could work as the American consul in Liverpool. As a child, Rose lived and traveled throughout England, France, and Italy. Though Protestant, she spent time at the Vatican Museum, listened to the chanting of Italian friars, and even saw Pope Pius IX on his balcony. These early experiences likely contributed to her later conversion to Catholicism.

By 1860, the Hawthorne family was back in Concord, Massachusetts. But Nathaniel died four years later after a mysterious illness, and in 1868, Sophia and her children moved to Dresden, Germany for its lower cost of living. When the Franco-Prussian War hit, they escaped to England in 1870, where Sophia died of typhoid the next year.

Less than a year after her mother’s death, Hawthorne married George Lathrop, an American writer she had met in Dresden. The couple moved to New York and then Cambridge, where Hawthorne wrote short stories and poetry and Lathrop worked as an assistant editor of the Atlantic Monthly. In 1876, their son Francis was born, but he died of diphtheria in 1881. The couple’s relationship was stormy, and Hawthorne struggled with Lathrop’s alcoholism as well as the death of their son. At the end of the 1880s, they moved to Connecticut and got involved with the Catholic community there, eventually converting to Catholicism together.

In 1895, Hawthorne got permission from the Catholic Church to separate from her alcoholic husband (he died a few years later of cirrhosis). Now single and in her mid-40s, she decided to make a major life change. Inspired partly by hearing a sad story about a seamstress with cancer who died alone in an almshouse, Hawthorne trained to become a nurse and decided to devote the rest of her life to caring for poor, terminally ill patients. “A fire was then lighted in my heart … I set my whole being to endeavor to bring consolation to the cancerous poor,” she wrote.

Hawthorne moved to Manhattan’s Lower East Side, renting rooms in tenements there. She spent her days caring for ill patients, helping sick mothers feed their children, and attending Mass daily. To get donations and support, she also wrote articles and newsletters about her mission. Although most of her contemporaries thought cancer was contagious, Hawthorne didn’t treat her patients as pariahs. Instead, she aimed to fulfill what she thought of as God’s will by alleviating their suffering and giving them dignity before they died.

In 1897, Alice Huber, an artist who read about Hawthorne’s work, joined her as a volunteer, eventually working full-time with her to care for the sick. Two year later, Hawthorne and Huber raised money from New Yorkers to open a house in lower Manhattan, which they called St. Rose’s Free Home for Incurable Cancer, after Saint Rose of Lima. In 1900, after a Dominican friar vouched for them, the New York Archbishop approved Hawthorne and Huber to take their vows, wear Dominican habits, and become nuns. Hawthorne, who took the name Mother Mary Alphonsa, founded a religious order, The Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer, later called the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.

 
Mother Alphonsa also started a magazine called Christ’s Poor to publicize and raise money for her charitable work. The project was successful—writer Mark Twain made regular donations. Until her death in 1926, Mother Alphonsa continued her mission to care for impoverished people with terminal cancer.

In 2003, the Archdiocese of New York commissioned a tribunal to study her life and deeds, as well as her writings. A decade later, the Vatican received documents in favor of her canonization. Although it could take years for the Pope to decide if Mother Alphonsa will become a saint—among other hurdles, there must be proof she committed two miracles—her legacy of selflessness, generosity, and courage continues. Today, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne operate three homes—Rosary Hill, Sacred Heart, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help—in New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, respectively. These homes offer free palliative nursing care for patients with incurable cancer, continuing the work that Mother Alphonsa began over a century ago.

On November 22, 1963, dozens of people in Dallas, Texas lined the streets to watch President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade pass by Dealey Plaza. In the weeks and years that followed, many of their identities became known, while others still go by identifying nicknames (such as “Umbrella Man” or “Badge Man”). Conspiracy theories have abounded since that day, including ones surrounding “Babushka Lady,” so-called because the mystery woman was wearing what looked like a Russian head scarf. She was standing on the grass between Elm and Main Streets, photographing the moment JFK was shot, and now, 50-some years later, we still have no idea who she is, and whatever footage she may have taken of the president’s assassination has never been found.

A number of bystanders in Dallas took photos and videos, to varying degrees of quality, of what became the president’s assassination, and Babushka Lady appears in a few. In Dallas resident Marie Muchmore’s film (which has become one of the primary chronicles of that day), Babushka Lady appears at 0:41, standing behind a man, Charles Brehm, and his 5-year-old son, Joe. We can only see the back of her, but she wears a long tan coat, holds her arms up by her face, and stands with a wide stance.

In another video, taken by U.S. postal carrier Mark Bell, Babushka Lady is visible at 0:47 after the shots were fired and the motorcade has just passed by. Her back is to the camera, but she seems to have walked closer to the street and stands across from the grassy knoll. She remains standing, while others around her are running for cover or sitting on the ground in shock. The Zapruder film, which has become possibly the most famous citizen video because it is considered the most complete, offers a frontal view of Babushka Lady at 0:37, but her camera obscures her already-blurry face.

Seven years after the assassination, in 1970, a former dancer and singer at a burlesque club named Beverly Oliver claimed to be Babushka Lady. Oliver asserted that she photographed the assassination with her Yashica Super 8 camera, and two FBI agents took the camera from her. Oliver also claimed that she knew Jack Ruby, who supposedly introduced her to suspected JFK shooter Lee Harvey Oswald, saying Oswald was a member of the CIA. (Ruby, of course, went on to shoot Oswald while he was in custody.) Oliver’s story has some serious problems, though, and has been generally debunked.

She was a slender 17-year-old in 1963, which clashes with the older woman who appears in the film footage of Babushka Lady. Additionally, the Yashica Super 8 camera wasn’t produced until the mid-1960s. Oliver has backtracked on some of her claims, arguing that her camera was a prototype that she got before it became available to the general public.

Conspiracy theories involving Babushka Lady proliferate, with some theories holding more merit than others. Some say she was a Russian spy, an assassin holding a camera gun, a secret service agent, or a man dressed as an older woman (her wide stance for example, as seen in Muchmore’s film, could be viewed as a bit unusual for a woman in the 1960s—especially one dressed in a time-appropriate dress and trench). Because it had been raining earlier that morning, some women in Dealey Plaza wore scarves on their heads; but, the rain had stopped at 10 a.m., and since the shots weren’t fired until 12:30 p.m., Babushka Lady wasn’t wearing a scarf to shield herself from active rain. Perhaps she was holding binoculars rather than a camera, which would explain why her photographic or video footage has never been found. But because she never came forward to tell law enforcement what she saw (unlike other spectators who witnessed the shots being fired), her identity (and what she may know) remains a mystery.