The Tangled History of Weaving with Spider Silk
Spider silk is as strong as steel and as light as a feather, but attempts to industrialize its production have gotten stuck, so to speak.
There’s Someone Buried under the Floor!
The story of a building that will not stand until a living human being is imprisoned in its foundations is so common as to form it own genre.
A Book of Divination for the End of the World
The Falnama, or Book of Omens, combined apocalyptic representations from many sources. Say a prayer, ask your question, and flip to a random page.
From the Belly of a Goat to the Mouth of a King
Bezoars, a strange lump formed in the belly of a goat, once were considered a panacea, and worth more than their weight in gold.
That Time a Woman Rode Aristotle Around Like a Horse
In the Middle Ages, the legend of Aristotle and Phyllis exemplified the “Power of Women” trope.
Trial by Combat? Trial by Cake!
The medieval tradition of deciding legal cases by appointing champions to fight to the death endured through 1817, unlike its tastier cousin.
The Toadmen, Masters of Equine Magic
A strange initiation ritual involving a toad was required for members of a secret caste of nineteenth-century horse mystics.
How to Create a Human Being
The Book of Stones, a central alchemical text, contained formulae with the power to create living tissue from ordinary matter, supposedly.
The Medieval Castle That Pranked Its Visitors
At Hesdin, in France, the idyllic beauty of the grounds met the sadistic slapstick of the castle’s “engines of amusement.”