Clik here to view.
Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska
When Nellie and Con Miller arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1949, they didn't have anything with them except for their two children and $1.40. Con became a merchant and fur buyer in the area, but he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Santa's Land in Putney, Vermont
Jack Poppele's life was long intertwined with Christmas.In 1922, Poppele began broadcasting from a homemade station in Newark, known as WOR. It was one of the nation’s first radio stations and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Heavily Judged Female Entertainers Who Crushed Stereotypes In the Old West
Lucille Mullhall, American cowgirl and Wild West performer, standing on back of seated horse, 1909. (Photo: Library of Congress)Tales of domestic drudgery, rigid dress codes, and a regimented daily...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fleeting Wonders: 400 Glow-in-the-Dark Reindeer
A Finnish reindeer browses reflectively. (Photo: Reindeer Herder's Association)If you're on the lookout for magical reindeer this year, don't bother gazing skyward—turn your attention to Finland, where...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FOUND: The Remains of a 1,500-Year-Old Viking Settlement
A glass bead found at the settlement site (Photo: Åge Hojem/NTNU University Museum)On the coast of Norway, about 300 miles north of Oslo, an airport renovation has revealed the remains of a significant...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tió de Nadal in Barcelona, Spain
Sure, putting a Christmas tree in your house seems pretty arbitrary considering the true religious context of the holiday. But beating a smiling, hollowed-out Christmas log until it “defecates” in your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
El Caganer in Barcelona, Spain
No doubt we are all familiar with the obligatory baby Jesus in the manger scene rolled out every Christmas, but the early 18th-century inhabitants of Catalonia, Italy, and certain areas of Southern...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Christmas Story House and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio
For many Americans the 1983 film 'A Christmas Story' is the Platonic ideal of holiday entertainment, and the actual home used in the film is now restored to its cinema quality. There is even a museum...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Charles W. Howard Santa School in Midland, Michigan
In 1934, Charles W. Howard (a former Macy's Santa) established a Santa school in direct response to his displeasure with seeing other Santas in frayed suits and cheap beards, and a shockingly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Santa Claus, Arizona in Golden Valley, Arizona
The Mojave desert, with its blisteringly hot summer sun, Joshua trees and bizarre rock formations, would not generally be the place one would choose to honor a man whose traditional home is the North...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meet the Hamptons' Most Elusive Character, the WWII Vet Who Lives in a Bunker
Secret McGumbus bunker (Photo: Courtesy of Dan's Papers) When Old Man McGumbus first began appearing in the police blotter of Dan’s Papers, a news weekly covering the East End of the Hamptons, he was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Arbitrarily Ranked List of Clive Barker's 10 Coolest Monsters
Choosing the best among Clive Barker's endless supply of monsters is no easy task. (Photo: Hannes Engelbrecht/Flickr) Most people consider Stephen King to be the modern master of horror, but his creepy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The True Story of Roland the Farter, and How the Internet Killed Professional...
A plate originally from The Image of Irelande, by John Derrick, published in 1581. Note the flatulentists on the right side (h/t the Lavatory Reader). (Photo: Public domain)Roland, court minstrel to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FOUND: Evidence of a 'Mud-Brick Manhattan' in Ancient Egypt
Made in Naukratis (Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia)More than 2,000 years ago, the city of Naukratis was a major Greek trading port on a branch of the Nile River. Archaeologists had thought that they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fleeting Wonders: Giant Squid Surfaces in Japan
(Image: Screenshot from ANN video/YouTube)Japan’s Toyama Bay, located around 190 miles northwest of Tokyo, is known for its bioluminescent firefly squid, which make the pre-dawn water glow a brilliant...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the 1960s, Adult Coloring Books Were Radical Texts
From the John Birch Society Coloring Book, 1962. (Photo: The New York Times archive)In 1962, Barbra Streisand channeled all the emotional turmoil and lyric despair of an abandoned lover into what must...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mendenhall Ice Caves in Juneau, Alaska
In few places can you experience every stage of the water cycle at once. But there's magic in the Mendenhall Ice Caves, where water runs over rocks under blue ceilings inside a partially hollow...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska
Smack in the middle of Alaska is a research facility that studies a wonderful mix of rockets and auroras. The Poker Flat Research Range is comprised of over 5,000 acres of science-y goodness, using...
View ArticleClik here to view.
IceCube Research Station in Antarctica
When your grade-school science teacher described the various methods one can use to construct a telescope, drilling countless holes a mile and a half deep into Antarctic ice probably wasn't one of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
H.A.A.R.P. in Gakona, Alaska
From a distance, it looks like a parking lot filled with over-sized television antennae. In actuality it is the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program or HAARP, a government research facility...
View Article