Mental Floss

ALL STORIES

Winter is coming.

Winterizing isn’t exactly glamorous, but it’s an important task that can save you from a lot of trouble once the cold hits—and now is the time to get started.

A line of hogs.

A little piglet named Billy Ray might have had something to do with it.

The design for train tracks hasn’t changed much over the last 200 years, and jagged stones are essential to its success.

Rose Mackenberg in disguise.

Alongside the famous magician, Mackenberg helped debunk hundreds of spiritualists during a period of intense mourning in the country.

The wreck of the ‘Titanic.’

As anyone who’s seen the movie ‘Titanic’ already knows, the ship didn’t sink immediately. So how long was the process?

Phantom energy is the easiest line on your electricity bill to tackle—and it’s not as mysterious as its name suggests.

New Line Cinema

Some of them rival the originals.

A dodo surrounded by other birds.

Careful study of surviving documents and specimens, as well as a little science, have revealed a bit about the dodo.

Booth may have toured the country as a mummy.

The ‘Misery’ star’s grandfather believed that Lincoln’s assassin lived another 40 years after he was supposedly killed by the government in late April 1865. His proof? The mummified corpse he kept in his garage.

Hikers watch Kīlauea erupt from the safety of the trail.

if you want explosive drama with your hiking adventures, there’s nothing like walking on a volcano. Here are 10 trails that will take you there.

See if you can decipher this twisted tune.

It’s time to play Tune Twist, where we translate the lyrics of popular songs into multiple languages and then back into English. Can you figure out what the song is, or who performed it?

Start sprinkling bumfuzzle, taradiddle, and collywobbles into everyday conversation—but maybe let quomodocunquizing rest in obsolescent peace where it belongs.

Doesn‘t it look delicious.

Tired of boring pumpkin loaves? This one has a cheesecake center.

Keith Moon in his then-trendy sunken living room.

The bold architectural choice was a literal step down from conventional living rooms.

Soccer is more popular than ever in the U.S.—and thanks to a new survey, we know exactly which cities are the best for fans of the sport.

So many of them are in danger of going extinct.

These flowers made famous by the internet may become extinct if we don‘t act now.

You might be stumped by these devilish Halloween history questions.

Kiwi at the Wellington Zoo.

The answer involves World War I soldiers and a cute bird.

Sin-eater, hokey-pokey man, and pure finder are all actual jobs from the past that no longer exist.

We might have co-living spaces to thank for this strange idiom.

Remote Mt. Shuksen in Washington’s North Cascades National Park is the one of the least-visited locales in the system.

For those who prefer the road less traveled, these parks are worth the journey.

All five answers to the questions below have something in common. Can you figure it out?

A relic of a bygone era

At their peak, over 14,000 covered bridges were scattered across the U.S. Roughly 500 remain.

Harold (second from left) grasps the arrow that is apparently in his eye.

The exact number is hotly debated—but there are dozens.