Erin McCarthy

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

Erin was the Editor-in-Chief of MentalFloss.com, host of The List Show on YouTube, editor of Mental Floss's book The Curious Reader, and the creator, executive producer, and host of the History Vs. podcast. She joined Mental Floss in 2012. Previously, she covered everything from natural disasters to bridge engineering to the science behind sci-fi movies for Popular Mechanics magazine. Her work has appeared in O: The Oprah Magazine, Town and Country, Parents, and Esquire. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her karaoking, reading, or hanging out with her cats, Oliver and Pearl. She lives in New York.

Frisland—pictured here—does not actually exist.

When you think of extinct animals, you might go to a saber-toothed cat, or the infamous dodo. But there are, unfortunately, a lot more recent animals that have gone the way of that ill-fated bird.

From leopards hidden in luggage to over a hundred snakes stashed in a man’s pants, there are some absolutely wild stories of people smuggling animals.

Tom Turkey opening the 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Yes, all of the celebrity guests lip-sync their performances during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Here are some more secrets from the seasonal spectacle.

John Humphrey Noyes, head of the Oneida Community, and Charles Guiteau, presidential assassin.

John Humphrey Noyes wanted to build a heaven on Earth—but for Charles Guiteau, life at the Oneida Community was a living hell.

Dodo: © Oxford University, Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Background: iStock

The specimen might be our greatest opportunity to unlock the mysteries surrounding how the bird behaved, how it lived, how it evolved, and how it died.

Illustration for Mental Floss by @kevnyan // Inspired by the cover of Narrative Relating to the Real Embalmed Head of Oliver Cromwell

Death was just the beginning for the embalmed noggin of former Lord Protector of England, Ireland, and Scotland Oliver Cromwell.

For more than a century, a rumor has circulated that the William Seward statue in New York City's Madison Square Park is a composite—Seward's head plopped on Abraham Lincoln's body. Where did the rumor come from and ... is it true?

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

Photo illustration by Mental Floss. Images: iStock/Customdesigner (TV), iStock/D-Keine (crime scene)

Everywhere you turn these days, it seems like there’s a new—and wildly successful—book, podcast, or show devoted to a crime. Which raises the question: Why are we so obsessed with true crime? Here’s what the experts have to say.

The idiosyncratic director behind films as diverse as ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ and ‘Grizzly Man’ knows how to hypnotize chickens—and has no need for drugs.

See if you can guess where class was in session.

Not all microbes are pathogens (but this one, the mpox virus, is).

‘Venomous’ versus ‘poisonous.’ ‘Hominin’ versus ‘hominid.’ Scientific terms can be confusing to non-specialists—so here's how to use them correctly.

Erin McCarthy

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

5 Animals That Might Show Up In Your Toilet to Terrify You

16 Definitely True Facts That Seem More Like Lies

9 Phantom Islands That Haunt Old Maps

45 Terrific Slang Terms From the Last Century

8 Animals That Recently Went Extinct

10 Utterly Strange Animal Smuggling Stories

47 Fun Facts About the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Bizarre Free Love Cult That Housed a Presidential Assassin

Head Case: What the Only Soft Tissue Dodo Head in Existence Is Teaching Scientists About These Extinct Birds

The Strange Saga of Oliver Cromwell’s Head

Seward’s Folly: The Conspiracy That Has Plagued New York City’s William Seward Statue for More Than a Century

11 Things We Know About the Dodo

14 Reasons We Love True Crime, According to the Experts

15 Weird Facts About Werner Herzog

Quiz: Can You Match the Fictional High School to the TV Show?

13 Scientific Terms You’re Probably Misusing