Lucas Reilly

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

Lucas proudly worked on mental_floss magazine for four years, where he served as a senior editor. For two years, he worked as a longform feature writer for the web. He's embedded with professional eclipse chasers in Nebraska, interviewed feudal lords in Britain, hunted for buried treasure in Virginia, and once profiled a man who had tried to turn into a goat. Chances are, you can find him at the library.

Eadweard Muybridge: The Eccentric English Bookseller Who Created the First 'Motion Picture' Was Also a Murderer

The Origins of 12 Horse-Related Idioms

North Korea's music serves a purpose, and it's not enjoyment.

"Potato Pride": Inside the Secret World of North Korean Music

Washing dishes is linked to lower stress.

6 Dreaded Tasks That Are Actually Great For Managing Stress

7 of History's Greatest Pranks

One common early prank was to send potential “fools” on impossible tasks—literally, on a fool’s errand. Here are a few more great pranks from history.

25 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Recycle

Americans generate 262 million tons of waste each year. Here are a few things you can actually recycle.

Karolina Kristensson, the Swedish National Maritime Museums

The Quest to Find—and Save—the World's Most Famous Shipwreck

In 1628, the 'Vasa' sank on its maiden voyage. For the next 300 years, it sat in a watery grave—until one man sparked a monumental effort to salvage it.

Robert Frank: The Photographer Who Captured America’s Dark Side

By documenting the little things, photographer Robert Frank changed an entire nation’s image of itself.

Where Does Language Come From?

The 5 Weirdest Traffic Laws On, and Off, the Books

The rules of the road are a little weirder in some places than in others.

The Summer Homes of 5 Legendary Authors

What do great authors do at their summer homes? Compose our favorite beach reads.

5 of the World's Unluckiest People

Some folks are lightning rods for success. Others are just lightning rods.

The World's Greatest Costume Party

An illustration from the September 17, 1899 issue of Le Petit Journal depicting the events on the Medusa raft.

7 Historical Cases of Cannibalism

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And sometimes, when survival is at stake, that means human flesh is on the menu.

Can you guess which famous text smells like cherries and moldy furniture?

What 8 of the World’s Most Famous Books and Texts Smell Like, According to Science

Can anything beat the smell of an old book? The scent can be delightfully musty, with grassy notes of smoked wood and delicate chocolate. It has the power to transport readers to a far-flung time and place, to the oak-paneled library of their dreams.

The Staffordshire Hoard contains the one of the richest collections of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found.

20 Amazing Historical Discoveries in the Last 20 Years

Scientists and historians have made incredible finds—from the oldest human-made art to long-lost shipwrecks—in the 20 years since Mental Floss began.