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.

The Quest to Break America’s Most Mysterious Code—And Find $60 Million in Buried Treasure

The Dubious Legend of Virgil’s Pet Fly

11 Surprising Facts About Windsor Castle

The Story Behind the World’s Oldest (Pet) Ham

The court of Kublai Khan, a rival to Kaidu.

The Mongolian Princess Who Challenged Her Suitors to a Wrestling Match—and Always Won

Delve into the history of Khutulun, the 13th-century Mongolian princess—and descendant of Genghis Khan—who challenged marriage suitors to wrestling matches.

Behold! The World’s Largest Beaver Dam

It's twice the length of the Hoover Dam, but it was only discovered with the help of satellite imagery.

King Henry with Cardinal Wolsey, circa 1528.

A 16th-Century Guide to Pooping at King Henry VIII’s Hampton Court Palace

Discover how King Henry VIII and other members of the Tudor nobility handled going to the bathroom in the mid-1500s. (Spoiler: There was velvet involved, but it still wasn’t pretty.)

The spelling is a bit peculiar at times, too.

21 Things You May Not Know About the U.S. Constitution

How well do you really know the U.S. Constitution? Discover things you might not have realized about this influential document, like its dictator-friendly loophole.

The Phony Disease That Helped Researchers Identify Bach’s (Purported) Body

Johann Sebastian Bach was buried in an unmarked grave in 1750. Nearly two centuries later, a doctor identified the composer’s bones from skeletal evidence of “organist’s disease.”

The Dame of Sark, Sibyl Hathaway, in March 1953.

How the World’s Only Feudal Lord Outclassed the Nazis to Save Her People

Dame Sibyl Hathaway protected her people with the unlikeliest of weapons: Feudal etiquette, old-world manners, and a dollop of classic snobbery.

You Probably Have a Favorite Burner—and You’re Probably Using It Wrong

Each burner technically has a name and a specific purpose, which means there's a chance you've been using your stovetop incorrectly this whole time.

Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab during the shooting of the 1956 film Moby Dick

George Pollard Jr., Unlucky Captain of the Ship That Inspired ‘Moby-Dick’

When Captain George Pollard Jr.’s ship was rammed by a whale, he had no idea it would help make literary history.

It was not the first time someone has sued a deity.

The Politician Who Sued God

In the world of politics, nobody is safe from a well-executed smear campaign.

2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had a concession speech written up for election night—but wasn’t allowed to deliver it.

12 Historical Speeches Nobody Ever Heard

For every speech, there are a bunch of versions that ended up on the writers' room floor. Here are 12 speeches that were written but, for a variety of reasons, never delivered.

It was about modernization—and also politics.

Why the Letters Q, W, and X Were Once Illegal in Türkiye

Sometimes the letter of the law has tough things to say about, well, letters.

The 1925 Cave Rescue That Captivated the Nation

On January 30, 1925, Kentucky cave explorer Floyd Collins went underground—and didn’t come out. The epic effort to rescue him gripped national headlines and transformed into a battle between heroism and folly, selflessness and selfishness, life and death.