Mental Floss

DEATH

The facades of Le Ciel and L'Enfer Cabarets in Montmartre, Paris

"Enter and Be Damned!": The Macabre Clubs of Belle Epoque Paris

Get your cholera-themed beverages right here!

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How Did 6 Feet Become the Standard Grave Depth?

It started with the plague, but it's no longer accurate.

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Tennis: The Sport that Loves to Kill Royalty

The graceful game was responsible for enough royal deaths to make an executioner jealous.

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11 Allegedly Haunted or Cursed Graves Around the U.S.

As if cemeteries weren't spooky enough.

Melissa Moore as a girl with her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson

5 Things We Know About Happy Face, a New Podcast About Having a Serial Killer for a Dad

Melissa Moore wondered—could she share a trace of her father's evil?

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Why Pooping Can Be a Life-Threatening Experience for a Sloth

A shocking number of sloths die while trying to poop—but not for the reason you might think.

A drawing of dancing at Enon Chapel from George Walker's "Lectures on the metropolitan grave-yards"

The Disgusting Victorian Cemetery That Helped Change Burials in London Forever

Enon Chapel was separated from its burial pit by just a thin layer of creaky floorboards.

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13 Secrets of Obituary Writers

If you really want to be remembered, it's best to die on a Friday.

British soldier, archaeologist, and explorer Percy Fawcett circa 1920

8 of the Most Intriguing Disappearances in History

It's usually hard to vanish without a trace, but these folks managed it.

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There Could Be Hundreds of Frozen Corpses Buried Beneath Antarctica's Snow and Ice

Mummified penguins occasionally turn up, too.

The graveyard at St. Oran's Chapel

Exposed to the Elements: A Strange 1920s Death on the Scottish Island of Iona

Over the course of a century, several theories have arisen to explain the true cause of Nora Emily Fornario's death.

The Terrifying Story of Bela Kiss, Hungary’s Most Murderous Bachelor

There were 174 marriage proposals—and dozens of bodies.

The grave of the Somerton Man in Adelaide, South Australia

The Body of Australia's Somerton Man—a 70-Year-Old Cold Case—Might Be Exhumed

The victim's identity is just one of the story's many mysteries.

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A Low-Carb Diet Could Shorten Your Lifespan

Pass the bread!

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9 Facts About Human Decomposition

Sometimes it can create "soapy" corpses.

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191 Years After His Death, the Poet William Blake Is Getting a New Tombstone

Better late than never.

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7 Weird Graveyard Inventions

Some of these grave innovations are practical. Others, however, border on the bizarre and downright creepy.

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At What Point is a Human Considered Officially Dead?

You can be pronounced or declared dead, but only a few people can do the former.

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7 of the Most Bizarre Ways to Die

We all have to go sometime. Hopefully, it won't be while choking to death at a cockroach-eating contest.

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How Jayne Mansfield Changed the Design of Tractor-Trailers

The film star's death on June 29, 1967 led to lasting safety changes.

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What Do Morticians Do With the Blood They Take Out of Dead Bodies?

The answer is more simple, and less morbid, than you probably think.

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Stephen Hawking’s Memorial Will Beam His Words Toward the Nearest Black Hole

Though he wasn't able to go to outer space during his lifetime, his words will travel there after his death.

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8 Projects That Reenvision the Traditional Cemetery

Burial and cremation aren't the only two options these days.

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Pee, Poison, and Prosthetic Noses: The Story of Astronomer Tycho Brahe's Suspicious Death

It all started when the 54-year-old returned home from a banquet and couldn't pee.