Mental Floss

WEIRD

A circa 1860s lithograph titled "Fire: The horrors of crinoline & the destruction of human life."

In the Victorian era, a glass of water, a beautiful dress, or a brightly colored piece of wallpaper could all spell your doom.

Claire Cock-Starkey








Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikimedia Commons // CC0 1.0

Science has revealed historical truths about mummies, but they just can't shake their association with curses, myths, and Halloween.

Kat Long
















ipekata/iStock via Getty Images

I scream, you scream, we all scream for … horse flesh ice cream? Okay, so maybe “we all" don’t. But some people do. A lot of people, in fact. Lobster, foie gras, and ghost pepper, too.

Jennifer M Wood