WEIRD

A look back at some of the times that the small screen celebrated the year’s end in unpredictable fashion.

Some New Year’s superstitions and traditions are spookier than others, but these are some of those most memorable from around the world.

For thousands of years, physiognomy—pseudoscience that purports to divine a person’s character from their physical appearance—was accepted as valid fact. Can you guess which characteristics were linked to which physical feature?

Cut through the half-truths and urban legends to find out more about Friday the 13th, allegedly the unluckiest day on the calendar.

In 1908, a playboy made a bet he could walk around the world without being identified. Then things got weird.

Forget the snow globes and ornaments. Buy souvenir air instead.

Get a better sense of how illnesses have shaped history with these gripping reads about history’s most notorious diseases.

The beaches of Newfoundland are a little less pleasant since white blobs have appeared everywhere.

From ‘skeletons in the closet’ to ‘graveyard shift,’ here’s how five eerie idioms came to be.

‘Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater’ may not be the most kid-friendly nursery rhyme, as several interpretations of it involve murder.

This excerpt from Ben Gazur’s book ‘A Feast of Folklore: The Bizarre Stories Behind British Food,’ out September 19 in the UK and November 19 in the U.S., dives into some unusual history.

To curb teen pregnancies, schools in the ‘80s forced kids to care for another delicate dependent: an egg.