Weird

Victor Hugo, Anne Rice, and Thomas Hardy were all believers.

Some, like Harriet Beecher Stowe and Victor Hugo, believed they had communicated with spirits directly; others, like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Hardy, had ghostly encounters they couldn’t explain.

The rich history of the English language is full of similar directional words that are cool but uncommon, like ‘pancakewards,’ ‘couchward,’ and ‘pocketwards.’

Still from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' (1951) beside illustration of a theremin.

The theremin—a spooky instrument that scored the biggest sci-fi films of the 1950s—was invented by accident.

For decades, a man dressed head to toe in leather moved through Connecticut and New York. Who was he, and what did he want?

The Ouija board has terrified countless slumber party children and served as a plot vehicle in a number of Hollywood films. Here’s where it came from.

Almost every country has its own cryptid, from giant bats in Java to enormous water hounds in Ireland.

Skeletons are good for more than just Halloween.

We're glad skeletons are usually made of plastic now.

An Evening Seance Newspaper Illustration.

From spiritualism's beginnings at the Fox cottage to ectoplasm, so-called spirit photography, and beyond, here's what you need to know about this controversial cultural phenomenon.

The United States is host to a number of wild and weird urban legends.

From classics like the vanishing hitchhiker to creepy cryptids, ghostly vehicles, deadly curses, and some stuff you’ve probably seen on Facebook.

Eating centuries-old mummies was a hot health trend in medieval Europe.

From famous authors to a Roman emperor, these spirits sure had a lot to share.

Artist’s rendition of Betty and Barney Hill’s alien encounter in the White Mountains.

In 1961, an ordinary New Hampshire couple claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Betty and Barney Hill's tale still reverberates through pop culture today.

The Muppets have squared off against everyone from Johnny Cash to Celine Dion.

‘Sound Effects No. 13 – Death & Horror’ is downright spooky.

The campaign to ban “Sound Effects No. 13 – Death & Horror” didn’t stop it from becoming the first sound effects album to break the UK Top 100 charts in the 1970s.

Rock-hard cookies are bad enough without the presence of actual rocks.

A bacteria-related food recall is troubling but understandable. It’s a little weirder when one involves golf balls.

The novelist endured a crash in East Africa. Then his 'rescue' plane went down, too.

Turtle mating makes for some funny sound effects.

From turtle mating to what really turns big cats on, animal sex can be a lot weirder (and funnier) than you probably expected.

We’re currently living in the year 1725, not 2023. At least, that’s what adherents of the Phantom Time Hypothesis would have you believe. The historical conspiracy theory alleges that the years spanning from 614 to 911 CE never actually happened.

‘The Persistence of Memory’ at a MoMA exhibit in Berlin.

'The Persistence of Memory' is the most recognizable work by Salvador Dalì, who painted it in the midst of a hallucination.

Sometimes a truck unloads its cargo unexpectedly early.

Which offbeat attraction do you want to visit?

Let’s take a roadtrip through the country, with stops at a self-flushing latrine, a collection of human brains, and much more.

Indulge your urge to be a huge hater without hurting anyone’s feelings.

Gabriel Green explained that “I’m running for president because I was asked to do so by emissaries from outer space.”

An exploding corpse, a 45-minute car chase, and a horse-related mishap that led to a century-long royal tradition. In this episode of The List Show, host Justin Dodd covers funerals gone wrong.

9 Authors Who Believed in Ghosts

21 Old and Odd Directional Words

Audio Invasion: How the Theremin Went From Soviet Labs to Hollywood

The Eerie Legend of the ‘Old Leatherman,’ Connecticut’s Silent Wanderer

A Brief History of the Ouija Board

16 Cryptids That Might (Or Might Not) Exist

Watch Plastic Skeletons Being Made in a 1960s Factory

10 Facts about the History of Spiritualism

The Spookiest Urban Legend in All 50 States

How an Unfortunate Misunderstanding Spawned a Medieval Mummy-Eating Fad

Guided by Voices: 7 Books Supposedly Written by Ghosts

Close Encounter: When Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Shocked the World

10 Wonderfully Weird Muppet Duets

Death & Horror: How BBC’s Controversial Sound Effects Album Became a Surprise Hit

How Do Rocks, Metal, and Other Foreign Materials Get Into Our Food?

When Ernest Hemingway Walked Away From Two Plane Crashes Just Hours Apart

10 Surprising Facts About Animal Sex

The Bizarre (and Blatantly False) Conspiracy Theory That Says the Middle Ages Never Happened

14 Facts About Salvador Dalì’s ‘The Persistence Of Memory’

20 Highly Unusual Truck Spills

The Coolest Offbeat Attraction in All 50 States (and Washington, D.C.)

Feel Like Screaming Into the Void? This Website Lets You Do Just That

The Presidential Candidate Who Ran on a UFO Ticket

9 Funerals Gone Wrong