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Cabinet of Chic Curiosities
Category / Nostalgia

The Fateful Lovers’ Suicide that put the World at War

On the morning of January 30, 1889, three friends of Rudolf, the Crown Prince of Austria, broke down the bedroom door at his hunting lodge to find him dead, sitting by the naked corpse of his teenage mistress. For more than a hundred years, people have speculated wildly at the events surrounding this double suicide…

Cool Down and Reminisce over the Wonders of Ski Ballet

There was a brief time in winter Olympic history when athletes would zip into their snow suites, strap on their skis, cue the music, and dance to victory. Ski ballet is like the love child of figure skating and skiing. Routines lasted for two minutes, and athletes competed alone or in pairs. The result was…

The Most Famous Street in Paris You’ve Never Heard Of

Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Rue de Rivoli, Avenue Montaigne, each year millions of tourists follow the tired and testing formula of ‘been there, done that, bought the Eiffel Tower keyring’, and often leave the city with an unfortunate case of ‘Paris Syndrome’. As you may already know, we are not tourists here. We choose the path…

Surprise Surprise, a Medieval Feminist Movement Left Out of the History Books

Women have undeniably had a roller-coaster ride throughout the ages. Forever pawns in a power game, the role and image of women have been in constant flux, from being portrayed as the virginal, divine, untouchable ‘Mary Mother of God’ to ‘The Whore of Babylon’. The all-male regime never quite knew whether to love or hate,…

Was the Colosseum Paid for with Pee?

What we know as the famous Roman “Colosseum” might have been paid for with pee, more specifically poor people’s pee. Built under the rule of Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty, he is one of the only known rulers in history to have imposed a urine tax on the sale and distribution of urine from…

Oh, The Fun We Could Have With This 1960s Ghost Town For Sale

In today’s atypical real estate news, we head to Warsaw, Missouri, where a 20-cabin pioneer style settlement, including two original 1830’s cabins, is up for grabs. The whole 20 acres plot of land with everything on it is asking $295,000. Let’s take a look around…. Located between two of Missouri’s largest lakes — Truman Reservoir…

It took a Hundred Years and Two Gays to Decode Her Diaries

Anne Lister has recently crept out of the shadows of what was her own gothic novel, penned almost two centuries ago. Like all things of the neo-Gothic late 18th century, hers was also a world of shadows, veils, intrigues and most of all, it concealed her obsessional love for other women. British society was at…

An Ode to the Card Catalog

Before books were easily printed and accessible to nearly everyone, before they even took the form of books specifically, there was a different story. Information was scarce in its written form, and so scribes and scholars developed a meticulous system for organizing libraries of tablets. That’s right: the oldest known form of organizing books predates…

Petition to Teach Kids about the Mad Adventures of Nellie Bly in History Class

When Nellie Bly got bored of writing about fashion and gardening, she went undercover as a patient in a mental asylum and faked insanity to expose the institutional abuse. When she read Jules Verne’s book Around the world in 80 Days, she attempted the fictional journey herself, and did it in 72 days, 6 hours,…

The Original Ghostbusters

As the 19th century came to a close and the 20th century picked up speed, people were absolutely held in thrall by the paranormal. Psychics and mediums sprang up everywhere as part of a movement called Spiritualism, and they promised to put people in touch with their departed loved ones. Mostly, they charged a fee,…
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