Doomsday Prepping in the Belle Epoque

Ah, to have planned for a comet apocalypse in the Belle Epoque! Looks like a wild time, according to all the 19th and 20th century postcards with folks soaring through the skies, bum over noggin, towards a starry death. Out of all the (ultimately) anti-climactic close comet calls, the 1910 approach of Halley’s Comet takes…

We Just Walked into America’s Strangest Egyptian-UFO Cult

Not long ago in Georgia, black and gold pyramids stood proudly on the 476-acre compound of Tama-Rey. It was the holy “Land of the Sun,” a place where the self-declared God, Dr. Malachi Z. York, manipulated thousands of nationwide followers in the “Nuwaubian Nation of Moors” to believe they were cosmic purveyors of an extraterrestrial…

The French Sex Cult from Outer Space

One of France’s most fascinating imports of late is also one of its most controversial: the world’s largest UFO religion of Raëlism, which decrees that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials. Founded in 1974, a reported 70,000 members reportedly follow the order today, which enjoys tax-exempt status in the US while…

Stargazing for Aliens, not Celebrities, on the French Riviera

As it turns out, the French Riviera caters to more than a few of our favourite holiday past-times: channeling Brigitte Bardot, building sand castles at the beach and … tracking down aliens? About an hour north of the seaside city of Nice, into the mountainous terrain where Provence meets the Cote d’Azur; at the end of a…

Life on Mars Looks Rather Chic, Doesn’t It?

There’s been a heinous misconception about life on Mars. We’ve been told it will be dusty and lonely, a woebegone frontier to be endured. But then we found Nader Khalili (1936-2008), the designer who spent his days bettering what we’ll just call interplanetary architecture: sidewalks for the Moon, eco-villages, and Mars friendly houses that feel…

So What Were UFO Sightings like in the Really Old Days?

Who made the little green spacemen, well, green? Long before the midcentury Space Race set the standard for collective extraterrestrial clichés, people were having out-of-this-world experiences that chilled them down to their frilly, 1850s pantaloons. The snag being, of course, that no one had any evidence. In 1919, American author Charles Hoy Fort came forth…

The Unexplained Dancing Plague & Other Epidemics of Yore

The human body is a miraculous piece of machinery. Try as they might, scientists can’t always seem to understand its power — and susceptibility — to the strangest situations throughout history. What happens when a meteorite causes a mental health calamity? Or a laughing epidemic? From ye old French dancing fits, to an entire village…

The Hair That Launched a Thousand Tweets

Stop what you’re doing, and take a seat, because senator Valentina Petrenko’s hair is about to sweep you off your feet with its gravity-defying fabulousness. This Russian politician has been captivating the internet recently with her truly one-of-a-kind look, becoming quite the Twitter starlet, and leaving folks bewildered as to how she manages to keep it all…

Why Your Sandwich Is Banned in Outer Space

John Young was a true pioneer of space exploration: he walked on the moon, orbited it alone, and commanded the very first space shuttle mission. But in 1965, he was also the first man to nearly ruin his illustrious career for smuggling a corned beef sandwich into space. Just three years after joining NASA, Young departed…