Curious Archive

The World’s Oldest Ghosts: Hauntings in Ancient Rome and Babylon

Published date 1 October 2024 Categories Paranormal Encounters / Weird History

While we often associate ghost stories with the 18th and 19th centuries, humans have been telling tales of hauntings for far, far longer. So where can we find evidence of the world’s oldest known ghost stories and hauntings? The Oldest Recorded Haunting The oldest ghost story currently known was recorded by Roman politician and writer, Pliny the Younger in the...

Do eels really come from the Bermuda Triangle?

Published date 11 September 2024 Categories Weird History

For thousands of years humans had absolutely no idea where eels came from, and some of the theories we came up with were pretty wild. Going back a few thousand years, the Ancient Egyptians believed eels spawned in the Nile when the water was warmed by the rays of the sun. And Ancient Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (who wrote...

The Myth and Mystique of Biblical Nephilim: Fallen Angels or Ancient Aliens?

Published date 25 May 2024 Categories Paranormal Encounters / Weird History

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men. Genesis 6:4, NET The Bible is a powerful book. For many it inspires hope, alleviates pain, and provides comfort...

Our Peculiar Relationship with ‘666’, an Ancient Evil in the Modern World

Published date 13 May 2024 Categories Paranormal Encounters / Weird History

In the iconic 1976 horror film The Omen, an American ambassador and his wife unknowingly adopt the baby Antichrist following the death of their newborn son. As the movie progresses, young Dameon’s parents realise something is incredibly wrong with their toddler who throws a passionate fit outside of a cathedral, inspires monkeys at the zoo into a frenzy, watches as...

John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Obsession and Sacrifice in the Pursuit of Heavenly Knowledge

Published date 9 May 2024 Categories Paranormal Encounters / Weird History

Dr John Dee is among the most fascinating figures of the Elizabethan period with a life akin to the plot of a historical fantasy novel. Born in London on 13 July 1527, Dee attended St John’s College at Cambridge University at the young age of 15 and graduated after intense study with a Bachelor of Arts in 1545. He then...

The SS Bannockburn or, ‘The Flying Dutchman’ of Lake Superior

Published date 19 March 2024 Categories Paranormal Encounters

The Great Lakes of North America, covering nearly 95,000 square miles, make up the largest freshwater system on our planet. While water vessels of all sizes have used the lakes for transport, freight, and pleasure, not everyone and every ship makes it safely back home. To date there have been over 6,000 shipwrecks throughout the five Great Lakes that have...

The Kraken: How the Myth of a Legendary Sea Monster Became Reality

Published date 6 January 2024 Categories Paranormal Encounters / Weird History

Originally based in Scandinavian folklore, the Kraken is a large mythological creature said to haunt open water. The first known account of the Kraken was written by King Sverre of Norway in 1180 during a time when the oceans were relatively uncharted. The Kraken was said to be a hunter of ships, the bigger the better, making it a predator...

Sex and Frenzy in the Central Panel of Bosch’s ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’

Published date 3 January 2024 Categories Weird History

I spy with my little eye: two people copulating inside an oyster, a frog with no arms (or a fish with legs?), a mob of people climbing eagerly into a broken egg, and a boar with blueberries for tentacles. Behold – The Garden of Earthly Delights. To clear a few things up about this incredibly bizarre piece of art: yes,...

The ‘2006 Volleyball Incident’ or, the Mysterious School Shooting that Never Happened

Published date 26 April 2023 Categories Digital Mythology

Is it possible for a school shooting to be so underreported that there’s no record of it ever occurring? Are there so many school shootings every year that a particularly brutal one somehow managed to slip through the cracks? Let’s take a deep dive into a very niche and bizarre internet conspiracy referred to as the ‘2006 Volleyball Incident’ or, the school shooting that never happened.

The Bizarre Death of Garry Hoy, the Lawyer that Accidentally Threw Himself Out a Window

Published date 23 April 2023 Categories Weird History

Ever do something incredibly reckless and think to yourself “it would be pretty embarrassing if this was how I died”? This quick but incredibly weird story of the death of a Canadian lawyer is one of those tragic but completely avoidable incidents that sound completely made up. But it isn’t, this really happened. And it unfortunately happened in front of...