From historians to horror writers to white nationalists, attempts to explain the settlement's fate reveal a great deal about our own attitudes.

Believers claim these mysterious paths reveal unseen connections and, through them, a larger picture of the truth.

What sightings of lions in Illinois and pumas in Australia tell us about our relationship with the natural world.

Examining why these ubiquitous, obsolete fortifications carry an air of mystery.

Before vaccines, pseudoscientific folks remedies for the deadly virus involved mysterious animal-vegetable-mineral hybrids.

Or, why families under siege make for great movies.

From Champ to Bessie to lake sturgeon, these cryptids represent what lies beneath the surface of the familiar.

What a strange spate of "gas attacks" tells us about what was really lurking in mid-century America.

A strange, scary farce that brought together Old World legends and racist scare tactics.

And justified the most extreme responses.

A classic ghost story has something to say about America—200 years ago, 100 years ago, and today.

How and why the harvested body parts of atomic bomb victims spent decades abroad before being returned to Hiroshima.

Fringe beliefs, conspiracy theories, and the disenchanting of the world.