History

The strange and deeply unlikely tale of Gef the talking mongoose

Gef the talking mongoose - supernatural resident of an Isle of Man farmhouse - is legendary in skeptical lore... even if he was merely the invention of a 13 year old girl

Europa: The Last Battle – the antisemitic documentary going viral among the far right

The makers of the viral documentary Europa: The Last Battle want viewers to believe Jewish people rule and control the world - and they have a far-right audience primed to believe it

The story of Phineas Gage’s accident is well-known; what happened to him afterwards is not

What happened to Phineas Gage after his traumatic brain injury is a legend that has warped in its telling, but the real story shows us how remarkable the brain truly is

The substitute king ritual in Ancient Mesopotamia: an elegant solution to inevitable fate

When the death of the king was prophecised in Ancient Mesopotamia, the solution was to substitute in a regal stand in - and then kill him

Can we really identify the ancient disasters described in ancient myths?

Many scholars have tried to identify the real events that inspired ancient myths - but with populations migrating, and stories changing, any connection to real history may be long lost

John Harvey Kellogg: the ‘Biologic Living’ theories of the inventor of corn flakes

Latterly famous for his breakfast cereal invention, John Harvey Kellogg was a religious zealot, eugenicist, and highly prominent early 20th Century quack

Why inaccuracies in Bill Cooper’s influential conspiracy theory book serve as its strength

Bill Cooper's highly-influential 1990s conspiracy theory book Behold A Pale Horse is riddled with inaccuracies - but for fans, these errors are actually proof that he was right

The Rothschild family, and the modern conspiracy theory industry

For 200 years, antisemitic conspiracy theories have centred on one Jewish family in particular: The Rothschilds. A new book, 'Jewish Space Lasers', looks at why that family became a target for conspiracists.
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