Category: Notes on a Strange World

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Play it again, Sam”? Many remember it as Ingrid Bergman’s most famous line in the movie Casablanca. Upon review, however, it turns out that Bergman actually said: “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.’” Yet many remember the phrase as “Play it again, Sam,” which was never uttered. …

We have Queen Hatshepsut, fifth sovereign of the eighteenth dynasty, who reigned in Egypt between 1479 and 1458 BCE, to thank that scholars and travelers have always been fascinated by an elusive place called the Land of Punt. In fact, the lost land has been mentioned several times over the course of two thousand years …

Between 1975 and 1980, terror gripped the northwest of England. A serial killer, who with little imagination the newspapers christened “The Yorkshire Ripper,” identified women alone on the streets in the evening, some of them prostitutes, and convinced (or forced) them into his car. The predator, armed with a hammer and screwdriver, killed thirteen women …

On August 29, 2020, about 18,000 people gathered in Berlin, Germany, either denying the existence of COVID-19 or contesting decisions taken to contain it. Among the gatherers were conspiracy theorists of all sorts, chemtrail believers, followers of QAnon, anti-vaccination advocates, homeopaths, people like Robert Kennedy Jr., and right-wing extremists who, waving Third Reich flags, attempted …

A few months after Randi’s passing, it still is not easy to talk about him. We have often heard and read about his extraordinary adventures and exploits: the unmasking of Peter Popoff, the Carlos Hoax, the Alpha Project, the Geller caper, the psychic surgeons of the Philippines, the “Water with Memory” affair, and so on. …

Atlantis? It is hidden in plain sight, under the thick ice of Antarctica! This claim was made popular in the 1990s by pseudoarcheological theories in many popular books. But the original idea was born in Italy in 1974, when engineer Flavio Barbiero first mentioned it in his book A Civilization under Ice. The premise is …

Atlantis is seen by many as the lost civilization par excellence, the “mother” of all civilizations. It is a pity that, despite much searching of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean for the mysterious island described by Plato, nothing convincing has ever been found. Neither unknown submerged archaeological remains nor sunken continents have been …

Since the coronavirus pandemic started, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and fake news about COVID-19 have spread. Is it true that the virus escaped a Chinese military laboratory? Or was it created in an American laboratory just to hit China? Is it true that it was foreseen by a novel, by Nostradamus, on The Simpsons, or by …

Was the castle of King Arthur found? That’s what newspaper headlines stated some time ago in reference to excavations conducted on the archaeological site of Tintagel, north of Cornwall in England. The town has always been a destination for fans of the legendary figure of the sovereign, but the remains of the existing castle date …

Could there be any more extreme beliefs than those held by people who are convinced that the earth is flat or that we live in a computer-generated matrix? Some people are convinced that it is possible to live without eating or drinking—literally claiming to be “existing on air.” These “breatharians” claim to be feeding on …

Cover Image: The late medium Eddie Burks along with the author (at the time beardless and still with his Medusa-like hair).   The old man sitting in a chair put his hands to his chest and grabbed his sweater, his fingers tightening. He spoke in a whisper, his eyes shut. “Yes … I feel that …

It may be worth considering what it means to “go against the flow” in science. What makes a genius rather than a mere mortal or, worse, a fool? Think of Mozart or Van Gogh, artists who revolutionized music and painting. In the arts, genius has often been associated with the idea of the artist’s opposition …

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the “universal genius,” and since I have been working a lot on him (two of my books in Italian on Leonardo just came out, and I am lecturing everywhere about him), I thought I would share with my readers some glimpses into …

Today things have changed. In less than a generation, we’ve reached a point where what we watch, read, and listen to is no longer determined solely by corporate monopolies but by the viewer. And things can be a lot different for skeptics as well.

Sound reading,” as this technique is called, is a classic trick of mentalists who wish to simulate telepathy phenomena.

Did Raphael—“The Divine One,” as this great painter was often described—document a UFO crash during the Renaissance? It’s a story that resurfaces from time to time on some UFO websites. It all starts with a beautiful painting, The Madonna of Foligno, created in 1511 by Raphael on a commission from Sigismondo de’ Conti, chamberlain to …

The Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the “Colosseum,” is the largest and most majestic amphitheater of ancient times. It is the second most visited monument in the world (after the Great Wall of China), and in 2007 was included among the new seven wonders of the modern world.

This year, 2017, marks the hundredth anniversary of one of the most famous hoaxes in history: the Cottingley fairies photos, taken by two Yorkshire girls in 1917. Or were they? A new hypothesis, recently put forward in the pages of Fortean Times magazine, suggests that the photos may actually have been taken later, after very …

The story of the Monster of Flor­ence, after consuming energies and investigative efforts on the inconclusive Sardinian lead (see previous column), forced the investigators to start from scratch—almost. On September 11, 1985, just three days after the last murder attributed to the serial killer, an anonymous person wrote to the police of San Casciano naming …

Fernando Pucci recently died at age eighty-six. He was the last of the serial killers collectively known as the “Mostro di Firenze,” the Monster of Florence, or “i compagni di merende,” the “picknicking friends,” as they started to be called during trials after one of the convicted killers, Mario Vanni, described his relationship with the …

“In this case, the gnome is seen as a guardian of nature, just like our Corp is recognized as the environmental protector.”

The plural of anecdote is not evidence.

Today mediums really have an easy life.

But why today is there so much discussion about Magdalene? What’s so special about this woman to attract the attention of fans of mysteries?

This is the latest web craze known as the “Charlie Charlie Challenge,” perhaps dating back to an ancient Mexican tradition, an experience that intrigues kids and scares adults. Through a sort of séance, some claim people can ask questions to some unseen entity that should be able to reply.

Mysterious rectangular rubber-like blocks, with the enigmatic word TJIPETIR engraved into them, have been washing up for the past few years on the beaches of northern Europe.

So, how did The Amazing Randi escape not only from the cell that kept him a prisoner but also from the building of the police station in Valleyfield Quebec? Here is the ingenious solution devised by Randi.

In continuing our discussion on “mystery” paintings from the past: a special place is held by paintings that are said to hold hidden meanings—especially when they do.

The evil eye is a lucrative business for many psychics and charlatans. However, the risks run by those who decide to rely on these frauds are often much worse than just a bloodletting to their pocketbooks.

Leonardo da Vinci not only epitomizes genius and creativity, but he is also one of the most sought-after sources of mysteries, both real and invented.