Austin C. Harvey is a writer, editor, and podcast host based out of Pittsburgh, PA.

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11 Strange Historical Events, From A War Against Emus To The Time A Pope's Corpse Was Put On Trial

History classes tend to cover the major events from our past: wars, the founding of new nations, the exploration of unknown lands. However, there are countless weird historical events that rarely make it into textbooks.

Some of these incidents include wars fought (and lost) against birds, popes put on trial after they were already dead, and entire neighborhoods nearly drowned in beer. As ridiculous as these events may sound, though, they were not the fever dreams of bored historians — they real...

All That's Interesting

Ed And Lorraine Warren Were Famous Paranormal Investigators — But Were They Also Abusers?

Ed and Lorraine Warren likely need no introduction. The two paranormal investigators have been permanently embedded into the pop culture zeitgeist thanks to the success of The Conjuring franchise. The Warrens spent decades crafting a public image of themselves as a wholesome Christian couple battling the Devil and his demons. But that image was called into question in 2017 when it was revealed that a woman named Judith Penney accused Ed and Lorraine Warren of abuse in 2014.

Penney, who was in h...

All That's Interesting

11 Times Drunken Antics Changed History, From The Constitutional Convention To The Napoleonic Wars

Humans have been drinking alcohol for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of intentional fermentation dates back to around 7000 B.C.E. in the Neolithic village of Jiahu, China. Given how long humans have been drinking — and how fond people are of intoxicating beverages — it should be little surprise that alcohol has influenced the course of history.

In more than a few instances, humanity’s penchant for alcohol has devolved into outright mayhem. Wars were won and lost because of it, allian...

All That's Interesting

A Conman Just Stole More Than 950 Wheels Of Cheddar Cheese From A Dairy Company In England

Neal’s Yard Dairy, a cheese retailer based in London, was recently robbed of more than 20 tons of cheddar in a sophisticated scam. After the company was approached by a fraudster posing as a legitimate wholesaler, employees shipped 950 clothbound cheeses to France — only to realize the whole thing had been a setup.

As a result, the business took a substantial financial hit of more than $390,000. The theft became even more high-profile when celebrity chef Jamie Oliver got involved, rallying behi...

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Bombings, Kidnappings, And Cold-Blooded Murder: 33 Photos From Italy's Violent Years Of Lead

Beneath the familiar rhythms of Italian life in the 1970s, something had fractured. The café tables still filled each evening along Rome’s Via Veneto, couples still strolled through Florence’s Piazza della Signoria, and the espresso machines still hissed in Milan’s fashionable bars. But things were not as peaceful as they may have seemed in these quiet moments.

Between roughly 1969 and 1988, Italy descended into a period of political violence so pervasive that it earned a chilling nickname: Ann...

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Sisyphus, The Mythical King Doomed To Endlessly Roll A Stone Up A Hill — Only For It To Roll Back Down

Sisyphus appears in several Greek myths, though today he is often associated with just one. In the famous legend, he is punished by Zeus for cheating death and condemned to endlessly push a boulder up a hill, only for it to inevitably roll back down. The myth was given new life in 1942 by the philosopher Albert Camus in his work The Myth of Sisyphus, which draws comparison between the absurdity of life and Sisyphus’ punishment.

“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s h...

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A Tiny English Village Just Elected A Beer-Drinking Shetland Pony As Mayor

After a petition by local villagers, Patrick the Pony made history in Cockington Village as the U.K.'s first pony mayor.

Cockington Village is a quaint, idyllic English small town, rife with cottages and cobblestone galore. The small village recently made history, however, when it appointed a miniature Shetland pony named Patrick as the town’s mayor.

As Food & Wine reported, Patrick’s owner, Kirk Petrakis, started taking Patrick around the town and to the local pub, The Drum Inn, early on in t

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Why Did So Many Ancient Cultures Believe In Dragons? The Answer May Lie With The Dinosaurs

Mythology and folklore about dragons can be found in a wide variety of cultures throughout history. While specific details may vary, legends about the beasts are among the most pervasive stories humans have ever told. They are so pervasive, in fact, that many have wondered: Are dragons real?

Scientists have generally agreed the answer is a resounding no, yet there is still something peculiar about how widespread the mythological creatures have been in human culture. Today, we can thank the like...

Discover Magazine

Unpacking The Stigma Around Adult ADHD

It's not hard to see that there's an overwhelmingly negative narrative surrounding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and psychostimulants — drugs that can boost the activity of the body's central nervous — in the United States.

Here's the story we're often told: The U.S. overdiagnoses ADHD and overprescribes these stimulant medications. This phenomenon, which some researchers say is a symptom of hypercompetitive capitalism, will lead to a second “opioid crisis,” where we take drug

All That's Interesting

A Conman Just Stole More Than 950 Wheels Of Cheddar Cheese From A Dairy Company In England

Discover Magazine

The Long-Term Effects of Alcohol on Sleep Quality

Many of us are familiar with the experience that is waking up with a particularly bad hangover, the result of too many sugary mixed drinks at a college party or perhaps too many spiked eggnogs at an office holiday party. Hangovers notoriously leave us with headaches, stomach pains, nausea, fatigue, irritability and anxiety; for many, this also means spending the day slumped on a couch with intermittent naps and comfort foods and sports drinks in hand. While hangovers are the most glaringly obvio

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Aliens, Strange Aircrafts, And Mysterious Infections: Inside The Varginha UFO Incident Of 1996

Several residents of a town in Brazil claimed that their city was overrun with aliens in 1996 — and that the government covered it up. But is there any proof?

In January 1996, three young witnesses between the ages of 14 and 22 claimed to have seen something strange in Varginha, Brazil. They said they had seen a small, hairless creature with oily brown skin, a large head, and red eyes — and they referred to it as a “devil.”

In the days that followed, several other residents would come forward,

Anxiety vs. Depression: They Can Both Impact Your Sex Life

Anxiety and depression are two of the most diagnosed mental illnesses in the United States. About 40 million adults are affected each year, according to data from the Anxiety & Depression Association of America.

While there are numerous conditions that fall under the blanket term "anxiety disorder," most people know at least one (and likely more than one) person who deals with anxiety or depression on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, anxiety and depression frequently co-occur in affected individua

IDONTMIND

I Am At War With Myself

I’ve been having strange dreams lately — vivid dreams, ones that linger somewhere deep in my subconscious long after I’ve woken and adjusted to reality. Whether I can recall the full detail or simply focus sharply on one aspect, the dreams have been affecting my temperament. After one particularly horrifying dream, I woke with the thought “I have to kill myself.” Let’s be clear, this was not a desire to do so. This was not something I felt that I wanted. Rather, it was a deep-rooted knowledge th