Harrison Dyar, Who Made Digging Tunnels In Washington, DC His Hobby

In September 1924, a truck accidentally discovered a series of tunnels underneath Washington DC. There were lots of rumors, but it turned out a local guy had just dug them himself, for "exercise." Here's his story.

By |2024-12-07T20:32:46-05:00September 8, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

A College Student In The 1890s Became The Candid Camera Of Norway

For National Photography Day, here’s a remarkable photographic story from the 1890s: a guy in Norway made his own candid camera.

By |2024-12-02T08:31:52-05:00August 19, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Why So Many Old Paintings Have Dogs Holding Lit Flares In Their Mouths

There's a phenomenon in art history where some paintings feature dogs with lit flares in their mouths. They're not committing arson or leading Indiana Jones through a dark cave... but what are they doing?

By |2024-12-13T07:35:27-05:00August 8, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

During World War I, Photographers Made A “Human Statue of Liberty” Out Of 18,000 Soldiers

This month in 1918, two photographers took a picture of the Statue of Liberty, formed with help from 18,000 members of the U.S. military.

By |2024-12-06T06:33:37-05:00July 13, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

William Mumler, The Photographer Who Had “Spirits” In His Pictures

Today in 1865, Abraham Lincoln went to Ford's Theater, and we all know how badly that ended. But five years later, William Mumler "photographed" the spirit of Honest Abe comforting his widow Mary Todd Lincoln. Here's the story of Mumler and his very controversial "spirit photography."

By |2024-12-05T07:44:09-05:00April 14, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

The Highly Photographic Life Of Frederick Douglass

Today is the assumed birth date in 1817 or 1818 of Frederick Douglass, who is known for his powerful writing and speeches, but was also probably the most photographed person of his time.

A Liner Note Detective Wants The World To Know Something About The “London Calling” Cover Photo

The famous cover of The Clash's landmark album "London Calling" was taken on September 21, 1979, according to the liner notes. Except that Dave Marin, a concertgoer who was there when the photo was taken, has a concert stub that says September 20th. And he's spent decades trying to get the world to notice that the album credits are a day off.

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