A cabinet of lovable weirdos
Tiny true stories,
lovingly odd.
Weird science, forgotten history, and human quirks — each one true, each under a minute, each a little stranger than you’d expect.
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Grandma Moses
Ribbons for the Jam
At the Cambridge Country Fair, Anna Mary Robertson Moses entered her paintings alongside her preserves, and won ribbons for the jam.
At seventy-six, arthritis ended her embroidery, so she took up painting — house paint on Masonite, glitter for snow. She entered canvases beside her preserves at the county fair and won ribbons for the jam. Her name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses.
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The Woman Who Built a Maze
Every child who has ever ridden the Haunted Mansion passed through her grief and never knew.
The Raven That Wrote Two Masterpieces
A paint-eating raven died, got stuffed, and ended up inspiring two of the most famous works in English literature — from two different writers.
The Duke Who Went Underground
He built the largest ballroom in England and used it to roller-skate alone.
The Man Who Shook the King's Hand
He kept pigs as hunting dogs, trained otters to fish, and when the King of England finally summoned him to court, he had a scheduling conflict.
The Man Who Drank the Plague
He built a small closet, filled it with the vomit of the dying, and sat inside breathing deeply — all to prove yellow fever wasn't contagious.
The Postman Who Built a Palace
He tripped on a stone in 1879 and spent the next thirty-three years building a palace out of the ones he found on the way home.
The Old Man Mad About Painting
The most quintessentially Japanese artwork ever made was painted with a color Japan had banned.
The Woman Who Dressed Like a Cathedral
She had a coffin she liked to lie in before writing each morning, to focus her mind.
The Woman Who Wrote the Future
She arrived at the Royal Society in 1666, critiqued their methods to their faces, and they used her visit as justification to ban every woman who came after her — for 278 years.
The Man Who Died Facing West
He delivered three-hour speeches that left grown legislators pale and silent, in a voice that never finished puberty.
The Man Who Ghosted the Most Famous Scientist on Earth
Alexander von Humboldt, the most celebrated scientist alive, wrote to the dictator of Paraguay personally. Francia made no answer. For nine years.
The Man Who Never Opened His Mail
When Satie died, his friends entered his apartment for the first time in twenty-seven years.