There are cryptids you can almost respect. Bigfoot, for example — majestic, mysterious, blurry in every photo like he’s permanently on the run from copyright infringement. The Yeti, Bigfoot’s more sophisticated older brother. Even the Chupacabra, Mexico’s favorite demonic desert creature. But then there’s the Jersey Devil, whose mythology pales in comparison to its cryptid … Read more
If childhood was full of invisible companions helping you navigate playground politics, adulthood offers spirit guides — invisible companions who apparently help you navigate life, taxes, bad Tinder dates, and questionable decisions made after two glasses of box wine. Spirit guides are described as angels, ancestors, totem animals, or “light beings,” standing ready to offer … Read more
Bigfoot is the participation trophy of the paranormal world. You can’t prove he’s there, you can’t prove he’s not, and somehow that’s enough for a certain breed of sweaty enthusiast to slap a sticker on their pickup truck and call it a lifestyle. Every few months some blurry photo crawls out of the forest like … Read more
There’s something uniquely humbling about realizing that in an age where we can send robots to Mars, track hurricanes from space, map the molecular structure of proteins, and bounce lasers off retroreflectors on the Moon, there are still people — allegedly literate, allegedly breathing without assistance — who believe Earth is shaped like a cosmic … Read more
Just when you thought humanity’s desperation for meaning had scraped the bottom of the barrel, someone lifted the barrel and found an even slimier layer underneath: pet psychics. These are self-proclaimed “animal communicators” who, for a modest fee — usually something insultingly close to your grocery budget — will “channel” your pet’s thoughts, emotions, and … Read more
If there’s one thing more enduring than human stupidity, it’s the deep, desperate hope that someone, somewhere, has figured out how to escape it — preferably by building a machine out of junkyard parts and disappearing into the swirling folds of time. Enter time travel: the grand, glittering promise that somewhere out there, beyond the … Read more
You haven’t truly plumbed the depths of human gullibility until you’ve stood ankle-deep in dust, surrounded by plywood storefronts, being lectured by a seventeen-year-old wearing a fake sheriff’s badge about the “tragic spectral echoes” of men who allegedly died mining fool’s gold with fool’s tools for fool’s wages. Welcome to Silver Flats, Colorado — once … Read more
There is, in this endlessly gullible world of ours, no shortage of ways to make yourself look like a prize fool, but none—none—compares to the unique spectacle of a grown adult stumbling around a field, clutching two bent pieces of wire like they’re about to divine the very secrets of the universe. Dowsing, for the … Read more
There are few things on this planet more impressive than Stonehenge. And there are even fewer things more embarrassing than the way people talk about it. A prehistoric ring of gigantic stones? Amazing. A feat of prehistoric engineering? Absolutely. Proof of extraterrestrial intervention, ancient power grids, or secret portals to other dimensions? Please. If anything, … Read more
The Grand Majestic Lodge markets itself as “the most haunted hotel in the Cragstone Mountains,” which is impressive, considering the competition consists mostly of abandoned ski chalets and outhouses with broken locks. Perched on a cliff like a rotting wedding cake, the Majestic lures in ghost hunters, paranormal thrill-seekers, and the occasional unfortunate skeptic (guess … Read more