W.T.F History

A weekly dose of macabre history — gently pressed into your hands like a haunted educational pamphlet.

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A 1602 engraving of an enormous sperm whale beached on the Dutch coast, crowds in period dress gathered around it
WTF History: Ambergris

Nature’s most disgusting little success story.

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The Illustrated Police News front page, Murder on the Brighton Railway
WTF History: Apparently Trains Could Make You Lose Your Mind

Some traditions never die.

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A Victorian amber poison bottle with an embossed skull and crossbones
WTF History: How Do You Stop Someone From Accidentally Drinking Poison in the Dark?

Please do not drink this.

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A Spiritualist-era seance photograph of a medium producing ectoplasm
WTF History: What Exactly Is a Ghost Made Of?

Apparently, for a while, the answer was something resembling wet cheesecloth.

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A Georgiana Houghton spirit drawing, 1866
WTF History: The Woman Who Let Ghosts Do the Painting

The dead made me do it.

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A 19th-century illustration of a seance experiment, an instrument sealed in a wire cage beneath a table
WTF History: Ghosts Playing Musical Instruments

So the dead formed a band. No one asked them to.

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A vintage illustration of two men seated at a seance table, hands joined over a slate
WTF History: Spirit Slate Writing

A very good reason to look under the table.

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An 1860s photograph of the Davenport Brothers and their assistants beside the wooden spirit cabinet
WTF History: The Spirit Cabinet

They had two restrained men in a cupboard and hope.

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