My bloody valentine
By Soncirey MitchellReader Staff At this time of year, the world is abuzz with thoughts of love. Young and old couples turn their minds to chocolates and romantic dinners, and schoolchildren cut out paper...
Category: Dark History
Man’s best monster
A history of werewolves By Soncirey MitchellReader Staff Werewolves have been a vehicle for cultural fears since time immemorial, and, unlike most monsters, they have no single origin. Almost every culture in the world...
Theory of Unknown Origin: Vaccines and autism
By Soncirey MitchellReader Staff U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. recently visited Idaho to promote his “Make America Healthy Again” movement. Gov. Brad Little welcomed him, declaring August “Keep Idaho...
Hoisted by their own dotard
By Ben OlsonReader Staff In Act 3 of Hamlet, the titular character has been acting mad to throw off suspicion that he knows his uncle Claudius murdered his father and married his mother. Claudius...
Mad about Science: Water in the age of sail
By Brenden BobbyReader Columnist Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has solidified an image of the Golden Age of Piracy in the public’s eye: swashbuckling pirates fighting for plunder amid feats of derring-do while...
Con artists, armed Boy Scouts and Santa Claus
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Nobody knows who wrote the first letter to Santa Claus, but the practice didn’t catch on in mainstream America until a con artist named John D. Gluck became intertwined...
Scary stories from the Reader staff
The Hound of the Hagavilles By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Growing up in the hinterlands of Bonner County, there was no reason to lean into decorating the front of our house for Halloween. We...
Theory of Unknown Origin: ‘They’re eating the pets’
By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff The rise in xenophobia in the U.S. has opened the door for a range of stereotypes to step into the spotlight — including the renewed popularity of the claim...
The Lumberjill: Boogeymen
By Jen Jackson Quintano Reader Columnist In 2012, neo-Nazi Shaun Winkler bought property an hour north of the old Aryan Nations compound with hopes of building a new homeland for his white supremacist compatriots....
Babylon Berlin reemerges with a triumphal fourth season
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff A handful of critics seem a little bemused by the popularity of Babylon Berlin. The New York Times referred to a “a small core of aficionados” and a “cult”...
