Curious History
Odd Science
In the movies
Literature of the Strange
Unsolved & Unbelievable
100
In 1518, dozens of people in Strasbourg couldn’t stop doing this for weeks, possibly fatally.
What is dancing?
100
This everyday item was accidentally discovered by Percy Spencer while working with radar equipment.
What is the microwave oven?
100
In Back to the Future, Marty McFly travels through time using this type of car.
What is a DeLorean?
100
This author’s tales, including The Tell-Tale Heart, often explore guilt, madness, and the macabre.
Who is Edgar Allan Poe?
100
This mythical creature is said to live in Loch Ness, Scotland.
What is the Loch Ness Monster?
200
This ancient city disappeared for centuries under volcanic ash and was rediscovered in the 18th century.
What is Pompeii?
200
Tardigrades are known for surviving in space and extreme environments; they’re also known by this cuter name.
What are water bears?
200
In The Truman Show, Jim Carrey’s character lives inside one of these, unknowingly.
What is a giant TV set / reality show?
200
n Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice follows this animal down a hole into a surreal world.
What is the White Rabbit?
200
These mysterious aerial phenomena are often spotted in the sky and linked to extraterrestrials.
What are UFOs?
300
Known as the “man in the iron mask,” this mysterious prisoner was held in France during the reign of this king.
Who is Louis XIV?
300
This gas, used for party balloons, can actually cause your voice to sound squeaky.
What is helium?
300
This 1999 movie questioned whether reality was real, introducing the red pill/blue pill concept.
What is The Matrix?
300
Franz Kafka wrote this novella about a man who wakes up transformed into a giant insect.
What is The Metamorphosis?
300
This triangular region in the Atlantic is associated with unexplained disappearances of ships and planes.
What is the Bermuda Triangle?
400
In 1959, nine experienced hikers died mysteriously in the Ural Mountains in what’s now called this incident.
What is the Dyatlov Pass incident?
400
In a famous quantum mechanics thought experiment, this animal is both dead and alive until observed.
What is Schrödinger’s cat?
400
In Arrival, linguists try to decipher the language of aliens who arrive in ships shaped like this.
What are giant black ovals or pods?
400
In this novel by Mary Shelley, a scientist stitches together corpses to create life.
What is Frankenstein?
400
In 1980, dozens of people reported seeing unexplained lights near a U.S. Air Force base in this English forest—an event sometimes called “Britain’s Roswell.”
What is Rendlesham Forest?
500
This “uncrackable” medieval manuscript is written in an unknown language and features bizarre plant drawings.
What is the Voynich Manuscript?
500
This element, liquid at room temperature, was once used in thermometers and is highly toxic.
What is mercury?
500
In this Christopher Nolan film, characters plant an idea inside someone’s dream.
What is Inception?
500
In Jorge Luis Borges’ short story The Library of Babel, the universe is imagined as an infinite library containing every possible combination of characters. What philosophical concept does this primarily explore?
What is infinity (or the limits of knowledge / chaos vs. order)?
500
According to Central European Jewish legend, Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague animated this clay guardian to protect the Jewish quarter; some versions say it grew dangerous and had to be deactivated.
What is the Golem?