One of the most well-known and mysterious cemetery markers in the Chicagoland area, as well as a personal favourite of mine, is the grave of six-year-old Inez Clarke (1873-1880). Located in Chicago’s historic Graceland Cemetery, her parents commissioned a life-sized statue, which was completed a year later by a Sicilian...
Every year I like to say that Saint Valentine was given red roses and candy hearts for loving Christ instead of being beaten with clubs, stoned, and beheaded for refusing to deny Christ before the Emperor Claudius. Forget weddings, overpriced greeting cards, and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, February 14th is...
At Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, you will find the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. For nearly 40 years, Curator David Pilgrim has collected what he calls “racist garbage”. It is his belief that “forms of intolerance can be used to teach tolerance”. The museum displays a...
If you ever find yourself in Waldsassen, Germany, make sure to stop by the basilica because this place is your macabre dream come true. The church contains ten reliquaries of richly dressed and bejeweled skeletons of Christian martyrs, the largest intact collection in all of Europe. Known as the “Holy...
While Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois, is famous for Resurrection Mary, a vanishing hitchhiker who supposedly still lingers at the cemetery’s main gate and is known to catch rides down Archer Road before disappearing, there is something far more interesting inside. The 1960s mausoleum is a modern architectural masterpiece, full...
Every third Monday in January marks the American federal holiday known as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There are a number of monuments, memorials, streets, libraries and schools named after the African-American activist, but probably the most random (and by the far the coldest) is the Martin Luther King Jr....
Here’s something you might not know: Everybody dies! No, this isn’t an episode of the television series House this is just the 13th century, when literally everybody was dying, you know, because of the Black Death. That event is remembered inside the rafters of the covered roof of the Spreuerbrücke,...
As October approaches, more and more people visit cemeteries because, you know, dead people are spooky or something. If you’ve read this blog long enough then you already know that I am a pretty morbid person. I visit cemeteries year-round. Apparently there is a name for it - a taphophile....
I wasn’t always a fan of Dylan, but I appreciate him a lot more than I used to, especially as I’ve gotten older. If you ever find yourself in Dylan’s hometown of Duluth, then make sure to walk around downtown where you can follow the 1.8 mile Bob Dylan Way....
August 6, 1928 is Andy Warhol’s birthday. He would have been 86 years old if he was still living life and stuff. Probably his most famous “artwork” (if you can call it that…I’m not much of a fan of pop art, to be honest) is Campbell’s Soup Cans. I’m sure...
