Bess Lovejoy

Joined: Apr 24, 2015

Bess Lovejoy is a former staff editor at Mental Floss, a former editor at Smithsonian.com and Schott's Almanac, and the author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses.

The Dallol volcano in Ethiopia’s Danakil Desert is one of the most unearthly places on Earth.

19 Places You Won’t Believe Exist

Skeletons are good for more than just Halloween.

Watch Plastic Skeletons Being Made in a 1960s Factory

Death is the start of a great adventure.

30 Astonishing Facts About Death

Unraveling the Legend of Polybius, the Most Dangerous Video Game of the 1980s

Cypress trees covered in Spanish moss in Louisiana's Manchac swamp.

The Legend (and Truth) of the Voodoo Priestess Who Haunts a Louisiana Swamp

Julia Brown sang, “One day I'm gonna die, and take the whole town with me.”

Some early explorers went looking for an legendary land named “Ultima Thule”—which may have been inspired by Iceland.

10 Legendary (and Probably Made-Up) Islands

These imaginary isles all have a place in world history, literature, or mythology—despite not having a place on the map.

Colonizers did not let the dead rest in peace.

9 Strange Uses for Ancient Egyptian Mummies

In centuries past, mummies were put to a variety of inventive uses: art, commerce, science, entertainment, and possibly even paper making.

When Theodore Roosevelt Refused Geronimo's Plea

The Apache leader Geronimo had just one request of President Theodore Roosevelt when they met in 1905, but it was a big one.

Elisabeth Demidoff's tomb in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

The Russian Countess Who Supposedly Wanted Company in Her Tomb

Did the Russian aristocrat Elisabeth Demidoff really offer the family fortune to anyone who would spend a year and a day in her tomb?

5 Weird American Cemetery Legends

These strange, spooky cemetery tales of vampires, ghosts, and bloody headstones will keep you up at night.

Monster Presents: Insomniac: Listen to a New Podcast That Explores How Serial Killers Affected One Man's Mind

The new iHeartRadio original podcast is the story of one writer's descent from podcast researcher to its surprising subject.

The Liver of Piacenza, a model of a sheep's liver used in Etruscan divination and unearthed in Italy in 1877.

10 Historical Divination Methods for Predicting the Future

These divination methods—using chickens, entrails, and even cheese—show our ancestors were pretty inventive when it came to trying to predict the future.

Kisses and graffiti left at Oscar Wilde's tomb in Paris

10 Graveside Traditions at Famous Tombs

Whether it's leaving playing cards or bullets, or drinking a cognac toast, there are a variety of traditional ways to pay tribute at famous tombs.

Alice Roosevelt—for whom Alice Blue is named—in 1902.

9 Colors Named After People

From Titian Red to Alice Blue to Scheele’s Green, this is where the history books meet the artist’s palette.

Decorations in the Sedlec Ossuary, a small chapel beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic

7 Amazing Facts About the Sedlec Ossuary

At the "Bone Church" (a.k.a. the Sedlec Ossuary), you can see a chandelier made from almost every bone in the human body.

Magician and escape artist Harry Houdini

How Harry Houdini Might Have Pulled Off His Most Daring Trick

Being buried under 3000 pounds of dirt isn't easy.