1. The Scandalous Secret Diary found in the Floorboards of Chateau
When the new owners of the chateau of Picomtal decided to renovate the parquet in some of their upstairs rooms, they made a remarkable discovery. On the underside of the floorboards – invisible until the boards were taken up to be replaced – were long messages written out in pencil. The messages were dated over several months between 1880 and 1881, and they were signed by a certain Joachim Martin … the carpenter…
The most shocking episode deals with an infanticide – a story that clearly still haunts Joachim 12 years after it occurred.
“In 1868 I was passing at midnight before the doorway of a stable. I heard groans. It was the mistress of one of my old friends and she was giving birth….Over time the woman gave birth to six children… four of which are buried in the stable… it was not their mother who killed them, but her lover … This (criminal) is now trying to screw up my marriage. All I have to do is say one word and point my finger at the stables, and they’d all be in prison. But I won’t. He’s my old childhood friend. And his mother is my father’s mistress.”
Full article found on BBC.
2. An Ongoing Photo Series of the U.S. Yard Sale Culture
Yard Sales is an ongoing photo series by Chicago-based photographer Greg Ruffing where he captures images of the yard sale culture in the United States.
Found via Wired.
3. Giant Olmec head found in Veracruz, Mexico, 1939
The Olmecs were the earliest known major civilization in Mexico, which flourished as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Additional interesting Fact: ‘Olmec’ people actually lived 1500 years after the head-makers died out (pre-Olmec cultures had flourished in the area since about 2500 BCE). They actually have no idea what the people who made those heads called themselves. The head was found by Matthew Stirling at Tres Zapotes, photo by Richard Stewart.
Found on Historical Times.
4. How the US has prepared for nuclear Armageddon – in pictures
Cannonball, Pennsylvania: The remains of a nuclear-hardened microwave tower
Vivos xPoint, South Dakota: Former munitions bunkers the developer Robert Vicino is repurposing into a doomsday community for civilians.
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia: A dormitory for lawmakers inside a once-secret cold war nuclear bunker built for members of Congress beneath Greenbrier, a four-star resort near White Sulphur Springs.
Mount Pony, Culpeper, Virginia: The site of a former nuclear bunker known as Mount Pony, where the Federal Reserve secretly stockpiled billions of dollars in cash.. In 2007 the facility was converted to the Library of Congress’s underground storage for a vast collection of films and audio recordings. Today, Casablanca & other classic American Film Classics being Preserved inside this Nuclear Bunker.
Cheyenne Mountain air force station, Colorado Springs: The secret government complex can withstand a 30 megaton nuclear bomb, an electromagnetic pulse, and chemical, biological, and radiological attacks.
Full photostory by The Guardian.
5. An Abandoned East London Pub, Converted into a Luxury Flat (is now for sale)
Listed for £695K with Knight Frank.
Found via The Spaces.
6. Yale’s secret society Clubhouses inspired by Egyptian Tombs
From Skull and Bone to Scroll and Key and Berzelius, these clubhouses—referred to as tombs—are some of the most mysterious and intriguing buildings in New Haven.
Clubhouse walls are so thick—made of sandstone and marble in some cases—that sound never escapes. And there’s no chance of a glimpse at what goes on inside, because they are also windowless.
Full article found on Curbed.
More crazy buildings in China. More European clone towns here.
7. The Latest Banksy Works in Paris
Find them all on @Wherethereswalls.
8. Blow up Bras
Found on Kitschatron.
9. The Lost Art of 20th Century Photo Negative Wallets
More found on Flashbak.
10. The first-ever photographs of a total solar eclipse, circa 1854
The first total eclipse of the sun that was visible in North America after the invention of photography occurred 163 years ago, on May 26, 1854. Photographers William and Frederick Langenheim, brothers from Philadelphia, made eight sequential daguerreotypes of the eclipse. Seven survive and are among the treasures in The Met collection.
Found on The Met.
11. The Unlikely Home of the World’s Smallest Desert
Although scientists dispute its legend, the minuscule Carcross Desert in Canada is a world wonder by any measure.
Full article found on the BBC.
12. Stopping to pick flowers, San Joaquin Valley, CA, 1942
Photo by B. Anthony Stewart, found on Reddit’s The Way We Were.
13. Hollywood made the Marwen Movie
Five years ago on MessyNessyChic, we wrote about the Man who Lost his Memory and Rebuilt his Imagination.
Now the director of Forrest Gump made the movie:
