Ghosts of Nigeria: A Colonialist’s Photo Album

I had a good dig through the British National Archives this morning and began fixating on the “Nigeria” album, containing over 900 photographs from the Colonial Office photographic collection. It’s an exhaustive album of portraits and documentation of the photographer’s tour through what was then Colonial Nigeria in the late 19th century. The photographs capture so…

DIY Historic Abandoned Homes For Sale!

We look at a lot of abandoned places here on MessyNessyChic; we take a look around the empty shells, wonder why such wonderful places could be left abandoned and then go about our day. But what about going a step further and actually entertaining the idea, the possibility, the dream of buying a forgotten historical…

Abdul, the Servant who stole Queen Victoria’s Heart

The British monarchy has been known to be better than the KGB at covering up its scandals and destroying evidence. But where there are secrets, there are detectives lurking nearby (especially when it comes to the affairs of the royal family). Queen Victoria’s kids did their best to cover up her private life, especially the relationship…

Forgotten Splendour of Victorian Spa Shuttered for Decades

“We all stink. No one smells,” were the alleged words of patron Saint Bernard when speaking of Europe’s general hygiene in the Middle Ages. For about four or five centuries, the Western world suffered a hiatus in cleanliness following the great plagues, when people believed that it was actually dangerous to bathe. Water was thought to carry…

Take Home a Piece of the Paris Love-Locked Bridges

When the decision was made last year in Paris to remove all those thousands of love locks attached to the city’s bridges, I wondered what would become of them, assuming the worst; a swift disposal, perhaps sent straight to the foundry to be melted down for a pretty penny. Once again however, the city of Paris has surprised…

“Girl Watching” in Paris

I stumbled upon something pretty peculiar today. This is an excerpt from a 1959 issue of Girl Watcher magazine. [Illustration 1] Considered one of the ‘creepiest and most perverted’ magazines of its day, the publication promoted randomly stalking and ‘collecting’ women as a hobby. What really caught my attention was this special guide to ‘Girlwatching’ in…

The Dark and Twisted History of Valentine’s Day Cards

The Vintage Valentines Museum has recently become one of my most fascinating rabbit holes on the web. This place has every type of card you could imagine, from the adorable to the downright disturbing. In the museum’s menu of categories, I noticed some particularly unusual ones labelled, “Cannibalism” and “Swastikas on Valentine’s Cards.” I was intrigued, so away…

The Ghostly Ruins of an Emperor’s Racetrack

I am about to share my experience in one of the most dangerous yet amazing places I have visited. Like many other exciting things in life, this one is not so easy to get to. It took me some time to plan carefully before I approached the old Negishi racetrack Grandstand… This abandoned historical building…

Where the U.S. Vice President Gets to Live (Hint: it’s not in the White House)

I guess I always assumed the Vice President of the United States was shacked up in the White House along with the President, occupying a couple rooms somewhere at the back of the house, nothing too fancy of course, occasionally running into the leader of the free world in the west wing kitchen while grabbing a late-night glass of milk.…

Casablanca & other American Film Classics being Preserved inside a Nuclear Bunker

I wrote an article a few years ago about “lost films”, which include the original film-adaptation of The Great Gatsby, an Alfred Hitchcock picture, several Oscar-winning movies and countless masterpieces that all vanished. More American silent films have been lost than have actually been preserved and more than half of sound films made in the U.S…