Most Wanted Reading List: The Defleshing Death Rites of Ancient Italians

This takes mourning practices to a gruesome new level. Science Magazine shines a light on the dark death practices of Italy’s Neolithic farmers, who stripped the flesh off their dead, tore apart each carcass, and mingled the bones with animal remains in a cave. Learn how our prehistoric forebears said goodbye to Grandma Gertie here.

It’s no secret old dolls are creepy, especially when the antique figurines turn out to be haunted. But did you know that some folks pay a pretty penny for a possessed Raggedy Ann? NPR adds up the numbers of the highly competitive haunted doll market.

Netflix provides plenty of dark programming for your binge-watching needs. Its most recent success story? Tina Fey’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which tells the tale of a spunky woman who escapes her doomsday cult after years spent locked inside a bunker. Flor Edwards grew up in the California End of Days cult, the Children of God. In this essay published by Vulture, Edwards shares her story of forced isolation and compares her real-life cult experiences with the Netflix original.

Stranded on a rocky hillside in the misty mountains of Mid Wales is an old farm house with no road leading up to it. Inside are rooms filled with trinkets and furnishings that date back decades, as if its owners simply vanished into thin air. Join photographer Dan Circa as he steps inside the Cloud House, a mysterious Welsh cottage frozen in time whose occupants remain a mystery.

What did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle do when he wasn’t crafting his next Sherlock Holmes masterpiece? Why, he cracked mysteries in real life, my dear Watson. Discover the strange case of George Edalji, a 27-year-old Englishman wrongly convicted of brutal horse mutilations in 1903 and the world famous mystery author whose personal investigation freed him from prison.

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