Reading Time: 2 minutes The Nursing Madonna is an iconography of the Madonna and Child in which the Virgin Mary is shown breastfeeding the infant Jesus. The depiction is mentioned by Pope Gregory the Great, and a mosaic depiction probably of the 12th century is on the facade of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, though few other examples …
Macabre Religious Relics: The Nursing Madonna/Virgo Lactans. Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutes Stephanie St. Clair, the notorious “queen” of the illegal numbers racket in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, sat in a witness chair to testify about payoffs she made to New York police to protect her employees from arrest. The date was December 8, 1930, in a Prohibition-era city reeling from recent exposures of police officers who, …
Women Mob Bosses: Stephanie St. Clair / The Queen of Harlem Read More »
Reading Time: 2 minutes In the modern world, most nations cultivate a variety of martial arts disciplines within their borders, not as a formal effort of the government, but rather as a byproduct of public interest. In the United States, motivated students can find places to study anything from Japanese Karate to Israeli Krav Maga at their local strip …
Reading Time: < 1 minute Wells are believed to be passageways for ghosts and spirits to enter the physical world. If a home or building is on top of a well, then it will be haunted. Covering the well is believed to exacerbate the haunting, for it will frustrate spirits seeking access to the physical world. They will clamor about …
Reading Time: 2 minutes The primary responsibility of the aunt was to confirm that the groom is potent and that the bride has defended her virginity before the marriage is consummated. As a potency test for the groom, the aunt was sometimes required to have sex with the groom for confirmation of his potency and virility. She also had …
Reading Time: 2 minutes Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso is a Filipino woman who was arrested and sentenced to death for smuggling heroin into Indonesia. Her case, among others, sparked international attention towards Indonesia’s capital punishment and drug prohibition laws. Veloso was born in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. She is the youngest of five siblings. She and her husband married when …
Reading Time: 2 minutes She is a woman who was mutilated by her husband, and returns as a malicious spirit . When rumors of alleged sightings began spreading in 1979 around the Nagasaki Prefecture, it spread throughout Japan and caused panic in many towns. There are even reports of schools allowing children to go home only in groups, escorted …
Urban Legends: Kuchisake-onna\ Cleft mouth woman \ Slit Mouth Woman. Read More »