Pioneers spoke of wandering lights—will-o’-the-wisps—that danced across the plains. Some called them swamp gas, others fairy fires, but the effect was the same: men and women followed them, entranced, until they were thoroughly lost.

Courtship and romantic relationships during the Victorian era was a time of strict social codes and intricate customs designed to uphold societal values such as modesty, propriety, and class distinctions.

A brief history of the wonderful, magical circus.

During the Victorian era (1837–1901), funerary rites and mourning practices became highly elaborate and ritualized, reflecting the period’s attitudes toward death and social propriety.

The fascination with floriography was not just limited to England. It quickly spread to the United States, where Victorian women in the more established cities of the East also adopted the practice of communicating through flowers.

Even in contemporary times, belief in the banshee lingers in parts of Ireland. There are stories of people claiming to hear unexplained wails in the night before the passing of a loved one.