The following is an article from Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader.

Here's a bit of American history we're all familiar with... but know almost nothing about. The BRI wants to change that, because we don't want witch trials -or with hunts- in our era. After all, someone just might decide that reading in the bathroom is a sign of demonic possession.

(Image credit: Flickr user Lexie Rydberg)

BACKGROUND The trouble at Salem, Massachusetts, began with two young girls acting oddly. It explodes into one of the strangest cases of mass hysteria in American history. In the six-month period between March and September 1692, 27 people were convicted on witchcraft changes; 20 were executed, and more than 100 people were in prison awaiting trial.

CHILD'S PLAY

In March 1692, nine-year-old Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams, 12, were experimenting with a fortune-telling trick they'd learned from Tituba, the Parris family's West Indian slave. To find out what kind of men they'd marry when they grew up, they put an egg white in a glass... and then studied the shape it made in the glass.

But instead of glimpsing their future husbands, the girls saw an image that appeared to be "in the likeness of a coffin." The apparition shocked them... and over the next few days they exhibited behavior that witnesses described as "foolish, ridiculous speeches," "odd postures," "distempers," and "fits."

Reverend Samuel Parris was startled by his daughter's condition and took her to see William Griggs, the family doctor. Griggs couldn't find out what was wrong with the girl, but he suspected the problem had supernatural origins. He told Rev Parris that he thought the girl had fallen victim to "the Evil Hand" -witchcraft.

The family tried to keep Betty's condition a secret, but rumors began spreading almost immediately -and within two months at least eight other girls began exhibiting similar forms of bizarre behavior.

THE PARANOIA GROWS

The citizens of Salem Village demanded that the authorities take action. The local officials subjected the young girls to intense questioning, and soon the girls began naming names. The first three women they accused of witchcraft were Tituba and two other women from Salem Village, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.



The three women were arrested and held for questioning. A few weeks later two more suspects, Martha Cory and Rebecca Nurse, were arrested on similar charges. And at the end of April a sixth person -the Reverend George Burroughs, a minister that Abigail Williams identified as the leader of the witches- was arrested and imprisoned. The girls continued to name names. By the middle of May, more than 100 people had been arrested for witchcraft.

THE TRIALS

On May 14, 1692, the newly appointed governor, Sir William Phips, arrived from England. He immediately set up a special court, the Court of Oyer and Terminer, to hear the witchcraft trials that were clogging the colonial legal system.

* The first case heard was that against Bridget Bishop. She was quickly found guilty of witchcraft, sentenced to death, and hung on June 10.

* On June 19 the court met a second time, and in a single day heard the cases of five accused women, found them all guilty, and sentenced them to death. They were hung on July 19.

* On August 5 the court heard six more cases, and sentenced all six women to death. One woman, Elizabeth Proctor, was spared because she was pregnant- and the authorities did not want to kill an innocent life along with a guilty one. The remaining five women were executed on August 19.

* Six more people were sentenced to death in early September. (Only four were executed: one person was reprieved, and another woman managed to escape from prison with the help of friends.) The remaining sentences were carried out on September 22.

*Two days later, the trials claimed their last victim when Giles Cory, an accused wizard, was executed by "pressing" (he was slowly crushed to death under heavy weights) after he refused to enter a plea.



REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

By now the hysteria surrounding the witch trials was at its peak: 19 accused "witches" had been hung, about 50 had "confessed" in exchange for lenient treatment, more than 100 people accused of witchcraft were under arrest and awaiting trial -and another 200 people had been accused of witchcraft but had not yet been arrested. Despite all this, the afflicted girls were still exhibiting bizarre behavior. But public opinion began to turn against the trials. Community leaders began to publicly question the methods that the courts used to convict suspected witches. The accused were denied access to defense counsel, and were tried in chains before jurors who had been chosen from church membership lists.

The integrity of the girls then came into question. Some of the adults even charged that they were faking their illnesses and accusing innocent people for the fun of it. One colonist even testified later that one of the bewitched girls had bragged to him that "she did it for sport."

As the number of accused persons grew into the hundreds, fears of falling victim to witchcraft were replaced by an even greater fear: that of being falsely accused of witchcraft. The growing opposition to the proceedings came from all segments of society: common people, ministers -even from the court itself.

THE AFTERMATH

Once the tide had turned against the Salem witchcraft trials, many of the participants themselves began having second thoughts. Many of the jurors admitted their errors, witnesses recanted their testimony, and one judge on the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Samuel Sewall, publicly admitted his error on the steps of the Old South Church in 1697. The Massachusetts legislature made amends as well: in 1711 it reversed all of the convictions issued by the Court of Oyer and Terminer (and did it a second time in 1957), and it made financial restitution to the relatives of the executed, "the whole amount unto five hundred seventy eight pounds and twelve shillings."

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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader.

This special edition book covers the three "lost" Bathroom Readers - Uncle John's 5th, 6th and 7th book all in one. The huge (and hugely entertaining) volume covers neat stories like the Strange Fate of the Dodo Bird, the Secrets of Mona Lisa, and more ...

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute

If a relaxing week at the beach is boring after all these years, there are ways to have the trip that takes the idea of "vacation" to an extreme you'll never forget! How about a naked vacation? Or one centered around ghosts, or mermaids, or even a vacation in a war zone? They can be arranged, as travel agencies cater to those with an offbeat sense of adventure. There are even vacations to the moon!

Space Adventures provides the opportunity for you to blast off in a Soyuz spacecraft for a circumlunar mission. During the seven-day space flight, which reaches top speeds of 17,000 mph, you'll see stars, the illuminated far side of the moon, and the Earth from 250,000 miles away. Candidates must train for four months alongside Russian cosmonauts at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. Two seats are available for $100 million each.

Now that's a way to fund a space program! Link

Gulpiyuri beach is near Llanes in Spain. It's a stunning place to build memories, as pictures don't do it justice. And there's one thing very different about it.

Gulpiyuri’s name isn’t its only bizarre facet: this beach is found completely inland, in a gorgeous little cove which looks like something out of a fantasy. I kept expecting to see Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields  rolling around on the sand, making out. The Cantabrian Sea bored through the earth to create this sandy spot, and though you can’t see the ocean, its waves to lap the shore just like any beach — it’s odd, like a magical wave pool.

See more pictures at Oviedo. Link

Mechanical typewriters go back almost 200 years, or even longer depending on how you define "typewriter". In the early days, the design was not standardized, and many configurations were tried out. Letters were chosen on a slider in one style, on a disc in another. Another configuration was the Malling-Hansen Writing Ball (featured previously). Eventually, manufacturers settled on the QWERTY keyboard layout that we still use today, even though typewriters are rarely used anymore. See a variety of these early machines at Dark Roasted Blend. Link

(Image source: The Typewriter Museum)

Neatorama is starting to gear up for Hallloween, which is always fun on the internet.

Jill Harness brought us 15 Cool and Creepy Halloween Party Foods and then The 13 Best Geek Halloween Costumes. She has more Halloweeny features coming your way as well!

I looked up Neatolicious Fun Facts: Salem, Massachusetts, to see what they are doing for Halloween there.

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader gave us the lowdown on how Bram Stoker's Dracula came to be.

And we had features that had nothing to do with the holiday, like Neatolicious Fun Facts: Wii.

The latest entry in the Museum of Possibilities showed potential alternative housing ideas in Power to the People.

Our friends at Improbable Research asked the question Does a Cat Always Land on Its Feet? The answer apparently is no.

The Evolution of the Sneaker came to us courtesy of mental_floss magazine.

In case you were busy when the link appeared, here's another chance to try out Neato-Puzzle #3!

Steven Johnson gave us the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Congratulations to winner NathanBBlu, who named the invention "Stalaglites," and explained why. And also to winner lolamouse, who came up with "Light in the Loafers" (used to tell interested observers which way you go). Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!

Join us also at Facebook and Twitter for more contests, giveaways, discussions, and extra links. And look for lots more Halloween goodies in the coming week!

Some communities need residents. Some need jobs. Some need development. In order to get those things, a few communities will give you free land! These small communities want you to build a house and make yourself at home.

Several small cities in rural Kansas will give you a land lot if you agree to fashion housing of at least 1,000 square feet on it. Mobile homes are welcome, and we'll be sure to wave as yours flies by in the next tornado. If one lot isn't large enough and you'd like to garden, the city of Marquette, Kansas  would be pleased as punch to just give you a second lot adjacent to the first, also for free, says its website. These are developed lots, by the way -- they already have water, sewer and electricity.

There are opportunities in Nebraska, Iowa, Maine, and Michigan as well. Link -Thanks, Steven Johnson!

(YouTube link)

Video games are great fun, until one day you run smack-dab into the natural order of things. Susanne Wohlfahrt and Marcus Blättermann created this during a four-day animation workshop. -via The Daily What

Theodore Gray (featured previously at Neatorama) teaches us how stunt men can go around in flames. By  setting himself on fire. On video.

There are a few perks to my job as a mad scientist, and one of them, as I recently learned, is being able to tell my colleagues that I can’t attend their terribly important meeting because I’m going to set my hand on fire. In the movies, people on fire stumble out of burning buildings all the time. If you look closely, however, you’ll notice that they are almost always fully dressed, and that they tend to keep moving. These are two important factors that make the stunt much easier.

Warning: do not try this at home. http://www.popsci.com/node/49107/?cmpid=enews102110 -via the Presurfer

Flintstones Vitamins continue to be popular, even though both the children who take them today and most of their parents are too young to remember when the television show that inspired them was on in prime time.

Perhaps some of the explanation for the Flintstone Vitamins continued success is in their nostalgia for the generations of children who grew up with them — and who are now parents themselves. There’s even a Facebook group  for those who ate the vitamins as a kid. And then there’s that jingle — “Ten million strong and growing!” — which, incidentally, was composed by Martin O’Donnell, the same guy who composed the music for the intensely popular Halo video game series.

Mental_floss takes a look at how the vitamins came about and how they've changed over the years -including the saga of the Betty Rubble vitamin. Link

In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts became the setting for a series of trials in which 19 people were hanged for the crime of witchcraft. Another was pressed under heavy stones until he died, and at least four others died in prison. Over 300 years later, Salem is a very different place. Although some of the very same buildings survive, the residents of the 17th century would not recognize the town it has become.

1. Beginning in the 1970s, Salem began to actively embrace its past as a draw for tourism. The TV series Bewitched recorded six episodes in the town in 1970. As tourists came, more businesses sprung up to accommodate their interest in witches and witchcraft. Practitioners of Wicca and Neo-Paganism moved to Salem, at first to open businesses and later to be among those who shared the same beliefs and lifestyle. A rift grew between the townspeople who wanted to emphasize the town's historic sites and those who wanted to make money by giving tourists what they want. The controversy came to a head in 2005 when TV Land erected a statue of Samantha Stevens, the lead character of Bewitched, in the town center.

2. Salem has historic sites that have nothing to do with the witch trials. The House of the Seven Gables, also known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, is an actual house built in 1668 that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his book The House of the Seven Gables. Salem was an important port in the trade with East India, and shipping merchants built lavish mansions in town. One, the Gardner Pingree House, is now owned by the Peabody Essex Museum. Both buildings are among many in Salem that are open for tours.

3. Salem is home to several Wiccan and/or Pagan organizations, like the W.E.B., the Witches Education Bureau; P.R.A.N.C.E., The Pagan Resource and Network Council of Educators; the Witches' League for Public Awareness; and The Witches' Voice.

4. Salem has three museums in which you can learn the history of witchcraft and the famous trials: The Salem Witch Museum, the Witch Dungeon Museum, and the Witch History Museum. These are in addition to several general history and art museums.

5. Salem takes advantage of its reputation with a dizzying schedule of Halloween events. You can watch a recreation of the events that led to the witch trials performed downtown, enjoy the festival of the dead, or listen to scary stories told at various locations everyday through the weeks leading up to Halloween. Every day in October is jammed with witchy events.

The best Halloween costume is clever and easy! This t-shirt transforms with a flick of the wrist into a zombie mask -all you have to do is ask. Link

There are only so many hours in the day, and if you're an evil villain, there's too much dirty work to do.

So you get a henchman. But you can't just let him out there all alone. It's a big dark scary world, and he barely even has a name, much less any characterization! He needs a buddy.

Bonus points if the buddy is the physical opposite of the other, skinny where he is fat, or short where he is tall. Extra bonus points if you can use them as stand-ins to personify a much larger fighting force.

Often they are the funniest part of the story, and certainly have more personality than the evil overlord they work for. Revisit some of your favorites in this expandable list from Geekosystem. Link

In case you're not a pro at this, Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal has explicit instructions for how to pet a kitty. And don't even think you'll be able to get out of it, or delegate the job to someone else, if you live with a cat! Link

(YouTube link)

Combine a graceful sea creature in its natural environment with some ethereal music and you've got this video. From the YouTube link:

Making a rare appearance just in time for Halloween, this ghostly-looking orange cirrate octopus was recently observed by MBARI's ROV Doc Ricketts swimming over the Taney Seamounts. These finned octopuses belong to an order of animals called Cirrata named for the presence of hair-like structures called 'cirri' which may aid these animals in the capture of food.

-via Boing Boing

1. Plimsolls: Kicking it Old School

Plimsolls put the town shoemaker out of business. As the first mass-produced shoes, plimsolls were crafted on an assembly line using canvas and vulcanized rubber. But don't let the "inspected by No. 35" tag fool you. These mid-19th century kicks were so crude that they didn't even differentiate between the right and left foot.

2. Keds: When the Rubber Met the Road

Tires and sneakers are both made of rubber and fabric, so it was only a matter of time before tire companies got into the shoe business. In 1892, Goodyear took on Plimsolls by manufacturing a more sophisticated rubber-and-canvas sneaker. The company decided on the name Peds, but someone else already held the trademark. So, Goodyear went with Keds. The rest of the world, however, started calling them "sneakers," after an ad man remarked the shoes' soles were quiet on most surfaces.

3. Converse All Stars: A Love Affair with Chuck Taylor

(Image credit: Flickr user jekert gwapo)

The original Converse All Star was the first shoe designed for a specific sport-basketball. After pro athlete Chuck Taylor began endorsing the shoe, he became such an effective spokesman that his name was permanently added to the ankle patch in 1923. The classic black-and-white model debuted in 1949, setting the sneaker standard for the next 25 years. In fact, All Stars haven't changed since then, and they remain the best-selling athletic shoes of all time.

4. Adidas and Puma: A True Sibling Rivalry




German brother Adi and Rudolf Dassler founded their shoemaking firm in 1924. Twelve years later, Adi drove cross-country to Berlin, where he convinced Jesse Owens to wear his handmade running shoes in the Olympics. Owens won four gold medals, and the Dasslers' white shoes became coveted by runners everywhere. But in 1948, after many years of feuding, the brothers split. Rudolph opened up a shop across the river and named his new enterprise Puma, while Adi renamed his company Adidas (the first three letters of his first and last names). A natural -and lasting- rivalry was born.

5. Nike: Forged in a Waffle-maker

In 1972, University of Oregon track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman began experimenting with ways to make a better running shoe. One night on a whim, he poured a urethane mixture into his wife's waffle iron. The result was a shoe sole with protruding square segments that offered greater impact absorption. Conveniently, Bowerman's revelation came precisely when one of his former track stars was trying to launch a fledgling shoe company. His name was Phil Knight. With a simple handshake, the two men formed the most successful sneaker company in history.

6. Run-DMC and Adidas: Hip-Hop's Comeback




Although Adidas Superstars were all the rage with NBA players in the 1970s, they were passe by the time Run-DMC hit the scene in the mid-1980s. But the rappers brought them back-big time. They sported them without laces (as the prison population did) and even wrote a hit song about them called "My Adidas". Adidas gave Run-DMC an endorsement contract for $1 million-the first one granted to non-athletes.

7. Reebok Pump: A Slam Dunk

(YouTube link)

Hitting the market in 1989 at $170 a pair, the Pump was the most expensive gym shoe to date. But many consumers were happy to pay the price, finally giving Reebok a foothold in Nike's basketball monopoly. The high point came in 1991 when NBA star Dee Brown won the Slam Dunk Contest. Just before his final attempt, he bent over and dramatically pumped up his shoes. he then slammed home a no-look dunk, forever linking himself with Reebok's hi-tech shoes.

8. You: the Consumer

The watchword in today's sneaker market is individualization. Online, customers can design their own shoes, selecting colors, patterns, and materials. Retro is in. Limited release is in. Affordability is out. If you really want to, you can design a shoe that doesn't differentiate between the right foot and the left. Or, you can just find an old pair of plimsolls on eBay. It's all up to you, the consumer.

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The above article by Eric Furman is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the September-October 2008 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!