SOURCES

Every source behind the map, the stories and the registry — the ones we used, the ones we checked and set aside, and the leads not yet read, each with the reason. Where a work is under copyright you see only the passage we relied on and a link to the rest; public-domain books open in full in the Reading Room.

49 OF 1077 SOURCES

• ARTICLE · CHECKED 2026-10-07

  LEAD — NOT YET READ

  'Spirit mirror' used by 16th-century occultist John Dee came from the Aztec Empire

  Live Science

  On the 2021 Antiquity study (Pachuca obsidian); the page did not load in full.

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  CONSULTED

  Ancient Egyptian statue mysteriously rotates at museum

  ABC News · June 2013

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Archaeology, 25 June 2013 (donated by Annie Barlow)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  Black Aggie statue and the Baltimore urban legend

  Cody Boteler · The Baltimore Banner · 4 October 2024

  The General Services Administration received the statue in 1987. In the 1990s, the GSA relocated it to a public courtyard near the Dolley Madison House.

  Removal in 1967, Smithsonian storage, GSA custody, courtyard opening hours.

  READ THE REST AT THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  Black Orlov Sells at Christie's

  JCK · 2006

  Sale on 11 October 2006 for $352,000. Could not be opened directly on 2026-09-29 (certificate error); figures taken from the search record and Jeweller Magazine.

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE

  USED

  CBC News 2015

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Charlotte Daily Observer, 24 Sept 1913

  Citation as recorded on the story (back-filled 2026-09-24).

  STORY · THE BROWN MOUNTAIN LIGHTS

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  Curses! Archduke Franz Ferdinand and His Astounding Death Car

  Mike Dash · Smithsonian Magazine · 2013

  owned not by the Austro-Hungarian state but by Count Franz von Harrach

  Traces the curse to Frank Edwards, Stranger Than Science (1959) and the Weekly World News (1981), and calls it 'certifiable rubbish'; the A III 118 plate.

  READ THE REST AT THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Cyprus Mail, 27 November 2022 ('is displayed in the Cyprus museum')

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Cyprus Mail, 27 November 2022 ('the statue was actually discovered in the 1970s')

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE · CHECKED 2026-10-04

  LEAD — NOT YET READ

  In Search of Zerzura

  Orde Wingate · The Geographical Journal · 1934

  Vol. 83, No. 4, pp. 281–308, DOI 10.2307/1786487. Not read.

  MAP · ZERZURA — THE LOST WHITE OASIS

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Isabel Gordon Carter, 'Mountain White Folk-Lore: Tales from the Southern Blue Ridge', Journal of American Folklore 38 (1925)

  Citation as recorded on the story (back-filled 2026-09-24).

  STORY · THE JACK TALES (THE BEECH MOUNTAIN CYCLE)

• ARTICLE · CHECKED 2026-10-01

  LEAD — NOT YET READ

  La maledizione di Ca' Dario. Scia di sangue dietro il palazzo di Venezia

  Mario Lollo · Il Gazzettino · 1993-07

  The article that first assembled the 'curse', cited by the Italian article. Not read.

  MAP · CA' DARIO — VENICE'S 'CURSED PALACE'

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2004

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  Manchester Museum Egyptian statue Neb-senu

  Archaeology · 25 June 2013

  The gift by Annie Barlow in 1933 (from the search record).

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Middletown Valley Register, Feb–Mar 1909

  Citation as recorded on the story (back-filled 2026-09-24).

  STORY · THE SNALLYGASTER

• ARTICLE

  USED

  NBC News / Life's Little Mysteries, 25 June 2013 (acquired 1933)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Newsweek, 6 June 2019

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Newsweek, 6 June 2019 (sold by Carl Glatzel Jr.)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  Pharaoh's curse? Why that ancient Egyptian statue moves on its own

  Marc Lallanilla · NBC News / Life's Little Mysteries · 25 June 2013

  has been on those surfaces since we have had it and it has never moved before

  Date, material, height, 1933 acquisition; Cox and Doherty's explanations.

  READ THE REST AT THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE · CHECKED 2026-10-01

  LEAD — NOT YET READ

  Plötzlich war die Frau weg, fort, einfach nicht mehr da

  Volksstimme · 2001-01-25

  Linked from the Belchen Tunnel article. Not read; read before quoting.

  MAP · THE BELCHEN TUNNEL — THE WHITE WOMAN

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Point Pleasant Register, 16 Nov 1966

  Citation as recorded on the story (back-filled 2026-09-24).

  STORY · MOTHMAN

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Robinson's first YouTube upload, 1 June 2010 (as reported)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Sardegna Cultura, Galluras Ethnographic Museum (page updated 5 January 2026)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Smithsonian, 'History of the Hope Diamond' (Winston bought the McLean jewels in 1949; donated 10 Nov 1958)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  CONSULTED

  Spelling it out (Spellbound at the Ashmolean)

  Mary Wakefield · The Spectator · 25 October 2018

  The 2018 loan to the Ashmolean.

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE

  USED

  The Algemeiner, 19 April 2015

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  The Baltimore Banner, 4 Oct 2024 ('installed in the 1920s')

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  The Baltimore Banner, 4 Oct 2024 ('removed the statue in 1967 … donated it to the Smithsonian … placed in storage')

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  The Black Orlov at Christie's (lot 433)

  Jeweller Magazine

  Lot 433, Magnificent Jewels, US$352,000, October 2006. Blocked for direct fetch on 2026-09-29; figures from the search record.

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  The book that sank on the Titanic and burned in the Blitz

  BBC (republished by MyJoyOnline, 19 April 2022)

  On March 29, 1912, it sold at Sotheby's for £405.

  The making, the sale, Sangorski's drowning, the Blitz copy and Bray's third copy at the British Library.

  READ THE REST AT THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  CONSULTED

  The Hand of Glory at Whitby Museum

  Atlas Obscura

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-10-07

  USED

  The Lady of Lemba: dark side of an ancient statue

  Jean Christou · Cyprus Mail · 27 November 2022

  great story, but they are all hoax

  The figure (36 cm, c. 3500 BC, found in the 1970s), the Cyprus Museum, and the hoax.

  READ THE REST AT THE SOURCE ↗

• ARTICLE

  USED

  The Northern Echo, 29 Oct 2014

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  The Northern Echo, 29 Oct 2014 (furniture historian's dating c. 1840; the chair's years at the inn)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  The Spokesman-Review, 31 Oct 2002

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  The Spokesman-Review, 31 Oct 2002 (eBay sale, Feb 2000, $1,025)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  TMZ, 2 June 2021

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Treaty of Lahore, 29 March 1849, Art. III

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  UPI, 19 Feb 1988

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  UPI, 19 Feb 1988 ('bunk beds buried in landfill')

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  WFSB 2 Aug 2025

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  WFSB, 2 Aug 2025 (Monroe property records filed 8 Aug 2025: sale to Haunted Homes LLC, $1m; guardianship of the collection for at least five years)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Wikipedia, Gräf & Stift (bought by Count Franz von Harrach on 15 December 1910)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Wikipedia, Joanna Southcott (obtained 'on 27 May 1957 from the widow of Cecil Kaye Jowett')

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Wikipedia, Ötzi (found 19 September 1991; taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Wikipedia, The Crying Boy (The Sun, 5 September 1985; bonfires by the end of November)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE

  USED

  Wikipedia, Wardley Hall (diocese deal reached 12 May 1930)

  Provenance citation (back-filled 2026-09-24).

• ARTICLE · COPYRIGHT · CHECKED 2026-09-29

  USED

  Witch in a bottle

  Oxford Magazine

  The label text, Hove 1915, acquired 1926, on display with its label (from the search record).

  OPEN THE SOURCE ↗