Dusted Files

On February 1, 1921, the Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground on Diamond Shoals with every sail set, food cooking on the stove, and eleven men gone. Five federal agencies investigated for two years and closed the case without a conclusion.

In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into a Strasbourg street and began to dance. She could not stop. The city council called in physicians, built a stage, and hired musicians. By the end of the month, hundreds had joined her. Some died.

Around 1200 BC the most interconnected civilisation the ancient world had produced collapsed in a single generation. The Hittites fell. Ugarit burned. Mycenae was abandoned. The only account of who caused it was written by the one ruler whose kingdom survived — and he never said who they actually were.