Digging Up Weird History in Milwaukee's Oldest Cemeteries

Digging Up Weird History in Milwaukee’s Oldest Cemeteries

The “man they couldn’t hang,” a priest’s lonely crypt, the Midwest’s first crematorium, and other strange bits of history can be found in Milwaukee’s historic cemeteries.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children book trailer

Watch the Trailer for the New Peculiar Children Book ‘Map of Days’

The peculiar children come to America and encounter unimaginable new dangers in Map of Days, the new novel in the Miss Peregrine series from Ransom Riggs.

Jacob uncovers new secrets about his grandfather’s double life, leading the peculiar children on a dangerous new adventure in Map of Days, the latest book in the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series by Ransom Riggs.

Map of Days is part of the 2018 Cult of Weird Fall Reading List.

From the description:

Having defeated the monstrous threat that nearly destroyed the peculiar world, Jacob Portman is back where his story began, in Florida. Except now Miss Peregrine, Emma, and their peculiar friends are with him, and doing their best to blend in. But carefree days of beach visits and normalling lessons are soon interrupted by a discovery—a subterranean bunker that belonged to Jacob’s grandfather, Abe.

Clues to Abe’s double-life as a peculiar operative start to emerge, secrets long hidden in plain sight. And Jacob begins to learn about the dangerous legacy he has inherited—truths that were part of him long before he walked into Miss Peregrine’s time loop.

Now, the stakes are higher than ever as Jacob and his friends are thrust into the untamed landscape of American peculiardom—a world with few ymbrynes, or rules—that none of them understand. New wonders, and dangers, await in this brilliant next chapter for Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children. Their story is again illustrated throughout by haunting vintage photographs, but with a striking addition for this all-new, multi-era American adventure—full color.

Map of Days

Map of Days hits shelves on October 2.

Order Map of Days Now

Guillotine earrings from the Reign of Terror in France

Guillotine Earrings Commemorating the Execution of Louis XVI

Beheadings were so popular during the Reign of Terror in France that the guillotine became the in vogue fashion for the wealthy and powerful.

Macabre books

Morbid Must-Reads: 2018 Fall Reading List

Dig into these morbid and fascinating book recommendations for the fall season from Cult of Weird.
Morbid Must-Reads: The 2018 Cult of Weird fall reading list

It’s that time of year again: Falling leaves, the flickering grins of jack-o-lanterns, ghouls lurking around every turn and, of course, the Cult of Weird Fall Reading List of morbid must-reads to satisfy your dark autumn desires.

Curl up with one of these macabre recommendations and drift off through the thinning veil.

The Man from the Train

The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery

Bill James examines a series of seemingly unconnected axe murders across the country between 1898 to 1912 and makes a startling discovery: The murders were all committed by the same person, and he uncovered the identity of one of the deadliest serial killers in America. Thanks to Macabre Monday host Malia Miglino for this fascinating recommendation.

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Dreadful Places

The World of Lore: Dreadful Places by Aaron Mahnke

Aaron Mahnke, creator of the Lore podcast, takes you on a tour of dark places where bad things have happened in the third installment of the World of Lore series.

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A Map of Days

A Map of Days (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children) by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children return with new wonders, dangers, and creepy vintage photos as Jacob uncovers more of his grandfather’s secrets that leads he and his unusual friends into the strange and untamed American peculiardom.

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The Penguin Book of Hell

The Penguin Book of Hell

Explore 3,000 years of Hell from the shadowy Sheol to Hades, Dante’s nine circles of Hell and more in this complete history of eternal damnation.

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Alice Isn’t Dead

Alice Isn't Dead

After months of searching for Alice, she was presumed dead and had a funeral. But now she keeps turning up in the background of news reports from every major tragedy and accident across the country. From the mind of Welcome to Night Vale co-creator Joseph Fink, Alice Isn’t Dead is a new novel based on the popular podcast of the same name.

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The Sawbones Book

The Sawbones Book: The Hilarious, Horrifying Road to Modern Medicine

How did we go from eating powdered mummies, wearing radioactive underpants, and digging up corpses to modern medicine? The creators of the Sawbones podcast fill you in, complete with macabre illustrations to remind us just how horrific medical history can be.

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We Sold Our Souls

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

In this hard-rocking, spine-tingling supernatural thriller by Grady Hendrix, author of Paperbacks from Hell and My Best Friend’s Exorcism, the washed-up guitarist of a ’90s heavy metal band embarks on an epic road-trip across America and deep into the web of a sinister conspiracy.

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The Victorian Celebration of Death

The Victorian Celebration of Death

An in-depth examination of Victorian mourning, from changing attitudes toward the dead to elaborate state funerals, cemetery architecture, and more.

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Madam Velvet’s Cabaret of Oddities

Madam Velvet’s Cabaret of Oddities by Nancy Stohlman

Vaudeville stories of the weird, absurd and bizarre cabaret. Step right up to meet a woman so determined to be a star, she’ll try anything in this collection of flash fiction oddities by Nancy Stohlman.

Available soon from Big Table Publishing


Servants of the Supernatural

Servants of the Supernatural: The Night Side of the Victorian Mind

Explore the dark side of the Victorian science: Mediums, psychics, spiritualism, and seances.

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Urban Legends

Urban Legends: Bizarre Tales You Won't Believe

Did you hear about the kids who found a Ferrari buried in their garden? What about the man who sued Satan? Or the woman who woke up in the middle of her funeral? Do you know the legend of the Bunny Man?

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Coffins, Corpses, and Crypts

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial by Penny Colman

Did you know that winter in Madagascar was considered corpse-turning season? This book for children explores death and burial across the world with plenty of macabre and fascinating facts from six feet under.

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The Ghost: A Cultural History

The Ghost: A Cultural History

Ghosts are woven into the very fabric of life. In Britain, every town, village, and great house has a spectral resident, and their enduring popularity in literature, art, folklore, and film attests to their continuing power to fascinate, terrify, and inspire.

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Hell’s Princess

Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

Belle Gunness lured men to her “murder farm” in Indiana where they vanished without a trace. Until their butchered remains were later unearthed by authorities. This is the story of America’s most twisted female serial killer as told by the king of true crime, Harold Schechter.

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Spoon River Anthology

Spoon River Anthology

Deceased residents of the fictional town of Spoon River recount their often sad and tragic lives through a collection of free verse poems. “Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley, the weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter?” the first poem asks. “All, all are sleeping on the hill.”

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The Ghastling

The Ghastling

The Ghastling features a collection of ghoulish short horror stories by contemporary authors. Book seven is a special issue dedicated to monsters in celebration of the Bicentenary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

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Want more? Here are the fall reading lists from previous years:

2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

Or you can find them all and more here: Cult of Weird Recommended Reading

Creepy vintage board games

13 Spooky Vintage Horror Board Games

Battle monsters, ghosts, voodoo curses, boobytrapped mansions, haunted carnival rides, and more with these vintage spooky horror board games.