Author: Mathew Ingram

My wife and I have spent a number of years travelling to Perugia, a small town in Umbria, just a couple of hours north of Rome, for the fantastic journalism festival that is put on there by our friends Arianna and Christopher (Arianna was adamant that it not be called a conference when they started it). We haven’t been for the past couple of years for a number of reasons, but this was the 20th anniversary of the festival, so we had to go — and it was our 10th visit; we went for the first time in 2013 (in addition to the past couple of years when we didn’t attend, we missed a couple due to COVID). It was great to be back in the old city, which dates back to the Etruscan empire in the year 300 or so. One of the things we make sure to visit every year is a fascinating circular church that was originally a pagan temple, built in about 500 AD or so. You can just walk in and look around whenever you want — it is still used as a church — and nearby is an ancient tower from the same period that has a small museum you can visit as well.

Across from the main conference hotel there’s an escalator that goes down into the ruins of an ancient palace known as the Rocco Paolina, named for Pope Paul III, who built it in the 1500s after he took control of the city following the great Salt War. It seems that the new pope decided to levy a new tax on salt, which enraged the Perugians — according to legend, traditional Perugian bread is baked without salt, in memory of this grudge from 500 years ago. The pope squashed the rebellion with his armies, and took control of the city, and it remained under papal control until Italy was unified in 1860. Also, from what I understand, a guy named Frank from Assisi was injured in a war between Perugia and Assisi (which is about a two-hour drive away across a valley) in the year 1200 or so, and later got really religious and decided to become a monk, and eventually became Saint Francis of Assisi. The murals in his cathedral are truly spectacular.

As the woman was reading, she heard an unfamiliar voice say, “Please don’t be afraid. I know it must be shocking for you to hear me speaking to you like this, but this is the easiest way I could think of. My friend and I used to work at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, and we would like to help you.” The woman said the disembodied voice then attempted to convince her of its sincerity by providing three pieces of information and suggesting that she check their veracity as proof. The woman confirmed that they were correct. At the clinic, a psychiatrist diagnosed the woman with “functional hallucinatory psychosis.” The patient then went on vacation. Although she was still taking thioridazine, the voices came back, telling her she needed to go home immediately for medical treatment. These voices gave her the address of a hospital, and urged her to schedule a brain scan because she had a tumor. (via Live Science)

The time that Bruce Springsteen tried to break into Graceland while Elvis was there

Things were a lot different in 1976. For one thing, Bruce Springsteen wasn’t a huge star yet. For another, Elvis Presley, one of his biggest musical heroes, was still alive. All of this came crashing together on April 29 of that year, when Springsteen tried to get into Graceland, Presley’s mansion in Memphis. Springsteen took a late-night cab ride to the King’s home following his show in town supporting Born to Run, his third album and the one that would launch him into the spotlight. Noticing a light on inside, Springsteen jumped the gated wall and ran to the front door in hopes of meeting his lifelong idol. But security stopped Springsteen before he had a chance to even knock on the door and asked what was going on. Springsteen inquired, “Is Elvis home?” He was told, “No, Elvis isn’t home, he’s in Lake Tahoe” – which was true. It was also 3AM, so even if he was home, he probably wasn’t going to open his door. (via Ultimate Classic Rock)

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

As the woman was reading, she heard an unfamiliar voice say, “Please don’t be afraid. I know it must be shocking for you to hear me speaking to you like this, but this is the easiest way I could think of. My friend and I used to work at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, and we would like to help you.” The woman said the disembodied voice then attempted to convince her of its sincerity by providing three pieces of information and suggesting that she check their veracity as proof. The woman confirmed that they were correct. At the clinic, a psychiatrist diagnosed the woman with “functional hallucinatory psychosis.” The patient then went on vacation. Although she was still taking thioridazine, the voices came back, telling her she needed to go home immediately for medical treatment. These voices gave her the address of a hospital, and urged her to schedule a brain scan because she had a tumor. (via Live Science)

The time that Bruce Springsteen tried to break into Graceland while Elvis was there

Things were a lot different in 1976. For one thing, Bruce Springsteen wasn’t a huge star yet. For another, Elvis Presley, one of his biggest musical heroes, was still alive. All of this came crashing together on April 29 of that year, when Springsteen tried to get into Graceland, Presley’s mansion in Memphis. Springsteen took a late-night cab ride to the King’s home following his show in town supporting Born to Run, his third album and the one that would launch him into the spotlight. Noticing a light on inside, Springsteen jumped the gated wall and ran to the front door in hopes of meeting his lifelong idol. But security stopped Springsteen before he had a chance to even knock on the door and asked what was going on. Springsteen inquired, “Is Elvis home?” He was told, “No, Elvis isn’t home, he’s in Lake Tahoe” – which was true. It was also 3AM, so even if he was home, he probably wasn’t going to open his door. (via Ultimate Classic Rock)

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

The FBI is looking for any connections among the recent deaths and disappearances of at least 10 scientists who had ties to government science projects or other sensitive information. Those who have died or disappeared include a nuclear physicist and MIT professor fatally shot outside his Massachusetts residence, a retired Air Force general missing from his New Mexico home, and an aerospace engineer who disappeared during a hike in Los Angeles. The announcement comes after the cases were highlighted by President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers; growing online speculation hinted at a link between the incidents, although there is no known evidence of any connections among the individual researchers other than the nature of their respective jobs and the fact that none of the incidents occurred before 2022. The most recent case involves retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, who disappeared, along with a gun and his wallet, in February. (via Scientific American)

Meet the 82-year-old queen of jumping rope

It was a Wednesday morning in April, and Annie Judis had transformed the kitchen of her Beverly Hills mansion into a film set. With her iPhone balanced on a stand, the 82-year-old adjusted the lighting and smoothed her costume: an aqua spandex workout set that revealed a hint of cleavage, a matching head wrap and tinted glasses. When it was showtime, her housekeeper hit play on her adopted theme song, the peppy anthem “Good Morning,” by Max Frost. Smiling from ear to ear, Ms. Judis started jumping rope and didn’t stop for a full minute. “Come on, everybody, let’s move it, let’s go!” she said to the camera. She does this routine nearly every morning, greeting her 187,000 Instagram followers and reminding them: “You’re going to need that energy for the grandkids.” Ms. Judis currently holds the Guinness World Record for oldest competitive rope skipper. She also thrives on having an audience: If she doesn’t share a workout, she said, it’s like it never happened. (via the New York Times)

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

It was 2004. I was 31. I was up for several days on meth and drinking heavily for the past month or so. I decide to go rob a bank and take my son to Tijuana, Mexico to see my biological father – his new grandpa. I’ve recently been discharged from parole. I take this new freedom as a chance to use drugs uncontrollably and drink like a mad man. I sit down on my chair and snatch a piece of scratch paper off my desk and write a bank robbery note. Later, as we proceed with the trial, I sit in the courtroom in a suit and tie, looking as innocent as possible. The D.A. walks in with a huge poster board and easel. He turns to the audience, then back to the jury and asks the judge for permission to enter exhibit D. The judge grants this wish. It’s my banknote. Written in big bold black letters on a torn piece of a brown paper bag that I get from liquor stores. “Please give me all of your money,” it reads, “or i will tickle you to death put the money in the paper bag i have a pisol in my pocket. Have a nice day the paper bag bandit.” (via Dreamland)

Ancient damage from a kind of machine-gun discovered on the walls of Pompeii

In 89 B.C.E., Pompeii was under siege. An invading army of tens of thousands of soldiers led by Lucius Cornelius Sulla stormed the town’s walls with slings and catapults. The siege subdued the rebellious city back beneath the thumb of the Roman Republic. Recently discovered damage on Pompeii’s fortification walls likely resulted from this fateful siege — and some of it may have come from a deeply mysterious ancient “machine gun,” researchers reported recently. Excavations and surveys conducted since 2024 have revealed several clusters of gouges in Pompeii’s northern fortification walls that were pristinely preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in C.E. 79. The marks are arrayed in a way that suggests they may have been left by a repeating dart-thrower called a polybolos. “It was an antipersonnel weapon used to strike archers emerging from the battlements above and the postern below,” says study lead author Adriana Rossi. The machine “had been described in detail but had never before been unearthed in any archaeological find or material evidence.” (via Scientific American)

Note: This is a version of my When The Going Gets Weird newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.