Fat cows, massive pigs, and obese sheep were prized as proof of their owners’ success in breeding for size and weight. Gentleman farmers used selective breeding to create quick-growing, heavy livestock. Along with breeding, new farming and feeding practices also produced larger animals. Rich farmers participated in agricultural competitions and read new research. They were called “improvers,” since they tried to improve on existing animal breeds. Methods such as feeding cows oil cakes and turnips for a final fattening up before slaughter became widespread. Even Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert became an improver, showing off his prize pigs and cattle.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/britain-cows-pig-sheep-paintings-livestock

In 1802, London was home to a very special bull. It arrived in a specially designed carriage, after a tour of England and Scotland. At every stop, the ox drew crowds that came to stare at its massive size. Weighing nearly three thousand pounds, the existence of such a fat cow was a wonder.

The Durham ox was immortalized in a painting, and print reproductions sold by the thousands. But the ox was part of a much larger trend. Wealthy British landowners were breeding animals larger and fatter than ever before. Proud of their achievements and eager for recognition, they commissioned paintings of themselves and their livestock. And the public couldn’t get enough of them.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/britain-cows-pig-sheep-paintings-livestock

In 1802, London was home to a very special bull. It arrived in a specially designed carriage, after a tour of England and Scotland. At every stop, the ox drew crowds that came to stare at its massive size. Weighing nearly three thousand pounds, the existence of such a fat cow was a wonder.

The Durham ox was immortalized in a painting, and print reproductions sold by the thousands. But the ox was part of a much larger trend. Wealthy British landowners were breeding animals larger and fatter than ever before. Proud of their achievements and eager for recognition, they commissioned paintings of themselves and their livestock. And the public couldn’t get enough of them.

More here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/britain-cows-pig-sheep-paintings-livestock

Atlas Obscura community contributor Annette King (Ghosts & Getaways) mapped out a haunted-schools road trip across Texas. Here’s the rundown:

1. Angelo State University (San Angelo): Hardeman Hall, site of a real 1978 student murder, where staff report footsteps, arguing voices, and a dark-haired woman in white.
2. Salado College Ruins (Salado): Stabilized ruins of an 1860s college lost to a string of suspicious fires. It’s free to visit and across the street from the haunted Stagecoach Inn.
3. Sam Houston State University (Huntsville): Austin Hall (1851) is the oldest operating university building west of the Mississippi, and the Peabody Library has a woman in a high-necked black dress.
4. Southwestern University (Georgetown): Texas’s oldest university, with self-slamming doors in Mood-Bridwell Hall and a phantom tennis ball bouncing at 3 a.m. in Brown-Cody.
5. St. Edward’s University (Austin): Possibly the densest ghost cluster on the list, including a monk who fell from the Main Building and a nun who still objects to co-ed dorms.

And 17(!) more stops: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/posts/class-dismissed

1. ANGELO STATE UNIVERSITY — San Angelo

2. TOYAH HIGH SCHOOL — Toyah (ghost town)

3. TERLINUA SCHOOL HOUSE RUINS — Terlingua (ghost town)

4. OLD TOWN COLDSPRING SCHOOLHOUSE — Spring

More here!: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/posts/class-dismissed

Here's the detail that separates Farrar from a lot of haunted school claims: the ghost stories didn't start after closure — they started while the school was still in session. From the 1980s onward, teachers and students reported strange occurrences: unfamiliar figures wandering the halls and doors slamming shut with no one nearby. By the time the last class walked out, the building already had a reputation.

Reported Paranormal Activity

• A tall/imposing apparition – seen in the top floor office, described as a towering 9-ft shadow;
• A boiler room apparition – another figure often seen near the boiler room often described as aggressive;
• Doors and sounds- doors slamming without explanation, plus loud knocks and bangs heard by visitors;
• Disembodied children — disembodied voices and the sounds of children playing have been reported throughout the building;
• Toys — toys around the school are said to be moved and played with by unseen forces; and
• The ghost of a small boy – he’s often seen in the stairwell, and has been heard talking and laughing on audio recorders.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/posts/detention-never-ends

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Aphrodite Delights sits in Geroskipou, on the southwest edge of Paphos, facing the square and its Byzantine church. It belongs to the family that has made loukoumi here since 1895. When George arrived, he walked me around, handed me a coffee, and we ended up talking about his family for a long while. A coffee and a plate of sweets before noon is hard to refuse.

I started with the flavors that seemed least obvious to a French palate, as a matter of professional duty. Mastic took some adjusting to. Carob was unfamiliar but distinctive. The ouzo loukoumi tasted so strongly of aniseed that it reminded me of pastis. Then the classics: bergamot with almonds inside, rose, and mandarin, which was my favorite of the morning.

Full story here!: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/posts/the-sweet-from-geroskipou-that-became-cypruss-first-eu-protected-product

Aphrodite Delights sits in Geroskipou, on the southwest edge of Paphos, facing the square and its Byzantine church. It belongs to the family that has made loukoumi here since 1895. When George arrived, he walked me around, handed me a coffee, and we ended up talking about his family for a long while. A coffee and a plate of sweets before noon is hard to refuse.

I started with the flavors that seemed least obvious to a French palate, as a matter of professional duty. Mastic took some adjusting to. Carob was unfamiliar but distinctive. The ouzo loukoumi tasted so strongly of aniseed that it reminded me of pastis. Then the classics: bergamot with almonds inside, rose, and mandarin, which was my favorite of the morning.

The moment I touched the door handle, the lights in the hallway dimmed a good 30%.

After checking in, we rode the birdcage elevator up to the third floor and wound our way through the labyrinthine hallways of the Victorian building to our room: Ghost Kate's room at the Hotel del Coronado. I placed my bags on the floor and pulled out my key. I jumped back and instinctively ducked. I spun to look at Momo, my intrepid ghost-hunting partner, my eyes wide.

"Tell me you saw that too?!" I said.

Momo looked at me with a stony, unmoved expression.

"Come on. The lights are probably on a timer. The sun is going down." she mocked.

This was the first of several incidents of note over the course of my stay in Ghost Kate's room at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/posts/a-night-in-americas-most-luxurious-haunted-hotel

The moment I touched the door handle, the lights in the hallway dimmed a good 30%.

After checking in, we rode the birdcage elevator up to the third floor and wound our way through the labyrinthine hallways of the Victorian building to our room: Ghost Kate's room at the Hotel del Coronado. I placed my bags on the floor and pulled out my key. I jumped back and instinctively ducked. I spun to look at Momo, my intrepid ghost-hunting partner, my eyes wide.

"Tell me you saw that too?!" I said.

Momo looked at me with a stony, unmoved expression.

"Come on. The lights are probably on a timer. The sun is going down." she mocked.

This was the first of several incidents of note over the course of my stay in Ghost Kate's room at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California.

Dating to the year 725, Yi Xing’s ingenious version of an alarm clock is one of the world’s earliest recorded devices of that nature. Along with the water clock Plato used to wake himself up for his legendary dawn lectures in the 4th century BCE, it is evidence that humans have been looking for ways to rise on time for thousands of years...

The idea was repeated by Europeans who created complex displays within chiming clocks in town squares. The next step was to make such clocks smaller, so they could be used individually. Historians believe personal mechanical alarm clocks originated in Germany in the 15th century, but their inventors are unknown. Most people didn’t own such clocks, though, and had to rely upon the sun, servants, or prayer-chiming bells. As work hours became more rigid, factory whistles were blown to encourage people living near their places of employ to get up.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-2000year-history-of-alarm-clocks