Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Is time travel real? According to Hollywood, we’ll know nine months from now, when a young Michael J. Fox steps out of a specially converted automobile and grabs a sports almanac and a hoverboard. According to Internet folklore, other time travelers have already lived through 2015. The best-known of them, John Titor, described this year as a turning point in … >>
Recent news events have made clear just how easy it is for America — or shadowy, undemocratic entities that claim to act in its interest — to panic. This emotion isn’t just the product of 9/11, however. It was always there: fear that the Native Americans would attack; fear that the slaves would revolt; fear of crop failures and bank … >>
It was around 7 p.m. on October 11, 1973, when shipyard workers Charles Hickson, 42, and Calvin Parker, 19, were fishing in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The fish weren’t biting, so the two men moved upriver from their usual spot to an abandoned dock. After a while, they noticed a hissing sound and flashing blue lights behind them, and turned around to … >>
If you could live at any time in the past, when would you like to live? I think I’d feel very much at home during the Renaissance, or in ancient Greece. Those were great times to be a scientist, a philosopher, a traveler, or all three. Scientists and philosophers saw it as part of their job to be on the … >>
Strange things happen late at night — so strange, in fact, that one incident from 50 years ago still can’t be explained. On the evening of September 19, 1961, Barney and Betty Hill were driving home from a vacation in Canada. It was a clear, starry night, and as they followed Route 3 through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, … >>
From November 1966 to December 1967, a number of people in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, claimed to have been frightened by a large, man-like creature with glowing red eyes and wings. As they drove near it, it rose up and followed them in the air. A reporter called it Mothman. No one knows exactly what Mothman looked like, since the … >>
Parents never have an easy time. Children are always asking questions that demand scientific answers — questions like “Why is the sky blue?” But for the past 100 years, American parents have had an easy alternative when small children ask complex questions about geology, like “How was the Grand Canyon formed?” and “Where do the Great Lakes come from?” Instead … >>
It’s sobering to realize that eight years have passed since New York and Washington, DC, were attacked on September 11, 2001. Something that happened that long ago, and is already the subject of numerous documentaries, is history. The more time passes, the more the official version of events is accepted, and the less plausible any alternative version becomes. This fact … >>