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Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica: The Musical Instrument That Could Drive You Mad (According to People Who Were Probably Mad)

Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica: The Musical Instrument That Could Drive You Mad (According to People Who Were Probably Mad)

Benjamin Franklin invented a musical instrument so beautiful that Mozart composed music for it—and so unsettling that people feared it could cause insanity, depression, or even summon spirits. Meet the glass armonica, an invention that went from entertaining European aristocrats to inspiring medical panic. Not exactly the glowing reviews Franklin was hoping for.

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October 29, 2026

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Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica: The Musical Instrument That Could Drive You Mad (According to People Who Were Probably Mad)

Benjamin Franklin invented a musical instrument so beautiful that Mozart composed music for it—and so unsettling that people feared it could cause insanity, depression, or even summon spirits. Meet the glass armonica, an invention that went from entertaining European aristocrats to inspiring medical panic. Not exactly the glowing reviews Franklin was hoping for.
Read more: Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica: The Musical Instrument That Could Drive You Mad (According to People Who Were Probably Mad)
Frank Shuman: The Man Who Built a Solar Power Plant in 1913—Then World War I Ruined Everything

In 1913, Frank Shuman built a solar-powered irrigation plant in Egypt that actually worked. He envisioned replacing coal with sunshine, transforming agriculture, and revolutionizing energy production. Unfortunately, World War I arrived, and humanity decided that inventing better ways to kill each other was a more pressing technological priority.
Read more: Frank Shuman: The Man Who Built a Solar Power Plant in 1913—Then World War I Ruined Everything
The Pony Express and Abraham Lincoln: How the 1860 Election Results Raced Across America on Horseback

When Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860, California had one small problem: the news couldn’t get there by telegraph alone. Enter the Pony Express, a network of determined riders, exhausted horses, and a delivery schedule that made absolutely no allowances for geography, weather, or common sense.
Read more: The Pony Express and Abraham Lincoln: How the 1860 Election Results Raced Across America on Horseback
Almon Strowger: The Undertaker Who Thought Someone Was Stealing His Dead Customers—and Reinvented the Telephone

When undertaker Almon Strowger suspected a competitor was stealing his telephone customers, he didn’t simply complain to the phone company. He invented a way to bypass telephone operators altogether. His solution helped revolutionize telecommunications, although the famous story behind his motivation may be more legend than fact. Either way, it’s an impressive amount of trouble…
Read more: Almon Strowger: The Undertaker Who Thought Someone Was Stealing His Dead Customers—and Reinvented the Telephone
10 Unsung People Who Changed History by Inspiring Someone Famous

Behind Billy Graham, Einstein, Darwin, Churchill, and Beethoven stood people whose names history largely forgot. From a Sunday school teacher in a shoe store to a professor whose recommendation helped revolutionize science, meet 10 unsung influences who changed the world without getting top billing.
Read more: 10 Unsung People Who Changed History by Inspiring Someone Famous
Gene Autry: The Singing Cowboy Who Battled Robots, Made Rudolph Famous, and Bought a Baseball Team

Gene Autry was more than America’s favorite singing cowboy. He battled underground robots, flew military planes, helped make Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer a Christmas institution, owned the Los Angeles Angels, and had a horse that enjoyed afternoon tea at London’s Savoy Hotel. Somehow, he also found time to make 93 movies.
Read more: Gene Autry: The Singing Cowboy Who Battled Robots, Made Rudolph Famous, and Bought a Baseball Team
America’s First Airmail Flight Was a Spectacular Failure—30 Miles in the Wrong Direction and a Train Ride to Finish

On August 17, 1859, balloonist John Wise set out from Lafayette, Indiana, on a mission to revolutionize mail delivery. His destination was New York City, his transportation was a balloon named Jupiter, and his navigation system consisted largely of hoping the wind wanted to go in the same direction. It didn’t. What followed was five…
Read more: America’s First Airmail Flight Was a Spectacular Failure—30 Miles in the Wrong Direction and a Train Ride to Finish
The Iron Riders: How Buffalo Soldiers Rode 1,900 Miles So the Army Could Decide It Didn’t Need Bicycles

In 1897, the U.S. Army sent 20 Buffalo Soldiers on a 1,900-mile bicycle expedition from Montana to Missouri. Armed with rifles, camping gear, and an apparently unlimited supply of determination, they battled mountains, mud, sand, and scorching heat. Nineteen completed the journey, proving that bicycles could serve military purposes. The Army celebrated the Iron Riders’…
Read more: The Iron Riders: How Buffalo Soldiers Rode 1,900 Miles So the Army Could Decide It Didn’t Need Bicycles
William Phelps Eno: He Never Learned to Drive, So Naturally, He Wrote the Rules for Everyone Else

William Phelps Eno helped create modern traffic rules, traffic circles, and one-way streets. Even so, the Father of Traffic Safety never learned to drive.
Read more: William Phelps Eno: He Never Learned to Drive, So Naturally, He Wrote the Rules for Everyone Else
Mary Walton: The Woman Who Quieted New York’s Trains After Thomas Edison Couldn’t

When New York’s elevated trains became an unbearable neighborhood nuisance, boardinghouse owner Mary Walton fought back with sand, ingenuity, and a patent. She also developed an early approach to controlling industrial smoke. Thomas Edison had fame and laboratories. Walton had a basement, a mechanical mind, and very little patience for noisy trains.
Read more: Mary Walton: The Woman Who Quieted New York’s Trains After Thomas Edison Couldn’t
Helen Duncan and the 1944 Witchcraft Trial: Because Fighting Hitler Wasn’t Keeping Britain Busy Enough

In 1944, while Britain prepared to invade Nazi-occupied France, Helen Duncan went to prison under a witchcraft law dating from 1735. Her extraordinary case involved suspicious ectoplasm, a sunken battleship, an outraged Winston Churchill, and a legal system that apparently hadn’t finished with the eighteenth century.
Read more: Helen Duncan and the 1944 Witchcraft Trial: Because Fighting Hitler Wasn’t Keeping Britain Busy Enough
The Federal Tea Tasters: For 99 Years, the U.S. Government Paid People to Drink Tea—and It Took an Act of Congress to Make Them Stop

For nearly a century, the federal government employed professional tea tasters to determine whether imported tea was good enough for Americans. The program survived multiple presidents, inspired a Supreme Court decision, and required an act of Congress to abolish. Naturally, it took another 27 years to finish the paperwork.
Read more: The Federal Tea Tasters: For 99 Years, the U.S. Government Paid People to Drink Tea—and It Took an Act of Congress to Make Them Stop
Micronauts: The Tiny Toys That Built an Entire Universe

Discover how Micronauts grew from Japanese Microman toys into a 1970s phenomenon, spawning strange worlds, memorable characters, and a Marvel legacy.
Read more: Micronauts: The Tiny Toys That Built an Entire Universe
The Princess Bride Hoax: William Goldman’s Missing Reunion Scene

William Goldman invented an author, an entire literary history, and a missing reunion scene in The Princess Bride. Thousands of readers wrote to his publisher requesting it. The response became an even more elaborate practical joke.
Read more: The Princess Bride Hoax: William Goldman’s Missing Reunion Scene
Abraham Lincoln: The Man Who Never Met His Intellectual Equal

Abraham Lincoln had less than a year of school yet carried the confidence of a man who had never met his intellectual equal. Here’s why.
Read more: Abraham Lincoln: The Man Who Never Met His Intellectual Equal

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