![A piece of the Titanic's hull on display in San Francisco. A piece of the Titanic's hull on display in San Francisco.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3504,h_1971,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/mentalfloss/01fxb3wa7zwzpaag5sek.jpg)
![Erin McCarthy Erin McCarthy](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_180,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01fw71t8cyjegekatxt2.jpg)
Erin McCarthy
Joined: Nov 21, 2012
Erin is the Editor-in-Chief of MentalFloss.com, host of The List Show and Throwback on YouTube, editor of Mental Floss's book The Curious Reader, and the creator, executive producer, and host of the History Vs. podcast. She joined Mental Floss in 2012. Previously, she covered everything from natural disasters to bridge engineering to the science behind sci-fi movies for Popular Mechanics magazine. Her work has appeared in O: The Oprah Magazine, Town and Country, Parents, and Esquire. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her karaoking, reading, or hanging out with her cats, Oliver and Pearl. She lives in New York.
![A piece of the Titanic's hull on display in San Francisco. A piece of the Titanic's hull on display in San Francisco.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3504,h_1971,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/mentalfloss/01fxb3wa7zwzpaag5sek.jpg)
![Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart.’ Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart.’](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_2666,h_1499,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01jjyjrgm5ydyvb0ps9h.jpg)
7 Fascinating Facts About Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’
![The cast of ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ in Season 5. The cast of ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ in Season 5.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3000,h_1687,x_0,y_82/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/mentalfloss/01jk6vz8a1bnas4ds6bb.jpg)
33 Fun Facts About ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
![James Monroe Iglehart. James Monroe Iglehart.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_1919,h_1079,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/mentalfloss/01jfdafw2b82tvkm5ntb.jpg)
Learn Amazing Facts About Louis Armstrong With James Monroe Iglehart
18 Old-Timey Words and Terms to Use On New Year’s Eve
Get bugged up and enjoy some laughing soup until you’re in your airs!
15 Thanksgiving Dinner Disasters (And How to Avoid Them)
Cooking dinner on Thanksgiving is pressure enough without a calamity derailing the affair. Learn what not to do from these turkey day disasters.
6 Fascinating Facts About Ha Jin’s ‘Waiting’
He got the idea from a story his wife told him while they were visiting her parents: “I joked, ‘This would be good for a novel. I am going to write a novel based on this.’ ”
15 Hilariously Terrible Reviews of Wonderful Museums
From the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, no institution is safe from terrible reviews.
How Did the Teddy Bear Get Its Name?
The origins of the teddy bear involve President Theodore Roosevelt, a bear hunt, a political cartoon, and the owner of a candy shop in New York.
22 Mighty Facts About ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’
For three years in the mid-1990s, kids across the country tuned in six days a week to watch five teenagers from Angel Grove transform into superheroes.
11 Female Gymnasts With Skills Named After Them
At the Olympics, some athletes will be performing tried and true moves. Others might be throwing new skills that will one day bear their names.
16 Fascinating Facts About ‘Glee’
From auditions gone wrong to a spin-off that never was, here’s what you missed on ‘Glee.’
When Theodore Roosevelt Urged Americans to “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick”
Roosevelt launched one of his most famous sayings at the Minnesota State Fair in September 1901—just two weeks before he became president.
10 Misconceptions About the 1950s
The ‘50s weren't all nuclear families with white picket fences and questionable Jell-O recipes.
13 People Who Operated on Themselves
From the Founding Father who stuck whalebone where he shouldn’t have to the only known woman to have given herself a C-section.
23 Facts About ‘Lost’
What began as a show about the survivors of a plane crash attempting to survive all alone on a tropical island quickly turned into something much different—and weirder.