Stacy Conradt

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

Stacy Conradt has been contributing to Mental Floss since 2008. As an avid board game lover, she is especially fond of her work on Split Decision and Mixed Nuts. In her spare time (ha) she likes to run badly and visit roadside attractions that make most people cringe. She never met an Abe Lincoln tribute she didn't love. If you have one to suggest, let her know at twitter.com/stacy_writes.

Presidents Day vs. President’s Day vs. Presidents’ Day: Which One Is It?

Royal Museums Greenwich, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

10 Things You May Not Know About the "Unsinkable" Titanic

Colored photograph of Violet Jessop, survivor of the Titanic.

The Unsinkable Violet Jessop

The Hershey Company and the RMS 'Titanic' share a surprising link.

How the 'Titanic' Almost Sank Hershey

101 Things We Learned in 2024

Let’s celebrate another year in the books with a look back at how our knowledge grew over the past 12 months.

‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ was the first poem to names Santa’s reindeer.

The Mysterious Origins of the World’s Most Famous Christmas Poem

Clement Clarke Moore is widely believed to be the author of “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” But the Livingston family of New York begs to differ.

Don't believe everything you've been told about lightning.

Wild Misconceptions About Weather

From the color of snow to the shape of rainbows, weather breeds a lot of misconceptions.

14 Archaic Christmas Carol Words, Explained

Know what you’re talking about when you sing “troll the ancient Yuletide carol.”

See that crispy texture? That’s the Maillard Reaction.

Why Do We Cook So Many Foods at 350 Degrees?

There’s science behind that seemingly random number.

Peter Billingsley in A Christmas Story (1983).

12 Festive Facts About ‘A Christmas Story’

The holiday classic—which could have starred Jack Nicholson as The Old Man Parker—has cemented its legacy as a Christmas classic.

This scene depicts several Christmas traditions with long histories.

The Origins of 12 Christmas Traditions

From expecting Santa to fill socks with gifts to eating cake that looks like tree bark, some holiday traditions are downright odd. But we can explain!

35 Celebrities Who Served in the Military

You probably didn’t know about a few of these celebrity veterans who served the red, white, and blue.

10 Famous Uses of the Ouija Board

Sylvia Plath often broke out her Ouija Board to speak to her spirit guide, Pan.

Elizabeth Taylor, Bela Lugosi, and Bob Marley were buried with some of their most treasured possessions.

The Objects 10 Celebrities Took to the Grave

Favorite alcoholic beverages, signature accessories, and reading material are a few of the items that these artists took with them to the afterlife.

The Time Wes Craven Called Out a High School in the ‘Scream’ Credits

Wes Craven’s meta-horror film spawned a handful of sequels—and a possible backlash against one California community.

How 8 Iconic Horror Movie Villains Were Created

When you know what goes into making them—ping pongs, for example—even the most frightening horror movie monsters become less scary.