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THE MURKY MEANING OF MAGIC’S MAGIC WORD

Saturday, March 2, 2024

In today’s newsletter, we investigate some of the world’s great mysteries, from ‘Jerusalem Syndrome’ to ancient Egypt, from the Maya to missing feet to ‘Abracadabra.’ OK, the Illuminati too.

The first recorded mention of the phrase ‘Abracadabra’ as a cure for malaria, from ‘Liber medicinalis’, written by Quintus Serenus Semmonicus' Canterbury (link & color on vellum). Featured in the Harry Potter Exhibition at the British Library.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRITISH LIBRARY ARCHIVE, BRIDGEMAN IMAGES/ACI

Maybe the biggest riddle of magic is the meaning of one of its most-used words.

Where, exactly, did “Abracadabra” come from? This unusual word was once thought to be a magical cure for fever (pictured above, the first mention of ‘Abracadabra’). Or was it a form of a blessing in Hebrew? Over time—as if by a tap of a wand—other meanings emerged.

Other mysteries:
— Can a person get ‘Jerusalem Syndrome’ and other reported culture shocks?
— The secretive origins of the Illuminati
— The severed feet that kept washing up in the Pacific Northwest

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

Nested between lush green trees are Mayan structures.

PHOTOGRAPH BY RUBÉN SALGADO ESCUDERO

How everything we thought we know about the ancient Maya is changing (Above, aerial view of of Dzibanche in Mexico’s Yucatan.)

One secret from the Red Sea Scrolls: How the Egyptians built the Great Pyramids

Are you just imagining it—or are winters getting warmer?

Can you detect illness just from smell?

Preparing for FX’s Shōgun: Meet the real Japanese legend

Who were the Pirates of the Atlantic?

For the first time, a photographic answer to this mystery: How do whales have sex?

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Four men sitting in front of five men standing

PHOTOGRAPH BY RENAN OZTURK

Who really climbed the summit of Everest first? A century ago, British explorer Andrew “Sandy” Irvine (pictured above, at far left) and his climbing partner, George Mallory (pictured above, next to Irvine), vanished while descending Everest, leaving the world to wonder if they actually made it to the top nearly 30 years before Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers to be recognized for summiting Mount Everest’s peak.

A Nat Geo team climbed the world's tallest peak in search of remains that could rewrite Everest history and solve its greatest mystery. What did we find?

AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Watch the trailer now and stream on March 5 on Hulu and Disney+.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A fragmented human-like skeleton surrounded in a circular pattern by hundreds of small bone fragments grouped by kind.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT CLARK

To unearth the secrets of an ancient human relative, paleoanthropologist Lee Berger had to squeeze through a chute seven and a half inches wide—the length of a pencil. “I didn’t know it then, but that decision would lead to a scientific revelation—and some of the most terrifying, and most wondrous, moments of my life,” the Nat Geo Explorer writes. (Above, fossils surround the skeleton of Homo naledi.) What did Berger find?

LAST GLIMPSE

Rocks in the foreground look off in the distance as a ship sinks.

PHOTOGRAPH BY EMIL P. ALBRECHT

Why does everything disappear in the Bermuda Triangle? Numerous ships and planes have vanished without a trace within the so-called Bermuda Triangle, bounded by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. What caused these disappearances remains a mystery.

Exotic theories—from enormous sea monsters to the existence of a mysterious third dimension—have been propounded to explain what happened to the missing travelers. (Pictured above, a shipwreck sits off the coast of Bermuda's shore.) Is there a more prosaic answer?

TRAVERSING THE TRIANGLE

Related:
— Has Amelia Earhart’s plane been sighted?
— Can colossal crabs hold the key to Amelia Earhart’s fate?

Today's soundtrack: Building a Mystery, Sarah McLachlan
Plus: Abracadabra, Steve Miller Band

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Nancy San Martín, and Nishita Naga. Contributors include Jen Tse, Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alec Egamov, and Rita Spinks. Let us know if you liked today’s mystery-filled newsletter.

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