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Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

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Did a 'werewolf' really terrorize France in the 1700s?

The savage "Beast of Gévaudan" rampaged across the French countryside between 1764 and 1767 and killed as many as a hundred people. The true nature of the attacks and the creature itself remains a mystery.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

PHOTOGRAPH BY VITO FUSCO

This is the deadliest flower in the insect world

To the people who pick them, the flower is utterly harmless. But bugs beware: Its yellow center contains a natural toxin that can kill them in seconds. It's a lifeline to farmers—and the planet.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA, CHRIS HADFIELD

The volcano that built Bermuda is unlike any other on Earth

Rock samples from the island suggest it’s a strange hybrid that represents a whole new way for the planet to make volcanoes.

A GEOLOGICAL MYSTERY

PHOTOGRAPH BY KILIII YÜYAN

Meet the bowhead whale hunters of northern Alaska

Each spring, local hunters sit on the edge of the ice and wait for whales—a custom that’s at least 1,000 years old. "You have to be with them to see their full hope and their joy," says photographer Kiliii Yüyan.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

ILLUSTRATION BY DEA PICTURE LIBRARY, DE AGOSTINI/GETTY

Why medieval pandemics spawned fears of the undead

An analysis of graves over a 900-year-period shows a spike in people buried face-down as plagues ravaged German-speaking Europe. The data suggest a major shift in burial practices—and a belief among survivors that victims might come back to haunt the living.

CLUES IN FOLKLORE

QUOTE

When you did something wrong, couldn't finish your business in life ... or have to atone or avenge something you might become a 'wiedergänger.'

Amelie Alterauge, anthropologist

From: Why medieval pandemics spawned fears of the undead

PHOTOGRAPH BY FRED BAVENDAM, MINDEN PICTURES/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

Surprise! Some fish are really bad at swimming

Seahorses, frogfish, and others live the life aquatic with little swimming. It turns out they have their reasons for investing their energy elsewhere.

WILL WALK FOR FOOD

MORE GREAT READS

The animals that may exist in a million years (Vox) ››

20 years of the iPod (The Guardian) ››

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