Today, Tuesday November 2nd, is Election Day across the country and here in Connecticut. But why do we always vote on a Tuesday? Much like daylight savings time it all comes down to the farmers. In 1845, when the day was decided, it was agreed upon that farm workers needed a day between Sunday and…
This mystery was something I thought of when my wife and I welcomed our second child a few weeks ago. Can she see in color? What does she see? The answer seems to be that newborns only see in black and white when they are first born. Then over a few weeks they start to…
Starting today and all weekend there will probably be a lot of candy coming into your house. Some people eat it all at once, some like to save it to munch on for months. But does candy actually go bad? Chocolate will last eight to 10 months. Any hard candy like lollipops, butterscotch, Jolly Ranchers,…
We are right in the time of year where you see the Spirit Halloween stores pop up all over the place in abandoned store fronts. The idea was founded by a guy named Joe Marver who launched the first Spirit Halloween store back in 1983. The “spirit” in Spirit Halloween doesn’t actually refer to ghosts…
One of the most popular Halloween treats, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Millions are given out and consumed every year. But if you haven’t noticed before there is an apostrophe on Reese. Meaning they were named after someone. But who?! The candy was created back in 1928 by Harry Burnett Reese who was a former…
Tonight is game 1 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves. I know, I know, bummer none of the Connecticut adjacent teams made it. Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox all out. Red Sox at least came close! Today’s mystery… why do they call it the “World Series”? It all started…
I heard someone say this the other day and thought it would make a good Mundane Mystery for today. The expression itself means trying or testing something out yourself is the only way to know if it’s good or not. The Oxford Dictionary says that the phrase was first used back in early 14th century…
This is probably the most popular weekend for carving pumpkins. You might be cutting up a few Jack-o-Lanterns the next few days. But where did it all start? Why do we carve pumpkins? Much like Halloween costumes, pumpkin carving started out as a way for people to scare off evil spirits around Halloween. Back in…
We’ve all done it when getting in the car for a road trip or with friends. You call “shotgun!” to get the front seat. But why do we say that? The phrase is a reference to back in the Old West, even though no one actually called it “shotgun” back then… it refers to that…
It’s Halloween season so today’s mystery is about one of the most famous monster movies ever. Frankenstein. Why is his skin green? Green is a very monster-y color but there is a very practical reason to why he’s green. Back when Universal Studios was making the movie Frankenstein they realized that the green shows up…