In the 19th and 20th centuries, laryngologist Chevalier Jackson pioneered new methods to remove weird things that people swallowed, from safety pins, buttons, cigarette butts, and even a toy dog (seen here in the esophagus of the 3-year-old who gulped it down). — Read the rest

On April 26, 1865, Sergeant Boston Corbett shot and killed John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin who was hiding out in the barn of a tobacco barn in Caroline County, Virginia. Or did he? Some historians have suggested that the man in the barn wasn't Booth, and that he lived for several more decades under assumed names before committing suicide. — Read the rest

Hi everyone! Pleased to be back on Boing Boing again. Last time I was here with Dylan Thuras we announced the launch of the Atlas Obscura, a user-generated compendium of the world's "wondrous, curious, and esoteric" places.

Dylan and I are excited to let everyone know about the upcoming real-world manifestation of the Atlas: International Obscura Day, taking place on Saturday, March 20th, 2010. — Read the rest

Noah from the wonderful Skull-a-Day site got interviewed by Robert Hicks, PhD, Director of the Mütter Museum (Philadelphia's astounding pathology musuem). The Mutter is one of the most astounding, humbling, beautiful places I've ever been.

No Bones About It! Featuring Noah Scalin

(Thanks, Noah! — Read the rest

Mark Dery is guest blogger du jour until August 17. He is the author of Culture Jamming, Flame Wars, Escape Velocity, and The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium. He's at work on The Pathological Sublime, a philosophical investigation into the paradox of horrible beauty and the politics of "just looking." — Read the rest

Here's part five of the Boing Boing Holiday Gift Guide, a roundup of the bestselling items from this year's Boing Boing reviews. Today's installment is nonfiction books.

Don't miss the rest of the posts: kids' stuff, fiction, gadgets and comics. — Read the rest

At her Paper magazine blog, the amazing Ann Magnuson posts about the myths and reality of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center's National Museum of Health and Medicine. Sadly, and contrary to widespread elementary school belief, the Museum is not home to John Dillinger's penis. — Read the rest

Very few places have impressed me as deeply as Philadelphia's Mütter Museum, the College of Physicians' permanent pathology museum, build on the collection of a Victorian pathologist, since expanded and improved upon.

The Mütter's collection is devoted to preserved remains of human oddities. — Read the rest