Manchester City Library

Have you ever wondered what is inside Area 51?  Why is it called Area 51, anyway?  No one seems to know.  It’s remained a great mystery for many years, at least since 1955 when the air force base opened.  No one is allowed in and the CIA has only recently admitted that it exists.  It’s suspected of harboring UFOs and aliens.  Employees are flown into the area by plane.  What do you think?  Learn more about this and many other weird phenomena by checking out the Rotunda display on Folklore and Urban Legends. 

What about the Curse of the Bambino?  The curse, as I’m sure you all know, refers to Babe Ruth leaving the Red Sox for the Yankees in 1920.   The Red Sox wouldn’t win the world series for 86 years after the Bambino left.  As we all know, the curse was broken in 2004 when the Red Sox won the World Series.  Ya gotta love broken curses!  I’m told there were many “reversed curse” parties that year.

And because this is my favorite legend maybe of all time and easily the craziest bit of folklore I’ve ever heard, I must, must mention the famous Mikey and pop rocks legend.  It’s too deliciously stupid not to.  And besides, I can actually recite the entire commercial by heart (I’m not proud of it).  Anyway, Mikey was the name of a little boy in the Life Cereal commercial which came out in 1974.  Mikey was just 3 years old.  Legend has it that little Mikey perished by eating a colorful, rock shaped sour candy, popular at the time, called Pop Rocks.  This legend was straight-up not true.  I’m happy to inform you that Mikey, whose real name is John Gilchrist (posing below right) is alive and well and living in Pelham, New York with his wife and 3 kids.  Go Mikey!

Hey wait!  What about the Loch Ness monster or Big Foot or the secret messages when playing Beatles songs backwards? 

Check out all things paranormal, cursed, or just insanely stupid at the September/October Rotunda display and have fun.