Ancient Mysteries, 2905 Paddock Way, Denton, TX (2026)

08/28/2026

The Highway of Tears: Decades Without Answers

For decades, women and girls have disappeared or been found murdered along Highway 16, the remote corridor connecting Prince George and Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia.

The cases date back to at least 1969, although the number associated with the “Highway of Tears” varies because authorities and community organizations use different geographic boundaries and criteria. Many of those affected have been Indigenous women and girls.

Long distances between communities, limited public transportation and historical gaps in cellular coverage left some travelers dependent on hitchhiking, increasing their vulnerability. These safety concerns eventually led to recommendations for improved transportation, communication services and victim support along the corridor. The British Columbia government⁠ has acknowledged the connection between these infrastructure gaps and the dangers faced by Indigenous women and girls.

Some cases have resulted in convictions or have been linked to known offenders, but many remain unresolved. Investigators have considered possible connections among certain cases, yet no evidence establishes that one person was responsible for every disappearance or killing.

For the families, the Highway of Tears is not simply a Canadian crime mystery. It represents daughters, sisters, mothers and friends whose lives were taken or whose whereabouts remain unknown—and a continuing struggle for answers, justice and accountability.

Every victim was a person, not a statistic.

08/27/2026

Actor Tim Curry, whose unforgettable performances made him a celebrated figure across film, television and theater, has died at the age of 80.

Curry died at his Los Angeles home on August 25, 2026, according to his representatives. A cause of death was not immediately announced. CBS News

He achieved international fame as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He later portrayed Pennywise in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King’s It and appeared in films including Annie, Clue, The Hunt for Red October, Home Alone 2 and Muppet Treasure Island.

After suffering a major stroke in 2012 that affected his mobility, Curry continued performing, particularly through voice acting. His memoir, Vagabond, was published in October 2025. Hachette Book Group

Curry leaves behind a remarkable body of work that entertained audiences for more than five decades.

08/27/2026

Peter Cullen, the legendary Canadian voice actor best known as Optimus Prime, has died at the age of 85. His family said he died peacefully at his Los Angeles home, surrounded by loved ones.

Cullen first voiced the heroic Autobot leader in the original 1984 animated series. He returned to the role throughout the following decades, including in the live-action film franchise beginning with Transformers in 2007.

His remarkable career also included voicing Eeyore in numerous Winnie the Pooh productions and Monterey Jack in the original Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers series.

Cullen’s family encouraged fans to honor his memory by leading with compassion, integrity and loyalty—and by remembering the principle that helped inspire his portrayal of Optimus Prime: “Be strong enough to be gentle.”

His unmistakable voice inspired generations and became an enduring part of animation history.

Rest in peace, Peter Cullen.

08/27/2026

DOLLY PARTON: FROM A ONE-ROOM CABIN TO A LEGACY OF 304 MILLION BOOKS

Dolly Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in Sevier County, Tennessee. The fourth of twelve children, she grew up in a one-room cabin near the Great Smoky Mountains. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, supported the family through farming and construction work, while her mother, Avie Lee, passed down the songs and stories that shaped Dolly’s creativity.

Although her father was a skilled farmer and businessman, he never had the opportunity to learn to read or write. Dolly later described him as one of the wisest people she knew, but said his inability to read prevented him from fulfilling some of his dreams.

Music offered Dolly a path beyond poverty. She began singing on local radio and television as a child and made her Grand Ole Opry debut at thirteen. After graduating from high school in 1964, she moved to Nashville to pursue songwriting and recording professionally.

On her first day in Nashville, Dolly met Carl Dean outside a laundromat. They married in 1966 and remained together until his death in March 2025—nearly 59 years later. Dean largely avoided public attention while supporting Dolly throughout her career.

Dolly’s national breakthrough came in 1967 when Porter Wagoner invited her to join his television program. Their partnership produced successful recordings, but Dolly eventually decided to establish an independent career. She expressed her gratitude and explained her departure through “I Will Always Love You,” which became a No. 1 country single in 1974. Whitney Houston’s 1992 recording later introduced the song to an even larger international audience.

Dolly wrote thousands of songs and recorded enduring hits including “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “Islands in the Stream.” “Coat of Many Colors” was inspired by a childhood coat her mother made from fabric scraps and the ridicule Dolly experienced when she wore it to school.

Her career expanded into film, television, publishing and business. In 1986, she partnered with the owners of Silver Dollar City Tennessee to transform the attraction into Dollywood. The park became a major employer and tourist destination in the region where she had grown up.

Her most significant educational project began in 1995.

Inspired by her father’s inability to read, Dolly established the Imagination Library in Sevier County. Participating children received a free, age-appropriate book through the mail every month from birth until age five. The program later expanded throughout the United States and into Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

Dolly said her father lived long enough to see the program succeed and told her that the Imagination Library made him prouder than anything else she had accomplished.

By the end of 2025, the program had distributed 304,539,509 books since its founding. More than 40.3 million books were mailed during 2025 alone. Its success depended on the Dollywood Foundation and thousands of local funding and community partners.

Dolly also supported disaster relief and medical research. Following the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, the Dollywood Foundation’s My People Fund provided monthly assistance to families whose primary homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable. In 2020, she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s COVID-19 research, which included work connected to the Moderna vaccine.

For her 80th birthday in January 2026, Dolly released a new recording of “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.” Net proceeds were designated for pediatric cancer research at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Dolly Parton died in Nashville on August 25, 2026, following a brief battle with cancer. She was eighty years old.

Her legacy extends far beyond record sales, awards and performances. The daughter of a man who never learned to read created a program that placed more than 304 million books into the hands of children around the world.

08/27/2026

THE PHOTOGRAPHER WHO PRESERVED A FINAL LIKENESS

In 1894, Pennsylvania photographer Stephen Horne Appleton created a postmortem portrait—part of a mourning tradition practiced by many families during the nineteenth century.

At a time when personal photographs were less common than they are today, postmortem images sometimes provided relatives with a final visual record of someone who had died. The deceased might be photographed in a coffin, lying in bed or carefully positioned for a formal portrait.

Appleton worked in Media, Pennsylvania, where he operated a studio inside his home. His surviving collection contains more than 2,000 glass negatives made between 1888 and 1909, including portraits, community scenes, legal photographs and multiple images of deceased adults and children.

The paired photographs associated with this story show the subject wearing a hat in one exposure and without it in another. They demonstrate how photographers could make more than one version of a sitting, allowing a family to preserve different presentations of its loved one.

The surviving archival record does not establish that the man was named Jonathan or explain why the hat was removed. Claims about the family’s discussion, Appleton’s thoughts or the meaning behind the two versions should therefore be treated as interpretation—not documented history.

What remains certain is that Appleton’s glass negatives preserve an intimate record of how some nineteenth-century American families used photography in mourning and remembrance.

Source: Media Historic Archives Commission⁠

08/26/2026

Katharine Burr Blodgett was born in Schenectady, New York, on January 10, 1898. Her father, George Blodgett, a patent attorney associated with General Electric, had been killed during a burglary only weeks before her birth.

Blodgett demonstrated an early talent for mathematics and physics. At fifteen, she entered Bryn Mawr College on a scholarship and graduated in 1917. During her final year, she visited General Electric’s research laboratory and met physicist Irving Langmuir, who encouraged her to pursue advanced scientific training.

She followed his advice, earning a master’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago in 1918. Her graduate research examined how charcoal could absorb gases—work connected to improving gas-mask filters during World War I.

Later that year, Blodgett joined GE’s research laboratory, becoming its first female research scientist. She worked closely with Langmuir on surface chemistry and extremely thin films, some only a single molecule thick.

After six years at GE, Blodgett traveled to England to study under Ernest Rutherford at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory. In 1926, she became the first woman to receive a doctorate in physics from Cambridge. Her doctoral research investigated the behavior of electrons in ionized mercury v***r. University of Cambridge⁠

Back at GE, Blodgett developed a method for depositing carefully controlled molecular layers onto solid surfaces. The technique, now associated with the name “Langmuir–Blodgett films,” allowed scientists to build coatings one molecular layer at a time.

Her most famous achievement was nonreflective—or “invisible”—glass. Ordinary untreated glass reflects part of the light that strikes it, producing glare and reducing image clarity. Blodgett coated glass with 44 molecular layers of barium stearate. At the correct thickness, light reflected by the coating interfered with and largely canceled the reflection from the glass beneath it.

The result was glass that transmitted nearly all visible light and appeared almost invisible. Blodgett publicly demonstrated the technology in 1938, and her research was published the following year. Later, more durable versions of anti-reflective coatings were developed using the principles her work helped establish.

The technology improved cameras, projectors, microscopes, telescopes, eyeglasses and other optical equipment. A coating based on her research was reportedly used in the camera and projection systems associated with the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. During World War II, related optical coatings were used in submarine periscopes and aerial cameras. Blodgett also contributed to research involving smoke screens and aircraft de-icing. Science History Institute⁠

Over approximately 45 years at General Electric, Blodgett received eight U.S. patents and published numerous scientific papers. In 1951, the American Chemical Society awarded her the Francis P. Garvan Medal for distinguished work by a woman in chemistry.

Blodgett retired from GE in 1963 and died on October 12, 1979, at the age of 81. Her methods remain important in surface science, while the principles behind her nonreflective glass continue to influence modern optical coatings.

Katharine Burr Blodgett did not literally invent every anti-glare screen or lens used today. She accomplished something more precise and historically significant: she pioneered molecular-film techniques that helped make modern nonreflective optics possible.

08/26/2026

Jono Lancaster was born in England in 1985 with Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects the development of the bones and tissues of the face.

Placed in foster care when he was about two weeks old, Jono was later adopted by Jean Lancaster, who provided him with a loving and supportive home.

Growing up, he endured bullying, staring, and cruel comments because of his facial difference. He has also spoken publicly about attempting to contact his biological parents as an adult and learning that they did not wish to meet him—a painful experience he eventually learned to accept.

Jono transformed those struggles into a mission to support others. He became an international public speaker, television presenter, and author of the 2023 memoir Not All Heroes Wear Capes. He also co-founded the Love Me Love My Face Foundation, which raises awareness and supports people living with Treacher Collins syndrome and other craniofacial conditions.

Through school visits, public talks, and personal outreach, Jono promotes kindness, self-acceptance, and the belief that a person’s worth is never determined by appearance.

08/25/2026

Tim’s Story: A Childhood That Deserved Protection

According to an account shared by his sibling, Tim experienced years of instability and mistreatment following his parents’ divorce. His father reportedly raised concerns about his welfare and pursued custody, but the situation remained unresolved.

Tim later died as a teenager after inhaling gasoline fumes—a dangerous form of substance misuse that can cause fatal poisoning without warning.

This story is based on one sibling’s personal recollections. It is shared not to encourage blame or harassment, but to remember a young person whose life mattered.

Tim deserved love, protection and the opportunity to grow up.

08/25/2026

A routine run with her dog changed Shelley Puchalsky’s life in ways she never expected.

In September 2019, Shelley was jogging along a dirt trail when her dog, Chloe, became frightened and moved between her legs. Trying not to step on the dog, Shelley lost her balance and fell face-first onto the gravel.

The impact left a deep wound across her forehead and damaged the skin on her nose. According to Shelley’s account, the injuries were initially treated with 20 stitches. When the stitches were removed a week later, however, the wound had enlarged and showed signs of infection.

In October 2019, a plastic surgeon used skin from behind her ear to repair her nose and closed the wound on her forehead. Instead of healing, the surgical areas became severely infected. Shelley later described developing a large open wound on her forehead that exposed the underlying bone.

A second skin graft, using tissue from her thigh, was performed in September 2020. In early 2021, an MRI revealed osteomyelitis—an infection of the bone—in her skull. Shelley also developed sepsis, a potentially life-threatening response to infection.

Surgeons performed emergency surgery to remove and clean the infected tissue and revise her grafts. She then remained on antibiotics for approximately four months.

Nearly six years after the accident, Shelley said the left side of her face remained paralyzed and that she was still living with scarring and an open area on her scalp. She hoped further reconstructive surgery would help repair some of the lasting damage.

What began as an ordinary fall became years of surgery, infection treatment and emotional recovery—a powerful reminder that even seemingly straightforward injuries can sometimes lead to serious complications.

Source: Shelley Puchalsky’s account published by ⁠That’s Life!⁠

08/25/2026

Milton Hershey Gave Away His Chocolate Empire—But His Legacy Isn’t as Simple as the Legend

Milton and Catherine “Kitty” Hershey had no children of their own. In 1909, they established the Hershey Industrial School—not inside their mansion, as the popular story often claims, but on farmland surrounding Milton’s birthplace.

The first students were four orphaned boys. The original institution offered housing, education, agricultural work, and vocational training to a narrowly defined group of children.

Then came the extraordinary decision.

Three years after Kitty died in 1915, Milton transferred nearly all his wealth—including his controlling interest in the Hershey Chocolate Company—to a trust supporting the school. The gift was reportedly valued at roughly $60 million at the time.

He did not donate “the entire company,” as viral accounts frequently claim. Hershey transferred his controlling stock to the trust, creating an arrangement that still gives the charity enormous influence over the company bearing his name.

But this celebrated legacy also contains an uncomfortable truth: the original school admitted only orphaned boys and remained racially segregated until 1968. Girls were not admitted until 1977. Its strict eligibility rules reflected the exclusions of its era, even while its mission transformed thousands of disadvantaged lives.

The trust’s immense wealth and corporate power have also generated later disputes over governance, spending, executive compensation, land transactions, and whether enough children were benefiting from its resources.

Today, Milton Hershey School serves students from financially disadvantaged families without charging tuition. The institution eventually became far more inclusive than the one its founders created.

So how should history remember Milton Hershey?

As a visionary philanthropist who turned personal loss into one of America’s largest educational legacies—or as a powerful industrialist whose remarkable gift was still limited by the prejudices and paternalism of his time?

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