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Continue reading →: Invisible in Plain Sight: The Human Reality of Homelessness in AmericaHomelessness doesn’t look the same everywhere, and you can’t know someone’s story simply by looking at them. From Portland’s tent communities to the tunnels beneath Las Vegas, a closer look at the human lives behind America’s homelessness crisis—and why compassion should never depend on someone’s circumstances.
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Continue reading →: When Healing Became Confinement: The Dark History of America’s Psychiatric InstitutionsAmerica’s psychiatric institutions were once built with the promise of healing, but for many patients, they became places of confinement, neglect, and abuse. From forgotten patients to courageous reformers, discover the unsettling history behind the asylum walls.
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Continue reading →: The Witches of York: Four Legends South Carolina Almost ForgotLong before Salem became synonymous with witchcraft, South Carolina had its own collection of strange legends. From mysterious illnesses and shapeshifting crows to midnight journeys and a very unfortunate chimney, discover four forgotten tales of the Witches of York County, preserved in a 1927 newspaper.
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Continue reading →: The Summer South Carolina Went Looking for a Lizard ManIn the summer of 1988, a seven-foot reptilian creature allegedly emerged from a South Carolina swamp, sparking fear, national headlines, and even armed monster hunts. Nearly four decades later, I’m revisiting the strange summer when Bishopville went looking for the Lizard Man.
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Continue reading →: Amityville: When Tragedy Became a HauntingBefore Amityville became America’s most famous haunted house, six members of the DeFeo family lost their lives. Fifty-one years after Ronald DeFeo Jr.‘s trial began, we revisit the tragedy, the disputed haunting, and how a family’s story became a horror legend.
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Continue reading →: One Country. Many Histories.One country, many histories. From Christopher Columbus and Italian American heritage to the lessons we remember from school, we’re exploring why honoring our past means teaching the whole story—the accomplishments, the sacrifices, and the uncomfortable truths.
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Continue reading →: Behind the Sideshow Curtain: The Strange History of America’s Freak ShowsBehind the colorful banners and carnival curtains was a history far more complicated than the spectacle. From P. T. Barnum to the people displayed as human curiosities, we’re uncovering the real stories behind America’s freak shows—and the lives that deserved to be seen as more than attractions.
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Continue reading →: A History Older Than DiscoveryLong before Columbus, the Vikings, or the maps that claimed a new world had been discovered, people were already building communities, shaping civilizations, and making history. Their story began thousands of years before European explorers arrived—and it deserves to be told.
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Continue reading →: Who Was Aïsha Qandisha Before She Became a Legend?Was Aïsha Qandisha a Moroccan woman who fought Portuguese soldiers, or a spirit shaped by centuries of folklore? My ancestry journey takes us to North Africa, where history, legend, and mystery collide—and the receipts don’t tell quite the story you might expect.
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Continue reading →: The Beast of GévaudanBetween 1764 and 1767, something terrorized the French countryside. People died, royal hunters were dispatched, and records survived. But more than 250 years later, one question remains: What exactly was the Beast of Gévaudan?
Welcome to Just Guyton. Real life. Honest thoughts. Random observations.
