901 Spirit Seekers, Memphis, TN (2026)

06/01/2026

🌀 MYTHOLOGY MONDAY 🌀

Huracán and the Storm That Gave Hurricanes Their Name

Since today marks the first day of hurricane season, it felt like the perfect time to explore the ancient storm deity whose name still lives on every time we talk about tropical weather.

Different mythology. Different understanding of storms.

This week we travel to Mesoamerica, home to the ancient Maya civilization.

The Maya built massive cities, studied the stars, developed complex calendars, and created one of the most advanced civilizations in the ancient Americas. Their influence stretched across what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

And like many cultures, they looked to mythology to explain the powerful forces they saw in the world around them.

One of those forces was the storm.

In Maya mythology, Huracán was a powerful deity associated with wind, storms, and creation itself. Some traditions describe him as helping shape the world through his words and commands. Others associate him with great floods and destructive weather.

But what makes Huracán especially interesting is that his story lives on in a way most people don’t realize.

His name eventually became the root of the word hurricane.

Over centuries, the word traveled through indigenous languages, into Spanish as huracán, and eventually into English as hurricane.

So every time we talk about hurricane season, we’re unknowingly using a word with roots in ancient mythology.

What I love about this story is that it reminds us storms have always inspired awe.

Long before satellites.

Long before forecast models.

Long before meteorologists stood in front of weather maps.

People watched powerful storms roll in and saw something larger than themselves.

And honestly, standing on a coastline watching a hurricane approach, it’s not hard to understand why.

So here is your Mythology Monday question.

Do you think ancient people explained storms through mythology because they feared them…

Or because they respected them?

And if there is a myth you want me to explore next, leave it below.

We might travel there next.

05/19/2026

🗝️ HIDDEN MEMPHIS
PART 41
THE U.S. MARINE HOSPITAL

If you have ever driven along Metal Museum Drive and looked up at that stately red brick building on the bluff, you have seen one of the most important medical sites in Memphis history.

Most people know it as the “creepy abandoned hospital.”

It was never just that.

The U.S. Marine Hospital was part of the nation’s first federal healthcare system. Established under the Marine Hospital Service in 1798, it was created to care for merchant seamen and river workers who became sick or injured while working America’s waterways. That system later evolved into what we now know as the U.S. Public Health Service.

Memphis was a critical location.

In the 1800s, the Mississippi River was America’s economic artery. Cotton, lumber, livestock, and people flowed through it daily. So did disease.

After Memphis was devastated by repeated yellow fever epidemics, including the catastrophic outbreak of 1878 that collapsed the city government, federal oversight of river health and quarantine became essential. The Marine Hospital stood on the bluff so officials could monitor traffic and respond to outbreaks moving up and down the river.

The current red brick Georgian-style building most people recognize today was constructed in the 1930s, replacing earlier facilities that dated back to the 1880s. It treated river workers, Civil War veterans, federal employees, and later members of the armed services. It operated through the Great Depression and World War II. It was even used during Desert Storm to house soldiers.

The hospital did not close because it failed.

It closed in 1965 as river commerce declined and federal medical services consolidated elsewhere.

For decades afterward, the building sat largely vacant, which is when the ghost stories began.

But history kept moving.

In 1979, part of the former hospital campus became home to the National Ornamental Metal Museum, now known simply as the Metal Museum. For more than forty years, it operated from the western portion of the historic site, preserving both ironwork and architecture along the river bluff.

Now, even that chapter is changing.

The main hospital building has been redeveloped into residential apartments known as The Marine Residence. Instead of hospital wards, there are living rooms. Instead of quarantine inspections, there are balconies overlooking the Mississippi.

And the Metal Museum is preparing to relocate to Overton Park, moving into the former Memphis College of Art building.

So this site has transformed three times:

Federal medical hospital.
National arts institution.
Residential housing.

All on the same stretch of Chickasaw bluff land that shaped the founding of Memphis itself.

Yes, people still talk about strange sounds and shadows in the windows.

But what makes this place powerful is not folklore.

It is the fact that Memphis stood on the front line of epidemic response long before modern medicine. Long before vaccines. Long before public health became a household phrase.

The U.S. Marine Hospital is not just an old building by the river.

It is proof that Memphis has always been a city shaped by the Mississippi, by disease and recovery, by reinvention, and by survival.

Hidden Memphis
Part 41

05/12/2026

🚨 BREAKING NEWS: NBA player Brandon Clarke has reportedly died at the age of 29. 💔🕊️

The shocking news has sent waves through the basketball world, leaving fans, teammates, and the entire NBA community heartbroken. Known for his hustle, athleticism, and humble personality, Clarke became one of the most respected young players in the league during his time with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Gone far too soon. Prayers up for his family, friends, teammates, and everyone mourning this tragic loss. 🙏🏾

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