near Kennesaw Mountain, some of the dead never quite left. There have been multiple reports of Civil War soldiers popping into people’s homes for a visit over the years. The Former Village Inn Bed & Breakfast The Bed and Breakfast may be elsewhere, but the spirits of the oldest building in Stone Mountain still linger. The ghosts of the former B&B owner, a Civil War soldier, and an African American man who sings hymns are supposedly still there. Signs of their presence include the smell of cigar smoke, lights and doors operating on their own, and faces showing up in photographs. The Wren’s Nest Unlike the other two sites on this list, this 1870 be problematic, except that these atoms tend to damage cells, lipids, proteins, and even DNA along the way, and that destruction has serious consequences. As Live Science puts it, “Free radicals are associated with human disease, including cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and many others. They also may have a link to aging, which has been defined as a gradual accumulation of free-radical damage.” Unfortunately, it’s impossible to entirely avoid free radicals and the havoc they wreak. The process that forms free radicals, called oxidative stress, can be kick-started by a variety of different substances found in food, water, medicine, and even the air we breathe, according to the Huntington’s Outreach Project for Education at Stanford University. Unsurprisingly, these substances are things already considered unhealthy, like alcohol, exposure to X-rays,
ozone, fried food, chemical pesticides, air pollutants, and tobacco smoke. That said, there is one molecule that is stable enough to stand up to and reduce free radicals: the antioxidant. According to a study published by Pharmacognosy Reviews, antioxidants can “donate an electron to a rampaging free radical and neutralize it, thus reducing its ability to damage.” Synthetic antioxidants exist but can sometimes have harmful side effects, so scientists advise protecting yourself by avoiding free radical triggers like alcohol, processed foods, and red meat, and ingesting natural antioxidants in the form of berries, stone fruits, olives, onions, garlic, and green and black teas. Herbs and spices like cinnamon, basil, turmeric, and fenugreek can ratchet up your antioxidant levels too. While it can’t guarantee immortality, the right diet can certainly help you stave off aging and disease, so why not start today?
If you’ve ever picked up a health magazine while waiting at the doctor’s office, then you’re probably familiar with the term “free radicals” — at least enough to know that they get a bad rap from doctors and beauticians alike. But what are they, exactly? According to Live Science, free radicals are atoms with unpaired electrons that have split off from oxygen molecules in the body and started to “scavenge” for other electrons to pair with. That wouldn’t
Eerie but Harmless The Haunts of the Friendly Ghosts of Atlanta
From Civil War cemeteries to the plantation houses of the Antebellum South, the Atlanta area has its fair share of purportedly haunted locations. The specters that purportedly inhabit these places lived during every era of this city’s history, and, while their presence may seem sinister, many of them merely serve as reminders of the times they lived in. Here are some historically significant sites in Atlanta that host friendly ghosts. Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Whether it is haunted or not, almost every Civil War battleground is going to have its fair share of ghost stories. The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain ended with around 4,000 casualties, and, according to residents who live
farmhouse has no tragedy or strange deaths, but that hasn’t stopped people from seeing the ghost of a tall woman walking toward a closet, or seeing a man’s face in the mirror. Aside from these eerie encounters, however, the Wren’s Nest is a pretty cool house with a lot of history worth a visit. Ghosts could just be a trick of the light or a figment of the imagination, but visiting a “haunted” location can be a fun and unique way to learn about our city’s history during the Halloween season. And, if you visit one of these locations, don’t fret too much if you feel an unnatural chill. At the very worst, it’s a harmless ghost just passing through.
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