In this teaser for a faux documentary about Bioshock Infinite's floating city of Columbia, we learn a bit of the game's pre-history.

Most interesting to me are the strong ties the fictional floating city of Columbia has to the very real 1893 World's Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition. That particular World's Fair has quite a dark and intriguing history. It involves a serial killer, an almost surreal list of famous and soon-to-be famous people, and some tremendous feats of engineering, technology and architecture. The World's Fair was so interesting it was the subject of an amazing novel: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America.

I'm only aware of the novel because Bioshock Infinite developer Ken Levine once suggested I should read it. Judging by this latest trailer, it's clear that not a little of the Columbian Exposition and its wild history and influence seeped into the game.