Weird History

Hedy Lamarr lead a pretty non-conventional life for a Hollywood Starlet. From fleeing a life in Nazi-occupied Austria and a Nazi-loving husband, to helping create technology for the U.S. Military, Hedy was more than just a pretty face. Today, we’re exploring the badass life of Hedy LaMarr.

In December 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke and her mother were traveling to see her father on LANSA Flight 508 when the plane was felled by lightning and broke apart. Considered the worst lightning strike in history, the crash ultimately led to the loss of every passenger on board - except Koepcke. The teenager plunged two miles through the air to the floor of a Peruvian jungle, still strapped to her seat. Despite this harrowing experience, she lived to tell the tale. Koepcke, who miraculously suffered only minimal harm, ventured through the forest for 11 days seeking help.

Are ninjas real? While they seem like a part of Japanese folklore, they are, in fact, real. While most people think of the ancient shinobi mercenaries as nothing but stealth assassins, in reality, they were a lot more James Bond than Sonny Chiba's Hattori Hanzo. Espionage was the name of the game. Cloaked in a variety of disguises, they infiltrated enemy territory to learn building layouts, swipe secret passwords, and spread misinformation. If need be, they were also up for sabotage, mainly in the form of arson.

There’s been at least one time in your life when you’ve been out at a music festival and thought about whether or not you should miss your favorite band. After all, you'd rather drive home to use the facilities you know and love than use the coffins of crap that are located on the festival grounds. But when you gotta go, and you’ve got to do what it takes to make yourself pure again. Remember, it can always be worse. If you don’t think so, take a look at this primer on porta potty history and revel in your modern ability to not have to squat over a pit.

No one will deny that Ireland has had its share of hard times. From adverse policies implemented by Britain to inequality abroad, the Irish have weathered countless struggles and horrors. Despite their often tragic history, the Irish have created a unique culture that has profoundly impacted the world at large.

If you've ever been to the restaurant Medieval Times or eaten at a Renaissance Faire, then you've been horribly misled about medieval diets. The real story of medieval foods and cooking is actually simultaneously a lot more disgusting and a lot more boring, depending on who was doing the eating.

Nothing epitomizes the disastrous Cuba policy of the United States better than the abortive, three-day, failed Bay of Pigs invasion conducted by anti-Castro Cuban exiles in April 1962. In the annals of half-assed CIA operations, this debacle ranks close to the top of the list of Agency disasters. Although he had no personal involvement in the snafu, Che Guevara eventually thanked an American government official at a South American diplomatic affair for providing such a colossally unifying blunder.

Samurai dominated the country of Japan from the 12th to the 19th century. The fierce, disciplined warriors lived according to the bushido code, an unwritten set of rules and norms based in loyalty, sacrifice, bravery, and honor, remembered popularly as samurai code. Along with the code came samurai traditions and customs that defined their physical appearance, sexual relationships, how they killed and how they died. Just like pirates cherished their earrings and Vikings dyed their hair, samurai demonstrated their dedication to the code and to their lifestyle in some unique ways.

Most people know what happened to the Donner Party, a group of settlers led by George Donner and James F. Reed, once they reached Alder Creek, California, in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Members of the party resorted to cannibalism in order to survive after they became trapped by a massive snowfall.

The Old West wasn't all cowboys, saloons, and shootouts. Pioneers living on the American frontier also relied on doctors for all kinds of medical treatments. Epidemics, accidents, and STDs kept doctors busy. But unfortunately for patients, the majority of frontier doctors lacked a medical degree. In the Wild West, anyone could pretend to be a doctor and promote treatments like drinking sulfur or applying leeches.

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. Much has been written about Booth's motivations: that he was a Confederate sympathizer, or suffering from professional jealousy, or simply wanted attention. Regardless, when Booth left Ford's Theatre that night, he had indelibly changed the course of history, slaying a man now considered one of the nation's greatest presidents. In the weeks, months, and years following the event, the nation grappled with the consequences of Booth's actions. But for Booth himself, the results were much more immediate. In John Wilkes Booth's final days, he ran. He ran for 13 days, from Ford's Theatre all the way to a small farm near Port Royal, VA. The search to find him was one of the biggest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops involved.

On September 2, 1666, 80% of medieval London burned to the ground in the largest fire in the city's history. The fire raged for more than three days, consuming huge swaths of the city, but the Great Fire of London story often leaves out what happened after the fire. What happened to London after the Great Fire destroyed over 13,000 buildings? The country was amid war with the French and Dutch, so many Englishman first blamed foreigners, and while the city smoldered, mobs attacked immigrant populations. Others feared it may have been a Catholic plot. Preachers blamed the fire on London's gluttony, while the government hanged a man who falsely confessed to starting the fire.

What was it like to live at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project? As thousands worked to build a top-secret atomic device, the US military tried to keep the entire city secret. All mail was screened and sent through a fake address at the University of California. The security team warned residents to never use their real names, and to cancel all their magazine subscriptions. And the FBI even investigated the head librarian, suspecting that she was sharing secrets with the communists.

Who was Al Capone? For some, his name stirs up images of a cigar-chomping folk-hero-mobster involved in everything from racketeering to murder and drug-running (and what would ultimately put him behind bars, tax evasion). For others, maybe there's a desire to know the truth about the man who inspired Scarface. It's also possible you're just curious as his syphilitic dementia.

Making mummies in ancient Egypt wasn't for the faint of heart. Mummification was developed thousands of years ago but didn't become standard practice in Egypt until the Old Kingdom (c. 2600-2150 BCE). Embalmers were sacred individuals tasked with making sure the bodies of loved ones were appropriately prepared to make the journey to the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians approached mummification according to a detailed process tied up in myth, preservation techniques, and religious offerings.

The Great Pyramid – the largest of several Egyptian pyramids found at Giza – is the only surviving wonder of the ancient world. With such a fantastical past, it has long been debated how those pyramids were built without the help of modern technology. Over the years, it has been conjectured that ancient Egyptians carried large hand-carved rocks up massive ramps to set them in place, but that doesn’t explain how these enormous limestone blocks were transported to the Giza plateau in the first place. However, in 2017, archaeologists made a fascinating new discovery: a papyrus scroll that finally explains how the building materials for the pyramids were brought from far away.

One of the most interesting misconceptions about the Salem witch trials is that they were the first and only witch hunts that took place. What is significant about the Salem trials is they were some of the last to take place; they came just as the ones in Europe were dwindling - as something that European colonists brought with them to America. Although other trials took place in North America in the 1600s, notably the Connecticut Witch Trials, no witch had been tried and executed since 1663. It was thought to be behind everyone, so when the hysteria in Salem began, it shocked and continues to shock people. As you’ll see in these witch hunt facts, no one was safe - not men, not women, not even the family pet.

Camp Sumter, also known as Andersonville prison, housed 45,000 captured Union soldiers during the Civil War. Conditions at Andersonville were so horrific that 13,000 soldiers perished, many from overcrowding, starvation, and exposure. After the conflict, the Andersonville commander was put on trial for war crimes.

As draining as the 40 hour work week can be, we should really count our blessings for labor laws and HR departments. Picture yourself in the daily life of a serf: You work as much as your boss insists, you live in your boss’s house, and you can’t leave your boss’s house - even if they decide to sell it to someone else. You will live there forever, and your children will, as well.

Whether your name was Snorri or Erik, your daily life as a Viking was a meat-filled, chess-playing, human-sacrificing experience. Contrary to what you might think, daily life for Vikings didn't always involve going out to sea or violently conquering new lands. In fact, these Nordic seamen and their families had to keep up a certain lifestyle back at home. What was it like to be a Viking? If you were a man, you would farm by day, sleep in one big room with your entire family (and your goats) at night, and occasionally pop over to the local chieftan's longhouse for a feast with some lovely honey mead. If you were a woman, you were in charge of keeping the domestic side of things running smoothly. But don't worry if your marriage didn't work out - you were probably able to divorce your husband, even if the practice wasn't common.

Was the year 536 AD the worst ever? The 6th century boasted many exceptional events, people, and historical contributions. The exception, however, was one year that was particularly burdened with a level of tragedy and strife most historians say surpassed any other moment in history: 536 CE. This was the worst part of the Dark Ages.

Contrary to popular belief, Rome was not all crazy sex parties. In fact, ancient Roman parties were pretty tame by today’s standards. Most of the time, it consisted of noble families getting together, eating elaborate food dishes, and talking about everything from politics to the weather. These parties were beacons of status and networking opportunities, which is why they became a cornerstone in everyday Roman life. Partying in Rome was common, but racy Ancient Roman escapades weren't popping off on the daily.

The Death of Julius Caesar...What does the saying "Beware the Ides of March!" mean? It refers to the day - March 15, 44 BCE - on which Gaius Julius Caesar, a one-time dictator of ancient Rome, was murdered. His grisly assassination was legendary. But just as infamous were the conspirators behind one of the most well-known deaths in history. So just who had Julius Caesar killed?

In 1918 and 1919, the world took on a new, invisible enemy: the so-called "Spanish flu" pandemic sweeping the globe. The pandemic left tens of millions of casualties in its wake as it devastated one community after another. Given the scale of the disease, what was it like to live through the influenza pandemic? A particularly aggressive strain of influenza began infecting WWI troops in 1918. Though there isn't a consensus on where it came from, it's likely the strain originated in Kansas and spread to the rest of the world via troop movements.

There are plenty of conspiracy theories out there about the CIA and, in particular, CIA mind control. When it comes to Project MKUltra, however, the conspiracies are frighteningly accurate. The public doesn’t have to rely on hearsay and rumors to judge the project, as there are still MKUltra survivors alive and willing to share their stories, as well as a host of highly redacted documents somewhat detailing the experiments of the program.

In the chorus of the song 'American Pie' by Don McLean, we hear the line "the day the music died" which refers to February 3, 1959, when rising music stars Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson, AKA The Big Bopper, perished when their private airplane impacted into a snowy field. Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper were on the verge of success and were touring the upper Midwest on the Winter Dance Party tour when they made the fateful decision to skip a bus ride to their next destination and take a plane instead.

The medieval Catholic church was a mixed bag of corruption, persuasion, and fear-mongering. There are a number of scary historical facts about the Catholic church, many involving the use of intimidation and coercion against the faithful in an effort to - oddly enough - keep them faithful. Plus, this was a time when the majority of people were illiterate and highly superstitious, making it that much easier for the church to manipulate the population and make them ever dependent upon the church.

When most people picture a dictator, the first thought that comes to mind is usually of a strongman in military regalia. Seldom does one picture a dictator as a woman, and for good reason. There really hasn't been a female dictator in the modern sense of the word, but that doesn't mean that powerful women throughout history have never ruled with an iron fist. In fact, some of the most famous queens and female rulers in history have committed cruelties on par with their male counterparts.

Jesters, also known as court jesters or fools, are a big part of the history of the Middle Ages - but what was the role of a court jester and what was life like for him? It wasn't all fun and games; sure, the jester played a large role in medieval entertainment, but he also played the part of a trusted advisor, took part in household chores, and even followed his master into battle. He was also the unfortunate soul that was tasked with delivering bad news to his noble ruler.

Benjamin Franklin was one of America's founding fathers as well as a scientist, statesman, author, printer, activist, postmaster, and diplomat. He is renowned for his discoveries and theories on electricity and is credited with inventing swimming fins, bifocals, the lightning rod, a flexible catheter, and many other inventions we use today. Franklin was born in 1706, and was a middle child. His parents, who were soap and candle makers, could not afford to send him to school longer than two years so, by the age of 10, young Benjamin began working alongside his father. By the age of 12, he had became his brother James's apprentice at a printing shop. Franklin did not let his lack of access to a formal education prevent him from becoming one of America's most influential and famous figures.

So who was the original Cassius Clay? The simple answer is that he was a prominent abolitionist politician in the mid-1800s. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and was appointed ambassador to Russia by Abraham Lincoln. But that's not the whole story. Known as the Lion of White Hall - Cassius Clay was named after the estate and plantation he owned and grew up on - he was also one of the toughest politicians ever to walk the halls of Congress. He won duel after duel, and his physical exploits are legendary. Not only that, but he was also an open and vocal advocate for the abolition of slavery in the 1840s, in Kentucky of all places.

The story of the real Typhoid Mary - In the early 1900s, germ theory was a relatively new concept, and many – including doctors – were unaware of how diseases spread. At the time, bacterial diseases like typhoid and dysentery could still wipe out an entire family. Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who worked as a cook for affluent New York families. In her wake, she unknowingly left an outburst of typhoid fever, earning her the epithet "Typhoid Mary." By that time, doctors knew the disease was most commonly spread through excrement, and they were able to trace outbreaks by locating the start of an epidemic and following its spread.

American history is full of wild tales of adventure, genuinely ludicrous achievements, and no small amount of super depressing things. Caught in this tawdry tangle of sometimes violent and horrific, sometimes glorious and heroic history are Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, whose 19th century US Army unit Corps of Discovery embarked on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which stands as a singular triumph of the American spirit and will.

The world is swarming with deadly pandemics, epidemics, diseases, and the history of humanity can certainly attest to this fact. There have been many instances spanning our existence of historic epidemics that threatened humanity. While we are typically alarmed by more modern diseases and viruses such as AIDS or influenza, many scary health epidemics have been known to resurface over time. These illnesses that almost wiped out humans seem like something that could only happen in the distant past, but be warned: if we're not careful, future diseases could threaten to end humanity as we know it.

Tintin is one of the world’s most beloved comic book characters. However, his creator Herge has a dark secret no one wants to talk about. During World War Two he was accused of being a nazi collaborator. From his time in the Boy Scouts to working for a conservative catholic run newspaper, Herge’s past has always been haunted with accusations of racism and xenophobia. However, his time working for the French newspaper Le Soir, which was being run by the Germans during WWII, is a moral quandary on another level.

The younger crowd, and those in the older crowd who don’t remember high school history, might suspect that Black Tuesday was some sort of holiday-shopping event of yesteryear. Most people, however, recognize Black Tuesday—the day when the stock market crashed in 1929—as the start of the Great Depression. While the reality was not quite so simple and myths about the Great Depression abounded, there were multiple identifiable factors that led to the massive economic decline of the 1930s. October 29, 1929, stands out as such a clear and definitive beginning of the financial end.

Rock & roll was under attack during the mid-’80s. As the music got more theatrical and provocative and MTV gave it a national platform, America’s youth screamed for more. It was obvious that pop music was experiencing a revolution it hadn’t seen since Elvis swiveled his hips on The Ed Sullivan Show. Enter Dee Snider and his band, Twisted Sister.

You've likely heard tales of Anne Boleyn, the alluring woman who convinced King Henry VIII of England to give up his wife and child, break from the Catholic Church, and marry her. And she was the mother of one of the most renowned monarchs in British history, Elizabeth I. But there's a lot more to Anne than just her personal affairs, many of which were magnified or inaccurately portrayed by those with a political agenda after her death. So, who was Anne Boleyn really?

Ever since its debut on McDonald’s menus in 1981, the McRib has been a popular Golden Arches staple. Throughout its sticky existence, the McRib has garnered adoration from fans so strong that they’ll drive hundreds of miles for their favorite sandwich. The “McFib” has also earned its share of revulsion, confusion, and most of all, curiosity.

In 1942, a band of Polish soldiers freshly released from prisons and work camps stumbled upon an unlikely mascot when they traded goods for a Syrian brown bear cub. Drawn to his friendly demeanor and his outspoken antics, the Polish troops who adopted the young cub came to think of him as one of their own. As the war progressed and the men strode into combat, the cub who would grow up to become Wojtek the military bear was right by their side.

Even before Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift, rock and roll feuds tore both bands and fans apart. The transition from big hair in the late '80s to dirty hair in the early '90s created one of the most memorable rock beefs in history: Guns N' Roses (GNR) vs. Nirvana. Though the two bands shared many of the same fans, GNR and Axl Rose clung to excess in both lifestyle and performance, while Nirvana considered themselves the alternative, criticizing anything that seemed mainstream or aligned with corporate greed.

Personal hygiene in the 1700s was heavily maintained through a complicated balance of practicality, religious belief, and social position. Men and women living in colonial America washed their bodies and clothes with varying degrees of regularity, often falling victim to disease and disorder as a result. Despite the differing attributes of the original colonies, colonial hygiene in the earliest cities and rural settlements in America always left a lot to be desired, with odors, dirt, and waste being inescapable parts of daily life. Middle- and upper-class people tried to avoid or mask common nuisances like insects, usually to no avail, while lower classes simply struggled to survive.

Since filmmakers released A Cry In The Dark in 1988, dozens of sitcoms and reality shows over the years have referenced the phrase "A dingo ate my baby!" The expression is based on a true incident. The story of 2-month-old Azaria Chamberlain's death begins in August 1980, when a young Australian family lost their infant daughter during a camping trip. The Azaria Chamberlain death story gripped the world, as the public watched the Chamberlains endure a media trial. In 1982, Australian courts sentenced Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton to a life sentence in prison for killing her child. Azaria’s father, Michael Chamberlain, received an 18-month sentence as an accessory. Both parents adamantly maintained a dingo took Azaria from their tent. They also alleged the wild dog killed and devoured the infant.

Long before the phenomenon that was Amy Winehouse, whose mesmerizing voice captivated millions, there was Janis Joplin, to whom Winehouse was often compared. While Joplin only released three albums during her lifetime (and a few posthumously) and only one Top 40 hit, she still became one of the biggest American music stars of the 1960s, and her music continues to influence musicians today.

From 1485 through the latter part of the 16th century, a new plague – English "sweating sickness" – ravaged England and Europe, killing thousands of people. The fearsome disease had many names including, "Sudor Anglicus," "English Sweat," "the Sweat," "the Swat," "the New Acquaintance," and “Stoupe! Knave and know thy master." The dreaded sweat, which took its victims in fewer than 24 hours, was more or less localized in England, but it made its way to the European Continent in 1528.

Contrary to popular belief, not all pirates hobbled on peg-legs with talking parrots perched on their shoulders, patches covering their eyes, and broad West Country accents sharpening their vowels. One of the most important, fascinating, and relatively forgotten pirates was actually a woman, known to history as the so-called "Pirate Queen." There have been other lady pirates in history, but perhaps none as significant as Gráinne Ní Mháille, better known by the Anglicized version of her Irish name, Grace O'Malley. She was born in western Ireland around 1530. Though brought up in a life of relative privilege and wealth, she also faced limitations on her ambitions. The Ireland of her birth was one of eroding independence, as England sought to exert more and more influence over the island to its west.

No Edgar Allan Poe biography would be complete without examining the frequently bizarre circumstances surrounding his life. Although today Poe is universally admired and respected, his journey was a difficult and frequently depressing existence fraught with poverty, misfortune, and the death of numerous loved ones. Perhaps it is fitting that such an inventive writer who frequently created tales involving mystery, murder, and the macabre would endure such a haunted reality. Poe epitomized "the starving artist," a man who literally lived and died for his art. These weird, bizarre, and strange facts will help explain, "Who was Edgar Allan Poe?"

Every American who lived through the '80s remembers the Challenger explosion. But what happened to cause the famous national tragedy? How could such a catastrophe happen when NASA so meticulously checks and double checks all the equipment at their disposal? Even with all the risks, astronauts gladly put their lives on the line for decades in the pursuit of reaching for the stars. The Challenger tragedy was not the first or the last catastrophe to befall NASA. The exploratory organization has not forgotten the sacrifices of the seven crewmembers who died on January 28, 1986: Francis "Dick" Scobee, Mike Smith, Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ron McNair, Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.

Bold, brash, and just a little bit bonkers, Adrian Carton de Wiart was heralded as the "unkillable soldier" for good reason: Nothing slowed him down. As a veteran of some of the 20th century's deadliest conflicts, Carton de Wiart endured everything from serious head wounds to missing limbs but never seemed to consider the immense costs of war.

Featuring rock stars, singers, and musicians who died at 27, this list of 27 Club members includes some of the greatest musicians who died before 30. "The 27 Club" or "Club 27" is the colloquial name given to a group of influential rock musicians who died at the young age of 27. There are a few "members" who are always listed in "27 Club" groupings—such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain—and members to come later like Amy Winehouse.

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Arguably the crime of the century, Kennedy's murder stunned the American people and set off an outpouring of grief around the world. But the days after JFK's assassination also involved additionally shocking events and dramatic moments. In the immediate aftermath of the JFK assassination, Kennedy's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was shot to death live on American television. Oswald's background as a former resident of the Soviet Union, his Russian wife, and connections to communist Cuba added a cold war component to the assassination. The sketchy background of Oswald's assassin, Jack Ruby, also quickly fomented numerous conspiracy theories that became an integral part of any future discussion of JFK's assassination - one of these even claims countless eerie coincidences between Kennedy's life and that of Abraham Lincoln. What happened following the assassination of John F. Kennedy - arguably one..

When Woody Harrelson first rose to fame on the sitcom Cheers in 1985, his father had already made headlines for a much more nefarious reason. Charles Voyde Harrelson was given two life sentences for the murder of Texas judge John H. Wood Jr. - the first assassination of a US federal judge in the 20th century. While Woody would go on to enjoy a long and successful career in Hollywood, Charles's conviction was the end of a decades-long stint as a professional hitman. Although he was only ever convicted of two contract killings, it's believed that he was involved in many more.

The 30th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock music festival took place in Rome, NY, from July 22-25, 1999. But what was originally conceived as a modern homage to the landmark hippie-fueled musical lovefest of the 1960s ended up mutating into a disaster marked by aggression and mayhem. By the end, Woodstock '99 was being referred to as "The Woodstock '99 Riots." What caused Woodstock '99 to become such a low point in music history? The major culprits were oppressive summer heat, jacked-up prices, violent party crashers, and a lack of logistical oversight. When more than 220,000 people arrived to Oneida County that weekend, no one - especially the festival's organizers - were prepared for what was about to happen.

Pirate ships were dirty - there's no way around it. The life of a pirate was fraught with danger and disease, but the pirates themselves did find ways to clean themselves and their surroundings - at times. Maintaining hygienic practices on a pirate ship was an uphill battle. Lack of access to clean water, combined with confined living spaces, led to the rapid spread of disease. Harsh elements and inadequate nutrition further contributed to generally poor health. Baths, laundry, and oral hygiene were at a minimum, even with a somewhat surprising amount of medical resources.

Imagine surfacing from an ocean dive only to discover your boat is gone and you're completely alone. This scary situation actually happened to Tom and Eileen Lonergan on January 25, 1998. Tom and Eileen Lonergan were experienced divers on a trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef when their dive boat crew left them behind. Two days passed before anyone realized they were missing, and rescue teams searched for the married couple unsuccessfully for days. The two were never seen again, their bodies assumed to be lost at sea.

Sometimes, the words of politicians save lives. In the case of Teddy Roosevelt, "Bull Moose" Party presidential candidate in 1912, that was very literally true. Having already served as the 26th President of the United States, Roosevelt launched a third-party candidacy for a return to office in 1912. He was disenchanted with the political climate, especially with the sitting president, William Howard Taft, his chosen successor. As a result, Roosevelt started a third political party - the National Progressive Party - a group better known as the Bull Moose Party.

Long before Hugh Hefner and his guests in the Playboy Mansion graced television reality shows, women known as "Bunnies" served as the waitstaff in Hefner's clubs. Bunnies were distinct from Playmates, and clubs carefully vetted women for elite roles in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and London. Rare in the 1960s, Playboy Bunnies were afforded a largely unprecedented level of financial independence, and many were able to save enough money to purchase their own homes.

For decades, George Carlin was one of the most original and popular comedians to take the stage. His “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” routine is often hailed as a masterpiece of standup comedy and helped him get the title of one of the best standup comedians; it took society’s taboos and hangups to task while being flat-out hilarious. Carlin’s seven words are so notoriously profane they got tangled up in a court case, which took on the FCC’s power of censorship and landed in front of the Supreme Court.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was a homesteader and author, famous for her Little House on the Prairie book series. Like Juana Maria, who inspired the book, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Wilder actually existed. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a real woman who wrote books inspired by events that took place in her life. For example, she really grew up on rural farms in multiple states; her sister Mary actually went blind; and her husband, Almanzo, was not a work of fiction. Pictures of the real Laura Ingalls Wilder and family exist, and there is a museum dedicated to the family in Mansfield, Missouri, where visitors can at least see part of the real little house on the prairie.

Sultans in the Ottoman Empire loved to eat. In the 15th century, Topkapi Palace boasted a kitchen staff of 100 people, a number that grew to 500 during the 16th-century reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. Before 1600, the kitchen staff topped 1,000 people who were all dedicated to creating the confections, drinks, and elaborate meals eaten by the sultan. Ottoman sultans prized expensive luxuries that expanded beyond the Ottoman harems and into their kitchens as well. They stocked their pantries with ground orchid and other exotic spices, and imported ingredients from across their massive empire and from neighboring territories, including the Persian Empire and China.

On July 17, 1918, the House of Romanov came to an end when Nicholas II - the former tsar of imperial Russia - was gunned down alongside his wife and children in a surprise execution. The slaying of the Romanov family remains a gruesome chapter in modern history - and the whereabouts of their remains was one of history's greatest mysteries.

Everyone remembers 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, starring young Judy Garland; the classic tale that teaches you that there is no place like home, that the greatest weapon is water, and that we all have what we seek within ourselves. The popularity of the movie has, for decades, spawned all manner of spinoffs, merchandise, and even a creepy Wizard of Oz theme park. The kinds of lessons weaved throughout the movie are also present in the original Wizard of Oz books, on which the film is loosely based, but in the original stories, there are so many limbs being lost in any given chapter that the heartfelt message gets a little buried. The original Wizard of Oz stories were told through a series of 14 episodic novels by L. Frank Baum, who wrote them in the early 1900s.

Woodstock 1969 can be seen as the crowning event of the decade's free love movement, and its cultural impact spans generations. The shining star of the event turned out to be Jimi Hendrix's national anthem performance. His electric guitar rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" shocked and awed both those who saw it and those who heard about it. Placed within the larger context of the festival, Hendrix's set was seen as an act of protest against the ongoing conflict in Vietnam.

What happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921? A mob of 10,000 whites descended on Greenwood, the richest black neighborhood in America, after a black teenager on his way to a blacks-only bathroom stepped on the foot of a white elevator operator. The same flimsy pretext was used for a town's destruction, including the Florida Rosewood Massacre only two years later.

Polio reached its apex in the United States in 1952, with roughly 58,000 new cases of the disease reported. People spent their summers, also called "Polio Season," hiding inside, staying away from public swimming pools, movie theaters, and other communal spaces. Parents were so fearful of polio that they even purchased Infantile Paralysis insurance, the name for polio at the time, to protect themselves and their children. As a disease that afflicted thousands of children, adolescents, and adults each year, polio was devastating and incurable. Polio led to paralysis and, in many cases, death. With no cure available, vaccination was the only real hope.

Like any great conflict, the Crusades have been the subject of myths and misinformation for years. While few still believe the propaganda that justified the fighting, various false facts have proliferated over the years, concerning everything from the motivations of the Crusaders to their reception in Arab lands. It's easy to understand how both storytellers and audiences get swept up in the romance of the Crusades. The epic sweep, the clash of cultures, and the stunning aggression still thrill us today. But what was life actually like for a medieval crusader? Of course, the answer varies. The wars were radically different experiences for a noble knight than they would be for a common farmer.

For centuries, hemophilia was a dangerous genetic disorder with no treatment. Children with hemophilia often didn't make it to adulthood, since a bump or fall could cause massive internal bleeding. But why was hemophilia known as the royal disease? In the 19th century, royal intermarriage meant Europe's royal families shared a small gene pool. And Queen Victoria, the product of generations of cousin marriages, carried a rare genetic mutation that caused hemophilia. She passed it on to three of her children who went on to marry other royal families and spread the disorder.

The murder of John Lennon stands as one of the most significant events in music history. The death of the beloved songwriter and legendary member of the Beatles came just a decade after the band's breakup, well into his equally prolific solo career and new life as a parent with wife Yoko Ono. On December 8, 1980, Lennon was shot four times by Mark David Chapman, a crazed fan who waited for Lennon outside the singer's apartment at the Dakota in New York City. Arrested on the scene, Chapman later pleaded guilty and received a sentence of life in prison. Lennon's death remains so significant that most people old enough to remember it know exactly where they were when it occurred; the event serves as a cultural turning point.

Practically every book, movie, and TV show made in the last century that references the Victorian era romanticizes the time period. Beautiful gowns, lavish homes, and passionate romance are staples of the now bygone time. But in much of the media we consume about the seemingly sophisticated Victorians, no one talks about where they got their water or went to the bathroom, or when they last bathed. When you peel back all the layers of silk and lace, you'll discover that the Victorians were actually pretty gross.

Many think of the Victorian era as a time of tight-laced corsets and formal teas. And it was—but it was also the time of the Great Stink, a two-month stretch of 1858 in which London's primary water source, the River Thames, was so full of untreated sewage baking in the sun that the entire city took on an odious reek. The smell was so bad that it was blamed for illnesses among the upper class, reportedly caused citizens miles away to throw up whenever the wind changed, and eventually lead to the development of the London sewage system.

Nefertiti is one of the most fascinating Egyptian rulers in history. She was a queen, but also a priestess - and might have even been a pharaoh. She and her husband, Amenhotep IV (AKA Akhenaten), tossed out the old gods and set up the sun as god in the form of Aten. This didn’t go over well with everyone, but it did give the couple absolute power over their subjects. In her 14 years of rule, Queen Nefertiti was held in high regard by her husband, her royal subjects, and Thutmose, the sculptor who famously captured her face. Nefertiti was depicted as wearing the crown of a pharaoh, and may have ruled as one after her husband’s death while King Tut was preparing to rule.

In 1971, professor Philip Zimbardo put together one of the most intriguing and famous psychology experiments ever: the Stanford Prison Experiment, designed to study the effects of incarceration on prisoners and guards. Using an advertisement to recruit college-aged men in the area for a one-of-a-kind study, Zimbardo and his team hoped to remove volunteers predisposed to mental illness and those with existing records from their experiment. Nonetheless, the Stanford Prison Experiment brought out those qualities in its participants.

1980. The start of the decade. It was a totally rad decade that was filled with many changes to our culture. From the rise of Ronald Reagan to the tragic ending of John Lennon, the year 1980 would see many new, cool, and totally weird changes. Weird History is taking a look back at the year 1980. Part 1 of 10 of the 1980s Timeline.

As Britain's second-longest reigning monarch, Queen Victoria ruled Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901. If her would-be assassins had gotten their way, that reign would have been a lot shorter. Queen Victoria survived no fewer than seven - or technically eight - assassination attempts during her long tenure as ruler of England but was only injured once. Her husband, Prince Albert, supposedly threw himself in front of the Queen while protecting her. Somehow, all seven of her almost-assassins all escaped with their lives, but most were sent to Britain's felon-riddled penal colony, Australia.

Who's all on this list of rock stars and bands that died in plane crashes? Aviation accidents have been the cause of many famous fatalities. In the music profession, especially, many young lives have been lost to accidents in the air. Over the decades several bands have died in airplane accidents as the world mourned.

Let's look back at 1981 - In this video Weird History is going to talk about the news, culture, sports, and entertainment, and all that was weird in the year 1981. 1981 would be a year filled with deadly events, including attempts on Ronald Reagan as well as Pope John Paul II, we would also see high-profile marriages, Lady Di and Prince Charles as well as General Hospital's Luke and Laura and the emergence of the video game with the debut of Donkey Kong.

Though Marie Antoinette may not have actually said, “Let them eat cake,” the French monarchy and aristocracy displayed an almost laughable disconnection from common people in the decades leading up to the French Revolution. Though historians have been right to point to a variety of French Revolution causes - ranging from economic and social issues to questions of political representation - it is also true that French royal excess played no small role in driving a wedge between commoners and royals. Considering the decadence, cluelessness, and outrageous choices of the monarchy, it almost seems like the French were begging for revolution.

Today, pop culture includes vampires of all shapes and sizes, from the lovelorn teenagers of the Twilight and True Blood franchises to the bloodthirsty antagonists of the Blade series to the militant version of Dracula found in Castlevania. All modern vampires can trace their origins to Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was published in 1897, but the aristocratic shapeshifter in Stoker's novel can trace his origins to diseases that ravaged North America and Europe. In the 18th and 19th centuries, epidemics like tuberculosis and rabies swept across populations almost unchecked. Since disease and its causes were poorly understood, contemporary medicine offered little help. Facing the very real possibility of a fatal illness, many people turned to superstition for something to blame: vampires.

The year 1982, America would see new changes to the culture, sports, and entertainment landscape. In 1982, we would see the emergence of David Letterman, Michael Jordan's first shot on the big stage, and the move E.T. take the country by storm. Take a look back at the year 1982, part III in Weird History's retro look at the 80's.

Marie Antoinette faced tragedy as the queen of France - but what was life like for Marie Antoinette's kids? As queen, Marie Antoinette gave birth to four children, but only one of them survived the French Revolution. Although the queen's children grew up in luxury, living in the lavish palace of Versailles, two spent years locked in a tower during the Revolution.

George Washington's second inauguration took place in Philadelphia in March 1793. Six months later, yellow fever had ripped through America's capital city, taking 5,000 lives. How did the Founding Fathers react when the epidemic called "American plague" struck Philadelphia? Yellow fever, spread by mosquitos, causes internal bleeding and insanity before claiming patients' lives. When the disease struck in August 1793, fear spread through the city. Eyewitnesses reported "universal terror" as conditions worsened. By October, a hundred people were succumbing to the illness each day. Surprisingly, many Founding Fathers simply fled the city, leaving behind the poor to suffer in the streets. Both President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson abandoned Philadelphia. Two prominent Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Rush, stayed behind. Hamilton and Rush argued over the cause of yellow fever and how to treat it - and both men even caught the disease. Here's how Philadelphia su

In the year 1983, we saw many firsts; Michael Jackson's first moonwalk, Sally Ride becoming the first woman in space to the release of Madonna's "Lucky Star." The early 80s were starting to take shape. Join Weird History's Timeline as we dive into some 1983 nostalgia as we explore the hit songs, popular movies, the news, culture, and significant events in America and the world in the year 1983.

When Napoleon Bonaparte returned to France in 1815, he brought with him a Hundred Days campaign to recapture his power and glory. Napoleon emerged from the French Revolution as a military hero and, during the last decade of the 18th century, seized control of the French government. He consolidated his authority in France while embarking on military campaigns throughout Europe, establishing himself as consul for life in 1802 and emperor two years later. By 1812, Napoleon fought against nearly every European country, attempting to take over lands from Britain to Russia. A series of losses, including a failed campaign into Russia, led to his downfall and, when a coalition of Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish troops marched into Paris in 1814, Napoleon was forced to abdicate. As a condition of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he went into exile on the Isle of Elba in the Mediterranean. He retreated to the small parcel of land, only to return to Europe in early 1815.

Today, we think of 1700s-era France as a period of unwashed and unparalleled squalor. While this is partially a misconception, it does contain some truth. During the 18th century, people's attitudes towards personal hygiene were laxer than they are today, for a variety of reasons. In a world without the hundreds of modern conveniences we take for granted, personal hygiene was expensive and logistically difficult to maintain. Besides that, experts of the time believed that being too clean was unhealthy. Towards the end of the century, medical and scientific advances showed the benefits of cleanliness, and hygiene was gradually understood to be beneficial. Despite this, cleanliness was still a luxury reserved for the elite.

In the year 1984, long synonymous with the George Orwell novel "1984" - the world was wondering what year it would be? Los Angeles was hosting the 1984 Summer Olympics gave us a reason for optimism, while Apple's commercial "1984" boldly landed during the Super Bowl. Weird History is going back to the 80s, this notalgic look at the news, culture, sports, entertainment, and all that was weird in the year 1984.

The release of Netflix's The Highwaymen begs an important question: What is the true story of Bonnie and Clyde? Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow truly did live a fast and wild life on the wrong side of the law. A timeline of Bonnie and Clyde's spree offers a play-by-play of the critical events in the couple's short-lived lawbreaking career. Bonnie and Clyde's spree occurred against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Both Texas natives, Bonnie and Clyde were close in age - Clyde was born in 1909 and Bonnie in 1910 - and united in circumstance, since both came from families that often struggled to make ends meet. Their attraction quickly turned into a relationship, no doubt heightened by their shared ambition for fortune and fame. Holding up stores and banks became a means for the pair to gain wealth and excitement in down-and-out America.

On October 1st, 1993, standup comedian Bill Hicks performed on David Letterman’s new late night talk show for the first time -- it was a classic Hicks set that everyone had come to expect. In less than seven minutes, Hicks delivered some of his most stinging commentary on America to date. Unfortunately, the only people who saw Hicks’ set saw it live during the show’s afternoon taping in the Ed Sullivan Theater. The comedian’s performance never made it to air that night. Letterman edited Hicks out of that night’s episode...

Perhaps you've heard stories of the mythical Atari landfill in New Mexico full of unsold E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial games. Well, there's actually nothing mythical about it: the E.T. game landfill is very much real. In fact, it's not just the universally panned game based on the beloved Spielberg film that's hidden beneath the earth in Alamogordo, NM. Atari dumped a number of their garbage games in this infamous spot, and they tried to cover it up - literally. Much like the question "What happened to the G4 network?," people are still wondering what happened to Atari. For years, the company was at the forefront of arcade and in-home gaming innovation. They're responsible for Pong and the first video game Easter egg. Plus, they were one of the first consoles to play Tetris, even if they technically didn't have the real rights. But the early '80s got ugly in a hurry for the once-legendary creators of Pac-Man.

The life and legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots, remains intriguing more than 400 years after her passing. Her political scheming and personal hardships were colorful enough to inspire several films, including 2018's Mary Queen of Scots, but the fictionalized version can't compete with the actual events leading to her execution. After becoming Queen of Scotland when she was just days old, Mary was married into the French royal family. Widowed as a teenager and a stranger to her homeland, Mary seized her birthright and actively ruled Scotland from the early 1560s until she was deposed in 1567. Mary's love life was fodder for Protestant naysayers and political rivals alike, and her relationship with her cousin and fellow female monarch, Elizabeth I, was fraught with tension.

During the mid-19th century in China, a series of revolts against the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) raged, devastating the landscape and claiming millions of lives. The Nian Rebellion (1851-1869) in the east and north of China had ties to a Buddhist sect, while the Taiping Rebellion in the south was led by a man who claimed to be the recipient of divine revelations. Hong Xiuquan (b. 1814), a schoolteacher from a small village in the Guangzhou province, led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, nearly toppling the government and establishing himself as ruler. In the context of economic strife and religious fervor, Xiuquan blended public need and radical spirituality into an appealing movement for change. Chinese commoners flocked to support Xiuquan, and once he established his Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the country descended into civil strife that altered China's path in immeasurable ways.

Neil Armstrong made history on July 20, 1969, by becoming the first man on the moon, but he didn't brag about his experiences on Apollo 11. Facts surrounding the historic mission are more well-known than the story of the man who took that first step. Armstrong was such a soft-spoken and levelheaded guy - he might have been forgotten if it weren't for his accomplishments in space travel. Unlike his outspoken crewmate Buzz Aldrin, Armstrong refused to become a celebrity or take advantage of his fame. Neil Armstrong facts reveal a lifelong commitment to flying and acting for the greater good that earned him an opportunity as an astronaut.

The practice of blood feuding was a fundamental aspect of the Icelandic judicial system during the Middle Ages. A feud, something so complex that it lacks an agreed-upon definition, involved vengeance and hatred among groups - animosities that played themselves out through acts of aggression, compromise, or dishonor. In Iceland, blood feuds were not only part of the Viking justice system, but also social and political in nature. According to the Icelandic sagas and other historical sources, blood feuding involved specific guidelines and processes.

One of the world's most notable feats of architecture is the Colosseum in Rome. Opened in 80 CE by Emperor Titus, this massive structure existed solely to entertain the masses with gladiator fights, animal skirmishes, and, at some point, miniature naval conflicts. While it only took the Romans less than a decade to construct the Colosseum, careful calculation and planning were required. Architects and workers put extensive thought into every detail, from the amphitheater's architectural symmetry to its complex underground maze of corridors and capstans. For centuries, we have tried to imagine what occurred in the Colosseum, fleshing out a gory fantasy in film and media. For instance, the movie Gladiator, for all its inaccuracies, attempts to create an image of how Romans lived and fought. What we don't see is the grueling work - typically done by enslaved people - it took to put on one of the Colosseum's gruesome shows. Like sex in Ancient Rome, gladiator fights were about power...

Weird History is taking you back to the year 1985. We are mid-80s, the middle of the decade would be the catalyst for such great movies as Back to the Future and Rambo: First Blood Part II, Mike Tyson's first professional fight, and the start of such great 80s TV hits like MacGyver. Take a trip back to 1985 with us as we cover the news, culture, sports, entertainment, and all that was weird in the year 1985.

What happened right after the Revolutionary War ended? It's easy to think the United States of America was born immediately after the British surrendered at Yorktown, but in truth it was a long, arduous process to transform the idealistic embryonic state to a fully formed nation. Only after many years of challenging diplomatic talks was a peace treaty with Great Britain established. Not even the most insanely cool Revolutionary War hero could help speed up the process. It also took a long time for the British soldiers to actually leave American soil, taking loyalists and slaves with them back to England. The real work began after the British left, however. History rarely plays out easily for anyone.

Marvin Gaye was one of twentieth century Motown's brightest and most romantic crooners, and his short-lived singing career was full of range, promise, and tragedy. As a young church singer, Gaye demonstrated his talent and soon branched out to mainstream music and played or sang alongside The Supremes with Diana Ross before launching into his own success. Marvin Gaye songs include duets like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" with Tammi Terrell and political anthems like "What's Going On," but his death brought all of that to an end. The murder of Marvin Gaye by his own father in 1984 was a shocking event, rife with psychological and substance abuse backstories that clarify - but don't necessarily explain - how he died. Ultimately, Marvin Gaye's life was full of ups and downs that brought him back to his parents' house and into the line of his father's fire one day before his 45th birthday.

Weird History presents Timeline 1986 - we're going back to '86, prime 80s, when we would see terrible tragedies such as the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion and Chernobyl meltdown. But it wouldn't be all bad news, 1986 would also see such highlights as the inception of Pixar, Clint Eastwood became mayor and great movies like Top Gun and James Cameron's Aliens. Check out the news, sports, culture, and entertainment in the year 1986.

The people of ancient Rome may have lived thousands of years ago, but their diets were anything but old-fashioned. In fact, they chowed down on many foods we would shudder to even consider consuming today. The rich and famous, ranging from studs like Caesar and Antony to leading ladies like Livia, loved nothing more than sampling the oddest dishes our modern brains can imagine.

The US government seems to know far too much about its citizens, so it's disturbing to realize how little citizens know about the governing body. Learning what happens inside presidential bunkers and where the president would go during a nuclear attack is useful information, though. These bunkers were built in the middle of the 20th century, largely as a response to the mounting nuclear panic that accompanied the Cold War. Raven Rock, built in 1951, was one of the predominant shelters. From the underground city at the Raven Rock Mountain Complex in Pennsylvania, to the Greenbrier Bunker that's hidden in plain sight under a luxury resort in West Virginia, to the top-secret NORAD lair at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, these bunkers are incredibly secure.

Welcome to Weird History's Timeline 1987. We're taking a look at the news, culture, sports, and entertainment during the year 1987. Going back to '87, the materialistic 80s would see a slew of corruption, from PTL to Ivan Boesky to the Iran-Contra Affair. But there would be some uplifting moments - rescuing Jessica McClure from a well, the release of "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles", as well as the signing of the Nuclear Arms Treaty. Sit back and enjoy a recap of 1987, one of the most exciting years of the 80s!

Gladiators were the rock stars of the Roman Empire. But what was gladiator combat like? How did the slaves of the arena fight and survive over centuries worth of matches? Gladiator combat was a little different than movies would have you believe. Since myth is often more entertaining than reality, it can be hard to differentiate between fact and fiction, especially with history as distant as that of Ancient Rome. Lucky for you, here's a list explaining the real deal with what went on in the arena. It's pretty crazy.

Infants in medieval art all have one thing in common: They don't look like babies. Instead, they resemble miniature versions of middle-aged men, sometimes complete with receding hairlines and ripped muscles. Depictions of weird, prematurely aged babies appeared throughout the medieval era and into the Renaissance when the trend (thankfully) started to fade away. The Renaissance, in particular, may have spawned some of the best paintings of all time, but what's up with all those ugly babies in old paintings?

Weird History presents Timeline and the year 1988. In 1988, we would see one of the largest oil spills ever with the Exxon Valdez, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson, take one an undefeated opponent in one of the biggest boxing matches of the century and the release of Eddie Murphy's iconic "Coming to America." Check out Timeline 1988 for the news, sports, culture, and all that was weird. Weird History's Timeline: The 80s.

One of the most important battles in US history was the Battle of the Alamo. While most people know about the outcome of the battle, do you know what happened before the Alamo? Thanks to the glamour of Hollywood cinema, everyone envisions the Alamo as one of the most incredible sieges. The battle is seen as a romanticized epic war between Mexico and some of America's most legendary figures, such as Colonel James Bowie and Davy Crockett. While the battle was a significant and pivotal moment in American history, the hard facts of the Battle of the Alamo are not as glorious as many people believe.

It’s hard for those of us in the modern era to grasp the true horror of the Chernobyl disaster. Even a deep dive into the Chernobyl meltdown timeline can only reveal so much about the very real, visceral consequences of the event. Putting the sequence of events that led to Chernobyl into context takes an event that American history books casually summarize as a horrible accident and paints the incident for what it really was: a series of compounding mistakes that produced one of the greatest environmental tragedies in human history.

It is 1989! Weird History presents Timeline: 1989, the last year in the decade of the 1980s. ’89 would see the liberty prevail when the Berlin Wall fell, along with several other countries in Eastern and Central Europe - From Czechoslovakia to Romania, communism took a severe blow. Weird History and Timeline are going to show you the news, culture, sports, entertainment of 1989.

Most people have never heard of the Cerrejón coal mine, located in Colombia. The mine pumps out over 30 million tons of coal each year, and it's also become a critical site for scientists. In fact, the coal mine ranks as one of the best fossil sites in the world, providing a window into a tropical rain forest from 60 million years ago. Scientists almost missed the fossils at Cerrejón - until an undergraduate noticed a surprising number of sandstone impressions of fossil leaves. His discovery led to an expedition that found multiple new species, including the largest snake in history.

When you think of the stereotypical Wild West individual, what comes to mind? Does your mind conjure images of dirty, gruff men as mean as rabid coyotes, spitting large chunks of tobacco into metal spittoons? The type of men who would shoot you over a card game and spend their days riding through the vast Western frontier with a revolver firmly attached to their hip? Well, those men certainly did exist, but not many people remember how many tough women and Wild West heroines made their marks upon history.

Hygiene in the American Wild West was probably about what you'd expect - unhygienic. Men and women who made their way west across the North American landscape contended with harsh weather and difficult terrain - a less-than-ideal situation for finding a place to bathe. With the journey to new lands came a perpetual quest to find clean water, something that could be a matter of vital importance.

More than almost any other ancient ruler, facts about King Tut, the boy who led an empire and was buried in a tomb stuffed with gold and artifacts, have been hard to deduce. Who was this young man given the responsibility of carrying on a line descended from the gods? How did he live? And how did he die? Since Tut's tomb was found in 1922, these questions have slowly been answered. Thanks to advanced technology in DNA analysis, we've found some surprising things about his heritage and his physical stature.

A pearly-white smile wasn't always the status symbol it is today. In fact, people in the past frequently blackened or filed their teeth - some even replaced their teeth with gold as an indication of their wealth. Throughout history, teeth have been linked to status, and as such, dental fashion has changed over time.

Who was Catherine the Great? You definitely know the name but probably not the life of the fascinating woman behind it. In reality, the Russian empress truly earned her "The Great" epithet, though her achievements weren't necessarily "good." Born a minor German princess, Catherine married the heir to the Russian throne, tossed him out of power, and became a powerful ruler in her own right. Many Catherine the Great biographies mention her vigorous foreign and domestic policies as well as her tyrannical tendencies. But when she wasn't ruling, what did Catherine the Great do?

You know you’ve truly become a historical villain when your very name becomes a negative epithet. That’s definitely the case for Benedict Arnold – a man whose name has become synonymous with betrayal and treachery. The history of Benedict Arnold is actually far more complex and grey than most people realize, but all of the great things accomplished by the man will forever be overshadowed by the fateful decision he made late in America’s Revolutionary War. By betraying his fellow Revolutionaries to their hated British rivals, Arnold ensured that he’d forever remain a villain in the minds of American history books and guaranteed that the lighter side of his personal story would forever be obscured.

The daily life of a medieval executioner was not easy. They did more than simply chop off heads and break prisoners on the wheel. Trying to uphold justice and set an example for their community was only one part of an executioner's duties; they also served as medical professionals and sometimes as spiritual guides, helping the condemned accept their fate and beg forgiveness before God. Occasionally, other villagers ostracized executioners for having a grim job, and yet, as they say, “It’s a job and somebody has to do it.”

Dating in the Victorian era in America and in Britain meant navigating through a fog of modesty, prudence, ritual, corsets, top hats, calling cards, and your inner voice feverishly whispering etiquette book platitudes: "There is no propriety in voluntarily prolonging your ride, with a young gentleman, till after dark!" "Nothing can take the place of true genuine manhood!" Etiquette books were all the rage at the time, advising men and women on Victorian courtship rituals and what it means to be a proper lady or manly gentleman.

During the Revolutionary War, food was often at the center of the clash between the American colonists and the British. From the Boston Tea Party to coffee riots, Americans used food to express their anger at the British. Others stocked up on rum and Madeira wine, including George Washington, who ordered 1,900 bottles of wine after taking over the Continental forces. The conflict created food shortages, which some enlisted men combated by eating unusual foods. Troops fried up flour mixed with water, which they called firecake, and ate unappetizing foods like ox liver and sheep's head.

One of the worst movie set accidents ever occurred during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie. The film is now mainly remembered for its tragic behind the scenes story. Steven Spielberg decided to make the hit television show into a motion picture and he enlisted three other directors to create segments of the film. John Landis, who was a hot commodity after Animal House and The Blues Brothers, was given "Time Out." In this segment, a man tries to make up for past sins by becoming a hero.

Humanity has lived through some horrific periods in history, including natural disasters, plagues, and man-made crises. Plagues have threatened to wipe out civilization more than once, while famine, floods, and fires have brought devastation and destruction. Wars, depressions, and atomic weapons have also contributed to the darkest times in human history. How did the world recover from calamities like the Black Death, the Great Depression, and the Spanish flu?

The Tower of London is one of the most historic places in England; it's also considered one of the most haunted. As the site of numerous executions, torture, and imprisonment, the bloody Tower of London story makes it an obvious site for ghost sightings. It may appear on every tourist's "must see" list, but for paranormal enthusiasts, especially those who love history, the Tower of London should be at the very top.

If you came of age in the pre-streaming era of the '90s, you remember having to buy your CDs from stores. Or, maybe you took advantage of the Columbia House music club and its eight-CDs-for-a-penny deal, a discount that was too good to be true. How could they sell products for next to nothing and still make a profit? With a business model that’s downright Kafka-esque, music clubs managed to make money hand over fist by maintaining a low overhead, a high markup, and an ever-changing set of confusing rules. The following slice of music industry history lets you in on how music clubs made money, what customers were paying for, and how exactly they were being screwed.

During the American Revolution, newspapers printed sensational stories about George Washington's affairs. An enslaved woman named Venus claimed George fathered her son. And years after his passing, a racy love letter written to a married woman threatened to destroy George's sterling reputation. But what was Washington's private life really like? Was he as virtuous as his reputation? And what about George Washington's children - is it true the man died without ever fathering one?

Ancient Rome was the greatest empire in the world - until it collapsed. Did lead exposure doom the empire? Recent research uncovered high levels of lead in Imperial Rome's drinking water, but that wasn't the most dangerous source of lead in the ancient civilization. The Romans used an artificial sweetener called sapa, a grape syrup, to preserve wine and sweeten foods. And sapa, boiled in lead vessels, carried a highly toxic level of the heavy metal. The artificial sweetener contained lead levels 200 times higher than the EPA allows. One single teaspoon of sapa could cause chronic lead poisoning.

Few exploits of the 20th century could match the courage and perseverance of the Shackleton expedition. Ernest Shackleton became the ultimate model for crisis management when his ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition met with disaster. His ship, the Endurance, was stranded amidst the expanding ice floes of the South Atlantic. Initially forced to abandon the vessel (which would eventually sink as a result of the hull being crushed by pack ice), Shackleton established a series of temporary camps on the ice, in the hopes that his party would eventually drift closer to civilization. When this failed, Shackleton was forced to abandon most of his group on remote Elephant Island and attempt a 700-nautical mile journey to the populated outpost of South Georgia Island.

Ever wonder what living in the White House is like? That's easy: It's weird! Life in the White House for the first family (its only permanent residents) is like a cross between living in a fortress, a resort, and a museum - but somehow more unusual. From not being able to drive to having weak Wi-Fi, the country's leader has several liberties taken away while living in the White House. The truth about what it's like to live in the White House is stranger than fiction.

If you've seen Jaws, then you know the basics about the tragic descent of the USS Indianapolis. Considered one of the most grievous disasters in the history of the American Navy, it saw the sinking of a US heavy cruiser towards the end of WWII and the gruesome loss of a majority of its crew. If the Japanese strike had been carried out just a few days earlier, the crew might not have been able to deliver materials for the first working atomic bomb, Little Boy.

Out on the frontier, hangings were more than just a method of executing the guilty, they were a form of entertainment that offered spectators an escape from their everyday lives. Like many modern forms of entertainment, hangings weren’t just empty spectacle -- they also conveyed important messages to onlookers. Hangings were a stark reminder that while the west may have been wild, law and order still existed there.

American schoolchildren are taught that the slaves in confederate states were freed when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. However, while that may be true in a technical sense, the reality of actually freeing those slaves was far more complicated.

The Victorian era saw the advent of numerous political reforms, social changes and the world’s first industrial revolution. However, the Victorians had some other, stranger customs whose common observance died out long ago. These weird bits of etiquette range from the mostly harmless to the straight-up appalling and they paint a pretty clear picture about how far the Victorians were willing to go in the name of what they considered decorum.

David Lee Roth is a legend. He's one of the greatest lead singers of all time, for one of the greatest rock bands of all time: Van Halen. Diamond Dave led VH from its initial success in 1978 through the coked-out, Spandex days of the 1980s, fronting the band 11 years and running with the devil every single day. A consummate rock star, Dave's over-the-top persona and insane stage antics often overshadowed the genius of the band's music, which more or less conjured the entire genre of hair metal from thin air. David Lee Roth and Van Halen had quite a run together, as these crazy David Lee Roth stories attest.

The jaunty image of the Victorian child chimney sweep is indelibly romantic, evoking the picturesque London glamorized in Mary Poppins. But the truth is that chimney sweep kids – and children living in Dickensian squalor, in general – usually led lives that were "nasty, brutish, and short," to quote the philosopher Thomas Hobbes. The history of chimney sweeps is, in many ways, the history of London itself. After the Great Fire of London gutted half the city in 1666, chimneys were rebuilt to minimize the risk of inferno. Their new, narrow, winding structures meant that children were the only humans small enough to fit through them. The horrors of child labor were, of course, legion; and the repercussions were dire for these small workers.

The Druids were either an intellectual class or priestly class of Celts living in Gaul (a region that encompassed the majority of Western Europe and the British isles) around 1200-600 BCE and beyond. While modern neo-Druids have a tree-hugging, pagan, hippie vibe, the reality is that the original, historical Druids are sort of a mystery. Scholarly research and historical accounts suggest, though, that the Druids were more intellectual than they were religious, and that they spent more time establishing a socially just society than they did worshipping at places like Stonehenge, which, spoiler, wasn't even theirs. But what little we do know about Druid history and Druid beliefs is pretty fascinating.

There are countless debates out there surrounding Ernest Hemingway, including whether or not he’s the greatest American novelist of all-time, as well as about the themes of misogyny in his writing (and his life). But, there’s another, less literature-based question lingering about the author – was Ernest Hemingway a spy? Specifically, was there a direct connection between Hemingway and the KGB? The notion might seen ridiculous, but enough evidence has come to light in recent years that it’s now a historical certainty – Hemingway: a Soviet spy. One J. Edgar Hoover and his CIA were on to, at that.

Richard Milhous Nixon's presidency was full of excitement, intrigue, grievously bad judgment, and booze – which is why so many drunk Richard Nixon stories have lived on long past the man. Tales about the end of his tenure as president are no different. In the wake of Watergate – as his removal from the Oval Office became imminent in the late summer of 1974 – it was clear to Nixon that he had to do the unthinkable. He had to resign. As he slowly accepted his fate, he turned increasingly inward, brooded, drank, swore, and took out his frustrations in alarming ways. Nixon didn't handle his liquor well, and with the end of his presidency in sight, Watergate, depression, and scotch got the better of him as his time in office drew to a close.

On Oct. 13, 1972, a plane carrying 45 passengers, including the Old Christians Uruguayan rugby team, crashed in the Andes between Chile and Argentina. The Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 survivors believed they would be rescued within days. They could not have predicted how long their ordeal would last or that they would become famous as the "Andes mountains cannibals." Of the 27 passengers who survived the impact, only 16 returned home alive when they were finally rescued over two months after the crash. In order to survive on an Andes mountainside, the rugby team crash survivors were forced to consume the flesh of fellow passengers who passed away.

On May 6, 1937, the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg, a type of rigid aircraft known as a Zeppelin, was making its final approach to Manchester Township, New Jersey, when it caught fire and crash landed. In total, 35 of the 97 people on board died in the disaster along with one ground crewman. Once ignited, the ship crashed quickly, with some reporting the entire incident took as little as 32 seconds from the first sign of distress to the airship hitting the ground. The disaster captured the public's attention thanks to the eyewitness testimony of a reporter who was present and the fascinating and disturbing footage filmed during the disaster. There have been many theories about what went wrong during the fateful flight of the Hindenburg.

What do Queen Victoria, the Pied Piper, and a children’s book have in common? Rats, of course – more specifically, the art of catching them. The history of rat-catching is a lot more fascinating than you might expect, but it's probably just as gross. From sewers to disease to lucrative rat-fighting businesses, rat-catching is definitely the kind of dirty and disgusting job that deserves more recognition.

For as long as it's been in existence, the royal world has been special, elevated above the mediocrity of regular life and filled with the pleasures and privileges of divine power and influence. And even though the practical function of the monarchy has become mostly symbolic, the public fascination with its office certainly has not. So, for example, when Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to the newest members of the English monarchy, public curiosity about her experience was boundless. But alas, the details were not so thrilling, as she and William apparently greeted their precious new bundles much like any average citizen – in the privacy of a clean and well-lit room with just a few medical attendants nearby.

Western civilization, descended from the Greeks, has always been fascinated by the powerful and mysterious Egyptian culture and their seemingly strange behaviors. One of the things the Greeks were particularly interested in was the Egyptian diet. In fact, the Greek historian Herodotus spent an inordinate amount of time in his writings on Egypt tracing the exact dietary patterns of the ancient empire. So what did these people eat? What gave them the strength to build the pyramids, to spread out from the Nile, to forge one of the most influential empires the world has ever seen? The answers might surprise you.

Rarely have women in history played a more deliciously mysterious role than that of the 600 years of the Ottoman Empire, when what is modern-day Turkey and lands from the Balkans to Syria sat at the center of a great Empire. These were the days of the harem, when women - and girls as young as seven years old - were held in a secret world where they could be governed, educated, and primarily enjoyed by the sultan and his court.

The start of a new decade and this year would turn out to be a real dumpster fire. Or more specifically, actual fires, metaphorical wildfires spreading like, well wildfire...2020 was a year of Fauci, UFOs and a basket case named Baskin. The year was so crazy that we had to make it an instant history.

The Vikings - a group of exploring and raiding seafarers from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway - traversed the world from the eighth to the 11th centuries. As warriors, traders, and eventual settlers, the Vikings disrupted the lives of those groups they encountered while simultaneously facilitating cultural exchange and making an impression that was often less than positive. This is how they managed to keep it clean.

Crinolines put the hoop in the Victorian-era skirt. For two decades, women wore crinolines - lightweight cages attached to their waists - under their clothing to create a wide, bell-shaped silhouette. Thanks to crinolines, hoop skirts may be the most iconic and defining piece of fashion from the 1800s.

Before the early 2010s, scientists were conflicted on the question of Homo sapiens interbreeding with Neanderthals, but since then, multiple studies have shown the incredible overlap between Neanderthal and human DNA - enough that approximately 1%-4% of modern human DNA traces directly back to Neanderthal ancestry. Neanderthals coexisted with modern humans for tens of thousands of years, and the two groups certainly met. Evidence shows that Homo sapiens not only procreated with Neanderthals - they also slew and ate them.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a fascinating history. From its founding in the 1820s by Joseph Smith to the its modern-day prevalence in Utah, the religion continues to intrigue believers and skeptics alike. Aspects of Mormonism are shrouded in mystery to outsiders - but would you believe that there are rumored ties between the mob and the LDS church? Before your imagination goes into overdrive, know that the Mormon church isn't rife with organized crime. True, there are bizarre tales of Mormons and Howard Hughes; the eccentric billionaire's business holdings were controlled by the so-called "Mormon Mafia." And then there's the religion's roots in Las Vegas...

Timothy Treadwell, the Grizzly Man who spent 13 summers living with the bears, was part activist, part actor, and mostly mystery. His dreams of Hollywood stardom never panned out, but you could argue that his life story is something straight out of a movie. Actually, he's been the subject of a few documentaries, the most famous being Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man.

Easter Island is a Chilean island located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. It's most widely known for the incredible stone statues - called moai - that were created and scattered across the island by its early inhabitants, the Rapa Nui. When the Polynesians first settled on the island between 700 and 1100 CE, they developed a thriving society of nearly 15,000 people. But it wasn't until the first Europeans visited the island, under the direction of a Dutch explorer named Jacob Roggeveen, that the name Easter Island was adopted, as he first happened upon the mysterious island on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722.