People who cheat death think that they deserve to keep right on living. To die soon after would be just pointless and cruel on any level of cosmic life. There are, however, those misfortuned souls that died soon after they eluded death. The helicopter that mowed down earthquake survivors in their sleep Few things can…
The Amityville Horror is a book by American author Jay Anson, published in September 1977. It is also the basis of a series of films released from 1979 onward. The book is claimed to be based on the paranormal experiences of the Lutz family, but has led to controversy and lawsuits over its truthfulness. Historical…
The world is pretty awesome. Even in our modern age, it’s full of hidden secrets like entire underground cities, and it’s also full of some seriously desolate, brutal terrain that we haven’t tamed yet. And it turns out there’s also places where the world has swallowed some amazing – and strange – things completely,…
This young Frenchwoman was only 17 when she changed the destiny of the Kingdom of France. She campaigned for her country against the English without a thought for her safety and became the first female French national hero. Joan of Arc, also known as the Maid of Orléans, was a commander of men who was…
Religious Cults. Religion has been one of the great guiding forces in human history, along with geography, economics, and the desire to impress the opposite sex. Some faiths spread across the world and change the way people view their place in the universe. Others are nipped in the bud, or remain niche faiths with little…
They say that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” But if you take her love away, it gets a helluva lot worse – something the Germans would find out the hard way. Mariya Vasilyevna was born on August 16, 1905, in Crimea as one of ten children. Coming from a family of dirt…
The Black Death, also known as the Pestilence (Pest for short), the Great Plague or the Plague, or less commonly the Black Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. The…
The Peasants’ Revolt, also named Wat Tyler’s Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black Death in the 1340s, the high taxes resulting from the conflict with France during the Hundred Years’ War and instability within the local leadership of…
We can safely say that the period of man’s history from 476 AD to 1000 AD was the most maligned of all. This period, known to historians as the Early Middle Ages, is still referred to by most laymen as the Dark Ages. In fact the term “dark ages” is almost as ancient as the…
(recommend audio) The Athenian Revolution (508–507 BCE) was a revolt by the people of Athens that overthrew the ruling aristocratic oligarchy, establishing the almost century-long self-governance of Athens in the form of a participatory democracy – open to all free male citizens. It was a reaction to a broader trend of tyranny that had swept…
The last soldier surrendered. During World War II around 450,000 German soldiers were imprisoned in 700 camps across the United States. After the war ended, these prisoners were repatriated to Germany. But seven of them escaped and disappeared into the vastness of America. Most of the seven were eventually recaptured, except for one man. He…
Fanta for Nazi Germany. It’s February 1944 and Berlin is attempting to recover from American aerial bombing. But life and industry continues on the city’s outskirts. In farmhouses, bottles clang and a mix of ex-convicts, Chinese laborers, and other workers fill glass bottles of what was likely a cloudy, brownish liquid. This is one of…
Peter Stumpp (alternately spelled Stumpf, Stubbe or Stuppe) was a mid-16th century German farmer who was executed on Halloween in 1589. Unfortunately, we only have one surviving account of what happened in the town of Bedburg that autumn, but it’s a detailed one. Rumors were circulating about a massive wolf-like creature, seen prowling the countryside…
Mysterious shipwrecks. We are fascinated by shipwrecks, and it’s easy to see why. First, there’s the idea of sunken treasure, which has a pretty universal appeal in any culture that admires shiny things (all of them). Then, there’s the uber-creepiness of seeing the remains of a great ship languishing at the bottom of the ocean,…
Ancient leaders. To say that some ancient leaders were really weird is probably a bit of an understatement. Being really weird was almost a prerequisite for being an ancient leader. Ancient leaders in particular were under a lot of pressure to be all-knowing, all-powerful, and to also figure out what to do with thousands of…
Time travel is the one that we want to be real of all mysterious phenomena. The possibilities are endless, and some people claimed they’ve already experienced them. Of course, it’s easy to dismiss all these people as nuts or liars, but that’s exactly what the Time Gestapo WANTS you to do … John Titor’s Time…
Atlantis! The name alone is enough to invoke images of mermaids, bubble cities, sunken ruins, and an ancient, technologically advanced situation that suffered ruin at the whims of the gods or their own hubris. But where did the idea of Atlantis come from? Could it have been a real place, or do its origins lie…
Entire countries embarrassed. These mistakes made entire countries blush. If countries were capable of vasodilation, of course. The truth is, while countries can be large or small, they’re run by people. And people are capable of some pretty interesting kerfuffles. Switzerland’s accidental invasions of Liechtenstein Switzerland is mostly famous for its neutrality, its chocolate, and…
There are things about ancient Egypt that still can’t be explained. Few civilizations have a more mysterious reputation than ancient Egypt. But the point of a mystery is to solve it, and over the years we’ve researched and studied our way to learning a lot about the land of hieroglyphs and holy cats. But there’s still…
The Doomsday Clock. It’s two minutes to midnight. Those words probably make you shiver, just a little bit, because bad things always happen at midnight. And midnight on the Doomsday Clock is the baddest of the bad, the hour of the apocalypse. That’s right, the end of the world. Boom. Everyone dies. But hey, cheer up. When…
The city of Danzig was home to a lengthy territorial dispute between the Germans and Poles who inhabited it and had been declared a free city by the League of Nations. In late August 1939, the Schleswig-Holstein, a German World War I–era battleship, had entered Danzig on a goodwill visit. At 4:45 AM on September 1, it fired its first…
Bomber plane captures U-Boat. On August 27, 1941, U-boat U-570, captained by Kapitanleutnant Hans-Joachim Rahmlow, surfaced off the coast of Iceland. Almost immediately, it was spotted by James Thompson, the acting leader of a British squadron based in Iceland who was on an anti-submarine patrol. Immediately, Rahmlow ordered a crash dive, but it was too late. Thompson’s Hudson bomber…
WW2 German Ace escorts crippled B-17 home. Warfare is not really a place for humanity, ethics and morals, but the Christmas Truce of WWII was a true example of a moment of humanity. The heroic actions of a German Luftwaffe fighter pilot, Franz Stigler, got nine men home for Christmas on 20 December 1943. Lt…
Operation Jericho was an air raid conducted by the RAF with the goal of freeing the captives of the Nazi-held Amiens prison in France. The raid happened on 18 February 1944, and though it wasn’t a large-scale operation, its precision and accuracy meant that it contributed greatly to the war effort and helped to raise…
Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy parallels. Abraham Lincoln Predicts His Own Death This story is hotly debated as there is no direct written account by the President himself, but stories from his advisors and close friends. This particular instance does not deal with shaping a war as much as it puts a final nail…
South Korean provocations sparked Korean War. History teachers say that the Korean War began due to the North’s unprovoked invasion of the South. However, they conveniently forget to mention the that South Korea had an equal role in building up the conflict. In the years after World War II, tensions between the two Koreas simmered to an all-time…
The Six-Day-War. We have previously discussed how the Soviet Union almost invaded Israel during the Six-Day War. We also briefly mentioned that the war was just one big ruse by the Soviets to destroy Israel’s nuclear capability. According to historians Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez, the Soviets had their Arab allies provoke the Israelis into attacking them first. The…
The US Provoked Japan Into War. We have all heard this question a million times: Did the US have advance knowledge of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor? Similarly, why on earth would Japan attack the US—an economic and military giant that even some Japanese leaders acknowledged would inevitably crush them? If some sources are to be believed, President Roosevelt’s administration started…
Hitler feared French admired British. Hitler was no peacenik, but he actually exhibited a very healthy fear of the Anglo-French alliance. In fact, during the re-occupation of the Rhine, Hitler famously ordered his generals to sound a retreat at the faintest sign of French resistance. Hitler also admired the British for their ability to maintain such a large…
The ancient Romans were prudes. Popular belief says the ancient Romans indulged in all manner of sexual depravities, but they were one of the most prudish societies ever. It was actually very offensive for couples to engage in open displays of affection during the time of the Roman Republic—one senator even ended up being driven…
