Everyone makes mistakes. Maybe you forgot to buy milk at the grocery store, or perhaps an important e-mail to your boss went off with a glaring typo in the subject line. At least you can rest assured that life’s little mishaps rarely lead to much greater calamities. Some mistakes, however, are so colossal that they

It was already a war crime to use chemical weapons when World War I began. Every major country had signed a convention agreeing not to use them. But when the fighting began, the treaties meant nothing. Chemical warfare was an everyday horror of war. Men huddled in the trenches, watching for the creep of gas

It is often stated that only two things are certain in this world: death and taxes. One often-overlooked fact about the death-and-taxes phrase is that “taxes” is in plural form while “death” is in singular form. The reason is obvious, though. We die once but pay taxes over and over. Most of the time, we

It’s one of the most popular conspiracy theories, largely because a lot of the claims have at least partial facts to them. Some believe that events of the 20th century, in particular the two global conflicts that left millions upon millions slaughtered and changed the face and direction of the entire planet, were not only

Slavery is rightfully known as one of the worst evils ever perpetrated against men (and women) by their fellow men. Millions are spent every year on public education about the African slave trade that lasted from the late 16th century until the late 19th century. Although less known, the Arab slave trade in East Africa

It’s easy to forget that many of the world’s nations only came into existence fairly recently. Think South Sudan and East Timor, for example. We also tend to forget than many once-prominent nations have ceased to exist entirely. Human history is a long narrative of the rise and fall of nations, empires, and the peoples

The Great Depression was as hard as times come. Families around the world had to struggle to put food on their tables. In the US, one in four men was unemployed and those who kept their jobs saw their salaries cut in half. And it was just as bad in most parts of the world.

Reptilians. Lizardfolk. Sauroids. These are just some of the names associated with this alien race conspiracy. While some dismiss it as nonsense, a growing number of believers are eager to share their knowledge of reptilians living among us. These creatures disguise themselves as humans and often hold positions of power in the world’s governments. Here

Some girls love bad boys. For every man who commits a massacre, there’s a whole crowd of women who go wild for him. More often than not, when serial killers and mass murderers make their way into prison, there’s a truckload of love letters waiting for them. We spend a lot of time trying to

Everyone loves a good story, and history has experienced its fair share of tall tales. Throughout the centuries, both individuals and groups have developed elaborate works of fiction; the most successful of these pulled the wool over the eyes of not only gullible individuals but the general public as well. Some of these hoaxes were

What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? Finding a decomposing rat at the bottom of a bag of chips you just finished off! For many, such a scenario is the stuff of nightmares. But for a few, this nightmare is a life-altering reality. Whether it is rat attacks in the happiest place on

The fear of lightning, being one of the most common phobias, will have roughly ten percent of people running for the hills during an electrical storm. They’d probably be better off driving for the valleys, but you get the idea. While the fear of being struck by lightning is common, the actual occurrence is far

What kind of person would marry her own father? In 1992, Woody Allen got caught with a stack of naked Polaroid photos of Soon-Yi Previn, the young daughter of his common-law wife, Mia Farrow. Previn was essentially his own daughter, and as Farrow quickly learned, Previn and Allen were sleeping together. Although a lot has

Great Britain is the source of habeas corpus law and the Magna Carta. The British Empire once spanned the world, and it brought with it forces of modernization that did more good than harm. London has long stood as the financial epicenter of the world. Despite this great and powerful history, all signs point toward

When we contemplate ancient times, we tend to imagine backward thinking, wacky science, and probably pyramids. But, on more than a few occasions, the ancients hit the nail right on the proverbial head. From evolution all the way to the big bang, so much of modern science has been precipitated by the thoughts and ideas

Over the years, many household items have been said to be cursed and haunted. They are regular objects you’d find in any home: chairs, mirrors, vases, cabinets, dolls, paintings, and the like. The story always goes that a demon or spirit resides in the item, although the object’s owner may not always know why their

In decades past, the dangerous idea that a secret space program exists behind a veil of public disclosure was contained to a few offbeat publications and dark corners of used bookstores. But with the dawn of the Internet, these ideas began to spread, and a cast of characters that had once been threadbare and uncompelling

Ghosts aren’t real, right? That’s what most of us believe—that we live in a rational world, not one where specters of demons and the dead haunt the living. But if ghosts aren’t real, why are so many people so sure they’ve seen them? It turns out that the answer has a lot to do with

Most people would be happy if they did anything worthy of being remembered. A single consequential achievement can secure a person’s place in history. Occasionally, some people are smart or lucky enough to shape history in multiple fields. One would think that those innovators would surely be remembered. Sadly, that is not always the case.

When you go around calling the United States the “Great Satan” and trying to destroy it in a holy jihad, you’re setting yourself up to some pretty high standards. There’s a whole persona involved in being an evil, psychotic terrorist, and you really have to keep up those appearances. Osama bin Laden did his best

Magic mushrooms, mushies, booms, and shrooms are all nicknames for the psychedelic mushrooms that can be found worldwide which contain hallucinogenic active ingredients, particularly psilocybin, a powerful hallucinogen with various other properties. In addition to seeing things such as bright-colored lights and trails, users report feeling both an extreme euphoria and a total transformation of

World War I was one of the most destructive wars known to man until World War II came along. Although the politics of the day had laid the foundation of the war, the whole thing came to a head after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, by a Serbian

Every science experiment is valuable. Every time a scientist gets the chance to test an idea in a controlled setting, we learn something more about the world. Sure, it might be hard to see the value of getting animals high and watching what happens, but these experiments have taught us some deeply valuable things. Thanks

At this very moment, everything you are doing is being recorded. You are being watched by computer programs and cameras that are monitoring you everywhere you go, in ways the wildest conspiracy theorists wouldn’t have believed ten years ago. It’s worse than you think. You’re probably already aware that everything you do online is tracked,

Laxatives are not the ideal topic of discussion around a campfire or the dinner table. Frankly, the mere thought of such a bowel-loosening substance tends to make one gag given the explosively pungent end result. Nonetheless, certain historical facts are not only intriguing but distastefully entertaining as are the absurd mishaps and nightmares to which

For many viewers, commercials are easily the biggest downside of watching television. They always seem to pop up at the worst possible time, whether immediately following the shocking third-act twist on a basic cable drama or after a snarky reality show host utters the dreaded words, “Right after a word from our sponsors.” No one

Body snatching, the more apt term for corpse theft, reached its height between the 17th and 19th centuries, when a whole industry emerged around stealing corpses from graves and selling them to medical schools. The reason for this was not far-fetched. More medical schools were opening, and they all needed corpses for practicals. At the

The Berlin Wall was one of the most defining symbols of the Cold War. The Soviet Union and East Germany called it Die anti-Faschistischer Schutzwall (“Anti-fascist Protective Wall”). According to them, the wall was necessary to stop Western spies from sneaking into East Berlin. At the same time, it would stop West Berliners from traveling

In the United States, freedom of expression, thought, and assembly are protected by the Constitution. But gaze across the pond and you quickly learn that many other countries take a less absolutist approach to this most fundamental of human rights. To the authoritarian, laws surrounding hate, blasphemy, terrorism, and political dissent are a gold mine

Although we may not have flying cars or Mars colonies yet, we definitely have some wild technology to help us with everyday stuff. We have phones and transportation and indoor plumbing, all things that would have blown our Founding Fathers’ minds. Like us, our animal buddies have figured out ways to make their lives just