In November 2017, the art world was stunned when an enigmatic painting of Christ called Salvator Mundi sold for a record-shattering $450 million at auction.
In the winter of 1887, Parisian journalists gathered at a curious construction site on the Champ de Mars. There, amid wooden scaffolding and the rhythmic clang of hammers, they witnessed what one reporter would describe as men "reaping lightning bolts in the clouds."
For over 30 years, one name appeared again and again as the director of some of the worst movies ever made -Â Alan Smithee. But Alan Smithee wasn't a real person. He was a pseudonym used by Hollywood directors who wanted to disavow their finished films.
In the late 1990s, a brazen fraudster named Emmanuel Nwude pulled off one of history's most outrageous cons - selling a fictional airport to a gullible Brazilian bank director for a whopping $242 million.
The next time you find yourself composing an angry email to customer service, take comfort in knowing you're participating in a tradition nearly four millennia old. Long before Yelp reviews and Twitter rants, an irate customer named Nanni etched his frustrations into clay, creating what would become the world's oldest documented customer complaint. His target? A copper merchant named Ea-Nasir...
Imagine playing an instrument from history that's been around for longer than written language, the pyramids of Egypt, and even the concept of agriculture. Now imagine this instrument can still serenade you with a hauntingly beautiful tune.
In 1930's Oxford, breakfast conversations between grandparents and their grandchildren weren't usually front-page news. But for Venetia Burney, a bright-eyed student, one such conversation would etch her name in the annals of history.
Far out in the Indian Ocean lies North Sentinel Island, home to the Sentinelese, one of the most isolated indigenous tribes on Earth. For millennia, the Sentinelese have resisted contact with the outside world, turning away expeditions and sometimes responding violently to protect their way of life.
As World War II ravaged Europe in the early 1940s, both sides sought any advantage that could turn the tide of the conflict. Great Britain hatched one of the most sinister secret plans of the war - Operation Vegetarian - a biological attack to cripple Germany’s food supply using anthrax-infected cattle cakes.
Japan has a long fascination with eccentric game shows and reality TV concepts that often perplex Western audiences. But in the late 1990s, one show took this spectacle to alarming new heights, highlighting serious ethical risks of exploitation in entertainment.
Could a dog really inherit millions and live a life of luxury? That's the premise behind the peculiar story of Gunther VI, a German Shepherd said to have a vast fortune.