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 - 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...
For centuries, the phrase "burning of the Library of Alexandria" has conjured an image of mankind's greatest collection of knowledge going up in flames. It's become a metaphor for the triumph of ignorance over learning, a cautionary tale passed down through generations.
In the late 1800s, cities faced a smelly crisis that seemed unsolvable. Streets were choking on the massive quantities of manure left behind by the thousands of horses essential for transport and shipping.
In the Himalayan foothills at the turn of the 20th century, an unsettling quiet fell upon a string of villages dotting the forested landscape. An ominous chill took hold as locals ceased venturing beyond their doors.
In the throes of the Cold War, the CIA commissioned a bombshell report on the furthest frontiers of human consciousness. Recently declassified, this document chronicles the spy agency’s foray into a technique called the “Gateway Experience”
Tucked off the southwest coast of England, the Isles of Scilly seem an unlikely location for participating in the longest military conflict ever recorded.
Deep in Bulgaria's wondrous karst landscapes lies a natural wonder that has captivated travelers for ages. Prohodna Cave, the country's largest tunnel-like cavern, features an unearthly pair of symmetrical holes in its lofty ceiling known as the "Eyes of God."
Albert Einstein is undoubtedly one of the greatest scientific minds in history. The German-born physicist developed the theory of relativity, which revolutionized our understanding of time, space, gravity, and the universe.