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Past Imperfect

Paul Morphy (left) and a friend

A Chess Champion’s Dominance—and Madness

As a young man, Paul Morphy vanquished eight opponents simultaneously while effectively blindfolded

Wang Mang, first and last emperor of China's Xin Dynasty, went down fighting amid his harem girls as his palace fell in 23 A.D.

Emperor Wang Mang: China’s First Socialist?

Violette Szabo was awarded the British George Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.

Behind Enemy Lines With Violette Szabo

She was young, married and a mother. But after her husband died in battle against the Nazis, she became a secret agent for the British

A Depression-era hobo–one of thousands who traveled the roads and rails of the United States during the 1930s.

Making the Rounds With Santa Claus Smith

For six years, an elderly tramp toured the U.S., paying those who helped him with checks for sums of up to $900,000

Ferdinand Pecora

The Man Who Busted the ‘Banksters’

MI5 Master interrogator Lt. Col. Robin "Tin Eye" Stephens, commandant of Camp 020

The Monocled World War II Interrogator

Robin “Tin Eye” Stephens became known for “breaking” captured German spies without laying a hand on them

Padre Pio (1887-1968), an Italian priest and stigmatic, was elevated to sainthood in 2002 as St. Pio of Pietrelcino. In the 1940s he heard the confession of the future Pope John Paul II and–John Paul recorded–told him he would one day ascend to "the highest post in the Church though further confirmation is needed." The marks of the stigmata can be seen on Pio's hands.

The Mystery of the Five Wounds

The first case of stigmata—the appearance of marks or actual wounds like those Christ received during the Crucifixion—was recorded in 1224

The "rectal acorn"

The Civil War

Seven Obscure Facts You Didn’t Know About the Civil War

Amid the vast literature of the Civil War, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the stranger facts, coincidences and quirks of character

The "Chandos Portrait" of Shakespeare–dating to c.1600 and one of only two that may have been painted from life–is thought to be the work of the playwright's "intimate friend" John Taylor of the Painter-Stainers' Company (though it may not show Shakespeare at all). Its be-earringed playwright, pictured without the usual ruff, seems to show an altogether tougher character than the figure that appears in more familiar likenesses.

William Shakespeare, Gangster

Aftermath of the Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916

Sabotage in New York Harbor

Explosion on Black Tom Island packed the force of an earthquake. It took investigators years to determine that operatives working for Germany were to blame

Philippa Fawcett. When she placed first in the Cambridge mathematical tripos in 1890, she forced a reassessment of nineteenth-century belief in the inferiority of the "weaker sex."

The Woman Who Bested the Men at Math

Henry Johnson and the Harlem Hellfighters in a parade up Fifth Avenue upon their return to New York in February, 1919.

Remembering Henry Johnson, the Soldier Called “Black Death”

Henry Johnson suffered 21 wounds and rescued a soldier while repelling an enemy raid in the Argonne Forest in 1918 but died 11 years later a forgotten man

The Turkish flag flown, and rifles used, by Gool Mohammed and Mullah Abdullah during the Battle of Broken Hill, January 1, 1915.

The Battle of Broken Hill

While Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire were fighting World War I, two Afghans opened up a second front in an Australian outback town 12,000 miles away

'Blondin's rope ascension over Niagara River' by George Barker

The Daredevil of Niagara Falls

Charles Blondin understood the appeal of the morbid to the masses, and reveled when gamblers took bets on whether he would plunge to a watery death

Port Louis, Mauritius, in the first half of the 19th century

Naval Gazing: The Enigma of Étienne Bottineau

In 1782, an unknown French engineer offered an invention better than radar: the ability to detect ships hundreds of miles away

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Edison vs. Westinghouse: A Shocking Rivalry

The inventors’ battle over the delivery of electricity was an epic power play

"Greetings, Britons and everybody." Queen Victoria at about the time she made her Graphophone recording.

In Search of Queen Victoria’s Voice

The British monarch was present when a solicitor demonstrated one of the earliest audio recording devices. But did she really say “tomatoes”?

A crowd gathers at the scene of the Wall Street bombing in September 1920.

Anger and Anarchy on Wall Street

In the early 20th century, resentment at the concentration of wealth took a violent turn

One of Dahomeys' women warriors, with a musket, club, dagger—and her enemy's severed head.

Dahomey’s Women Warriors

Richard Von Gammon, a football casualty of 1897

Score One for Roosevelt

“Football is on trial,” President Theodore Roosevelt declared in 1905. So he launched the effort that saved the game

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