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History / World History

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Why the Department Store Brought Freedom for the Turn of the Century Woman

Harry Selfridge, a London department store owner, may have opened the doors to more than just his retail store when he gave women a chance to power shop

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The Most Audacious Australian Prison Break of 1876

An American whaling ship brought together an oddball crew with a dangerous mission: freeing six Irishmen from a jail in western Australia

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The Secret Plot to Rescue Napoleon by Submarine

In 1820, one of Britain’s most notorious criminals hatched a plan to rescue the emperor from exile on the Atlantic isle of St Helena — but did he try it?

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Top Ten Afterlife Journeys of Notable People

Why Beethoven, Galileo, Napoleon and others never truly rested in peace

An illustration of Moby Dick attacking a whaling ship.

The True-Life Horror That Inspired ‘Moby-Dick’

The whaler Essex was indeed sunk by a whale—and that’s only the beginning

Justice Robert Jackson, Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Eleanor Roosevelt in 1942.

Eleanor Roosevelt and the Soviet Sniper

Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper credited with 309 kills—and an advocate for women’s rights. On a U.S. tour in 1942, she found a friend in the first lady

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The Last Massive Exploding Meteor Hit Earth in 1908, Leveling 800 Square Miles of Forest

In 1908, a meteor exploding in mid-air released the energy equivalent to “185 Hiroshima bombs”

A facial reconstruction of King Richard III, based on an analysis of his recently identified remains and artist portrayals over the years, was unveiled by an eponymous historical society on Tuesday.

The Battle Over Richard III’s Bones…And His Reputation

Rival towns are vying for the king’s remains and his legacy now that his skeleton has been found 500 years after his death

“All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy.” – Carl Jung

The History of Rocket Science

When was the first-ever rocket built?

The funeral of James Idle in the village of Hullavington, on August 29, 1914

“The Grave Looked So Miserable”

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Romans Did All Sorts of Weird Things in The Public Baths—Like Getting Their Teeth Cleaned

For ancient Romans enjoying a day at the bathhouse, the list of items lost to drains includes jewelry, scalpels, teeth, needles and plates

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The Candor and Lies of Nazi Officer Albert Speer

The minister of armaments was happy to tell his captors about the war machine he had built. But it was a different story when he was asked about the Holocaust

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The History of Foosball

How did the tabletop game get from parlor halls in 19th century Europe to the basements of American homes?

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What’s Inside a 2,000-Year-Old, Shipwreck-Preserved Roman Pill?

Ancient Roman pills, preserved in sealed tin containers on the seafloor, may have been used as eye medicine

A group of young Parisians playing foosball at a cafe in 1958.

The Murky History of Foosball

How did the tabletop game get from parlor halls in 19th-century Europe to the basements of American homes?

The burial ground to what some claim is Jesus' final resting place.

The Little-Known Legend of Jesus in Japan

A mountain hamlet in northern Japan claims Jesus Christ was buried there

Motopia as illustrated in 1960 by Arthur Radebaugh for “Closer Than We Think”

Motopia: A Pedestrian Paradise

Visit the futuristic town where drivers and non-drivers live in perfect harmony

Cartoon poster which hung outside Martin’s Lunch Room circa 1929

In the 1920s, Shoppers Got Punk’d By Fake Televisions

Don’t touch that dial….really, don’t

William Crockford—identified here as “Crockford the Shark”—sketched by the great British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson in about 1825. Rowlandson, himself an inveterate gambler who blew his way through a $10.5 million family fortune, knew the former fishmonger before he opened the club that would make his name.

Crockford’s Club: How a Fishmonger Built a Gambling Hall and Bankrupted the British Aristocracy

A working-class Londoner operated the most exclusive gambling club the world has ever seen

The "Mary" in the controversial text, King says, may be Mary Magdalene, who was present at the Crucifixion.

UPDATE: The Reaction to Karen King’s Gospel Discovery

When a divinity scholar unveiled a papyrus fragment that she says refers to Jesus’ “wife,” our reporter was there in Rome amidst the firestorm of criticism

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