Tomás de Torquemada: the mad monk burns 2,000 at the stake
On this day, September 16, 1498 a frail, 78-year-old Dominican monk offered his final prayers to God, turned his face to his pillow, then died.And thousands rejoiced. He was Tomás […]
The boy who made one of the most stunning archaeological discoveries of all time…
On this day, September 12, 1940 a French teenager took his dog for a walk. Well, a simple everyday event, surely nothing special. However, this event lead to one of […]
The ghosts of Cold Harbor battlefield – Mechanicsville, Virginia
For believers and ghost enthusiasts, Most Civil War battlefields are haunted by the restless souls of fallen soldiers. And of all the battles of the war, Cold Harbor located in […]
When London burned: 1666’s Great Fire
Thomas Farriner was a baker who served King Charles II, supplied bread to the Royal Navy, and lived in Pudding Lane, London. All regular, until he went to bed on […]
Battle of Cajamarca: how 200 conquistadors conquered an empire of 10 million
The Inca people named their empire “Land of the Four Quarters” or Tahuantinsuyu and in 1533 it was the largest in the world: It covered 2,500 miles and stretched from […]
Krakatoa: the story of the world’s mightiest explosion
The biggest explosion the world has ever known (try to imagine: an estimated 13,000 times greater than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima during WWII) happened on this day, August 27 […]
Buried at 2,000 meters high: the inaccessible sarcophagi of Karajia in Peru
Between the steep gorges of the Andes and the immense rainforests of the Amazonas region in Peru, there are surprising historical sites that document the history of the Chachapoya people, […]
#August 14, 1936: America’s Last Public Hanging
On this day, August 14, 1936 a crowd estimated at 10,000 to 20,000 gathered at Owensboro, Kentucky, to watch the last ever public hanging in the United States. The fact […]
The incredible story of the balloon expedition to the North Pole
For obvious reasons, S. A. Andrée’s balloon polar expedition of 1897 seems foolhardy and doomed to failure in modern times. The aim was to cross over the North Pole in […]
The incredible story of the woman who fell 75 storeys in a lift (and survived)
This incredible woman probably had to defy the laws of gravity after she survived a fall of 75 storeys trapped in an elevator. This is the stuff of nightmares for […]
Light and air for everybody: the window tax imposed on English citizens in 1696
The Victorian era was one of enormous transformation for British industry and architecture, popular also for its weirdnesses, including funerals for pets, hospitals for dead that prevented the fear of […]
Robert the Bruce: the never-say-die king (and the spider)
Robert the Bruce, more formally known as King Robert I of Scotland, was born on this day, July 11 1274. He was a fierce warrior-king, who led the Scots in […]
The colonial era ghosts that still haunt the streets of Yorktown, the landmark village of the American Revolution
It is said that the town of Yorktown is haunted. From Cornwallis’ Cave on the banks of the York River, to Crawford Road, the town is a magnet for urban […]
Louis Réard and the birth of the Bikini
Millions of men would come to be grateful that Frenchman Louis Réard, a car mechanic, had an unlikely sideline in the 1940s: he also looked after his mother’s lingerie boutique […]
July 4: It’s Independence Day for the U.S.
One of the most significant dates in the calendar of the United States, on this day, July 4 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, […]
The Battle of the Somme: the bloodiest day in British military history
The First World War Battle of the Somme began on this day, July 1, 1916. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history and the worst ever for […]
Tunguska Event: the mystery that puzzled scientists for almost 100 years
A huge mysterious blast rocked eastern Siberia on this day, June 30, 1908, leaving millions of trees lying on the ground, mostly pointing in the same direction, over an area […]
The mysterious case of dance mania that broke out in Medieval Europe
St. John’s Dance, known historically as St. Vitus Dance, was a social phenomenon involving a type of dance mania that gripped mainland Europe between the 14 th and 17 th […]
Henry Hudson and the deadly quest for the the Northern Passage
June 22, 1611: English explorer Henry Hudson was set adrift in a small boat off the North American coast by mutineers. He was never seen again. When the mutiny took […]
Virginia Dare, the white doe and the lost colony – between history and legend
More than four hundred years ago, Europeans wanted to set up colonies in the New World. Sir Walter Raleigh, an adventurous English gentleman, sent a group of men to explore […]
“Without weapons, violence or hate”: France’s biggest-ever bank robbery
In Belgium exists an old saying that say people who are willing to get their hands dirty can often make money. It was certainly the case for Albert Spaggiari, the […]
The London’s plague pits map that shows where the Black Death victims got buried
Overcrowded, dirty and awash with sewage…it’s hardly surprising that the bubonic plague flourished in the crowded streets of London. Over 15% of London’s population was wiped out between 1665 and 1666 alone, or some 100,000 people in the space of two years. But where did all these bodies go?
Why an American bought the London Bridge
Born on this day, June 7 1761, Scottish civil engineer John Rennie was responsible for three important landmarks in central London: Waterloo Bridge, Southwark Bridge and London Bridge which, in […]
D-Day: the day that changed Europe’s history
The biggest land, air and seaborne invasion the world has ever known was launched on this day, June 6 1944. Codenamed Operation Overlord, everybody now knows it simply as D-Day. […]
#June 4, 1940: Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk ends
The so called “miracle” of Dunkirk was completed on this day, June 4, 1940, with the evacuation of over 330,000 troops from the besieged port on the war-torn French side […]
Voltaire: writer, philosopher and…..rebel
As he lay dying on this day, May 30, 1778, the great French writer Voltaire noticed that the lamp next to his bed was violently flickering and flaring up. “What? […]
“The Death Camp” and the forgotten story of Germany’s first holocaust
Shark Island was founded in 1795 off the coast of Luderitz, Namibia. Originally named Star Island, the land sat amidst immense winds and crashing waters of the Atlantic for a […]
Why European plague doctors wore those strange beaked masks?
Four hundred years ago, dark figures with white beaks wandered the streets of Europe. But these were no boogeymen or other creepy figures, but healers, so dressed to stave off […]
How Australia was born
Back in the the 1770s and 1780s, living conditions in the United Kingdom were literally catastrophic. The Industrial Revolution meant that many workers had been replaced by machines, and small […]