Cruel and unusual: history's most disturbing medical treatments Let's be grateful for how far healthcare has come.
Unraveling the mystery of Shakespeare's "second-best bed" Shakespeare left his wife his "second-best bed," commonly believed to be a mean-spirited gesture. But the bed tells a different story.
The human wonders of America's long lost sideshows The freak show lives on as reality shows, but the fantasy world dreamed up by PT Barnum lies as a relic in the depths of the American imagination.
The 7 worst legal defenses ever attempted "When women become hysterical, it is necessary sometimes to slap them to bring them around."
This 1950s science kit for kids came with real uranium What’s even better than a nice refreshing huff of DDT? Giving children uranium to play with to their heart's desire, of course.
Eilmer of Malmesbury: the flying monk of medieval England The first known serious flight attempt in world history occurred about a thousand years before the Wright brothers, in an English abbey.
This is why you should trust no one—not even yourself Ever wonder what happens to a cult when its doomsday prediction fails? Or why certain people fail upwards? And what's this got to do with you?
Love and sex in Georgian England, according to this vulgar 1785 dictionary Grose's dirty dictionary published in 1785 gives us a peek into sex and the seedy underworld of England's Georgian age.
From super glue to the Slinky: the odd stories behind 15 accidental inventions Necessity is the mother of invention, but this list proves that sometimes the best inventions are created by accident …or maybe fate?
6 insane psychology experiments that will crush your faith in humanity Psychologists and sociologists could get away with anything in the name of science back in the '50s, '60s and '70s.
