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The Lynching of Laura and L. D. Nelson: A Crime Without Justice
On the night of 24 May 1911, in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, Laura Nelson and her teenage son, L. D. Nelson, were dragged from their jail...
33,045

The Munich Air Disaster: A Tragedy That Shook Football
On 6 February 1958, the world of football was left in mourning as British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third take-off...
444

Scaling the Pyramids: When Tourists Climbed Egypt’s Ancient Monuments
Tourists take tea atop the Great Pyramid. 1938. By the mid-19th century, Egypt had become one of the world’s most fascinating...
947

The 1979 Hot Air Balloon Escape from East Germany
It was a cold, clear night on 16 September 1979, when two East German families—the Strelzyks and the Wetzels—stood in a secluded forest...
3,968

Griselda Blanco: The Godmother of Cocaine and the Queen of Retribution
There are few figures in organised crime as infamous, feared, and mythologised as Griselda Blanco. Depending on who you ask, she was...
2,422

"I Hope Your Ol' Plane Crashes" - The Death Of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson
Waylon Jennings (left) in the last photo of Buddy Holly. The 1950s had been a golden era for rock and roll, filled with energetic...
4,062

Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery: A Tribute to Estonia’s Soviet Airmen
Tucked away in a quiet, wooded area near Estonia’s Ämari Air Base, the Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery is an unusual and haunting memorial. Unlike...
138

Bloody Sunday: The Tragedy That Changed Northern Ireland Forever
On the cold afternoon of 30 January 1972, the streets of the Bogside area of Derry became the backdrop for one of the darkest days in...
709

Brenda Ann Spencer: The Girl Who Didn’t Like Mondays
On the morning of January 29, 1979, the school day at Grover Cleveland Elementary in San Diego, California, had barely begun when shots...
19,068

Pregnancy Dolls of Edo: Curiosity, Education, and Spectacle
In the bustling streets of Edo (present-day Tokyo) during the 18th and 19th centuries, entertainment took many forms, from kabuki theatre...
1,175

Danzig Baldaev and the Art of Russian Criminal Tattoos
Danzig Baldaev, born in 1925 in Ulan-Ude, Buryatiya, Russia, led a life immersed in the dark complexities of Soviet repression and the...
3,957

Ernst Haeckel’s Sublime Drawings of Flora and Fauna: A Meeting of Art and Science
If you’ve ever come across the tension between scientists and philosophers , you might be forgiven for assuming the two fields have...
124

Northern Soul: How Rare Records and All-Night Dancing Defined a Generation
Picture this: it’s 3 a.m. in a dimly lit dance hall in Wigan. The floorboards thud under the weight of dozens of dancers, their moves a...
686

The Ingenious and Often Quirky World of Vintage Cigarette Dispensers
Ah, cigarette dispensers—those ingenious little gadgets that somehow made the act of inhaling smoke a touch more refined, or at least a...
602

The Abernathy Brothers: The Wildly True Adventures of America’s Youngest Trailblazers
Picture this: two young boys, aged just 10 and 6, embarking on an audacious journey across the vast expanse of early 20th-century...
9,107

Kurt Hutton: A Trailblazer in British Photojournalism
The year 1934 marked a turning point for British photography. As Adolf Hitler’s regime tightened its grip on Germany and restricted press...
599

The Charles M. Schwab House: A Titanic Vision on the "Wrong" Side of the Park
Imagine walking along Riverside Drive in the early 20th century and encountering a mansion so grand that it dwarfed even the gilded...
645

The Tragic History Of John Pemberton — The Man Who Invented Coca-Cola
When John Stith Pemberton was born on July 8, 1831, in Knoxville, Georgia, few could have predicted that this small-town boy would invent...
472

The Story Behind Chanel No. 5: A Revolutionary Fragrance
It's 1921, an impossibly clever French businesswoman and belle of the Parisian social elite has created a scent that is revolutionising...
184

The Tragic Story of Graham Staines and His Sons
On the night of 22 January 1999, Graham Staines and his two sons, Philip and Timothy, settled into their station wagon in the small...
1,420

William Hogarth’s Gin Lane and Beer Street: Vice and Virtue in 18th-Century London
Hogarth with his Pug William Hogarth, the celebrated 18th-century painter and engraver, had an eye for the bustling, bawdy heart of...
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The Grim Story of Andrei Chikatilo: The Rostov Ripper
I am a mistake of nature, a mad beast... Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo, infamously dubbed “The Rostov Ripper,” stands as one of the most...
8,653

The Multifaceted Artistry of Władysław T. Benda: From Magazine Covers to Masked Marvels
In the early 20th century, Władysław T. Benda was a name as recognised as Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, or Maxfield Parrish in the realms...
1,978

Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria And The Night He Dined On Bullets
The life and assassination of Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria on April 15, 1931, has become one of the most compelling narratives in the...
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