The Stunning Amount Of Money Paul Castellano Was Once Worth
Paul Castellano had an outsized salary between his legitimate businesses and his life in the mafia, with oversized spending habits to match.
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The Surprising Way Vlad The Impaler Spent His Childhood
Vlad the Impaler's life is worth exploring on its own, and not necessarily for the fictional creature he inspired.
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What Leaving Coins On Gravestones Really Means
People have been decorating graves, in fact, for at least 70,000 years, and leaving coins on gravestones has a specific symbolism.
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How The Vanderbilt Family Really Got So Rich
Industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt went from rags to riches over the course of his life, but how? This is how the Vanderbilt family really got so rich.
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The Native American Document That Inspired The US Constitution
The young United States drew inspiration from knowledge gleaned from the past, including the Great Law of Peace that created the Iroquois Confederacy.
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The Truth About The Curse Of The Getty Family
People know the Getty family as one of the wealthiest dynasties in the world. But over the years, the Gettys have become better known for being cursed.
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The Fascinating History Of Japanese Origami
Origami has a low initial cost for entry -- the paper -- and can be finished, barring creative excursions, by following instructions found in numerous books
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The Truth About The Queen Of Cuba, Ana Montes
Truly effective spies keep their head down, do their jobs well, but not fantastically. And they never show their hands. Ana Montes knew this well.
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The Wild And Deadly True Story Of The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake killed tens of thousands of people and shook the Portuguese empire to its core.
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The Truth About The Chinese Female Pirate Who Led Thousands
Over the course of her life, with the help of her husband, Ching Shih amassed a fleet of 1,800 sailing ships that were crewed by upwards of 80,000 pirates
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This Is The Most Powerful Mafia In History
The Chicago Outfit (yes, the one run by the infamous Al Capone) might be one of the most impressive mafia families of all time.
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The History Of The Native Americans' National Day Of Mourning
For many, Thanksgiving is a holiday full of feasting and family. But the fourth Thursday in November is also the Native Americans' National Day of Mourning.
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What You Didn't Know About Sally Scull
Legends talk about Sally Scull riding her magnificent horse, Redbuck, and killing one husband when he woke her up by pouring water over her head.
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The Shady Side Of Police Psychology And False Confessions
The polygraph test, or lie detector, has been used extensively by police and other official bodies in the US and beyond for more than a century.
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What Does It Mean To Be Pope Emeritus ?
In February of 2013, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope in modern times and the first in over 600 years to choose retirement. He became Pope Emeritus.
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What You Didn't Know About Russia's Vodka Museum In St. Petersburg
Russia's vodka museum honors the invention, ingredients, packaging, history, and traditions of the proper way to consume the colorless spirit.
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The 1857 Mutiny That Shook Britain's Rule In India
The violent Indian uprising against the British from 1857-59 goes by many names -- the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, First War of Independence.
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The Truth About Yonaguni Monument, Japan's Ancient Underwater Pyramid
Back in 1986, local diver Kihachiro Aratake found what would be dubbed Yonaguni Monument, aka Japan's ancient underwater pyramid.
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Rules Cleopatra's Subjects Had To Follow
Cleopatra was not just the queen of Egypt -- she was the pharaoh. She controlled many aspects of her subjects' lives with rules they had to follow.
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The Hotel Of Doom's Design, Explained
In case you need another reason to not ever to go to North Korea -- the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK -- it has a hotel of doom.
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The 500-Year Old Map That Shows Antarctica Without Snow And Ice
Maps usually clarify things, but in the case of a 500+-year-old gazelle-skin parchment called the Piri Reis Map, its discovery only created more mystery.
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Why The New Findings On This Wooden Sculpture Are So Significant
More recent testing has found the Shigir Idol to be the "earliest monumental wooden sculpture of the world," at 12,500 years old.
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This Is The Most Powerful Army In History
The Mongolian Empire holds the record as the largest empire in recorded history when it comes to contiguous territory. Thanks to Genghis Khan and his army.
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Whatever Happened To Titanic Survivor J. Bruce Ismay?
English businessman J. Bruce Ismay was the chairman and managing director of the White Star Line, the British shipping company that owned the Titanic.
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What Happens To The Pope's Ring When He Dies?
Not only is there a meticulous process the Vatican must follow upon the death of the pope, but there's a formal process of papal succession to be set in motion.
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Boycott: The Wild Origins Of The Term Explained
The word boycott is nowadays widely used whenever a product or person is protested, but it first came into use as part of eviction resistance and a rent strike.
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False Facts About The Early '00s You Always Thought Were True
A lot of crazy things happened early on in the new millennium, and we've misremembered a lot of them in near-record time.
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