Long before Jumanji, long before Moana, even long before The Mummy Returns, back when Dwayne Johnson was still the Rock ... long before all of that, there was another kind of "Roc," who played with people's emotions and fears and sense of the mythic. No K, thank you very much.
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The first dictator of North Korea was born on April 15, 1912, the same day that the Titanic sank. This was no accident, according to North Korea's United Front Department (UFD).
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How does an entire boatload of people just disappear in the middle of the ocean? The Mary Celeste is one of the most well-known examples of this phenomenon, and to this day, no one knows what happened. This is the legend of the Mary Celeste explained.
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If Henry Tudor -- England's King Henry VIII -- had posted a dating profile, no doubt it would have included the words "It's complicated." Words which also extended to his relationship with the Catholic Church.
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In Northern Ireland, you'll find a breathtaking collection of over 40,000 basalt pillars known as Giant's Causeway. The scientific explanation is that 60 million years ago, volcanic eruptions created that breathtaking formation. The slightly less scientific explanation? Well, a giant caused it.
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If you find yourself seeking a mythical beast with lion legs and an eagle's head -- or some variation on that theme -- what you are looking for is a griffin, a griffon, or a gryphon. Depictions of griffins date back as far as 2000 BCE. Here's the legend of the griffin explained.
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People forget that Henry VIII was necessarily preceded by a Henry VII. And according to historians, there's an argument to be made that his grim-reboot-of-Van-Wilder lifestyle all came down to his relationship with his old man. This is the real reason Henry VII is blamed for Henry VIII's tyranny.
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In the U.S., nurses have reported being ordered not to wear masks even when they're available while others have resorted to donning Halloween masks amid PPE shortages. Some have responded with walk-outs. Others walked away entirely.
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This grinning, crimson-skinned devil is the Nain Rouge, or "red dwarf," and he's what paranormal experts describe as "a real Jerk McGurk."
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Being a cult leader basically requires being pretty crazy. That's why some myths about them have persisted for so long. But if you believe the supposed facts about cult leaders listed here, it's time for some reeducation. Here are false facts about cult leaders you always thought were true.
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These days, kids know Pukwudgie as the name of a house from Ilvermorny, the American version of Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter series. The Pukwudgie is one of many mythical creatures referenced in the books. But what exactly is a Pukwudgie?
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When Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine, the future emperor saw greatness on the horizon. But if if it weren't for a crazy twist of fate, instead of marrying Napoleon, Josephine would have gotten a forced divorce from her own head. Here's the reason Napoleon's first wife was nearly executed.
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In 1983, Randy and Vicki Weaver packed up their belongings and moved to a place in rural Idaho, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border, known as Ruby Ridge. A decade later, an 11-day standoff with the government ended in tragedy. Here's why the Ruby Ridge standoff was worse than you think.
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The whole world loves dogs. But in Nepal, they really show it. During the five-day Hindu festival of Tihar, one day is set aside as "Kukur Tihar," or "Day of the Dogs."
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The Spanish flu was very different than seasonal flu - it kicked off in the spring of 1918 on the tail end of World War I, and it was downright brutal.
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Rosetta Stone: It's not just a linguistics software company. And Napoleon isn't just the name of a cream-filled dessert pastry. But they are inextricably linked, and for good reason.
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Women at Versailles lived in the seat of political power but had none of it themselves. This is what life was really like for women at Versailles.
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William Tecumseh Sherman famously observed that "war is hell," and Don Bluth asserted on several occasions that "all dogs go to heaven." They can't both be right.
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In the 1890s, explorer Robert Peary (left) started an Arctic expedition with all ten of his toes. He returned with only two. As recounted in Explorers and Exploration, the other eight toes snapped off when fellow explorer Matthew Henson removed Peary's sealskin boots ...
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You'd think that being directly responsible for saving thousands of lives, of amassing and analyzing data that contributed to massive improvements in sanitation and health care, and honored by Queen Victoria herself would be enough. But no. Florence Nightingale never married.
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It turns out that people have been trying to make self-driving cars a reality for quite a long time ... in fact, possibly even longer than you can imagine.
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Italian dictator Benito Mussolini doesn't typically top people's lists of role models. But some of his descendants have defended him. Here's what they're up to today.
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An atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, instantly killing 80,000 people, and days later on Nagasaki, killing another 40,000. Thousands would die from radiation sickness. But that's just the beginning. Here's why the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were worse than you thought.
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If you take a moment to look around you in the short period of relative comfort before takeoff and after landing at an airport, you might notice a peculiar thing: The entire gate area is carpeted. Here's why.
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Henry VII, the Tudor monarch who gave us Henry VIII and all of the drama and spectacle attached thereunto, is among the monarchs whose mortal remains grace the interior of Westminster. What about his son, the VII?
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In 1540, Henry VIII gave his primary advisor, Thomas Cromwell, the axe. Well, technically the executioner gave him the axe, but the point still holds. Citing a dubious "contemporary" source, Arthur Galton describes an "ungodly" affair in which the executioner hacked at Cromwell's neck for ...
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Bill Gates is one of those modern-day legends. Love him or not, admire him or not, the guy has an impressive string of accomplishments on his resume, going back to high school ... including a nice mugshot.
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