The Truth About Dracula's Disturbing Origin
Bram Stoker can thank his mom for some of the dark inspiration of Dracula.
Read More-
-
Why The 1972 U.S. Men's Basketball Team Refused Their Olympic Medals
At the 1972 Munich Games, a group of U.S. basketball players set out to make their hoop dreams come true, but this was no Olympic Dream Team. There was no Michael Jordan to make gravity look like an inconvenience, no "Mailman" like Karl Malone to deliver in the post, no Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.
Read More -
The Real Reason Microsoft's Zune Was Such A Huge Failure
Save for its strange design choices and clunky build, the Zune was a quality MP3 player, which were in high demand in the mid-2000s. So why was it such a colossal failure?
Read More -
The Truth About The 2008 Universal Studios Fire
Depending on who you believe, a half-century of recordings -- about 500,000 of them -- went up in smoke from a fire at a warehouse at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2008.
Read More -
Why Everyone Hates Touring With Aerosmith
Lots of people probably resent Aerosmith's success, are jealous of Steve Tyler and Joe Perry's combined levels of irresponsible personal debauchery...
Read More -
The Legend Of The Jersey Devil Explained
If you happen to find yourself in New Jersey's Pine Barrens, keep an eye out for a scary cryptozoological creature which, these days, usually goes by the friendly name of the Jersey Devil. And no, it has nothing to do with hockey. This is the legend of the Jersey Devil explained.
Read More -
The One Song Tom Petty Wrote That He Couldn't Stand
Throughout his musical career, Tom Petty accomplished many impressive milestones. He saw multiple number 1 hits on Billboard's charts, played the halftime show at the Super Bowl, and he released 13 studio albums. His early career was comprised of bands ...
Read More -
Here's How Serial Killer Son Of Sam Was Finally Caught
After two years of letters and in-person visits with "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz, it became abundantly clear to author and criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn that Berkowitz "relished his evil celebrity status and that he enjoyed terrorizing the city of New York ...
Read More -
Why The Coronavirus Isn't Going To Disappear Like SARS Did
SARS came and went -- which seems like a real glass-is-half-full potential outcome for the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Unfortunately, there's a small pile of reasons why it's unlikely that we'll see the same miraculous contagion disappearing act this time around.
Read More -
The Real Reason Julius Caesar Was Kidnapped By Pirates
Get ready to buckle your swash, me hearties, to hear a tale of long ago from the High Seas, and there's a celebrity, and there's pirates! This one happened back around 75 BCE and it involves one of the few people from Ancient Rome that almost everybody can name: Julius Caesar.
Read More -
The Critically Hated Movie That's Crushing It On Netflix
"Another insipidly sleazy, lizard-brain shoot-'em-up that through its very dullness demonstrates how rote such ghastly fare has become in our culture." "Instantly forgettable tough-guy fantasia." Just a few selected lines from reviews of the critically panned The Last Days of American Crime.
Read More -
The Truth About Italy's Underwater Ghost Village
It sounds like the stuff of fantasy. An underwater ghost village in the Mediterranean? That's got to be a lost suburb of Atlantis, right? Do mermaid ghosts live there, and do they swim or just eerily pass through the water like it doesn't exist?
Read More -
The Truth About The Deadliest Octopus In The World
"Small and kind of cute" doesn't necessarily mean "small and kind of cute and harmless," as any Peter Dinklage fan knows. Add "kind of cute, for something boneless" and it doesn't change. Case in point: the blue-ringed octopus. Small, and kind of cute, but astonishingly deadly.
Read More -
Forrest Fenn's Hidden Treasure Finally Found
One of the most enduring treasure hunts in the past decade finally came to an end this week. Forrest Fenn, who hid a treasure box possibly worth over $1 million, confirmed on his website someone found his buried chest of booty in the Rocky Mountains.
Read More -
The Truth About The Secret Drug Use During The Vietnam War
As documented by the U.S. State Department Office of the Historian, during a 1965 meeting at the White House, President Lyndon Johnson voiced "serious concerns" about whether westerners stood a chance, "in the absence of intelligence," of winning the Vietnam War.
Read More -
The Untold Truth Of Wikipedia
Wikipedia is everywhere, but the untold truth of Wikipedia is probably just as interesting as any page you can find on the site itself.
Read More -
The Truth About The Most Dangerous Fruit In The World
Like a lot of things, there are fruits out there that are nifty fun and delicious and good for you, and then there are fruits that are good for you in moderation. And then there's those fruits that are basically Mother Nature's booby-trap to cull the herd.
Read More -
The Truth About The Richest Athlete In History
In terms of rich athletes, Michael Jordan is always the top of any list. But his fortune pales in comparison to a chariot racer from around the Second Century CE, named Diocles.
Read More -
This Is Where You Can Find The World's Oldest Liquor Store
Yes, even your ancestors enjoyed the occasional nippitaty — that is, according to Merriam-Webster, a very strong drink. But while colonists couldn't call upon Postmates or head over to the nearest Trader Joe's wine shop, mom-and-pop liquor stores have served the public since the United States was founded.
Read More -
The Truth About Eminem's Feud With Nick Cannon
Eminem's disses leave third-degree burns on their coolest setting. So unless you want Eminem to melt you with his mouth, it's best not to light a fire under him because you will probably be no match in a feud. But Nick Cannon didn't choose his fire fight in 2009. Eminem chose him.
Read More -
Here's What Mythbusters Taught Us About Star Wars
It might seem impossible, trying to nail down the realities of the Star Wars universe. The events described in the movies, books, and video games occurred, allegedly, far, far away, and not even recently. Still, the good folks at MythBusters never let a childish premise stop them.
Read More -
The Best Space Documentaries You Can Stream On Netflix
In between streaming Netflix's new Space Force show starring Steve Carell, we recommend gaining some real space knowledge about how our universe formed and how NASA is gearing up to return man — and woman — back to the moon by 2024.
Read More -
The Truth About San Francisco's Black Plague Scare
As bad as coronavirus is -- and it is bad, make no mistake about it -- Black Plague was worse. (So far, anyway.) Also known as Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, in the mid-1300s it ravaged Western Europe. It would rear its head again in San Francisco.
Read More -
The Truth About Freddie Mercury's Mustache
The early eighties were a particularly revolutionary time for British rock band Queen. The decade also saw Freddie Mercury leave behind his trademark long hair and painted fingernails for a strikingly different look.
Read More -
The Real Reason Abraham Lincoln Created The Secret Service
The Secret Service's mandate wasn't expanded to presidential security until 1901, when President William McKinley was assassinated while in office. The first president to be assassinated was Abraham Lincoln, in 1865 ... and, in a deep historical irony, it was Lincoln who established the Service.
Read More -
The Truth About The Animal That Spends Its Whole Adult Life Pregnant
Between overwhelmed aunts, the folks at your church, and coworkers who won't stop pumping in the break room, there's a good chance you know somebody perpetually pregnant. Now, researchers have found a marsupial that double-bunks its pregnancies like it's running a shady hostel in its womb.
Read More -
The Truth About Billy Joel's Heavy-Metal Band
Before going solo as the Piano Man, Billy Joel showed off his less polished side as one-half of a band named Atilla, which was a fusion of prog-rock, psychedelic, and heavy metal. It might've led to the worst rock album of all time.
Read More
