When should you take down Christmas decorations—Twelfth Night or Candlemas? Discover the surprising history behind holiday traditions, woodland folklore, Groundhog Day, and the long debate over when Christmas really ends.
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When should you take down Christmas decorations—Twelfth Night or Candlemas? Discover the surprising history behind holiday traditions, woodland folklore, Groundhog Day, and the long debate over when Christmas really ends.
The truth about the wisdom of crowds: Francis Galton’s ox experiment, herding behavior, Dunning-Kruger, cognitive diversity, and when to trust majority opinion.
The true story of Half-Hangit Maggie Dickson, the 18th-century Scottish woman who survived her own execution—and changed legal history.
Jake DeShazer survived 40 months as a WWII POW after the Doolittle Raid—then returned to Japan as a missionary. Discover how solitary confinement, a shared Bible, and radical forgiveness reshaped his life.
Explore Davy Crockett’s forgotten career as a frontier humorist, from tall tales and political satire to the Lion of the West and the Alamo. Discover how a congressman’s wit helped shape America’s tradition of political comedy.
Why is there a Bolivian Navy if the country is landlocked? The answer involves war, national identity, rivers, and a century-old fight for sea access.
“Fart Proudly” proves Benjamin Franklin had a wicked sense of humor. Discover the real story behind his infamous flatulence essay.
Discover the true story of William Brodie, Edinburgh’s respectable Deacon who secretly led a life of burglary — and inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A tale of double identities, scandal, and poetic justice.
Explore the weirdest books ever published—from novels without verbs or the letter “E” to boxed chapters, alien alphabets, and unsolved manuscripts. These bizarre literary experiments push language, structure, and storytelling to their limits.
The fall of the Berlin Wall wasn’t planned—it was triggered by a mistake. Learn how a bungled press conference changed history on November 9, 1989.
Discover the history of constellations—from Babylonian star maps to Greek mythology and modern astronomy—and explore why connecting those dots into lions, bulls, and sea-goats takes more imagination than you think.
Tommy Johnson was the legendary tuba player behind the iconic sounds of *Jaws*, *Close Encounters of the Third Kind*, and *The Price Is Right*. Discover how two simple notes made him a hidden giant of Hollywood film history.
Explore the Burke and Hare murders, the shocking 1828 Edinburgh crimes in which two men killed to supply cadavers to medical schools—sparking outrage and helping lead to the Anatomy Act of 1832.
Jefferson “Soapy” Smith turned a simple soap scam into a criminal empire across Denver, Creede, and Skagway. Discover the true story of the Wild West’s most organized con man and his dramatic end during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Before the Great Depression defined his name, Herbert Hoover fed millions in wartime Europe and reshaped American government. His legacy deserves a second look.
