Every New Year’s Eve, millions watch the Times Square ball drop. But the tradition’s origins have nothing to do with celebrating the new year. Discover how a nineteenth-century invention designed to help sailors navigate the oceans became one of the world’s most famous celebrations.
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Discover the astonishing true story of the 100-year-old Antarctic fruitcake, the 2,000-year history behind this indestructible dessert, why it lasts so long, and most importantly, does anyone actually like fruitcake?
A wild true story from Texas aviation history: four drunk bird hunters who shot down their own airplane over Palo Duro Canyon. Discover how this unbelievable incident sparked FAA scrutiny and became a case study in aviation safety.
Discover the bizarre history of Zion, Illinois — founded by faith‐healer John Alexander Dowie, ruled by flat‐earther Wilbur Voliva and a community that banned dancing, pork and modern medicine.
A Russian researcher stabbed a colleague at an Antarctic station after repeated book spoilers. Explore the bizarre true story of the first attempted murder in Antarctica and more Antarctic crime history and icy legal quirks.
Discover the strange world of Soviet “bone records”—forbidden songs secretly pressed onto discarded X-rays during the Cold War. Explore their origins, risks, and legacy.
Discover the American Kennel Club’s 37 dog name rule. Explore the quirky Roman numeral rule, the legacy database behind it, and the surprising history of AKC dog naming conventions.
Discover how centuries of Habsburg inbreeding shaped the tragic and bizarre lives of Charles II of Spain and Ferdinand I of Austria, revealing the genetic and political consequences of royal inbreeding that helped fracture an empire
Learn about the Nazi plot to destroy Paris and how close we came to the City of Light becoming the City of Rubble. Also, learn how close the Tower of Pisa came to being demolished.
Discover how the kilogram, meter, and second went from royal feet and shiny cylinders to cosmic constant standards of measurement in the universe’s ultimate measurement makeover.
Explore the missed Pearl Harbor warnings and human errors that led to the attack on December 7, 1941. From radar blips ignored to decoded messages delayed, discover how miscommunication, assumptions, and bad timing turned clues into catastrophe—and changed history forever.
Explore the quirky history of America’s least-loved money in The End of the Penny: The Death of 1¢ and America’s Unpopular Currency Misfits. From dollar coins to $2 bills, discover why the U.S. keeps minting change no one wants to use.
Discover how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand—botched plans, missed shots, and one wrong turn—accidentally triggered World War I. A darkly funny look at history’s most bungled murder plot.
Discover the rise and fall of Saturday morning cartoons—from cereal-fueled rituals and toy-driven plots to the regulations that pulled the plug. Relive the nostalgia and uncover the surprising history behind your favorite childhood shows.
Discover the outrageous story of Emperor Elagabalus, Rome’s teenage ruler who worshipped a meteorite, redefined gender, and turned the empire into his personal circus. A wild, witty look at history’s most eccentric emperor and his glittering reign of chaos.
