The Belle Gunness Farm MassacreOn the morning of April 28, 1908, a farm just outside La Porte, Indiana, burned to the ground. What the flames left behind was far more horrifying than anyone could have imagined.When investigators searched the ruins, they discovered a cellar packed with the dismembered and partially buried remains of multiple victims. The bodies had been wrapped and disposed of with chilling efficiency, suggesting the killer had done this man...

While people often tend to think of submarines as a modern invention, inventors created several prototypes from 1580 onward, and they even attempted to use them. Some of the designs remained theoretical and never got off the drawing board, but as time went on, several Europeans built and tested primitive submarines. Most of these early subs were made of wood and often possessed an awkward shape, but a French priest first proposed the now familiar cylindrical layout in 1634. He determined t...

What happens when you put good people in a bad place?That was the question that an experiment in 1971 set out to answer when Stanford University professor and psychologist Philip Zimbardo used funding provided by the U.S. Office of Naval Research to create a make-believe prison in the basement of a university building. Male students were offered the chance to take part in the two-week experiment (and to make $15 per day). All applicants were carefully screened to ensure that they w...

Altogether, the Battle of Stalingrad was the deadliest battle in the history of warfare, and the Soviets’ decisive victory there is considered one of the biggest turning points in the entire war, and certainly in the European theater. Over the next two years, the German gains in Russia were steadily reversed, and the Red Army eventually began pushing west towards Berlin. Fittingly, the importance of Stalingrad was commemorated in several ways, from Churchill presenting Stalin with a “Sword...

Hollywood has never lacked leading men who could captivate viewers with dramatic performances that depict them as suave romantics or dashing heroes, especially during the Golden Age of Hollywood, when stars like Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, and Cary Grant graced screens. But in the mid-20th century, one of the most popular stars was a man who’s been frequently overlooked.Some actors were recruited based on their appearance alone, signing contracts before taking screen tests or eve...

Byzantium may have reached its zenith during the Middle Ages as Constantinople, but it had previously stood out among Greek and other ancient cities for its wealth, size, and strategic location. It is probable that given the location, if the Megarans had not founded their city where they did, another Greek polis would have. It is equally probable that any city in that area would have enjoyed success from the wealth generated from its involvement in the key two-way trade between th...

Of the many mathematical advances made by the Greeks, none rival those established by Euclid of Alexandria, who likely remains the most famous ancient mathematician despite the fact little is actually known about his life. He revolutionized geometry, mathematics, and astronomy in Alexandria, Egypt, around 300 BCE, yet left almost no clues about his life story. Historians know he was a trailblazing mathematician and dabbled in astronomy because he wrote many books on these topics, and a 13-...

“Politics is the systematic cultivation of hatred.” - TalleyrandWhile Metternich is most associated with the Congress of Vienna, France, despite its turbulence, had its own influential representative there: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Known simply as Talleyrand, his name ultimately became associated with crafty, manipulative personal and political maneuvering, even in a country that suffered no shortage of such diplomats and ministers in its history.As an adult,...

Many people remain fascinated by stories about the Cold War, particularly the espionage that was covertly conducted across the globe by both sides. Indeed, from the beginning of the Cold War, there were hundreds if not thousands of spies positioned in each side’s governments. Some worked as double agents, while others worked to plant pivotal pieces of information or disinformation to persuade government officials within these warring countries.Inevitably, some of the Cold War’s mos...

Herman Webster Mudgett was born in 1861 in a small New Hampshire hill town, and he was dead before he turned 35. In the years between, operating under a name he had constructed to replace his own, he built a hotel in Chicago designed to kill its guests, committed a number of murders whose exact count remains in dispute, and earned the distinction of being among the first Americans to whom the word “serial killer” - a term that did not yet exist in his lifetime - could reasonably be applied...

Although the school of philosophy started by Socrates and championed by Plato and Aristotle continues to be the most famous, other schools of thought began to branch, including the Epicureans and Cynics. In the 3rd century B.C., Stoicism arose in response to and under the influence of these older schools, combining many of the best theories from each into a more cohesive whole. With a greater flexibility and more practical application to everyday life, Stoicism quickly became a very popula...

When the Surcouf launched in 1929, it was a technological marvel. This wasn’t a conventional submarine at all, but a 3,300-ton, 300-foot-long submersible light cruiser. Armed not just with torpedoes but also a pair of eight-inch guns, the Surcouf had a range of over 10,000 miles and was equipped with a seaplane in a hanger and a prison capable of holding up to 40 prisoners. When it was launched, the submarine looked like something out of the novels of Jules Verne, and many people ...