Japan’s bizarre WWII plan to bomb the continental U.S. by high-altitude balloons claimed its first and only victims, an Oregon church group, 70 years ago. | Continue reading
In the early 1820s, a Scottish swindler devised one of history’s most outlandish moneymaking schemes: he invented his own country. | Continue reading
The iconic Roman structure stood as the largest and most complex permanent amphitheater in the ancient world. | Continue reading
The Air Force offered the pilot's widow conflicting explanations. | Continue reading
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, initiating a controversial World War II policy with lasting consequences for | Continue reading
Under cripplingly cold winter conditions, American troops proved their mettle. | Continue reading
It may be hard to believe, but not too long ago major American cities banned pinball out of fear of the arcade game’s effect on crime, juvenile delinquency and morality. | Continue reading
The 1980s battle over safety belt laws reflected widespread ambivalence over the role and value of government regulation. | Continue reading
An explosive bestseller mined the records of Adolf Hitler’s personal doctor, among other sources, to uncover details of the long-rumored drug use by many in the Nazi regime. | Continue reading
Long considered a harbinger of bad luck, Friday the 13th has inspired a late 19th-century secret society, an early 20th-century novel, a horror film franchise | Continue reading
Can you tell who a criminal is just by looking at them? No you can’t, but that didn’t stop the idea from gaining traction in the late 19th century. Early | Continue reading
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought on June 25, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, pitted federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel | Continue reading
First came the diamond-filled golden Buddha and the box of gold bars. Then came the torture. | Continue reading
In 1988, Michael Dukakis' campaign was destroyed by an ad the Bush campaign ran using footage of Dukakis having fun driving a tank. | Continue reading
The solar storm that hit Earth last Thursday delivered only a glancing blow, but in 1859 the planet wasn’t so lucky. | Continue reading
Native American riveting gangs worked on the 'high steel' for iconic structures like the Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Plaza and more. | Continue reading
Were financial institutions victims—or culprits? | Continue reading
America’s most notorious gangster sponsored the charity that served up three hot meals a day to thousands of people in need—no questions asked. | Continue reading
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan begins firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work. The | Continue reading
More than a quarter of the nation was inoculated in 1976 for a pandemic that never materialized. | Continue reading
In the early days of U.S. parcel service, there weren’t clear guidelines about what you could and couldn’t mail. | Continue reading
Reports persist of UFOs, crop circles, cattle mutilation—and shapeshifting creatures impervious to bullets. | Continue reading
Computer programming used to be a ‘pink ghetto’—so it was underpaid and undervalued. | Continue reading
Why do we bestow people’s names on volatile storms in the first place? | Continue reading
The news was terrifying to colonists in Massachusetts: Smallpox had made it to Boston and was spreading rapidly. The first victims, passengers on a ship from | Continue reading
Following Nat Turner's rebellion of 1831, legislation to limit black people's access to education intensified. But enslaved people found ways to learn. | Continue reading
On July 26, 1775, the U.S. postal system is established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin | Continue reading
Between 1765 and 1767, an unknown creature killed over 100 people in a rural region of France—and captivated a horrified world. | Continue reading
From water-powered textile mills, to mechanical looms, much of the machinery that powered America's early industrial success was "borrowed" from Europe. | Continue reading
During the 20th century, Americans’ lifespans tended to rise and fall depending on the economy—but not in the way you might think. | Continue reading
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American | Continue reading
Among tools people used in the past were moss, sponge on a stick, ceramic pieces and bamboo 'spatulas.' | Continue reading
From post-war recessions to the energy crisis to the dot-com and housing bubbles, some slumps have proven more lasting—and punishing—than others. | Continue reading
By the time the virus reached the U.S., the country already had a vaccine ready. | Continue reading
America's largest industry shifted from making cars to bombers, tanks and more—at unparalleled speed. | Continue reading
As human civilizations rose, these diseases struck them down. | Continue reading
The first strain of the Spanish flu wasn’t particularly deadly. Then it came back in the fall with a vengeance. | Continue reading
Find out more about the sophisticated hoax that fooled the Nazis and laid the groundwork for the Normandy invasion. | Continue reading
Yes, there was rocket science. But there were also extraordinary amounts of low-tech weaving, stitching and caulking. | Continue reading
The Christmas Truce occurred on and around Christmas Day 1914, when the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the | Continue reading
As you might expect for a technology so expansive and ever-changing, it is impossible to credit the invention of the internet to a single person. The internet | Continue reading
Amid an escalating arms race, civil defense drills offered comically simple strategies for surviving an atomic attack. | Continue reading