The Statue of Liberty is so famous that most people don't realize how colorful her history really is.
Discover the historical figures whose names became everyday vocabulary, from sandwiches and sideburns to boycotts, mavericks, diesel, nicotine, and other familiar words with surprising real-life origins.
Frederick the Great was the philosopher king of Prussia who traded letters with Voltaire and composed with Bach. But behind the conquests stood a haunted man—a king whose father burned his books, banished his first love, and forced him to watch his dearest lose his head. How he survived it all is a story for the ages.
Discover the historical scams and hoaxes that fooled thousands by exploiting greed, grief, curiosity, and wishful thinking, from Ponzi schemes and fake fossils to forged diaries and supernatural frauds worldwide.
Ancient Rome is a civilization that still fascinates us to this day. With its rich, and sometimes brutal culture, there's a reason why we still resurrect its stories and famous figures.
From Caligula and Abraham Lincoln to Al Capone and Richard Nixon, these famous historical figures were stuck with nicknames they disliked, mocked, resisted, or simply could never escape.
Ben Johnson became the pride of Canada overnight as he sprinted his way to Olympic glory, world records, and lucrative sponsorship deals. Known for a time as the fastest man in the world, his fall from grace would be as swift as his sprinting after he found himself marred in a doping scandal. And while Johnson eventually admitted to enhancing his performance, he stubbornly maintained that he wasn’t the only one doping—just the only one who got caught.
New York heiress Dorothy Arnold bought chocolates and a book on Fifth Avenue in 1910, then vanished without a trace, leaving behind one of America’s most enduring unsolved mysteries.
Silent-film star Marie Empress boarded the RMS Orduña in 1919, entered her cabin, and vanished without a trace, leaving behind one of cinema’s most enduring mysteries, baffling investigators ever since.
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