The Last Public Execution by Guillotine
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 1, 2021
On the morning of 17 June 1939, a crowd gathered outside the doors of the Saint-Pierre prison, in the center of Versailles. They had come to...
Toddler’s Truce: Why The British Could Not Watch TV at 6PM
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 30, 2021
At 6 PM every day the television would go blank. The next one hour would be frantic. Parents would scoop their kids off the living room couc...
Ciampate del Diavolo: 350,000 Years Old Fossilized Hominid Footprints
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 29, 2021
Near the Italian town of Foresta in the province of Caserta, and very close to the extinct volcano Roccamonfina, there is an area called Cia...
Bob Semple’s Tank: New Zealand’s Homegrown Tractor-Tanks
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 26, 2021
In 1941, war hysteria gripped New Zealand and its neighboring country of Australia. The Japanese army was advancing rapidly across South Eas...
The Hayirsizada Dog Massacre
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 24, 2021
Istanbul has many fascinating sights, from grand mosques to bustling bazaars, but one thing that has most consistently captured the imaginat...
The Case of The Missing Sri Lankan Handball Team
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 23, 2021
The Sri Lankan sports authority has a problem. Their athletes keep disappearing. They go to foreign countries to take part in sporting event...
Johannes Hevelius’s Moon Atlas
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 22, 2021
German astronomer Johannes Hevelius is often regarded as one of the last great astronomers to carry out major observational work without a t...
What Happens When You Bomb a Volcano
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 19, 2021
The Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary Islands began erupting in September 2021, and has been doing so for...
Before Pumpkins People Carved Turnips on Halloween
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 18, 2021
The yearly Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns was originally an Irish ritual, but instead of pumpkins, the folks a...
Bertha Benz’s Historic Car Ride
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 17, 2021
In the early morning hours of August 5, 1888, the 39-year-old Bertha Benz, wife of automobile pioneer Karl Benz, sneaked out of the house, a...
Codex Gigas, The Devil's Bible
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 15, 2021
At the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, there is on display a gigantic bible, 36 inches long, 20 inches wide and nearly 9 inches thi...
The Village Where Girls Turn Into Boys
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 15, 2021
Johnny was a brought up a girl. There was no reason not to. He had what appeared to be a vagina. So he wore little red dresses and went to s...
Henry Howard Holmes’s Murder Castle
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 13, 2021
At the corner of South Lowe Avenue and West 63rd Street in Englewood, Chicago, where now stands a drab, two story building of the United Sta...
John Brinkley: The Doctor Who Transplanted Goat Testicles Into Humans
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 11, 2021
The morning of September 15, 1930, was undeniably warm in Kansas. That summer had been the hottest ever recorded in the state. The heat had ...
Vladimir Komarov: The Cosmonaut Who Fell From Space
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 9, 2021
The year 1967 held special significance for Soviet Union—it was the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, as well as the 10th annivers...
Leonardo da Vinci’s Ostrich Egg Globe
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 8, 2021
If the first map to represent the American continent is that of Juan de la Cosa, made in the year 1500, and the first in which the name Amer...
How Air Raids in Britain Led to Shortage of Sausages in Germany
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 4, 2021
“It is far better to face the bullets than to be killed at home by a bomb,” proclaimed a British Army recruitment poster publicized during W...
Why Matchmaking Was a Dangerous Profession in The 19th Century
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 2, 2021
Before the invention of matches, making fire was a tedious business, so people often shared fires from already existing flames. Whenever a n...
Why Japan Made Human Sacrifices Before Building Bridges
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 1, 2021
Until the 16th century in Japan, major constructions like castles and bridges began with human sacrifices, with victims buried alive within ...
Arkadiko Bridge: The World’s Oldest Bridge
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 28, 2021
One of the oldest arch bridges still in use is the Arkadiko Bridge or Kazarma Bridge, located near the modern road from Tiryns to Epidauros ...
