The Trilingual Inscriptions of Darius and Xerxes at Ganj Nameh

Jun 22, 2022

About 12 kilometers southwest of the ancient city of Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) in western Iran, and 2,000 meters above sea level on Mount Al...

George Lawrence’s Mammoth Camera

Jun 21, 2022

In 1899, the Chicago & Alton Railway introduced a new intercity rail service between Chicago and St. Louis. Pulled by a 4-6-2 steam loco...

Dyrehavsbakken: The World’s Oldest Amusement Park

Jun 21, 2022

Just 10 km north of central Copenhagen, in the woods of Dyrehaven, sits Dyrehavsbakken, or simply Bakken, an amusement park that attracts cl...

Coal Gas Vehicles

Jun 20, 2022

Contrary to popular belief, vehicles run with natural gas was very common in the early 1900s in America and parts of Europe. However, this g...

Who Was The Man in The Iron Mask?

Jun 17, 2022

The man in the iron mask has been a historical enigma since the 18th century. Born circa 1658, he became a prisoner that hopped across the t...

What is Galvanism, And How Did it Inspire Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

Jun 16, 2022

On 18 January 1803, George Foster was hanged by the neck. The jury had found him guilty of murdering his wife and child by drowning them in ...

The Ruins of Khara-Khoto

Jun 14, 2022

In the westernmost banner of Inner Mongolia, in the middle of the Gobi Desert, there once stood a prosperous kingdom. It was a center of rel...

When Iceland’s Women Took a Day Off

Jun 14, 2022

Iceland is today known as one of the world’s most feminist countries. But the roots of this progressive title lies deep within ground-breaki...

The Cults That Worship Cargo

Jun 13, 2022

Picture this: the second World War is unleashing upon the world, but in a far corner across the seas from America, patches of land remain un...

The Book That Became Famous Before it Was Published

Jun 13, 2022

Fly Fishing: Memories of Angling Days is one of those books where the story behind is more interesting than the book itself. It’s not tha...

Eigerwand, The Railway Station Carved Into The Mountains

Jun 10, 2022

The Jungfrau massif is flanked by the Grindelwald and Rhône river valleys in the south-central Swiss Alps, between the towns of Brig and Int...

The Westinghouse Atom Smasher

Jun 9, 2022

For almost 80 years, a huge lightbulb-shaped device stood in Forest Hills on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, United States. To...

The Round Towers of Ireland

Jun 8, 2022

A unique feature of the Irish landscape are its free-standing round towers or Cloigtheach , which literally means “bell house”. As their nam...

Mahabat Maqbara: A Forgotten Testament of Artistry

Jun 8, 2022

In Junagadh, Gujarat, the confluence of cultural influences in India epitomises in the form of an overlooked monument. Mahabat Maqbara—an ep...

Elephant Execution in The 19th And 20th Centuries

Jun 7, 2022

Performing elephants were very common in circuses during the 19th and 20th centuries. Circus owners would often treat these animals with cru...

The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower—Twice!

Jun 6, 2022

Even if you think you know who Victor Lustig is, you don’t. Beyond the charming salutations, the livid scar on his left cheekbone and the ma...

Luna 9: The First Soft Landing on Another Planetary Body

Jun 2, 2022

The first spacecraft to achieve a survivable soft-landing on the moon was the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Luna 9. It was an exceedingly diffi...

Auguste Piccard: The Man Who Flew To The Stratosphere

Jun 1, 2022

Auguste Antoine Piccard was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer, who became the inspiration behind one of Tintin’s most lovable charact...

Mary Ann Bevan: The Ugliest Woman in History

May 31, 2022

Mary Ann Bevan may have made a name as the ugliest woman in the world. But in her endeavours she also became an epitome of opportunism and o...

The Leaning Kiipsaare Lighthouse

May 30, 2022

In the sea, off the coast of Saaremaa, Estonia, stands a slender lighthouse leaning dramatically towards the sea. When it was built in 1933 ...