Dr. Gustav Zander's Victorian-Era Exercise Machines

Jul 20, 2022

Dr. Gustav Zander's institute in Stockholm, founded in 1865, could be called the world’s first gym. It was equipped with twenty-seven cu...

Princess Caraboo: The Imposter That Fooled a Nation

Jul 19, 2022

On 3 April 1817, a mysterious woman in her mid-twenties walked into the small English village of Almondsbury in Gloucestershire. She was dre...

Grace Darling's Daring Rescue of Shipwreck Survivors

Jul 18, 2022

In 1838, a young woman pulled off a heroic rescue saving several survivors from a wrecked merchant ship off the coast of Northumberland in n...

Gol Gumbaz: The Taj Mahal of South India

Jul 8, 2022

In the city of Bijapur, in the south Indian state of Karnataka, stands one of the grandest royal tombs to be ever constructed in India. Aptl...

Code of Ur-Nammu: The Oldest Law in History

Jul 7, 2022

Some of the earliest legal codes concerning crimes and offenses and their punishment were formulated in the ancient Middle East. The Sumeria...

Simeon Stylites: The Ascetic Who Lived Atop a Pillar For 37 Years

Jul 6, 2022

Many monks and hermits go to great lengths to deny themselves of simple pleasures in order to atone their sins and pursue spiritual goals. S...

Carlton Tavern: The Pub That Was Reborn From Rubble

Jul 2, 2022

Carlton Tavern in Kilburn, London, was the heart of the community for nearly a hundred years until it ceased to exist one spring morning in ...

The Talking Stamps of Bhutan

Jun 30, 2022

Bhutan, a small landlocked country sandwiched between India and China, barely attracts attention in the international arena. Its postage sta...

The Two-Headed Boy of Bengal

Jun 29, 2022

In May 1783, in a small village named Mundul Gaut, in Bengal, India, a strange child was born. He had two heads. The midwife assisting the...

The Vanishing of Flannan’s Lighthouse Keepers

Jun 27, 2022

During the cold December days of 1900, three men disappeared off a remote island in the Outer Hebrides. They left no trace or trail, save fo...

Watson’s Hotel: India’s Oldest Cast Iron Building

Jun 24, 2022

Early one morning In 1867, a traveler walking through the familiar streets of Kala Ghoda district in Bombay noticed something strange “like ...

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...