The Human Hunting Tsar (Or, Six of the Most Terrible Things Ivan the Terrible Did, Ranked in Order of Terribleness)
How does one earn the nickname “The Terrible”? We take a look at six of the worst crimes attributed to Ivan IV.
The Door to Hell
Sometimes, scientists do great things. Sometimes, they set manmade pits of natural gas on fire.
The Leg That Received a Funeral (Or, Four Things You Might Not Know about General Santa Anna)
The only thing more #extra than Santa Anna himself was the state funeral he ordered for his leg.
Elinor Powell: The African-American Nurse Who Fell in Love with a German POW
Sometimes if you want to meet someone, you gotta get sent to a wartime labor camp.
The Italian Zombies
You know what they say about the Neapolitan syphilitic zombie outbreak of 1495: if you remember it, you weren’t there.
Taytu Betel: The Woman Who Saved Ethiopia
The Italians thought they knew what they were getting into when they tried to colonize Ethiopia. They were wrong.
The Real Hackstory of the New England Vampires
Brad Pitt wasn’t the only vampire we learned about in the early ’90s.
The Real Hackstory of the Kettle War
In 1784, the Dutch and the Holy Roman Empire clashed over control of the Scheldt River. There were many survivors.
The Origin of the Moron
In 1910, Henry H. Goddard coined the term “moron” because he needed a word for my ancestors. Ouch, buddy.
The Baboon Who Served in World War I
Man’s best friend? Jackie the Baboon.