"A Man Willed His $2.4 Million Fortune To The French Village That Saved Him From The Holocaust"
"The small French village of Chambon-sur-Lignon has just received a surprise $2.4 million gift in the will of a 90-year-old Austrian man named Eric Schwam who passed away on Christmas Day. Shocked officials soon learned that Schwam was paying the town back for saving him and his family 80 years earlier. He's asked that the town use the money to fund education initiatives and scholarships for the local children"
"A Guidance Counselor Once Told Judith Love Cohen To Go To Finishing School And Become A "Lady." Instead, She Earned Degrees From Usc, Became An Aerospace Engineer, Worked With Nasa, And Designed A Computer That Helped Save The Apollo 13 Astronauts"
"Meanwhile, she raised a family — including a son who grew up to be actor Jack Black — and wrote children's books encouraging young girls to aspire to careers in STEM"
"Advice On Marriage From A Suffragette Pamphlet In The 1910s"
"Seven Baby Tasmanian Devils Were Just Born In The Wild On Mainland Australia For The First Time In 3,000 Years"
"At the time, they were hunted to extinction by dingoes. But today, they are still at risk. Tasmanian devils are endangered on the island of Tasmania, having lost 90 percent of their population since 1996 due to a contagious form of cancer. Only about 25,000 remain. Their reintroduction to the Australian mainland hopes to counteract the drastic population decline of the past 25 years"
"A Megalithic Monument In Spain That's Older Than The Pyramids Was Uncovered From Its Watery Hiding Place By A Drought. At 7,000 Years Old, The "Spanish Stonehenge" Is Actually Some 2,000 Years Older Than Stonehenge Itself"
"In 1925, Residents Of The Small Town Of Nome, Alaska Faced A Potentially Fatal Epidemic And Very Few Options To Save Them From Death. that Is, Until Balto Showed Up, A Sled Dog Who Rose To The Occasion And Saved The Small Town From Certain Death"
"The Pizza Chain Founder Paid Rosa Parks Rent From 1994 Until Her Death In 2005"
"I Went To This Site Aiming To Find At Least One Nice Dinosaur Skeleton. We Ended Up With 80 Skeletons And More Than 100 Eggs."
"During an exploration of a dinosaur graveyard in southern Patagonia, paleontologists found over 100 eggs in a massive nest — and some still had embryos inside. Furthermore, this discovery offers the first indisputable evidence pointing to the fact that some dinosaurs lived in herds. These 193-million-year-old findings prove that dinosaurs had a complex social structure and even shared in raising the whole community."
"Jules, This Is Brian. Listen, I'm On An Airplane That's Been Hijacked. If Things Don't Go Well, And It's Not Looking Good, I Just Want You To Know I Absolutely Love You. I Want You To Do Good, Go Have Good Times. Same To My Parents And Everybody, And I Just Totally Love You, And I'll See You When You Get There."
"Three minutes before United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, passenger Brian Sweeney used an Airfone to leave a heartbreaking final voicemail message to his wife Julie. At the time, she was in the middle of teaching a high school class, so she missed his call. Though Julie was soon pulled away from her students to learn that her husband had died in the attacks, she didn't realize that he had left her a message until she got home. "
"Archivists In The UK Just Opened An Unsealed Package From 1807 And Found A Sweater In Pristine Condition Inside"
"A carpenter from the Faroe Islands sent the sweater, hand-knit by his wife with a black and white floral pattern on a red backdrop, to a friend in Denmark. However, the British Royal Navy seized the parcel amid ongoing wars between the two nations and it sat unopened in the UK National Archives until now. This package is one of more than 160,000 unopened letters and parcels seized by the British Royal Navy between 1652 and 1815 that are now being unsealed as part of a massive project that's expected to take 20 years."
"In 1908, Bertha Boronda Was Charged With "Mayhem" — For Slicing Off Her Husband's P*nis With A Straight Razor"
"She was sentenced to five years in San Quentin, which still housed female inmates at the time. Despite Boronda's gruesome crime, her incarceration was reportedly a "quiet" one"
"Drought In The Amazon Reveals Dozens Of Carvings Of Human Faces That Had Been Hidden For 1,000 Years"
"As extreme drought in Brazil causes the Amazon's water levels to drop to historic lows, dozens of ancient rock carvings have been revealed on previously submerged rocks along the river's banks. Carved between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago, these haunting engravings of anthropomorphic faces vary in shape, size, and expression, while their original purpose and meaning remain shrouded in mystery."
"Norwegian Farmer Øyvind Tveitane Lovra And His Son Were Recently Cleaning Up A Field On Their Property In Rogaland When Lovra Picked Up What He Thought Was A Scrap Of Metal From A Piece Of Farm Equipment"
"Upon closer inspection, he realized it was actually the hilt of a sword. The weapon is 15 inches long — about half its original size — has a T-shaped handle, and dates to between 900 and 1050 C.E. What's more, X-rays revealed an inscription on the blade that suggests it may be a famed Ulfberht sword, a weapon of exceptionally high quality that has never been seen in the Rogaland area before."
"In December 1997, Julia "Butterfly" Hill Climbed A 1,000-Year-Old California Redwood Tree As Part Of Efforts To Keep It From Being Knocked Down By Loggers"
"Initially, she only intended to stay there for a couple of weeks. But instead, Hill didn't touch the ground for 738 days, far surpassing the previous record for the longest tree sit of 90 days. During her protest, she lived on platforms 180 feet above the ground, surviving off of food and water brought up by other environmental activists and enduring the freezing rain and winds of a particularly brutal El Niño season. Hill also faced near-constant harassment and threats from employees of Pacific Lumber Co., the logging company trying to cut the tree down. But despite the many setbacks she faced, her protest was ultimately successful and she was able to save the tree."
"A Postman In Texas Just Found Undelivered Letters From A World War II Soldier In His Truck-Then Hand Delivered Them To His Sister In Arkansas"
"A postman in Texas named Alvin Gauthier was recently looking through the parcel bin in his truck when he came across a Christmas card sent in 1944. Soon, he discovered a series of other undelivered letters sent between 1942 and 1944, all written by the same man, a soldier named Marion Lamb who was stationed overseas during World War II. A Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War, Gauthier immediately knew that he had to track down Lamb's family and put these letters in their hands.
On his day off and using his own money, Gauthier then spent five hours making the 379-mile drive to the home of Lamb's sister, Jo Ann Smith, in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Soon after Gauthier arrived at Smith's front door, she hugged him, broke down in tears, and read the words her brother had written 80 years before. "I could have stuck them in the mail, but it's kinda like sometimes you have to go above and beyond," Gauthier said. "Just go the extra mile ... or 379 miles.""
"A 19-Year-Old Steve Buscemi When He Was A New York City Firefighter In 1976"
"This 1,800-Year-Old Iron Mask Was Once Worn By A Roman Soldier Heading Into Battle"
"The Roman city of Hadrianapolis, in what's now northern Turkey, was founded in the 1st century B.C. and named after a Roman Emperor. Today, it's known as the home of the "Mona Lisa of Roman Mosaics" and for its stunning ruins, including churches, a theater, and a military garrison. And archaeologists have found a breathtaking part of Hardianapolis's military history, with this fragment of a Roman soldier's iron face mask that dates back 1,800 years"
"I Never Knew Marilyn Monroe… I Knew And Loved Norma Jeane."
"James Dougherty was 21 years old when he married a teenage Norma Jeane Baker — who would go on to become one of the most famous women in modern history. At the time, however, Baker was just 16 and set to return to an orphanage unless she found a husband quickly. Her foster mother set her up with Dougherty, but though their relationship began as one of convenience, the pair soon "loved each other madly." Just two years after they wed on June 19, 1942, Dougherty was deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II. While he was gone, a photographer discovered Norma Jeane Baker working in a factory — and soon, Marilyn Monroe was born.
Dougherty was on a ship in the Yangtze River outside of Shanghai when he was served with divorce papers. Monroe wanted to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox, and it stipulated that she couldn't be married, because the executives didn't want her to get pregnant. Their divorce was finalized in 1946, and Dougherty remarried shortly after to a woman who wouldn't let him watch any of his ex-wife's films. Although Monroe moved on as well, famously marrying Joe DiMaggio and then Arthur Miller, Dougherty was still devastated when she died in 1962. "She was too gentle to be an actress," he later lamented. "She wasn't tough enough for Hollywood." "
"Founded By Alexander The Great's Father King Philip II In 356 B.c.e., The Historic City Of Philippi Has Become One Of The Most Important Archaeological Sites In The Region"
"Over the last century, archaeologists have uncovered everything from a theater to a forum to baths from the Greek era, while the Roman layer of the city was designed as a miniature of Rome itself. Now, archaeology students digging at Philippi have made another astonishing find: the head of an 1,800-year-old statue of Apollo. This follows the 2023 discovery of a Hercules statue right nearby, and experts believe that both sculptures were part of an enormous fountain that sat in the city square."
"Benjamin Franklin Is One Of The Most Renowned Figures In American History — And He Was Also So Obsessed With Farting That He Wrote An Essay About It"
"In 1781, Franklin submitted an article titled "Fart Proudly" to the Royal Academy of Brussels, which was one of the most respected scientific organizations in Europe. In it, Franklin demanded to know why the academy was "putting absolutely no effort into figuring out how to make my farts smell better?""
"Approximately 1,700 Years Ago, An Ancient Roman Tossed A Chicken Egg Into A Wishing Well In What's Now The Town Of Aylesbury, England"
"Symbols of fertility associated with the gods Mithras and Mercury, eggs were often offered up as sacrifices in this manner during the Roman era. But unlike the others, the "Aylesbury egg" has somehow remained completely intact after nearly two millennia. Researchers have just used CT scans to discover that its yolk, albumen, and air sac have been preserved, making it the only specimen of its kind in the world."
"It Is Amazing To Literally Rewrite What We Know Of History, Adding A New Queen To Our Records."
"Archaeologists in Egypt just discovered the existence of a previously-unknown queen named Neith after unearthing a pyramid built in her honor at Saqqara. She was likely named after the goddess Neith, who was worshipped from the Predynastic Period until the Romans took control of the kingdom. She was the goddess of creation, wisdom, weaving, war, and many earlier Egyptian queens were named after her due to her importance"
"For Nearly 60 Years, The Small Town Of Centralia, Pennsylvania Has Been On Fire. Neither The State Nor The Federal Government Have Been Able To Figure Out How To Extinguish The Blaze, And The Town Has Been Abandoned Except For Five Remaining Residents"
"When they die, the state will seize and raze their homes, as it has done with every other structure that once stood in what's now a ghost town.
Today, this abandoned town is covered in a constant blanket of smoke and plagued by plumes of noxious smoke that burst out of enormous cracks that have opened up in the ground. Its environs are so chilling that it inspired the setting of the horror franchise "Silent Hill.""
"Employees From Kazakhstan's Emergency Situations Department Were Recently Performing Routine Inspections In The Country's Akmola Region When They Stumbled Upon A Bizarre Sight"
"A human face carved into a granite boulder. The carving is about the size of a sheet of paper and dates back at least 3,000 years, but it may be even older. Experts believe that the site was part of a ritual complex during the Bronze Age or early Iron Age, but they're still uncovering more about this "incredibly rare" discovery"
"Archaeologists In Spain May Have Just Found The Legendary Lost Temple Of Hercules"
"Ricardo Belizón, a graduate student in southern Spain, was studying topographic maps of the Bay of Cádiz last year when he noticed an intriguing shape just off the coast. Under the waters of Caño de Sancti Petri, he noted a roughly 1,000 by 500-foot structure — and he believes it may be the lost Temple of Hercules. Long regarded as a "holy grail" for archaeologists, many ancient Greek and Roman leaders traveled to this site to pray for strength some two millennia ago."
""My Name Is Ralph C. Lincoln And I Am Honored To Be An 11th Generation Lincoln Who Also Shares The Same Great-Grandfather As One Of America’s Greatest Presidents.""
"If you visit Fayette County in Pennsylvania, you will find a small, obscure cemetery where members of the Lincoln family are buried, including Abraham Lincoln’s great uncle Mordecai, who served in the Revolutionary War, and his son Benjamin. Mordecai Lincoln is my 5th generation great-grandfather, which makes me a third cousin of the President."
Now Known As The "Nuclear Boy Scout," David Hahn Was 17 When He Decided To Earn An Atomic Energy Merit "Badge By Building A Working Nuclear Reactor — Right In The Backyard Of His Michigan Home"
"In the mid-1990s, Hahn painstakingly collected tiny amounts of radioactive material from everyday objects around his house and almost had a working "breeder" reactor in his back shed when he caught the attention of local and federal authorities, prompting an FBI and Nuclear Regulatory Commission response. Remarkably, it would not be the last time Hahn tried to build a homemade nuclear reactor."
"For More Than Two Years, Danish Explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen Was Trapped In The Arctic With A Single Inexperienced Crewmate — After The Rest Of Their Expedition Left Without Them"
"From 1910 to 1912, they survived by eating their sled dogs and abandoned rations from previous expeditions while evading bears, wolves, and foxes. Once, when a polar bear broke into their cabin in the middle of winter, they had to fight it off with only an axe while they frantically tried to heat up their frozen shotgun by the fire so it could shoot."
"On The Night Of April 22, 1987, Ruthie Mae Mccoy Called 911 To Report That Someone Was Breaking Into Her Apartment Through Her Bathroom Mirror"
"She called 911 twice that night, as did two of her neighbors who heard her screams, but nobody came to her aid. McCoy was found two days later in a puddle of blood with one shoe on and one shoe off — m*rdered by two k*llers who had actually come in through the bathroom mirror. In 1992, her story helped inspire a horror classic about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand who traveled through mirrors in the Chicago projects."
"A Rare View Of The Statue Of Liberty's Head As Seen From Its Torch"
"Until 1916, visitors were allowed to climb up the torch and enjoy spectacular views like this one, but for more than a century, the torch has been closed to the public — and the little-known reason for that is far more dramatic than most people realize.
On July 30, 1916, a group of German saboteurs set fire to what was then the United States' largest munitions depot on Black Tom Island, right in the shadow of Lady Liberty. The blaze set off a massive explosion that shattered glass windows across Manhattan and Brooklyn and created an earthquake-sized rumble that woke people up as far away as Maryland. The explosion also caused shrapnel to hit the Statue of Liberty, causing permanent damage to the torch"
"Ringling Brothers' "Congress Of Freaks" Poses For A Photo In 1931, Including Frank Lentini "The Three-Legged Man" And George And Willie Muse "The Men From Mars.""
"Harold Henthorn Of Denver, Colorado Was Sentenced To Life In Prison In 2015 For Pushing His Wife Toni Off A Cliff In Rocky Mountain National Park In September 2012"
"He'd tried to claim it was an accident, but his inconsistent story and an incriminating map found in his vehicle ensured his conviction. What's more, Toni's death was eerily reminiscent of the death of Harold's first wife, Lynn, 17 years earlier. In 1995, Harold claimed he'd been changing a flat tire on a remote stretch of road in Colorado when Lynn dropped a lug nut and reached beneath the Jeep to retrieve it at the same moment that the vehicle fell off the jack, crushing her. Although Harold insists that he's completely innocent and has never k*lled anyone, Lynn's family now finds it hard to believe that her death was just a tragic accident."
"In 1956, The United States Army Corps Of Engineers Forcibly Cleared Out The Historically Black Town Of Oscarville, Georgia, In Order To Build A Lake In Its Place"
"Some 250 families were displaced, 50,000 acres of farmland were destroyed, and 20 cemeteries were either dug up or completely engulfed by the lake's waters. Afterward, the town of Oscarville remained disturbingly intact just below the surface of the water — making it one of the most dangerous lakes in America to this day. In the 70 years since its creation, some 700 people have been k*lled in the lake, many of them ensnared by the ruins of the former town and unable to get out. Many of the deaths have been so grisly and so inexplicable that some have come to believe that the lake is cursed and that restless spirits haunt its depths."
"The Near-Perfect Outline And Proportions Are Evident Through Comparing The Symmetrical Outline Of The Specimen With That Of A Blue Stingray."
"Archaeologists believe that this seemingly normal rock found on the coast of South Africa may actually be the world's earliest example of animal art. The stone is shaped like a kite and has symmetrical markings that are almost exactly the same as those seen on blue stingrays. There is even a stub at the base of the rock where the creature's tail may have been drawn on. Researchers didn't want to damage the artifact by dating it, so they analyzed surrounding stones to determine that the drawing was likely made in sand 130,000 years ago before fossilizing into its current form."
"At Around 5 P.m. On June 9, 2013, 19-Year-Old Maureen Kelly Took Off All Her Clothes And Walked Away From Her Campsite In Washington’s Remote Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It Was The Last Anyone Ever Saw Her"
"When she hadn't returned by midnight, her fellow campers called the police, who began the search the following day. They quickly discovered a pair of bare footprints leading from the campsite down to a creek and up the other side. But the prints ended at a paved forest service road and the trail went cold. And despite days of searching with trained K9 units, they never found any other trace of her and the case remains unsolved to this day."
""Hidden" Chapter Of The Bible Has Been Uncovered After 1,500 Years Thanks To UV Light"
"While studying a manuscript about ancient Christian stories at the Vatican Library, scientists used ultraviolet photography to find a never-before-seen Syriac translation of the Bible's chapters 11 through 12 from Matthew. And experts say it offers far more detail than the modern version of the New Testament"
"Tens Of Thousands Of People Drive Over Rhode Island’s Route 37 Every Day, But Few Of Them Know What Lies Beneath — Hundreds Of Bodies In Unmarked Graves From A Former State Institution For The Poor, Sick, And Mentally Ill."
"Investigators only recently discovered the existence of the burials while researching the location of a local woman’s great-great-grandfather, who had been buried in a different institution cemetery but reinterred in an unmarked mass grave by the highway in 1975. Researchers estimate that there are between 800 and 1,000 people buried beneath the highway, in addition to the 577 buried in the mass grave"
"Maritime Archaeologists In Israel Uncovered A Giant Treasure Trove Of Ancient Artifacts From Two Shipwrecks That Sank 1,000 Years Apart — Including A 1,700-Year-Old Gold Ring With An Early Christian Symbol For Jesus Carved Into It"
"Among the other finds were hundreds of silver and bronze Roman-era coins, bronze eagle figurines and bells, and a precious red gemstone with a lyre carved on the surface.
But archaeologists are most excited about the gold ring, which shows Jesus as the "good shepherd," one of the first images associated with Christianity and one that's rarely found on jewelry."
""Mommy, I can't catch my breath. Help me. Help me."
Early in the morning hours of December 20, 2009, Brittany Murphy collapsed on the balcony of her Hollywood Hills home. Her mother was on the scene but didn't think much of it at first, knowing that Brittany had been fighting an illness for the last few weeks and had a flair for the dramatic. But then, hours later, Murphy fell for a second — and final — time. After more than a decade, questions still remain about what exactly happened."
"André René Roussimoff Was Known By Several Things: André The Giant, The Eighth Wonder Of The World, And Wwf Champion To List A Few. But He Had Another Claim To Fame: "The Greatest Drunk On Earth.""
"At 7 feet and 4 inches and 550 pounds, André the Giant's immense size meant he possessed a superhuman ability to consume vast amounts of alcohol that would k*ll almost anyone else. In fact, Hulk Hogan claims that he watched Andre drink 108 12-ounce beers — in just the span of 45 minutes"
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What do you suppose you mean by that?
My bad! Meant #8
I wonder if she wrote #3 while in prison...
Thats 2.4 beers a minute for an entire 45 minutes.
Or @ 10 gallons in 45 min.