When travelers started disappearing near Osage Township, close to the southeastern corner of Kansas, no one took much notice at first. It was the 1870s, and the frontier could still be a wild, hostile place. Near the border with the Indian Territory (which became the state of Oklahoma in 1907), criminals roamed beyond the reach […]
The Shocking Story of the Bloody Benders Read More »
Inside the Third Reich’s concentration camps were scores of evil guards capable of committing horrible and sadistic acts. When the Allies tried the perpetrators of the Holocaust after the end of the war, the public was surprised by the beastly behavior of female guards like Irma Grese and Elisabeth Volkenrath, who often committed worse acts
Jenny Barkmann: The “Beautiful Spectre” of Stutthof Read More »
As famous as Edgar Allan Poe is, the mysterious circumstances surrounding his passing have never been solved. As for Poe’s young wife, Virginia, there is no doubt about how she passed. What’s less well known is what her tragically short life was really like. Virginia married Edgar Allan Poe, her first cousin when she was
Who Was Virginia Clemm, the Wife of Edgar Allan Poe? Read More »
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the bloody trauma of World War I was still lingering in Europe’s collective memory. It should be no surprise, then, that many countries wanted nothing to do with another conflict. Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Netherlands declared their neutrality to keep the war
Was Sweden Actually Neutral in WW2? Read More »
Over 55,000 prisoners of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp never made it out alive. Buchenwald was one of the Third Reich’s largest camps, with over 280,000 prisoners serving time there. Death lurked around every corner, and many killings were never recorded in the camp’s books. Walter Gerhard Mart Sommer, who earned the title “The Hangman of
Martin Sommer: The guard too cruel for even the Nazis Read More »
Following the Second World War, war crimes trials were held to bring the architects of WW2 and the Holocaust to justice. Inside a courtroom in Luneburg, the Belsen Trials took place that sought to deal with the SS men and women of the Belsen concentration camp. Many of these guards had committed horrendous crimes, but
Irma Grese: The Hyena of Auschwitz Read More »
Finland has spent much of its history living in the shadow of its larger neighbor, Russia. Until 1918, it was officially part of Imperial Russia but broke away after the Czar was deposed and the Bolsheviks took over in nearby St. Petersburg/Leningrad. In 1920, the new Soviet Union signed a treaty recognizing Finnish independence, establishing
The Winter War: The Soviet Invasion of Finland Read More »
Genghis Khan, the renowned and legendary leader of the Mongol Empire, is easily one of the most fascinating and notorious figures in all of world history. Known for his unmatched conquests and terrible brutality, he united countless tribes, marched them across vast expanses of Asia and Europe, and conquered one of the largest empires ever
The Life of a Mongol Warrior under Genghis Khan Read More »
Often when we think of the American Civil War, images of enormous battlefields and waves of soldiers immediately come to mind. However, there’s another, more gruesome side to the war that tends to go overlooked. Casualties and deaths were many, but of course, not all took place on the battlefield. Wounded soldiers who survived the
The Horrifying History of Civil War Medicine Read More »
The Gilded Age was a time in American history that stretched from 1877 to the early 1900s, give or take a few years. It was a time of economic growth, technological advancements, and industrialization. Much of that advancement came from a group of businessmen, entrepreneurs, and industrialists known as Titans of Industry or “Robber Barons.”
Who Were the Gilded Age Robber Barons? Read More »
