Anyone who has seen an old cowboy film has almost certainly laid eyes on a large, broad-brimmed hat with a high, rounded crown. This “10 gallon hat” has been the distinguishing characteristic of the traditional North American cowboy. The hat’s date of origin is not known precisely, but historians suspect it originated circa 1925. There […]
The Strange History Of Why We Call Them 10 Gallon Hats Read More »
There are dozens of well-known fictional characters with blue skin, from Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan to X-men’s Beast to Neytiri in Avatar. Real people, though? They don’t tend to come in blue. Or do they? In reality, the Fugates family of Eastern Kentucky, particularly those alive in the early to mid-20th century, were born with blue
Who were the Blue Fugates of Kentucky? Read More »
Eighteenth-century Europe was a period in which clubs and societies abounded. In an age before that most modern types of entertainment, the moving screen of cinema and television, many people spent their leisure time in taverns or pubs. But for the upper class of British society, there was an increasingly snobbish desire to establish societal
The Fascinating History of Europe’s Hellfire Clubs Read More »
One would think that of all the senior members of the Nazi regime, someone like Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazis, or Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, would have been deemed ‘The most dangerous man in Europe.’ But that wasn’t the case. By the end of the Second World War in 1944,
‘The Most Dangerous Man in Europe’: The Life of Otto Skorzeny Read More »
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the golden age of classical music. In the early part of the eighteenth century, known as the Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach perfected the fugue technique. In the Classical period, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his famed orchestras. Perhaps the most significant composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s career, fell between these
What Really Killed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Read More »
Tattoos have had a fraught and complex history around the globe. What was once an important sacred and cultural form of expression quickly became stigmatized by the advent of modernism and colonialism. No one country can lay a claim to inventing the art form. Ancient Greek pottery depicts tattooed Thracians, and a 5,300-year-old mummified body
Irezumi: The Fascinating History of Tattoos in Japan Read More »
People have been throwing things at each other as long as there has been war. If they explode or start a fire, it’s all the better from a military perspective. By the seventh century, the Byzantines were throwing jars of ‘Greek Fire,’ a mysterious concoction probably made of a mix of naphtha and quicklime, at
Molotov Cocktail: The Strange History Of This Iconic Weapon Read More »
What if we told you that it’s possible that the person who planted the seeds for the inflatable sex doll industry was modern history’s greatest villain, Adolf Hitler? To be clear, the truth of this is not clear, but there is some interesting evidence that may suggest this is the case. German Soldiers in France
Was Hitler Responsible for the First Inflatable Sex Doll? Read More »
We are all familiar with Joseph Stalin, the Georgian leader of the Soviet Union for nearly thirty years between the mid-1920s and his death in 1953. To say his reputation is not good is an understatement. In the late 1920s, Stalin turned the Soviet Union into one of the most totalitarian states in human history,
The Tragic Lives of Joseph Stalin’s Children Read More »
The Vietnam War was one of the most prolonged American conflicts of the 20th century. By its end, over 1 million people lost their lives and America’s policy of containment was a complete failure. Do you think you know a lot about The Vietnam War? Then, test your knowledge! If you enjoyed that quiz, try
Quiz: What do you know about the Vietnam War? Read More »
