Since it's located on an island, Alcatraz employees couldn't simply go home after a hard day's work. So, where did the prison guards and other employees live?
Jerry Brudos was a serial killer with a distinct fetish for women's high-heeled shoes. This is how many victims he had (and how many deaths he is suspected of).
The government of the United States ultimately took matters to an extreme when it tasked the CIA with assassinating the revolutionary Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
The many design changes of the U.S. flag have been responses to new states joining the union, as opposed to responses to criticisms of the flag's suitability.
Witch-hunting stories have inspired countless books and movies. Although they seem to belong to the past, witch-hunting is still a reality in many countries.
Two signers of the Declaration of Independence, James Wilson and Robert Morris, both of Pennsylvania, would go on to spend time in prison as a result of debt.
Stanford University, founded by industrialist Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, is often ranked high among the world's foremost learning institutions.
The story of the Nobel Peace Prize reads even more strangely when you take into account some of the figures who have previously been nominated for the award.
There was a time in European and American history when the bodies of the deceased were every bit as valuable, if not more, than whatever they were buried with.
By 1903 Gillette and his company started selling what were called system razors -- aka safety razors. The device was a handle that held a disposable blade.
When you think about the Middle Ages, perhaps a knight comes to mind -- gallant and chivalrous heroes riding steeds, with metal protecting their bodies.
Considering how advanced pocket computers are now, it's hard to believe that just a few decades ago, many were adding on their fingers. Maybe a slide rule.
The classic representation of Neanderthals portrays them with stooped posture, often in an evolutionary timeline showing human beings evolving to stand erect.
After Elizabeth Packard was committed to an insane asylum against her will by her husband, she worked to make sure other women wouldn't suffer similar fates.
Dickens often wrote about economic hardship, unhappy childhoods, and people struggling with debts. Those were real concerns in his life when he was growing up.
While deadliest from 1346 to 1352, the Bubonic Plague may have existed (and infected) humans for much longer than scientists and historians originally thought.