One of the most iconic execution methods in history would have to be the guillotine. The guillotine was famously used in France during the Revolutionary period, and continued to be used to execute criminals in that country until 1977. This is the truth about who actually created the guillotine.
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On September 9, 1971, inmates seized and took control of the maximum security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York. They had demands and hostages, but within a few days, dozens of prisoners and hostages would be dead. This is the grim story behind the Attica prison uprising.
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The era of zeppelins coming into their own as a luxurious and coveted form of air travel came to an end on May 6, 1937 when the Hindenburg burst into flames during its landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. But the reasons it happened are pretty shocking. This is the rise and fall of the Hindenburg.
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it wasn't until 1923 that he would come forward to claim, in an interview with the Albany Telegram, "I have a deep conviction that highly intelligent beings exist on Mars." He recounted his story of developing a "wireless receiver of extraordinary sensitiveness."
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What started out as a rather interesting, if extreme, LARP transformed into an horrific display of humiliation, brutality, and subservience. What was originally planned to be a two-week study was cut short at six days.
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England has many famous queens, from its reigning monarch Elizabeth II, to Gloriana herself, Elizabeth I, to Victoria, the grandmother of Europe. But we don't often talk about the queen of ancient times who ruled England and fought back Viking invaders.
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Some sinkholes, such as those in Guatemala City, caved in after a week of strange sounds and left the landscape pockmarked with holes. One sinkhole, however, is so huge and stunning that it looks like a portal into another world, hewn into a mountainside.
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Reedus has a thing for collecting hair as keepsakes. Maybe not from every show or movie he's worked on, but we know he has more than one person's hair from The Walking Dead. We also know he's a bit of a weird dude.
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Andrew Johnson was Abraham Lincoln's vice-president and assumed the United States presidency after John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln on April 15, 1865. Less than three years later, Johnson was facing impeachment. Here's the truth about the first president to be impeached.
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It's a story where one person's individual actions endangered thousands of lives and how personal freedom fought against the public's health. Typhoid Mary is the subject of many ethical debates and is the original case study for the asymptomatic spread of disease.
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One of the more fascinating things about Nefertiti is the mystery of what happened to her. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, Nefertiti disappeared from historical records despite her years as one of Egypt's most important women.
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Born Vincenzo Capone, Al's oldest brother took on the American name James after the family immigrated to New York and settled in Brooklyn. The Capone brother who took the side of law and order would go on to garner fame for his own daring exploits.
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Although they were both sad to see it happen, Martin and Lewis knew that, in Jerry's words, "there was no getting around it: The time had come to call it a day."
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Emperor Alexander III, Nicholas's father, had died at age 49 of kidney disease, says Biography, but apparently had not taken the time (or made the effort) to teach his son a thing or two about governance. Or, at least, how not to upset your entire country to the point of rebellion.
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To better understand Helen Keller's fascinating story, it can be helpful to look at the people she chose to befriend. From inventors to authors to actors, Keller was buddies with many unique individuals over her 87-year lifespan. Here's what you don't know about Helen Keller's famous friendships.
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Wanderers in the Aralkum Desert, a stretch of sand between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, may find themselves stumbling upon a strange sight: the rusted corpses of boats strewn far away from any apparent sea. But why? Here's how gigantic ships ended up in the middle of the Uzbekistan desert.
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Some facts about history you just wish you never knew, like that people used to sit in dead whales to cure arthritis or that human fat was an old cure for gout. These upsetting historical facts will make you question everything you knew about Bull Run, Peru, and Ivy League schools.
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When Carter found Tut's tomb, he knew from the start that he wasn't the only one to have discovered it. There was evidence that the tomb had been entered at least twice already by grave robbers and raiders in search of the treasure that was usually buried with people as important as pharaohs.
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at least once per spring or summer (and sometimes more), after "a torrential downpour, thunder and lightning, conditions so intense that nobody dares to go outside," the land-locked city is treated to "hundreds of small, silver-colored fish" all over the ground.
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The island's peace and quiet wouldn't last long. Shortly after the Wittmers arrived, a flamboyant European, Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet, arrived on the island, calling herself the Baroness. She brought along her two lovers, Robert Philippson and Rudolf Lorenz, and a worker, Manuel Valdivieso.
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How are two Reddit accounts, a controversial subreddit, Fark.com, the military, a mysterious death, a major assassination, and Lake City Quiet Pills all connected? That's a great question that internet detectives are trying to figure out. This is the unsolved mystery of Lake City Quiet Pills.
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For so long, humans have taken shelter inside them or stepped cautiously, afraid of what they may see. Caves hold many secrets humanity has yet to explore. But mountains or rock formations don't just have caves in them from the start.
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Midas was almost definitely a real king, living in the region we now call Turkey around 2,700 years ago. As you can probably guess, although there's no evidence that Midas could actually turn objects into gold, there are some theories as to how that myth emerged.
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Marcus Wesson was an actual person who lived this demented story, and is still alive and hanging out on death row in San Quentin State Prison.
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Disco culture emerged from underground house parties which showcased the music of Black, LGBT, and Latino cultures in the early 1970s. The history of disco is full of tragedy, from Freddie Mercury's death, to the shuttering of Studio 54, and the riots of Disco Demolition Night.
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A photograph that's graced every American history book, the Migrant Mother features an exhausted, dirt-tussled woman, looking into the distance as her children huddle close. The photo did nothing to help the woman herself. Here's what happened to the Migrant Mother from the Great Depression.
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Cleopatra's Needle is not real needle, but an obelisk -- a series of three obelisks, in fact -- that stands in New York's Central Park, in London, and in Paris. Each of these came from Egypt, but none were actually built for the famous Egyptian pharaoh. This is the story behind Cleopatra's Needle.
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