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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You've surely heard of the Great Pyramids or the Sphinx, but there are more obscure legends about that give us enough history to keep us searching while questions continually go unanswered. The Kingdom of Yam is one such place. These are the few details we know about the mysterious Kingdom of Yam.
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Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo who rose to fame during the Classical Hollywood era. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's slapstick comedy dominated the 1930s, as they appeared in 107 films and earned an Academy Award. But behind the act were failed marriages, health problems, and financial ruin.
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The Serpent Mound sits in Adams County, about 70 miles east of Cincinnati, and has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark. The mound may look strange, but it wasn't put there by aliens; it's believed that it was constructed by Native American settlers of Ohio.
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A big-name newspaper one wrote, "Everyone in Hollywood has a Playboy Mansion story. Many are unprintable." Let's dig further and find out exactly what living in the Playboy Mansion was like.
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In May 2012, two friends were out for a stroll along San Francisco's Ocean Beach when they stumbled upon possibly one of the most out-of-place discoveries that could be made on a California beach: a tombstone from the year 1876. Here's why there were once tombstones on a California beach.
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The excavation of what appeared to be the bodies of little alien men was just the beginning of Tei's discoveries. Further into the caves, Tei made his most famous find: a series of 716 circular stone disks with tiny hieroglyphic markings etched on them, some partially buried under the cave floor.
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The story asserts that Albert Einstein, brilliant as he was, actually failed math as a child. And if someone as intelligent as Einstein could fail at math, then there's no reason that you should let your own minor failures stop you from pursuing your goals, right?
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The Great Pyramid of Giza remains a favorite. The only remaining location from the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it's been around since about 2560 BCE, and for thousands of years was thought to have three chambers: the Queen's Chamber, the Grand Gallery, and the King's Chamber.
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As the Jerusalem Post describes, what began as a foray into a rat-filled storage room in the museum led to the discovery of boxes that hadn't been opened since the 1970s. They were full of newspaper and plastic bags, and wrapped within them: over 300 ancient Phoenician figurines.
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Cleopatra was fond of learning in general. She studied several disciplines, including geography, history, astronomy, medicine, and economics. She was also fairly comfortable embracing Egyptian culture.
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For the third time, the German army tried to take Osoweic Fortress, a Russian stronghold near the border. After 10 days, the wind had turned, blowing from the German position over the Russian defenses, making the situation perfect for one of the deadliest innovations of the war: chlorine gas.
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Capone was estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of at least 33 people, according to a contemporary report in the Chicago Herald Tribune. What sort of death does such a figure as Al Capone deserve? Whatever you think, the story of his final days is a deeply unfortunate one.
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The situation around the Circleville poison pen letters eventually turned from terrifying to deadly. What's even scarier, the Circleville letter writer may still be out there. The Circleville letter writer sent poison pen letters to multiple residents of the small town, accusing them of misdeeds.
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The Codex Gigas. No, this isn't the name of a companion piece to the Necronomicon, or the sacred tome for a race of cosmic necromancers from Warhammer 40k.
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Chief Blackbird was a notorious leader who spearheaded the cause of the Omaha Native American Indian tribe in the 18th century. But the way he was buried was timeless.
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The Bonus Army was a protest held by as many as 25,000 veterans of World War I and their families who descended upon Washington, D.C. in 1932 to demand the bonus checks they'd been promised in order to help them get through the economic turmoil of the Great Depression.
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Clearly, Elon Musk has had a tumultuous career. But the entrepreneur's most unfortunate moment may have been the time he lost all his cash in 2010.
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Known to the Celts as "The Cave of Melody", what is now known as Fingal's Cave has been well-documented in ancient Irish and Scottish Celtic legends for centuries.
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The Americas -- the entire region, not just the United States -- was home to several different pre-Christian civilizations. People have heard about the Incas and the Mayans, but there might even be an entire civilization that came before them. Meet the Norte Chico peoples.
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In 2005, the same year as when the Vatican started offering its exorcism course, a 23-year old novice nun, Maricica Irina Cornici, was found dead in Holy Trinity Monastery, a convent located in Tanacu, Romania.
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What's the big deal about a fish being found in an old boat in the sea? The archaeologists believe that the sturgeon was part of a royal power play that ended up an epic fail at the bottom of the sea.
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The "best-equipped and most technologically advanced Arctic expedition to that date" set sail on May 19 with a crew of 134 men and enough provisions to last three years. Despite the planning and care that went into preparing for the journey, the boats disappeared just two months later.
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