For a band as longstanding and storied as Metallica, they have not been without ups and downs. No event had such a dramatic impact on Metallica's history, though, as the death of the bassist Cliff Burton.
Read MoreTear gas and pepper spray are both "riot control agents." But what's the real difference between them?
Read MoreThere was a time when it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry, or have children together, or love one another in committed, legal relationships. But along came the court case of Loving v. Virginia
Read MoreFor longer than most of us have been alive, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (or NASCAR, to its friends) has been rattling the ground beneath Daytona. But how did it get its start?
Read MoreThe Montgomery bus boycott is often hailed as the opening act of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. But the version you're taught in school leaves out the heroic efforts of multiple people who worked tirelessly towards desegregation. This is the messed up truth about the Montgomery bus boycott.
Read MoreHistorical figures become known by their nicknames. Sometimes, people forget why they were given those names in the first place. That's pretty much what happened to Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen, especially after the BBC TV show of the same name premiered.
Read MoreIt's been more than 30 years for Cops, the ride-along reality TV series that purported to show police officers at work, making communities across the country safe. But now those Bad Boys are going to have to find something else to do, as the show's been canceled, along with Live P.D.
Read MoreMany myths surround the Great Wall of China, from the story that it can be seen from space (it cannot), to the reasoning that it was built to keep the Huns from invading China, as seen in the opening scene of Mulan. That one, it turns out, might not be true either.
Read MoreOn July 6, 1992, Johnson's lifeless body was pulled from New York's Hudson River. The police classified it a suicide. None of her friends accepted that.
Read MoreJohn Wayne remains an American icon for his roles in Westerns and war movies, but what do we really know about him? This is the untold truth of John Wayne.
Read MoreCats might be the new kids on the block, when it comes to domestication — the world's oldest dog breeds were around a long time before the world's oldest domestic cats — but surely, thousands of years is plenty of time to shake off bizarre superstitions... like those legends assigned to black cats.
Read MoreIn September of 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed unexpectedly off the coast of Nova Scotia. All 229 passengers and crew died in the accident, which was later determined to have been caused by a fire stemming from faulty wiring.
Read MoreIn 1935, the Nazis founded the Ahnenerbe. Its archaeologists researched a lot, from the prehistoric roots of the Aryan race to the location of the Holy Grail, the relics of a lost colony of Atlantis, and, well, you get the idea. This is the untold truth of the Ahnenerbe, Hitler's archaeologists.
Read MoreThe Loch Ness Monster has fascinated people for centuries, earning a distinguished role in the pantheon of famous mythic creatures like Bigfoot and the Chupacabra. Sadly, scientists are ready to burst your bubble — they think it's not a monster, at all.
Read MoreTear gas is classified as "riot control agent," and so can be used by police departments, but is banned as a military weapon by the 1925 Geneva Protocol. Here's everything you need to know about it.
Read MoreDonnie Yen's mother, Bow-sim Mark, is kind of a big deal — not just as an acclaimed martial artist but also as a business woman who made it big at a time when the glass ceiling was a whole lot thicker than it is today.
Read MoreThe movie American Gangster includes a stunning sequence, wherein heroin was smuggled into the U.S. inside the coffins of fallen soldiers returning from the Vietnam War. Did this really happen?
Read MoreOne of Netflix's most recent acquisitions, The Night Clerk, is part police procedural, part whodunnit, part study of humanity, as the best mysteries always are.
Read MoreActing is a notoriously fickle business. There are those actors who want to branch out into music, or direct, or return to their roots in live theater. Or aspire to film, rising above the more pedestrian work to be found on television. (Commercials? Ew.)
Read MoreKeiynan Lonsdale, an Australian actor took on the role of Wally West, who becomes Kid Flash. But he may have been a flash in the pan, so to speak.
Read MoreYou could do worse than marrying the King of England. That had to have gone through her mind... at least until she was beheaded.
Read MoreIf ancient Mesopotamia was the cradle of civilization, Babylon was arguably its favorite baby. Nowadays, its name is synonymous with opulence and moral decay, but to quote the Evening Standard, "Babylon wasn't so bad."
Read MoreThere have been many popes who kept their birth name when they were elected to the papacy, though the last one was in 1555 -- Marcellus II. Here's why they change them.
Read MoreThe Mythbusters, among other unrealized dreams, and much to their own disappointment, will never turn the world into their own personal Hot Wheels track.
Read MoreNearly 30 years ago, in 1991, Guns N' Roses released "November Rain," a nine-minute ballad full of sweeping orchestral accompaniments, soaring guitar work, and a music video that grew as much notoriety as the song itself.
Read MoreThe world's most dangerous tree takes the form of the manchineel, typically found in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and of course, Florida.
Read MoreNo doubt it was a mixture of dedication to physical perfection and wanting to make successful movies that drove supreme martial artist Bruce Lee to the lengths he went to.
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