In Japan, you'd hear the word yokai (妖怪), a catchall for all manner of unnatural beings: ghosts, phantoms, demons, monsters, or goblins; "mystical creatures that possess unexplained powers, physical characteristics or strength," according to Motivist Japan. You know -- those.
Read MoreHere's the story of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, an exceedingly brave mouse that sacrificed itself while fighting an extremely large lion to a standstill in the South Pacific.
Read MoreEnglish glam metal band Whitesnake met its fate 12 years after its formation in 1978 with singer David Coverdale calling it quits in 1990. What happened?
Read MoreMail workers and dogs usually don't mix. But at some point, the United States Postal Office (USPS) adopted a dog as its mascot. If you thought the USPS, already America's favorite government agency, couldn't endear itself more to people, you thought wrong.
Read MoreWhen watching Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell's final performance of "Hunger Strike," a duet, it's clear what love and admiration these musical legends held for each other. The song, recorded for Temple of the Dog's eponymous 1990 album, was a touchstone moment.
Read MoreJust before 1 p.m. on Sunday, August 26, was the start of something big. An initial explosion occurred that threw a cloud of debris and gas into the air. The next day, however. there really was an Earth-shattering kaboom.
Read MoreIn New York, there's a group that prowls the streets, striving to keep people safe. And no, they are not the Avengers. They are the Shomrim — Hebrew for "guards" — an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood watch group, and their rivals, the Shmira, both of which have complicated relationships with the city.
Read MoreImagine the surprise if you're out on sort of an expedition into the forest and mostly you're there to discover how many trees you can cut down and clearing land for an internationally huge fruit company and what you discover are round spheres. Made out of rock.
Read MoreMark Twain is unique among American literary giants, insofar as he's famous, he's studied, and people continue to read and quote him, all these years later. But there's more to him than you might know.
Read MoreNot only did the ancient Romans have a love of fast food, they had a fully developed, highly cosmopolitan culture, particularly in Rome itself, capital of the empire, with a population of over one million. People worked, rested, chatted with friends, went to baths and gyms, and watched sports.
Read MoreAlthough computers, as we would know them, had their start as early as 1936, according to Live Science, personal computers weren't widely available until the 1980s. Here's what that was like.
Read MoreCan you dance to it? Does it have a good beat? Are the lyrics catchy? Are the words complete? And most of all, especially in the 1960s: what does it mean? That last one was especially trick for the Beatles' 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.'
Read MoreOn August 9th, 2020, the WWE released a statement confirming that James Harris, better known by his in-ring persona Kamala, had passed away at age 70.
Read MoreOkay, look at this from the perspective of an Occam's razor enthusiast, wherein the simplest solution is equal measures zany and petrifying. In the early hours of February the 25th, 1942, a cocktail of paranoia and faulty radar systems was mixed on the California coastline.
Read MoreThe Silk Road allowed for the spread of people and goods, becoming the earliest global network. Here is why the Silk Road was more important than you realize.
Read MoreSome refer to it as a golden age of filmmaking, and no doubt the early days of Hollywood produced some nifty pieces of cinematic art. But those were also the days of studios controlling nearly every aspect of an actor's life. Including marriage.
Read MoreConvenience store shelves can seem like an assortment of unrelated miscellany to a bright-eyed young adult, with neither the experience nor the personal problems to necessitate a debilitating drug problem.
Read MoreYou might be obsessed with the Kardashian-Jenners now, but had you lived in the early to mid-1900s, you would have craved news about the Mitford sisters.
Read MoreThere's a handful of artists who can be said to be synonymous with country music, but where Johnny Cash had plenty of rock 'n' roll crossover appeal and Willie Nelson likes his outlaw country, Kris Kristofferson embodies the genre's wholesome heart.
Read MoreDarryl Jones first learned to bass when his father was teaching him how to play the xylophone and drums. He saw his south Chicago neighbor, an Angus Thomas, play the bass in the school talent show and promptly began studying with him.
Read MoreEnglish rock band Deep Purple's classic "Smoke on the Water" was fully inspired by a casino fire that decimated the building -- and almost cost concertgoers their lives.
Read MoreAfroman, most notable for his 2001 ode to marijuana, "Because I Got High", has sustained a moderately successful music career through touring. While his image is lighthearted, a fan incident shows a darker side of the artist.
Read MoreWith his silvery sideburns and perpetual grumpy-old-man look, Neil Young might warrant the occasional "Neil Old" joke from the younger audience that's not familiar with his body of work. However, the Canadian-American singer-songwriter probably couldn't care less.
Read MoreThe ancient Celts, who occupied much of what would become England, Scotland, and Wales, have a rich history. Much of what comprised their daily life is still a mystery, though, particularly how they lived before the Romans arrived on their lands.
Read MoreGiven our love of gemstones, it's not surprising some of the biggest and most beautiful examples have been passed down through generations, usually of the rich and famous. Some, though, seem to bring more than just bling: some, it's said, bring along a curse. These are history's most cursed gems.
Read More"The individuals so afflicted were convinced that their bodies were made of glass -- and not the bulletproof kind of glass that might actually be helpful if, say, you're a professional skateboarder."
Read MoreThe Osbournes may be one of the world's more famous families, thanks to their hit 2000s reality TV show, The Osbournes.
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