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Bizarre Parades: Coney Island’s Mermaid Fest The Mermaid Parade of Coney Island, NY takes the carefree spirit of Mardi Gras and combines it with celebrating the beginning of summer. This show is most notable for the thousands of ladies adorning mermaid costumes, often keeping with the Mardi Gras tradition of traversing the parade route topless, or with little more than pasties adorning their upper half. Día de los Muertos Everyone in the United States is familiar with the October 31st holiday of Halloween, but many here are somewhat unfamiliar with the much older customs of Mexico’s Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead....

From missing children to surprising treasures to cryptic cold cases, these unexplained mysteries continue to baffle the world. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Inside The Unexplained Disappearance Of Frederick Valentich Inside The Disturbing Mysteries Surrounding New Mexico’s Dulce Base The Five Greatest Mysteries Of Human History 1 of 26The Last Cruise Of Amy Lynn BradleyWithin a period of half an hour in 1998, Amy Lynn Bradley went missing from her cruise ship cabin, never to be seen or heard from again....

Could America have risen to unparalleled heights of wealth and power in the 20th century if not for the efforts of these hard-working immigrants? Immigrant worker on New York State Barge Canal. 1912.New York Public Library An 11-year-old cotton picker in Oklahoma. 1916.Library of Congress Italian steel workers. Location and date unspecified.New York Public Library Adrienne Pagnette, a French immigrant teen at work in the cotton mill in Winchendon, Mass. Circa 1911....

Behind the event horizon of Nazi-occupied Europe, these four moments were darker than most. Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki/Wikimapia Picking out the darkest moments from the Nazi occupation of Europe is like trying to find the hottest part of the Sun; sure, some parts are hotter than others, but the whole thing is so far up the scale that the word “hot” hardly seems sufficient to describe it. Likewise, the six-year Nazi reign of terror over Europe was so bad on so many levels, from individual crimes to outrages involving millions, that it’s mildly distasteful to pick the “worst....

Napoleon is one of the biggest names in history. Everybody’s heard of him, but there are some Napoleon Bonaparte facts you’ve probably never been told about the French emperor. Napoleon Bonaparte. YouTube Napoleon Bonaparte makes the short list of people who are most responsible for how the modern world came into being. From his May 18, 1804 installation as Emperor, this little average-sized man rose from a lowly artillery officer from a remote island to a height of power no European had enjoyed since Roman times....

The hummingbird-sized creature is part of the species Enantiornithines, or “opposite birds” and likely evolved from dinosaurs like the velociraptor. Chinese Academy of SciencesThe skull had attachment points for jaw muscles just like those found on dinosaurs or reptiles like alligators and lizards. Researchers in China recently excavated the fossilized skull of a peculiar bird species that met its end 120 million years ago. The remarkable find was made all the more astonishing, however, when the skull showed highly similar features to that of a Tyrannosaurus rex — but on the tiny, inches-long body of ancient avian....

The call of the void is that feeling when you stand in a high place and think about jumping, but don’t actually want to and don’t actually do it. It’s a feeling more people have had than they’d like to admit. You’re looking down from the edge of a tall cliff or a balcony dozens of stories high admiring the bird’s eye view when suddenly, something sinister happens. “I could just jump right now,” you think to yourself, before mentally recoiling at the thought as you withdraw from the ledge....

Ever since 2014, guerilla artist Jim Bachor has been creating mosaics to beautify the streets of Chicago — one pothole at a time. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 28Old Style beer can. Chicago. Bachor/Facebook 2 of 28Roll of toilet paper. Chicago. Design Boom 3 of 28Bottle of hand sanitizer. Chicago.Design Boom 4 of 28Located near Chicago’s Trump Tower....

China is pushing a new progressive sexual education curriculum and some parents are not too happy about it. China has introduced a series of progressive sexual education textbooks that are shocking some Chinese parents. Share Flipboard Email The textbooks, which are for primary or elementary school students, teach children a variety of values, such as gender equality in the workplace, acceptance of homosexuality, the importance of reporting sexual abuse and other basic knowledge about the birds and the bees....

Chris Kyle is undoubtedly one of the most decorated — and deadliest — snipers in American history. So why did he exaggerate so many of his heroic stories? Wikimedia CommonsChris Kyle was killed with his own gun by a veteran he was attempting to mentor at just 38 years old. Known as the deadliest sniper in American history, Chris Kyle was also a decorated U.S. Navy SEAL who was shot twice during his four tours in the Iraq War....

This unbelievable Hindenburg disaster video presents authentic footage of the fiery crash of the German airship in 1937. Hoping to catch a simple airshow, spectators watching the airship LZ 129 Hindenburg try to dock in New Jersey turned out to be witnesses to one of history’s most infamous blunders: The Hindenburg disaster. Today, we can all be witnesses. Footage still exists of the airship’s tragic fall to Earth: On May 3, 1937, the hydrogen airship Hindenburg departed Frankfurt carrying 97 passengers, as part of a series of trips back and forth between Europe and the United States....

In 1961, Freedom Riders rode between cities in the American South to test federal laws banning racial segregation. They were arrested, threatened, and beaten senseless. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 33 Inspiring Nelson Mandela Quotes On Equality, Perseverance, And Freedom From Freedom Rider To Congressman: The Heroic Career Of Civil Rights Leader John Lewis...

Fort Worth police said Jason Alan Thornburg admitted to killing three people in a motel room, chopping up their bodies, throwing their corpses into a dumpster, and setting the dumpster on fire. Fort Worth Police Department After Jason Alan Thornburg confessed to the police, he said that he had “an in-depth knowledge of the Bible and believed he was being called to commit sacrifices.” Shortly before dawn at 6:15 a.m. last Wednesday, the Fort Worth Fire Department in Tarrant County, Texas responded to reports of a dumpster fire outside of a storage facility....

Legend has it that Joaquín Murrieta and his band of outlaws terrorized California during the Gold Rush to avenge the Mexicans who were mistreated by American miners. California State Library/Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of Joaquín Murrieta. In the mid-1800s, a mysterious outlaw terrorized California. Joaquín Murrieta (sometimes spelled Murieta) was said to rob and murder the gold miners who were pushing indigenous Mexicans out of the land that had once belonged to them....

Just a year after she was born in 1902, Albert Einstein’s daughter Lieserl Einstein suddenly vanished from the historical record — and until 1986, no one even knew she existed. Public DomainAlbert Einstein and Mileva Marić with their first son, Hans, in 1904, two years after Lieserl Einstein was born. Albert Einstein was one of the greatest physicists in history. But for years, parts of his private life remained hidden — including the fact that he had a daughter, Lieserl Einstein....

The “Purple Earth” hypothesis suggests that retinal, a purple-pigmented molecule, once dominated plant life before chlorophyll— making for some not-so-green foliage. Big ThinkA purple earth. Earth’s signature color in many respects is and has been green. If you step outside today, it’s likely that the surrounding foliage is green. But if you took a step outside roughly 2.4 billion years ago, you’d probably see purple— or so suggests this study....

Hedy Lamarr was known in Hollywood as “the most beautiful woman in the world,” and she also invented the technology that ultimately led to WiFi. A stunning Austrian-born actress, Hedy Lamarr dropped jaws wherever she went and took Old Hollywood by storm. But Lamarr was more than just the “most beautiful girl in the world,” as one film director raved. Beneath Lamarr’s jet-black bob was a mind of science. Curious, questioning, and insightful, the actress used her oft-ignored intelligence to dream up new technology....

Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was accused of murdering a child. Soon, his neighbors remembered the strange meat he’d given them years before. Wikimedia CommonsNathaniel Bar-Jonah At more than 300 pounds, Nathaniel Bar-Jonah cut an intimidating figure in the small Montana town of Great Falls. But few in Great Falls knew just how frightened they truly should have been. Bar-Jonah had moved to Great Falls from Massachusetts, where he had just finished a long sentence for the sexual assault and attempted murder of a young boy....

If you’re visiting the City of Lights, right under your feet, you’ll find the Paris Catacombs and the bones of over six million people. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Thieves In Paris Drill Through Catacombs To Steal $300,000 In Wine 21 Stunning Vintage Photos Of The Années Folles Of 1920s Paris 1960s Paris: 44 Striking Photos of Reconstruction and Upheaval...

On May 13, 1985, Ramona Africa was the only adult to survive the police bombing of the Philadelphia activist group MOVE — only to be thrown in jail afterward. MOVERamona Africa being escorted out of court in 1986 after being brought up on riot charges stemming from the MOVE bombing that would put her in prison for seven years. For as long as she could remember, Ramona Africa wanted to be a lawyer....