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It was said Darya Saltykova flayed her young servants, poured boiling water on them, and even trampled the belly of one who was pregnant. Wikimedia CommonsA disturbing rendering of Darya Saltykova’s unmatched cruelty. Odd things reportedly happened around Russian aristocrat Darya Saltykova’s estate. Like a spider’s web, girls would enter the widow’s employ and never return. Screams and the crack of whips were said to have pierced the Russian night, emanating from the so-called Blood Countess’ residence....

Astonishing photo of a pack of sled dogs charging through melting ice caps in Greenland was “more symbolic than scientific to many.” Steffen M Olsen/TwitterEarly thawing of ice and lesser snowfall in the Arctic flooded the Inglefield Bredning fjord in Greenland forcing sled dogs to dash through icy water melted from the ice caps. On an unusually warm day in Greenland, scientist Steffen Olsen took a group of sled dogs out onto the Inglefield Bredning fjord to perform a routine procedure to retrieve his team’s mooring and weather station equipment....

Researchers hypothesized that the man was likely struck by an ax — and other weapons — during the 1361 Battle of Visby. Cícero MoraesResearchers found that the man had been hit across the face with a weapon, likely an ax. In 1361, some 2,000 Swedish peasants faced off against 2,500 Danish soldiers in the Battle of Visby. Around 1,800 of the peasants were massacred and a recent study of their remains has revealed that one soldier seemingly perished in an especially gruesome fashion....

The controversial sex-research team pioneered the field of human sexuality and introduced ideas that are still widely used today. Leonard Mccombe/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCo-researchers Dr. Virginia Johnson with Dr. William Masters. William Masters and Virginia Johnson were the first researchers to “bring science to the bedroom;” before their experiments in the 1950s, sex had never really been addressed from a purely medical standpoint. During his anatomy studies, Masters came to the realization that although studies had been done of the reproductive habits of rabbits and apes, no similar study had been done on humans....

Just before Abby Williams and Libby German were killed in the Delphi murders on February 13, 2017, German captured chilling footage of the man who was about to take their lives. Liberty “Libby” German and Abigail “Abby” Williams were best friends who went everywhere together. In February 2017, they were about halfway through the eighth grade and had a day off from school in their small town of Delphi, Indiana....

You won’t be able to resist these adorable snow monkeys hot tubbing in a natural hot springs at Jigokudani Monkey Park. Everybody loves a hot shower, including these adorable snow monkeys from Japan’s Jigokudani monkey park. Located in the northern part of the Nagano prefecture, the park draws visitors from all over the world. And who can blame them? There’s nothing quite like watching dozens of wild monkeys have a blast in the park’s natural hot springs....

Lake Abraham might be home to beautiful ice crystals, but they hold a deadly secret. FlickrThe deadly methane bubbles that fill Lake Abraham in the winter. On the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta Canada, the TransAlta Corporation began construction of the Bighorn Dam in 1972, creating along with it Abraham Lake, Alberta’s largest man-made lake. Despite being artificial, Abraham Lake still resembles other glacial lakes in the region, with the distinctive turquoise water that is caused by sediments of glacial erosion entering the lake, giving it unique coloring....

Despite its nightmarish appearance, lamprey was a favorite dish among the British elite in medieval times. Wikimedia CommonsThe mouth of a sea lamprey. Despite its vampire-like characteristics and a mouth that looks like something straight out of a horror movie, the lamprey was a popular delicacy amongst British aristocrats in the medieval era. And now, archaeologists in London have discovered physical proof of this scary-looking snack for the first time....

John Titor claimed to be from the future, a time traveler sent back to 2000 to ensure that the U.S. stayed intact, and the world didn’t descend into chaos. Wikimedia CommonsJohn Titor’s military symbol. In 1998, a radio host of a popular science fiction show got a fax from an American soldier, who claimed to have detailed knowledge of time travel. In November of 2000, that same American soldier logged onto a message board....

Columbus and his contemporaries all knew the Earth was round long before he ever set sail. Wikimedia CommonsChristopher Columbus, who knew the Earth was round. Christopher Columbus didn’t set out to prove the Earth was round. He was simply trying to find a shorter shipping route from Europe to India and Japan. In fact, Europeans in the late 1400s already knew the Earth wasn’t flat, so why do so many people today feel as if Columbus and his crew were scared that they would fall off the edge of the planet?...

Historians disagree on how cruel Shaka truly was as a ruler, but his military prowess was indisputable. Wikimedia CommonsA rendering of Shaka, founder of the Zulu empire. Shaka, chieftain of the Zulu tribe, was described as the “African Napoleon” for his military genius and consolidation of hundreds of South African tribes under the Zulu Empire. Though short-lived, Shaka left quite a legacy following his turbulent and by some accounts, cruel, reign....

The United States of America has a grim past regarding cop violence. This new study urges us to focus on more factors than race when looking at fatal shootings. CC0 Public DomainThe race of a cop does not predict the race of a victim in a fatal shooting, according to this study. If you’ve kept up with the avalanche of heartbreaking media reports regarding police violence against people of color in the United States, you’ve likely targeted your harbored anger against any white police officer you’ve come across....

In the 1930s, long before Arab nationalism or radical Islam, Iraq was actually the darling of the Western world – and these photos prove it. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: The Controversial Story Of Gertrude Bell, The British ‘Desert Queen’ Of Iraq ‘It Was Like Magic’: Stunning Photos Of The Snow That Just Blanketed Iraq...

From eating tapeworms to existing only on hot air, check out the bizarre lengths which people have gone in order to shed a few pounds with absurd fad diets. Source: Fitness 19 With hundreds of diets claiming to be the holy grail of weight loss, it’s hard to distinguish the legitimate schemes from the frauds. Dieting itself has been around for most of human history, though fad dieting grew increasingly popular at the beginning of the 20th century....

How one 18th century concubine became the “Terror of South China.” YouTube/Wikimedia Commons/ATI Composite In a rags-to-riches story for the ages, prostitute-turned-pirate-lord Ching Shih remains one of the most feared and successful pirates in history. After her husband’s death, Shih took over the infamous Red Flag Fleet, led over 50,000 pirates, and lived to tell the tale with all of her acquired riches intact. Who Is Ching Shih? Born Shil Gang Xu in 1775, Shih grew up in the Guangdong (Canton) province of southeastern China, where at one point she worked as a prostitute on a floating brothel, as originally reported by Ancient Origins....

Source: Flickr The dirty little secret at the heart of nature is the parasite. For every animal we humans regard as noble—your tigers, your dolphins, whatever—there are thousands of these horrifying little monsters. So numerous are these microscopic tyrants that naturalists believe that an actual majority of animals might be parasites. It’s entirely possible that life on Earth exists solely to provide adequate hosts for our many, many parasites. And you thought looking at a starry sky made you feel insignificant....

Taken from a March 1942 edition of LIFE magazine, these maps envision the potential routes of an Axis invasion into the United States during World War II. In March 1942, it was only four months prior that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and Nazi Germany had officially declared war against the United States. Hitler seemed unstoppable and he and his Axis comrades had only succeeded in their conquests to that point....

The fragile scrolls from the ancient city of Herculaneum have been destroyed by physical unwrapping, and so scientists plan to use A.I. and machine learning to virtually read their text. Diamond Light Source/Digital Restoration Initiative/University of KentuckyOne of the 900 unraveled Herculaneum scrolls the University of Kentucky team hopes to virtually unravel. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. decimated the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Everything, including an invaluable library of scrolls, was lost to the inferno....

The South African government wants to auction off a white lion named Mufasa because they deem him worthless to everyone but trophy hunters. Wikimedia CommonsA rare white lion. A rare white lion is set to be auctioned off in South Africa to trophy hunters, despite a massive campaign to have it moved to a sanctuary to save it from getting killed. The big cat named Mufasa is reportedly not worth anything to breeders because it is sterile after having a vasectomy, rendering him unable to procreate....

A new study found that, when used after chemotherapy, cannabinoids can effectively help kill leukemia cells. Many studies have found that cannabis treatment can be helpful in alleviating pain, treating nausea and increasing food intake in cancer patients. Researchers are now suggesting that cannabinoids — the active chemicals in the drug — actually help kill leukemia cells as well. In a new study published last week, a team from the University of London found that leukemia cells were killed more effectively when exposed to a chemotherapy treatment first, and then cannabinoids....