Posts

A shocking new report reveals just how many albinos, mostly children, are being killed for their body parts in the African nation of Malawi. An albino boy plays with a self-made ball on the outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi on March 11, 2016. ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images Albinos in several African countries have long been hunted, attacked, and even killed for their body parts, thought to bring good luck and make for powerful witchdoctors’ potions....

Researchers aren’t sure why this sixth-century general and princess were buried with dozens of figurines. Chinese archaeologists have discovered the tomb of General Zhao Xin and his wife, Princess Neé Liu, both buried on March 18, 564. In addition to the couple’s skeletal remains, researchers also found that the tomb holds dozens of ceramic and stone figurines. The archaeologists recently published an English translation of their findings in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics, writing that, “The grave goods in this tomb are comprised of a total of 105 items, mostly pottery figurines....

A slug with a penis the size of it’s body? These animal facts about love and mating will blow you away! You know the Valentine’s Day drill: buy some chocolate and flowers, make reservations at a nice restaurant and exchange “I love you’s” over dessert. But how does the rest of the world—specifically the animals of the world—celebrate Valentine’s Day? Well, it’s complicated. In the animal kingdom, love and sex are just as complex and mysterious as they are for humans....

Caril Ann Fugate became the youngest female ever tried for first-degree murder when she accompanied Charles Starkweather on his cross-country killing spree. When she was just 13 years old, Caril Ann Fugate met Charles Starkweather. Though he was five years older than her, Fugate was enamored by his charms and James Dean-like style. Before long, she was following him everywhere, in cars across town, then across the country, and on all of his delinquent escapades — even when they ended in murder....

In a heart-wrenching tragedy nearly a decade old, the family of seemingly perfect PTA mom Diane Schuler still struggle to piece together what happened. It was 12:58 on the afternoon of July 26, 2009. Warren Hance received a phone call. His 36-year-old sister Diane Schuler’s number appeared on the caller ID, but when he answered, his own young daughter was on the line. Hance listened intently as his worried 8-year-old Emma explained that aunt Diane was having trouble seeing while driving and wasn’t speaking clearly....

The museum urged visitors not to balance on the tracks anymore in a show of respect, though some visitors argued in their defense that there are many different ways to mourn. TwitterA visitor at Auschwitz-Birkenau balancing on the train tracks that brought over 1 million people to their deaths. More than 1.1 million people were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust. Now a memorial and museum, the site in modern-day Poland largely attracts a respectful and solemn crowd of visitors — with the exception of a few likes-hungry outliers....

After 200 miles aboard a train owned by their master and a nail-biting boat ride, Ellen and William Craft made their way to Philadelphia to become free. Wikimedia CommonsMarried slaves Ellen and William Craft escaped rewrote their fate embarking on an ingenius escape plan to the North. Perhaps the most daring and ingenious escape from slavery was the brainchild of enslaved married couple, Ellen and William Craft, whose story is one of danger, intrigue, and cross-dressing....

While all three adult passengers and the pilot died, 11-year-old Laney Perdue suffered only a few broken bones — because her father’s last act was to protect her with a hug. 9&10 News/YouTubeMike and Christie Perdue with their four children at Christmas time. Laney Perdue (left) only survived a plane crash because her father protected her with a hug. On Saturday afternoon, Mike Perdue and his 11-year-old daughter Laney boarded a small commuter plane bound for Beaver Island on Lake Michigan....

John Wesley Hardin killed his first man when he was just 15, and went on to kill as many as 44 as a gunfighter and outlaw in the Wild West during the late 19th century. American Stock Archive/Getty ImagesJohn Wesley Hardin always maintained that he never killed anyone who didn’t need killing. By his own account, John Wesley Hardin was a man more often sinned against than a sinner himself....

Two years after April Tinsley was found brutalized in a ditch in rural Indiana, investigators found an ominous confession scratched into a barn wall — but it would be decades before John Miller was finally identified as her killer. YouTubeApril Tinsley had turned celebrated her eighth birthday mere weeks before she was killed. April Tinsley was just eight years old when she disappeared on her way home from a friend’s house on Good Friday in 1988....

Yes, in the early 1930s, New Zealand was plagued by an actual surge in exploding pants. FlickrA backyard gardener looking over his plants — without having to worry about his pants exploding. Imagine you’re working in your garden tending to your precious plants. You start carefully plucking tomatoes, examining green beans, and checking your strawberries for bugs. Suddenly, your denim pants grow very hot and catch on fire, leaving you little time to rip them off before they burst completely into flames....

John Watt’s steam engine not only streamlined travel and manufacturing, but was also an impetus for the Industrial Revolution. Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, LondonA depiction of James Watt hard at work, 1860. He’s not often credited as the father of the Industrial Revolution, but without Scottish engineer James Watt, the Revolution may not have been possible. His very name was honored as the unit for which we measure the strength of power worldwide: the watt....

When Kitty Genovese was killed just outside her apartment in Queens, New York, in 1964, dozens of neighbors either saw or heard the prolonged attack, but few did anything to help her. Wikimedia CommonsKitty Genovese, whose murder inspired the idea of the “bystander effect.” In the early morning hours of March 13, 1964, a 28-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was murdered in New York City. And, as the story goes, 38 witnesses stood by and did nothing as she died....

The items were discovered at the Tomio Maruyama burial mound in Nara Prefecture and are believed to have served the ceremonial purpose of protecting the dead from evil spirits. Archaeological Institute of Kashihara in Nara PrefectureAn X-ray of the large dāko sword discovered at the Kofun-period tomb in Nara Prefecture. While excavating a fourth-century tomb in Japan’s Nara Prefecture, a team of researchers made some “unprecedented and exciting” new discoveries: a massive, seven-foot dāko iron sword and a “magical” bronze mirror shaped like a shield....

Authorities suspect criminal activity but the specific source of this cash horde remains a mystery for now. Last week, Nigeria’s financial crimes bureau uncovered an enormous cash horde inside an otherwise empty apartment just outside the nation’s capital. On April 12, agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found $43.4 million in U.S. cash as well as £27,800 in British sterling ($34,900) and 23.2 million Nigerian naira ($76,000) inside the apartment in the Ikoyi suburb of Lagos....

“We’ve never had an accident like this in Brazil.” Instituto Verdeluz/InstagramA mysterious oil spill has led to the deaths of at least seven sea turtles living in Brazilian waters. Another disastrous oil spill has contaminated the world’s waters and left wildlife suffering — and this time, nobody even knows exactly how it started. According to the Associated Press, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) announced Thursday that it had identified 105 crude oil spills from an undetermined source....

Before Ringo Starr, the Beatles toured with drummer Pete Best, but differences led to his ousting just before the band reached worldwide success. Before Ringo Starr joined the Beatles as their drummer, there was Pete Best, who played for the band for two years before he was booted in 1962. The following year the Beatles became a phenomenon and sold 12 million records in Britain alone. Best never spoke to any of the Fab Four again, but why did the others force Pete Best out of the band in the first place?...

The peacekeeper’s death has eluded investigators for nearly 60 years, but new evidence may have finally named his murderer. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesOfficials search the crash site after the plane carrying Dag Hammarskjöld came down in September 1961. Around midnight on Sept. 18, 1961, the plane of U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld crashed over the jungles of present-day Zambia en route to a peacekeeping mission in the Congo, which had only recently been freed from Belgian control....

Robert Charles Wooten, a career criminal with his social security number tattooed across his forehead, is now wanted for armed robbery in Texas. Like plenty of other career criminals, Robert Charles Wooten sports unique tattoos that can help authorities identify and track him. But unlike perhaps any other criminal career on record, Wooten makes things a little easier on law enforcement by literally displaying his social security number. “They’re calling this guy ‘Social Security’ because he actually has his Social Security (number) tattooed across his forehead,” Houston police investigator Frank Heenan told local KPRC news....

“Who’s so stupid to steal a toilet?” the toilet’s creator pondered before remembering that his piece was made out of solid gold. Tom Lindboe via Blenheim Art FoundationThe gold toilet was an art piece made out of 18-karat gold with an estimated value of $6 million. The heist of a rather unusual work of art has befallen the historic hallways of Blenheim Palace, the birth place of Britain’s Sir Winston Churchill....