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Is any day in history as fraught with horrible events as January 30? From Hitler’s rise to power to the assassination of Gandhi, these are some of the absolute worst. History is complicated and unpredictable. When patterns do emerge, it’s usually because the same pressures are in play from one century to the next. Sometimes, though, weird stuff just seems to cluster around a single date. On the surface, January 30 doesn’t seem to be anything special—it’s no February 29, after all—but that date has attracted unpleasant news as if it was permanently under a cloud....

Whaling has been a Japanese tradition for centuries and was particularly important post-World War II to feed the country’s poor. Now, the government wants to revive the whaling industry despite growing disinterest in whale meat among Japanese. Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty ImagesJapanese whalers brought ashore their first catches on July 1 after a long hiatus from the practice. After three decades of pulling back from its age-old tradition of whale hunting, the Japanese government has decided to return it....

For two years, the humble New York town of Poughkeepsie was terrorized by a 250-pound serial killer named Kendall Francois, who murdered eight women before he was caught in 1998. Poughkeepsie Police Department/Attica Correctional FacilityKendall Francois in 1998 (left) and at a later date (right). In 1997, the sleepy town of Poughkeepsie, New York, was made up of 40,000 people — some of whom had begun to go missing. But none other than the local police and those who knew the victims knew it yet....

James Harrison’s blood has saved over two million babies and helped reduce Australia’s infant mortality rate. The IndependentJames Harrison, who donated blood each week for almost 60 years. An 81-year-old Australian man, whose blood donations have saved the lives of over two million babies, has made his final donation. James Harrison, who has been donating blood since the 1960s, made his final donation last week – his 1,173rd. “It’s a sad day for me....

A child of former slaves, Mary McLeod Bethune achieved the near-impossible when she became an advisor to five different U.S. Presidents in the Jim Crow era. Public DomainA portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune from 1920, the year she faced down the KKK. In 1929, the poet Langston Hughes and the educator Mary McLeod Bethune traveled from Florida to New York City together. Bethune didn’t worry about finding hotels and restaurants that would accept her and Hughes in the Jim Crow South....

Kathryn Harrison’s books detail a tumultuous incestuous relationship with her father that lasted for four long years. Bob Berg/Getty ImagesAmerican author Kathryn Harrison poses for a May 1997 portrait at her home in New York City, New York. “Appalling, but beautifully written.” That’s how the New York Times described Kathryn Harrison’s story. And, to be fair, the observation isn’t far off. The story, wrapped neatly in a memoir titled The Kiss, is appalling as the titular kiss she refers to is one between her 20-year-old self and her 37-year-old father....

“How do you do 13 surgeries and not question the fifth surgery? The sixth surgery?” WBIR NewsKaylene Bowen, the mother accused of faking, and causing, her sons illness. A Texas woman has been arrested after forcing her son to undergo 13 major surgeries, and admitting him to the hospital over 300 times, all without cause, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In just eight years, Christopher Bowen has been admitted to the hospital 323 times and has undergone 13 major surgeries, which have left him wheelchair bound, and dependent on a feeding tube....

The opening of the ancient tomb of Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland, perfectly aligns with the rising sun every winter solstice. DEA/W. BUSS/Getty ImagesThe Newgrange tomb in County Meath, Ireland, just north of Dublin. The massive tomb complex of Newgrange, Ireland deserves to be the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World. This hemispherical tomb just north of Dublin was built five hundred years before the Great Pyramid at Giza even existed....

The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently believes this bizarre phenomenon is part of a “brushing scam,” while officials continue to investigate. Minnesota Department of AgricultureThe content description lists earrings, but the package contained unidentified seeds from China. In cities across the United States, people have found unsolicited packages in their mailboxes containing mysterious seeds from China and Kyrgyzstan. According to ABC News, agriculture officials in at least 15 states have warned residents not to plant them — as nobody knows yet what they are....

Anthony Graziano allegedly killed his wife and kidnapped his 15-year-old daughter, Savannah. Eventually, this led him to a shootout with police in which both he and his daughter were killed. Fontana Police Department15-year-old Savannah Graziano reportedly witnessed her father kill her mother the day before the shootout. On Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, police engaged in a shootout with a man accused of fatally shooting his wife and kidnapping his 15-year-old daughter in California....

In 1988, a team of scientists led by Marina Kilunovskaya and Vladimir Semyonov came across the partially mummified remains of a young warrior buried in what is now the modern-day Tuva Republic in Russia. The mummified corpse — so well-preserved in its tomb that a wart was still visible on its face — was thought to be a teenage boy who was skilled in combat. As The Siberian Times reports, Kilunovskaya and her team had estimated the adolescent fighter’s remains to date back to sometime in the early 6th century BCE, roughly 2,600 years ago....

On a busy Saigon street in June 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức lit himself on fire and set off a chain of events that led to America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Malcolm BrowneThe self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc in Saigon, South Vietnam. June 11, 1963. “No news picture in history,” John F. Kennedy once said, “has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.” This was no exaggeration....

From a painted desert to a petrified forest and far beyond, travel the highways, byways, and skyways of America’s best road trips. Monument Valley, Utah. Image Source: 2 Wheels 1 Cause There is something poetically American about heading down the open road. With nearly 4 million miles of American road to navigate, you can weave in and out of awe-inspiring natural wonders, pass through small towns and bustling cities, taste different cuisines, and discover rich histories....

Oktoberfest went from a royal wedding celebration to a backdrop for Nazi propaganda to a globally-attended two-week party filled with beer, food, and German culture. Oktoberfest is the largest folk festival in the world, with people from all over the world flocking to Munich’s famous gathering each year. In 2019, that meant 6.3 million visitors enjoying the historic Theresienwiese space — and consuming 7.3 million liters of beer. While most people know that Germany celebrates its past with beer, bar maidens, and music, the history of Oktoberfest remains a mystery to many....

Discover which countries outside the United States celebrate Thanksgiving, from Liberia and Ghana to China and Japan. Flickr Thanksgiving is not solely an American holiday. While you may have heard about Canadian Thanksgiving, there is a slew of other nations that have designated a day to give thanks. A thorough look at which countries celebrate Thanksgiving around the world reveals more than a dozen interesting holidays with their own histories and traditions....

Scientists Uncover Modern Descendants Of Biblical Canaanites Thought To Have Been Wiped Out So central are the Canaanites to Hebrew and Christian scripture, that even non-believers today surely know their name. Yet, for centuries, not even scientists knew what became of this ancient race — until now. Because the Canaanites inhabited the Levant (modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine) in the second millennium BC, experts had always figured that the group’s bloodline eventually grew diluted and all but disappeared due to the vast and varied turnover of ethnic groups in the region at that time....

Go inside the sad story of “Typhoid Mary” Mallon, an Irish American cook who was found to be “patient zero” during a typhoid epidemic in early 1900s New York. As new infectious diseases threaten public health and so-called superspreaders make headlines, the unbelievable story of Mary Mallon — better known as Typhoid Mary — feels more relevant with each passing day. Mallon was a working-class Irish immigrant who became a national sensation after she was discovered to be an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid in New York City in the early 1900s....

While this disco-era technology may seem rather outdated, it has long protected America’s nuclear arsenal from hackers. Seeker/YouTubeLt. Col. Jimmy Schlabach holds up one of the eight-inch floppy disks used by the SACC system. With the defense industry being a prominent pusher of advances in technology, one would think the U.S. Air Force ran a tight, ultra high-tech ship. According to Forbes, however, they’ve relied on obsolete eight-inch floppy disks to run internal communications for years — until now....

A skilled orator and activist, Lady Violet Asquith took Britain’s Liberal Party by storm — and made it onto Hitler’s most wanted list in the process. National Portrait GalleryViolet Bonham Carter was renowned for her intelligence, oratorical skills, and forward-thinking ideas. As the daughter of a prime minister and a woman living in the early 20th century, Violet Bonham Carter could have easily kept to herself. Instead, she loudly and forcibly made her opinions known — no matter what....

After escaping persecution in Europe, these Jewish scholars found hatred in its American form — and a deep bond with historically black colleges and universities. The Nazi Party sought to destroy all forms of Jewish life, and Jewish academics were among the first victims of the party’s fatal endeavors. In 1933, just months after coming to power, the Third Reich passed a law that barred non-Aryans from holding civil and academic positions, thereby dismissing around 1,200 Jews who held academic posts in German universities....