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Ancient Roman graffiti in Pompeii has been found on walls throughout the city, nearly perfectly preserved since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Darren Puttock/FlickrPompeii graffiti depicting a gladiatorial bout, housed at the National Archaeological Museum, Naples. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., most of Pompeii’s 12,000 inhabitants managed to escape, but the nearly 2,000 who remained instantly died of the heat and gas that devastated the town....

“It’s only the second [giant squid] I’ve ever seen. I’ve been on about 40 trips on Tangaroa, and most surveys are about a month, and I’ve only ever seen two. That’s pretty rare.” Brit Finucci/NIWAThe captured squid was 13 feet long and weighed a whopping 240 pounds. It was during a National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) expedition that researchers aboard the Tangaroa encountered the creature. The team was surveying the commercially popular hoki fish — but spotted something far bigger lurking in the depths....

“It was liberating pulling that trigger. It was closure for all of us.” Fort Worth Star-TelegramKimberly Santleben-Stiteler, the wedding dress exploder. A Texas woman decided to celebrate the end of her 14-year-marriage with a literal bang. At Kimberly Santleben-Stiteler’s divorce party, which was held a day after she legally finalized the end of her union, she opted to cap off the night’s festivities by exploding her wedding dress — the impact of which was reportedly felt up to 15 miles away....

In the early 1900s, guests at the California Alligator Farm were encouraged to enter the pens and play with the gators. Long before Steve Irwin made a name for himself as the Crocodile Hunter, a small reptile-themed industry was blooming in the sunny Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The California Alligator Farm, which opened in 1907 and operated until 1953, was home to more than 1,000 gators, from babies to full grown adults....

See stunning portraits of the early 20th century immigrants that came through Ellis Island reimagined in full color. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 44 Poignant Photos Of Ellis Island Immigrants That Convey The Hope And Hardship Of Coming To America 21 Stunning Colorized Portraits Of What May Be The Oldest Generation Ever Photographed 44 Colorized Portraits That Reveal Historical Figures As They Truly Were...

When the end of Prohibition finally came with the ratification of the 21st Amendment in 1933, America kicked off perhaps the biggest impromptu party the country had ever seen. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: ‘He Wasn’t A Typical Gangster’: Inside The Wild Life Of Harlem Godfather Bumpy Johnson Sometimes Weird, Sometimes Wild, Always Irish: St....

Millions around the world watched on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia was ripped apart upon re-entry, and NASA investigations later revealed that the tragedy was likely preventable. The Space Shuttle Columbia had made 27 successful trips to space and back, but its 28th, dubbed STS-107, was subjected to numerous delays and problems. Its launch was originally scheduled for Jan. 11, 2001, but ultimately wouldn’t happen for another two years, on Jan....

At 3'7’’, Eddie Gaedel’s baseball career was about as short as he was. Bettmann / ContributorEddie Gaedel, a 3-foot-7 inch person, takes his famous at-bat on August 19, 1951 for Bill Veeck’s St. Louis Browns. For a guy less than four feet tall, Eddie Gaedel made quite the splash when he made his Major League debut. Though he only went to bat once in his life and his story doesn’t have a happy ending — his one day in a St....

New human ancestor uncovered, ancient temple reopened, hominid spine unveiled, T. rex ants found alive, enormous emerald dug up. Newly-Discovered Remains Suggest Earliest Humans Came From Europe, Not Africa University of TorontoArtist’s depiction A new discovery may have changed how scientists see our evolutionary family tree — suggesting that the human branch and ape branch split much longer ago than previously thought. And in a different place. By observing 7.2 million-year-old fossils uncovered in Greece and Bulgaria, researchers recently suggested that humankind originated in the Eastern Mediterranean instead of in Africa, as has been long accepted....

Walter Sickert’s creepy painting titled “Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom” hangs in England’s Manchester Art Gallery. Created in 1907 by Walter Sickert, Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom is a painting that hangs in England’s Manchester Art Gallery. From the perspective of an open doorway, the painting, shrouded in shadows, depicts a dark room with indistinct furniture barely made out through filtered window light. An English painter and a founder of the Camden Town Group, a group of Post-Impressionist artists, Sickert was considered an important influence on avant-garde art and made a name for himself in Victorian London....

“The first thing she told me was felony embezzlement, so I thought I was gonna have a heart attack." Wikimedia CommonsRecently, Caron McBride found herself in legal hot water over a long-overdue rental. A woman in Texas received a nasty shock while trying to update her married name. She was a criminal — for a crime she didn’t even remember committing. In fact, she was guilty of a crime most people of a certain age have probably committed....

Scientists tested the DNA of modern-day members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe against remains dating as far back as 2,000 years and found a high level of genetic continuity. Far Western Anthropological Research GroupResearchers from the Far Western Anthropological Research Group (left) with Muwekma Ohlone vice chairwoman Monica Arellano at the Síi Túupentak excavation site in 2016. Before Spanish conquistadors arrived in California, the region was home to more than one million Native Americans....

Between 1970 and 1973, serial killer Dean Corll raped and murdered at least 28 boys and young men around Houston — with the help of two teenage accomplices. To everyone in his Houston neighborhood, Dean Corll seemed like a decent, ordinary man. He was known for spending most of his time at the small candy factory that his mother owned, and he got along well with many of the neighborhood kids....

Elmer McCurdy may have been a failure as an outlaw, but he found success after his death when his body traveled across the U.S. as a sideshow attraction for 65 years. Wikimedia CommonsThe Nu-Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California. 1976. In 1976, a horrifying discovery was made at the Nu-Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California. A camera crew for the television show The Six Million Dollar Man was visiting the park to film a scene in the funhouse....

Discarded plastics and batteries pose substantial problems to the environment, but this week researchers have revealed two potential — if not surprising — tools we can use to reduce both their incidence and effects: mealworms and mushrooms. Really, hear us out. This week, researchers at University of California, Riverside, Stanford University and Beihang University in China announced that the fungi and pests can be used to make better performing batteries and digest plastic, respectively....

“He threw away pieces of his fiancée like she was trash. The mother of his newborn baby.” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, FacebookBlake Leibel (left) has now been convicted in the 2016 torture and murder of his fiancée, Iana Kasian. In May 2016, millionaire real estate heir and graphic novelist Blake Leibel tortured, murdered, and drained the blood from his fiancée, Hollywood model Iana Kasian. He then left her lifeless body on the bed of their Los Angeles apartment next to their unharmed two-month-old baby....

Not even the workers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, had a clue as to what they were doing — which turned out to be refining the uranium for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: ‘The World Would Not Be The Same’: The Inside Story Of How The Manhattan Project Developed The A-Bomb...

Also known as the trembling giant, the enormous clonal colony of quaking aspen trees named Pando stands as one of the largest living things on planet Earth. As autumn arrives in the Fishlake National Forest of Utah, a quaking giant comes to life in a splash of brilliant yellow. Fall is the season of Pando. Technically, Pando is always there; after all, it’s not possible to move 47,000 trees. But fall is the season in which each one of the nearly identical aspens that make up Pando begins to turn color....

Serial killer Samuel Little claims to have murdered 93 people starting in the early 1970s — and he’s got some disturbing confessions and drawings of his victims to prove it. Public DomainSamuel Little following his 1972 arrest in Washington, D.C. Samuel Little is the most prolific American serial killer of all time — despite the fact that few people even know his macabre story, let alone his name. The 79-year-old convict already serving three life sentences has recently confessed to killing 93 people across more than a dozen states between 1970 and 2005....

Researchers have successfully deleted the genes that create allergy-causing proteins in cats, bringing us closer than ever to truly hypoallergenic felines. Wikimedia CommonsThe gene deletion yielded no side effects in the cat cell cultures. From the villas of Ancient Egypt to the apartments of modern-day millennials, cats have been our trusty companions throughout human history. For the 20 percent of people allergic to feline pets, however, that bond is tragically tainted....