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The Fortingall Yew could potentially have been growing when the Pyramids and Stonehenge were being built. Mogens EngelundThe Fortingall Yew tree in Perthshire, U.K., could be the oldest living organism in Europe. Crowds of unruly people can be stressful in any situation, but it has been particularly rough for the Fortingall Yew which is considered the oldest living tree in the U.K. and potentially in Europe. Tourists who have come to visit the potentially 5,000-year-old tree have ripped off its branches and twigs and attempted to hang beads and ribbons off of it....

To this day, the bloody photos of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre tell the story of the grisly gangland shooting that unfolded in Chicago on February 14, 1929. FPG/Getty ImagesOne of the grisliest photos of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, which shows five of the victims. On Feb. 14, 1929, Frank Gusenberg was rushed to a Chicago hospital with 14 gunshot wounds. But when the police asked who shot him, he had a surprising answer: “No one shot me....

The Internet was made for cooing over adorable animals. But why not pay tribute to the most unsightly ones – a look at seven of the world’s ugliest animals! Source: Kramer’s Forum Though most of us have browsed the web cooing at pictures of baby giraffes and have visited the zoo to gawk at the regality of lions and tigers, not all animals are cute and cuddly. Take, for instance, this list of the world’s seven ugliest animals, which ranges from sea creatures to bugs to domesticated pets....

Roman-era penis carving uncovered, mass grave for Jews killed by Nazis found, fossils of giant prehistoric sloth unearthed. 1,800-Year-Old Penis Carving Found Etched Into Hadrian’s Wall In England Newcastle UniversityThe phallus was a symbol of good luck to Ancient Romans. Hadrian’s Wall was a barrier constructed by the Romans to protect them from enemy hordes of barbarians. What remains of the structure is millennia old, and the fact it remains to this day is a testament to its structural integrity....

Syria has once again captured the world’s attention, casting a long shadow over the ongoing war in Ukraine. But does the shift in international attention necessarily mean flagging hostilities? In short: probably not. In early 2014, Ukraine’s east fell into turmoil after a wave of demonstrations hit the main square of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Known as the Euromaidan, the eventual violence that took place there was at least in part a response to then-President Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the E....

These six “experiments” by Unit 731 rank among some of the most horrifying war crimes ever committed — and they went virtually unpunished. Xinhua via Getty ImagesUnit 731 personnel conduct a bacteriological trial upon a test subject in Nong’an County of northeast China’s Jilin Province. November 1940. World War II devastated the lives of more than 100 million people around the world. And out of all the areas in which World War II was fought, none were active as long as what would come to be known as the Pacific Theater....

The carnivorous abelisaurid dinosaur, as of yet unnamed, roamed the Earth some 98 million years ago. Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural HistoryPaleontologists were able to identify the type of dinosaur by a single bone. A team of Egyptian and American paleontologists has discovered a dinosaur with a face only a mother could love. According to the scientists, the newly discovered dinosaur had a squashed, bulldog-like face, a huge body, and tiny, T....

Between 1933 and 1950, John Lomax, Sr., his son Alan, and John’s second wife Ruby lugged a 315-pound phonograph recorder throughout the United States and the Caribbean on a mission to capture and preserve folk music in its myriad forms. Share Flipboard Email It was a heroic expedition sponsored by the Archive of American Folk Song (now the American Folklife Center) at the Library of Congress that netted more than 700 field recordings of work songs, ballads, blues, bluegrass, Appalachian music, traditional folk, ragtime, and everything in between....

The Ukrainians call the famine the “Holodomor,” a name that means “murder through starvation.” Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Photos Of The Forgotten Bengal Famine Fueled By British Colonialism Meet Trofim Lysenko, The Russian Agronomist Whose Pseudoscience Doomed Millions 872 Days In Hell: 38 Chilling Photos Of The Siege Of Leningrad 1 of 27People line up for food....

The frigid island is typically associated with enchantment and natural splendor; these photos of abandoned Iceland present a slightly more sinister view. Þorsteinn H Ingibergsson has been taking amazing pictures of isolated and abandoned locations in Iceland for more than two decades. Currently living in Reykjavík, Þorsteinn is an amateur photographer who also owns and operates a successful contracting business. His stunning images of abandoned Iceland–under glorious skies reminiscent of paintings–have been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines and have amassed quite the internet fan base....

From her breakthrough role to her rapid rise to superstardom in Old Hollywood, these photos of Italian actress Sophia Loren capture every iconic moment of her illustrious career. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Vintage Mongolia: Photos Of Life Before The Soviet Purge 33 Vintage Photos That Provide A Peek Into Life In East Germany...

For half a century, the Man in Black loomed large over music. These vibrant Johnny Cash photos explain why. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Johnny Cash And The Infamous 1968 Performance ‘At Folsom Prison’ 33 Photos Of Flappers That Show The Jazz Age It Girls In Action Inside The Troubled Marriage Of Johnny Cash And Vivian Liberto...

From cat burning to divorce by combat, these facts show exactly why the medieval period is known as the “Dark Ages.” Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 37 Dirty Medieval Manuscripts That Prove People In The Middle Ages Weren’t So Prudish After All The 8 Most Painful Torture Devices Of The Middle Ages The Scold’s Bridle — How Men In The Middle Ages Dealt With Gossiping Wives...

More of fiction’s most famous characters than you’d ever guess were actually inspired by real people, from the world’s most beloved detective to Hollywood’s creepiest serial killer. Many of those real people are nothing like you might imagine. Clockwise from top left: Norman Bates, Sherlock Holmes, Professor X and Magneto, Zorro. When an author puts pen to paper or fingers to keys, everybody, from their own acquaintances to the public figures we all recognize, has the potential to be reborn within a fictional universe....

From the “Deadly Dentist” to the “Bandit Queen,” discover the true stories of the most infamous criminals to ever roam the Wild West. In tales from the Old West, there’s nothing more classic than a good guy and a bad guy. So who were some of the Wild West outlaws who robbed, murdered, and gambled their way through the American frontier? Their stories, motivations, and deeds varied. Doc Holliday vacillated between lawfulness and lawlessness after tuberculosis forced him to reconsider his dental career....

What really happened to the Andrea Gail during ‘The Perfect Storm’ of 1991? chillup89/ YoutubeThe Andrea Gail at port. In Search Of A Payday On Sept. 20, 1991, the Andrea Gail left port in Gloucester, Mass. for the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The plan was to fill the hold with swordfish and return within a month or so, but that depended on the crew’s luck. Once the ship arrived at the Grand Banks, the crew found that they weren’t having much of that....

After becoming the temporary home of Ernest Shackleton’s fateful Endurance crew, Elephant Island became world-renowned. Wikimedia CommonsElephant Island from the sea. Just over 150 miles north of the frozen tundra of Antarctica lies a tiny mountainous island. Known as Elephant Island, named for the elephant seals that explorers once saw lounging on its shores, the island is one of the most picturesque places on earth. It’s also one of the most desolate....

On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler and his new bride Eva Braun swallowed cyanide capsules in his Berlin bunker. Then, the Nazi dictator shot himself to ensure his death. Adolf Hitler’s death brought an abrupt end to one of the darkest eras in human history. On April 30, 1945, the Führer took his own life in his Berlin bunker as the Soviets closed in — ending the reign of the Nazis....

Even before Pearl Harbor, America faced threats from its enemies abroad during the lead-up to World War II. Wikimedia CommonsThe Hoover Dam Boulder Dam, also called Hoover Dam, supplied power to much of southern California after it came online in 1935. Four years later, government officials feared that the Germans had it in their sights for an attack. Several incidents led the U.S. government to believe this. For starters, a German man took large numbers of photographs of the dam and the site in October 1939....

The Mungiki have been terrorizing Kenyan villages for years, wielding machetes and showing no sign of mercy. STRINGER/AFP/Getty ImagesPolice detain a Mungiki suspect during disturbances in the Dandora district of Nairobi. Out of poverty rises desperate people. That’s the basic origin story of the Mungiki, a banned gang of thugs in Kenya. The secretive sect, sometimes called the Kenyan mafia, arose in the 1990s when tribal clashes decimated small communities all over Kenya....