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For over two decades a father kept his son in a 3x6.5 foot wooden cage because he believed he had a mental illness that caused him to “act out.” Kato/Reuters From around the age of 16 to 42, the son of Yoshitane Yamasaki was kept in a cage slightly bigger than a coffin. Yamasaki, 73, said that his son was mentally ill and that he had allegedly locked him the wooden cage because his mental illness caused him to be violent sometimes....

While working in Bosnia following its civil war in 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac blew the whistle on a number of international peacekeepers for exploiting their positions of power there. Kathryn Bolkovac arrived in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo in 1999. A former police officer from Lincoln, Nebraska, she was grateful to join the U.N.’s International Police Task Force (IPTF) that was retraining local law enforcement there. It had only been four years since the Bosnian War, and regional authorities needed all the help they could get in stabilizing the region....

The founder of Gangster Disciples, Chicago gang leader “King Larry” Hoover only grew his empire after he was sentenced to prison in 1973. Just a few years after Larry Hoover helped found Gangster Disciples in Chicago, he was sentenced to 150 to 200 years in prison for a gang-related murder in 1973. It seemed unlikely that Hoover would ever see the outside again, but he didn’t let that stop him from running his gang....

The night after murdering Sharon Tate and her friends, the Manson Family stabbed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca to death. CBS NewsLeno and Rosemary LaBianca Leno and Rosemary LaBianca went to bed on August 10, 1969, disturbed by news of a violent murder across town. The day before someone had killed actress Sharon Tate and several of her houseguests in the middle of the night, leaving a house full of bodies, and the word PIG written in blood across the wall....

Take a four-hour drive from Athens and you’ll find yourself in staring upward at the sublime rock formations of Meteora, Greece. Take a four-hour drive north of Athens to the region of Thessaly, and you’ll see dozens of massive outcroppings of rock rise into the clouds. For nearly a thousand years, spiritual seekers and monastics have sought to link their lives to the divine by climbing atop these 400-meter-high platforms of stone....

These stark, vibrant photos take you inside the impoverished, culturally rich, crime-ridden immigrant slums of turn-of-the-century New York. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: What Immigrant Life Looked Like In Early 20th Century America Explore Singer Castle, New York’s Turn-Of-The-Century Palace Filled With Secret Passageways And A Dungeon 42 Photos Of People Around The World At The Turn Of The Century...

Patrol authorities at Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park exercised their controversial shoot-to-kill policy against four elephant poachers last week. Two years ago, Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park made international headlines after Cecil the Lion, perhaps the world’s most famous big cat, was gunned down by an American dentist there during a big-game hunt. Now that very same park is seeing more bloodshed — this time from both animals as well as the people hunting them....

“I don’t know what would possess someone to do that…I was scared I was going to witness that death of this guy.” YouTubeDavid Weaver swimming in a tank at Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada. An aquarium’s “Jazz Night” took a turn that no one saw coming when a man removed his clothes, dove into a tank, and began to do the breaststroke while more than a dozen sharks circled below. Several guests were in attendance at Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada’s “Jazz Night” celebration in downtown Toronto on the evening of Oct....

In a city of over 20 million, you’re bound to come across some pretty stellar street art. Here’s a sampling of the best Shanghai street art. Street art has absolutely taken over parts of Shanghai, China, particularly the areas surrounding Moganshan Road, a gallery hub that attracts the visually creative people of the city’s 20 million-plus residents. While some of Shanghai’s most thought-provoking graffiti — a response to the demolition of older architecture — was scrubbed away by the Chinese government in January 2015, there is still much to see along the streets of the city’s older neighborhoods....

Joshua Witt has admitted that the entire incident was a hoax, and that his hand was actually injured when he cut himself. In an odd turn of events, a Colorado man who reported being stabbed for looking like a neo-Nazi has been revealed to be a liar. Earlier this month, a Facebook post and crime report detailing an attack on Colorado resident Joshua Witt, 26, made the news rounds. In these accounts, Witt claimed that he was stabbed by a black man in his mid-20s in the parking lot of a Sheridan, Colo....

A closer look at one of the most disastrously sexist products ever, the 1955 Dodge La Femme. An ad for the “women’s” car. The year was 1955, and post-war America was “moving on up” to the suburbs. With the working man driving into the city on a daily basis and families having considerably larger bank balances, many began to consider purchasing a second car. Aware of the emerging two-car trend, Dodge Motor Company designed an apparently “female friendly” version of the Royal Lancer hardtop known as the 1955 Dodge La Femme....

In 1966, Brazilian UFO hunters Manoel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel José Viana were found dead on a hilltop overlooking Rio de Janeiro — with bizarre lead masks covering their eyes. The mystery of the Lead Masks Case began in the hills of Rio de Janeiro. There, on a bright summer day in 1966, a young man stumbled across two bodies. But the circumstances surrounding these corpses were bizarre from the start....

The World’s Strangest Plants: Rafflesia Arnoldii The largest flower in the world, this parasitic plant can bloom over three feet tall. Despite its alluring appearance, the plant exudes a pungent smell and has no leaves, stems or roots. The large center can hold six to seven quarts of water. Selaginella Lepidophylla Also known as Rose of Jericho, this impressive plant is native to the Chihuahuan Desert and has an amazing survival mechanism....

Roman-era human sacrifice victims uncovered, stunning artwork found inside Ancient Egyptian tomb, liquid blood extracted from prehistoric horse specimen. Workers Laying Pipe In Britain Discover Grisly Remains Of Roman-Era Human Sacrifice Victims Thames WaterOne of the victims, a woman, had her feet cut off and was buried with her hands tied behind her back. When engineers in Oxfordshire, England were tasked with the routine laying of water pipes, they probably didn’t expect to discover a nearly 3,000-year-old settlement, Iron Age and Roman-era tools — and dozens of Neolithic skeletons....

Despite protests including a petition containing 11 million signatures, China’s Yulin festival will see about 10,000 dogs and cats killed over the next ten days so that they can be eaten. Each year, the city of Yulin in China’s southern Guangxi region celebrates this enormously controversial event. “It’s been a tradition for years for us to celebrate the festival. We can’t change it simply because they (animal lovers) love dogs,” a local resident told The Associated Press....

Found in nearly every frontier town, the saloon was a place where outlaws and lawmen alike enjoyed gambling, swapping wild tales, and stiff drinks. The tumbleweed towns that dotted the American West in the 19th and early 20th centuries almost always had one thing in common. There, miners, outlaws, cowboys, lawmen, and dance hall girls routinely gathered at Wild West saloons to gamble, swap stories, and throw back drinks. Many of these saloons started off as simple places....

Consider yourself a little bit smarter once you read through our list of the most thought-provoking Neil deGrasse Tyson quotes. On Science Denial… “If I were ever abducted by aliens, the first thing I’d ask is whether they came from a planet where people also deny science.” On Science… “The good thing about Science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” On Obsession With Football… “Sometimes I wonder if we’d have flying cars by now had civilization spent a little less brain energy contemplating Football....

America is marked by long stretches of highway, which pass through large, developed cities and small, sleepy hamlets. Wherever your trek takes you, you can be sure to spot a little bit of strange roadside Americana on the way. From fairy-tale statues to museums dedicated to tinned pork products, travelers can always find an interesting place to stretch, imagine and learn. Cabazon Dinosaurs, Cabazon, California The Cabazon Dinosaurs tower over Interstate 10 in California, right outside of Palm Springs....

Though these statues discovered in San Casciano dei Bagni are around 2,300 years old, they’ve remained shockingly well preserved beneath layers of mud. Jacopo Tabolli/Universita per Stranieri di SienaThe trove of statues is considered one of the most “significant discoveries” of bronzes in Italian history. While excavating the site of an ancient spa in San Casciano dei Bagni near Siena, Italy, archaeologists uncovered two dozen well-preserved bronze statues. Experts rave that the bronzes are an impressive discovery and illuminate a tumultuous time in Italian history....

The six-foot, 6,000-pound Diprotodon was the largest marsupial to have ever existed. Peter Trusler/Ancient OriginsAustralia’s ancient giant wombat, the Diprotodon, is considered the largest marsupial to ever have lived. Throughout most of the Pleistocene epoch, a gargantuan marsupial roamed the grasslands of Australia. We know of one of its descendants well — namely the lazy koala and the adorable wombat. But this marsupial was anything but small and sedentary. Meet the Diprotodon, a 6-foot, 6,000-pound ancient wombat who put the largest living marsupial of today — the 200-pound red kangaroo — to shame....