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In the midst of a messy divorce, Charles Dickens tried to have his wife Catherine Dickens committed to an asylum so he could move in with his young mistress. Harvard UniversitySome of the newly-discovered letters between a journalist and family friend of the Dickens’. The dissolution of the 22-year marriage between Charles Dickens and his wife, Catherine Dickens, has been well-documented — as has the famed author’s cruelty towards his wife....

Chief Joseph was determined not to abandon his ancestral lands and to stand his ground without violence. But the U.S. government had other ideas. Wikimedia CommonsChief Joseph Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe in the Pacific Northwest was a warrior and a humanitarian who made it his life’s work to ensure the survival of his people’s land and heritage during the westward expansion of the United States. Throughout his life, he did just that, even coming to blows with the U....

They walked into the surf to help what they thought was a struggling animal. But it was actually there for another reason. There are virtually zero instances in which a person would see a great white shark in the ocean and willingly move toward it. But two men recently found themselves in just such an instance. Dale Pearson and a friend were on the beach in Puertecitos, Mexico when they saw the 14-foot creature, which they didn’t yet know was a shark, thrashing about in just three feet of water....

As Indian lawyer and activist Mahatma Gandhi typically wore nothing but loincloth and glasses, finding a pair of his spectacles dangling out of a mailbox is a historic incident in and of itself. East Bristol AuctionsThe gold-plated, circular rimmed glasses are headed to auction on Aug. 21, 2020. A pair of glasses formerly owned by Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist Mahatma Gandhi is headed to auction for over $19,600. According to the BBC, the historic item spent an entire weekend precariously sticking out of an auction house mailbox....

A beach cleanup organization kept finding Garfield-shaped phones and bright orange bits of plastic — then an old, local farmer finally gave them a clue as to why. AR VILTANSOÙThe Garfield garbage amidst an Ar Viltansoù organization t-shirt. For the last 30 years, the Brittany coast in France has been home to a rather unique phenomenon. While Earth’s polluted oceans have brought forth rubbish and debris for ages, these French beaches have been hit by one bizarre, recurring item: Garfield telephones....

When the creation of a new reservoir in 1992 forced residents of Aceredo to evacuate, they thought they would never see their homes again. Now, due to a major drought, they can. Rosa Veiga/Europa Press via Getty ImagesTourists are flocking to Aceredo to explore the ruins that have been underwater for 30 years. In 1992, residents of Aceredo, a small village on the border of Spain and Portugal, watched as the Limia River rose, overflowing its banks and submerging their town....

Edmund Hillary was the first person to climb Mount Everest, but he couldn’t have done it without Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay drinking tea in the Himalayas after reaching the summit of Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary became the first person to climb to the top of Mount Everest — but he wasn’t alone. Just after he set foot on the summit, he was joined by his climbing partner Tenzing Norgay....

As tulip prices shot up by 1,000 percent in the 1630s, Dutch investors scrambled to buy up bulbs still in the ground. But months later, the bubble burst. In the 17th century, history’s first speculative bubble popped. Over a period of months, Dutch traders had invested more and more money into tulip bulbs, believing the exotic flowers would make them a fortune. “He who considers the profits that some make every year from their tulips will believe that there is no better Alchemy than this agriculture,” a 17th-century poet wrote during this so-called “tulip mania....

Jonestown was never self-sufficient. Peoples Temple members worked hard to sustain the group’s life there — until the day they committed mass suicide. The legacy of Jonestown is often considered a historical warning against the dangers of joining fringe groups, a cautionary tale to be more skeptical, and a lesson not to “drink the kool-aid.” This is certainly rooted in truth and good-natured advice, considering the de-evolution of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple — and that its exodus to Guyana ended in the largest incident of intentional civilian death in American history until 9/11....

Before the concentration camps, the Nazis’ victims endured another kind of hell inside the walls of the Jewish ghettos. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 44 Harrowing Photos Captured Inside The Warsaw Ghetto During The Holocaust Holocaust Photos That Reveal Heartbreaking Tragedy Only Hinted At In The History Books Irena Sendler: The Woman Who Saved 2,500 Jewish Children During The Holocaust...

Each autumn, countless people across Asia congregate to commemorate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Here’s what that stunning celebration looks like. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 23Residents of Tai Hang village in Hong Kong celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with their annual fire dragon dance. In this dance, participants adorn a “dragon” with thousands of incense sticks and parade it through the streets....

The nurse was clearly in the right, but she was arrested anyway. On July 26, 43-year-old William Gray was driving a tractor-trailer near Sardine Canyon in Utah when a pickup truck fleeing police crashed into him head-on. That pickup was being driven by 26-year-old Marcos Torres, who died on the scene. Gray survived the collision and according to police was on fire when he exited his truck. The violent crash was recorded on the dashboard camera of a Utah Highway Patrol car:...

What would a time traveller from the 1970s say if he or she stumbled into our world today? One 69-year-old man has an idea. “I had seen that everybody, or the majority of the people, were talking to themselves. Then I looked closer and they seemed to have things in their ears–with the phone things. iPhones, they call them, or something like that? And I thought to my mind, what, everybody became CIA or agents and stuff like that?...

As the United States has taken some initial steps to reopen trade with Cuba, many of us are learning about the latter’s revolutionary, often successful medical interventions throughout recent history. Earlier this year, Cuba sent droves of doctors to Africa to aid in resolving the Ebola crisis, but most recently, Cuba has made international headlines for its development of a lung cancer “vaccine” that attacks a specific protein unique to certain lung cancers, giving patients an extra four to six months of quality living....

“It’s a historic moment not only for me, but for our two countries. Napoleon was one of the last people to see him alive.” Рабочий Путь/FacebookThe body of Charles-Étienne Gudin was found on July 6 under the foundation of a dance floor in Smolensk, Russia. Gudin had been buried for more than 200 years. The remains of General Charles-Étienne Gudin, one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s most valued military commanders, have been uncovered in Smolensk, Russia by a team of French and Russian archaeologists....

Dr. David Stahle of the University of Kansas visited the area in the 1980s, convinced these trees were about 1,000 years old. Little did he know they were older than Christianity itself. TwitterThough the fifth oldest globally, it is the oldest of its kind worldwide. Dendrochronologist, professor, and researcher at the University of Arkansas, David Stahle, first visited the Black River area in the 1980s and it was immediately apparent that he found something remarkable....

After studying the genetic makeup of two condor chicks, scientists realized that they’d been born without male contributions in a process called parthenogenesis. USFWS Pacific Southwest Region/FlickrThough other birds can produce asexually, it’s considered extremely rare. The California condor can fly up to 15,000 feet. They can glide long distances without having to flap their wings. And, now, scientists say that they can produce asexually. The discovery, said Oliver Ryder, the co-author of a recent study on the condors’ reproduction and the director of conservation genetics at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, was “a bucket of water in the face....

Shannon Cox and his wife, Sandy, of Boone County, Arkansas, were released on $10,000 bonds, but their young daughter has been removed from the home. Boone County Sheriff’s OfficeShannon Cox was charged with first-degree endangerment of a child after the horrific incident. On August 2, a man in Arkansas was arrested along with his wife after he allegedly amputated his leg with a chop saw in front of their 5-year-old daughter....

LCD Contact Lens Source: Imec On a mission to one-up the oh-so successful Google Glasses, scientists at Belgium’s Ghent University have created the world’s first LCD Screen Contact Lens. While the design is still in its early stages, the user simply applies the device like he or she would a contact lens and watches as shapes and numbers form in front of their very eyes. For now, it’s fairly limited to the types of patterns you might find on a calculator but it’s a step closer to the future of tech....

Adam Rainer is the only man in history who has been classified as both a dwarf and a giant. It’s unclear if Adam Rainer, whose height was less than 5 feet when he was 21 years, ever wished that he’d grow taller. But if he did, his story would be the anecdotal epitome of the expression “be careful what you wish for.” Not much is known about the life Adam Rainer led in regards to personal details, as it was his curious and unprecedented medical condition that dominated what’s known about it....