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Recovered surveillance footage showed a pyrotechnic device being ignited at El Dorado Ranch Park and adults scrambling for water bottles to douse the resulting flames. TwitterThe El Dorado wildfire was caused by a “pyrotechnic device” and began at 10:23 a.m. on Saturday. While millions of Americans get back to work after Labor Day weekend, thousands of firefighters continue to battle over 75 large wildfires across the country. While many of these fires are burning thanks to hot and dry weather, the El Dorado fire in California was started by a gender reveal party....

Christian Longo brutally murdered his wife and three young children in 2001 — all because he was trying to cover up his financial difficulties and fraudulent lifestyle. From the outside, Christian Longo seemed to have a perfect life. He had a well-paying job, a loving wife, and three beautiful children. But in December 2001, he murdered his entire family and fled to Mexico — and investigators soon discovered his “perfect life” had been one big lie....

In September 2006, Steve Irwin was filming a video in the Great Barrier Reef when a stingray’s barb suddenly pierced his chest. Just moments later, he was dead. In the late 1990s, Steve Irwin rose to fame as the popular host of TV’s The Crocodile Hunter. With his unbridled passion for animals and daunting encounters with dangerous creatures, the Australian wildlife expert became synonymous with the show that bore his enduring nickname....

Glenn Miller was a renowned bandleader during the swing era. Then he played for the allied troops in WWII. Then he vanished. The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGlenn Miller on drums in 1943. He was a bandleader, composer, trombonist, and the center of one of the most mysterious disappearances in modern history. Glenn Miller was born in Iowa in 1904 and began practicing music at an early age. He started with the mandolin before switching to the horn....

The four-foot emerald, one of the rarest stones on Earth, has been sold to a local miner for an unknown amount. The emerald — one of the rarest and most precious gems in the world — has been said to represent everything from fidelity and fertility to royalty and devil worship. No matter what the interpretation, though — the precious green gem always means a whole lot of money. Which is why workers in Brazil were likely thrilled when they recently hauled a 794-pound, 4....

From its connection to the discovery of King Tut’s tomb to its claim to fame as the home of the fictional Crawley family, Highclere Castle’s history is as rich as the treasures that adorn its walls. Fans of the period drama Downton Abbey will surely recognize Highclere Castle as the primary setting of the show. Located in Hampshire, England, the manor’s fairy-tale Jacobethan architecture makes it a standout among castles. It also has an impressive historical list of residents....

Isis Aquarian is a striking woman. She is probably best known as a member of The Source Family–a group of beautiful, white clad hippies living in the Hollywood Hills during the 1970s. They followed the teachings of a man named Jim Baker, or Father Yod–a reformed bank robber and judo-chopping killer who fronted a cult psych band, served salads to the stars, took fourteen wives, and eventually threw himself from a cliff in a hang glider....

Apparently orca whales do eat sharks. If orca whales make you think of Shamu or Free Willy, then you’re in for a shock. Slater Moore, a photographer with California’s Monterey Bay Whale Watch, recently captured a drone video of several orcas taking turns eating a live shark. On December 13, Moore set out with a group of hopeful whale watchers when they received a call from a fishing boat about several orcas nearby....

Medieval people drank almond milk before it was trendy. Wikimedia Commons In a time before licensed dietitians and Instagram-famous fitness-gurus, there was the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, a poetic scripture that doctors designed for English royals. It served as one of the most popular European feeding guides for nearly six centuries and included odd antidotes for various maladies, such as using leeks to increase fertility or to stop nosebleeds, depending on exactly what you were dealing with at the moment....

This may soon become the first Alzheimer’s drug to receive FDA approval in more than a decade. Imagine a pill that can treat Alzheimer’s. Researchers have found that pharmaceutical giant Merck’s new drug, verubecestat, can successfully switch off production of the toxic amyloid proteins believed to be behind the disease in preliminary trials. Verubecestat stops amyloid proteins from forming the sticky plaques that disrupt signals inside the brains of Alzheimer’s patients....

The 72-foot vessel was carrying three metric tons of cocaine. Lalo R Villar/AFP/Getty ImagesMore than three tons of cocaine worth $100 million were found aboard this narcosub. The history of drug smuggling boasts no shortage of inventive ways to move contraband from point A to point B. And now we can officially add trans-Atlantic submarine transport to that list. According to the Guardian, Spanish authorities intercepted a drug-smuggling submarine — typically known as a “narcosub” — off the coast of Galicia on Dec....

The disturbing rampage was captured on video by a visitor. Miraculously, the zookeeper survived and asked to return to work as soon as possible. Einstein Gamer/YoutubeThe 30-year-old male rhino named Kusini charged at a zookeeper inside a park vehicle. Being a zookeeper can be a fulfilling occupation for animal lovers. But dealing with wildlife, even with decades of proper training, can still lead to life-or-death situations, as it did for one German zookeeper when a male rhinoceros charged and flipped her vehicle while she was in it....

Over the course of 100 days in 1994, the Rwandan Genocide of Hutus against Tutsis claimed the lives of some 800,000 people — while the world sat by and watched. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: The Tragic Story Of Roméo Dallaire, The Man Who Tried To Stop The Rwandan Genocide After Genocide, Only Human Wreckage Remains...

Self-proclaimed fossil hunter Alan Detrich has sold such finds online before. Back in 2000, he listed a near-complete T. rex skeleton on eBay for over $5 million. Alan Detrich/EbayFossil hunter Alan Detrich from Kansas has been criticized for selling baby T. rex bones on eBay. One fossil hunter registered on eBay in Kansas is getting more than he bargained for. Alan Detrich, fossil fanatic, has sparked public outrage mainly from the scientific community for selling the only known existing skeleton of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex on eBay....

From Pena Palace to the Moorish Castle, it’s easy to see why Sintra, Portugal ranks with the most wondrous historic cities on Earth. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 26This is the town of Sintra, Portugal, which sits about 30 minutes away from Lisbon.Ewan Munro/Flickr 2 of 26Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal. Giuseppe Masci/AGF/Universal Images Group via Getty Images 3 of 26Beautiful towers can be found all over the city....

The Spix’s macaw — the striking bird known as Blu in the movie “Rio” — now only lives on in captivity, according to a new study. PATRICK PLEUL/AFP/Getty ImagesSpix’s macaws sit on a branch in their aviary at the association for the protection of endangered parrots in Schoeneiche, Germany. Several bird species are now believed to be extinct, including the striking blue bird that inspired the 2011 movie Rio. According to a new study published in the journal Biological Conservation, at least eight bird species should be added to the list of confirmed or suspected extinctions....

A centuries-old interrogation method, Chinese water torture was actually invented far from Asia and eventually evolved into far crueler forms of punishment. Wikimedia CommonsA 1674 illustration from Sweden depicting Chinese water torture (left) and a reproduction of a water torture device on display in Berlin (right). Human beings have inflicted untold suffering on each other since the dawn of time. Over the centuries, people have worked to devise constantly evolving forms of punishment and coercion....

From the Bowery Boys to the Dead Rabbits, meet the Five Points gangs that were the real-life gangs of New York in the 1800s. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: Meet The Bowery Boys Gang That Once Ruled New York’s Five Points The Dead Rabbits, The Bowery Boys, And The Great July 4th Riot The Real Bill The Butcher From ‘Gangs Of New York’ Was A Xenophobic Pugilist With A Short Temper...

The Tunguska Event flattened 80 million trees in the area. One day in 1908, an explosion 1,000 times greater than that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima erupted in the remote Siberian wilderness, shattering the calm of the icy landscape and flattening 80 million trees in the area. What exactly caused this devastating blast is still in question to this day. On June 30, 1908, at around 7:17 a.m. local time, the few inhabitants of the remote Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk Krai awoke to see a column of blue light, nearly as bright as the sun, moving across the sky....

Brandon Teena was just 21 years old when he was raped and murdered in a brutal hate crime in December 1993. Many people today know the name Brandon Teena thanks to the Oscar-winning film Boys Don’t Cry. But there was far more to this young trans man than what was shown in the movie. After spending most of his life in and around Lincoln, Nebraska, he decided to move to another part of the state where no one knew his story in the early 1990s....