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Semion Rosenfeld was part of a 300-person rebellion and Sobibor. A third of escapees were caught almost immediately, and of the 200 who got out, only 47 survived the war. AFP/Getty ImagesSemion Rosenfeld (left), the last known survivor of the Sobibor death camp uprising, with Alexander Pechersky, who led the escape. Date and location unknown. The last known survivor of the 1943 Sobibor uprising — when 300 Jewish prisoners escaped a Nazi death camp during the Holocaust — has died....

The residents of the Massachusetts town braved the falling shells and swarmed the beach to look in awe at the battle before them. Orleans Historical Society It was one of the strangest battles of World War I — and not just because it took place in American territory. On July 21, 1918, more than 1,000 people gathered at Nauset Beach in Orleans, Massachusetts, where they witnessed a naval battle fought just off their very shores....

Case of bizarre 1959 Soviet deaths reopened, Alexander the Great’s demise under investigation, WWI hand grenade found in potato chips factory. Russia Reopens Investigation Into The Mysterious 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident Wikimedia CommonsThe campsite at Dyatlov Pass. The tent is visibly sliced open, 1959. On Jan. 23, 1959, nine capable skiers from the Soviet Union’s Ural Polytechnical Institute went on an adventurous hiking trip in the Northern Ural Mountains. They were never seen alive again....

Bronze Age sunken city emerges from the Tigris River, ancient paintings found beneath layers of bird poop in Egypt, dozens of Spanish colonists’ skeletons uncovered in Peru. 3,400-Year-Old Sunken City Of The Mysterious Mitanni Empire Emerges From The Tigris River University of FreiburgThis lost settlement is believed to be the fabled city of Zakhiku, a bustling seat of power within the mysterious Mitanni Empire that controlled vast swaths of Mesopotamia between 1550 and 1350 B....

Sean E. Avery As ice caps continue their slow, subtle transformation to puddles and our resources grow feather-thin, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t considered ways to curb–or at least extend the life of–their consumption. Those habits aren’t exclusive to the art world, as all sorts of artists have begun looking to old materials, otherwise known as upcycling, for creative inspiration. Sean E. Avery, a sculptor with more CDs on his hands than time, has taken upcycling to a new level by creating animal artwork from old albums....

Vivian Liberto was Johnny Cash’s first wife and had four children with him. But after their divorce in 1967, she was cast as the bitter shrew who had been holding his talents back. Though his story has become a central part of American cultural lore, the tale of Johnny Cash’s first wife Vivian Cash has been all but written out of his story. In 1954, Johnny Cash married Vivian Liberto of Texas and they stayed together for 13 years....

From photos to rock records, these are the surprising things we’re offering up to any aliens we may find in order to explain the human race The Golden Record was launched into space on board the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The information contained is a mini time capsule of humanity as of 1977. What would you tell the universe about humanity if you had the chance? This is essentially the question that was answered when NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977 to feed information about Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune back to Earth....

Based on recent data, approximately 38 child abuse cases linked to faith practices are reported every week. PixabayNearly 2,000 child abuse cases related to beliefs like witchcraft and black magic were reported in the last year. Startling new data has come out of England, showing that unorthodox faith practices — such as black magic and witchcraft — are contributing to an increase in child abuse in the country. According to The Guardian, official data from the Department for Education showed child protection cases based on faith or belief are up by a third in the last year in England, reaching nearly 2,000 cases....

Penises, dead geese, mattresses filled with children: these bizarre festivals are the best festivals. Every now and then, people like to get together as a collective unit and engage in excessive and generally questionable behavior. These events are usually known as festivals. Oftentimes, festivals are great opportunities to showcase local culture and traditions. The thing with local culture, though, is that it can appear quite strange to outsiders who simply “don’t get it”....

From the Beast of Jersey to the man with two faces to the missing Sodder children, these creepy stories will chill you to the bone. Whether it’s leaving a door unlocked or taking the wrong road home, one misstep in this world can lead to unspeakable terror. These creepy stories from history are all the proof you need. Though many people navigate the world through routine, tragic twists of fate can happen to anyone....

From newlywed couples traveling on their honeymoon to cruise employees who vanished under suspicious circumstances, these chilling cases will make you glad you’re on dry land. For some, traveling by cruise ship is a dream vacation. Out at sea, guests eat well, enjoy entertaining shows, and bask in stunning ocean views. But being on a cruise ship can also turn into a nightmare — as these cruise ship disappearances prove....

“The heads of their most distinguished enemies they embalm in cedar-oil and carefully preserve in a chest, and these they exhibit to strangers.” Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of Ancient Gaul soldiers. New research has just shown that the fearsome Ancient Gauls of Europe, who lived 2,000 years ago, used the heads of their slain enemies to decorate their residences. While it’s been long believed through historical records that the formidable people of Gaul decapitated their kills for trophies, it has not been scientifically proven — until now....

From hatred of singing and dancing to comparing women to snakes, these Buddhist teachings reveal that this religion isn’t exactly the paragon of peace and love that so many ill-informed Westerners think it is. ANTONY DICKSON/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Tian Tan Buddha — at 112 feet tall, the world’s largest outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha statue — looms over Hong Kong. The Buddha has become a living personality in Western pop culture, though one that is often but a tissue of romantic projections and postmodern Orientalism....

The accidental stabbing happened at the 7 Floors of Hell haunted house in Ohio where actors aren’t supposed to use real knives. 7 Floors of HellThe 7 Floors Of Hell is a regionally famous attraction. An 11-year-old boy visiting a haunted house near Cleveland got more scare than he bargained for when an actor accidentally stabbed him in the foot. The boy, Frank Bednarski, visited the 7 Floors Of Hell haunted house at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds with his sister and some family friends on Sept....

In the 1700s, there were too many men and not enough women in France’s Louisiana territory. So King Louis XIV devised a “solution.” Wikimedia CommonsThe Casket Girls leaving France for Louisiana. During the 18th century, the Casket Girls were sent thousands of miles away from their homes in France and transplanted to colonial America. They were saddled with husbands and tasked with the impossible: Settle this land, and tame these men....

Batavia thrived as the spice market at the center of Dutch East India company — at the expense of its native population. Wikimedia CommonsThe Dutch controlled Batavia, in present day Indonesia, from 1619 to 1942. Today, Batavia is no more. This former Dutch colony in Indonesia exists only in glimmers on the streets of Jakarta. But those glimmers, however faint, tell a story of immense wealth and horrific violence. Established by the Dutch in 1619, Batavia rapidly became the heart of the Dutch East Indies....

In 1910, Halley’s Comet was due to pass close by Earth — and everyone from religious fanatics to news reporters stoked the fires of a global panic, believing it was the end of the world. Bettmann/Getty ImagesA 1910 drawing of Halley’s Comet passing over a city. In 1705, the English astronomer Edmond Halley predicted that a bright comet would return to Earth in 1758. Halley applied Isaac Newton’s laws of motion to the comet, picking the exact week it would appear in the sky....

On August 21, 1955, the Kelly-Hopkinsville UFO incident terrified the people of western Kentucky and introduced the world to “little green men.” Around 11 PM one August night in 1955, eight people showed up at the Hopkinsville, Kentucky police station in a state of panic. “We need help,” one gasped. “We’ve been fighting them for nearly four hours.” Fighting who? Apparently, little silver men. To some, the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter provides compelling evidence of alien contact....

During World War I, Eugene Jacques Bullard made history as the first African American military pilot — by fighting for France. Wikimedia Commons.Eugene Bullard with Dave Garroway on the Today Show, 1959. On Dec. 22, 1959, the Today Show had an unusual guest — Eugene Bullard, a Black elevator operator for the building in which the show was filmed. Compared to the celebrities that often appeared on the Today Show, Bullard seemed an odd choice....

The tiny 10-millimeter mollusk was found by marine ecologists looking for sea slugs near Santa Barbara. Jeff GoddardThe clam was identified as Cymatioa cooki using records from the 1930s. In November 2018, marine ecologist Jeff Goddard was at a beach near Santa Barbara, California, searching for sea slugs in some tide pools. A veteran of his trade, Goddard studied the intertidal habitats of California for decades — it seemed as if nothing could surprise him....