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On December 18, 1865, slavery officially ended in the United States. Secretary of State William Seward verified the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, stating “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” On December 2, 1949, the United Nations adopted a resolution seeking to eradicate contemporary forms of slavery, including human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labor, forced marriage, and so on....

Located on the border of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana, being on Mount Roraima is to literally walk among the clouds. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 23 Mind-Blowing Photos Of Lake Baikal, The World’s Deepest And Oldest Freshwater Lake 44 Mind-Blowing Pictures Of Ordinary Creatures Under An Electron Microscope 25 Of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Most Mind Blowing Tweets...

Intrepid writers and artists have created, and continue to create, new and fantastic galaxies in fiction, expanding our horizons even further. Here are some of the most intricate, recognizable, and downright silly fictional galaxies: Fascinating Fictional Galaxies: The Shi’ar Galaxy – X-Men The Shi’ar Galaxy is home to the Shi’ar Empire (or Imperium) and was created by Marvel writer Chris Claremont and Marvel artist Dave Cockrum for the X-Men comic books....

Randy Steven Kraft was convicted of 16 murders, although the real number could be over 60. But who’s keeping score? YoutubeRandy Steven Kraft Randy Steven Kraft has a few nicknames, including the “Freeway Killer” and the “Southern California Strangler.” But the “Scorecard Killer” was his most unique nickname. It was also the one that described him best. Kraft is a convicted serial killer who murdered at least 16 young men between 1972 and 1983....

“There was a failure at every level of this case… His exoneration is not going to get him back the 25 years he lost for a murder he did not commit.” Samuel Brownridge via ABC NewsSamuel Brownridge spent 25 years in prison on a false conviction before he was finally released. On March 11, 1994, police knocked on the door of 18-year-old Samuel Brownridge. Brownridge had been at home with his girlfriend and their baby, but police believed he had been involved in a robbery-murder about a 30-minute walk from his house in Queens, New York....

Her worshippers vary from those pushed to the fringes of society to occultists, drug lords, and prisoners – and the Santa Muerte has garnered more followers in the past decade than any religion before it. Wikimedia CommonsCatholics who pray to Santa Muerte find it easy to reconcile their two belief systems. Santa Muerte, the folklorish female deity of Mexican-American culture, has gone from relative anonymity to being at the center of the fastest growing religious movement in the world....

While short-lived, the Black Panther Party succeeded in inspiring marginalized people around the world to join the struggle against oppression. When most people think of the Black Panther Party, Buddhists in India don’t come to mind. Neither do Polynesians in New Zealand, Jews in Israel or aboriginals in Australia. Yet they all rallied behind that very name and honored one of the Party’s tenets — to fight against oppression — by creating their own movements in response to their localities’ unique socioeconomic conditions and injustices....

The heart attack gun fired a dart made of frozen shellfish toxin that would enter the target’s bloodstream and kill them in mere minutes without leaving a trace. Associated PressSenator Frank Church (left) holds aloft the “heart attack gun” during a public hearing. In 1975, more than 30 years of almost unrestricted CIA activity came grinding to a halt before Senator Frank Church on Capitol Hill. After the shocking revelations of the Watergate scandal, the American public had suddenly gained an intense interest in the activities of their intelligence agencies....

To commemorate Lucky Penny Day, we uncover the lengthy (yet intriguing) history of the American penny, which was first created in 1787. Source: Wikipedia Proving that no human idiosyncrasy is too obscure for a holiday, each year people celebrate Lucky Penny Day, a time to appreciate the good luck of finding a penny heads-up. When May 23rd rolls around, one can find people hunting for lucky pennies in the streets or even tossing a few coins to the ground to make good luck for others....

The collection of Dr. Thomas Mütter begat this funhouse of morbid curiosity, which currently houses over 20,000 specimens of medical abnormalities in downtown Philadelphia. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 33 Of The World’s Most Disturbing Museum Artifacts Inside The Viktor Wynd Museum Of Curiosities, The Strangest Museum On Earth P.T. Barnum’s 13 Most Famous And Unbelievable Oddities...

Given its dynamic properties, the face has often been used as the subject–not the canvas–of a portrait. Alexander Khokhlov does both. Many have borrowed from William Shakespeare’s famed “To be, or not to be” line in their work, even those living beyond the literary world’s borders. Alexander Khokhlov is one of them. Fitting up the phrase for the 21st century, ‘2D or Not 2D’ is Khokhlov’s latest series of photos that brings traditional painted portraiture to life....

A decade defined by war and insurmountable courage and loss – a look at the ten most iconic photos of the 1940s! The Most Iconic Photos Of The 1940s: Hitler in Paris, 1940 Taken at the height of World War Two and after Adolf Hitler had taken Paris, this picture depicts Hitler surveying his conquest with his various cronies and became one of the most iconic photos of the 1940s and World War 2....

Judge Ian Pringle, who presided over Laviana Woodward’s case, stated, “It seems to me that if this was a one-off, a complete one-off.” FacebookLaviana Woodward, 24. A British medical student who stabbed her ex-boyfriend in the leg with a bread knife has been given merely a suspended sentence due to her ‘extraordinary’ talent. The Telegraph reports that 24-year-old Lavinia Woodward was given no prison time for her stabbing of her then-boyfriend Thomas Fairclough while under the influence of alcohol and drugs....

Reality TV shows are notorious for pushing people to the brink — and sometimes to murder. Reality television draws numerous critics and massive ratings due to its razor-sharp focus on eliciting conflict. When all-out conflict is the reality TV producer’s ultimate goal, what’s at stake for the show’s “actors?” What happens when production takes things too far and that conflict bleeds into real life? The Jenny Jones Show The Jenny Jones show ran from 1991 to 2003....

When Americans think of autumn celebrations, Halloween and Thanksgiving first come to mind. But other, equally exciting festivities are held around the world. Summer has been over for quite some time now. The leaves have changed, the temperature has dropped, and now we warily prepare for a season of coughs, chills and bony, barren trees. Even though winter draws nearer with each passing moment, we still look forward to celebrations associated with Autumn, particularly Halloween and Thanksgiving....

From the Civil War to World War II, these remarkable Black heroes from American history fought for their country — even though they didn’t have equal rights at home. Library of CongressBlack soldiers arrive at a base camp in Auteuil, France, in 1918. Black soldiers have been serving in the U.S. armed forces since the Revolutionary War — when both enslaved and free Black men “voluntarily” fought in the trenches alongside white soldiers....

In the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic reached a fever pitch, but these photographs helped change the way the world saw the disease. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: How Rock Hudson Changed The Way The U.S. Treated The AIDS Epidemic The Story Behind The Photo Of David Kirby That Changed The World’s Perception Of AIDS...

The species is not native to the area, but since their introduction to Olympic National Park, have become dangerously addicted to human sweat and urine. Ramon Dompor/The Seattle TimesBlindfolded and sedated mountain goats being flown out of Washington’s Olympic National Park. We’ve all heard the saying “when pigs fly,” but what happens when goats fly? So far, more than 75 mountain goats have been flown out of Olympic National Park in Washington state as part of a larger plan to remove the species from the area....

From Nelson Mandela to Abraham Lincoln, these revered leaders’ words remain poignant and powerful decades after they were first uttered. You probably know very little about the Battle of Gettysburg. Although it was likely the most decisive battle in the bloodiest war America has ever fought, its commanders, tactics, body counts, and the like have faded into history for nearly everyone that’s not a Civil War buff. Yet, even today, almost every American surely knows of the Gettysburg Address — the speech given by President Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the soldier’s cemetery at the battle site four months after the fact — and can probably even recite at least its first six words (“Four score and seven years ago…”)....

At the age of 13, Myra Gale Brown wedded 22-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis in Hernando, Mississippi — a marriage that would effectively destroy Lewis’ career. In 1957, 22-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis married Myra Gale Brown. Lewis had been married twice before. His second marriage in September 1953 had caused quite a stir when people realized it had taken place 23 days before his first divorce was final. That stir was nothing compared to the one his third marriage would cause, however....