For Private Duncan MacFarlane, survival came down to a small book kept in his breast pocket.

Ruling the massive Roman Empire usually guaranteed a permanent place in the history books. Yet, one ruler vanished from every written document, completely forgotten for over fifteen centuries.

In 1963, a high school student decided to push the boundaries of human biology by completely abandoning sleep.

Deep in the forests of Southeast Asia lives a creature resembling a cross between an owl, a hawk, and an alien.

What did city plumbing look like 4,500 years ago?

What if an ancient, gold-plated wooden chest possessed the miraculous power to stop rivers, destroy city walls, and defeat armies?

A military force of exactly 300 men, organized entirely as 150 pairs of male lovers, once became the most feared heavy infantry of the ancient world.

For over two centuries, the Vatican officially recognized a man who never lived as the leader of the Catholic Church.

In June 1739, a peculiar metallic object emerged from the dirt in a Hertfordshire field, sparking a historical puzzle that continues to baffle experts today.

Around 1809, a man named Sequoyah set out to create a written system for the Cherokee language. He was completely illiterate when he began this project.