Stories

In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first Black woman to earn an international pilot’s license. Facing racism and sexism in the U.S., where no flight schools would admit her, Coleman learned French, traveled to France, and received her certification.

On January 28, 1922, Washington, D.C., was blanketed in nearly two and a half feet of snow from a historic blizzard. Despite the weather, over 200 people gathered at the Knickerbocker Theatre to watch the silent comedy Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford. Just after intermission, an ominous crack echoed through the room—a chilling sign of what was to come.

In the BonBon-Land amusement park in Denmark, a unique ride named Hundeprutterutchebane, or “Dog Fart Roller Coaster,” opened in 1993. Created by the park’s founder, Michael Spangsberg, it pays tribute to his earlier career in making humorous candies shaped like dog droppings, inspired by his love of animals and quirky humor.

In 1950, engineer William Albee visited Alaska and observed how large animals, like caribou, moved across soft terrain without sinking. Inspired by their natural weight distribution, Albee developed an innovative tire design capable of carrying heavy loads over delicate surfaces.

In 1900, Charles A. Vander Bie patented an inventive twist on traditional cycling: the rowing bicycle. Vander Bie, an American inventor, sought to create a bicycle propelled by a rowing motion rather than the usual pedaling. The patent, filed in the United States (US Patent No. 656,323), outlined the unique mechanism that allowed riders to push and pull a set of handles connected to the rear wheel, transferring motion to the bike in a style similar to rowing a boat.

During the American Revolution, a woman known only as “355” was thought to be a key figure in Washington’s Culper Spy Ring. A single coded letter mentions her as a “lady” who could “outwit them all,” leading to speculation that she may have been a covert spy in British-occupied Manhattan.

Since 1986, Filipino sign painter Ruben Enaje has been crucified annually on Good Friday. Following his survival from a three-story fall, Enaje made a vow of gratitude: to reenact the crucifixion each year, believing he was spared for a purpose.

In 1861, Kate Warne, America’s first female detective, uncovered a plan to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln. Disguised as a Southern belle, she infiltrated secessionist circles in Baltimore, listening closely to the conspirators plotting Lincoln’s murder as he traveled to his inauguration.

Just one week before the Titanic sank, “The White Ghost of Disaster,” a fictional story by Captain Mayn Clew Garnett, appeared in Popular magazine. The tale featured a massive, supposedly unsinkable ocean liner, a fatal collision with an iceberg, and the subsequent loss of many lives—paralleling the real tragedy almost exactly.

In the late 19th century, New England faced an outbreak of tuberculosis, or “consumption.” The disease spread through families, wasting its victims away. As more people fell ill, fear grew in these close-knit communities, and some sought supernatural explanations for the spread.