On July 2, 1982, a truck driver named Larry Walters took off from a backyard in San Pedro, California. He did not pilot an airplane or a helicopter.
45 Weather Balloons and a Lawn Chair: The True Flight of Larry Walters Read More »
Most children spend their tenth year trading playing cards or riding bicycles. Michael Kearney spent his walking across a stage to accept a university diploma.
The 10-Year-Old College Graduate: The Record-Breaking Life of Michael Kearney Read More »
Cinema history is filled with difficult productions, but the making of the 1981 film Roar stands alone as a catalog of catastrophe.
The Most Dangerous Film Production in Hollywood History Read More »
In the heart of Wilmington, Delaware, sits a squat, yellow-brick building with modest blue awnings. It occupies less than a city block.
The One-Story Office That Houses 300,000 Companies Read More »
On January 1, 1913, the United States Postal Service launched a revolutionary new service that connected rural America to the rest of the world like never before
The Era When American Parents Mailed Their Children Read More »
History is full of strange deaths, but few are as ironic as that of Clement Vallandigham.
The Lawyer Who Won His Case by Accidentally Killing Himself Read More »
For nearly two centuries, a tiny triangular slice of land near the Atlantic coast sat in a legal void, technically governed by no specific state.
The Delaware Wedge: The 800-Acre Land That Maps Forgot Read More »
It sounds like a gag from a slapstick comedy, but for farmers in New Zealand during the early 1930s, the threat of spontaneously combusting clothing was a terrifying reality.
The Great New Zealand Exploding Trousers Epidemic of the 1930s Read More »
Off the coast of Yonaguni Island, Japan’s southernmost inhabited island, a massive underwater rock formation lies beneath clear coastal waters about 100 kilometers east of Taiwan.
Yonaguni Monument: The Submerged Rock Formation That Sparked Global Debate Read More »
For centuries, medical professionals diagnosed women with a peculiar condition that allegedly caused everything from fainting spells to a general tendency to cause trouble.
The True History of Female Hysteria and the Invention of the Vibrator Read More »
