Stories

In 1865, Danish inventor Rasmus Malling-Hansen developed the Hansen Writing Ball, recognized as the first commercially produced typewriter.

On September 13, 1848, Phineas P. Gage, a 25-year-old railroad construction foreman, was preparing a charge at a blasting site near Cavendish, Vermont. An accidental explosion dislodged a 3-foot iron tamping rod, which struck his left cheek and exited through the top of his head. Gage was rendered unconscious.

In 1933, after Adolf Hitler assumed power in Germany, Nazi agents arrived in the United States. Officials established the Friends of New Germany, later known as the German American Bund, to promote Nazi ideas.

In 1983, a deep-sea expedition aboard the RV James Cook trawled up a strange fish from the abyssal depths near Australia and New Zealand. It was later described by Joseph Nelson in 1995 as Psychrolutes microporos, a species belonging to the blobfish family. The holotype specimen is preserved in the Museum of New Zealand.

Founded in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) became the country’s primary agency for civilian foreign aid.

In 1969, journalist Susanna McBee walked into multiple doctors’ offices, receiving amphetamine prescriptions within minutes. She was handed colorful diet pills before even speaking. Her investigation revealed a widespread problem—amphetamines were handed out freely, normalized for weight loss and mental health.

On November 14, 1957, New York State Troopers noticed something strange in the small town of Apalachin. A large number of expensive cars with out-of-state plates had arrived at the home of Joseph Barbara, a local businessman with a criminal record.

In Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, a small residential street became famous for its unusual name: Butt Hole Road. While the origin of the name is uncertain, local residents believe it referred to a communal water butt. However, in American English, the phrase has a crude meaning, leading to international attention.

In Deventer, a city in the Netherlands, a large copper cauldron hangs on the Waag building. This cauldron, dating back to the Middle Ages, was used for executing counterfeiters by boiling them alive in oil. Counterfeiting was considered a severe crime, as it threatened the economy and trust in currency.

In 1889, Eben Moody Boynton introduced the Boynton Bicycle Railroad in Brooklyn, New York. It was a unique monorail system that ran on a single track at ground level while using an overhead wooden stabilizing rail for balance. Boynton believed this system would be cheaper and more efficient than conventional railroads.