Stories

In 1966, Scott Paper, known for tissues and wipes, launched a promotional cellulose shift dress to advertise its new tableware. For just $1.25, customers received a dress by mail. Meant as a novelty, the item unexpectedly exploded in popularity, with over 500,000 orders in under a year.

In 1945, a group of Holocaust survivors formed Nakam, led by Abba Kovner. Their goal: revenge for six million murdered Jews. After an early attempt to poison Nuremberg’s water supply failed, the group turned to a new plan—poisoning German POWs in U.S. camps.

In 1930, German engineer Franz Kruckenberg unveiled the Schienenzeppelin, an experimental railcar built at the Hannover-Leinhausen works. Its aluminum body resembled a Zeppelin airship, and its rear-mounted propeller, powered by an aircraft engine, set it apart from any rail vehicle before it.

Before it became known for cutting timber, the chainsaw was born in the medical field. In the 1780s, Scottish doctors John Aitken and James Jeffray designed a flexible, fine-toothed chain saw with wooden handles. It was intended for symphysiotomy and excising diseased bone.

At first glance, Oppenheim appears to be a quiet town along the Rhine. But beneath its cobblestone streets lies a vast network of tunnels—some dating back to 700 A.D.

Towering above the small German town of Heringen, a massive white mound dominates the landscape. Known as Monte Kali, this artificial mountain is made entirely of sodium chloride—common table salt.

In 1885, Edwin Wiley Grove introduced a medicinal syrup designed to make quinine bearable. After losing his wife and daughter to malaria, Grove set out to create a remedy that masked the bitterness of the life-saving drug.

In 1980, poachers attacked Collin “TC” Thorstenson’s buffalo herd in North Dakota, leaving a three-year-old calf without a mother.

During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, on October 25, 1962, U.S. presidential advisor Harald Malmgren was briefed by senior CIA and Atomic Energy Commission officials about a classified incident.

In 1271, after nearly three years without a pope, frustrated officials in Viterbo locked the cardinals in a palace and removed its roof to force a decision. This event led Pope Gregory X to establish conclave rules in 1274: electors would be secluded cum clave—“with a key.”