On January 17, 1920, the U.S. banned alcohol under Prohibition. Yet, many Americans continued drinking in secret, including aboard Michigan’s Lake Charlevoix, where Captain James Gallagher transformed a timber barge, the Keuka, into a “floating dance hall.” Though promoted as a roller rink, it was a speakeasy and casino catering to locals.

As King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited the flood-devastated town of Paiporta in Valencia, frustrated residents threw mud and objects at them, shouting “murderer” and “shame.” The scene intensified when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also arrived and faced hostility, eventually prompting a swift evacuation.

In 1957, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev boasted about his country’s missiles, challenging the U.S. to a “peaceful rocket contest.” By 1961, with John F. Kennedy newly elected as president, fears of nuclear war reached new heights. As a security measure, officials secretly built a fallout shelter for Kennedy on Nantucket, Massachusetts.

In 1894, after the assassination of French President Sadi Carnot by an Italian anarchist, French authorities launched a widespread crackdown on suspected anarchists. This included monitoring foreigners, especially artists and immigrants in Paris, as concerns over anarchist movements grew.

In 1878, Thomas Edison’s incandescent bulb invention was incomplete—it stayed lit for only minutes before overheating. With competitors like Joseph Swan in England racing to develop a working light bulb, Edison felt the pressure.

In the early 1800s, a mysterious illness called “milk sickness” plagued Midwestern settlers. Those afflicted suffered weakness, vomiting, and sometimes death. Many attributed it to curses or poisonous vapors, with no clear cause in sight.

On August 2, 1923, President Warren G. Harding died unexpectedly in San Francisco at 57. Initially, his death was attributed to a stroke, but conflicting reports and a lack of autopsy fueled widespread rumors. Harding’s widow, Florence, declined an autopsy, and his body was returned to Washington, D.C., for a state funeral before burial in his hometown of Marion, Ohio.

In 1972, San Francisco’s first Pride parade drew thousands, cementing the city’s status as a gay haven. Among its activists was Reverend Raymond Broshears, who led the Lavender Panthers, a group defending LGBTQ people from violence.

In 1973, artist Chris Burden staged a provocative performance called 747, where he planned to fire a pistol at a Boeing 747 flying overhead at Los Angeles International Airport. Known for his extreme and daring pieces, Burden wanted to explore themes of power, danger, and distance.

Sprites, mysterious red flashes resembling lightning, were first recorded in 1989 by scientists at the University of Minnesota. They appear high above thunderclouds, occurring at altitudes between 30 and 55 miles in the atmosphere, far above where typical lightning strikes.