The 1904 Olympic marathon in St. Louis, Missouri, was unlike any other. Held on a hot August day, temperatures soared to nearly 90°F (32°C). The course was a dusty, unpaved path that stretched 24.85 miles, filled with hills and choking clouds of dust.

On August 5, 1910, the steamship Princess May, operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway, set sail from Skagway, Alaska, bound for Vancouver. While navigating the treacherous waters of Lynn Canal, the vessel suddenly ran aground on the rocky reef near Sentinel Island, Alaska.

For over 700 years, women in England could avoid execution by claiming they were pregnant. Known as “pleading the belly,” this tactic allowed pregnant women sentenced to death to delay execution until after childbirth. Often, the death penalty was reduced to a lesser sentence once the baby was born.

In 1964, Leicester Hemingway, the younger brother of famed author Ernest Hemingway, founded his own micronation called the Republic of New Atlantis. He established it on a bamboo raft floating in the Caribbean Sea, about six miles off the coast of Jamaica. Leicester’s idea was to create a platform for marine research and to use his new nation to attract funding.

In 2003, at a California racetrack, a bright yellow electric roadster called the tzero from AC Propulsion rolled onto the tarmac. The car was equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack, marking a significant step forward in electric vehicle technology. Among those present was Alan Cocconi, a key figure behind its development.

In 1960, Eddie Harrison, an 18-year-old Black man, faced charges of first-degree murder in Washington, D.C. His only hope was his lawyer, L.A. Harris, an eccentric public defender known for his courtroom tactics. Confident in his ability to save Harrison from the electric chair, Harris instructed him to memorize his story and never change it.

The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are known for their mesmerizing light displays in the polar skies, but many people don’t know they also make sounds. Reports of these mysterious noises date back centuries, with witnesses describing faint crackles, pops, or a whooshing sound in the night.

When James Cameron came up with the idea for The Terminator, he was a relatively unknown filmmaker. In the early 1980s, no studio was willing to back his vision of a futuristic, dystopian action film. Cameron sold the rights to the script for just $1 to producer Gale Anne Hurd on the condition that he could direct the movie.

On March 3, 1876, residents of Bath County, Kentucky, witnessed an astonishing event. Pieces of raw meat, ranging in size from small flakes to chunks about 3 inches square, fell from the sky, covering an area near the farm of Mrs. Crouch. The bizarre phenomenon lasted for several minutes.

In 1909, Lulu Hunt Peters earned her medical degree from the University of California, becoming one of the few women in a male-dominated field. She was the first woman to intern at Los Angeles County General Hospital and later led its pathology lab. Peters also served as chair of the public health committee for the California Federation of Women’s Clubs, wielding significant influence in health matters.