In the 1850s, Cuban immigrant Emilio Sanchez worked as a sugar importer and ship dealer in New York. Caught up in a failed slave voyage, Sanchez sought revenge against the slave traders who had tarnished his reputation. He offered his services as a spy to the British consul, Edward Archibald, who saw Sanchez as a valuable informant.

On a Thursday in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, Carly Riley was out for a walk with her three sons, Charlie, Josh, and Ben, and their seven-month-old German Shepherd-Collie mix, Geo. As they waited to cross the street, an out-of-control truck suddenly veered over the curb, speeding straight towards 10-year-old Charlie.

Ancient Sparta is often remembered as a city of warriors, where every male was raised to fight to the death. This perception stems largely from the heroics of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. However, the truth is more complex. Spartans, like other ancient Greeks, experienced moments of bravery and cowardice.

In 1909, a unique team, led by British aristocrat Montagu Parker, arrived in Jerusalem, then under Ottoman rule, seeking the Ark of the Covenant and King Solomon’s hidden treasures. The group included a Swiss psychic, a Finnish poet, and other unlikely members, none of whom had archaeological training.

In February 1947, Lai Teck, leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), packed $1 million in gold and currency into a suitcase and vanished from Malaya. Months later, reports surfaced of his death in Thailand, allegedly strangled by Thai communists.

In the early 1900s, a Croatian-born man named Joseph Mikulec set out on an extraordinary journey. Driven by a desire to see the world, he decided to walk around the globe. Mikulec started his journey from his hometown in Croatia, traveling without modern conveniences or much money.

In August 1944, following the D-Day invasion, Allied forces pushed through France. As the front lines moved quickly, they faced a severe shortage of supplies. To solve this, the U.S. Army established the Red Ball Express—a truck convoy system designed to keep troops well-supplied.

In November 1983, during heightened Cold War tensions, Soviet forces observed NATO planes carrying what appeared to be warheads. This coincided with NATO’s Able Archer 83 exercise, designed to simulate nuclear escalation. Concerned, the Soviets readied their nuclear weapons, fearing a preemptive strike from the U.S., who had raised its alert to DEFCON 1.

Muriel Gardiner, born in 1901 in Chicago, moved to Vienna in the 1920s to study psychoanalysis under Sigmund Freud. As a wealthy American, she became deeply involved in anti-Nazi activities.

In 1985, Scott Gordon, flying a single-engine Turbo-Arrow from St. Augustine’s airport, found himself in a precarious situation when one side of his landing gear failed to deploy. Facing a possible belly landing, Gordon and fellow air show veteran Jim Moser had to act fast.