On April 27, 1936, Victor Lustig looked out from a ferryboat cabin toward Alcatraz. At 46, he was chained and headed for a prison sentence of 20 years.

Throughout history, some rulers and thinkers have attempted to uncover the origin of human language by raising infants in complete silence.

In January 1955, Leo Carr paid $1.50 to vote in Hardin County, Texas. At the time, this was the cost of a poll tax—a fee required by law to cast a ballot.

On March 25, 1921, USS Conestoga departed Mare Island, California, bound for American Samoa. The Navy tugboat never arrived.

In 1879, Alphonse Bertillon began working as a clerk at the Prefecture of Police in Paris. Frustrated by the lack of consistent methods to identify repeat offenders, he began developing a system using physical measurements.

In 1953, General Motors unveiled the Firebird I, a jet-inspired concept car designed by Harley Earl’s team. It was powered by a 370 hp Whirlfire gas turbine and featured wings, a single-seat cockpit, and a jet exhaust.

n 1881, a railway worker in South Africa enlisted an unusual assistant: a Chacma baboon named Jack.

On June 4, 1922, at Idora Park in Oakland, California, spectators witnessed a motorsport first: motorcycle chariot racing.

In Leggett, California, an ancient coast redwood stands with a twist—it has a hole carved through its trunk large enough for a car to pass.

In 18th-century Yorkshire, a performer named Thomas Wedders, also known as Thomas Wadhouse, drew attention across England for an unusual reason: his nose.