For nearly two centuries, a tiny triangular slice of land near the Atlantic coast sat in a legal void, technically governed by no specific state.

It sounds like a gag from a slapstick comedy, but for farmers in New Zealand during the early 1930s, the threat of spontaneously combusting clothing was a terrifying reality.

Off the coast of Yonaguni Island, Japan’s southernmost inhabited island, a massive underwater rock formation lies beneath clear coastal waters about 100 kilometers east of Taiwan.

For centuries, medical professionals diagnosed women with a peculiar condition that allegedly caused everything from fainting spells to a general tendency to cause trouble.

In the autumn of 1981, country music icon Johnny Cash faced an adversary that almost ended his life on the grounds of his own home.

In February 2006, the muddy waters of the River Plate near Montevideo, Uruguay, surrendered a massive object that had remained hidden for nearly seven decades.

In 1971, a quiet residence in Sherman Oaks, California, housed a guest that defied all conventional logic.

In 1913, Milwaukee housewife Walburga “Dolly” Oesterreich made a decision that would lead to one of the most bizarre criminal cases in American history.

Ten days before Christmas, Mission Control in Houston received a transmission that stopped everyone in their tracks.

But on Christmas Eve, the terrifying “Red Phone” on the commander’s desk rang. This line connected directly to the Pentagon and the White House.