In 1942, a strange letter from “Mary Wallace” in Ohio to Argentina caught the attention of U.S. postal censors. The letter, filled with descriptions of dolls, was flagged for suspicious content.

In 1879, Ferdinand Cheval, a mail carrier in southeastern France, stumbled over a strange stone during his rounds. It reminded him of a vivid dream he had years earlier—of building a palace.

When President McKinley was assassinated in 1901, demand for bulletproof vests soared. But years earlier, in 1893, a Polish priest in Chicago named Casimir Zeglen had already begun working on bullet-stopping armor.

In 1824, Charles Waterton returned from South America carrying a bizarre object: the head and bust of an unclassified being with close-set eyes, a red mane, and an eerily human expression.

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.