In July 1831 the sea between Sicily and Tunisia boiled with ash and gas. A new island rose from the submarine volcano now known as Empedocles.

On November 22, 1963, Dallas dressmaker Abraham Zapruder stood on a concrete pedestal along Elm Street with his 8 mm Bell & Howell camera and recorded about 26 seconds of color, silent footage of President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade.

In the late 1960s, Los Angeles streets echoed with the eccentric songs of Larry “Wild Man” Fischer, who offered spontaneous a cappella tunes to strangers for a dime.

In the spring of 1962 a short, stocky Russian walked into the FBI’s Midtown Manhattan office and offered to spy for the United States.

In markets, taverns, and public squares across England, a strange ritual unfolded from the late 17th century into the early 20th.

In August 2011, as Hurricane Irene swept through the Atlantic, a startling photo began circulating online.

In the 1960s, visitors to the I.Q. Zoo in Hot Springs, Arkansas, watched chickens play baseball, macaws ride bicycles, and pigs hit piano keys.

On September 11, 2001, at 9:12 a.m., nine minutes after United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower between floors 77 and 85, 24-year-old Welles Crowther called his mother and left a message: “Mom, this is Welles. I wanted you to know that I’m okay.”

Physicians were allowed to prescribe liquor as “medicinal alcohol” for health conditions.

In 1850, French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume built the first octobass in Paris, creating one of the largest and rarest bowed string instruments ever made.