What was the Tunguska event of 1908?
On 30 June 1908 an object, most likely a small asteroid, exploded in the air over remote Siberia, flattening a huge area of forest without leaving a crater.
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What was the Great Emu War of 1932?
In late 1932 the Australian Army used machine guns against emus damaging Western Australian wheat farms. The cull was largely ineffective and was called off.
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What was the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919?
On January 15, 1919, a 50-foot molasses tank burst in Boston's North End, killing 21 people and injuring 150. Poor construction and ignored warnings were blamed.
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Who were the Radium Girls?
The Radium Girls were US factory women who were poisoned by radium paint while painting watch dials in the 1910s and 1920s. Their lawsuits helped shape workplace safety standards.
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What was the dancing plague of 1518 in Strasbourg?
In July 1518 a woman began dancing in a Strasbourg street, and hundreds joined her. The cause is still unknown; mass hysteria is the leading explanation.
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What was the Wow! signal?
The Wow! signal was a strong, narrowband radio burst recorded in Ohio on August 15, 1977. It has never repeated, and its origin remains unexplained.
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What is the Voynich manuscript, and why can't anyone read it?
The Voynich manuscript is a roughly 240-page illustrated codex in an undeciphered script, made in 15th-century Europe and held at Yale. Its meaning and purpose remain unknown.
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What happened at Dyatlov Pass, and why is it still debated?
Nine hikers died in the northern Urals in February 1959 after fleeing their tent. A small slab avalanche is the leading explanation, though some details remain unexplained.
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What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
No one has proven what happened to the 1587 Roanoke colonists. Evidence points to a move inland or to Croatoan, but the artifacts found so far remain debated.
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Who was Typhoid Mary, and what did she actually do?
Typhoid Mary was Mary Mallon, an Irish-born New York cook who carried typhoid bacteria without symptoms. She was quarantined twice and spent about 26 years on North Brother Island.
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What was the Halifax Explosion of 1917?
On 6 December 1917, a munitions ship collided with another vessel in Halifax Harbour and exploded, killing roughly 2,000 people in the largest human-made blast before the atomic bomb.
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What was the 1962 Tanganyika laughter epidemic?
An outbreak of laughing and crying that began at a girls' school in Kashasha on 30 January 1962 and spread across the Bukoba area. Investigators attributed it to mass hysteria.
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What was the Pig War of 1859?
The Pig War was a standoff between the US and Britain over the San Juan Islands, sparked by an American shooting a pig. No humans died, and the islands became American in 1872.
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Tsutomu Yamaguchi: the man who survived both atomic bombs
Yamaguchi was a Japanese engineer who was in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki on 9 August. Japan officially recognized him in 2009 as the only person to survive both.
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What happened when Krakatoa erupted in 1883?
Krakatau's August 1883 eruption collapsed most of the island, killed over 36,000 people, mostly by tsunamis, and affected the sky, air pressure and temperatures worldwide.
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What was the Cadaver Synod, the trial of a dead pope?
In January 897, Pope Stephen VI put the exhumed corpse of his predecessor Formosus on trial in Rome. Formosus was found guilty and his papacy declared null, but the verdict was soon overturned.
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What was Operation Mincemeat, the corpse that fooled Hitler?
Operation Mincemeat was a 1943 British deception in which a corpse carrying forged papers was left off Spain to convince Germany the Allies would not invade Sicily first.
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What was the Carrington Event of 1859?
The Carrington Event was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, peaking on 1–2 September 1859. It disrupted telegraphs and produced auroras seen far from the poles.
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What happened to the Mary Celeste?
The Mary Celeste was found abandoned in 1872 and its crew were never seen again. The cause is unsolved, though a scenario of fear for the ship's safety is often favored.
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Why is 536 called the worst year to be alive?
A volcanic dust veil darkened and cooled much of the Northern Hemisphere in 536, causing crop failures, and plague followed in 541. The label comes from historian Michael McCormick.
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What was the Great Stink of London in 1858?
The Great Stink was a summer 1858 episode in which hot weather worsened the stench of sewage on the Thames. It pushed Parliament to fund Bazalgette's new sewer system.
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