The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 was a disaster for the Dutch East Indies, but its astonishing consequences were felt around the world, blocking the sun and bringing cold,… Read the rest of the article: The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora induced a climate crisis and changed world history

In 1882, a mysterious man using a false name married and murdered a well-to-do widow in Essex County, New York. While awaiting the gallows he composed poems, an autobiography, and… Read the rest of the article: The strange case of Henry Debosnys, who murdered a wealthy widow in New York in 1882

In 1863, on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, a 69-year-old shoemaker took down his ancient musket and set out to shoot some rebels. In this week's episode… Read the rest of the article: A 69-year-old shoemaker came to the Battle of Gettysburg to "shoot the damned rebels"

In 1897, shortly after Zona Shue was found dead in her West Virginia home, her mother went to the county prosecutor with a bizarre story. She said that her daughter… Read the rest of the article: Did the ghost of Zona Shue help convict her murderer in 1897?

In 1769, a Peruvian noblewoman set out with 41 companions to join her husband in French Guiana. But a series of terrible misfortunes left her alone in the Amazon jungle.… Read the rest of the article: In 1769, a Peruvian noblewoman found herself lost and alone in the Amazon rain forest

The end of the Civil War opened a new era of fossil hunting in the American West — and a bitter feud between two rival paleontologists, who spent 20 years… Read the rest of the article: One of the worst scientific feuds in history arose between two paleontologists in the 1870s

In 1761 a French schooner was shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 200 people stranded on a tiny island. The crew departed in a makeshift boat, leaving 60… Read the rest of the article: A group of African slaves spent 15 years shipwrecked on this tiny island

In 1607, a 15-year-old girl fled her convent in the Basque country, dressed herself as a man, and set out on a series of unlikely adventures across Europe. In time… Read the rest of the article: Catalina de Erauso fled a convent, dressed as a man, and became a soldier in the New World

In 1902, chemist Harvey Wiley launched a unique experiment to test the safety of food additives. He recruited a group of young men and fed them meals laced with chemicals… Read the rest of the article: In 1902, a "poison squad" tested dubious food additives by eating them

In 1893, Grover Cleveland discovered a cancerous tumor on the roof of his mouth. It was feared that public knowledge of the president's illness might set off a financial panic,… Read the rest of the article: In 1893 Grover Cleveland had a secret surgery aboard a moving yacht

Cocos Island, in the eastern Pacific, was rumored to hold buried treasure worth millions of dollars, but centuries of treasure seekers had failed to find it. That didn’t deter August… Read the rest of the article: The story of one man's obsessive search for the lost treasure of Cocos Island

Germany's polar expedition of 1869 took a dramatic turn when 14 men were shipwrecked on an ice floe off the eastern coast of Greenland. As the frozen island carried them… Read the rest of the article: In 1869 14 German polar explorers were stranded on an ice floe for six months

Here are six new lateral thinking puzzles to test your wits and stump your friends — play along with us as we try to untangle some perplexing situations using yes-or-no… Read the rest of the article: Six lateral thinking puzzles

In 1883 fisherman Howard Blackburn was caught in a blizzard off the coast of Newfoundland. Facing bitter cold in an 18-foot boat, he passed through a series of harrowing adventures… Read the rest of the article: How a brutal 1883 blizzard turned an unlucky fisherman into "the fingerless navigator"

In 1726 London was rocked by a bizarre sensation: A local peasant woman began giving birth to rabbits, astounding the city and baffling the medical community. In this week's episode… Read the rest of the article: In 1726, Mary Toft gave birth to 17 rabbits

In 1961, Wisconsin optometrist Arthur Duperrault chartered a yacht to take his family on a sailing holiday in the Bahamas. After two days in the islands, the ship failed to… Read the rest of the article: In November 1961, the two-masted ketch Bluebelle sailed out of the Bahamas and toward a dramatic fate

Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard opened two new worlds in the 20th century. He was the first person to fly 10 miles above the earth and the first to travel 2… Read the rest of the article: Explorer Auguste Piccard conquered both the stratosphere and the deep ocean

In 1928 Nancy Wake ran away from her Australian home and into an unlikely destiny: She became a dynamo in the French resistance, helping more than a thousand people to… Read the rest of the article: New Zealander Nancy Wake became an intrepid leader in the French resistance against the Nazis

In 1804, when she was 5 years old, Mary Anning began to dig in the cliffs that flanked her English seaside town. What she found amazed the scientists of her… Read the rest of the article: In the 1810s Mary Anning begin to unearth strange creatures near her English seaside town

In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll explore some more curiosities and unanswered questions from Greg's research, including a misplaced elephant, a momentous biscuit failure, a peripatetic… Read the rest of the article: Little Bighorn's victors on the bravest man they fought