Fingerprint identification and lie detectors are well-known tools of law enforcement today, but both were quite revolutionary when they were introduced. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast… Read the rest of the article: The first crime solved by a lie detector
In 1913, English mathematician G.H. Hardy received a package from an unknown accounting clerk in India, with nine pages of mathematical results that he found "scarcely possible to believe." In… Read the rest of the article: The story of Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan
When critics dismissed his paintings, Dutch artist Han van Meegeren decided to seek his revenge on the art world: He devoted himself to forgery and spent six years fabricating a… Read the rest of the article: Dismissed by critics, Dutch painter Han van Meegeren set out to avenge himself by creating "the ultimate forgery"
In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell two stories about people who spent years confined in miserably small spaces. North Carolina slave Harriet Jacobs spent seven… Read the rest of the article: An Irish cavalryman spent most of World War I living in this cupboard
When the Scottish writer William Sharp died in 1905, his wife revealed a surprising secret: For 10 years he had kept up a second career as a reclusive novelist named… Read the rest of the article: Novelist William Sharp had a feminine alter ego with her own literary career
In 1919 a bizarre catastrophe struck Boston's North End: A giant storage tank failed, releasing 2 million gallons of molasses into a crowded business district at the height of a… Read the rest of the article: 2 million gallons of molasses wreaked havoc in Boston in 1919
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 December 1914 a remarkable thing happened on the Western Front: British and German soldiers stopped fighting and left their trenches to greet one another, exchange souvenirs, bury their dead,… Read the rest of the article: The story behind the Christmas truce of 1914
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 pilot who saved Buckingham Palace, a ghost who… Read the rest of the article: What Mark Twain learned from a palm reader
In 1944, a bizarre criminal assaulted the small town of Mattoon, Illinois. Victims reported smelling a strange odor in their bedrooms before being overcome with nausea and paralysis. In this… Read the rest of the article: In 1944 hysteria swept Mattoon, Illinois, as residents reported a paralyzing gas being sprayed into their bedrooms
Libby Prison was one of the most infamous prison camps of the Civil War — thousands of Union prisoners were packed together in a converted warehouse, facing months or years… Read the rest of the article: A Union soldier's determined efforts to break out of an "escape-proof" Confederate prison
Australia's Westfield ultramarathon had a surprising entrant in 1983: a 61-year-old potato farmer named Cliff Young who defied all expectations to win the 500-mile race against a field of professional… Read the rest of the article: This 61-year-old potato farmer won an ultramarathon in 1983
In 1912, bookseller Wilfrid Voynich discovered an illustrated manuscript that was written in a mysterious alphabet that had never been seen before. The text bears the hallmarks of natural language,… Read the rest of the article: The Voynich manuscript has been bewildering scholars for more than a century
In 1896 two New Jersey clam diggers made a bold bid for fame: They set out to cross the North Atlantic in a rowboat, a feat that had never been… Read the rest of the article: In 1896 two New Jersey clam diggers set out to cross the North Atlantic in a rowboat
In 1943, fed up with modernist poetry, two Australian army officers invented a fake poet and submitted a collection of deliberately senseless verses to a Melbourne arts magazine. To their… Read the rest of the article: The great Australian poetry hoax, in which deliberate nonsense was hailed as great art
When William Harrison disappeared from Campden, England, in 1660, his servant offered an incredible explanation: that he and his family had murdered him. After the family was executed for the… Read the rest of the article: A bizarre murder mystery gripped Campden, England, in 1660
In 1971 a mysterious man hijacked an airliner in Portland, Oregon, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes. He bailed out somewhere over southwestern Washington and has never been seen again. In… Read the rest of the article: The story of D.B. Cooper, the only unsolved hijacking in American history
In 1924 a curious network of catacombs was discovered in Washington D.C. They were traced to Harrison Dyar, a Smithsonian entomologist who had been industriously digging tunnels in the city… Read the rest of the article: Smithsonian scientist Harrison Dyar spent 20 years digging hidden tunnels under Washington D.C.
