When people hear about a girl who lived with dogs for years, they probably imagined some kind of a mysterious child who somehow managed to become more beast than human. But the tragic case of Oxana Malaya, a Ukrainian woman found living with dogs in 1991, actually deals with a different matter. Her story is … Read more
Long before social media could turn an unusual animal into overnight fame, a king penguin named Lala was already stealing hearts by doing something that sounds almost impossible. People later said his actions looked a lot like what humans do. He lived with a Japanese family. He walked outside alone, and often visited a local … Read more
Most people know the basic story of the teddy bear. Theodore Roosevelt went hunting in Mississippi, refused to shoot a bear that had been caught for him, and that’s how the beloved stuffed animal toy was born. But this story, as presented in many online resources, is not exactly the case. First and foremost, the … Read more
The most surprising thing about the 2016 Daallo Airlines bombing is not that there was a bomb on board. It is the fact that the would-be bomber was tossed out of the plane through the hole he caused and became the only victim of the attack. The strange thing, however, is also that the events … Read more
Canneto di Caronia had always been quiet. For years, it seemed as if nothing of great interest would ever occur there. This small coastal village, nestled between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Sicily’s heartland, would soon enough see an event transpire in one of its homes on the eve of Christmas in 2003 that made it … Read more
In the late 19th century, people suffering from painful joints could travel to a small Australian whaling town for a treatment that sounds almost impossible today. They were not visiting a hospital or a specialist clinic. They were waiting for a whale. The strange treatment became associated with Eden on Twofold Bay in New South … Read more
On March 3, 1876, something deeply strange happened near Olympia Springs in Bath County, Kentucky. Pieces of what appeared to be fresh meat began falling from a clear sky around the farm of Allen and Mrs. Crouch. The shower lasted only a few minutes, but it left an area roughly 100 yards long and 50 … Read more
Most people think of an island as something nature creates over thousands or millions of years. Richart Sowa had a different idea. What if land could be assembled instead? In the late 1990s, the British artist began turning discarded plastic bottles into the foundation of something that looked almost impossible: a floating island where a … Read more
Imagine someone opens a freezer and finds one of history’s most famous ancient bodies, and then realises something is still alive. That is the strange discovery researchers made while studying Ötzi the Iceman, the remarkably preserved mummy found in the Alps in 1991. Researchers were not only looking for microorganisms around his remains. They also … Read more
To most people, a small blue sippy cup would be something they could replace in a few minutes. For Marc Carter’s family, however, finding another one became an international search. His son Ben, who was 14 at the time, had severe autism and had been using a particular two-handled Tommee Tippee cup since he was … Read more