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What Happened to the Sodder Children, the Siblings Who Went Up in Smoke in a West Virginia House Fire?
Authorities said the Christmas 1945 blaze was accidental, but the victims' family believed otherwise, theorizing it was an act of arson designed to distract them while their loved ones were kidnapped
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How the 1904 Marathon Became One of the Weirdest Olympic Events of All Time
Athletes drank poison, dodged traffic, stole peaches and even hitchhiked during the 24.85-mile race in St. Louis
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Letters from Mothers to President Lincoln
A sampling of motherly missives to the president
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'The Hatpin Peril' Terrorized Men Who Couldn't Handle the 20th-Century Woman
To protect themselves from unwanted advances, city women wielded some sharp accessories
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Everything Was Fake but Her Wealth
Ida Wood, who lived for decades as a recluse in a New York City hotel, would have taken her secrets to the grave—if here sister hadn't gotten there first
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Madame Restell: The Abortionist of Fifth Avenue
Without benefit of medical training, Madame Restell spent 40 years as a "female physician"
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The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism
Their seances with the departed launched a mass religious movement—and then one of them confessed that "it was common delusion"
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What (or Who) Caused the Great Chicago Fire?
The true story behind the myth of Mrs. O'Leary and her cow
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“Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty”: The Rise and Fall of D.C. Stephenson
The Grand Dragon of the Klan and prominent Indiana politician had a vicious streak that had horrifying consequences
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“I Was Looking Forward to a Quiet Old Age”
Instead, Etta Shiber, a widow and former Manhattan housewife, helped smuggle stranded Allied soldiers out of Nazi-occupied in Paris
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The Case of the Sleepwalking Killer
The evidence against Albert Tirrell was lurid and damning—until Rufus Choate, a protegé of the great Daniel Webster, agreed to come to the defense
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The House that Polly Adler Built
She entered the brothel business without apology and set out to become the best madam in America
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Paris or Bust: The Great New York-to-Paris Auto Race of 1908
Even before there were roads, there were men who wanted to drive fast
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The Man Who Wouldn’t Die
The plot to kill Michael Malloy for life-insurance money seemed foolproof—until the conspirators actually tried it
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A Chess Champion’s Dominance—and Madness
As a young man, Paul Morphy vanquished eight opponents simultaneously while effectively blindfolded
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Seven Obscure Facts You Didn’t Know About the Civil War
Amid the vast literature of the Civil War, it's easy to lose sight of some of the stranger facts, coincidences and quirks of character
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The Daredevil of Niagara Falls
Charles Blondin understood the appeal of the morbid to the masses, and reveled when gamblers took bets on whether he would plunge to a watery death
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