Originating in 15th-century Spain, limpieza de sangre was a racist legal concept and a complex caste system developed as a way to discriminate between the Old Catholics and the newer Christian converts of known or presumed Jewish or Muslim heritage (conversos and Moriscos).

Originally, handfasting was a humble engagement ritual. A few centuries—and scholarly misunderstandings—later, it became an elaborate Wiccan alternative to white Christian marriages.

The Habsburg jaw, well known, little understood—until a team of researchers detailed the inbreeding behind the royal smile.

Insults never die they just evolve. Medieval insults were surprisingly creative and some are still relevant to frustrations we face in modern life.

Polished obsidian, bronze, and copper were used as mirrors for thousands of years until Justus von Liebig invented the modern mirror in 1835.

For centuries, Europeans participated in a celebratory Dance of The Dead. The Danse Macabre is believed to be the precursor to the celebration of Halloween.

In 536 AD a volcanic eruption coated the Northern hemisphere with ash and produced a fog that plunged Europe into darkness.

Napoleon is widely believed to have been a bit short. Could propaganda or even a different system of measurement hold the key to uncovering his true height?

Since its creation by John Duns Scotus in the 13 century, the Dunce Cap has represented the extremes of high intellectualism, evil, and stupidity.

Read the amazing story of Wojtek, the bear. There are memorials to this bear in two major cities in Europe. He left an impression on all who met him.

The custom of the bundling bag has existed within Western Europe and later North America for over half a millennia. It is allegedly still practiced by some religious New England communities.

George Everest was a British surveyor and geographer, he is most famous for having the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, named after him, despite the fact he never really had anything to do with the discovery.

Like a dripping tap that becomes the mind’s only focus while attempting to sleep, water torture has gone down in history as something terrifying, made exhilarating by Harry Houdini’s later interpretation.

It was an incident involving Charles Dickens that led to a step forward in female emancipation and the formation of Sorosis, the first women’s club, at the famous Delmonico’s restaurant in New York.

James Jameson, grandson and heir of Jameson Irish whiskey magnate John Jameson, was an esteemed nineteenth-century naturalist. He would become infamous for his alleged role in the murder and cannibalization of a young African girl.

The gap in our knowledge of medieval underwear is due partly to the poor preservation of organic materials and the lack of visual evidence. Clearly, there’s still a lot to uncover.

A tale of six Sultans and suspicious successions led to what’s become known as the shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War, which lasted approximately 38 minutes.