The discovery of a dinosaur fossil in New Jersey in 1858 sparked a period of intense popular and scientific interest in dinosaurs called “Dinosaur Mania”. Competition between museums to collect specimens led to an oft-forgotten period and a professional rivalry between two men who helped change the face of paleontology - and destroyed each other in the effort.
After the public announcement of the armistice ending hostilities between Italy and the Allied powers on September 8th, 1943, the Italian navy fled its ports in a desperate bid to reach the safety of Allied forces, even as German forces, carrying a terrifying new weapon, sought to capture or destroy them.
On August 26, 1980, some men wearing jumpsuits drove up in a white Dodge van and rolled a large box into a Casino in Stateline Nevada, saying that they were delivering a copy machine. It wasn’t a copy machine. Thus began what the Federal Bureau of Investigation described as “one of the most unusual cases” in the bureau’s history.
In 1943 the Yorktown, Virginia, Naval Mine Depot manufactured explosive ordnance and loaded it onto ships in the York River bound for the battlefields of WWII. On November 16th, a massive explosion rocked the Depot, leaving enormous craters and shattering glass for miles around.