Illustration of strange creatures

Weird and wonderful history

A women with a shocked face next to a calendar with the date of Friday the 13th

Q&AWhy is Friday 13th unlucky?

A 1793 etching by Thomas Rowlandson shows a person in bed with bugs covering their bare behind.

General History

Roasted cats and acid: 5 ways our ancestors tried to get rid of bedbugs

Scenic view of Cornwall

General History

Q&AWhy is Cornwall called Cornwall?

A 1950s illustration imagines a group of mountaineers catching sight of a large Yeti in the Himalayas

General History

The hunt for the Abominable Snowman: what's the history of the Yeti legend?

Gussie Moran playing tennis with her lace knickers on show at the 1949 Wimbledon Championships.

10 scandalous moments in Wimbledon’s history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Guitarist David Crosby of the Byrds performs with his band in front of a large crowd at the Magic Mountain Music Festival on Mount Tamalpais, June 1967. (Image by © Henry Diltz/Corbis)

General History

From Ancient Greece to Glastonbury: a brief history of music festivals

A mermaid combing her hair

General Early Modern

Tails from the deep: separating the real folklore of mermaids from Disney stories

Australian bushrangers

General History

Q&AWho were Australian bushrangers?

A clown, c1970s. The next decade, there would be a panic over "stalker clowns" in the US (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)

Clowns, agoraphobia and kayaks: a history of fear and loathing. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elsie Wright, who with her cousin Frances Griffiths took photos of sprites, gnomes and fairies, 1917 (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Fake news: 8 of the most notorious photograph hoaxes, from fairies to UFOs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

ConspiracyDid someone else write the plays of William Shakespeare?

A composite image showing an astronaut on the moon against a purple sky.

ConspiracyDid NASA fake the Moon landing?

ConspiracyDid Anastasia survive the massacre of the Romanovs?

A painting by Dutch artist Hendrick Danckerts shows Charles II’s gardener, John Rose, presenting the king with a pineapple

Pineapples, tulips and follies: 10 status symbols from history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A montage of Adolf Hitler and a purple starry sky

Second World War

ConspiracyDid Hitler escape from his bunker and live in Argentina after WW2?

Ancient Egyptian pyramids against a purple starry sky

ConspiracyWere the pyramids built by aliens?

City of fur and feather: the animals of medieval London. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&AWhat are the roots of dentistry?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A medieval illustration showing a doctor bleeding a patient

General History

A history of medicine14 surprising facts

Egyptologist Howard Carter crouches near the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun's remains

Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun: was the tomb really cursed?

Glass men & killer doubles: a history of delusions. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration showing woman receiving a caesarean section

General History

Q&AWhat are the origins of the caesarean section?

Q&AWhich king thought he was made of glass

Saint Michael and the DragonSaint Michael and the Dragon

DragonsFrom mythological beasts of history to the firebreathers of fantasy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A real and a virtual Tycho Brahe surveys the heavens next to his mural quadrant in the frontispiece to ‘Machines of the New Astronomy’. (Photo by DEA/G.DAGLI ORTI via Getty Images)

A history of science in 10½ objects. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

c1400 farmer ploughing a field.

6 of the most catastrophic weather events in British history

The vanishing inventor. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Newspaper front page with headline 'Gen. Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer'

Why we should rememberThe Roswell Incident. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Woman wearing a bikini

Why we should rememberThe launch of the swimsuit that scandalised the world

Max Schreck took the title role in the 1922 German silent film 'Nosferatu', inspired by Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'. The film enjoys a cult following. (Photo by ullstein picture / ullstein picture via Getty Images)

“Ghoul-like beyond nightmare dream, they were the living dead”: belief in Vampires through history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.