Strange true stories from history
A free, searchable directory of real disasters, bizarre deaths, hoaxes and odd science, every story sourced.
The Great Molasses Flood
January 15, 1919
The Dancing Plague of 1518
July 14, 1518
Phineas Gage and the Iron Rod
September 13, 1848
The Carrington Event
September 1, 1859
The Tunguska Event
June 30, 1908
The Lake Nyos Disaster
August 21, 1986
The Great Emu War
November 2, 1932
The Halifax Explosion
December 6, 1917
Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Survivor of Two Atomic Bombs
August 9, 1945
The Cadaver Synod
897
The Cottingley Fairies
1917
Franz Reichelt, the Flying Tailor
February 4, 1912
Mike the Headless Chicken
September 10, 1945
The Strangest Olympic Marathon
August 30, 1904
Theodore Roosevelt Shot Mid-Campaign
October 14, 1912
The Arrest of the Knights Templar
October 13, 1307
Lord Uxbridge's Leg
June 18, 1815
The Paris Catacombs
April 7, 1786
The Lawyer Who Proved His Point
June 17, 1871
Blowing the Gamboa Dike
October 10, 1913
Theodore Roosevelt's First Flight
October 11, 1910
The Great Stink
1858
The Radium Girls
1917
The London Beer Flood
October 17, 1814
The War of the Worlds Broadcast
October 30, 1938
Piltdown Man
December 18, 1912
The Cardiff Giant
October 16, 1869
The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
April 1, 1957
The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic
January 30, 1962
The Mary Celeste
December 4, 1872
The Defenestration of Prague
May 23, 1618
The Year Without a Summer
June 6, 1816
Tarrare, the Man Who Ate Everything
c. 1798
The Kentucky Meat Shower
March 3, 1876
The Great Moon Hoax
August 25, 1835
Isadora Duncan's Fatal Scarf
September 14, 1927
The Peshtigo Fire
October 8, 1871
The Johnstown Flood
May 31, 1889
The Strange Death of Tycho Brahe
October 24, 1601
The Man Who Survived in a Jail Cell
May 8, 1902
The Loudest Sound in History
August 27, 1883
Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, the Viking Woman Who Sailed to America
c. 1000
Guðríður Símonardóttir: Kidnapped by Pirates from Iceland
1627
The Leatherman's Endless Walk
March 24, 1889
How Fanta Was Born in Wartime Germany
1940
The Photographer Who Got Away with Murder
October 17, 1874
The Horse That Proved Hooves Leave the Ground
June 19, 1878
Oktoberfest Began as a Royal Wedding
October 12, 1810
The Bride of Frankenstein's Swan Hiss
1935
Kant's Last Words Were About a Drink
February 12, 1804
Canada's First Thanksgiving Was in the Arctic
1578
The Leg on The Graduate Poster
1967
The Dancer Who Helped Topple a King
March 20, 1848
The Ariel School UFO Encounter
September 16, 1994
The 1561 Sky Battle over Nuremberg
April 14, 1561
The Aurora, Texas Airship Crash
April 17, 1897
The Great Airship Wave of 1896-97
November 17, 1896
The Kelly-Hopkinsville 'Little Men' Siege
August 21, 1955
The Battle of Los Angeles
February 25, 1942
The CIA's Spy Cat
1967
The Flatwoods Monster
September 12, 1952
The Rendlesham Forest Lights
December 26, 1980
The Socorro Landing
April 24, 1964
The Phoenix Lights
March 13, 1997
The Woman Who 'Gave Birth' to Rabbits
1726
The Pig War
June 15, 1859
The Stork With an African Arrow
1822
Tulip Mania: The Crash That Wasn't
1637
The Man Who Never Was
April 30, 1943
The Bomber Found in the Desert
April 4, 1943