January 29, 2026
The Last American Vampire: The Haunting Exhumation of Mercy Brown
When we think of vampires in the 19th century, our minds instinctively drift to the foggy, cobblestone streets of Victorian London or the foreboding c...
Latest Discoveries
Explore some of the fascinating stories of the 19th century.
January 27, 2026
The Bullet, the Inventor, and the Dirty Hands: How Science and Ego Doomed a President
On the morning of July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was walking through the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., prepar...
January 25, 2026
The Ironclad Outlaw: The Last Stand of Ned Kelly
In the misty dawn of June 28, 1880, police surrounding a hotel in Glenrowan, Australia, saw something that defied logic. Emerging from the bush was a ...
January 23, 2026
The Unauthorized Odyssey: How Bertha Benz Jump-Started the Automotive Age
In the summer of 1888, the automobile was not considered the future of transportation; it was considered a public nuisance. It was loud, smelly, terri...
January 21, 2026
The Wheel That Challenged Paris: The High-Stakes Engineering of the Original Ferris Wheel
In the waning years of the 19th century, the United States was desperate to prove it had arrived on the global stage. The target of their ambition was...
January 19, 2026
The Swan King’s Last Aria: The Madness and Mystery of Ludwig II
In the latter half of the 19th century, while the rest of Europe was busy industrializing, forging steel, and drawing borders with blood and gunpowder...
January 17, 2026
The Prince of Nowhere: How Gregor MacGregor Sold a Country That Didn't Exist
In the annals of history, confidence tricksters hold a special, if somewhat notorious, place. We are often fascinated by the sheer audacity of those w...
January 15, 2026
Ghost Ship of the Atlantic: The Enduring Riddle of the Mary Celeste
On the afternoon of December 4, 1872, the crew of the British brigantine Dei Gratia spotted a vessel drifting erratically through the chopping waves o...