In 1781, Rachel Wall and her husband desperate for a better life - turned to piracy. Over a two-year period, their small band of marauders captured a dozen ships - and murdered 24 men. This is the story of Rachel Wall - America’s first female pirate.

Sources

https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/in-her-own-words-the-life-and-death-of-rachel-wall-massachusetts-female-pirate/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Wall

https://www.annebonnypirate.com/famous-female-pirates/rachel-wall/

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Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, affecting over 500 million people. Today it is very manageable, and thanks to modern medicine most people can live a long, normal life. But that was not always the case. Before the 1920s diabetes was often a death sentence. At least until Frederick Banting and Charles Best found a way to isolate insulin from dog pancreases. This is the story of the discovery of insulin.

Sources

https://diabetes.org/blog/history-wonderful-thing-we-call-insulin

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6205949/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666970621000494

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C._H._Best_and_F._G._Banting_ca._1924_Insulin_P10103_0001.jpg

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On the morning of August 27, 1979, a bomb exploded on a fishing boat off the coast of Ireland. Two children were amongst the dead, as was British statesman and naval officer Lord Mountbatten. The bombing was one of the most polarizing moments in the conflict simply known as ‘The Troubles’. This is the story of the Assassination of Lord Mountbatten.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Lord_Mountbatten

https://www.history.com/articles/mountbatten-assassination-ira-thatcher

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On the island of Sri Lanka there is a mountain that is sacred to multiple religions. For thousands of years people have made pilgrimages to the summit of this peak to see the great rock formation that some say is the footprint of Adam - or Buddha - or St. Thomas the Apostle - or Shiva. This the story of Sri Pada - or Adam’s Peak.

Sources

https://sacredland.org/sri-pada-sri-lanka/

https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/sri-pada/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam%27s_Peak

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William Henry Harrison became the 9th president of the United States on March 4, 1841, and served out his presidency admirably. He generated no scandals, entered no wars, and caused no economic crisis. Of course that was helped by the fact that he served for one month before his untimely death. This is the story of William Henry Harrison, the shortest serving U.S. president.

Sources

https://millercenter.org/president/harrison

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/william-henry-harrison

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Henry_Harrison_crop.jpg

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Lonnie Johnson is an accomplished aerospace engineer who has worked for NASA and the United States Air Force. He worked on the Stealth Bomber, and owns three tech companies. He has many awards, prizes, and patents. But Johnson is most famous for inventing one of the most beloved toys in history - the Super Soaker.

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37062579

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Johnson_(inventor)

Image courtesy of Office of Naval Research: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:160202-N-PO203-046_%2824659795822%29.jpg

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In 1968 a Soviet nuclear submarine was lost beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean, at a depth of over 15,000 feet. It was considered unattainable. Unless you are the CIA, who contracted with Howard Hughes, the famed Hollywood director and mega inventor, to specially construct a vessel to dredge the sub from the bottom of the ocean - all under the utmost secrecy. This is the story of Project Azorian.

Sources

https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc01.pdf

https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/

https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/exhibit/project-azorian/

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian#/media/File:USNS_Glomar_Explorer_(T-AG-193).jpg

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Japan is home to many unique places, but one of the most fascinating is Aoshima - aka - Cat Island. At its height, the tiny island of Aoshima was home to hundreds of cats - outnumbering humans by more than 35-1. This is the story of Cat Island.

Sources

https://japanswitch.com/ultimate-guide-to-aoshima-aka-cat-island-2/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/27/japans-cat-island-falls-victim-to-demographic-crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aoshima,_Ehime

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It was a normal spring afternoon on April 20, 1979, when president Jimmy Carter, while visiting his home in Georgia, was attacked by a rabbit. This is the story of the Jimmy Carter rabbit incident, and the media storm it created.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident

"The Other Side of the Story" by Jody Powell

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In 1996, Pepsi launched a new loyalty campaign. Buy Pepsi soda - get Pepsi points - which got you Pepsi branded stuff. For this campaign, a commercial featured a teenage boy flying a $37m fighter jet - which he had gotten using Pepsi points. It was all a good laugh until someone decided to redeem $700,000 of Pepsi points for the plane. This is the story of the Pepsi Points Jet Fighter Lawsuit.

Watch the commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdackF2H7Qc

Sources

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/getting-harrierd-away/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1996-man-sues-pepsi-for-not-giving-him-a-harrier-jet/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_v._Pepsico%2C_Inc.

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On December 31, 1931, a trapper known as Albert Johnson shot and killed a Canadian police officer in the remote Northwest Territories. He fled into the wilderness, and proceeded to evade arrest for 48 days in -40 degree weather. But even today, his identity remains a mystery. This is the story of the Mad Trapper of the Rat River.

Sources

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/albert-johnson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Johnson_(criminal)

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mad_Trapper-Na-1258-119.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

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