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Over the course of its history, chocolate has gone from a sacred beverage to a sweet treat.

Chocolate’s worldwide popularity streak has lasted centuries, but it wasn’t always the sweet, easily accessible treat we know today.

Michele Debczak
ML5, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

You probably had Sea-Monkeys as a kid without knowing what they were or where they came from. The short version? Sea-Monkeys were a get-rich-quick scheme that actually got someone rich quick—but the long version is worth sticking around for.

Jake Rossen
Your favorite condiments have unusual origins.

How did ketchup and mustard—two condiments with thousands of years of history between them—become associated with hot dogs and hamburgers?

Michele Debczak


LaylaBird/iStock via Getty Images

Can cheese really give you nightmares? And why do you keep dreaming that you're back in high school? We get to the bottom of eight misconceptions about dreams.

Kerry Wolfe


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Satanic Panic was a phenomenon that swept North America, and the mass hysteria grew to include Oprah, the Smurfs, and even McDonald’s.

Jake Rossen


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If the first thing you picture when you hear ramen is a precooked block that comes with a flavor packet, you can thank Momofuku Ando. And World War II ... and the Yakuza crime syndicate.

Michele Debczak


Franz Reichelt is now remembered as the "flying tailor."

From psychological studies that would never pass ethical muster in the present day to disastrous new product launches, here are some experiments that went horrifically wrong.

Stacy Conradt
Nothing to see here—just a baby in a cage hanging out a window, taking in the air!

A lot has changed between the 19th century and today, but one thing that hasn't is the plethora of available parenting advice—though the following tips would likely make today's parents scratch their chins.

Ellen Gutoskey
Holding a bingo game without the correct permit in North Carolina could get you in trouble.

Have you handled fish in "suspicious circumstances," or kept your prescription medication in something other than its prescription bottle? Depending on where you are, you might have broken one of many strange laws on the books.

Jason Serafino
Flipping the pages of a book may trigger ASMR in some people.

Here's what you need to know about the brain-tingling phenomenon ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.

Meredith Danko


Hulton Archive/Getty Images

School has come a long way since the 19th and 20th centuries. From corporal punishment to lunch to recess, here are just a few ways school was different a century ago.

Meredith Danko


Mykyta Dolmatov // iStock via Getty Images Plus

Scientific mysteries continue to stump experts in fields ranging from meteorology to medicine. Here are a few strange things science still hasn't figured out.

Justin Dodd


Clockwise from left: Gilbert Stuart's unfinished portrait of George Washington on the $1 bill; Basilica de la Sagrada Familia; a page from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales;  Boldt Castle; Reactors 5 and 6 at Chernobyl; and the National Monument of Scotland.

Famous presidential portraits, literary masterpieces, and iconic tourist destinations all make the list of amazing unfinished projects.

Justin Dodd


jodiecoston // iStock via Getty Images Plus

Though fruitcake may be the butt of a lot of jokes, there’s a reason it secured its place in our cultural firmament.

Michele Debczak
Candy corn wasn't always associated with Halloween.

Whether you view a piece of candy corn as a nostalgic treat or a cloying nugget of disappointment, you can’t deny its place in the Halloween season. Here's how it got there.

Michele Debczak