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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




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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