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From how long a "hoax" like the Apollo 11 moon landing could actually stay a secret to the conspiracy theory involving Queen Elizabeth I, here are the actual facts you need to know about conspiracy theories.
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After a long, snowy winter, it’s hard to resist the allure of warm summer days. Of course, they can come at a cost—including a sunburn. While it’s a well-known advisory for humans to slather on that SPF before taking in the rays, what about animals?
From an island infested with snakes to a vault holding a very special secret recipe, these dangerous, mysterious, or otherwise forbidden places are off-limits to the public.
From how they became the Mountbatten-Windsors to the last person in line to the throne, here's what you need to know about the British royal family.
Yes, beach trips today mean sand everywhere. But beachgoers in the past had to endure much worse than just sand.
Daniel Keyes’s 'Flowers for Algernon' is a poignant science-fiction novella that has won critical acclaim and popularity around the globe.
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From the fart jokes penned by famous writers to the horrifying consequences of holding in your flatus to why toots smell worse in the shower, here's what you need to know about farts.
Author Hunter S. Thompson is renowned for popularizing the gonzo journalism movement—but it's not always easy to separate fact from fiction.
Lewis Carroll, H.H. Holmes, and Queen Victoria's grandson are just a few of the people who were suspected of being Jack the Ripper.
From natural wonders like Guairá Falls to literary works from Hemingway and Byron to paintings by Picasso and Renoir, here's a list of just a few priceless things that are gone forever.
From fake relics to fake princesses to medical fraud involving goat testicles, history is rife with con jobs that managed to fool unsuspecting marks.
How did Americans make money during the Great Depression? Some sold apples on street corners and others became migrant farmers. But about 2 million Americans tried to strike it rich another way: By doing puzzles.
Franklin Pierce was, by all measures, set up for a life of military and political success, the height of which he achieved when he took the oath of the nation's highest office on March 4, 1853. Here's what you should know about "Fainting Frank."
'On the Road,' Jack Kerouac’s stream-of-consciousness travelogue, charts the adventures of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty as they road trip across the United States. Here’s what you should know.
No Mental Floss celebration—and no celebration of Mental Floss—would be complete without dropping a few fascinating facts and tidbits of trivia.
The heads on this list—whether human or animal, ancient artifact or geological feature—have actually changed the course of history, some in surprising ways that impact us every day.
Physical education in centuries past was sadistic, sexist, and just plain bizarre. Be grateful you never had to experience these P.E. nightmares.
Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks ... or did she? Let's separate the fact from the fiction of Lizzie's legend.
Profound quotes about books and reading from the likes of Toni Morrison, Jane Austen, George R.R. Martin, Salman Rushdie, and more of your favorite authors.
Thanks to developments in science and technology, you can't add jobs like slubber doffers and night soil men to your resume these days.
What exactly is the Witness Protection Program, and how does it work? Here's what you need to know about the secretive program.