DEATH

The Body-Snatching Horror of John Scott Harrison

John Scott Harrison, onetime Ohio congressman and gentleman farmer, is the only person who was both the son and father of U.S. Presidents: father William Henry was the ninth, while son Benjamin was the 23rd.

L'Inhumation Precipitee or "The Premature Burial" by Belgian artist Antoine Wiertz

10 Famous People Who Were Afraid They'd Be Buried Alive

Over the past several centuries, some well-known people made provisions to avoid being declared dead before their time.

Many of Egypt's Animal Mummies Don't Contain Mummies At All

The Very Particular Details of Emily Dickinson's Funeral

It should come as no surprise that she had very specific plans she wished to be followed upon her passing.

6 Movie Sets That Could Have Killed Someone

The most dangerous movies in history.

6 People Who Can Cheat (Certain Kinds of) Death

Scientists Reveal the Real Face of King Tut

He was probably ugly.

The Era of the Body Snatchers

5 Bodies That Refused to Rot

There have been people throughout history whose bodies have stubbornly refused to decompose as expected.

The Ghost Who Helped Solve Her Own Murder

Elva Zona Heaster Shue, or the "Greenbrier Ghost," is only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer.

Unearthing Richard III: The Luckiest Find in History

All it took to locate the bones of Richard III was 500 years, a psychic vision, and a grassroots movement.

10 Buildings Made With Bones

It might sound grotesque, but bones have been an architectural staple for millennia. Here are some of the world’s greatest osteological marvels.

11 Weird (But Awesome) Things at the Mütter Museum

From the conjoined livers from a pair of Siamese twins to slides of Albert Einstein’s brain, Philadelphia's Mütter Museum houses dozens of strange artifacts from medical history.

If You Fell Into a Volcano, How Would You Die?

Either way, it isn't going to be pleasant.

This Wasp Turns Spiders Into Zombie Construction Workers

10 People Who Died After Eating Something Weird

President Zachary Taylor died after eating iced milk and cherries. He's hardly the first person—or the last—to meet his or her demise from eating or swallowing something suspicious. Here are 10 others.

Why Do Bugs Turn Over on Their Backs When They Die?

Bug image via Shutterstock It doesn’t happen to every single bug, but if you stumble upon an expired roach in the bathroom or a downed fly by the window, you’ll find that they’re frequently flat on their backs, legs in the air. It’s such a familiar death

Going Out With a Bang: Janis Joplin's Hard-Partying Wake

When Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970, she left behind a will that included an offbeat stipulation: $2500 to fund a hard-partying wake in her memory.

5 Graves That Were Lost, Then Found

The remains of famous historical figures have been misplaced more than you might think—the grave sites of these notable people went missing for decades or even centuries before being rediscovered.

The Creepiest Thing Ever: L'Inconnue de la Seine

In the early 20 century, a popular piece of art for the fashionable French home was "L'Inconnue de la Seine," a completely creepy death-mask of a young woman whose body had been pulled from the Seine River in Paris.

Brunswick Records, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

February 3, 1959: The Day the Music Died

On February 3, 1959, a plane crashed shortly after taking off from Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four people aboard: pilot Roger Peterson and musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The date became known as The Day the