Archaeologists in England have found medieval holy men were “riddled with worms.” What did they expect to find in a group of people who consumed their own feces? Every once in a while, a group of...
Since the dawn of humanity, countless civilizations have engaged in ritual sacrifice. Often, these sacrifices involved other humans, and were so common they were considered a normal aspect of life...
The first Norman king of England met an untimely and turbulent death, although, to be fair, the situation really ‘exploded’ after his death. William the Conqueror, sometimes known as William the...
Fascinating new archaeological research emerging from Manchester in Britain has pointed to a previously unexplored burial ritual used by Early Neolithic Britons. Archaeologists from the University of...
Tales of massacres, sieges and sadistic executions are common throughout history. Nevertheless, the brutal flaying of Marco Antonio Bragadin, the Venetian commander of Famagusta, and the fall of...
When you think of intelligent people, Albert Einstein may be the first name to come to mind. Known as one of history’s greatest geniuses, he fascinated the world with his many contributions to...
Among the extravagantly decorated tombs and temples that made Egyptian art immortal, there is something obscure. It could even be considered supernatural or otherworldly. Telling the stories of what...
The ancient Ionian Greek philosopher Pythagoras (c.570-495 BC) is widely credited with many foundational mathematic and scientific discoveries. An ardent ascetic vegetarian, several myths emerged...
We’ve all heard the expression “to die laughing” to refer to a bout of uncontrollable laughter. But did you know that it actually happens? When looking at the Hellenistic bust of Chrysippus housed at...
One of the prerequisites for winning at the Olympics is to actually be alive. Or so I thought! The story of Arrichion of Phigalia, an Olympic wreath winner famed for his post-mortem victory, is one...
Even after a successful political career, Johan de Witt has gone down in history for having suffered one of the most bizarre assassinations in history and one of the few recorded cases of cannibalism...
The Norse sagas are filled with astonishing death scenes. In his book Laughing Shall I Die, Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings , Tom Shippey explains that the defiant Viking attitude to death was...
Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most successful, celebrated queens in British history. The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn , she came to the throne on November 17, 1558, following the death...
History is filled with bizarre stories about death, and the ancient Greeks are no exception. While the great intellectual Empedocles is said to have jumped into a volcano, in a misguided attempt to...
Ancient tombs are fascinating finds, especially when they’re intact. They can provide us with clues on how a person died, social status, burial styles, and funerary rites. The last of these is...
Death is an inevitability that every person must face. It is the fate of all humans. However, to make death easier, each religion provides a guide that assists the transition from the human world to...
A new study published in the journal Catholic Medical Quarterly claims to have discovered the specific cause of Jesus Christ’s death. He died from excessive bleeding caused by a severely dislocated...
As the sun reaches its zenith, people begin to flood the streets of La Paz, holding in their hands glass urns containing — wait for it — skulls. Although to many cultures this practice may seem...
Scientists have calculated that victims' screams would have stopped before their lungs were drawn through their backs. This is after discovering the brutal ‘Blood Eagle’ could have happened. Ancient...
In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in northern China, archaeologists have unearthed tombs with urn burials – of 128 children! The remains of these 128 children have been found near the ruins of...
Son of night and darkness, and brother of the god of sleep, Thanatos was the personification of death in Greek mythology. Analyzing the scant stories in which he appears can help us understand the...
People and cultures around the world have always understood death - the unavoidable part of everyone’s existence – in a multitude of ways. Some saw it as a gateway to a new life, while others viewed...
It might almost be a shocking moment from a Shakespeare play or even a plot-line from Game of Thrones, but the murder of an ancient Irish king, Crimthann mac Énnai, is an event which actually took...
The following essay is an extract from Stone Circles Explained by Stephen Childs, in which the author offers some original theories regarding the purpose of stone circles. Covering sites from around...
