During the Golden Age of Piracy, some buccaneers engaged in matelotage, a form of civil union. Sometimes these arrangements were purely financial — but often they were affectionate, romantic, or sexual.

As a powerful man in ancient Rome, Julius Caesar probably had sex with both men and women, but it was his taste in partners that threatened to ruin his reputation.

In 1613, Hasekura Tsunenaga set out from Japan on an expedition that would take him to California, Mexico, and most of Europe.

Broadway and silent movie star Justine Johnstone got tired of the shallow roles she was offered, so she set her sights on medicine instead.

From 1904 to 1908, more than 80 percent of Namibia’s Herero people and 50 percent of its Nama people were killed by German forces in a genocide carried out in concentration camps like the one on Shark Island.

Dolores Hart was compared to Grace Kelly and starred opposite Elvis Presley, but she gave up fame at just 24 to live a monastic life as a nun, renouncing all earthly pleasures.

Before he wrote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Roald Dahl spent his 20s flying fighter jets and spying on the Roosevelts during World War II.

A bitter feud between German sneaker giants Rudolf and Adolf Dassler saw that their company split into the two behemoths we know today.

When Aimée du Buc de Rivéry disappeared at the end of the 18th century, people speculated that she may have somehow become the Sultana Valide of the Ottoman Empire. But could this be true?

Even after his death, the government took great care to hide the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask. His clothes were promptly burned at dawn and his cell was immediately scraped and whitewashed.

The Marquise de Montespan had the heart of the king, but it was rumored that she'd used black magic to get it.