Mary Brunner immediately fell under Charles Manson's spell. She bore his son, aided in a murder, and attempted to hijack a plane in his name.

Before he was the Colonel, Harland Sanders sold insurance, tires, and gas before he stumbled into the fried chicken business and became a household name.

In the 1960s, Ann Atwater could feel the breeze through the cracks in her house's walls. Then a housing advocate recommended she attend a community organizing training — and the rest is history.

Hedy Lamarr was known in Hollywood as "the most beautiful woman in the world," and she also invented the technology that ultimately led to WiFi.

Rosemary West seemed like an unassuming British mother, but her home concealed brutal incest, beatings, and the remains of numerous young women — including her own daughter.

The bright snapshot of her suburban life belied a dark negative — Kristen Gilbert was a serial killer who preyed on the weakest victims: those she nursed.

Due to his non-stop partying, James Buchanan was nearly expelled from Dickenson College. Twice.

A highly alcoholic spirit originating from Switzerland, absinthe is legendary for its strength. But its potency also led to absinthe being banned in several countries for its perceived link to crime and debauchery.

During the murder of Grigori Rasputin on December 30, 1916, his killers poisoned him, shot him, and drowned him — but the "Mad Monk" simply refused to die.

In 1981, a crew of American and Canadian neo-Nazis and KKK members plotted a violent overthrow of the Dominican government, but their ship never made it out of New Orleans.

After Emperor Nero allegedly kicked his second wife Sabina to death in 65 A.D., he met a slave boy named Sporus who looked like her. So Nero had him castrated and took him as his bride.