Elephant birds stood a towering 10 feet tall and weighed up to 1,700 pounds, but they were gentle giants who disappeared completely about 1,000 years ago.

Also known as the "French Angel," wrestler Maurice Tillet was stricken with acromegaly which caused his hands, feet, and facial features to swell to enormous proportions — and is rumored to have inspired Shrek.

Though it was an innocuous-looking wooden frame, the torture rack might have been the medieval era's most brutal device — and it was used well into the 17th century.

Grigori Rasputin's penis was allegedly cut off after his 1916 murder, then later pickled and placed inside a jar that was put on display in a St. Petersburg museum.

The hammer-headed bat is the largest bat species found in Africa. But while it may look like a carnivore, it only eats fruit.

Before Brutus' name became synonymous with the betrayal of Julius Caesar, Roman republicans sang his praises as a hero of democracy.

Though it's most often associated with the Vikings, the drinking horn has a long history that actually started more than 1,000 years before the vicious warriors ever left Scandinavia.

On the morning of February 27, 2012, T.J. Lane opened fire inside the cafeteria at Chardon High School, killing three students and wounding three others — while wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the word "killer."

Eben Byers began drinking radium-infused water that his doctor prescribed for an arm injury in 1927 — but within three years, his bones were disintegrating.

It may be only an inch long, but the bullet ant has an excruciating sting that leaves victims in agony, including temporary paralysis and hallucinations.

With its enormous ears and stilt-like legs, the maned wolf is a one-of-a-kind animal that roams the plains of Brazil and Argentina.