Legend has it that Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926 after an overeager fan punched him in the gut and caused his appendix to rupture — but the two events may not have been linked.

While Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the first practical incandescent bulb in 1879, the story of who invented the lightbulb is much more complicated.

Captain James Cook sailed to expand scientific knowledge — and the British Empire. He is arguably history's most accomplished navigator, but his voyages were not without controversy.

Chester Nimitz joined the U.S. Navy as a last resort but would go on to become one of its greatest admirals after pioneering a new form of naval warfare that won the battle for the Pacific.

Utterly ruthless, Carmine "Lilo" Galante became best known for masterminding the heroin trade and the grisly gangland execution that ended his reign.

When a great famine struck Europe in 1314, mothers abandoned their children and in some cases, even ate them. Scholars believe that these tragedies gave birth to the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Before plastic surgery became mainstream, Anna Coleman Ladd used her artistic talents to help improve the lives of disfigured French and American veterans.

Norilsk is a Russian city of extreme cold and extreme pollution, yet 177,000 people have still choose to live there.

After William Pitsenbarger helped rescue as many as 60 soldiers during one particularly fierce battle, he stayed on the ground and helped them fight.

When Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler had American bomber Charlie Brown's defenseless plane in his sights in 1943, he not only let him go but then escorted him out of danger. A half-century later, the two men became close friends.

"You don't know you're making history when it's happening," said Charity Adams Earley, the trailblazing Army battalion commander. "I just wanted to do my job."