During the 1970s, Williams International built a one-man vertical take-off and landing machine known as “The Flying Pulpit.” This strange flying car stood four feet high and was capable of flying in any direction for as long as 45 minutes. It could speed up, hover in the air, and rotate as well as reach a…
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. A short while later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin emerged, becoming the first humans to ever walk on that rock. Now, billionaire Jeff Bezos is after the original engines from that flight. He’s already located them. But recovering them won’t be easy. The Hunt for…
Once upon a time, the American buffalo roamed North America in large numbers, perhaps as many as 10-70 million. But by the mid-1880s, its once-vast numbers had been reduced to just a few hundred. Who killed the buffalo? And why? The Rise of the Buffalo? Interestingly enough, the rise of the American buffalo may have…
During the 1930s, a strange group of Nazi sympathizers known as the Silver Legion of America built a gigantic, heavily-guarded bunker in Los Angeles. What was the purpose of this bunker? Did they hope to build a Nazi America? Nazi America – Hitler’s American Bunker? The members of the Silver Legion of America were known…
In memory of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, The Atlantic is publishing an astounding collection of Civil War photos taken by war correspondents. They are, in a word, shocking. Shocking Civil War Photos? My third great grandfather fought for the Union during the Civil War. He was mustered in during 1862, was…
Who’s the better U.S. President? Barack Obama? Or the little-known Rutherford B. Hayes? Battle of the Presidents: Barack Obama vs. Rutherford B. Hayes? In what promises to be the strangest President vs. President battle of 2012, President Obama knocked President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) yesterday over his apparent dislike of the telephone. “One of my…
More than anyone else, Christopher Columbus is responsible for connecting the Old World to the New World. But he wasn’t the first person to reach America. So, who discovered America? Who Discovered America? I’ve long favored the idea that pre-Columbian contact between the “Old World” and “New World” was far more extensive than the history…
In 1820, the U.S. whaling industry was just a blip, generating about $1 million in revenue per year. Thirty years later, it had grown nearly 1,000%, making the U.S. the global leader in whaling. By 1900, U.S. whaling revenues had declined an astonishing 90%. What happened? The Mysterious Decline of the U.S. Whaling Industry? The rise…