

D.B. Cooper: Man who hijacked a plane and jumped out with a $200,000
Who is D.B. Cooper?
An unknown man named D.B. Cooper abducted a Northwest Orient Airlines flight in 1971, demanded $200,000 in ransom, and then jumped out of the aircraft. Despite a 45-year investigation, the FBI has never managed to apprehend the unidentified man who used the alias Dan Cooper to book the flight.
Under the guise of Dan Cooper, the hijacker boarded the aircraft on November 24, 1971, with a briefcase containing explosives. He had paid cash for his one-way ticket from Portland to Seattle. According to New York magazine, the man claimed to have a bomb and passed a note to air hostess Florence Schaffner with the following instructions: “I want $200,000 by 5:00 p.m. in cash. Put in a knapsack. I want two back parachutes and two front parachutes. When we land, I want a fuel truck ready to refuel. No funny stuff or I’ll do the job.”
Cooper requested the release of the passengers upon landing in Seattle and was given the ransom. Then, after asking the pilot to take him to Mexico City, he strapped the money to himself and jumped out of the plane while it was over southwest Washington.
The FBI discovered that the name Dan Cooper was a fake while they were looking for him/his body. Then, in 1980, a boy, age 8, who was on vacation with his family discovered $5,800 in bills floating down the Columbia River. The FBI recognized them as being part of the ransom money even though they had partially disintegrated.
Over the years, the FBI investigated more than 1,000 suspects who might be D.B. Cooper, but it was unable to definitively identify him.
DB Cooper developed a cult following as a result of the newsworthy crime, with t-shirts bearing the slogan “D.B. Cooper, Where Are You?”‘ is being sold all over the country, and a store in Washington celebrates D.B. Cooper Day every year.
Was D. B. Cooper’s parachute ever found?
The DB Cooper parachute has never been located. This has prompted many conspiracy theorists to postulate that he actually survived the jump and fled with the parachute.
The FBI reported in March 2008 that they were investigating a shredded, tangled parachute discovered buried in Southwest Washington. Children were playing outside their Amboy-area home when they discovered the parachute.
A month later, it was determined that it couldn’t have been the hijacker’s parachute because it was made of the incorrect material and had the wrong design.
According to what we could gather from the people we spoke with, the parachute “just didn’t look like it was the right kind of parachute in any way,” an FBI spokesperson said.
Was any of D.B. Cooper’s money recovered?
It’s true that some of D.B.’s money was found. On the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, a young boy discovered $5,800 in cash in 1980. The cash’s serial number matched that of the cash given to D.B. Cooper, according to the investigators.

Nothing else, though, was ever discovered. His tie and pearl pin, which he forgot to take off with him, were the only other items that were found.

Tunnels Dug by ancient giant sloths, A South American Megafauna
For years, scientists didn’t know what caused mysterious cave networks in South America. In 2010, they learned that the caves were actually tunnels dug by ancient giant sloths

George Dantzig solved two famous “unsolved” problems in statistics mistakenly as assignment
In 1939, George Dantzig arrived late to his statistics class. On the board were two famous “unsolved” problems in statistics written as an example by his professor. Dantzig mistook the examples for homework assignments. He solved the “unsolved” problems and submitted the homework to his professor a few days later. His solutions earned him a doctorate.

What exactly was the US's 'Ghost Army' during WWII?
During WW2, there was a special unit of men dubbed the ‘Ghost Army’. The unit was made of artists, creative and engineers and their job was to create deception about the enemy. From inflatable tanks to phony convoys to scripted conversations in bars intended to spread disinformation, they used all possible tricks to fool the enemy.

Marion Stokes recorded 30 years of television
Marion Stokes, a Philadelphia woman began taping whatever was on television in 1979 and didn’t stop until her death in 2012. The 71,000 VHS and Betamax tapes she made are the most complete collection preserving this era of TV. They are being digitized by the Internet Archive.

The 440-pound bear named Wojtek and his World War II battle against the Nazis
Polish troops raised an orphaned bear cub during WWII. He enjoyed drinking beer, and was trained to salute. He became officially enlisted as a member of the forces, and helped carry artillery during battle.

Nicholas Winton ‘British Schindler’: Man who rescued 669 Czech children from Nazis
A man named Nicholas Winton saved 669 kids during WWII and lived almost all his life without letting people know.

Franz Ferdinand’s Assassination that sparked World War I
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The killings sparked a chain of events that led to the eruption of World War I by early August.

The true story Of The Radium Girls that change US labor laws
Hundreds of young women worked in clock factories during World War I, painting watch dials with luminous radium paint. The company lied about the risk of radiation, claiming there was no danger, which resulted in the death of the young women.

The story of Bill Haast, who lived to be 100 despite his extensive snake venom injections
Bill Haast immunized himself by injecting snake venom into his blood for several years. He holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the most lethal snake bites, having been bitten over 172 times. Bill became known as "Snake Man" around the world and lived for over 100 years.

Remembering the miracles of the 1985 Mexico earthquake (unbelievable stories)
In 1985, after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City, nearly all newborn babies survived a collapsed hospital. They are known as “Miracle Babies” for surviving 7 days without nourishment, water, warmth or human contact.

Roller Coasters were First Invented to Distract People from sin
Roller coasters were invented to distract Americans from sin. In the 1880s, hosiery businessman LaMarcus Thompson didn’t like that Americans were going to places like saloons and brothels and created the first roller coaster on Coney Island to persuade them to go there instead.

story of the youngest mother in the world at age of five - Lina Medina
Lina Medina, a five-year-old Peruvian girl, became the youngest mother in history in 1939 when she gave birth to a boy.

Thomas Baker's heroic act that earned him the "Medal of Honor" was 8 bullets until death
Thomas Baker instructed his team to leave him with a pistol and eight bullets propped up against a tree after he was injured. Later, American troops discovered the now-deceased Baker in the same location, lying next to eight dead Japanese soldiers and carrying an empty pistol.

How European Rabbits Took over Australia
In 1859, wealthy settler Thomas Austin released 13 wild rabbits on his Australian estate. By 1920, their population grew to 10 billion.

A Brief History of the PlayStation Gaming Console
Sony's PlayStation was never meant to be an actual product. Instead, it was intended to be a CD-ROM console that would support Nintendo games. However, when Nintendo backed out of the deal at the last minute, Sony went ahead and launched what soon became one of the most successful gaming consoles of all time.

Will & William Wests: The puzzling situation of two inmates who are identical but not related
These are the mugshots of Will West and William West, and they are not related. They were both sent to Leavenworth Prison at the same time, in 1903, and after some confusion, the staff understood they had two different prisoners with the nearly same name, who looked exactly alike. They are part of the reason fingerprints are now used as identification.

Philippines, the largest supplier of Nurses in the World
Philippines is the world’s largest supplier of nurses, supplying roughly 25% of all overseas nurses worldwide.

Martin Couney, Saved Thousands of Premature Babies Wasn’t a Doctor at All
Martin Couney never qualified as a medical doctor. However, in the 1900s, he saved thousands of premature babies by exhibiting them in incubators at his Coney Island sideshow. Over the course of his career, he is said to have saved about 6,500 babies that had previously been written off by mainstream medicine.

The 1814 London beer flood
In 1814, there was a beer flood in London when a tank containing more than 300,000 gallons ruptured in which 8 people drowned.

Poto And Cabengo: The Secret Language Of Twins
Poto and Cabengo, as the two girls called each other, communicated in their own language. The twins were ignored by their parents and secluded from the outside world because their father felt they were developmentally retarded, and their unique language evolved as a result of that neglect.

Nearest Green, America's first known Black master distiller
Nathan "Nearest" Green was an African-American head stiller who is now more frequently referred to as a master distiller. He was renowned for imparting his distilling knowledge to Jack Daniel, the creator of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distiller, after Jack Daniel was freed from slavery following the American Civil War.

From Flapper to Fashion Week: How 1920s Style Still Shapes Modern Trends
The roaring 1920s revolutionized fashion, introducing bold styles, daring cuts, and a spirit of freedom that still inspires today’s wardrobes. From flapper dresses to statement accessories, here’s how the Jazz Age lives on in modern fashion.

What Was the Beast of Gévaudan?
Between 1764 and 1767, a mysterious animal called the Beast of Gévaudan terrorized the French village called Gévaudan. It attacked and killed about 100 adults and children. While most believe it was a wolf, some say it may have been a wolf-dog hybrid, hyena or even a lion, but without any genetic evidence, the beast will remain a mystery forever.

The unbroken seal on King Tutankhamun's tomb until 1922
The unbroken seal of Tutankhamun's tomb before it was opened in 1923, it was unbroken for over 3000 years.

The youngest person executed, George Stinney Jr was proven innocent
In 1944, George Stinney Jr. was 14 years old when he was executed in South Carolina. It took only ten minutes to convict him — and 70 years to exonerate him.