Extreme Female Body Modifications: Chinese Foot Binding Image Source: gb times Perhaps one of the most painful forms of female body modification was Chinese foot binding. The practice began in the late Tang Dynasty (618-960 AD) and grew in popularity during the Song Dynasty (960-1297 AD). Tiny feet were considered highly erotic—the most ideal feet were shaped like crescent moons and were no longer than three inches. Image Source: BuzzFeed

Literally 'Storm Unit,' the SA was once a group of specialized troops under Imperial Germany — until Hitler assembled them en masse to intimidate his political opponents. Wikimedia CommonsThe Sturmabteilung helped bring Hitler to power, only to ultimately be betrayed and slaughtered by him. Hitler utilized the frustration of the unemployed and veteran soldiers to assemble an unofficial army of thugs, known as the Sturmabteilung, to intimidate his political opponents and to protect the early Nazi party.

What happened on this day in history: George Washington crosses the Delaware River with his troops, JonBenét Ramsey is murdered, and more events from December 25th throughout history.1776: George Washington Crosses The Delaware River The Metropolitan Museum of ArtWashington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze. 1851. General George Washington leads Continental Army troops across the Delaware River late Christmas night to carry out a surprise attack on Hessian forces. The German troops who were aiding the British Army in the Revolutionary War were camping in Trenton, New Jersey.

Go inside the unsolved mystery of D.B. Cooper, the infamous skyjacker who may have been a paratrooper and ex-convict named Robert Rackstraw.On November 24, 1971, a businessman who called himself Dan Cooper hijacked a flight from Portland to Seattle, collected a ransom, and parachuted away with the money. But who was DB Cooper? No one knows for sure, but some believe he was a man named Robert Rackstraw. Wikimedia CommonsA cold-case team of private investigators is convinced that DB Cooper was a man named Robert Rackstraw.

Fisherman Trapman Bermagui caught the shark in the deep waters off the coast of New South Wales.Trapman Bermagui/FacebookExperts are debating the species of this bizarre shark. A fisherman off the coast of Australia was in for a terrifying surprise when he pulled a shark out of the ocean — and then noticed its bulging eyes and human-like smile. The deep-sea angler, Trapman Bermagui, shared a picture of the frightening creature on Facebook, identifying it as a “deep sea rough skin shark,” which was reeled in from 650 meters (2,132 feet) beneath the water’s surface.

Adelir Antônio De Carli: The Priest Who Perished After Being Carried Away By Party Balloons Renita Pelissari/Agencia O Globo via Associated PressAlong with being a priest, Adelir Antônio de Carli was also reportedly an experienced skydiver. On April 20, 2008, a 41-year-old Roman Catholic priest named Adelir Antônio de Carli donned a helmet, a thermal flight suit, and a parachute. Amid cheers from a crowd, he then strapped 1,000 helium-filled party balloons to himself and ascended into the sky over the port city of Paranagua in Brazil.

These bizarre and seemingly unbelievable coincidences in history will leave you wondering "what were the chances?"Coincidences that seem too strange to be true happen more than we think. The Law of Large Numbers dictates that random events like the following are bound to happen — but that doesn’t make it any less amazing when they do. Here are eighteen real historical coincidences that seem too crazy to be true: Founding fathers Thomas Jefferson (left) and John Adams (right), alternately close friends and bitter rivals across their intertwined political careers, died on the same day — July 4, 1826 — the 50th anniversary of American independence, of which these two men were chief architects.

Whether it's ghastly demons or grisly execution scenes, this occultists' tome and witchcraft manual remains as haunting today as it was in 1775. A half-boar half-demon hybrid with a clam-shell body.Wellcome Collection A demon appears as a man and performs a dark spell. Note the dead body being untied from its hanging pole in the background, suggesting necromancy.Wellcome Collection Drawing of a hydra monster with mixed heads of different beasts.

In 1818, Mary Shelley published her classic novel about Dr. Frankenstein and his disturbing experiments with reanimation — but the stories of these seven scientists from history prove that reality can sometimes be stranger than fiction.Wikimedia CommonsDr. Frankenstein at work in his lab, from the seventh page of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. In 1818, a 20-year-old woman named Mary Shelley anonymously published her first novel. Titled Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, the book told the story of the proverbial mad scientist who reanimated a corpse and created a now-famous monster.

Susan Travers Wikimedia Commons When German troops surrounded the Bir Hakeim fort in Libya, Britain-born Susan Travers – the daughter of a Royal Navy admiral – refused to leave with the other female personnel. The only woman in the French Foreign Legion, she held out inside the fort with the other soldiers for 15 days in an attempt to withstand the heavy artillery of the Germans. When food and supplies ran out, Travers and her lover General Marie-Pierre Kœnig knew that no help was coming, and it was up to them to save those who remained.