Founded in present-day North Carolina in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh, the Roanoke Colony and its inhabitants vanished just two years later — and their fate remains unknown to this day.The story of the Lost Roanoke Colony is one of history’s most famous mysteries for a reason. It has pirates, shipwrecks, skeletons, hoaxes, family drama, and an enduring question that has puzzled historians for 400 years… How did 117 people simply vanish?

"I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to participate in life," Erik Weihenmayer remembered thinking after he first went blind at 14. But that's not how things turned out.Wikimedia CommonsErik Weihenmayer Ever since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first documented summit of Mount Everest in 1953, climbers have been competing for other “firsts” on the mountain. And in 2001, American mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer accomplished one of the most astounding Everest firsts of all when he reached the treacherous peak despite the fact that he was blind.

Also known as the wooden horse or the chevalet, variations of the Spanish donkey were used from the Middle Ages all the way up until the American Civil War in the 1860s.Wikimedia CommonsA Spanish donkey (left) in the Inquisitor’s Palace in Birgu, Malta. The Spanish donkey might sound like an overpriced cocktail, but the pain it delivered was far worse than a hangover. Otherwise known as the wooden horse or chevalet, it was a torture device utilized by Jesuits, Civil War soldiers, and even Paul Revere himself.

"Rosie the Riveter" is regarded as a feminist icon today, but the image on which it was based had nothing to do with feminism.In February 1943, workers at dozens of Westinghouse factories across the Eastern and Midwestern United States filed into work past a large propaganda poster. The image, one item from a 42-part series, showed a fiercely determined woman dressed for factory work and flexing her bicep. Those who installed the image never intended for its distribution to circulate outside of designated Westinghouse factories, and for many years that is precisely what happened.

The twists and turns of the Cowboy Bob case fooled even the most experienced FBI agents.Texas MonthlySecurity footage showing Cowboy Bob heading out of one of his heists. The perfect crime (probably) doesn’t exist, but if it did, Cowboy Bob’s string of robberies would probably be it — a string of flawless crimes, a mysterious perpetrator, and a twist ending that shocked even the most experienced agents from the FBI.

Source: Weird Tales Magazine Years and years ago, people didn’t have the luxury of hopping over to the mall to pick up a costume for Halloween. People actually had to make their own Halloween costumes, and as you might expect they were more unnerving than anything you’ll find at stores today. As it turns out, the recipe for a perfect costume was a lot of papier mâché and a just a pinch of pure, unadulterated evil.

What's that bright blue speck of water in the middle of Utah's desert? The potash evaporation ponds may look bizarre, but they have a very specific purpose.A brilliant blue series of man-made ponds punctuates Utah’s reddish-brown desert landscape, adding a touch of the bizarre to an otherwise barren region. Known as the potash evaporation ponds, these bodies of water aren’t for swimming—they are actually used to isolate a specific type of salt that contains potassium.

Even after their leader was gone, the Thugs of India ruled the streets with a deadly hand. Wikimedia Commons A group of Thugs strangling a victim, similar to the way Thug Behram would. For over three hundred years, roughly between the mid 1500’s and the mid 1800’s, travelers in Indian held an unspoken fear. Many knew someone who had gone missing on the roads in the darkest hours of the night.

Raffaela Weyman and her friend were strolling to a friend's party when they stopped to smell the roses. Unfortunately, they weren't roses at all — but a dangerous hallucinogen.PixabayIt was the large, colorful beauty of Angel’s Trumpet that Weyman and her friend were drawn to. In 1956, golfer Walter Hagen urged us all “to smell the flowers along the way.” That axiom later changed to “stop and smell the roses,” but has served as a reminder to enjoy life just as well.

These little-known Titanic facts are sure to surprise you--and give you the chills. Musicians played for two hours and five minutes as the ship sank. Wikimedia Commons The Titanic was equipped to carry 64 lifeboats. It only carried 20. Most lifeboats were not even filled to capacity.Wikimedia Commons Chief Baker Charles Joughin reportedly swam for two hours in freezing waters before he was rescued. He attributed his survival to the generous amount of whiskey he had before the Titanic sank.