Woodes Rogers made it his life's work, and risked his families fortune, to rid the world of pirates. Woodes Rogers lived through enough adventures in one lifetime to fill up 10 lifetimes of ordinary people. The English privateer was born into wealth in 1679 whose father was a merchant who ran a shipping business, through which the family became decently rich. Despite his wealth, Rogers loved an adventure. At age 18, he became a sailor’s apprentice in Bristol.

Isis Aquarian, then and now. Source: Facebook and the Isis Aquarian Archives Isis Aquarian is a striking woman. She is probably best known as a member of The Source Family–a group of beautiful, white clad hippies living in the Hollywood Hills during the 1970s. They followed the teachings of a man named Jim Baker, or Father Yod–a reformed bank robber and judo-chopping killer who fronted a cult psych band, served salads to the stars, took fourteen wives, and eventually threw himself from a cliff in a hang glider.

Regularly compared to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, Dr. Wouter Basson was in charge of a top-secret South African biological warfare program behind numerous killings, poisonings, and kidnappings in the 1980s.“Medicine is my profession; war is my hobby.” While you might not expect words like these to come from the mouth of a cardiologist, Dr. Wouter Basson of South Africa is no ordinary medical practitioner. In fact, when Basson oversaw his government’s top-secret Project Coast during the 1980s, it was his job to develop biological weapons intended to initiate a state-sponsored genocide.

In 1954, the British engineers behind Blue Peacock designed a nuclear landmine to use against the Soviets — and it was dependent upon live chickens.Bruno Vincent/Getty ImagesThe prototype for the Blue Peacock, a nuclear landmine. As the Iron Curtain descended across Europe following World War II, countries on both sides started making plans about what to do if the Cold War ever turned physical. As the nuclear arms race took off, the British came up with the top-secret Operation Blue Peacock as a way to stop a potential Soviet attack.

In an era before producers established censorship guidelines, anything went in Hollywood, including films starring hyper-sexualized toddlers pretending to be prostitutes, drunks, and disparaged veterans.The familiar cherubic face of the one and only Shirley Temple has captivated the hearts and imaginations of Americans for well over 80 years. With her trademark curly hair and natural charisma that earned her specifically tailored roles, Temple was, and perhaps still is, the quintessential child star.