The winged hussars originated in the early 16th century when a group of exiled warriors from Serbia banded together as mercenaries in Poland — and within a century, they had become one of the most fearsome cavalries in world history.Public DomainA depiction of a winged hussar from 1912. In 1694, a group of winged hussars gathered to face an enemy army near the village of Hodów. The battle seemed hopeless. The Polish forces numbered about 400; their rivals had at least 100 times as many soldiers.

The "suicide game" involves completing 49 twisted tasks before taking your own life to "win."Facebook A 14-year-old in Mumbai, India flung himself from the roof of a seven-story building on Saturday in order to win a terrifying game that is apparently spreading around the world. According to the Mumbai police, the boy is India’s first reported Blue Whale Challenge casualty. Though rumors of the seemingly oxymoronic “suicide game” were originally thought to be a hoax, this boy’s death — along with numerous other casualties — shows that the hashtag can indeed have real and deadly consequences.

From chimps to sharks to hamsters, these cannibal animals kill and eat their own for a variety of disturbing reasons. ChimpanzeeMany scientists, including well-known primatologist Jane Goodall, have witnessed several instances of both male and female chimpanzees killing and eating babies within their own communities. In other instances, chimps of one community that have raided another community's territory will sometimes kill and eat the enemy (pictured).BBC/YouTube RabbitA wild mother rabbit will sometimes eat a stillborn baby if a predator is sensed to be nearby in an effort to keep her and her surviving bunnies safe, though sometimes, mothers have been known to eat their own in times of extreme hunger, thirst, or cold.

Explore the best history news articles of 2020, including a hidden letter unearthed at Auschwitz and the last survivor of an "extinct" Indigenous tribe.From ancient Egypt and Rome to World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, 2020 gave us some of the most thrilling historical discoveries in recent memory. Thanks to unearthed remains, uncovered documents, and some incredible luck, the year’s most fascinating pieces of history news both reveal answers to longstanding mysteries — and sometimes create even more tantalizing questions.

These Harry Houdini facts reveal that this master illusionist's life was even more exciting and mysterious than you imagined. Harry Houdini was not actually Harry Houdini: The famed illusionist was born as Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary in 1874. When he and his family relocated to the United States, his name was 'Americanized' to Ehrich Weiss on his immigration papers.Wikimedia Commons Houdini falsely claimed to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin.