David Dahmer changed his name and chose to live in anonymity after the gruesome murders of his older brother, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, came to light in 1991.Close relatives of notorious criminals, pariahs, and villains of all stripes often go underground after their family names achieves infamy — and David Dahmer, brother of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, is no exception. Like Adolf Hitler’s nephew, who changed his name and served in the U.

Malyshka, one of the first dogs to be rocketed into the atmosphere, poses with her spacesuit. Her rocket wouldn't quite make it into orbit, but it would prove that sending a living creature into space was possible. USSR, 1957. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images Laika, the first dog to make into orbit, sitting in her spacecraft, Sputnik 2. Kazakhstan, USSR. 1957. Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images Laika's spacecraft, Sputnik 2, was a small, cramped space.

The true story of how partisan U.S. politics, Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 conviction, Russian bots, and good old-fashioned witch hysteria launched the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. If you weren’t active on social media during the 2016 US presidential election, you can be forgiven for asking “what is Pizzagate?” While the conspiracy theory made headlines in 2016 after it led to a shooting in a Washington, D.C. pizzeria, it is still one of the more opaque moments of what turned out to be a pretty wild year in the news.

Willard Asylum For The Chronic Insane: A Sad Memorial Of Forgotten Patients New York Library/Wikimedia CommonsThe Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane was once a stunning example of mid-19th century architecture. One of the eeriest landmarks of Upstate New York is probably one you’ve never heard of. It is the abandoned Willard Asylum For The Chronic Insane, a sprawling facility that once housed the most vulnerable members of society: mental health patients.

Likely starting with the ancient Assyrians of Mesopotamia, flaying has long been one of the most excruciating forms of torture the world has ever seen.Wellcome Library, London/Wikimedia CommonsAn oil painting of Saint Bartholomew’s flaying after converting an Armenian king to Christianity. Throughout recorded history, humans have always shown extraordinary creativity in coming up with increasingly horrific ways to torture and kill each other. None of these methods quite compare, however, to being flayed — or skinned alive.