Dark history, documented · 630 documented stories from 68 countries
Recent
Shadehill, South Dakota · 1823The Real Survival Story Behind The Revenant
Bermondsey, London · 1849The Murder Dickens Turned Into Fiction
Paris · 1386The Rape Trial That Ended In Trial By Combat
Horsemonger Lane, London · 1803The Colonel Accused Of Plotting To Kill The King
Campo de' Fiori, Rome · 1600The Heretic Burned For What He Thought
Martana Island, Lake Bolsena, Italy · April 30, 535The Gothic Queen Killed in a Bath on a Lake IslandAmalasuntha, daughter of Theodoric the Great, shared her throne with a cousin who locked her on an island in Lake Bolsena. She is said to have been strangled in a bath. Constantinople got its war.Read the story →Most watched
803K views on FacebookThe Widow Who Became A Pirate For Revenge
730K views on FacebookThe Prince Who Broke An Empire's Will To Fight
700K views on FacebookThe 147 Who Died Defending The Pope
651K views on FacebookThe Slow Public Death Of Scotland's Guardian
581K views on FacebookThe Pirate Hunter Who Became A Pirate
135M+Video viewsIn the last 90 days
100K+FollowersHistory lovers on Facebook
630Documented storiesAcross 68 countries
The Darker Side of History
True stories of executions, betrayals, defiant deaths and extraordinary lives.
- Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes · 177The Slave Girl the Beasts Would Not TouchIn Roman Lyon in 177, a frail slave called Blandina outlasted the torturers, the beasts and the crowd. Her only answer was: I am a Christian.
- Palermo, Sicily · 1920The Sleeping Girl of the Capuchin CatacombsRosalia Lombardo died of pneumonia in Palermo in 1920, a week short of her second birthday. Her father had her embalmed, and a century on she still lies under glass with a silk bow in her hair.
- Samarkand, Samarkand Region · 1941The Tomb Opened Two Days Before BarbarossaIn June 1941 Soviet scientists lifted the lid on Tamerlane's coffin in Samarkand. Two days later Hitler invaded. The curse is a legend, and the timing is the only part that holds.
- Hamelin, Lower Saxony · 1284The 130 Children Who Followed a Piper out of HamelinThe town of Hamelin dated its gates from the day 130 children walked out behind a man in coloured clothes in 1284. The rats came nearly three centuries later.
- Famagusta, Cyprus · 1571The Captain Who Was Flayed After He SurrenderedMarcantonio Bragadin held Famagusta for most of a year, surrendered on signed terms, and was flayed alive in the square. Venice brought his skin home.
- York, North Yorkshire · 867Ivar the Boneless and the Army That Came for a KingA Viking warlord nicknamed 'the Boneless' led the Great Heathen Army across England. The sagas say he had Ælla's ribs spread like wings. A mound at Repton may hold his bones.
- Hampton Court Palace, London · 1562The Fortnight the Virgin Queen Nearly DiedIn October 1562 smallpox brought Elizabeth I to the edge of death at Hampton Court, and her council found it had no heir. The lady who nursed her paid with her face.
- Clayton, New Mexico · 1901The Outlaw Whose Head Was Torn Off by the RopeClayton had never hanged a man. In April 1901 it hanged Tom 'Black Jack' Ketchum, and the drop was so long that the rope took his head off.
- Stockholm · 1520The Coronation Feast That Ended on the BlockChristian II swore a general amnesty, was crowned King of Sweden, and feasted the Swedish nobility for three days. Then the castle doors closed and Stortorget ran with blood.
The Dark Atlas
Every story, pinned to the place it happened
630 documented stories across 68 countries — the scaffold, the cell, the stretch of water. Pick a thread and follow it.