Captain Eli Beeding rode a rocket sled and subjected himself to the world’s worst case of whiplash.

One of the coolest ways to travel from Manhattan to JFK Airport used to be a 7-minute helicopter flight that took off from the helipad on top of the Pan Am Building.

During the Civil War, the Union Army occupied New Orleans under the command of Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler, who issued an infamous order.

A year and a half before the Wright Brothers' famous flight at Kitty Hawk, an eccentric character named Lyman Gilmore took off in his steam-powered plane - or so he claimed.

With unemployment at record levels and an economy in the crapper, 100,000 New Yorkers took to the streets.

A Union soldier named John J. Williams was the last man to die in the American Civil War.

Vice President Richard Nixon was attacked by an angry mob in Venezuela. The incident occurred during a goodwill tour of South America.

Two men survived being lost at sea for 6 months aboard a 13-foot dinghy.

A team of peatcutters uncovered the body of a young girl who had been in the marsh for 1,700 years.

The main stands at Valley Parade Stadium burst into flames during a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City.

A 34-year-old carpet salesman from Kentucky went for a wild ride on a kite. The flight lasted for 12 hours and covered 390 miles.

A 600-foot freighter slammed into a pier beneath the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay, Florida. 1,400 feet of the bridge collapsed and 35 people were killed

An Irish rogue named Thomas Blood stole the British Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

She jumped off the Clifton Suspension Bridge that towers 246 feet above the Avon River in England. Miraculously, she survived.

Two French aviators attempted the first trans-atlantic flight from Paris to New York. Their fate is one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time.

A diver named Etem got his hand stuck inside a giant clam and drowned. The giant pearl he was clutching is now valued at approximately $40,000,000.

His legendary recording gave the world a vivid glimpse inside the terrifying spectacle of the Hindenburg Disaster, but it wasn't entirely accurate.

Seven people died when a state militia fired upon a labor demonstration in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Rolls owned one of England's first car dealerships. Royce was a mechanical engineer who had just built a 2-cylinder car that greatly impressed Rolls.

Garry Kasparov, the reigning chess champion, began a six-game series against the IBM computer known as Deep Blue.