John Donovan

Bugsy — nobody called him that to his face — Siegel was a shrewd mobster whose crew was dubbed "Murder, Incorporated" by the press. But that fast life got him killed by age 41.

By John Donovan

Toward the end of World War II, the Japanese were desperate and turned to the ultimate death squad, suicide bombers. Were these men heroes or horrible war criminals?

By John Donovan

More than 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a lone bullet while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, questions still remain. Was James Earl Ray the sole gunman, or was it a conspiracy?

By John Donovan

Revolutionary Che Guevara has become the personification to all those who want to defy the establishment. But his full true story is one of a ruthless killer who died a sad, unceremonious death.

By John Donovan

Ed Gein was known as the "The Butcher of Plainfield" for killing two women in the late 1950s. But he was also the inspiration for iconic horror movie characters, including Psycho's Norman Bates and Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Leatherface.

By John Donovan

In fascism, the State is all that matters, and constant conquest is necessary to glorify that State. But how do you convince people to support a philosophy that denies their personal value? Is fascism really still alive today?

By Julia Layton & John Donovan

One day they were here and the next they simply disappeared. What happened to these 14 people? Will we ever know what happened to them or will their fates be unsolved forever?

By John Donovan

Though it's been around for more than 150 years, Juneteenth was still a mystery to many. But now, it's the newest federal holiday in the U.S.A.

By John Donovan

Wyatt Earp was a Wild West lawman, a member of the Dodge City Peace Commission and a deputy marshal in Tombstone, Arizona. What he wasn't was the quickest man on the draw.

By John Donovan

Chairman Mao is one of history's worst despots, having murdered millions of Chinese during his communist reign. So why is he also still revered by many in that country?

By John Donovan

He is famous for assassinating Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. But what was his motive, other than to rid the world of the man who killed President John F. Kennedy days before?

By John Donovan

Unit 731 was a covert biological warfare research unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII. Some of the most heinous war crimes ever were committed there. Why is it still so shrouded in secrecy?

By John Donovan

John Henry "Doc" Holliday was first and foremost a gambler and gunfighter. But he was also friend of Wyatt Earp and is best known for his role the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

By John Donovan

The 2004 incident in Granby, Colorado, left half the town destroyed. Now 17 years later, Marvin Heemeyer, the man who piloted the tank that crushed the library and town hall, has become a hero to antigovernment extremists.

By John Donovan

If our living space is to become outer space, we have a lot of challenges to address. And our first line of defense will be space architects.

By John Donovan

Commercial flight is extremely safe. But could it be even safer if airplanes had shoulder harnesses instead of lap belts?

By John Donovan

What happens when twins are reunited decades later? And how in the world can you explain separated twins giving their firstborn son or their family dog the same exact name?

By John Donovan

A disturbing noise, somewhere between a window-rattling bass and a brain-numbing deep thrum has bugged the heck out of residents in the city of Windsor, Ontario, Canada for years, and it's called the Windsor Hum.

By John Donovan

The Panama Canal has been one of the world's biggest engineering feats since it was built nearly by hand in the 1900s.

By John Donovan

Many of Sigmund Freud's well-known theories have been discredited by modern psychiatry. Does that include the Oedipus complex?

By John Donovan

Humans are a diverse lot — which is good! The question of ethnicity vs. race vs. nationality is a source of much debate, even among experts.

By John Donovan

When it comes to water witches we're faced with two distinct possibilities. One, they're either really good, at pulling a fast one on desperate landowners looking for groundwater. Or, two, they actually know what they're doing.

By John Donovan

It's easy to equate Caucasian with white. But the word Caucasian touches on issues deeper than skin color. HowStuffWorks looks at its true meaning.

By John Donovan & Austin Henderson

The MOAB is the largest nonnuclear bomb ever used by the U.S. So what makes it OK to drop this bomb and not a nuclear warhead? We dive in to find out.

By John Donovan

Israel's Iron Dome defense system is capable of intercepting — and destroying — thousands of incoming rockets targeting civilian areas. Here's how the sophisticated system works.

By John Donovan