For 12 days she was tortured and raped by a former neighbor, who strung her up on a deer-skinning device. On the fourth day, she forgave him.

How the “genial Bavarian” version of Adolf Hitler became a global media celebrity, “a plain-living gentleman with a soft spot for dogs and children.”

In 1998, a cop named Jon Aujay went for a run in the desert. He never came back. The department decided it was suicide, but that is not the only theory.

They were the New York crew that once pulled off the Lufthansa heist, one of the biggest thefts in American history and the basis for Goodfellas. Nearly 40 years later, most are dead. The survivors are old, broke, and snitching.

Lily gets ready for her first date.

Aboard the JoCo Cruise Crazy, a ship captained by singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton and built for nerds.

Since exposing the Neapolitan mafia by publishing Gomorrah at age 27, Roberto Saviano has lived for nearly a decade under armed guard, shuttling between anonymous hotels and army barracks.

One of Europe’s poorest countries wanted a road, so U.S. mega-contractor Bechtel sold it a $1.3 billion highway, with the backing of a powerful American ambassador. Funny thing is, the highway is barely being used—and the ambassador is now working for Bechtel.

A draft dodger invents a pop music career for himself – without recording any songs.

In nine hours, Guinea-Bissau’s President and military leader were assassinated in separate incidents. Their dealings had turned the country into the runway of choice for drug smugglers and Hezbollah.

It’s the biggest environmental lawsuit in history. The people of Lago Agrio, an oil-rich area in the Ecuadorean Amazon, are suing Chevron for $6 billion after decades of spills. The case has been underway since 1993.

A Barclays analyst leaves for a routine laser treatment and is never heard from again. Ten months later, authorities find her body under a concrete slab at the house of her doctor, who was in fact not a doctor at all.

The perpetually underpaid author takes a moonlighting job with Demand Media, publisher of search-engine optimized articles with titles like “Hair Styles for Women Over 50 With Glasses”, absurdity ensues.

On the visionary architecture and disturbing goals of Yearning for Zion, the utopian experiment undertaken in rural Texas by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

For thousands of years, sailors in the Marshall Islands have navigated vast distances of open ocean without instruments. Almost nobody on Earth understands how they do it. And soon, the few people who do will be gone.

The aftermath of a childhood filled with subway flashers, teachers who asked for hugs, and boys who joked about your breasts.

Alben Sagan got his name from the U.S. Marshals. Then he got a fortune from a woman he’d only known for a few years.

The intricate dance between highly organized ultras fan organizations, the teams they support, and the mafia for control of the center of curva and the lucrative ticket-touting opportunities that come with it.

Chris Barry was born into Washington D.C. royalty. He died alone, essentially homeless, just a year after losing a race for his father’s former seat.

How Carl Foreman, while tangling with the House Un-American Activities Committee, turned a throwaway Western into an allegory for the Hollywood blacklist.

In the fall of 2015, Germany designated Sumte, population 102, as a sanctuary for nearly 800 refugees. What followed was a living experiment in the country’s principles.

The word was the Ia Drang would be a walk. The word was wrong. (Winner of the 1991 National Magazine Award and the basis for the We Were Soliders.)

Senior House was a haven for creative outsiders. In a move that is being echoed on campuses around the country, administrators said it was dangerous and shut it down.

His father was a notorious figure in Providence organized crime. Boxing offered a different path for Jarrod Tillinghast—but it didn’t stop him from slipping into his old ways and robbing drug dealers with his neighborhood friends.

Developed by early computer engineers in their spare time, improved in University comp-sci labs, and ultimately sold in coffeeshops for ten cents per game. Inside one of the most influential games ever played.