The fabulous prison escapes of Japan's Yoshie Shiratori

Houdini recalls how he became 'Handcuff King'

Illusionist Harry Houdini rose to fame through his many escapes, like from the handcuffs slapped onto his wrists by Los Angeles police in 1899. In this 1907 Los Angeles Herald article, Houdini recalls some of the many times he's thwarted attempts to...

Teenager Guy Gabaldon captured the most prisoners in US military history

After the vicious battle of Saipan outside Japan in World War II, the Japanese were opting for suicide rather than surrender. Gabaldon, a Marine with a track record for skillfully convincing the enemy to surrender, managed to capture 800 Japanese single-handedly.

Take a look at the companies that help people vanish.

Each year, some choose to "disappear" and abandon their lives, jobs, homes, and families. In Japan, there are companies that can help those looking to escape into thin air.

Japanese horror is often more psychological than its Western counterpart

One of the country’s most famous directors is Masaki Kobayashi, who won a Special Jury Prize at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival. Unlike his Western peers, Kobayashi’s films avoid jump scares or gratuitous gore, opting instead for slow-burning psychological explorations that are just as terrifying.

Watch this octopus win every single Escape Room challenge

Octopuses are famously intelligent, solitary creatures covered in hundreds of chemical-sensing suckers. They're also pretty fascinating pets, and even enjoy playing. The crew at OctoLab put one of its more playful mollusks into four different Escape Room-like cages to see how long it would take for it to escape. Watch this video to see the brilliant, if a bit unsettling, methods the animal uses.

Prison money diaries: the thriving underground economy behind bars

How people in prison earn money, how much they spend, and the lengths to which they go to secure basic needs and comforts.

When America's deadliest serial killer went undetected

Samuel Little, who, for years, washed in and out of the justice system on violent charges eroded into lesser offenses, ultimately admitted to killing 93 people, mostly women, over more than 30 years. He tended to target those on the fringes of society—runaways, drug users, sex workers—people whose deaths were more likely to go unnoticed, he remarked, referring to them as fruits to be plucked at will.

Annie Taylor tested her Falls barrel by sending her cat first

Before her 1901 plunge over Niagara Falls, Annie Edson Taylor sent her cat inside a barrel as a test. The cat survived—and later posed with her in post-stunt photos.

Yakuza gangsters' tattoos often portrayed moments from their lives

Although tattoos have been worn in Japan for centuries, no single group is more famous for their elaborate, full-body tattoos—featuring traditional Japanese art—than Yakuza gangsters. The criminal organization does not use tattoos to mark their association, though. Instead, the scenes are intensely personal.

How Audrey Hepburn became a spy during the Nazi occupation

Despite her status as one of Hollywood’s most beloved actresses, Audrey Hepburn experienced a war-torn childhood in Europe that few people know about. During her upbringing in the Netherlands, the Nazi occupation caused Hepburn to quit her life as a ballerina and made her family go hungry. In the face of adversity, Hepburn bravely carried messages for the Dutch resistance. Learn more about the star’s compelling life before finding fame.

Japan train station names cat stationmaster

The female samurai of feudal Japan

This article examines the role of Japan's female samurai throughout history, specifically the Battle of Aizu, a deadly civil conflict between traditionalists and reformers in 1868 in which one side had halberds and swords and the other had guns....

Pop artist Yayoi Kusama is arguably the most famous living female artist

The Japanese pop artist is one of many figures whose work challenged ideas of traditional fine art. Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Takashi Murakami, and Claes Oldenburg are among the other artists known for defining pop art.

Sartre staged his first play in a POW camp

While imprisoned by the Nazis, the French writer was given permission to write and produce a Christmas show for 15,000 of his fellow POWs. He took the opportunity to produce "Bariona, or the Son of Thunder," a Nativity play that subtly criticized his captors without arousing their suspicions.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as Mario at the Olympics

In a 2016 ceremony at that year’s Summer Games in Rio, Abe dressed as Super Mario to celebrate his country hosting the 2020 Olympics. It was a logical move: The character is one of the most recognizable characters in the world and someone who’s now associated with Japanese culture.

The Shah used torture and other human rights abuses to maintain power before the revolution

A declassified 1976 US Embassy telegram acknowledged that the Shah held 3,400-3,500 political prisoners, documented torture allegations against the SAVAK secret police, and confirmed press censorship, even as American diplomats sought to minimize human rights concerns for Congress.

A West Berlin student dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall—29 East Germans escaped

This podcast recounts how a young West Berlin student excavated a secret 135‑meter tunnel beneath the Berlin Wall in 1962. A total of 29 East Germans escaped to freedom, even as a Stasi mole threatened exposure.

Days after her release from prison, Billie Holiday sold out Carnegie Hall

The jazz icon was released early from federal prison on good behavior. Following her arrest, she was effectively prohibited from performing in New York's nightclubs, but she realized she could still perform, so long as it was in a venue that hadn't been deemed a "cabaret." The solution? The famous Carnegie Hall. The show sold out within a week, and the venue became a regular stop for Holiday, who performed there 22 times.

Japanese artist Tatsuo Horiuchi creates masterpieces using Microsoft Excel

Upon retiring, he wanted to get into art, but found the materials to be expensive. Since 2000, he has created art pieces using the line tool and other features the software provides before printing and taping together various spreadsheets that make up a completed work.

Shohei Ohtani's interpreter allegedly stole $16M for gambling debts

Ippei Mizuhara first met Shohei Ohtani during the two-way star’s rookie year in Japan. Ten years later, Mizuhara, who had become a trusted friend and confidant to Ohtani, is alleged to have stolen $16M from his employer to repay gambling debts.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

German Nazi war crimes suspect, 96, who went on the run goes on trial

A 96-year-old German woman who was caught shortly after going on the run ahead of a court hearing last month on charges of committing war crimes during World War Two appeared before a judge on Tuesday in the northern town of Itzehoe.

Check out Variety's picks for the best cosplay of Comic-Con 2024

Take a look at some of the best cosplay from Comic-Con 2024. Entries include a tiger-painted dog, Elphaba from "Wicked," and a man dressed as a slice of pizza.

Ashrita Furman, owner of over 600 world records

What does it take to break so many world records? Hardcore spiritual discipline, at least according to Ashrita Furman, who was trained by an ascetic teacher to do challenging things. Read up on his accomplishments in this photo essay.

Italian banker catches 3-year-old girl falling from a fifth-floor balcony

In Turin, Italy, in August of 2023, a man walking to the bakery with his girlfriend became a hero when he saw a 3-year-old girl climbing out of a fifth-floor window. This article collects social media posts around the incident and explains what...

'It takes a lot of courage to be happy, but I've got courage, so I think I will be happy again.'

- Actress Florence Henderson (1934–2016)

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.