Featured Article: How did forensics experts create a modern profile of Jack the Ripper?
In November 2006, a new documentary took a look at infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper using modern profiling techniques. See more »
other figures library
From artists to philosophers to politicos, check out these articles and learn about Europe's famous and infamous figures.
Could Jack the Ripper have been an artist?
So much for artists being sensitive -- one Impressionist painter has been fingered as Jack the Ripper. But do the brutalized nudes on his canvases hint at actual murders?
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How did forensics experts create a modern profile of Jack the Ripper?
In November 2006, a new documentary took a look at infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper using modern profiling techniques.
See more »
How did Rasputin really die?
He'd been shot in the back, had no pulse, and yet those piercing green eyes opened wide when his murderers shook his limp body. Why wouldn't the bearded mystic die?
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How Jack the Ripper Worked
While Londoners in the East End saw their fair share of grime, drugs and prostitution, nothing could've prepared them for Jack the Ripper's bloody rampage in 1888. What's the story behind this legendary butcher?
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Was a Hungarian countess the world's most prolific serial killer?
Elizabeth Bathory was never convicted of her crimes, but testimonies say she killed and tortured 650 people. Did she really bathe in her victims' blood?
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Who was the real Count Dracula?
Bram Stoker's Count Dracula was inspired by a 15th-century Romanian prince. If you thought Dracula was scary, you may not want to read any further.
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Why was cross-dressing the only crime Joan of Arc was charged with?
Most people can recount a rough outline of Joan of Arc's story: A young French girl hears voices, leads troops into battle and is burned at the stake as a heretic. But she was put to death for committing a rather unusual crime.
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10 Historical Misconceptions
Some untrue historical events have been passed down for so many years that they have become truths. See our list of 10 historical misconceptions, including Sir Walter Raleigh's Cloak and Lady Godiva's Naked Ride.
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El Cid
Cid, El , the popular name of Rodrigo (or Ruy) Díaz de Bivar (1040?–1099), a Spanish national hero.
See more »Alexander Selkirk
Selkirk (or Selcraig), Alexander (1676–1721), a Scottish sailor. His adventures as a castaway inspired the plots of many tales, of which the best known is Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719).
See more »Alfred Dreyfus
(1859-1935), a French army officer. He was the central figure in an espionage case that rocked France in the 1890's.
See more »Baliol
Baliol, or Balliol, the name of an Anglo-Norman family prominent in Scottish history.
See more »Blackbeard
Blackbeard (1680?–1718), the nickname of the English pirate Edward Teach, Thatch, or Thach.
See more »Cola di Rienzi
Rienzi, Cola di, the assumed name of Niccolo Gabrini, (1313-1354), an Italian revolutionist.
See more »Comnenus
Comnenus, the name of a noble family that ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185.
See more »Comtesse Du Barry
Du Barry, Marie Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse (1743?-1793), a mistress of Louis XV of France.
See more »Earl of Bothwell
Bothwell, James Hepburn, Fourth Earl of (1536?–1578), a Scottish noble and the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.
See more »Earl of Leicester
Leicester, Robert Dudley, First Earl of (fourth creation) (1532?-1588), an English nobleman who was a favorite of Elizabeth I.
See more »Flora MacDonald
Macdonald, Flora (1722–1790), a Scottish heroine. She is celebrated in Scottish folklore for aiding “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (Charles Edward Stuart, the “Young Pretender” to the English throne).
See more »Francois Noel Babeuf
Babeuf, Francois Noël (1760–1797), a French revolutionary and social philosopher.
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