PN1501

In June 1812, Princess Augusta Sophia, then 43 years old, wrote to her brother, the Prince Regent, asking permission to marry a man she had loved for more than a decade. Her family had repeatedly blocked her chances of marriage, and this letter may have been her final attempt. No reply from her brother was … Read more

Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican playboy who became one of the mid-20th century’s most notorious international fixtures, finally met his match in 19-year-old French actress Odile Rodin. He married her quickly, swept away by her youth and charm. But the young bride soon discovered the darker, controlling side of a man whose name was synonymous with … Read more

For more than a century, the accepted account of Billy the Kid’s death placed him in the ground at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, on July ​14, ​1881, shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett. But a persistent theory claiming the outlaw actually survived has led to exhumations, DNA tests, and a forensic investigation that raised more questions … Read more

Long before H. H. Holmes became synonymous with the Murder Castle, he was Herman Webster Mudgett, a bright but deeply deceptive medical student with a talent for fraud. By the time he was executed in 1896, he had built a career out of insurance scams, bigamy, and theft—and was convicted of murder. The legend that … Read more