Fortune-seekers hunt lost treasures including the Holy Grail, a fabled Incan city of gold, Russia's Amber Room and a Hindu temple's cursed vault.
Demonic exorcisms, a blues guitarist's devilish pact and the rule of King Yama over China's "ghost city" illustrate humanity's belief in satanic evil.
It's one of the holiest Judeo-Christian relics: the lost Ark. Modern seekers join kings, queens, popes and knights in a centuries-long quest to find it.
From Buddha to the Bible, religions have often predicted humanity's doom. Scientists evaluate the possibility of an apocalyptic end to life on Earth.
Mystical practices and magical healing waters have long teased humankind with everlasting life — but modern science may now have immortality in sight.
All over the world, the living display ancestral remains, from reliquaries of saints' bones in a Pittsburgh church to Rome's skull-lined catacombs.
Mars has long inspired both science and science fiction, but modern space exploration can now provide answers to some of the Red Planet's mysteries.
The Great Sphinx in Egypt, tunnels under the German countryside and a centuries-old pyramidal mound in Illinois offer tantalizing clues about the past.
Stories of history's greatest minds may reveal not just the truth about genius, but also our changing perceptions of those who think outside the box.
Unimaginably vast, the world's oceans hold innumerable mysteries — including those of the civilizations and continents that may lay beneath the waves.
Fresh looks at Chernobyl, Angkor Wat and a vanished English colony offer insights into the human fascination with sites of doom and disaster.
Modern scholars and historians provide alternate explanations for the terrifying disasters and incredible events the Bible describes as acts of God.
Stories of man-eating lions, fatal shark attacks and a mysterious monster in France hint at sinister motives of wild animals that prey on humankind.
The world's tombs, mausoleums and other burial sites contain revelations about the ways our ancestors lived and died — plus more secrets of the past.
The places and objects associated with death and disaster include a lake that's claimed many lives and a king's remains. Do they prove that curses exist?
To explain feats of strength and endurance that seem superhuman, some experts suggest the mind is the key that unlocks the body's full powers.
Fossils of early humans and other species hint at missing links in the evolutionary chain and display the non-linear development of organisms over time.
The survival stories of a man who lived through an atomic blast and another who swam away from the Titanic test the limits of human understanding.
The legendary King Arthur continues to influence culture and storytelling, as he has since medieval times. But was there really a man behind the myth?
Ancient peoples left amazing feats of engineering and remarkable structures all over the globe. Clues suggest how they achieved the seemingly impossible.
The mystery of Jack the Ripper still provokes speculation, despite a wealth of revelations since the grisly string of crimes in 19th-century London.
As scientists probe deeper into space's vastness, more questions arise about the existence of life among the stars and humankind's place in the cosmos.
Experts ponder the plausibility of terrifying monsters of myth, from the hellhound of Bungay to dragons in China, the sea-dwelling kraken and more.
Tales of ill-gotten gold and a shipwreck off the North Carolina coast contain tantalizing hints that treasure could be buried all over the US.
The eerie disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle loom large in the world's imagination — but it's not the only place where people inexplicably vanish.
Revelations about secret societies, divine visions and covert agents upend assumptions about the Founding Fathers and America's tumultuous birth.
The curious legend of Billy the Kid, plus tales of cursed mountains and huge winged creatures, imply the Wild West was even more unusual than we imagine.
Societies today believe modern technology protects against disasters that once wrought devastation — but is it truly any match for the forces of nature?
Scholars suggest that ancient civilizations built and used stone monuments and monoliths for stranger, more powerful purposes beyond honoring their gods.