One chilly February evening in 2011, Yang—a man in his 30s—sat down for dinner in his modest home in a remote rural village in China. At the table were his five elderly aunts, with whom he lived and cared for. In Yang’s world, silence was not unusual. Born with a disability that made speech nearly […]

At 5:15 p.m. on June 28, 1980, a 38-year-old man named Robert Davidson rode his motorcycle along Interstate 74 in Acton, Indiana—a small community just outside Indianapolis. Sitting on the back of the motorcycle with her arms wrapped around him was his wife, Wanda. They were headed to visit family, not out of eagerness to

In the chilly, late winter of 1973, a seemingly ordinary evening in a small New England town turned into a turning point for horror literature. It was a night when hope, determination, and a little bit of serendipity combined to alter the course of one writer’s life forever. A Glimpse into Hardship and Dreams At

In the glitz and glamour of the late 1980s Hollywood scene, sometimes the most extraordinary stories begin in the most unexpected ways. This is the tale of Norman Reus—a scruffy, unassuming young man whose life took an astonishing turn during one fateful evening in the Hollywood Hills. The Fateful Night It was an ordinary evening

It was a steamy late night in the summer of 1974 when Fred Smith found himself at a crossroads. Standing inside a bustling Las Vegas casino, a 30-year-old entrepreneur felt the weight of his future in the palm of his hand—both literally and figuratively. Fred had come to the city on a whim, desperate to

On the afternoon of July 29, 2016, a 23-year-old college student named Felix stood in the break room of the industrial manufacturing company where he worked in Northwestern Germany. He poured cereal into a bowl, took his carton of lactose-free milk from the communal fridge, and sat down at a table with two of his

A Normal Afternoon Turns Dark On July 27, 2019, at approximately 3:30 PM, 22-year-old college student Nicole logged into her gaming computer from her bedroom in North Carolina. She had spent the morning and early afternoon studying, but now it was time to relax and play her favorite game—Perfect World, an online multiplayer combat game

At 5:30 a.m. on July 16, 1945, 13-year-old Barbara Kent was sleeping inside a cabin in Ruidoso, New Mexico. She was attending a summer dance camp when suddenly, a loud booming sound shook the entire cabin, jolting her awake and even causing her to fall out of bed onto the floor. Barbara, feeling confused, looked

A Journey to the Frozen Continent At around 1:00 p.m. on November 28, 1979, Peter Mulgrew, a 52-year-old tour guide, stood at the front of the cabin of Air New Zealand Flight TE901. As he gazed out the window, he saw a breathtaking expanse of white, reflecting the afternoon sun. Excited by the view, he

On the evening of December 29, 1986, California Highway Patrol Officer Craig Py was driving his cruiser down Interstate 15 in San Diego, California. With him were an NBC news reporter in the back seat and a cameraman in the passenger seat. They were filming a segment about highway travel safety, scheduled to air on