This Week In History, June 25 – July 1

Published June 30, 2017
Updated August 9, 2018

Megalodon's extinction solved, Holocaust escapee takes on Jewish sexism, medieval sword unearthed, search for Amelia Earhart's body to begin, Salvador Dalí's body exhumed.

Scientists Finally Figure Out What Killed Off History’s Most Terrifying Shark

Megalodon Jaws

Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesEnya Kim from the Natural History department at auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields stands inside an authentic set of megalodon jaws comprised of about 180 teeth in Las Vegas on September 30, 2009.

If you thought Jaws was scary, be grateful that you weren’t alive 2 million years ago, back when the megalodon shark ruled Earth’s waters.

One of the most frightening predators in history, these 60-foot creatures dominated the ocean food chain for more than 20 million years. Then, despite their seven-inch mega-teeth, they vanished.

For decades, scientists have only been able to speculate on what knocked out history’s largest shark (three times the size of today’s great whites). Now, they think they finally know.

Dig deeper here.

Woman Who Escaped Nazis Takes On Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Sexism In Lawsuit, Wins

Orthodox Jews Plane Women

Mario Tama/Getty Images

In a growing trend, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have been causing disruption on flights by refusing to be seated next to women.

They believe that even unintentional contact with a member of the opposite sex could be immodest.

On Wednesday, an Israeli court has ruled that a national airline’s policy of accommodating that religious concern is illegal — thanks to an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor who sued for sexism.

Read more in this report.

Preserved Medieval Sword Pulled Out Of Polish Bog

Medieval Sword Bog

Fr. Stanislaw Staszic Museum

Don’t you hate it when you drop your sword into a swamp?

About 600 years ago, one knight apparently couldn’t have been bothered to retrieve his weapon when it fell into a peat-filled bog near Mircze, Poland.

The remarkably well-preserved sword was recently found by a construction worker, who donated the rare treasure to the local Stanislaw Staszic Museum.

See more here.

Amelia Earhart Searchers Hopeful As Bone-Sniffing Dogs Deployed On Pacific Island

Amelia Earhart

Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

Almost exactly eight decades after Amelia Earhart’s disappearance on July 2, 1937, people around the world are still intrigued by the mystery.

What could have happened to the world’s most famous female pilot after her plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean? Some think that she was captured by the Japanese, others suspect that her aircraft is buried at the bottom of the ocean.

Now, investigators say that they are closer than ever to uncovering the truth — with the help of bone-sniffing border collies.

Discover more about the search here.

Body Of Salvador Dalí To Be Exhumed In Effort To Resolve Paternity Dispute

Salvador Dali Paternity Test

Terry Fincher/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesSpanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989), 29th December 1964.

A Spanish tarot card reader, born in 1956, says her mother had a secret affair with Salvador Dalí in 1955.

In order to know for certain whether Maria Pilar Abel Martinez is, indeed, the eccentric painter’s daughter, a judge has ordered his body to be dug up for a DNA sample.

Read on here.

author
All That's Interesting
author
A New York-based publisher established in 2010, All That's Interesting brings together subject-level experts in history, true crime, and science to share stories that illuminate our world.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.