Saturday, August 22, 2026, brings National Tooth Fairy Day—an observance built around a tiny nocturnal contractor with a very unusual business model.

Today’s journey includes an inventor whose steamboat was chased by a rowboat, the racing yacht that gave its name to a trophy that isn’t really a cup, and an English king who disappeared for 527 years before turning up beneath a parking lot.

Today we explore John Fitch’s surprisingly early steamboat demonstration, America’s historic victory in the race that created the America’s Cup, and Richard III’s final charge at Bosworth—and his remarkable rediscovery centuries later.

Along the way, we meet birthday celebrant Ray Bradbury, the imaginative writer who turned carnival magic, distant planets, forbidden books, and a coin-operated typewriter into unforgettable stories.

Sometimes history’s strangest discoveries are waiting in the most ordinary places.