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29 Trivia Tidbits About History

Our ancestors were up to some weird stuff

29 Trivia Tidbits About History

October 01, 2024

Our ancestors were a lot of things, but lazy wasn’t one of them. Whether you commend or eye-roll their many wild decisions, they got stuff done. And hey, you wouldn’t be here reading this phenomenal list of facts if it weren’t for them. So as cooky as it all got sometimes, we’re choosing to commend all the weird, wonderful and wacky stuff that got us here.

Well, maybe not all of it. Some of it was pretty gross.

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29

Madame Tussaud made death masks for people executed in the French Revolution. The death masks were made using heads cut by the guillotine - and, to make things much worse, they were often her friends (she used to be the king's sister's art tutor). NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Germany lost WWII partly because Hitler slept in late. His underlings were told not to wake him up no matter what, and he slept until 11 or noon on D-Day. And even after he got up, he was sure the D-Day assault was just a diversion, so he didn't send any reinforcements - it took a while to change his mind on that. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

27

There is one recorded case of men on horseback capturing a naval fleet. In the Battle of Texel in January 1795, a fleet of 14 Dutch ships was trapped in ice near Texel Island. The French heard of that and sent infantry, cavalry, and horse artillery forces to capture them. Apparently, there was no fighting - after a five-day standoff, the ships surrendered. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

The oldest known joke is about farts. It's a 3,900-year-old Sumerian joke that goes Something which has never occurred since time immemorial - a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Beethoven

Beethoven used exactly 60 beans in his cup of coffee. This was so important to him, he would often count every bean when he made coffee. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

24

When Lenin spoke English, he had an Irish accent. Specifically, he had a Rathmines accent (Rathmines is a Dublin suburb). Apparently, when Lenin was in London and was trying to learn English, he must have had an Irish tutor. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

23

In the '70s, as part of the Apollo program, NASA was going to build a moon base for six people. The project was only cancelled because Nixon saw the Apollo program as a leftover from JFK's and LBJ's administrations, and stopped supporting it. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

22

We've only been cultivating blueberries for about 100 years. In 1911, botanist Frank Coville figured out that blueberries need highly acidic soil, which made it possible to start cultivating them. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

21

In 1994, an abandoned village became accessible for the first time in 50 years. The village of Fabbriche di Careggine in Italy was flooded in 1946 so a dam could be built. The water was drained in 1994 so that maintenance on the dam could be performed, and one million tourists flocked to the ruins. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Blue pigment found in the tooth of a medieval skeleton shows women were artists During the Middle Ages, women, not just monks, may have painted illuminated manuscripts. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

In the 1850s, American fire departments started outfitting their stations with spiral staircases. Seems the horses who pulled the engines kept climbing the stairs when they smelled food. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

18

From 1948-58 a Florida man secretly stomped around a Florida beach at night in 30 pound, three-toed lead shoes to give the impression a 15-ft penguin was on the loose. The hoax wasn't revealed until 40 years later. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Pop Rocks, Tang, and Cool Whip were all invented by one person. R SS CRACKED.COM Dr. William А. Mitchell was badly burned in a lab explo- sion as a young chemist working at the Agricultural Experiment Station, and went to work at General Foods after recovering at the start of World War II. — Source

16

A Hail Storm

The first phase of the Hundred Years' War was ended by a hail storm. CRACKED.COM Called Black Monday, a hail storm killed an estimated 1,000 English soldiers in Chartres, France in 1360. King Edward of England con- sidered it a sign from God and soon after he signed the Treaty of Bretigny. — Source

15

CRACKED.COM Hamlet productions often use real skulls The 2008 production of Hamlet starring David Tennant uses composer André Tchaikowsky's skull, which he willed for that specific purpose. While not every Hamlet skull is a celebrity, stagings of the play have been using real human heads since at least 1755. — Source

14

CRACKED.COM A Yugoslavian granny was a prolific serial killer. Ana Draxin, also known as Baba Anujka, prepared potions to help women with their marital troubles -which were often of the husband is an abusive asshole variety (and the potions were carefully measured arsenic). She killed between 50 and 150 people before she was caught in 1928. — Source

13

CRACKED.COM Gas lamps might have contributed to Victorian ghosts. DE adidas With gas lighting being a new thing and regulations being not a thing at all, Victorian people weren't unlikely to inhale gas (not to mention the fires and explosions). Hallucinations caused by carbon monoxide poisoning might help explain the uptick in ghostly activity in the mid-1800s. — Source

12

CRACKED.COM A Dead Pope was put on trial For political reasons, Pope Stephen VI really had it out for his predecessor's predecessor, Pope Formosus, and accused him of all kinds of pope- ish crimes. In 897, Stephen had Formosus' rotting corpse carried to the courtroom, where he angrily interrogated him in front of the bewildered clergy. — Source

11

The current sea otter population in Washington was evacuated from Alaska. CRACKED.COM Sea otters were extinct in Washington State between 1910 and 1965, but a popula- tion from Alaska was evacuat- ed from areas where the US was testing nuclear bombs between 1965 and 1972. — Source

10

Jimmy Carter filed a report in 1973 for a UFO sighting four years prior. CRACKED.COM Carter, as well as 10 to 12 other people who wit- nessed the same event, described the object as 'very bright chang- ing colors and about the size of the moon.' — Source

9

Tea bricks were used as currency in some places until World War II. CRACKED.COM In Tibet, tea bricks were in such demand that swords, horses and other property were sometimes priced in a given num- ber of tea bricks. — Source

8

Pirates wore earrings because they thought it improved their eyesight. CRACKED.COM Some pirates were convinced that wearing an earring would improve or even cure bad eyesight, as they be- lieved that the precious met- als in an earring possessed magical healing powers. — Source

7

The U.S. Interstate system exists partly thanks to Eisenhower's WWII experiences. During and after WWII, Germany's four-lane highways were probably the best in the world, and Eisenhower used them to move troops and travel across the country. So he thought four-lane highways were a great transport system, and fought hard for the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Every year, Halifax, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree to the city of Boston. It's to thank Boston for help when Halifax was devastated by a freighter blowing up in 1917 - - the largest man-made explosion at the time. Boston sent a 500-bed hospital unit, 30 doctors, 70 nurses, and tons of medical supplies, and raised $100,000 in just the first hour of fundraising. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Air conditioning was invented as a way to keep printing plants going. In 1902, a printing company asked the Buffalo Forge Company to figure out a way to keep heat and humidity in the plant stable, so that the printing paper wouldn't keep getting warped. The result of that was the first air-conditioning system. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

4

School baths were intended as a way to educate parents. Authorities in the early 20th century hoped that, if they taught kids to regularly bathe and clean themselves, they'd pass on those habits to their parents. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Peter the Great punished state officials with vodka. If an official showed up late to one of his assemblies (AKA royal parties), he had to drink a whole Great Eagle Cup, or 50 oz. of vodka, all at once. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Operation Fantasia

The U.S. tried to fight Japan with radioactive foxes. WWII's Operation Fantasia involved catching foxes, painting them with paint that had radium so they glowed in the dark, and releasing them in Japanese villages. They'd look like mythical kitsune, which was suposed to terrify the Japanese. Mercifully, at one meeting, an official spoke up and convinced everyone they should call off the whole thing. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

1

The week has seven days because seven was a special number to the Babylonians. Why? They saw seven objects in the sky -- the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. On the other hand, the Roman week had eight days and the Egyptian one had 10. But the Babylonians were so powerful for a while that other civilizations just adopted their week. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

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