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40 Random Bits of Historical Trivia They Couldn’t Wipe From the Servers

Try as they might, historians couldn’t bury these gems

40 Random Bits of Historical Trivia They Couldn’t Wipe From the Servers

February 20, 2025

These crusty old historians only want you to learn about the more straitlaced historical nuggets, and it’s gone on long enough. No longer will we be fed the same old stories about Lincoln, the Victorian Era or the dinosaurs. A ton of these much cooler, lesser-known trivia tidbits went down, and just because their stories might be on the fringes of normalcy, doesn’t mean that their stories don’t deserve to be told!

40

Chocolate

CHOCOLATE WASN'T ALWAYS SWEET AND SOLID The history of chocolate goes back at least 2000 years, and back then it was a bitter drink. Chocolate as we know it didn't exist until late 19th century. CRACKED.COM — 22 Foods That Have Changed And Morphed Over Time

39

The Tunguska Event

THE TUNGUSKA EVENT CRACKED.co COM 5.3 miles overhead in a remote area of Siberia in 1908, a falling meteorite exploded in the atmosphere and leveled 800 square miles of forest and flattened 80 million trees in a radial pattern. This explosion is estimated to be a thousand times greater than the atomic blast which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. — Source: NASA Science

38

Ancient Doors

CRACKED 1st century A.D. SLIDING DOORS Sliding doors have been in use since at least the 1st century A.D. --turns out, Heron invented that too, or at least was the first to describe it. His example describes temple doors that open when a flame is lit. — Artefacts

37

Sultana

The biggest maritime disaster in the US happened on the Mississippi River. In the 19th century, the steamboat Sultana sank, killing over 1400 people. Today, its remains lie below a soybean field - 37 feet under it, in fact. CRACKED.COM — Source

36

The Indus Valley

The Indus Valley Civilization existed across the Indian subcontinent from 3300 to 1300 ВСЕ. There's plenty of evidence of incredible things they accomplished - advanced architecture, road systems and plumbing - but none that they ever fought wars. CRACKED — source / World History

35

Ancient Aliens

The first science fiction book is 1,800 years old, and features a war between aliens of the moon and sun. CRACKED.COM Written in the 2nd century AD, Lucian of Samosata's True Stories parodies his contemporary authors who would write various books filled with superstitions and mythology, but labeled them as true stories. — ZME Science

34

The Oldest Foundry

CRACKED THE OLDEST FOUNDRY IN THE WORLD. A foundry is a factory that casts metal into shapes. No one has done this longer than La Fonderia Pontificia Marinelli in Italy, who began making bells in the year 1000 AD. They still use their original lost wax technique. 1000 AD — I Learn Italian / Campanemarinelli

33

Oldest Candy Shop

CRACKED THE WORLD'S OLDEST CANDY SHOP. Ichimonjiya Wasuke is a Japanese confectionary store that opened in the year 1000 AD to sell sweets to visitors of the Imamiya Shrine. As of December 2020, it is still operated by a 24th-generation descendant. 1000 AD EM 24 1 g 8.2349 с D nes S K — GWR / Zaubee

32

Relativity

x Henri Poincare was the foremost expert on relativity in the late 19th century and was a most likely the first person to formally present the theory of 1200/11++ relativity Despite having read his work, Albert Einstein does not cite Poincare at all. CRACKED.COM — Source: 23 Amazing People Who Were Screwed Out of History Books

31

The Catholic Church

For five centures, the Catholic Church refused to even acknowledge witches existed. That was from 900 to 1400 - and, not long after that, they got pretty enthusiastic about putting witches on trial. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Sean’s Bar

CRACKED THE WORLD'S OLDEST BAR. Luain Mac Luighdeach opened Sean's Bar in 900 AD, before the formation of its current town, Athlone, Ireland. A 1970s renovation revealed a wall made of wattle & wicker - wood held together with clay, mud, and horse hair. 900 AD WILLS Bross CA — Caffe Aiello / Travel and Leisure

29

Hieroglyphics

ARABIC SCHOLARS CRACKED HIEROGLYPHICS 1000 YEARS BEFORE WESTERN SCHOLARS Arabic scholars diciphered hieroglyphics in the ninth century AD, almost a thousand years before Jean-Francois Champollion in 1822. It only took Western academics until 2004 (another thousand years) to realize this. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Vikings

CRACKED 900 A.D. RAP BATTLES Vikings used to have rap battles (sort of -- it was called flyting) as a form of entertainment way back in the 900s. Coming up with a clever response on the spot was a way to show off your intelligence and creativity. — The Culture Trip

27

Engineering

13 Little-Known Facts About Movies, History, And Science - In the early 19th century, West Point's 1st year curriculum was just math and French. — Source: Mathematical Association of America

26

1900 Galveston Hurricane

The deadliest natural disaster in United States history was the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. On September 8, 1900, a hurricane struck Galveston that would take an estimated 6000 to 8000 lives. CRACKED.COM — Source: History

25

Ancient Doodles

Handwriting lessons from the 13th century survived on a piece of birch. CRACKED.COM Onfim was a six or seven year old boy that lived in Russia during the 13th century who had written letters and drew pictures on birch bark. Onfim's notes describe life in Medieval times impartially and can be studied as social history. — History Daily

24

The Printing Press

THE FIRST PRINTING PRESS IS WAY CLOSER TO COMPUTERS 20th century BC 15th century BC THAN TO THE INVENTION OF PAPER. 2nd century BCE CRACKED COM

23

Sea Levels

CRACKED COM About 21% of Dutch territory used to be under the sea. 1300 1900-2000 The Dutch make new land by building a dike around a small patch of s

22

Ritual Sacrifice

Human skulls found at a crime scene in Mexico turned out to be 1,100 year old sacrificial remains. CRACKED.COM Police in Guatemala found a pile of 150 skulls in a cave, and a decade of tests and analysis determined the skulls were from sacrificial victims killed between AD 900 and 1200. — The Guardian

21

Egyptians

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS KNEW THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM 1400 YEARS BEFORE PYTHAGORAS LIVED с b a It makes sense that Ancient Egyptians would be very familiar with triangles. It is believed that Pythagoras traveled to Egypt about 535 вс, and that's where he learned about it. CRACKED.COM — Source: Britannica

20

The Olympics

The first Olympic Games took place in 8 B.C. in Olympia, Greece. And then every four years before it was banned in the 4th century A.D for being a pagan festival. The first modern Olympics took place in Athens, Greece, in 1896. CRACKED.COM — History.com

19

The 1919 World Series

CRACKED RIGGING THE WORLD SERIES. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox accepted money to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series. Historians have called the Black Sox scandal the biggest blemish on U.S. professional sports, and they were all banned from professional baseball. & x — Sabr / NY Times

18

The Long Game

Eliahu Itzkovitz tracked down and befriended the man who killed his family. When Itzkovitz was a child, he saw his entire family murdered by a Romanian guard in the Chisinau Ghetto. All he knew about the man was that he was named Stanescu. Itzkovitz joined the Foreign Legion, because he heard a rumor that Stanescu was there. Не managed to get assigned to Stanescu's unit, and became one of his most trusted comrades. tHEN НЕ GUNNEd HiM dowN. GRAGKED.COM Bernard Fall, 2005 Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina — Source: 21 Long-Game Revenge Schemes

17

Mail Deliveries

Giant arrows were placed throughout the U.S. to guide overnight mail deliveries. In the 1920s, arrows painted bright yellow and lit by beacons were se

16

Lewis and Clark

CRACKED.COM WE KNOW EXACTLY WHERE LEWIS AND CLARK CRAPPED. The Lewis and Clark expedition carried mercury pills that were used to treat pretty much everything (including, ahem, syphilis). The location of the latrines in their Lolo, Montana campsite is known because of the mercury in the soil. — Source

15

Subway

Subway 1965 *Petes SUBWAY R MIOE Fred DeLuca was 17-years-old when his family friend Dr. Peter Buck gave him a $1000 loan to open a sandwich shop to help fund his college. It was originally called Pete's Submarines. — Source: Entrepreneur

14

The Flying Boy

18th century scientist Stephen Gray had observed that an electric charge can travel great distances through single, or multiple objects. To demonstrat

13

Contagious Disease

CONTAGIOUS DISEASE In the 1700s to the late 1800s, ignorant of bacteria and viruses, people blamed the recently deceased's spirit of killing their family members. So the community would open tombs to discover natural decay like bloating and bleeding from orifices and accuse them of being vampires. CRACKED — Source

12

San Francisco

There are 30 to 60 ships buried under San Francisco. The ships remain from the Gold Rush, during the time the city decided to move the shoreline. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — KQED

11

Peter the Great

Traveling ambassadors visiting Tsar Peter the Great brought a companion just for drinking. During his reign, it was cus- tomary for foreign dignitar- ies to drink from the Cup of the White Eagle, a chalice containing 1.5 liters of vodka. One ambassador would drink, while the other would discuss state issues. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — MentalFloss

10

Clara the Rhinoceros

Clara the rhinoceros inspired songs, poems, and fashion In the 18th century, Clara toured Europe to the delight of many people who had never seen a rhino before. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Mental Floss

9

Antarctica

Antarctica used to be called Australia until modern-day Australia stole its name in 1824. CRACKED.COM Before this, Australia was called New Hol- land. This left the con- tinent nameless for 65 years, until its current name was adopted in the 1890s. — Source

8

Gary Hart

A politician running for president in 1988 invited the media to follow him around after he was alleged to be a womanizer. CRACKED.COM Gary Hart was quoted as saying, Follow me around. I don't care. I'm serious. Members of the media complied and he was caught having an af- fair 2 weeks later. — Source

7

Bonnie and Clyde

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Bonnie and Clyde: The Legendary Bank Robbers. REALITY: They mostly robbed small grocery stores and gas stations. In the four years the Barrow gang targeted banks, they hit less than 15, didn't get away with much money, and a lot of times Bonnie stayed home and wasn't even involved. It was also easier to rob places with lower risk and quicker getaways. — Source

6

Tower Bridge

CRACKED LONDON TOWER BRIDGE Dead Man's Hole was a small area in Tower Bridge that was used to keep the bodies of people who had died in the River Thames. It was also used to show the bodies of executed people, so that their families and friends could identify them. — tilialucida/Shutterstock
Atlas Obscura

5

Operation Tracer

CRACKED BURYING SIX PEOPLE ALIVE During World War II, the British set up a secret mission called Operation Tracer. They buried six people in a cave bunker for 2.5 years. This was so they could spy and get intelligence even if the Allies lost control of Gibraltar. NEW PEST — Source

4

Muumuus

GRACKED COM THE MUUMUU WAS INVENTED TO SHAME HAWAIIAN WOMEN. When Christian missionaries arrived in Hawaii in the 1820s, the first thing they did was convince women to cover up their impiously exposed bodies. The loose-fitting mu' 'umu' и was originally worn under a dress called a holokü, but it eventually took over as a casual garment. — Everyday Objects That Started Out As Something Else Entirely

3

Lotto Winners

In 1984, a policeman asked a NYC pizza joint waitress to pick his lottery numbers, saying he would split the winnings. Own Pizzeria & Restaurant FREE DELIVERY 237-777 DOF OPEN DEAT TMIX مملكة 100 UNITEDSTATES KB94571448I NDRED DOLLARS Не won, and true to his word, gave her $3 million dollars. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Winston Churchill

Sick burns by distinguished people Winston Churchill was known to close his eyes and appear to be sleeping while others were speaking, but he was actually listening attentively. When challenged with Must you fall asleep when I am speaking? he responded, No, it is purely voluntary. CRACKED — Yousuf Karsh/Wiki Commons
Tampa Bay Times

1

Los Angeles

CRACKED PALM TREES ARE NOT NATIVE TO LOS ANGELES. The famous ones we associate with LA were actually brought over from Spain in the 18th century for religious reasons. — Source

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