50 Genuinely Surprising Historical Facts
1.
Until the 18th century, it was common practice to put animals on trial. What were their crimes, you ask? Rodents and other pests were often tried for damaging crops, while pigs were often tried for the murder of children (with at least one executed by hanging).
2.
The guillotine was used as a method of execution in France until Sept. 10, 1977. The last person executed this way was Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend.
3.
The world’s oldest known joke dates back to 1900 BCE in Sumer and it was…a fart joke.
4.
The Tollund Man — a naturally mummified corpse of a man from the 5th century CE — was found in a bog in Denmark in 1950. His facial features were so well preserved that he was mistaken for a recent murder victim.
5.
A common ingredient in medicine until the 20th century was — yuck! — human remains. The remains were most commonly ground up into a fine powder that could be made into pills or stirred into drinks. It was believed that ingesting a certain part of the deceased’s body would help to cure illnesses in that part of the body. For example, crushed skull powder was believed to cure headaches.
7.
Saddam Hussein was given the key to the city of Detroit in 1980.
8.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos is today’s richest person with a net worth of $100+ billion, but, according to modern estimates, historical figures like Augustus Caesar and Mansa Musa (ruler of West Africa’s Mali Empire in the 14th century) were likely trillionaires by today’s standards.
9.
The first known vending machine was invented by Hero of Alexandria in ancient Egypt to dispense holy water.
11.
Ancient Romans used urine as a cleaning agent for laundry.
12.
Beethoven continued to compose music even after becoming completely deaf at age 40 (16 years before his death).
13.
In 1931, psychologist Winthrop Kellogg and his wife Luella decided to raise their infant son, Donald, alongside a baby chimpanzee named Gua to see whether Gua could learn human behaviors and maybe even develop language. At first, Gua walked, understood commands, and even solved problems faster. But then something unexpected happened. Instead of Gua becoming more human, Donald started grunting like a chimp and copying Gua’s behavior. Alarmed, the Kelloggs ended the experiment after just nine months.
14.
The Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (where Mexico City now stands) was larger and more sophisticated than many European cities when the Spanish arrived in 1519.
15.
In 1518, a “dancing plague” in Strasbourg caused people to dance uncontrollably for days.
16.
The shortest war in history, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896, lasted only 38 minutes.
18.
John Scott Harrison is the only person to watch both his father and son become president of the United States.
19.
People were so afraid of being buried alive in the 18th and 19th century that inventors patented safety coffins that would give the “dead” the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive.
20.
Speaking of being buried alive, military genius Alexander the Great may have been.
21.
Famously, in 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii in volcanic ash. What you might not know, though, is that the ash preserved a lot of everyday items. Below is a loaf of bread baked the morning of the eruption, so almost 2,000 years ago!
22.
Marie Curie is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (physics and chemistry).
23.
The world’s first recorded police force was established in ancient Egypt around 3000 BCE.
24.
In the 19th century, dentures were often made using the teeth of deceased soldiers.
25.
Speaking of dentures, here is a photo of what’s likely the most famous dentures ever…the ones belonging to George Washington, circa 1789–1799. It’s commonly believed his dentures were made of wood, but these weren’t — they were made of lead, human teeth, cow teeth, and elephant ivory.
26.
Humans, by the way, have been cleaning their teeth for thousands of years. For example, Egyptians invented toothpaste over 5,000 years ago using things like powdered ox hooves, eggshells, pumice, and water.
27.
Last one on teeth, I promise! Below is a teeth cleaning kit from 350 or so years ago in England — including a toothbrush, dental powder, and tongue scraper — and it looks pretty similar to what we use today.
28.
Before the Revolutionary War, the American colonies would vote by voice, often at places like carnivals where they may or may not have been drunk by the time voting happened.
29.
Death masks — made out of a wax or plaster cast put on a dead person’s face — have long been part of human history. Below is the death mask of notorious Depression-era gangster John Dillinger, who died in a shootout with FBI agents on July 22, 1934 (note the bullet hole captured under his right eye):
30.
The original London Bridge is now located in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
31.
The first computer programmer was Ada Lovelace in the 19th century.
32.
The Great Wall of China is not a single continuous wall but a series of interconnected fortifications.
33.
Napoleon Bonaparte was once attacked by a herd of rabbits during a hunting trip.
34.
Pablo Picasso’s full name has 20 words.
35.
The first human flight was achieved by the Montgolfier brothers in a hot air balloon in 1783.
36.
And, of course, Orville and Wilbur Wright invented, built, and flew the first successful airplane in 1903. But did you know it still exists and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.?
37.
Speaking of cool things you can still see — these are the contents of Abraham Lincoln’s pockets on the night he was assassinated, April 14, 1865. You can see them at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
39.
The Eiffel Tower was initially intended to be dismantled after 20 years.
40.
Ancient Greek athletes competed in the nude to honor Zeus and display the human form.
41.
The oldest known written laws, the Code of Ur-Nammu, date back to around 2100 BCE.
43.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa has been slowly straightening over the past few decades due to engineering efforts.
44.
Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952 but declined.
47.
Chain letters have their origins in ancient times — even Ancient Egypt’s Book of the Dead included a section that promised “great benefit…in heaven and earth” to anyone who copies a specific image.
