Bizarre Historical Facts They Didn't Teach You in School

42. Got Milk?

The Milky Way supposedly got its name because it was formed when the Greek goddess Hera sprayed her breast milk into the sky.

43. Filthy Composition

Mozart was surprisingly obsessed with feces and bathroom humor. Two of his songs actually talk about anlingus. He also wrote letters to his family members where he described his farts in great detail.

44. A Recipe for Compliance

During WWII, the Russians would have “barrier troops” that would be set up behind Russian army forces and shoot those soldiers that were trying to desert from the front line.

45. Eighteen Napkins

Each meal, Nikola Tesla would use exactly 18 napkins to polish his cup, plate, and cutlery.

46. A Man of Many Talents

Julius Caesar was once kidnapped and briefly held by Cicilian pirates and held prisoner. When the pirates asked for a ransom of 20 talents ($600,000 in today money), he scoffed at them and demanded they ask for 50 talents.

47. A Man of his Word

Whilst incarcerated by pirates, Caesar treated them like his subordinates and somehow managed to gain their respect. However, he told them that when he was released, he would return, hunt them down, and crucify them. Upon his release, Caesar made good on his promise, raised a private navy, and killed all the pirates, who hadn’t taken him seriously and didn’t even bother to leave the island where Caesar had been held. Caesar got his 50 talents back.

48. Alien Property

When Tesla died in 1943, the office of Alien Property seized his possessions. Though most of it was later returned to his family, some of it still remains classified. What did Tesla invent that we never got to know about?

49. An Eye for an Eye

In rural America in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, citizens would settle disputes with  gouging: an incredibly violent form of wrestling where opponents would try and gouge out each others eyes.

50. Royal Audience

On his wedding night, future king William of Orange consummated his marriage while Charles II watched from the sidelines and shouted encouragement.

Charles II.

51. Too Brilliant for His Shirt

Ben Franklin showed his neighbors his birthday suit 5.00am each morning while sitting near an open window writing. He claimed the air aroused his creativity.

52. Where’d they get the bears?

In the 1st century A.D., polar bears fought seals in Roman amphitheaters flooded with water.

53. Building like champions.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the technology to make concrete was lost for 1000 years. In fact, Ancient Roman concrete has withstood the attack by elements for over 2,000 years, which is considerably longer than the lifetime of modern concrete structures.

54. A bad way to go…

In Ancient Rome, the punishment for killing one's father was the death penalty, consisting of being sewn up in a sack along with a monkey, a viper, a dog, and a cock. The punishment (called “poena cullei”) varied slightly depending on the ruling emperor. It seems some rulers preferred more snakes and others more dogs. Regardless of the emperor, a fair fight wasn’t an option: the person was first beaten with virgis sanguinis ("blood-colored rods”) and his head was covered in a bag made of a wolf's hide.

55. “Brain-washing” in a Tub

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu, who patented more than 3,300 inventions in his 73-year-old life, got his creativity from sinking himself underwater for hours at a time.  Point? “To starve the brain of oxygen. Zero-point-five seconds before death, I visualize an invention.”

56. Singing to the Powder

Sigmund Freud, cocaine addict, published his Cocaine Papers (1887), a “song of praise to this magical substance.”

57. The Interview

Researchers who wanted to work for Thomas Edison had to sample soup. If they seasoned it before tasting, they were fired, since it showed they were biased. Before we start thinking Thomas Edison is cool, let’s remember that he also electrocuted a circus elephant to death.

58. Isaac Newton, Super Cop

After becoming recognized as one of the world’s greatest minds, Newton was appointed England’s Warden of the Mint. His job was to find and build cases against counterfeiters, and he duked it out with one particularly well-connected counterfeiter named William Chaloner.

Newton went full-on Dirty Harry and bribed crooks for information on Chaloner.  He also leaned on the wives and mistresses of Chaloner’s crooked associates for intelligence.

Eventually, Newton gathered enough information to convict Chaloner, who was hanged for his crimes. Newton did not attend the hanging.

 59. Farmer Newton

Isaac almost became a farmer. When he returned from school at the age of 17, his mother insisted that he take over the family farm. He was an awful farmer though, and soon after his uncle convinced Newton’s mom to send him to Trinity College.

60. The Mad Scientist and the Two-Headed Dog

In 1954, Soviet surgeon Vladimir Demikhov, revealed his masterpiece to the world: a two-headed dog. He created 19 more over the next 15 years.

Although Demikhov’s research has been (justifiably) called out for horrific animal cruelty, it did help pave the way to human organ transplants.

61. “What's My Address?”

Einstein's secretary once got an anonymous call asking where Einstein lived. The secretary declined to respond. The caller then admitted he was Einstein himself who had forgotten his address.

62. Only Two Words!

Richard Feynman, physicist, bet a friend he would be able to get more than two words at a time out of Paul Dirac, famed but taciturn physicist. After speaking to him for several hours with no success, Richard revealed his failure to Dirac. The latter smiled and said, “You've lost.”

Paul Dirac.

63. Lock it Up

Richard Feynman, physicist, became a master of cracking safes after working on the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos in the 1940s, where everyone was required to keep confidential documents in safes. It started as an intellectual curiosity: he wondered if he could figure out how to open these safes.

He became so good at his craft that he found himself — for the sake of cultivating his legend — carrying tools as a red herring and pretending that safe jobs took longer than they really did.

Richard Feynman.

64. Star(k) Naked

Scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson almost became an exotic dancer. Having danced and wrestled through university, Tyson considered dancing at a Chippendale's type club for extra cash.

Imagine the dinner-and-a-show you'd get from a male dancer who knew everything there is to know about the cosmos. Come to think of it... It's kind of shocking that business doesn't already exist. Get on it, Mr. Tyson!

65. Biggest Fan

The pathologist who performed Einstein’s autopsy stole his brain, and kept it in a jar for 20 years. We’re pretty sure that’s not legal, or useful.

Buuuuuuuuuut... It would make a for a pretty great conversation starter at dinner parties.

"Oh so this here is the painting my grandmother left for me... This here is my mum's old hat-stand... Oh! And here's Einstein's brain in a jar!"

66. Brainy

Einstein’s brain had a parietal lobe that was 15% larger than that of the average human. The parietal lobe is responsible for processing sensory information, as well as language and mathematics.

Now it’s starting to add up. That's like cheating!

67. Clueless

Marie Curie, the celebrated physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity,  was completely in the dark when it came to the dangers of radioactive materials. Though she and her husband both suffered from chronic pain, neither considered that it was their radioactive substance handling that was the cause. Some of their original lab equipment is still so radioactive and cannot be safely viewed or studied.

68. 84 Year Old Virgin

Either science doesn't exactly attract the opposite gender the way you'd expect, or Sir Isaac was really, really picky...

Though Isaac Newton lived to be 84, he never married. Some even believe he never lost his virginity. Still, there’s no conclusive way to tell.

69. It’s Real To Me!

Newton was really into alchemy. What’s alchemy? It’s the pseudoscientific predecessor of chemistry that sought to transmute base metals into rare metals, create an elixir of life, and other wacky pursuits. He wrote 169 books on the subject, but none were published in his lifetime.

70. Nellie

General Lee of the American Civil War was given a flock of chickens by a Virginia farmer in 1862. The soldiers ate all but one of the chickens, which had caught the attention of the General. This chicken became his pet, was named Nellie and laid eggs under Lee’s cot every day

71. Relative Politics

Albert Einstein declined the Presidency of Israel, saying he had no head for problems.

Albert Einstein, Summer 1939 Nassau Point, Long Island, NY, original  and colorized photograph.

72. I’ll Take That

A slave boarded and took over a Confederate ship during the American Civil War in 1861, then delivered it to the Union. He was then given the ship to command.

73. Not So Pure

Gandhi is remembered as a figure of peaceful protest and understanding. But most people don’t know his dark history. At the age of 36, while married, Gandhi became more and more obsessed with lust. In order to train and “perfect” his control over his desires, Gandhi would sleep naked with young women. But one night, he committed an act so heinous that it made his own staff member quit on him forever: Gandhi had performed this sleeping act with his own grand-niece named Manu. His stenographer quit in disgust.

 

74. Good Eats

Einstein's chauffeur reported that Einstein plucked a grasshopper off the ground and ate it.

75. Angel’s Glow

During the American Civil War, soldiers from both sides began reporting glow-in-the-dark wounds after the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. Of nearly 16,000 wounded, those with glowing wounds seemed to heal faster. Later research revealed that the area was likely a breeding ground for P. luminescens, a luminescent bacterium that produces a natural anti-biotic.

Artistic Depiction of the Battle of Shiloh.

76. Smells Like Steel

The 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe lost his nose in a duel. Hey, it happens to the best of us. But what's a 16-th century Danish astronomer to do when his sniffer gets blown off? Can't go walking around with a big ol' hole in your face, now can you?

Tycho Brahe (great name by the way) had a pretty wicked solution. He donned a metal one instead, designed to mimic his original schnoz.

77. Her Heart Was Black

Catherine of Aragon's demise was utterly mysterious in its time. While preparing her body for burial, her embalmer noticed the corpse was in perfect health—save for her heart, which had turned black. The ghastly condition, coupled with Catherine’s chilling premonitions of her own demise, led people to some dark rumors about her end.

After witnessing her strange condition, those loyal to Catherine and disloyal to Henry and Anne started whispering that the Royal Couple 2.0 had poisoned Catherine in a chilling act of self-service, leading the “Dowager” to die poetically of a broken heart. Modern historians, however, believe a much different story.

Most experts today believe that rather than foul play, Catherine passed of cancer of the heart; sometimes it can turn the heart black. Nonetheless, it's still tragically poetic given the circumstances of Catherine's life and her queenship.

Shutterstock

78. No Speak Language? No Problem.

The physicist Robert Oppenheimer was a polymath, fluent in eight languages. In 1931, he asked a University of California colleague to teach a class, giving the students a book as prop. Later that day, the colleague complained the text was Dutch. Oppenheimer's response? "But it's easy Dutch!"

79. Marriage Contract

Albert Einstein’s marriage contract included these conditions: “You will make sure that my clothes and laundry are kept in good order; that I will receive my three meals regularly in my room; that my bedroom and study are kept neat, and especially that my desk is left for my use only”.

Ooooooh romance.

You might think those rules were a liiiiiiiiitle bit onerous, but clearly his wife felt differently. She agreed.

80. No Take Backs

Because it was a powerful political entity at the time, Harry Truman’s political advisers suggested he join the KKK. While he did give the $10 membership fee, he demanded it back and claims he was never inducted nor initiated.

81. A Man of Letters

As sheriff of Erie County, New York, President Grover Cleveland twice had to spring the trap at a hanging. That's right: Grover is the only US President to have ever held the job of hangman.

We bet nobody ever accused ‘ol Grover for not being tough on crime.

82. Proudly Serving the American People

Lincoln is the only president who was also a licensed bartender. He co-owned Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in Springfield, Illinois.

This is a man who also wrestled in high-school... and was apparently notorious for hurling insults at his competitors. Basically what we're saying is: Abraham Lincoln was freaking cool. As if his honest and upstanding reputation as a leader weren't enough...

83. Snowbirds

It's tough to host a big event: no matter how much you plan(hotdogs for the BBQ, drinks for all the guests...) things have a tendency to go exactly the way you don't expect them to.

Ulysses S. Grant’s inauguration was just that sort of event. In fact, it got so cold while the ceremony was going on,  the canaries that were supposed to sing at the inaugural-ball actually froze to death.

84. He Shouldn’t Have Smoked All of Them

Ulysses S. Grant was an avid cigar smoker and after a brilliant war victory, a jubilant nation sent him more than 10,000 cigars.

Amazing! Nothing like the love and admiration a grateful people can show to its Commander-in-Chief.

...

He died of throat cancer.

Whoops.

85. Clinton’s Cuban Missile Crisis

Of course, this wasn’t the last time a cigar in the Oval Office hurt a president. During Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings, it was revealed that Bill used a cigar to pleasure Monica Lewinsky.

86. A Chip and a Chair

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams once traveled to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit the birthplace of Shakespeare and while there, they carved wood chips out of one of Shakespeare’s chairs as souvenirs.

Thereby making them the most presidential vandals in history.

Thomas Jefferson.

87. Classic Good News, Bad News

The first president to ever ride in a self-propelled vehicle was William McKinley. Unfortunately, it was an ambulance that was taking him to the hospital after he was shot.

88. Secure the Package

In 2009, a woman walked into the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. She had an acorn-shaped object in hand that was made of brass and had no inscriptions or markings. She said that one of her Confederate soldier ancestors used the device to smuggle secret messages, hiding it in his posterior until he reached his destination.

89. Bad Sushi

After Bush Sr. vomited on the Japanese Prime Minister, the Japanese invented a new word: Bushusuru. This means to “do the Bush thing” or to “publicly vomit.”

90. I Keelhaul You!

If pirates wanted to torture their foes, they would drag them from a rope behind the ship (a practice known as keelhauling), strand them on a desert island, or lash them with a whip.

91. Of Course

Jimmy Carter was the first president to go on record as having seen a UFO.

92. Blast from the Past

In 1996, famous pirate Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, was found off the coast of North Carolina. Thirty-one cannons and 250,000 artifacts have been recovered. One such artifact was a urethral syringe, which was used to treat syphilis with mercury. Ouch. Plot twist: mercury does not, in fact, cure syphilis.

93. Movin’ On Up

Thomas Jefferson had a 38-year long affair with Sally Hemmings, one of his slaves, and he may be the father of her children.

94. Standing Really Tall

Every member of Teddy Roosevelt’s family owned a pair of stilts. They often walked around the White House on them for fun.

Just because you're rich and famous (and incredibly powerful to boot) doesn't mean you can't have a little bit of fun with stilts. That's just the law of the land.

95. He Couldn’t Bear It

“Teddy Bears” got their name when Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a small bear cub prompting a toy manufacturer to start making cute stuffed animals. Yay capitalism.

96. What Speech Giveth…

During his second run for president, Teddy Roosevelt was shot after a failed assassination attempt but, instead of going to the hospital, insisted on giving a planned speech with the bullet still lodged in his chest. The bullet was reportedly slowed by the thick papers in Roosevelt’s coat pocket on which the speech was written.

97. Gun Control

Andrew Jackson was apparently involved in over a hundred duels, most of which were fought to defend his wife’s honor. Why her honor was constantly besmirched is another story.

98. A Museum Piece

James Garfield was shot in the back with a five-barrel, .44 caliber pistol called a British Bulldog. When asked why he selected that gun, the assassin Charles Guiteau said he thought it’d look good in a museum someday.

John Adams..

99. Nail in the coffin.

During the 7th century B.C., ancient Roman "vestal virgins" were required to keep their hymens intact as proof of virginity until age 30. Vestal virgins who engaged in sexual conduct were buried alive.

100. Praying for a good poop.

The inhabitants of ancient Rome had a sewer goddess, a toilet god, and a god of excrement. The gods were said to frequent the latrine in large numbers and excrement was regarded as the food of the dead.

101. Dental hygiene matters.

Urine was used in Ancient Rome to wash clothes. The Romans also used it to whiten their teeth.

Statue of an ancient Roman, clearly upset about the fact that his society has started using pee to brush their teeth.

102. All is favour of the Free Carrots Bill?

The Roman Emperor Gaius Caligula made his horse a senator. Caligula also allegedly committed incest with his sisters, fed prisoners to wild beasts and had conversations with the moon.

Caligula on his horse.

103. Ancient cook book: 100 Uses of Gladiator Fluids.

Ancient Roman women wore the sweat of Gladiators to improve their beauty and complexion. Romans also used to drink Gladiator blood because they thought that the blood of these strong and fierce beings had the power to cure epilepsy.

Spartacus, as seen in the popular TV series produced by Starz.

104. Ever thought about how much of a win the invention of toilet paper was?

Ancient Romans used a sponge on a stick called a “spongia” to clean themselves after pooping. Public facilities had a long marble bench with holes on top – for the obvious thing – and holes at the front: for the sponge-sticks. There were no doors or dividing walls. You sat right next to your friend and did what you had to do. Once you had done your business, you would rinse the spongia in the channel of running water at your feet and – without standing up or revealing anything –push the spongia through the hole at the front, give your bottom a solid wipe, rinse off the spongia… and leave it in a basin for the next person to use!

Proserpina Dam, Spain.

105. Well, Not All Love Is Welcome Aboard

Pirate code decreed that any man found “seducing one of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise, he shall suffer death.” Desertion was also punishable by death.

106. Well, if you’re going to brush your teeth with it…

In Ancient Rome, women would drink turpentine to make their urine smell sweet like roses.

107. Ancient drugs for ancient fun.

The Salema Porgy is a species of fish that can cause hallucinations when eaten. In Ancient Rome, it was consumed as a recreational drug. In fact, Salema porgies are regularly eaten without their consumers experiencing hallucinogenic effects, but in 2006, two men were hospitalized in the south of France after consuming them, one of whom was 90 years old. They both claimed to fall “ill” and experience auditory hallucinations along with lucid nightmares for several nights, until the “symptoms” finally and mysteriously abated.

Salema porgy.

108. We’ve been butchering the pronunciation.

Julius Caesar was pronounced 'YOO-lee-us KYE-sahr' in ancient Rome.

109. Interesting emperors.

Nero, the Roman Emperor, married a man named Sporus, a freedman who took the role of the bride. While it may be tempting to give Nero props for his forward-thinking stance on sexuality, it’s also important to remember his darker side. He castrated Sporus. If that wasn’t enough, during his rule, he murdered his own mother, Agrippina the Younger; his first wife, Octavia; and allegedly, his second wife, Poppaea Sabina. There also was that incident with the Great Fire of Rome that we’ll get to later…

Statue of Nero.

110. Take that, Cristiano Ronaldo!

Roman charioteers earned more than even the best-paid footballers and international sports stars of today, according to academic research. One charioteer, named Gaius Appuleius Diocles, amassed a fortune equivalent to $15 billion USD today.

111. We finally found the lost legion.

Inhabitants of the Chinese town of Liqian have blond hair and white skin. Historians have speculated they are the descendants of a lost Roman settlement. The most common theory is that Liquian features are linked to the legend of the missing army of Roman general Marcus Crassus. Basically, the Parthians massacred most the Roman troops Crassus sent into battle. 10,000 Romans survived and were captured. They were forced to fight for various rulers, eventually settling in China.

112. Cover up, sweetie.

After the wedding night, a modest Roman wife wasn’t supposed to let her husband see her naked again. Consequently, it may be no surprise that the philosophers who argued that a man shouldn’t have sex with anyone but his wife won few converts.

113. Arsenic for dinner, please.

Emperors poisoned themselves every day. From the end of the first century AD, Roman emperors had adopted the daily habit of taking a small amount of every known poison in an attempt to gain immunity, a practice called “Mithridatism.” Although effective against some types of poisons, it doesn’t work against all of them, and, depending on the toxin, the practice can lead to the lethal accumulation of a poison in the body. Turns out, it’s much easier just to label things "poison" and tell people not to eat them.

114. Mad as a Mobster

When Al Capone was arrested for tax evasion, he was found to have syphilis. Capone refused treatment because he was afraid of needles. After 11 years in Alcatraz, the disease had eaten away at his brain so much that he could no longer resume his life of crime. Before his death, he was often spotted casting a fishing rod into his swimming pool.

115. Et Tu, Caesar?

Marcus Brutus’ mother was Julius Caesar’s lover.

Julius Caesar, as portrayed in Spartacus.

116. Hysterical…

The vibrator was created to treat Hysteria. Why? Doctors were taking too long to manually stimulate women. Shortly after it’s invention, the vibrator became the largest selling household appliance.

117. A bit extreme, don’t you think?

Marcus Aurelius (largely known for his philosophy and humanitarianism) faced an interesting gladiator dilemma. His wife Faustina became aroused over one combatant and confessed her passion to her husband. His solution? Faustina was ordered to strip and have sex with the gladiator in question, who was then murdered while on top of her. Afterwards, she was obliged to bathe in his blood, do a quick cleanup, and then make love to her husband Marcus.

Russell Crowe killing Marcus’ son, Commodus.

118. So Romantic!

Catherine de Medici was only 14 when she married Henri, the son of King Francis. And although she was young, the King and other older men insisted on being present for the consummation of the marriage. I have one thing to say about this: EW.

Getty Images

For factaholics who love history, check out these historical myths that have been busted:

 

We hope you enjoyed these fun facts!

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