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50 Genuinely Surprising Historical Facts
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). Bestiality was another crime that animals were tried for (despite certainly not being a willing participant). 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. France outlawed capital punishment in 1981, officially ending the usage of the guillotine. The world's oldest known joke dates back to 1900 BCE in Sumer and it was...a fart joke. Here it is: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." I'm thinking the punch line was lost in translation?(The image above is an example of Sumerian writing from the time period of the fart joke and was recorded for posterity, but it's slightly more sophisticated — it's about medical practices.) 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. 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. Mexican General Santa Anna had an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg. The general (and Mexican president) had to have his leg amputated after being hit with cannon fire during a battle against the French in the Pastry War of 1838–1839. Later, he ordered a lavish military-style ceremony (including cannon fire and poems), and buried it with honors. That isn't the end of his leg's, uh, leg-end. After Santa Anna fled the country following his failed administration, people dug up his leg and dragged it through the streets until nothing was left. Saddam Hussein was given the key to the city of Detroit in 1980. Backstory: After Hussein rose to power in the late '70s, Rev. Jacob Yasso of Chaldean Sacred Heart sent Hussein congratulations, and in return, Hussein donated $250,000 to the church. (Chaldeans are a Catholic group in the mainly Muslim Iraq.) Years later, the reverend visited Iraq and, with the mayor of Detroit's blessing, presented him with a key to the city. 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. The first known vending machine was invented by Hero of Alexandria in ancient Egypt to dispense holy water. It worked a lot like modern vending machines — you inserted a coin, pushed down a lever, and got your soda...I mean holy water! Ketchup was originally sold as a medicine in the 19th century. In the 1830s, ketchup was sold as a medicine that could cure indigestion, diarrhea, and even jaundice. While the medicinal claims were later debunked, the condiment caught on. Man, I wish I lived in a time when a bunch of ketchup on fries was considered health food! Ancient Romans used urine as a cleaning agent for laundry. They didn't have soap back then, so they had to improvise. And, it turns out, stagnant urine was full of ammonia, which we still use to clean today. Beethoven continued to compose music even after becoming completely deaf at age 40 (16 years before his death). Despite being deaf, he still managed to compose one of his most famous symphonies — "Symphony No. 9," aka The Ninth. It goes without saying that it is pretty damn impressive! 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. (Note: The above image is not of Donald and Gua, but some other kid/chimp combo from the '50s. What was going on back then, LOL?) The Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (where Mexico City now stands) was larger and more sophisticated than many European cities when the Spanish arrived in 1519. With an estimated population of 200,000–300,000 inhabitants, Tenochtitlan was significantly larger than London (which only had 50,000–70,000 people), and Paris (about 200,000). Tenochtitlan's infrastructure was better, too, with advanced aqueducts, causeways, floating agricultural fields, and even efficient waste management Spaniards' siege and the aftermath all but destroyed the great city that was. In 1518, a "dancing plague" in Strasbourg caused people to dance uncontrollably for days. It started when a woman named Frau Troffea began dancing uncontrollably. Within days, dozens of others joined her, and the phenomenon grew to involve hundreds of people. The "dancers" seemed unable to stop, with some collapsing or even dying from exhaustion, strokes, or heart did they do this, you ask? Some conjecture it was a case of mass hysteria, while another theory suggests that the dancers may have ingested bread contaminated with ergot, a toxic fungus. Ergot contains chemicals similar to yeah. The shortest war in history, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896, lasted only 38 minutes. The war was fought over who should succeed the recently deceased pro-British Sultan. A Prince — Khālid bin Barghash — refused to let the British install another pro-British ruler and occupied the Sultan's palace. But when the Royal Navy fired on the palace, sending it up in flames and killing 500 of Khālid's men, that was pretty much all she wrote. Chopsticks predate the fork by some 4,500 years. The first forks were used by the ruling class in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire around 1,000 A.D. They were frowned upon in Europe, though, for the next several hundred years because they were thought to be a tool of the devil. John Scott Harrison is the only person to watch both his father and son become president of the United States. For his part, John Scott Harrison was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio from 1853 to 1857. Not exactly president, but not bad! 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. Speaking of being buried alive, military genius Alexander the Great may have been. The historical record of his death is filled with unusual details, including that his body didn't decompose at all in the six days following his supposed death (a fact many attributed to his divinity). Today, doctors believe it is possible he'd become paralyzed due to a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré Syndrome, and was mistaken as dead as a result. 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! The bread — which you can tell looked pretty damn tasty out of the oven — was found during the excavations in Pompeii. Marie Curie is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (physics and chemistry). The pioneer in radiology was the first woman, the first double winner, and only in two sciences! The world's first recorded police force was established in ancient Egypt around 3000 BCE. Back then, Egypt was split into 42 jurisdictions, and the pharaoh would appoint an official for each one whose job was to ensure justice and security. Each official had a chief of police he worked with whose title was sab heri seker, or, when translated to English, 'chief of the hitters." Sounds like police work hasn't changed much over the years! In the 19th century, dentures were often made using the teeth of deceased soldiers. A famous example? Looters, uh, looted the teeth of the thousands of dead soldiers at the Battle of Waterloo and sold them for top dollar. Real teeth were in such demand, in fact, that many poor people sold their teeth right out of their mouths. Speaking of dentures, here is a photo of what's likely the most famous dentures 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. The dentures are on display in the museum located at Mount Vernon, Washington's former home and plantation, located in Fairfax County, Virginia. 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. Their formula was a little different than Colgate's — it included powdered ashes from oxen hooves, myrrh, egg shells, pumice, and water. 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. 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. To vote, you just called out your choice. As you can imagine, this voting method was very susceptible to corruption!(I couldn't find an image of pre-Revolutionary War voting, but I thought the one above was interesting — it's a polling booth in 1840s NY!) 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): The original London Bridge is now located in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch bought the bridge in 1968, dismantled it, and then shipped it piece by piece to the US and reconstructed it as a tourist attraction. The first computer programmer was Ada Lovelace in the 19th century. No, she wasn't programming on a MacBook Air — it was the 1800s — but she became a colleague of Charles Babbage, who had designed a calculating machine and was working on an even more sophisticated one. In working with Babbage and fellow mathematician Luigi Menabrea, Lovelace discovered that these machines could carry out complex sequences of mathematical operations. The example she wrote to demonstrate her idea is regarded as the first ever computer program. The Great Wall of China is not a single continuous wall but a series of interconnected fortifications. Also, it was built (and rebuilt) over a long period of time, so the sections are often different based on the engineering and military practices of each time. Napoleon Bonaparte was once attacked by a herd of rabbits during a hunting trip. The story came from the memoirs of French general Baron Thiébault, who said that while on a hunting trip, a herd of rabbits swarmed Napoleon, seemingly mistaking him for a source of food. He was forced to retreat to his carriage to escape the "bunny onslaught." Pablo Picasso's full name has 20 words. Here's the name he was baptized with: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispín Crispiniano María de los Remedios de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz you think when his mom was mad at him she called him by his full name? The first human flight was achieved by the Montgolfier brothers in a hot air balloon in 1783. Talk about brave! The brothers flew 3,000 feet above Paris for a distance of about 5.6 miles. After 25 minutes, the balloon landed safely outside the city. 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.? 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. Lincoln had two pairs of glasses and a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a handkerchief, a wallet (containing a five-dollar Confederate note), and newspaper clippings, many of which touted his successes. The longest-reigning monarch in history was Louis XIV of France, who ruled for 72 years and 110 days. How did he manage this? He ascended to the throne at just 4 years of age, and ruled competently enough to avoid any coup attempts. The Eiffel Tower was initially intended to be dismantled after 20 years. The reason? It was only built as a temporary structure for the 1889 World's Fair (and was only permitted for use until 1909). The tower survived for different reasons than you're likely imagining. It wasn't because it had become a landmark, but because (at least initially) of its value as a radiotelegraph station. Ancient Greek athletes competed in the nude to honor Zeus and display the human form. Interestingly, they also did it to allow for ease of movement (this was long before spandex, LOL), and to not give the upper class an advantage by rolling in wearing fancy sporting clothes. Want one more fun fact? Gymnastics is derived from the Greek work "gymnos," meaning naked. The oldest known written laws, the Code of Ur-Nammu, date back to around 2100 BCE. It was written by a Sumerian king and covered, among other things, protection of property, family law (to divorce, a man was required to pay a kind of spousal support), and punishment for false allegations. The Statue of Liberty was originally intended to represent an Egyptian peasant woman. The statue's designer, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, originally envisioned building a colossal monument featuring a robe-clad Egyptian woman to celebrate the inauguration of the Suez Canal in Egypt. But when the Egyptians passed on the idea, Bartholdi pivoted to pitch it for the centennial celebration of the US/French alliance. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has been slowly straightening over the past few decades due to engineering efforts. Since 1990 — when it was feared the tower was on the verge of collapse — an international team has worked to reverse the lean. Since then, the tower has been straightened by nearly two inches. It doesn't sound like much, but it's made a huge difference! Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952 but declined. Unsurprisingly, Einstein wanted to continue his career in science, especially considering his political experience was practically zilch. In June of 1520, England's Henry VIII and France's Francis I threw a joint 18-day party that cost $19 million by today's standards. It was so expensive because the two leaders kept trying to outdo each other. Each feast served 50 different dishes of the time's finest and rarest foods, including swans and dolphins. Queen Elizabeth I owned over 2,000 pairs of gloves. It wasn't because she was obsessed with gloves, though. Most of her collection was given to her as diplomatic or political gifts. Chain letters have their origins in ancient times — even Ancient Egypt's Book of the Dead included a section that promised "great heaven and earth" to anyone who copies a specific image. Approximately 750,000 men died in the Civil War, which was more than 2.5% of America's population at the time. In Boston on January 15, 1919, a massive storage tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses broke and sent a 15-foot tall flood of the sticky stuff flowing through town, killing 21 people. The 11 dead mentioned in the headline was later raised to 21. Lastly, in the year 1800, the world population totaled 1 billion. Today — 225 years later — the world's population is more than eight times larger (8.2 billion).
USA Today
06-03-2025
- General
- USA Today
Iconic Alamo site celebrates special 189th anniversary: 'Fabric of who we are as Texans'
Hear this story Thursday marks the 189th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo, where the Mexican army's rout of Texas revolutionaries would later inspire the fateful defeat of Mexican forces under the battle cry "Remember the Alamo." The Spanish mission-turned-battleground is one of Texas's most iconic locations, symbolizing state pride and independence and one of its most popular tourist attractions. Established in 1718 as Mission San Antonio de Valero and relocated to its current location six years later, the site that came to be known as the Alamo was one of five Spanish missions built along the San Antonio River in what is now South Texas. "The Alamo battle is part of the fabric of who we are as Texans," said Kolby Lanham, the Alamo's senior researcher and historian. But it's also a source of debate over how history is recalled and by whom, as some strive to offer perspectives that counter the mythology surrounding the event. The buildup to the battle Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Texas was a contested territory, and by 1836 the Alamo had become a military outpost as Texans fought to win independence. That February, 189 Texan soldiers commanded by James Bowie and William Travis had locked themselves inside the mission walls as Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican army approached, intent on a siege. Among those inside taking up arms against the Mexican forces were folk legend Davy Crockett, a Tennessee congressman, and Texans of Mexican descent, or Tejanos. On Feb. 24, as Mexican troops amassed to several thousand strong and the two sides traded sporadic gunfire, Travis wrote a now-famous missive "to the people of Texas and all Americans in the world" pleading for reinforcements. "I shall never surrender or retreat," he wrote. "…. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country." Travis signed off, "Victory or Death." Why was the Battle of the Alamo significant? By the morning of March 6, Santa Anna's troops, numbering nearly 5,000, attacked at dawn. They quickly breached the mission's north walls, overwhelming the occupants and killing nearly all of them. "It becomes a rallying call for the Texas Revolution," Lanham said. "Many people who maybe weren't involved or who had sat on the fence joined the cause." Six weeks later on April 21, led by Sam Houston's army and shouting "Remember the Alamo," the Texans defeated Mexican forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, capturing Santa Anna and forcing the withdrawal of his troops. The victory earned Texas independence. The territory would remain independent until 1845, when its Legislature approved United States annexation. "With that final battle, Texas becomes a nation," said Lanham, whose ancestors fought in the conflict. "When it joined the union, Texas already had this big, bold identity that came along with it, and people haven't lost sight of that." Three years later, after the Mexican-American War, the U.S. would obtain most of what is now the American Southwest with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Why has the site ignited controversy? The Battle of the Alamo has been depicted in film and pop culture for over a century, most notably in the 1960 John Wayne vehicle "The Alamo." But such retellings have been criticized for oversimplifying the conflict with racial overtones and the myth of martyred white heroes, with damaging reverberations. "The Mexican army won the battle of the Alamo, so you would think that would make it a point of pride for people of Mexican descent, but that's not the case," said Sarah Zenaida Gould, executive director of San Antonio's Mexican American Civil Rights Institute. "Instead, over time the Alamo becomes this symbol of Texas greatness. ... Many Mexican Americans have stories of growing up in Texas and feeling shame about the Alamo and their ancestors defending their own country." Scholars such as University of Texas anthropology professor Richard Flores have recently examined how characterizations of the site have both reflected the state's struggle with its Anglo and Mexican identity and distorted the reality of what occurred. Such reexaminations have drawn scorn in recent years amid ongoing culture wars. Meet the 'Angel of the Alamo': Adina De Zavala's grand stand in 1908 saved a landmark of Texas history "History changes and adapts over time," Lanham said. "Some people don't really want the story to change. They love the way the story was told, and as things are added to the story they get uncomfortable." In 2021, authors Bryan Burrough, Jason Stanford, and Chris Tomlinson released 'Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth,' exploring how racism and the desire to practice slavery played roles in Texas history. That July, an event promoting the book was set for Austin's Bullock Texas State History Museum until Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a member of the State Preservation Board, pressured museum directors to call off the event just hours before it was to take place. "This fact-free rewriting of TX history has no place @BullockMuseum," Patrick posted on social media. The move was criticized as censorship. Gould said research bears out the book's premise. "A lot of Anglos who were at the battle were pushing to expand slavery," Gould said. "That wasn't the sole reason why it happened, but it was a complaint they had against the Mexican government, which had outlawed slavery in 1821." Historic site nearly lost to development Following the Texans' victory, Lanham said, the mission was vacated, its cannon disabled, and the outer walls torn down. As noted on the Alamo website, the site fell into disrepair until the U.S. Army took it over in the 1840s as a supply hub, only to be abandoned again with the building of a more permanent military garrison at Fort Sam Houston. According to Gould, San Antonio experienced a power shift in the aftermath of the battle, with the site roughly marking an east-west divide between white residents and those of Mexican descent, who had become marginalized as the city grew. 'Until 1836, every mayor of San Antonio had a Spanish surname,' she said. 'Not until 1980 would there be another.' San Antonio expanded across the river as German immigrants moved into the area, and many mission buildings were lost. The chapel and long barrack are all that remain of the original compound, Lanham said, thanks to early 20th-century preservationists who fought to save them from development. How is The Alamo remembered today? At 6 a.m. Thursday, the Alamo was set to host an annual ceremony commemorating those who lost their lives in the historic battle. Jonathan Huhn, the site's senior communications director, said this year's 189th anniversary is special given that it marks the number of soldiers who fought to defend the site in 1836. Today, the Alamo is one of Texas' most popular tourist sites, visited by 1.6 million people annually. In March 2023, the 24,000-square-foot Ralston Family Collections Center opened at the site, part of a $550 million project to restore and revitalize the historic location that site leaders predict will raise annual visitor figures to 2.5 million. The collections center houses Alamo artifacts, including items donated by rock legend Phil Collins, who became enthralled by Alamo lore as a child. The items will eventually move to a new visitor center and museum, expected to open in 2027, with the collection center available for traveling exhibits. The future museum will feature eight galleries chronicling the 300 years of history encompassing the Alamo and the surrounding area, from the Indigenous inhabitants who settled along the San Antonio River thousands of years before European arrival, to the role adjacent businesses played in civil rights struggles. It's a step toward acknowledging the complex history around one of Texas' most iconic structures. Gould said the shame once felt by Texans of Mexican descent "has evolved into an understanding that the myth of the Alamo as a cradle of liberty was created for particular ideological purposes, and we shouldn't just accept it at face value. These days people are more attuned to the idea that history has multiple perspectives and that it's not a single narrative."
