50 Odd And Interesting ‘Weird History’ Posts From This Account That Makes Learning Fun No Matter How Old You Are (New Pics)
With real-life facts often being far stranger than fiction, there’s nothing like a good history book to get your noggin’ joggin’ and make you appreciate life from a whole different perspective. I might have started my love affair with history as a subject with the amazing Horrible History book series, but I’ve since then graduated to thick and dusty tomes.
However, I still have a yearning for the more fun and unusual aspects of history that first drew me in. And that’s where the Weird History Twitter page comes into play. A page with 172k followers that’s been active since September 2011, Weird History is the brainchild of Andrew Rader who does, well, pretty much everything: from book-writing to cool space stuff.
Have a look through some of the coolest recent posts made by the Weird History project, upvote the ones that you liked best, and later on consider absorbing some more delicious knowledge from Bored Panda's previous articles about the Twitter account here and here.
More info: Twitter (Weird History) | Twitter (Andrew) | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Andrew-Rader.com
This post may include affiliate links.
Our world was built from the back of the horse. They are one of the most important creatures who ever lived.
Andrew has a PhD from MIT in long-duration spaceflight, is an expert in space exploration, and has authored a host of academic and technical papers. What’s more, he’s an avid writer, having published books for adults and children alike, and he creates tabletop games in his spare time.
The Canadian, who now lives in Los Angeles in California, has also been extensively featured in the media, including in The New York Times and by Vice. And finally, adding to his great list of achievements, he’s a real trivia aficionado (even having taken home awards) and he’s the curator of the Weird Science account, too.
That might be because in the 1930s, people were still catching tuberculosis from cow's milk. Sick cows can transmit the bacteria through non-pasteurized milk, so if the hospital had its own herd then they could make sure all the beasts were healthy and not infecting the patients.
Since 2014, Andrew has been working at SpaceX as a Mission Manager, while previously he had got 4 years of experience as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer at COM DEV. One of the coolest things about him (at least for me) is that he was a candidate for the Canadian Astronaut Corps back in 2009 and as recently as 2017.
What’s more, he was being considered as one of the potential candidates for a one-way mission to the Red Planet as part of the Mars One project in 2014. It should be clear by now that Andrews’s passion for science and history aren’t just for show—he’s dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth, knowledge, and pushing the limits of mankind. And Weird History… it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I mean... As far as prison cells go, that surely isn't that bad, right? lol
Fast forward 82 years later and people moan about having to wear a cloth/paper mask on planes.
They build very few structures today that would last even half as long.
Cousins are nice, but when a little horde of bloodthirsty bolcheviks want tu slaughter your family, they are not here to help you.
...and then they replaced the cocaine with something more potent and addictive - refined white sugar.
And nearly 70 years later he's still waiting for her to step down.
Combines the pleasure of horseriding with the anxiety of being accidentally blinded by your mount
well, that's basically only time of home i could afford, so they weren't that wrong
I thought he said redcoats; though regulars make more sense, red was a popular color for coats
A tendency to decapitate the pilot. How many people had to die before they concluded it was a design/idea fault and not just bad luck on the part of the pilot?
Fun fact: when Titanic sank, the White Star Company refused to pay officers and crew members for services provided during the sinking. And the family of one of the band members who died actually was charged for the loss of his uniform.
In France they call it the "iron harvest". About 900 tons of unexploded ordnance is recovered every year. If you drive around the battlefields it is perfectly common to see a handful of old hand grenades or mortar rounds sitting on the verge at a farmers' gate, waiting for the bomb disposal people to come on their latest run to pick them up.
Boston had it's moments too...21 people died in a molasses flood there.
Load More Replies...
What a tragic waste. Oh, and then there were all those people who died as well. :p
"Only" 8 people drowned because the 1.5 million liters were promptly drunk by brave Londoners.
I remember reading about somthing similar, it was in Boston. A flood of molasses killed 21 people
I’ve just read about it on Wikipedia. It was horrendous.
Load More Replies...
Cartoons have taught me to just drink my way out of this kind of situation.
That is what happened during the Irish Whiskey Flood. 11 or so people died not from drowning, and not from the smoke from the fire that caused the flood, but from alcohol poisoning
Load More Replies...
Reminds me of Boston's Molasses Disaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood
In 1919 21 people died in the great Molasses Flood in the North End of Boston. Another 150 were injured
A 22 foot tall wooden vat of fermenting porter burst which caused a domino effect. The resulting wave destroyed the back wall of the brewery and swept into an area of slum dwellings. Of the 8 killed, 5 were mourners at the funeral of a 2 year old boy. The coroner said the 8 lost their lives “casually, accidentally and by misfortune”. The brewery avoided bankruptcy after a rebate by HM Excise for the lost beer. The brewing industry gradually stopped using large wooden vats after the accident. (Wikipedia) I bet it didn’t feel “casual” at the time. What an odd word to use!
Load More Replies...
Surely a while after him the name "sandwich" stuck but people have been putting stuff between slices of bread (or variations of bread) for thousands of years.
Just another example how over time cultures change. Today not wearing pants within the city limits is deemed barbarian.
Wow! That's really cool! I'm going to show this to my band teacher lol
It was a photoshoot to promote the upcoming international tour. They're dressed as typical London city gents. This was basically the 'uniform' worn by city finance workers long after the rest of society swapped wearing morning dress with modern lounge suits. Remarkably, city workers were still wearing this outfit into the 1980s. Just occasionally you see some older gents still wearing it when they go up to their clubs. I've seen one or two in the last few years!
The Antikythera mechanism. It was apparently designed to determine the times for the Olympics.
Endeavour was one of the rejected choices for the original starship name
He was an interesting character, however he seems genuinely kind.
I'm willing to wager Robert started the whole Yeti/Bigfoot/Sasquatch craze.
Wait, what? Where? I live my whole life in The Netherlands, first time I have heard of this.
The origin of the name Case Western Reserve university in Ohio, originally in Connecticut's territory
I mean, my heart goes to him for losing his leg but, surely, this is weird haha
That tweet ain't quite right. The HMS Resolute was abandoned while searching for the Franklin Expedition. A US whaling vessel found the Resolute wreck and it was repaired and returned by the US. The desk was made out of the timbers of the Resolute as a thanks for the kind gesture.
Johnson always played a recurring joke, in which he invited someone for a ride and then drove into the water. The guest usually freaked out, because he did not know it the car was amphibious.
Let's not forget the Great Molasses Flood in Boston in 1919. A molasses tank ruptured (it was overfilled if memory serves) and the resulting flood of molasses damaged buildings, sucked people under and coated everything in a sticky mess. 21 people died, many of them drowning in the thick molasses.
Wich is an old english word for salt and there are lots of places ending with wich in England
Let's not forget the Great Molasses Flood in Boston in 1919. A molasses tank ruptured (it was overfilled if memory serves) and the resulting flood of molasses damaged buildings, sucked people under and coated everything in a sticky mess. 21 people died, many of them drowning in the thick molasses.
Wich is an old english word for salt and there are lots of places ending with wich in England
