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History lessons in school may have seemed boring to some, but it is useful to know how far we’ve come and where we came from. It may seem boring because the events took place a very long time ago or they just don’t seem relevant to us personally. But the history that is taught at school isn’t the only truth and doesn’t encompass all the things that happened in the past.

There are so many events and people that we don’t get to hear about and maybe they didn’t have a big impact on the world, but those stories are so interesting to listen to or read about. Today you will find out some history facts that you may not have heard of before, and they come with a twist, as Redditor Doyouareisstupid asked, “What is the weirdest/most disturbing fact about our world’s history that you know?” It’s a perfect read for the spooky season we are now in because people have knowledge about some unbelievable things that occurred years ago. So enjoy and upvote the answers that surprised you the most.

More info: Reddit

#1

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Most people have 16 great great parents, Cleopatra had 2. She's lucky to have developed working lungs, let alone be competent enough to accomplish anything. That was a family tree was a wreath

VeseliM , Lars Larsson Report

#2

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group 40% of all homeless people in America still goes to work every day

Flutfar , (Mick Baker)rooster Report

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Scagsy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And if that isn't a reflection on a broken society, I don't know what is.

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#3

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group That literally ever race of people that have ever existed on this planet have been slaves to another at some point in history and most of them have overlapping time frames with other races.

And this is never talked about.

KnightofDis , muammerokumus Report

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Ozacoter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Exactly. In medieval spain the moors in Al Andalus actually prefered blond germanic slaves. So much that the word slave in spanish (and likely in english) "esclavo" comes from "eslavo" (as in an slavic person)

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#4

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Australia went to war with Emus. The Emus won.

LuinAelin , Ed Dunens Report

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Xottel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There were no human casualties. The "army" just retreated eventually.

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#5

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Adolph hitler was an animal rights advocate who banned the live boiling of lobsters.

TommyHawking , Chloe Media Report

#6

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Sharks have been around longer than trees.

truthsayer2021 , Andrew Kuchling Report

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#7

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group There are books in the Harvard University library which are bound in human flesh

Flaky_Sandwich9353 , Gord Webster Report

#8

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group The US Government has a literal gigantic dossier of classified operations hidden from the public, no brainer. What's shocking are things they've actually declassified.

Among these documents is the detailing of one of the largest human experiments in history, when the US dropped a bacteria-infused fog on the city of San Francisco to test how well "germ-based" biological warfare could prove by masking it with natural fog, which occurred back in the 1950s.

It was widely successful. A specific case is that of Edward Nevin, who passed away from Serratia marcescens, a bacteria that makes bread turn red. It had spread to his heart from a UTI and he passed away
In 1977, the government released a thoroughly detailed report at the testament of Nevin's grandson. Nevin's grandson tried to sue the government for wrongful death, but the court held that the government was immune to a lawsuit for negligence and that they were justified in conducting tests without subjects' knowledge. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Army stated that infections must have occurred inside the hospital and the US Attorney argued that they had to conduct tests in a populated area to see how a biological agent would affect that area.

Imagine what they're hiding.

Shirozaru , Ben Schumin Report

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Leo Domitrix
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gee, you mean nations commit horrible atrocities even on their own citizens? Gasp, shock, faint ----- and, yes, that was sarcasm.

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#9

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Some ancient cultures knew that they could control population growth by denying fertile females both fats and carbohydrates. This process guaranteed that embryos would not mature in the womb due to the lack of food energy derived from carrying mothers. The embryos would self-abort. A certain ratio of body fat is required for successful pregnancies.

NagromTrebloc , Gideon Report

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Vicky Z
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Controlling women's wombs for thousands of years and still nothing has changed

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#10

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group There are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history.

aljoharaalfayez , Nicolas Sanguinetti Report

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Barbara L Bristow
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

here's a list: As of 2018, the countries with the most slaves were: India (18.4 million), China (3.86 million), Pakistan (3.19 million), North Korea (2.64 million), Nigeria (1.39 million), Indonesia (1.22 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1 million), Russia (794,000) and the Philippines (784,000).

aliquida avatar
Aliquid
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are more people that are NOT slaves today than in any other time in history. There are more people with beards than in any other time in history. There are more carpenters than in any point in history... there are more PEOPLE than in any point in history.

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Candia Lee
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are more people alive than at any other time in history. The proportion of people enslaved is half what it was at its highest, if I recall correctly. Doesn't make it okay, just a diff perspective.

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8Yorkies-and-57cats
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well... in a small way... he is a slave to his parrot because he has to clean the cage, right? Also, the parrot doesn't pay him for that, so...

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Jo Choto
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Technically because there are more people on earth now than most of earth's history combined. As long as we want to buy cheap stuff, there will always be slavery.

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Essex Eagle
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hmmm, of course these numbers are using a definition of "modern slavery" not the slavery that most people would describe it as.

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An Co
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Note, their is reasonable argument against calling most of the modern slaves slaves. While for most practical purposes it is still slavery, almost all of the modern slaves have legal rights that are being ignored rather than not having them at all. The rape of debt slaves is illegal, but it happens. I.E. This is not a case of slavery being illegal, but instead of massive criminal enterprises breaking the law while the government looks the other way. This means that new laws do little to fix the problem, instead they need cultural changes where the police ignore the patently obvious lies and just arrest the slave owners, rather than accepting at face value that a) the 'indentured servant' actually agreed to the indenture, b) that of course the servant LIED about being raped, etc. etc. etc.

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Donald Holder
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a true fact only because the population of the world is huge (7.2billion) compared to say 1950 when it was only 2.6 billion. 1918 was only 1.8 billion. During the time of the Pharaohs it's was only 1.5 Million.

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Mikey
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This breaks my heart to read this. I feel terrible that I was so ignorant to this fact.

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Irish Lad
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Technically there could be a lower percent but since there are billions more people, the statement is till true. "There are more deaths by robot driven cars than at any other time in history."

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Channon Doughty
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are more people than at any time in history, so that value is meaningless. What are the past and current percentages?

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El muerto
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

slavery never got away, it just became unfashionable, so people hide it and make it a black market. like sex workers and more...did you know that most of the rare minerals needed to make your phone are extracted by child slave labor? that's how phones are affordable, slave labor

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BorPand8
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And agriculture, which is one of the largest slave-using businesses.

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JD Cass
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most of the world's chocolate TODAY comes from child slavery. Much of it from The Ivory Coast.

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Anders Hernandez Kristiansen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Makes sense, there are more people on earth now than any other time in history, we havent change much

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Susan Widomski
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A sad statistic...but is this due to more people on earth - or just more slaves % wise?

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Wheeskers
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are 7 or so BILLION people here and all your outrage won't change a thing.

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Mattewis88
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Any person working without earning a livable wage is a slave.

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James Frost
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are more people alive today than at any other time in history. It's the ratio that tells the true story and there is less slavery to population now. We just need to keep working on it.

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James Frost
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are more people alive now than ever before. Do we still have work today? Abso-bloody-lutely. That doesn't mean it's not better now than it was before.

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v
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are also more people alive today than at any other time in history. What was the percentage of people in slavery relative to their contemporary population?

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John L
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would be interested to see if that is a function of having more people alive than any other time in history, or if the percentage has risen (as is being implied).

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Rei
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sounds terrible, but about 1000 years ago there weren't almost 8 billion people on earth either, so it would be important to include the percentage of slaves for the whole earth during one particular period in time. Would be quite difficult though to find sources like that.

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J. F.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In correlation to the overall population or by number? (just asking)

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Mich
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’d be Interested to understand the definition of slaves for this example. In egalitarian societies, the concept of domestic workers is abhorrent and they consider them slaves. In developing countries, domestic workers are vital to the economy, as well as to the family of the workers, and they are paid a decent wage and treated with respect, even affection like an additional family member.

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#11

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group That we've been on the brink of a global nuclear exchange several times. And that in one case (Cuban blockade), it was only because a single man (Vasily Arkhipov), disagreed with standing orders, that a nuclear exchange was likely averted.

Madjack66 , IAEA Imagebank Report

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Vicky Z
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The fact that some critical decisions that will affect the whole humanity are on the hands of a few people, is scary

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#12

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Due to Fresh drinking water being so scarce on the Galápagos Islands, some bird species, such as the Galapagos Hawk, have adapted by drinking the blood of other animals.

Johndoe448 , Paul Krawczuk Report

#13

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Cleopatra lived closer to the moon landing than to the building of the pyramids.

Dragonwithamonocle , Ivan Radic Report

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#14

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group From the fall of the Roman empire up until the mid 19th century, not a single city in Europe had a sewer system to dispose of human feces.

City planners didn't build sewers until it was proven in 1855 that the cause for all the cholera epidemics was drinking water contaminated by human feces.

PhilippTheSmartass , Steve Snodgrass Report

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Robert T
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

TIL how to spell Bazalgette. Always sounded like it should be Basiljet to me. First modern sewer system was in London, before that the River Thames was the sewer!

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#15

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group The Mayans partied hard. They would take alcohol and hallucinogenic enemas.

In Social Studies they had us watch a special on them and I vividly remember an artists rendering of a Mayan doing a handstand while getting an enema.

The original keg-stand.

Riff_Moranis , amber.kennedy Report

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Ozacoter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They also had a violent empire that had slavery and conquered, raped and pillaged their neighbours. Which is completely normal for the time. But everybody talks about the europeans as if we were the only ones to commit atrocities

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#16

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Russia still has not recovered its population prior to WWII

YNot1989 , Pedro Szekely Report

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Tim Pillinger
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ireland hasn't recovered from the potatoes famine. There were 8 million in Ireland in 1841, now there are about 6.

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#17

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Up until the early 1980s doctors did not think newborn babies could feel pain. They didn't use anesthetic only used muscle relaxers on newborns.

mukelynnvinton , Kelly Roselle Report

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Ozacoter
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I will never stip being shocked at the idiocy of doctors. Anybody with half a neuron knows that they feel pain. Since they show it. There was no reason to think otherwise except laziness

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#18

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Rainbow Valley of Mount Everest is named for the rainbow colors of clothing of passed away people there

Ryukotaicho , Sean MacEntee Report

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Thistle
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

oh yeah i've heard of this, there were a lot of people that died there...

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#19

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Spartans bathed their newborn babies in red wine instead of warm water

FireyorLeafy , Daniella Segura Report

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Otter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the babies slept very quietly after their baths! But seriously, water was often contaminated in the ancient world, and alcohol killed bacteria so it might actually have been a good idea. Did you know that Roman army was able to conquer much of the known world because they carried huge vats of low-quality wine and mixed it with whatever drinking water they found? It killed enough pathenogenic microbia that the armies didn't get sick en masse in dubious areas.

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#20

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group The United States injected unknowing Puerto Rican’s with cancer cells to see how the illness worked

captnslog97 , Lorie Shaull Report

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Mary Rose Kent
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the Tuskegee Study, the U.S. government injected African Americans with syphilis so that they could find how it spreads and works its way through the body. And they just left them infected rather than giving them penicillin afterwards.

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#22

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group The founding fathers of the USA didn't know dinosaurs existed.

yuwannano , David Kryzaniak Report

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Mary Rose Kent
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And it took even longer from that point to now to work out that we still have dinosaurs in the form of birds and reptiles.

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#23

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group The ability to tell time (circadian rythm) is an evolutionary reaponse.

Cells that learned to replicate at night and rest during the day ultimately survived.

I'm bastardizing it but I find that amazing.

ok-MTLmunchies , vastfield Report

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Eli Rockwell
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One way that chronobiologists and sleep researchers have used to identify and study circadian rhythms is to spend extended periods isolated from natural light, temperature fluctuations, or other stimuli that could signal the time of day. Today, some laboratories have special facilities to achieve this isolation, but early researchers used caves. Nathaniel Kleitman conducted the first cave experiment in 1938 when he and a graduate student spent 32 days isolated from the outside world in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. The researchers imposed a 28-hour cycle on themselves consisting of ten hours of work, nine of leisure, and another nine hours of sleep. Bedtime shifted four hours later each day during the Mammoth Cave study. Despite the alternative schedule and the absence of external cues, Kleitman found that body temperature continued to fluctuate in an approximately 24-hour cycle, suggesting the existence of an endogenous clock.

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#24

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group If you lined up this history of earth on a 12 hour clock, modern humans making an impact on the planet would be about 1/10 of a second ago.

Doc580 , Neil Turner Report

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#25

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Adolf Hitler was saved from drowning at age nine in a fountain by a priest

DrySky8514 , Mauro Girotto Report

#26

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Not so much disturbing as it is funny (at least to me).

The Kettle War. Long story short, Spain (The Holy Roman Empire) and the Netherlands (The Seven Republics of the Netherlands) were beefing. One boat from Spain engaged in a fight with a Dutch naval ship. One shot was fired. The only victim of that cannonball was a pot of soup that was cooking. The Spanish ship then surrendered.

ImANuckleChut , Jonas Bengtsson Report

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Ozacoter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not correct. Spain was never part of the Holy Roman Empire. But we shared leaders.

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#27

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group Ireland exported potato’s during the great potato famine.

CategoryTurbulent114 , Bryan Alexander Report

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Otter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Someone won a Nobel Prize by doing large-scale research on large historical and current famines, and found the same pattern in every one: There was always enough food to feed everyone, but in a famine, large numbers of people just had no access to the food. They were either deprived of food, or weren't given enough resources to afford food.

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#28

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group That in UK, some time in the 12th century, two children of unusual GREEN skin colour appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England.

The girl later communicated she and her brother had come from Saint Martin's Land, a subterranean world inhabited by green people. This actually happened!

Mulks23 , Ines Hegedus-Garcia Report

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NeonDisco
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a folklore story passed down generations, like the Bible but believable.

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#29

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group The baltic states conquest was buried in history (not many people know it) because ww2 and the holocaust happened at about the same time.

TayoDaAsian , www.twin-loc.fr Report

#30

30 Of The Weirdest And The Most Disturbing Facts From Known History, Shared By People In This Online Group The Germans smuggling Lenin into Tsarist Russia, to bring it down.

willubemyfriendo , 7C0 Report

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Bacony Cakes
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

imagine like being putting your luggage through the scanner at the airport and inside they find trotsky

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