History

Weird history facts all gathered right here under our history category.  Once you have had your fill of history facts head over to our random fact generator to learn more random factoids!

WTF Fun Fact 13019 – Surfing Invented By Ancient Polynesians

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When was surfing invented? Probably 700 years ago, at least. The Polynesians invented surfing – that is, standing on a board while riding a wave – long before contact with European colonists. Only later did it come to Hawaii.

Who invented surfing?

Surfing goes back to at least the 12th century. Polynesians made the first surfboards from long pieces of wood. They likely used the activity as a means of transportation between the islands of Polynesia. But it was also a sacred activity and a way to train warriors.

Today, we typically think of Hawaii as the birthplace of surfing, but it likely originated on other Polynesian islands. The Polynesians brought it to Hawaii later.

According to the surf blog Errant Waves (cited below):

“Surfing was a central part of the power relationship on these islands. For example, the tribe with the highest rank had the best beaches and the best ‘boards.’ In addition, the chiefs of the tribes were the best surfers in the clan, who therefore were allowed to have the best boards made of the best wood. The ‘normal’ people were not allowed on the beaches of the tribal chiefs. They had to surf on their own, lesser beaches. Surfing was therefore literally a royal sport on these islands.”

While cave paintings tell us how old surfing may be, the earliest descriptions are in the notes of European colonists.

Colonists’ describe the invention of surfing

The first description of surfing on the island of Hawaii comes from the botanist onboard Captain Cook’s HMS Resolution. Joseph Banks wrote:

“(…) the shore was covered with pebbles and large stones; yet, in the midst of these breakers, were ten or twelve Indians swimming for their amusement: whenever a surf broke near them, they dived under it, and, to all appearance with infinite facility, rose again on the other side...At this wonderful scene we stood gazing for more than half an hour, during which time none of the swimmers attempted to come on shore, but seemed to enjoy their sport in the highest degree; we then proceeded in our journey, and late in the evening got back to the fort.”

Less than a decade later, in 1777, Dr. William Anderson wrote another description. In 1777, he published these words about surfers in Tahiti:

“I could not help concluding that this man felt the most supreme pleasure while he was driven on so fast and so smoothly by the sea; especially as, though the tents and ships were so near, he did not seem in the least to envy or even to take any notice of the crowds of his countrymen collected to view them as objects which were rare and curious. During my stay, two or three of the natives came up, who seemed to share his felicity, and always called out when there was an appearance of a favorable swell, as he sometimes missed it by his back being turned, and looking about for it. By then I understood that this exercise… was frequent among them; and they have probably more amusements of this sort which afford them at least as much pleasure as skating, which is the only of ours with whose effects I could compare it.” —WTF fun facts

Source: History of Surfing – Collections of Waikiki

WTF Fun Fact 13016 – Petting an Animal Reduces Stress

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You’ve probably heard that petting an animal reduces stress. If you’re lucky, you’ve even experienced it firsthand. And if you have the pleasure of consistently getting some hands-on time with a furry companion (or even a pal’s pet), you may not always notice it, but you probably do have less cortisol in your system.

How does petting an animal reduce stress?

One of the most oft-cited studies about the animals reducing our stress comes from a study in the journal of the American Educational Research Assocation (AERA). It was a rigorous study that controlled for multiple other factors, such as overall health of the subjects. And it found that just 10 minutes of petting a cat or dog (many of which happened to come from a shelter and probably benefitted from some socialization) results in measurably smaller levels of cortisol, the hormone that regulates our flight-or-fight response.

The research was done on college students (who often get stressed out around midterms and finals). And one of the best parts was that even brief animal encounters could help reduce stress levels.

The researchers didn’t find the same effect when students viewed photos of pets or saw them in person – the real benefits came from physical contact.

Details of the study

The researchers collected saliva samples from 249 college students who participated in one of four types of animal encounters. (Cortisol levels can be measured using saliva.)

  • 73 students got to pet the cats and dogs
  • 62 watched other people pet the animals
  • 57 watched a slideshow of images of the same animals
  • 57 remained on the waitlist

Saliva samples were collected first thing in the morning and then two more samples were collected 15 and 25 minutes after the animal encounter.

Students with hands-on animal interactions had the lowest cortisol levels, though it didn’t necessarily last throughout the day. Still, even momentary stress relief can help regulate stress.

The researchers hope the knowledge that petting animals reduces stress will help colleges (and others) help people regulate stress before it causes more serious physical and psychological disorders. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Animal Visitation Program (AVP) Reduces Cortisol Levels of University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial” — AERA Open

WTF Fun Fact 13015 – The Great Wall Sticky Rice Connection

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Walls between countries are more symbolic than anything, and that’s true for the Great Wall of China as well. Still, it’s such an epic structure that it took thousands of years to complete. It’s also not actually one long wall but a series of structures. Oh, and it’s held together by sticky rice.

What’s the story behind the Great Wall?

The first emperor of a unified China Qin Shi Huang Di began building the wall, but like many of his monumental structures, it was unfinished by the time of his death. In fact, it wasn’t until several hundred years later that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty (in the 14th – 17th centuries) took up the project again in earnest, building more sections along with the iconic gates and towers.

These emperors built hundreds of miles of the most famous section of the wall, which China has claimed is over 13,000 miles long – but likely includes sections that no longer exist (Chairman Mao encouraged people to take pieces of it to build their homes, for example). It’s a magnificent structure no matter its exact length, even if it didn’t always keep out invaders.

It is, however, held together with sticky rice.

Why sticky rice?

You might be confused if you’ve only had your rice cooked from the instructions on a package of Uncle Ben’s, but Chinese rice is deliciously sticky. It also helps make great mortar.

But don’t make fun of Chinese cuisine – sticky rice is just one part of the limestone mortar used to hold together this structure. This was discovered by scientists at Zhejiang University in China, and the recipe makes it the first example of composite mortar (something we all benefit from today whether we know it or not).

According to Smithsonian Magazine (cited below), the researchers “found that ‘sticky rice-lime mortar has more stable physical properties, has greater mechanical storage, and is more compatible, which make it a suitable restoration mortar for ancient masonry.’”

That makes sticky rice mortar one of the greatest and most enduring (literally) inventions of an already amazing lineage of governments. It is part of the reason structures built during this period are still around, surviving earthquakes and other tests from the elements.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Sticky Rice Mortar, the View From Space, and More Fun Facts About China’s Great Wall” — Smithsonian Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 13012 – More Dads Changing Diapers

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There are more dads changing diapers than ever. But don’t assume that means millennial dads are the first generation to cover closer relationships with their kids.

While the statistic that only 3% of dads these days have never changed a diaper was used to claim that millennial dads are the first cohort to step up to the parenting plate, that’s just not the full story.

What’s the significance of dads changing diapers?

Dr. Laura King from the University of Warwick’s Centre for the History of Medicine responded to statistics about diaper-changing duties by saying we “shouldn’t make the assumption that fathers have only become more involved in looking after their children over the past 20 years,” according to Science Daily (cited below). However, their diaper-changing duties have become far more significant.

In 1982, 43% of dads said they had never changed a diaper. By 2000, it was just 3%. And by 2010, a study by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit found that “65% of men helped ‘a great deal’ with diaper changing.”

Modern dads are older than we thought

However, after studying newspapers, social research, and interviews with fathers from the past, Dr. King was clear: “We must reject suggestions that close father-child relationships have only developed since the 1970s or even 1990s. The stereotype of the distant and tyrannical Victorian patriarch conceals substantial evidence of fathers who cared greatly for their children and played with them, educated them, and even nursed them.”

In fact, after the Second World War, fathers began showing much more interest in cultivating closer relationships with their kids. So if there’s a “modern dad,” he’s not a millennial – he’s a millennial’s grandfather or great-grandfather.

Of course, smaller family sizes and other social trends made this more realistic for families than ever before. So it’s not that men all just woke up one day and decided to play a bigger role in child-rearing.

When it comes to dads and diapers, Dr. King said that while there’s “a great deal of historical evidence showing that fathers have played a caring and nurturing role with their children for centuries…it does seem to have taken a while for the majority of fathers to take their turn in changing dirty diapers.

—WTF fun facts

Source: “Research punctures ‘modern’ fathers myth — except for diapers, that is” — Science Daily

WTF Fun Fact 13010 – The Invention of the Chocolate Chip Cookie

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Fun fact: We have a woman named Ruth Wakefield to thank for the invention of the chocolate chip cookie in 1939. She ran the restaurant at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. She assumed adding broken pieces of Nestlé Semi-Sweet chocolate to her cookies would make the chocolate melt into the batter. But the chocolate largely maintained its shape, and the cookies became so popular that she published the recipe in a Boston newspaper.

***

Even if chocolate chip cookies aren’t you’re favorite, it’s hard to claim they don’t hold an iconic place in American culinary history. According to the Nestlé website,

“It all started back in 1939. Ruth Wakefield, who ran the successful Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, was mixing a batch of cookies when she decided to add broken pieces of Nestlé Semi-Sweet chocolate into the recipe expecting the chocolate to melt. Instead, the semi-sweet bits held their shape and softened to a delicate creamy texture and the chocolate chip cookie was born. Ruth’s ‘Toll House Crunch Cookie’ recipe was published in a Boston newspaper and her invention of the chocolate chip cookie quickly became the most popular cookie of all-time.”

The original chocolate chip cookie recipe

Want to make the original chocolate chip cookie? Nestlé shared the recipe on their website:

The recipe that started it all

More than 80 years later, Nestlé Toll House’s Original Chocolate Chip Cookies are a true classic and a go-to recipe for all occasions.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (if omitting, add 1-2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour)

Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375° F
Step 2: Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets
Step 3: Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “A timeless discovery: The chocolate chip cookie” — Nestlé

WTF Fun Fact 13009 – Cats Domesticated Themselves

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If you’ve ever been owned by a cat (or have been given the honor of being allowed to live alongside one), you know they will do whatever they want to do. So it may come as no surprise that cats domesticated themselves. They just decided to move in with humans – and not much about them has changed since that day.

How do we know cats domesticated themselves?

If you’re skeptical about this and how we know it (or even what it all means), that’s fair.

Here’s the thing – when humans domesticate animals, we choose certain characteristics that we like about them, and the animals that end up allowing this kind of domestication often have certain kind of characteristics (whether it’s size, a tendency to be docile, etc.). Those characteristics are, to some extent, encoded in their genomes. So if we look at the genomes of those animals over thousands of years, we should see changes that indicate the selection of certain traits.

It’s not much different than modern dog breeding – purebred dogs are specifically bred to have specific genes that make them look or act a certain way. Their environment plays a role too, but we can see a lot of characteristics in their genomes.

Cat genomes? Let’s just say they haven’t changed much at all. And we know that because cats have been cherished and worshipped for thousands of years and therefore buried in ways that allow us to collect even their ancient DNA.

What do cat genomes tell us about domestication?

Of course, we can’t go back in time to check our work, but we can do pretty comprehensive studies on cats from all over the world and from different time periods. And that’s what a group of scientists did. They published their study in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution under the not-very-catchy title “The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world.” It doesn’t sound riveting, but it’s pretty cool (especially if someone summarizes it for you).

Our favorite line comes from National Geographic’s write-up on the work (cited below), noting that “[cats’] genes have changed little from those of wildcats, apart from picking up one recent tweak: the distinctive stripes and dots of the tabby cat.”

But here’s the gist of it: The researchers looked at the DNA of over 200 cats. These cats spanned a timeline of 9,000 years, the ancient cats coming from Rome and Egypt. They found that there were two major cat lineages that came together to make modern housecats. Normally, you’d expect to see A LOT more diversity than that.

Early cats likely spread into Europe from southwest Asia around 4400 BCE and hung out with people in early farming communities. Apparently, cats just decided people were largely ok to be around, and people decided cats were ok because they killed rodents that interfered with crops. If anyone tried to do anything more to domesticate cats, they clearly failed.

It was a mutually beneficial relationship. And maybe cats didn’t even like people but just liked the rodent populations we attracted. We’ll never know. But in any case, we all just grew up alongside each other. Humans “let” cats domesticate themselves. (Frankly, our guess is that cats were in charge the whole time.) — WTF fun facts

Source: “Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows” — National Geographic

WTF Fun Fact 12998 – The Oldest Recipe In The World

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You know the oldest recipe in the world was going to be for something kind of weird, right? Well, at the very least, it’s a pudding with a kick. The world’s oldest recipe is roughly 8,000 years old and contains instructions for making nettle pudding.

The oldest recipe in the world is for…pudding

Researchers at the University of Wales Institute (Uwic) in Cardiff, led by Dr. Ruth Fairchild, have been studying ancient recipes for years. In fact, they’ve managed to translate the into something you really can cook (though there’s no promise of whether it’ll be palatable or even remotely worthwhile).

If you’re thinking nettle pudding sounds like a bad idea, we’re with you. People have long used nettles in medicines. But there’s a reason we refer to them as “stinging nettles” – they sting!

However, Fairchild assures adventurous cooks that heating up the nettles “takes the sting right out of them. ” Fingers crossed!

In 2007, Dr. Fairchild told BBC Breakfast (cited below) “nettle pudding was made by mixing nettles with ground-down barley and water.” And, here, Americans will note that “pudding” means something completely different to the British.

Antiquity Now says:

“For those of you not familiar with non-dessert puddings, it has the consistency of a dumpling and is often eaten with chunks of bread and the meat it is cooked along side.”

What is nettle pudding?

You may recognize some ingredients in nettle pudding (which is not the gloppy, smooth stuff we eat in America). It includes sorrel, watercress, dandelions, and nettles…you know, weeds.

Antiquity Now also assured readers that “the stinging nettle has long been an important food source and was greatly appreciated by ancient cultures. Its use as food has always been closely tied to its medicinal value. Often it would be ingested during the spring because it was believed to help in circulation and could restore warmth to the body after the cold winter months. Generally, the younger plants were chosen for food because they are less bitter, but more mature leaves can be boiled until they are suitable for ingestion. The Romans boiled nettles along with meat in order to tenderize it. Europeans used it in soups and puddings like the one below. In fact, in 2007, the recipe below was named Britain’s oldest recipe and is believed to be from around 6,000 BCE.”

We had no idea – we had always assumed that giving something a name like “stinging nettle” was a cue not to put it in your mouth under any circumstances.

Antiquity Now also shared the step-by-step recipe:

The Nettle Pudding Recipe

Interested in trying the oldest recipe in the world?

Ingredients

1 bunch of sorrel, 1 bunch of watercress, 1 bunch of dandelion leaves
2 bunches of young nettle leaves
Some chives
1 cup of barley flour
1 teaspoon of salt

Instructions

Chop the herbs finely and mix in the barley flour and salt.
Add enough water to bind it together and place in the center of a linen or muslin cloth.

Tie the cloth securely and add to a pot of simmering venison or wild boar (a pork joint will do just as well). Make sure the string is long enough to pull the pudding from the pot.
Cook the pudding until the meat is done (at least two hours).
Leave the pudding to cool slightly, remove the muslin, then cut the pudding into thick slices with a knife.
Serve the pudding with chunks of barley bread.

Bon appetit! — WTF fun facts

Source: “When nettles were dish of the day” — BBC

WTF Fun Fact 12996 – Swami Vivekananda

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Anyone who practices yoga in the West today does so because a Hindu monk named Swami Vivekananda traveled to Chicago from India in 1893 to crash the World’s Columbian Exposition.

This world’s fair was held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World but gave him an enormous audience at its Parliament of Religions, which was originally meant to celebrate the glories of Protestantism.

Who was Swami Vivekananda?

According to Smithsonian Magazine (cited below), things didn’t get off to a great start for Swami Vivekananda since he hadn’t actually been invited to speak at the event:

“One morning in September 1893, a 30-year-old Indian man sat on a curb on Chicago’s Dearborn Street wearing an orange turban and a rumpled scarlet robe. He had come to the United States to speak at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, part of the famous World Columbian Exposition. The trouble was, he hadn’t actually been invited. Now he was spending nights in a boxcar and days wandering around a foreign city. Unknown in America, the young Hindu man, named Vivekananda, was a revered spiritual teacher back home. By the time he left Chicago, he had accomplished his mission: to present Indian culture as broader, deeper and more sophisticated than anyone in the U.S. realized.”

Recognizing Indian culture

No one at the time thought of India as a vibrant-yet-ancient culture. It was a conquered place, considered backward and largely irrelevant from a cultural standpoint. “So the audience was astonished when Vivekananda, a representative of the world’s oldest religion, seemed anything but primitive—the highly educated son of an attorney in Calcutta’s high court who spoke elegant English. He presented a paternal, all-inclusive vision of India that made America seem young and provincial.”

It turns out Swami Vivekananda was the perfect person to bring Indian culture, including the practice of yoga (which looked quite different at the time), to America. He had attended Christian schools and knew the Bible and was an expert in European philosophy.

While Swami Vivekananda died early, at age 39, he traveled to major cities in the U.S. and shared Indian culture and knowledge about the Hindu religion, opening the door to the practice of yoga (as a spiritual practice at the time) in America. — WTF fun facts

Source: “The Indian Guru Who Brought Eastern Spirituality to the West” — Smithsonian Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12984 – Demetrius The Besieger

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Demetrius The Besieger was the son of one of Alexander the Great’s generals. And if you know much about ancient history, you know Alexander died young, leaving his enormous kingdom in the lurch when it came to a ruler. As a result, many men tried to step up and declare themselves king, splitting the empire into many parts.

It’s important to note, however, that most of what we know about Demetrius comes from the ancient biographer Plutarch, so it’s second-hand knowledge.

The story of Demetrius The Besieger

Dr. Charlotte Dunn from the University of Tasmania is an expert on Demetrius. In The Conversation (cited below), she explains how he came to power. Calling him “one of the more outrageous rulers of the time,” she notes that:

“…Demetrius was never supposed to be king. But he and his father Antigonus the One-Eyed didn’t let a lack of royal blood get in the way of ambition. The two of them spent many years fighting, stealing territory, and eliminating rivals. In 306 BCE, they both claimed the title King. They were trendsetters in this area, and soon self-made kings popped up all over the place, dividing Alexander’s empire into smaller kingdoms of their own. But even during this time of royally bad behavior and a multitude of rival kings, Demetrius still managed to gain a standout reputation.”

Demetrius became known as the Besieger after commissioning a giant machine called the Helepolis (or “city-taker”). It besieged cities with catapults and battering rams non-stop. In fact, even the citizens of the besieged cities were impressed by it. One city asked if they could keep it.

Dunn describes many more stories from Plutarch about the outrageous king. This includes one about his obsession with being admitted to the Athenian Mystery cult. Since admission only happened at specific times of the year, Demetrius changed the calendar to make it possible.

Making money with Demetrius

And while there are coins that appear to represent his predecessor Alexander the Great, it’s more likely that all coins made before Demetrius depicted divine beings (who may have had a resemblance to contemporary leaders, many of whom claimed to be descended from gods and goddesses).

Demetrius purposely ensured his image was on coins (though he sometimes bore a striking resemblance to Poseidon as well). He was likely the first ruler to do so in the Western world. He claimed to be the son of Poseidon and Aphrodite.

More “fun facts” about Demetrius the Besieger

Demetrius was also a partier, a polygamist, and a pretty poor leader.

He cavorted with wives and mistresses inside of temples, taxed his people in order to procure beauty products for his lovers, and dumped the petitions of his citizens into the river instead of reading them.

Eventually, he was chased out of Macedonia and captured by his enemies. However, he still maintained his bad behavior, even in captivity. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Siege warfare, polygamy and sacrilege: meet history’s most outrageous king, Demetrius the Besieger” — The Conversation

WTF Fun Fact 12983 – The History of Birthstones

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You probably know your birthstone, but do you know why we have them? If your answer is “because someone wants to make us feel sentimental about something in an effort to sell us more stuff,” you’re pretty much right. But there’s also an interesting history of birthstones that helps tell the story of how they came to be part of our cultures.

Where does the history of birthstones begin?

Nowadays there are one to three gemstones for every month/zodiac sign. But a birthstone for each month is a later development. Originally, the idea of 12 gemstones goes back to the story of Aaron, the brother of Moses in the Old Testament.

In the Book of Exodus, Aaron wears a breastplate adorned with 12 stones. Each stone represents one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Aaron was the first high priest of the Israelites to wear it. All those who come after him wore it too since it is said to have special powers to reveal the fate of the tribes. (That’s the short story,

First-century translations of the Old Testament texts reveal that “the first row contained carnelian, chrysolite, and beryl. The second row contained jacinth, agate, and amethyst, and the third row contained topaz, onyx, and jasper.”

According to the International Gem Society (IGS) (cited below):

“The naming of minerals at the time were dependent on color rather than chemical composition, so it is difficult to determine which gems were actually used. For example, chrysolite was used to describe gems with flecks of gold, which could have included topaz or peridot.”

From sacred gemstones to birthstones

In the late 1st century AD, the historian Josephus mentions the breastplate in his 20-volume work on Jewish customs. He also calls attention to its connection to the 12 months of the year and the 12 zodiac signs. He was one of the few Jewish writers that early Christian authors referenced. So it’s no surprise that Josephus’ ideas were picked up by St. Jerome in the 5th century AD. Jerome encouraged the use of the stones to represent months

According to the IGS “This established a tradition that would last for centuries, in which people would collect all of the 12 stones to wear at one time in extravagant belts, bracelets, and other ornaments. By the 8th and 9th centuries, this trend evolved to where people would own a collection of all of the jewels but only wear a single stone during a given month, where it was believed to have heightened powers. This most likely came from eastern traditions believing that birthstones can provide the wearer with protection and powers, as trade between the east and west began to surge during this time period. The modern tradition of wearing one stone for their month of birth did not begin until the 16th century and originated in either Germany or Poland.  This was the start of the birthstone trend we are familiar with today.”

Other cultural influences

Eastern cultures also associated gemstones, though it’s more often 9 stones than 12. Still, the idea of associating stones with astrological signs would have resonated around the world early on.

That made it much easier for someone (the gemstone industry) to eventually capitalize on it further.

In 1912, the National Association of Jewelers decided to standardize the list of American birthstones and the months they represented. This allowed them to promote the purchase of specific stones in large quantities at different times of the year.

In 1952, the list was modified as stones were harder to come by and became too expensive.

Now, you’ll see up to three stones associated with any single month or zodiac sign. This has a lot to do with what sorts of stones the industry is capable of selling. — WTF fun facts

Source: “History of Birthstones” — International Gem Society

WTF Fun Fact 12982 – Death By Turnip

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On December 19, 1881 a former British Conservative MP (Member of Parliament) named Sir William Payne Gallwey suffered death by turnip.

It’s even more strange since he was out on a shooting trip at his estate, Thirkleby Park. But a gun was not the cause of his death.

How does one die by turnip exactly?

The Northern Echo reported, that Gallwey “was out shooting in the parish of Bagby, and in crossing a turnip field fell with his body on to a turnip, sustaining severe internal injuries.”

He received medical aid after his fall. But already in poor health, he was unable to recover from his run-in with the turnip. He died a few days later.

Gallwey was 73, and he just retired from Parliament a year earlier.

According to Victorian Commons (cited below), “Gallwey is not the only MP whose death involved a turnip.”

A second death by turnip

In November 1833 Whig MP Lewis Fenton died after falling from a window at his home. He

“Press reports suggested that there was ‘considerable mystery’ surrounding the circumstances of his death, hinting at suicide, but the ensuing inquest returned a verdict of accidental death. As Fenton’s widow explained to the surgeon who tended him, Fenton had been in the habit of going into the attic to look at ‘a piece of ground where some turnips were growing, to see that none of his cows were trespassing in it’. He had apparently over-balanced while standing on a chair to look out of the window.”

Assuring people it was not a suicide, Victorian Commons notes that “Other evidence showed that Fenton had been in a cheerful mood the evening before his death, when he had drafted a speech for a forthcoming meeting regarding a testimonial to the anti-slave trade campaigner William Wilberforce.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “Beware the turnip! Unusual causes of death among Victorian MPs” — Victorian Commons

WTF Fun Fact 12977 – Why Isn’t September the 7th Month?

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To us, the months of the calendar can mean lots of things. It can signal big changes (new school years, new fiscal years, birthday months, the beginning of Spring, harvest season, etc.). But historically, calendars were also instruments of power. That’s part of the explanation as to why September isn’t the 7th month of the year anymore.

What does September mean?

Our month of September comes from the ancient Roman calendar. The month named Septem literally meant “seven” – as in the 7th month of the year.

For much of their ancient history, the Romans has a 10-month calendar. However, to be fair, emperors were always inserting new numbers of days or months named after themselves in there. In fact, the infamous emperor Commodus tried to rename all the months after himself (a measure that was repealed after his assassination).

What did calendars really mean?

People weren’t hanging their calendars on the walls back in the ancient world. They mostly went by the night sky and used the position of the sun and the seasons to figure out what needed to be done in the fields (nearly all society was agrarian at the time).

Those in power – whether it was political or religious power (or both) – used calendars to try to make the world operate according to their whim. And while you can’t change the pace of the seasons or the lunar cycles just by sticking in a random month, you can change things like the time when taxes are due, which can really mess things up for the people around you. Politicians would even try to lose or gain a month to shorten someone’s tenure in power!

So, why isn’t September the 7th month anymore?

Recalling the entire history of the calendar would take a while. Let’s just say there have been plenty of disagreements over the centuries about how many months were needed, how many days would be in each month, when new days should be inserted to keep up with the astrological “calendar,” and what the months would be called.

But the end of September’s literal meaning started in 451 BCE when January and February were added by the Roman ruler Numa Pompilius to create a 12-month year. He added them at the end of the old calendar (which began in March), then switched things around again, but the 12-month idea clearly made more sense because it lined up with the lunar cycles.

The calendar went through many more changes, including the inclusion of the 27/28-day month called Mercedonius at one point. In 46 BC Julius Caesar had enough and reformed the calendar. That didn’t mean there weren’t tweaks here and there after that, but there’s a reason we refer to our current calendar as the Julian calendar.

It’s just that no one really cared that poor September had lost its meaning along the way. — WTF fun facts

Source: “September (Roman month)” — Wikipedia; “Roman republican calendar” — Britannica

WTF Fun Fact 12964 – Our Obsession With Pumpkins

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Pumpking beer, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin-spiced…you name it. Our obsession with pumpkins knows no bounds.

Even if you hate the taste of pumpkins, you might still be soothed by the sight of them. And there’s a reason for that.

What’s with our obsession with pumpkins?

Most pumpkin-flavored things don’t really taste like pumpkin or even contain pumpkin – in fact, most are made with a different type of squash altogether. We’re mostly in it for the spices.

Still, there’s a reason we market everything as “pumpkin flavored” – and it’s all about nostalgia.

According to NPR (cited below), a professor of American Studies at St. Louis University named Cindy Ott wrote a book titled Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon in which she describes why we’re so drawn to the round, orange gourds.

“It’s a vegetable that represents this idyllic farm life, and the best sort of moral virtue. And Americans have become attached to that,” she said.

“‘The rehab of pumpkin’s popularity began when 19th century Americans began to move away from rural life and into the city,’ Ott says. ‘People became stressed about… moving into the office and off the farms, and [the pumpkin] starts to appear in poems and in paintings,’ she says. ‘We’re celebrating the nostalgia for this old-fashioned, rural way of life that no one ever really wanted to stay on, but everyone’s always been romantic about.'”

Recycling pumpkin-flavored ideas

Did you know pumpkin beer isn’t a new phenomenon? Pumpkins were once the food of pure desperation.

NPR explains that “…pumpkin beers and pumpkin breads have been produced since colonial times, Ott says that they weren’t always the specialty foods that they are today. ‘Pumpkin beer was used when there was no barley. [If] there was no wheat for bread, they used pumpkin [for] bread,'”

If anyone mocks you for your pumpkin-flavored obsession, just tell them you’re helping the economy.

“Big corporations advertise many pumpkin-themed products, but due to their limited seasonal availability, many fresh pumpkins sold every fall still come from local family farms,” Ott told NPR. “And that’s actually helping to rejuvenate those farms.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “Why Americans Go Crazy For Pumpkin And Pumpkin-Flavored Stuff” — NPR

WTF Fun Fact 12960 – Knocker Uppers

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No one enjoys an alarm clock. But just imagine not having one and relying on someone to stop by your home and bang on your window or door to get you out of bed in the morning. That’s what happened in industrial England before alarm clocks were invented. The human alarm clocks were known as “knocker uppers” or simply “knockers.”

Who were the knockers?

According to Snopes (cited below): “Before the average industrial worker in England had access to alarm clocks, someone needed to wake them up. This fell to the ‘knocker-ups,’ or ‘knocker-uppers,”’or simply ‘knockers’ who would go around working-class neighborhoods around Britain with sticks, pea-shooters, poles or anything else that would help them knock on doors and windows to get people up.”

Try hitting the snooze on that!

According to the BBC, they “were common in mill towns in northern Britain, or in London where dockers had unusual hours, and even with brewery workers in less industrial towns in Dorset.”

How did the knocker uppers come about?

A 2020 article in the Journal of Victorian Culture, “Knocker Ups: A Social History of Waking Up in Victorian Britain’s Industrial Towns” explains:  

“In pre-industrial societies, people organized their activities around diurnal and seasonal rhythms. Historians have argued that in contrast, industrialized societies became preoccupied with time and watching the clock. Time became money. Beginning work at factories at a fixed hour in the day became crucial for both factories and workers. In particular, wages of industrial workers became bound by time – if they failed to report to their duties on time they were fined. Within this context, knocker ups emerged in British industrial society to perform the vital duty of waking up industrial workers. Consequently, they became an integral part of the service industry created to cater to working-class clients. By waking up industrial hands on time, knocker ups contributed to industrial productivity. Usually, knocker ups went around industrial towns waking up clients with their innovative tools. Some used sticks and canes while others shot peas through pipes. Either way, the knocker ups used their creative ways to let their clients know it was time for them to wake up.”

We just wonder how the neighbors felt on the days they got to sleep in! — WTF fun facts

Source: “Who Were the Knocker-Uppers?” — Snopes

WTF Fun Fact 12955 – The Iron Maiden Myth

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You may have heard of Iron Maiden the band, but they named themselves after what many have long considered a popular-yet-gruesome medieval torture device. But the iron maiden is part myth.

The Myths of the Middle Ages

People tend to think of the Middles Ages as a dark time in history (which is why they’re sometimes called The Dark Ages). In reality, people of the Renaissance era and the writers who came after them needed to distinguish it from a less glorious time, so they ended up casting the medieval period as one of stagnation and backwardness.

Now, that’s not to say things like medieval torture didn’t happen. It was just nowhere near as common as people think. And many of the devices that we find from that period weren’t used all that often.

So what is the iron maiden? It’s a coffin-like box with spikes on the inside. The idea is that you’d put a person in there, close the door, and they would be stabbed. The real cruelty supposedly came in the form of relatively short spikes. These short spikes would stab but not immediately kill, leaving the tortured person to slowly bleed to death in agony.

That does indeed sound like torture!

The Iron Maiden Myth

If you’re already predisposed to think of the Middle Ages as a time of cruelty, you might think the iron maiden device sounds like something the Church, or courts, or someone else in power might have used. But there’s just no evidence of that.

Despite its popular portrayal as a torture device of choice, according to Live Science (cited below): “The first historical reference to the iron maiden came long after the Middle Ages, in the late 1700s. German philosopher Johann Philipp Siebenkees wrote about the alleged execution of a coin-forger in 1515 by an iron maiden in the city of Nuremberg. Around that time, iron maidens started popping up in museums around Europe and the United States. These included the Iron Maiden of Nuremberg, probably the most famous, which was built in the early 1800s and destroyed in an Allied bombing in 1944.”

It’s hard to believe there would be no earlier direct reference to the iron maiden if it really existed.

Anything but an iron-clad history

To be fair, there are earlier references to devices that sound like the iron maiden. For example, a 5th-century book called The City of God which “tells a tale of torture of the Roman general Marcus Atilius Regulus, who was locked in a nail-studded box. Marcus didn’t die of being impaled, though; he was forced to stay awake lest the nails pierce his skin, and eventually died of sleep deprivation.”

The Greek historian Polybius, writing around 100 B.C., told a similar story of “the Spartan tyrant Nabis constructed a mechanical likeness of his wife Apega. When a citizen refused to pay his taxes, Nabis would have the faux wife wheeled out.” The device was covered in nails.

If these devices did exist (and we haven’t found any physical remnants), they predate the Middle Ages. In fact, a lot of so-called medieval torture devices (or at least descriptions of them) do.

It’s unlikely that torture was truly that elaborate on a widespread scale, but trying to extract information or punish people through pain has existed for millennia. So why is this how we remember the Middle Ages?

“…myths about over-engineered pain and punishment still resonate. In 2013, for example, local journalism site Patch reported that a history of torture exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Man had sent attendance at the museum up 60 percent over the previous year, helping pull the institution out of a financial hole.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “Are Iron Maidens Really Torture Devices?” — LiveScience

WTF Fun Fact 12954 – Is the Soul Weighing 21 Grams a Lie?

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There’s no reliable way to weigh the human “soul,” though one person has tried. Still, the myth that the soul weighs 21 grams and that scientists have confirmed it still persists. And that’s because of a movie.

The weight of the soul

“21 Grams” is a 2003 film starring Sean Penn in which he plays a mathematician who experiments to find the weight of the human soul. It’s based on a story about a scientist, to some small extent, but the movie is pure fiction.

The man who attempted to weigh the human soul was a physician named Duncan MacDougall from Dorchester, MA. He assumed that if humans had souls in their bodies, those souls must weigh something. Therefore, upon death, the soul leaves the body and a person’s corpse should therefore be lighter.

In 1907, he wrote about his effort: “Since … the substance considered in our hypothesis is linked organically with the body until death takes place, it appears to me more reasonable to think that it must be some form of gravitative matter, and therefore capable of being detected at death by weighing a human being in the act of death.”

A flawed experiment

According to LiveScience, “MacDougall teamed up with Dorchester’s Consumptives’ Home, a charitable hospital for late-stage tuberculosis, which at that time was incurable. MacDougall built a large scale, capable of holding a cot and a dying tuberculosis patient. Tuberculosis was a convenient disease for this experiment, MacDougall explained in his paper, because patients died in ‘great exhaustion’ and without any movement that would jiggle his scale.”

We’re already on shaky ground here, but it gets worse.

“MacDougall’s first patient, a man, died on April 10, 1901, with a sudden drop in the scale of 0.75 ounce (21.2 grams). And in that moment, the legend was born. It didn’t matter much that MacDougall’s next patient lost 0.5 ounce (14 grams) 15 minutes after he stopped breathing, or that his third case showed an inexplicable two-step loss of 0.5 ounce and then 1 ounce (28.3 g) a minute later. MacDougall threw out Case 4, a woman dying of diabetes, because the scale wasn’t well calibrated, in part due to a ‘good deal of interference by people opposed to our work,’ which raises a few questions that MacDougall did not seem eager to answer in his write-up. Case 5 lost 0.375 ounce (10.6 grams), but the scale malfunctioned afterward, raising questions about those numbers, too. Case 6 got thrown out because the patient died while MacDougall was still adjusting his scale. MacDougall then repeated the experiments on 15 dogs and found no loss of weight — indicating, to his mind, that all dogs definitely do not go to heaven.”

Despite being a poor experiment with few samples in which his own first result was undermined by everything that came after it, he sent in his write-up to the journals American Medicine and the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, and his results were also reported in the New York Times.

No one except a sheep rancher in Oregon has ever tried to replicate the experiment, for ethical reasons.

So science has neither determined the existence of a soul nor its weight. —WTF fun facts

Source: “How much does the soul weigh?” — LiveScience

WTF Fun Fact 12953 – Abraham Lincoln, Licensed Bartender and Wrestling Champ

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While U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was known for being a wrestling champ, it’s less well-known that he was also a licensed bartender. In fact, he co-owned a bar with a friend. Unfortunately, that story had a rather sad ending.

Abraham Lincoln is in the Wrestling Hall of Fame

While he grew up in a log cabin in the Kentucky wilderness and then moved to Illinois as a boy, much of Lincoln’s early life isn’t household knowledge. Take, for example, his wrestling “career.” According to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame:

“In the rough and ready style of the frontier, “catch as catch can” wrestling was more hand-to-hand combat than sport. Lincoln, an awesome physical specimen at 6-feet-4, was widely known for his wrestling skills and had only one recorded defeat in a dozen years.

At age 19, he defended his stepbrother’s river barge from Natchez thugs by throwing the hijackers overboard. Ten years later, Lincoln was a storekeeper at New Salem when his boss backed him to out-wrestle Jack Armstrong, local tough and county champion. From the start, Lincoln handed out a thrashing. When Armstrong began fouling, Lincoln picked up his opponent, dashed him to the ground and knocked him out.”

Lincoln’s bartending career

Lincoln went on to become a lawyer and, eventually, president of the United States. But before his law career took off, he was a shopkeeper and bartender. In fact, he’s the only president to have ever been a licensed bartender.

According to Chicagoist (cited below):

“In January 1833, he partnered with his friend from his militia days, William F. Berry, to purchase a small store, which they named Berry and Lincoln. Stores could sell alcohol in quantities greater than a pint for off-premises consumption, but it was illegal to sell single drinks to consume at the store without a license. In March 1833, Berry and Lincoln were issued a tavern, or liquor, license, which cost them $7 and was taken out in Berry’s name. Stores that sold liquor to consume on the premises were called groceries.”

Unfortunately, the store didn’t work out because of Berry’s alcoholism. He drank the store’s liquor, and the pair’s business fell into debt. “It wasn’t until 1848, when Lincoln was a congressman, that he was able to pay off the whole debt.”

Once Lincoln entered politics, he denied selling alcohol “by the drink,” but people knew. His opponents even poked fun at him over it during debates.

Alas, he’s remembered for other things now. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Bartender-In-Chief: Abraham Lincoln Owned A Tavern” — Chicagoist

WTF Fun Fact 12952 – Yeats and Crowley Fought Over Magic

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Aleister Crowley was an English magician. He founded a religion called Thelema and practiced what he called “Magick.” William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet who also dabbled in the occult. The two were bitter rivals – in fact, Yeats and Crowley fought over magic to the point of violence.

White magic vs black magic

In the late 19th/early 20th century, the British duo were equally interested in the mystical world, albeit from very different angles. According to Open Culture (cited below) Yeats “once passionately wrote that the study of magic was ‘the most important pursuit of my life….. The mystical life is the center of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.'” And while “Crowley would surely say the same, but his magic was of a much darker, more obsessive variety, and his success as a poet insignificant next to Yeats.”

The pair was at the center of the fight between practitioners of white and black magic.

Crowley vs Yeats

Yeats was also outside of the mainstream of occult studies and was dismissed from the Theosophical Society for his experiments. After that, he joined Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which later included writers like Bram Stoker. But Crowley was also part of the Order and the two butted heads because Yeats felt Crowley used his magic for evil.

As a result, Yeats made sure Crowley was never initiated into the Order’s inner circle. He later ensured Crowley was expelled altogether.

This happened in 1900 and Crowley reduced to accept the decision. According to Yeats biographer Richard Ellmann, Crowley launched “astral attacks” on Yeats and things finally deteriorated into physical violence:

.… in Highlander’s tartan, with a black Crusader’s cross on his breast… Crowley arrived at the Golden Dawn temple in London. Making the sign of the pentacle inverted and shouting menaces at the adepts, Crowley climbed the stairs. But Yeats and two other white magicians came resolutely forward to meet him, ready to protect the holy place at any cost. When Crowley came within range the forces of good struck out with their feet and kicked him downstairs.“

The Battle of Blythe Road

This moment became known as “the Battle of Blythe Road.”

Open Culture reports that after his ouster, “Crowley went looking for converts—or victims—in London, while Yeats attempted to stop him with ‘the requisite spells and exorcisms.’ One such spell supposedly sent a vampire that ‘bit and tore at his flesh’ as it lay beside Crowley all night.”

That’s certainly one way to deal with your enemies! — WTF fun facts

Source: “Aleister Crowley & William Butler Yeats Get into an Occult Battle, Pitting White Magic Against Black Magic (1900)” — Open Culture