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 12563 – A Royal Name Change

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The House of Hanover was on the British throne until 1901 until the ascension of King Edward VII, the son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

But the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha name was short-lived among the British royal family. That’s not because another family took over, but rather because the family decided to change its name in the wake of anti-German sentiment in 1917 during World War I. The last straw before the name change came when an aircraft called the Gotha G.IV participated in the bombing of London.

So, while today we know the British royal family as the Windsors, they are the same Saxe-Coburg and Gothas that ruled at the beginning of the 20th century.

The forced abdication of the Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, who happened to be a cousin of British king George V, gave the monarchy even more to think about. So when they changed their name, they also abandoned or anglicized the rest of their German titles and houses.

On July 17, 1917, a royal proclamation issued by George V declared:

“Now, therefore, We, out of Our Royal Will and Authority, do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor….”

Of course, the name Windsor didn’t pop out of thin air. They took the name from Windsor Castle, a royal property and the center of royal social life, in the town of Windsor, England. It is now the permanent home of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Saxe-Coburg-Gothas didn’t get off without a bit of ribbing, however. The German Emperor at the time, Wilhelm II, joked that he was looking forward to seeing “The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,” a reference to Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” – WTF Fun Fact

Source: “British royal family change their name to Windsor – archive 1917” — The Guardian

WTF Fun Fact 12562 – Dunce Caps for Intelligence

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The 13th-century Scottish philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus was a highly educated man. But that didn’t stop him from believing that a pointy hat could make him smarter.

What we now see as a mark of stupidity today, the dunce cap originated with the philosopher-priest and his followers, the Dunsemen.

While some say John Duns Scotus was inspired by the image of wizards, others claim it was the other way around – the dunce caps inspired people to depict wizards in pointy hats.

In any case, the idea is that the cap acts as a reverse funnel, drawing in knowledge and letting it melt down into the brain.

The highly analytical writings of the medieval scholar fell out of favor in the more humanistic Renaissance, so it is perhaps the case that his followers were seen as…well, remedial, as time went on. As the Dunsemen came to be seen as foolish, their hats became a marker of that, signifying someone who is a lot less intelligent than Scotus once was.

However, the word “dunce” as we use it today originated in a play in the 17th century, which referred to a “dunce table” where children and dull guests were made to sit. In 1840, Charles Dickens mentioned the dunce cap in The Old Curiosity Shop, in which he described it as a leftover relic in a classroom made of newspaper. However, his mention and lack of further explanation mean it was probably something people would have already known about.

After that, the dunce cap served as a warning to children that when they misbehaved in class, they would be forced to sit in the corner wearing it. – WTF fun facts

Source: “The Dunce Cap Wasn’t Always So Stupid” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 12560 – The First Fingerprint Conviction

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In 1910, Clarence Hiller confronted an intruder in his home, tackling him as both men fell down the stairs. Hiller was then shot, and the suspect ran away.

Paroled 6 weeks prior, Thomas Jennings was convicted of the crime. He was stopped by police when they saw he was wearing a bloody coat. But that wasn’t what got him convicted.

While investigating the scene of the break-in, police noticed that the intruder had grabbed a freshly-painted railing while boosting himself into the Hiller family’s window. They cut off the piece of the railing as evidence and presented it in court, comparing it to Jennings’ fingerprint.

Criminal justice scholars have proved that the way we use fingerprint evidence is not always in the best interests of justice, nor are fingerprints always accurately interpreted. In fact, our fingerprints even change over the course of our lifetimes, so an old fingerprint may rule out an actual criminal caught decades later.

But in 1910, this type of evidence was a first for a criminal case and the jury needed to be convinced that each person’s fingerprints are unique. Unfortunately for Jennings, that proof came from his defense attorney.

W.G Anderson rightly questioned the use of such poorly-understood evidence to convict a person, but it was his own fingerprint that would convince the jury of his client’s guilt.

Anderson challenged the forensic experts to lift his fingerprint from a piece of paper. They did. But his big plan was to solicit fingerprints from the general public to show just how shoddy the science of fingerprinting was. Alas, we do all have unique fingerprints and while there are often problems in our interpretations, this little experiment did nothing but convince the jury that fingerprint evidence was solid.

Of all the fingerprints collected, none looked like Anderson’s. The jury voted unanimously to convict Jennings, who was sentenced to hang.

In their coverage, The Decatur Herald noted that “the murderer of Hiller wrote his signature when he rested his hand upon the freshly painted railing at the Hiller home.” –  WTF fun fact

Source: “The First Criminal Trial That Used Fingerprints as Evidence” — Smithsonian Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12559 – The Roman Gladiatrix

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The Romans were entertained by some pretty gruesome violence. And while gladiatorial combat didn’t originate in ancient Rome, that’s where we think of most of it taking place.

Gladiators were either born poor or were being punished for something. The most famous gladiator, Spartacus, had served as a soldier until a mistake got him imprisoned and enslaved and sent to train as a gladiator (prisoners had no choice – they could either train or be easily killed in the arena).

But if everything you know about gladiators comes from Spartacus or Russell Crowe’s turn in the arena, then you might be surprised to learn that every now and then, Romans could catch a glimpse of women in the arena fighting for their lives.

Referred to as gladiatracies (or Amazons, colloquially), they found topless, and there was an erotic element to their skillset. They weren’t pitted against men but other women or, occasionally, dwarves. It all depended on the predilections of that particular emperor at the time.

In fact, the memorably unstable emperor Nero put Ethiopian men, women, AND children in the arena together, presumably to shock and (for some) delight.

There were female gladiators in ancient Rome. They were rare, but we know gladiatrices existed partly because they were viewed as symptoms of a corrupt society and officially banned in 200 AD.

After all the scandal of seeing women this way, Septimius Severus (the emperor after the also-unstable gladiator-loving Commodus) decided that people had seen enough debauchery from women in the arena and banned female gladiators in 200 AD. –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Did female gladiators exist?” – BBC Culture

WTF Fun Fact 12557 – Presidents Who Were Cheerleaders

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Cheerleading is a very athletic sport. And for men who join the squad, it requires a lot of strength. Still, we were surprised to learn that some former US presidents were high school or college cheerleaders – it’s just hard to picture!

But not only were five presidents former cheerleaders, but some other prominent politicians were too. In fact, if a few elections had gone the other way, we’d have even more presidential pom-pom-wielders.

The first presidential cheerleader was Franklin D. Roosevelt. He cheered on sports teams from the sidelines at Harvard in 1900 and stayed on the squad for five years.

Dwight Eisenhower was a member of the West Point Academy football team until a knee injury ended that. But he loved sports, so the next best thing was to become a cheerleader for his former teammates.

Ronald Regan was all about the extracurricular activities at Eureka College, joining the acting club, serving as a radio announcer, student body president, and member of the swim and football teams. He also joined the cheerleading squad to root for athletes in other sports.

George H.W. Bush was a cheerleader at Yale, just as his father before him (and his son after him). He was also the president of his fraternity, a member of the Skull and Bones society, and captain of the baseball team.

George W. Bush had become a cheerleader at his high school Phillips Academy before joining the Yale squad. That makes him a third-generation male Yale cheerleader!

Now, there are some other prominent political figures who were cheering for their sports teams with pom poms back in their school days as well – none other than Ruth Bader Ginsberg was one of them. Trent Lott is another.

And had Rick Perry or Mitt Romney won their elections, they would have added to the list o presidential cheerleaders as well!

–  WTF fun fact

Source: Which four US Presidents were also cheerleaders? — Grunge

WTF Fun Fact 12556 – Halley’s Anti-Comet Pill

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Where there’s fear, there are people willing to take advantage of it for their own gain.

Hundreds of years ago, comets could be a terrifying phenomenon. It looked like the sky was falling, so it’s not surprising that people have long interpreted them as harbingers of doom.

1910 was the first year that people really knew to expect the comet and could convey that to a larger global population. There were still people who remembered seeing it in 1834.

But we still didn’t entirely understand the nature of comets, so people were more susceptible to rumors about their dangers. While they’re all false, some researchers and commentators were happy to propagate rumors that Halley’s Comet had a tail made of a toxic substance that would contaminate the earth.

It was visible to the naked eye beginning on April 15th disappearing on July 5th. But some people weren’t excited to catch a glimpse because they thought it would bring about the end of the world.

The warning from a handful of scientists was rooted in real concerns. It was a close pass, and a previous comet (named Morehouse) had just been studied closely, and scientists found the fail emitted a toxic gas called cyanogen. But that’s no reason to blow it up into a rumor that a high-speed comet full of poison was headed straight for earth.

Famous scientists were asked to debunk the rumor but had a hard time admitting it was entirely impossible (which people needed to hear in order to chill out). Of course, the press coverage of cherry-picked remarks only made the story bigger and the fear worse.

Reactions ranged from hysteria to people selling all of their possessions to others drinking themselves to death in preparation for the end of the world. Some people caulked their windows and did their best to seal every hole in their homes to prevent the entrance of the supposed toxic gas.

In the panic, some charlatans decided to sell an easy cure in the form of a pill. Of course, it was a sugar pill and had no medicinal value, but they failed to mention that part. There was also an anti-Halley’s comet elixir. It’s unclear how much money people make from these quack remedies for problems that didn’t exist but clearly enough to pay for advertising space.

In the end, Halley’s comet passed without incident – and it was barely visible in the night sky. –WTF fun fact

Source: “Halley’s Comet, Covid-19, and the history of ‘miracle’ anti-comet remedies” — Discover Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12555 – The London Bridge of Arizona

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London Bridge is falling down
Falling down, falling down
London Bridge is falling down
My fair lady

Did you sing this song as a kid? We sure did, although we had no idea just how many more verses it had – there are lines about building it up with iron bars as well as gold and silver, but in the end, the bridge was simply taken down and replaced.

Originally built in the 1830s, it spanned the River Thames in London, England. But by 1968, it was up for sale. We can’t really relate to the desire to buy an old bridge that’s falling down, but apparently, millionaires can. American entrepreneur and chainsaw manufacturer Robert P. McCulloch (who also inherited a fortune from his grandfather) decided to buy the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction in the new community he was planning in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He paid $2.5 million (but there wasn’t exactly a bidding war over it).

And what millionaires want, they tend to get. He bought the bridge, had it dismantled, and transported it to Arizona on a cargo ship. After sailing through the Panama Canal, it landed in Long Beach, California, and was trucked to Lake Havasu City. There, it was reassembled and opened in October 1971.

But you don’t have to worry about using a crumbling old bridge if you visit it. The masonry from the old bridge simply forms the outer structure of the new “London Bridge,” which includes reinforced concrete. It now connects an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City.

Now, when we say it connects an island, we don’t mean that a bridge was needed there. In fact, a canal was dug to create the island after the bridge was built. But it had the intended effect. Interest in buying land in the area increased, and it did indeed become a tourist destination (and it still is to this day). –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Arizona’s London Bridge: A Brief History” — Arizona Highways

WTF Fun Fact 12554 – The 3500-Year-Old Mom Joke

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Ancient Babylonians, they’re just like us! Ok, maybe not exactly, but it turns out they liked a good joke and even managed to record some on clay tablets. In 1976, archaeologist J.J. van Dijk found one such tablet in Iraq, and it contained a significant discovery – the first recorded “yo mama” joke.

Judging by the handwriting, van Dijk believes it was a student’s writing (which makes sense – but imagine having to sneak a clay tablet behind your back to pass notes in class!). The student inscribed 6 “riddles” on the tablet, though pieces were broken off.

Sadly, the jokes aren’t funny today, but it’s not surprising that you lose a little something in translation over 3500 years. What we do find amusing is that the 6th joke is a lewd joke about moms.

The rest don’t make much sense. For example:

In your mouth and your teeth, constantly stared at you, the measuring vessel of your lord. What is it? Beer.

See? Not funny. And neither is this one, although it gives us some indication that people have always enjoyed insulting politicians as well:

He gouged out the eye. It is not the fate of a dead man. He cut the throat: A dead man. Who is it?
A governor.

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for, the actual “joke” (or at least the part that’s left):

…of your mother is by the one who has intercourse with her.
What/who is it?

Sadly, there’s no punchline left on the tablet. But instead of being disappointed, we’re just amused that insulting mothers has been the go-to insult for so very long. Apparently, it’s something we’re all very sensitive about. –WTF fun fact

Source: “3,500-Year-Old Jokes Have Something to Say About Yo Mama” — Discover Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 12553 – The World’s Most Stolen Painting

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It may be one of the most important paintings in Western history, ushering in the era known as the Renaissance, but Jan van Eyck’s masterpiece Adoration of the Mystic Lamb also has a more dubious honor. It’s the world’s most stolen painting.

Perhaps the most impressive part is that the altarpiece weighs over 2 tons – that’s 4000 pounds! That’s more than a rhinoceros (albeit less aggressive). It also measures 14.5 by 11.5 feet.

Also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb has 12 panels depicting everything from the Annunciation, Adam and Eve, the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself. But the central theme is an incredibly detailed rendering of pilgrims gathered to honor the Lamb of God.

In 2010, Noah Charney, who authored the book Stealing the Mystic Lamb: the True Story of the World’s Most Coveted Masterpiece, explained the painting’s importance to NPR:

“It’s the first great oil painting — it influenced oil painting for centuries to come. It’s the first great panel painting of the Renaissance, a forerunner to artistic realism. The monumentality of it and the complexity of it fascinated people from the moment it was painted.”

The altarpiece was initially designed to go in the cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent. And that’s where it stayed for a century.

But in 1566, Calvinist militants set out to destroy the piece. When Catholic guards discovered the plot, they disassembled it and hid it in the cathedral tower. It survived the planned attack, but in 1794 four panels were stolen during the Napoleonic Wars and put on display in the Louvre.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, France sent the painting back to Ghent. But in 1816, a vicar at the cathedral reportedly stole the wing panels, which eventually ended up in the Berlin museum. But in 1919, one condition in the Treaty of Versailles was returning those panels to Ghent.

In 1934, thieves broke into the cathedral and stole the lower-left panel, which has still not been recovered. What’s on display in Ghent currently is a copy of that panel.

Unsurprisingly, the Nazis (known to pilfer priceless art) stole the painting during WWII as it was being transported to the Vatican. They were convinced it held a clue to a mystical treasure map that would help them find the relics of Christ’s passion. Yet it ended up stored away in an Austrian salt mine. The mine was rigged with explosives, but the Allies managed to take the mine, dismantle the bombs, and save all the priceless works of art hidden inside.

More intrigue surrounds the painting, and there were many more attempts to steal it. But today, it’s back in Ghent (though one panel – Righteous Judges – is still a replica since it’s never been located) and on display. –  WTF fun fact

Source: “The Most Stolen Work of Art” — Encyclopedia Britannica

WTF Fun Fact 12551 – The Six-Sided Book

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A 16th-century book with a single binding is constructed so that it can be read in 6 different ways and contains six different texts. All six books are religious and were first printed in Germany in the 1550s and 1570s. Each book has its own tiny clasp closure.

Erik Kwakkel, a medieval book historian at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, first discovered a type of book he dubbed a “Siamese twin” about eight years ago.

“The binding is called “dos-à-dos” (back to back), a type almost exclusively produced in the 16th and 17th centuries. They are like Siamese twins in that they present two different entities joint at their backs: each part has one board for itself, while a third is shared between the two. Their contents show why this was done: you will often find two complementary devotional works in them, such as a prayerbook and a Psalter, or the Bible’s Old and New Testament. Reading the one text you can flip the “book” to consult the other,” he wrote.

Check it out:

From the Folger Library

But when he posted about the 6-sided book, the oddity was picked up by a wide range of news sources. It’s an incredible piece of technology (a word we now reserve mainly for electronic capabilities).

It’s incredible what you can find in library archives!

The book was discovered in the National Library of Sweden. It is also referred to as a dos-à-dos, and Kwakkel states:

“Not only is it a rather old one (it was bound in the late 16th century), but it contains not two but six books, all neatly hidden inside a single binding (see this motionless pic to admire it). They are all devotional texts printed in Germany during the 1550s and 1570s (including Martin Luther, Der kleine Catechismus) and each one is closed with its own tiny clasp. While it may have been difficult to keep track of a particular text’s location, a book you can open in six different ways is quite the display of craftsmanship.” –  WTF fun fact

Source: “A Medieval Book That Opens Six Different Ways, Revealing Six Different Books in One” — Open Culture

WTF Fun Fact 12550 – Magical Gladiator Blood

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It’s not hard to find references to the drinking of gladiator blood in ancient sources. However, it was most often used to treat what ancient medical writers called “The Sacred Disease,” which we now believe is epilepsy. Some thought it was brought on by the gods, while others argued for a more natural cause.

Of course, there’s no truth to the claim, but epilepsy held an important place in ancient medicine because it stumped doctors for centuries. It could come on suddenly, making it even more mysterious.

And when diseases are misunderstood, their potential cures are likely to get pretty interesting.

In their 2003 article, “Between horror and hope: gladiator’s blood as a cure for epileptics in ancient medicine,” scholars Ferdinand Peter Moog and Axel Karenberg state that not only was gladiator blood a potential cure for this disease but a gladiator’s liver would be consumed as well. AND that the tradition may have continued in some places up into recent times!

“Between the first and the sixth century a single theological and several medical authors reported on the consumption of gladiator’s blood or liver to cure epileptics…
…the magical use of gladiators’ blood continued for centuries. After the prohibition of gladiatorial combat in about 400 AD, an executed individual (particularly had he been beheaded) became the “legitimate” successor to the gladiator.
Occasional indications in early modern textbooks on medicine as well as reports in the popular literature of the 19th and early 20th century document the existence of this ancient magical practice until modern times. Spontaneous recovery of some forms of epilepsy may be responsible for the illusion of therapeutic effectiveness and for the confirming statements by physicians who have commented on this cure.”

As the authors state, the condition we now know as epilepsy got better on its own in some people. But if they had the “gladiator treatment” and did get better, it simply strengthened doctors’ resolve to keep using it.

But why gladiator blood? According to Dr. Lydia Kang, MD, author of the book, Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything:

“They stemmed from this magical idea that young, healthy males had energy. If you could harness that energy right at the point of death, you could ingest some of this healthfulness. In other words: you are what you eat.” –  WTF fun fact

Source: “Gladiator Blood and Liquid Gold: Good for What Ails You?” — MedPage Today

WTF Fun Fact 12549 – The Shugborough Inscription

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Sometime between 1748 and 1756, Thomas Anson, a member of the British Parliament, commissioned a monument for his family’s estate, Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England.

The stone arch features a relief by the Flemish sculptor Peter Scheemakers duplicating a 1638 painting by Nicolas Poussin called The Shepherds of Arcadia. But unlike the painting, the relief includes an extra sarcophagus with the words “I am also in Arcadia.”

But what really gets people riled up about the arch is an inscription on it that no one has explained. Of course, it can simply be something personal to the family, but pseudohistorians and conspiracy theorists have deemed it something bigger – a mysterious ciphertext.

The inscription is a series of letters – O U O S V A V V – between the offset letters D and M.

According to the most likely theory, handed down by Keith Massey, a linguist who teaches Arabic and Latin and was hired by the NSA to crack the code, it’s not a secret message worthy of worldwide attention.

For example, the letters D M can be found on Roman tombs and stand for Dis Manibus, which translates to “dedicated to the shades.”

With this clue in place, Massey postulated that the rest of the letters stood for “Oro Ut Omnes Sequantur Viam Ad Veram Vitam,” or “I pray that all may follow the Way to True Life.”

Frankly, that seems like a good enough explanation for a random monument in someone’s backyard. But the fact that people (including the likes of Charles Darwin) had been trying to decipher it for many years indicated to some that it has a much deeper meaning. Of course, there’s no way of knowing if that’s true, and it seems unlikely.

But conspiracy theorists won’t be denied their conspiracies. They’ve been egged on by the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which hypothesized that a secret society called the Priory of Sion is helping to keep the secret that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children. The authors acknowledge the book is fiction, but their passing reference to Poussin being a member of this group and his painting The Shepherds of Arcadia holding some clue to the location of the Holy Grail (which, in this case, is not a vessel but Mary Magdalene herself) has been enough to keep the conspiracy alive.

A spokesman for Shugborough House says they get numerous messages each week of someone claiming to have solved the “mystery,” and they’ve largely started ignoring them. After all, they could simply be initials or stand for something that would only be meaningful to the family that once lived there. But they are also partly to blame for the continued interest since a promotional campaign they launched to get more tourists made repeated references to the storyline in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. –  WTF fun fact

Source: “200-year-old mystery of Shugborough Code ‘solved,’” The Birmingham Post

WTF Fun Fact 12547 – Caligula’s Equine Obsession

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There’s not a lot of love in the history books for the madman/Roman emperor Caligula. Much of what we know about him comes from ancient historians Suetonius and Cassius Dio, who weren’t big fans.

If you look up Caligula’s horse Incitatus (and he does have his own Wikipedia page!), you’ll see stories about how the emperor decided he had so little respect for the Roman Senate that he installed the horse as a senator and even made him consul. (A Roman consul is a senator elected to the executive office for a 1-year term.)

And while that may have been one of Caligula’s half-baked plans, he was assassinated before it became a reality.

Not everyone believes this was a real plan, however. Some historians think it was simply the result of a one-off remark the emperor made about his senators being “asses.” But one thing is likely, and that’s Caligula’s love for his horse. It’s possible that he even held parties in Incitatus’ grand stable where the horse served as “host.”

Interestingly, Caligula’s horse comes up in the “Rights of Great Britain Asserted against the Claims of America,” the British response to the American Declaration of Independence. Believing the ancient historians’ accounts that the horse did become consul, the author uses it as an example of what happens when a state goes rogue:

The extension of the right of electing Magistrates to the people at large, was the principal cause of the fall of freedom in Old Rome. The prejudices and fears of the rabble were the steps by which ambitious men ascended to a power, which they converted into tyranny over their foolish Constituents…the grandsons of voters who placed Marius, Cinna, and Caesar at the head of the State, were employed by Caligula in raising his horse to the Consulship.

True or not, the story of Caligula’s horse serves as a pretty striking talking point, especially for anyone who wants to call a politician an “ass.”

–  WTF fun fact

Source: “Mythbusting Ancient Rome – Caligula’s Horse” — The Conversation

WTF Fun Fact 12456 – Napoleon’s Bunny Battle

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There are so many stories about Napoleon out there that it’s hard to tell which ones are true at this point. They’re like Einstein quotes – half of them are just made up!

But this was has a few different sources, and it’s too funny not to share since it is, technically, part of the historical record of the famous French emperor.

As the most trustworthy version of the story goes, in July 1807, France and Russia ended the war between their empires by signing the Treaties of Tilsit. That’s enough to put anyone in a celebratory mood, especially since it drew the countries into an alliance at the time that would render the rest of Europe largely at their mercy.

Looking for a way to keep the good times rolling for a few more days, Napolean invited the military higher-ups still present to a rabbit hunt (which is the kind of thing rulers did for fun back in those days). Napolean’s only mistake was entrusting the collection of the rabbits to his chief of staff, Alexandre Berthier.

No one knows quite how many rabbits Berthier collected (hundreds or up to 3000, by some accounts), but it was a lot. And if you know anything about rabbits, they’re a bit hard to catch in such enormous numbers in a short period of time. So Berthier’s men brought in cages and cages full of domesticated rabbits.

Now, this is already a mistake because domesticated rabbits will not take off running – when they see humans, they assume they are being fed. But when the boss tells you to bring him a bunch of rabbits, you have to find some way to make him happy, even if that means rounding up bunnies from local farmers.

The afternoon unfolded in much the way you might assume. As the cages were opened, the rabbits didn’t scurry away. In fact, they scurried towards Napoleon. Who knows, maybe he had a lot of lettuce in his teeth after lunch. Or, more likely, they hadn’t been fed in a while.

Whatever attracted the rabbits to the emperor must have been something special because hundreds of bunnies were said to have swarmed him relentlessly. I mean, you have to laugh, right?

Napoleon did laugh at first, or at least he took it in stride, probably thinking that a few shots fired in the air would set things straight. But that didn’t work either, and it is reported that more and more bunnies thought “swarm the emperor” was a fun new game they were all playing.

Things got trickier as the mass of bunnies started climbing his legs and up his jacket. The guy was genuinely at a loss, especially when trying to shoo them away with his riding crop didn’t work. His coachman cracked his whip, hoping the noise would scare them away, but no luck.

So what’s a man to do when nature shows him who’s boss? In this case, hop in the carriage and try to get the heck out of there.

Lucas Reilly, writing for the website Mental Floss, found a great quote from historian David Chandler, who described the next stage of the bunny attack:

“…with a finer understanding of Napoleonic strategy than most of his generals, the rabbit horde divided into two wings and poured around the flanks of the party and headed for the imperial coach.”

In the end, Napoleon retreated, fleeing to his carriage. It was no defeat at Waterloo, but it was probably just as unexpected. –WTF fun fact

Source: “The Time Napoleon Was Attacked by Rabbits” — Mental Floss

WTF Fun Fact 12452 – The 11 Fingers of Mel Brooks

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Mel Brooks – what a gas! The comedian and director of Young Frankenstein decided to celebrate his memorialization at Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre by giving fans the finger. The 11th finger, that is.

It was back in 2014, but it’ll be with us (in cement, at least) forever.

It’s true; Mel Brooks had 11 fingers when he pressed his hands in the cement at the ceremony to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his film Young Frankenstein. But one was a prosthetic.

A mere 88 years young at the time, Brooks explained his shenanigans later that same day on Conan O’Brien’s Late Show:

“I wanted to do something just a little different, I didn’t know what,” he told O’Brien. “So I got another finger.”

At the time of the ceremony, he joked around with his son: “About time, huh,”Max Brooksreportedly said. “Comedians never get their fair share of recognition in Hollywood…”

At the time, Mel Brooks gave a heartfelt thanks to his fans, saying: “I want to thank you all for being here and being part of the wonderful charade. I really love it.”

The charade involved an extra finger, but it seems it was one of the polite ones.

Now age 95, we’re just happy Mel is around to keep us laughing. –WTF fun facts

Source: “Mel Brooks brings extra finger to Hollywood handprint ceremony” — CBS News

WTF Fun Fact 12444 – Roosevelt’s Pet Hyena

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There’s an official Presidential Pet Museum dedicated to all the furry and feathered friends that have roamed the White House halls (and lawns).

Theodore Roosevelt has quite a few pets, and he and his family were animal lovers. However, he wasn’t terribly fond of hyenas. And that turned out to be a bit of a problem at first when Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia gifted him a male hyena in 1904.

It was reported by the captain of the ship that brought him to America that the hyena, plainly named “Bill,” “laughed all the time.” Apparently, this grew on Roosevelt, who became fond of the creature. In fact, he even let it into the White House and gave it scraps from the dinner table!

It has always been common for world leaders to give exotic pets as animals, but a hyena seems like a bit of an odd choice. Then again, what do you get the man who has everything?

Roosevelt reportedly was able to teach Bill a few tricks before he was sent along with his White House pal Joe the Lion to the National Zoo to live out his life. After all, Roosevelt was a busy man. –WTF fun facts

Source: “Theodore Roosevelt’s Hyena” — The Presidential Pet Museum

WTF Fun Fact 12441 – The National Hotel Disease

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Once the poshest hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, the National Hotel was at the center of a nationwide mystery after a disease outbreak among its guests in 1857. According to records from the U.S. House of Representatives, almost three dozen people died and 400 people were sickened by a mystery ailment that continued to plague guests (and lead to their deaths) years after their 1857 stays at the hotel.

Founded in 1827, the National Hotel was located between the White House and the Capitol, catering to Members of Congress. “Apart from the Capitol and the White House, there is no building in this city so historic as this,” remarked theWashington Postin 1930. “For more than half a century the history of the Nation was made there.”

But in 1857, President-Elect James Buchanan was staying at the hotel prior to his inauguration, as were many other politicians due to attend the event. Even he was sickened but made a speedy recovery.

At the time, some reported that the outbreak was actually the result of arsenic poisoning in the water. Buchanan was from Pennsylvania but held so-called “Southern beliefs” at the time when it came to slavery. After sensationalized news stories were published, people suspected a murder plot by radical abolitionists, but there was never a speck of evidence that it was anything other than an infectious disease outbreak.

These days, we understand a lot more about how infectious diseases work, and those who have examined records of the symptoms think it was likely mild cholera or (more likely) dysentery.

Dr. D.H. Storer was a National guest and victim who shared his symptoms with theNational Intelligencer: “A dreadfulnauseahas been, in my case, the very worst and most miserable attendant upon this complaint. I have felt it almost all the time from the first till now. If I were even to-day to take an ounce of beef steak, or that amount of any animal food into my stomach, my experience thus far is that I should suffer for hours from this horrid nausea.”

Most guests were infected in March, around the inauguration. However, that’s when the hotel was most crowded. It disappeared soon after guests from that event went home and never happened again. However, among those whodiedwereRep. John Montgomery of Pennsylvania and Rep. John Quitman of Mississippi.

The hotel continued to operate for years until it could no longer compete with the grander establishments being built around it. The building was demolished in 1924. –WTF fun facts

Source: “The Mysterious National Hotel Disease” — United States House of Representatives Archives

WTF Fun Fact 12438 – Rome’s Sacred Chickens

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Ancient Roman priests raised sacred chickens that were used to interpret omens. For example, the chickens were used to predict the outcome of military battles.

Here’s how it worked: The chickens were let loose from their cages and had feed sprinkled in front of them. If they ate their food with gusto, stomping their feet, it was assumed that the gods were telling the naval leaders that it was ok to go to battle because the outcome would be favorable. If the chickens did not eat, the Romans assumed they were being told by the gods that they were destined to lose.

Of course, plenty of generals wanted to undertake battles with the permission of chickens, so one way they got around it was to deprive the chickens of food for a few days leading up to the decision. That way, the chickens would be hungry enough to eat regardless.

It was thought that no soldiers would willingly follow a general into war if the sacred chickens hadn’t given the right omen.

In 246 BCE, naval commander Publius Claudius Pulcher wanted to lead his fleet into battle with the Carthaginians during theFirst Punic War(264–241BCE). However, his sacred chickens didn’t eat their grain. That’s when, according to legend, he made a fatal error in 249 BCE.

Seeming to mock the gods’ obvious omen, Claudius threw the chickens overboard into the sea, proclaiming that if perhaps they weren’t hungry, they were thirsty. A sacrilegious move like this would have likely horrified the troops.

Claudius and his fleet paid the price, suffering the only naval defeat of the entire war at the Battle of Drepanum. And it was a significant loss, with 93 of his 123 vessels destroyed.

Claudius was accused of treason and fined as a result. Variations of the story appear in the works of ancient writers Valerius Maximus, Suetonius, and Cicero. –WTF Fun Facts

Source: “Publius Claudius Pulcher, Roman commander,” — Encyclopedia Britannica