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!
The name “Crayola” comes from the combination of the French words “craie” (chalk) and “oléagineuse” (oily) or “oily chalk”. In 1903, a box of 8 crayons sold for a nickel. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.crayola.com/faq/your-history/where-did-the-brand-name-crayola-originate/
In Eastern European folklore, many vampires suffered from OCD, specifically having strong compulsions to count. Bags of rice or seed were often placed at graves to occupy them at night by counting the grains. This was the inspiration for Sesame Street’s Count Von Count. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Vampires Traits – Vampires – Dracula
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Many European maps during the Middle Ages had the East on top instead of the North, thus “to orient” meant to align the map to the East, the Orient. – WTF Fun Facts
The practice of playing music to callers on hold was created by a factory owner who discovered that a loose wire in his factory’s phone lines made the building a giant receiver. The broadcast from a close radio station was transmitted through the wire and played when calls were put on hold. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Music on hold – Wikipedia
The aeromotive was one of the world’s first attempts at a high speed train in 1921. It combined a plane with a train and looked incredibly strange. Its maiden voyage ended up killing several important politicians and it was then mostly abandoned. – WTF Fun Facts
In order to one-up the Soviets in the space race, the US Air Force considered detonating a nuke on the moon. Called Project A119, it was concluded there would be no typical mushroom cloud, but the flash would be visible from Earth. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/we-choose-to-nuke-the-moon
Vikings fed their wounded soldiers a strong onion soup to help gauge how deep a stomach wound was. After a few minutes, they would smell the wound and if they could smell the onion soup, they knew the wound was too deep and they could not be saved. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Why wounded viking warriors ate strong onion soup – We Are The Mighty
In 1524, a statue of the Virgin Mary at the Cathedral in Riga, Latvia, was accused of being a witch. They put it on trial by water and threw it in the Dvina river. Since the wooden statue floated, they declared it guilty and burned it. – WTF Fun Facts
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture existed in Eastern Europe between 5,500 to 2,700 BC. They constructed sophisticated and densely-populated settlements and burned them to the ground every 60-80 years to then rebuild the same settlement as before. – WTF Fun Facts
From 1915 to 1926 there was a mysterious worldwide epidemic of Encephalitis Lethargica. The disease, which attacks the brain, leaves some victims in a statue-like condition, speechless and motionless. It left 500,000 dead or incapacitated from it before mysteriously disappearing. – WTF Fun Facts
Revolutionary war hero Marquise de LaFayette brought a large trunk full of American soil back to France so that he could be buried in American soil in his home of Paris, France. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: LaFayette, the American Experience – Journal of the American Revolution (allthingsliberty.com)
Pinball was banned in most major cities from the early 1940s to the mid 1970s because it was considered a game of chance and therefore gambling. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.history.com/news/that-time-america-outlawed-pinball
English Parliament was conducted entirely in French until the 1400s. Even today, bills are formally passed into law with a French phrase: “Le Reyne le veult”, meaning “The Queen wills it.” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: La Reyne le veult – Wikipedia
From the 1850’s until 1945, toothpaste contained soap. After that time, soap was replaced by other ingredients to make the paste smoother – such as sodium lauryl sulphate, a common ingredient in present-day toothpaste. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: History Of Toothbrushes And Toothpastes (colgate.com)
Limping was a fad in Victorian England. Young women admired the genuine limp of Alexandra of Denmark, bride of the Prince of Wales, and went around fake limping (the “Alexandra Limp.”) Shopkeepers even sold pairs of shoes with one high heel and one low. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Victorian Strangeness: The bizarre tale of the ladies who limped – BBC News
William Wrigley, founder of Wrigley’s Gum, invented direct mail marketing. In 1915, he mailed a pack of gum to every person in the phone directory in the United States (~1.5 million homes).–WTF Fun Facts
Source: “The Wrigley’s Story — Innovation Lessons From a Chewing Gum” — Medium
James K. Polk is the only US President who pledged to serve only one term during his campaign. He was known for fulfilling all his major promises and died 3 months after his term ended. He is also the only speaker of the house to be elected as President. – WTF Fun Facts
During WW2, Ernest Hemingway used his 38 ft. fishing boat named Pilar to “hunt” German U-boats in the Caribbean armed only with Thomson machine guns and hand grenades. He was given unlimited gasoline by the US government. – WTF Fun Facts