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!
In 2007, archaeologists discovered the oldest known wine-making facility in the world. It was found within a cave (Areni-1) near Areni in present-day Armenia and dates back 6100 years. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/1/110111-oldest-wine-press-making-winery-armenia-science-ucla/
WD-40 is named as such because it was the 40th formulation that finally worked for the fledgling Rocket Chemical Company. The “WD” simply stands for water displacement. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.wd40company.com/our-company/our-history/
The Observer was the world’s first Sunday newspaper. It was first published on December 4, 1791 by W.S. Bourne. It was unprofitable and soon became subsidized by the government, thus losing their editorial independence. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Observer
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds the world’s oldest piano. The piano dates back to 1720 and was one of Bartolomeo Cristofori’s (inventor of the piano) earliest creations. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.pianistmagazine.com/blogs/the-worlds-oldest-piano-1/
The killers of Eden or Twofold Bay killers were a pod of orcas in SE Australia which helped local whalers kill baleen whales between 1840 and 1930. The arrangement became known as the “law of the tongue” because the whalers would leave the carcass for the orcas to eat the lips and tongues. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_New_South_Wales
In 1955, Federal agents arrested John Gilbert Graham for blowing up an airplane but learned that it was not in fact a federal crime to blow up an airplane. Colorado instead charged him for the murder of his mother, a passenger on the plane. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Gilbert_Graham
University of Melbourne Archaeologists have discovered 15 new sites in Laos containing more than one hundred 1000-year-old massive stone jars possibly used to “bury” the dead. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/anu-mmj060619.php
During WW2, the U.S. Navy diving manual contained detailed instructions on how to release oneself from the grasp of a giant clam by severing its adductor muscles close to its shell. – WTF Fun Facts
The Mongols never took baths or washed their clothes, fearing that it would contaminate the water and infuriate the dragons responsible for controlling the water cycles. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://listverse.com/2017/03/20/10-brutal-realities-of-life-in-the-horde-of-genghis-khan/
Photographer Robert Landsberg was taking photographs during the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. Upon realizing he wouldn’t survive, he lied down on top of his equipment to preserve the photographs he had taken of the event. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://huckberry.com/journal/posts/robert-landsburg-s-brave-final-shots
Rolling Stone magazine originally gave Nirvana’s Nevermind a 3-star rating in 1991. They now give it 5 stars and rank it as the 17th greatest album of all time. – WTF Fun Facts
The term “noon” is derived from the Latin nona hora or ninth hour. The medieval monastic day began at 6 a.m. making the ninth hour actually 3 p.m. The meaning of the word slowly shifted to midday/12:00 p.m. between the 12th and 14th centuries. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon
The USSR successfully sent a spacecraft and entry probe to Venus in 1966 becoming the first space probe to hit the surface of another planet – three years before the US put man on the moon. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_3
The Parthian shot, an ancient military tactic where archers on horses would feign retreat and then turn their bodies while at full gallop to shoot at the pursuing enemy. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_shot
There is a version of the Mexican song La Cucaracha sang by Poncho Villa’s troops in battle during the Mexican Revolution that is about a cockroach that can’t walk because it doesn’t have marijuana to smoke. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/la-cucaracha-references-marijuana
“The Powerpuff Girls” was originally called “Whoopass Stew!” Rather than adding Chemical X to his formula, Professor Utonium accidentally adds a can of whoop ass and creates The Whoopass Girls. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsx0uF80n8U
The shortest war on record was fought between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes and some 500 casualties. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War
Over 960 bamboo slips from the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 25) were found with more than 25,000 characters detailing basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, prescription, as well as a book on law. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/12/c_138625839.htm