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 Statue Of Liberty’s original concept was titled “Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia” depicting a Muslim peasant woman (fellah) guarding the Suez Canal. A 180 ft tall lighthouse was built instead. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/statue-liberty-was-originally-muslim-woman-180957377/
The tradition of firing guns as a salute was originally a sign of peaceful intentions. Since guns and cannons would need to be reloaded after each shot, firing your gun in the air essentially rendered you “unarmed.” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://history.army.mil/html/faq/salute.html
Leonardo da Vinci is often credited with being the first to introduce the idea of contact lenses in his 1508 Codex of the eye, Manual D. However, his ideas for implementing the lenses was entirely impractical. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_lens
In the late 1600s, London was plagued by a sexual attacker, dubbed ‘Whipping Tom’, who would spank his victims with his hand or sometimes a rod and shout ‘Spanko!’ before running away. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipping_Tom
In 1979, when the Skylab re-entry approached and headed for Australia, the San Francisco Examiner offered $10,000 to the first person to deliver a piece to them within 72 hours. A 17yr old Aussie collected a piece, jumped on a plane to SFO with no passport or luggage, and collected his prize. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/09/the-strange-tale-of-the-skylabs-fall-from-orbit/245332/
The word sarcasm can be traced back to the Greek verb sarkazein, which initially meant “to tear flesh like a dog.” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sarcasm
Wellington boots were oddly enough designed by Germans, named by an Irishman, manufactured by an American in France and first worn by French peasants. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/8944718/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-rubber.html
Women are better at discerning shades of colors, while men are better at tracking fast-moving objects and identifying detail from a distance. These are evolutionary details linked to our hunter-gatherer past. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120907-men-women-see-differently-science-health-vision-sex/
Old-time ‘high-wheeler’ bicycles were also known as ‘penny farthings’, because people thought they looked like the largest (penny) and smallest (farthing) English coins of the day rolling along one after the other. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://curiosity.com/topics/why-did-old-timey-bikes-have-one-giant-wheel-curiosity/
The red flag, when used by pirates, came to mean “no quarter given”, or no mercy would be shown and no life would be spared. Alternatively, a black flag meant that those who surrendered without a fight would be allowed to live. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Famous-Pirate-Flags
Joseph Stalin had a secret lab that analyzed the poop of foreign leaders in order to build a psychological profile for them. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35427926
During the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, McDonald’s announced a promotion that offered free food and drink every time a U.S. athlete reached the medals podium. The former Soviet Union boycotted the Olympics leading to many American wins and a very costly promotion. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-mcdonalds-olympics-20170616-story.html
The oldest known musical composition to survive in its entirety is a song called the Epitaph of Seikilos. It was found on a grave in Turkey. Its lyrics “While you live, shine / Have no grief at all / Life exists only for a short while / And time demands its toll.” – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.history.com/news/what-is-the-oldest-known-piece-of-music
Scientists studying the ocean floor in the Black Sea have found over 40 ships, some from as far back as the 9th century, that are so well preserved they can still see chisel and tool marks on the planks from the original builder. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/10/black-sea-shipwreck-discovery/
M&M’s were first created commercially in 1941 by Forrest Mars, Sr. after witnessing soldiers eating chocolate pellets with a hard shell during the Spanish Civil War, which prevented the chocolate from melting in the warm weather. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.history.com/news/the-wartime-origins-of-the-mm
Towards the end of World War 2, the Japanese began to use pine oil from pine tree roots to fuel their airplanes. Heating the roots and distilling the pine oil took 12 hours and only resulted in ~4 percent crude fuel. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_fSaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=pine+tree+sap+japan+airplanes+ww2&source=bl&ots=A4mzEMlgAt&sig=ACfU3U1_WZom0qKd86pF_ZJcoGmFy8nzfw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj67OHlvoPnAhUBTBUIHbWUDfMQ6AEwGHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=pine%20tree%20sap%20japan%20airplanes%20ww2&f=false
The Academy Awards originally handed out a golden statue called the Academy Award of Merit in 1929. However, the origination of how it became known as an Oscar is a mystery. One story claims that the then Academy librarian, Margaret Herrick, thought the statue resembled her uncle Oscar. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/origins-oscar-how-prized-statue-870191
Leonardo Da Vinci once created a replica of a heart valve by pouring hot wax into an oxen’s heart, making a mold of thin glass from the cast, and then pumping water mixed with seeds through it. He identified vortices which help close the heart valve after each beat. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.rct.uk/collection/919082/the-aortic-valve