We humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, so naturally, certain things have slipped through the cracks of our collective memory, exposing us to a distorted understanding of our past. Hopefully, this list will remedy some of that damage. We at Bored Panda searched the internet and collected the interesting, strange, and downright frightening events that people believe are forgotten way too often. Continue scrolling to check them out and upvote the ones you also think need to be remembered. After all, those who don’t knowhistoryare doomed to repeat it.This post may includeaffiliate links.
We humans have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, so naturally, certain things have slipped through the cracks of our collective memory, exposing us to a distorted understanding of our past. Hopefully, this list will remedy some of that damage. We at Bored Panda searched the internet and collected the interesting, strange, and downright frightening events that people believe are forgotten way too often. Continue scrolling to check them out and upvote the ones you also think need to be remembered. After all, those who don’t knowhistoryare doomed to repeat it.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Elon Musk didn’t found PayPal or Tesla and has made no significant intellectual contribution to any field of programming or engineering.I know it’s recent history but still, not enough people want to talk about it.
RELATED:
There was a huge fight about African Americans using the public pool in Mr. Roger’s actual neighborhood so he made a episode on his show where he and a African American guest were sharing a kiddy pool and talking about being nice to people even if they look or sound different. He taught a whole generation that racism isn’t fair or right.
That doing laundry was hard, dull work. Very little glamour, not hugely interesting, it was smelly and the women that did it were often unfairly depicted as whores because it was some of the best money they could make.Thank god for washing machines now.I have a distinct memory of when I was younger, I was really interested in great inventions and inventors and such.I asked my grandmother what she thought was the most important invention of her life, of the twentieth century, expecting her to answer something like the airplane, or the car, or the moonlanding or the television.She said it was the washing machine, which I thought was really stupid as a child. The television is so much cooler than a stupid household item like a washing machine!Now that I’m an adult I realize the washing machine saved hours and hours of labour for 50% of the population. My grandmother was a farmer. She had 11 children.Probably the washing machine has done more for the emancipation of women than universal suffrage and the last 25 years of feminist writing combined.
The ancient Greeks, inventors of democracy, would elect their officials to one year terms. Each officials' finances were audited at the beginning and end of their term. If they were found guilty of corruption, they could face severe punishments, including fines or exile, though e*******n was not a common outcome for most officials.
Richard Nixon conspired with Saigon to win the 1968 presidential election. He interfered with the Johnson administration’s attempt at a peace treaty. This was literal treason and I feel that very few people know about it. The NYT wrote a piece about it in 2017.
The Candy Bomber. After World War II, when Berlin was divided, the US and UK airlifted supplies into West Berlin to counter the Soviet blockade. One pilot, Gail Halvorsen, started dropping candy to children, tying small parachutes to the sweets. To let them know it was his plane, he would “wiggle” the wings before the drop. This act of kindness grew into “Operation Little Vittles,” inspiring other pilots to join in. The campaign became a symbol of American goodwill and helped shift public perception of aid efforts in post-war Europe.
The US secretly injecting people (typically poor / minorities, including children and pregnant women) with plutonium and other radioactive materials, and then studying them for decades. When they finally admitted it, the report was released at the same time of the OJ verdict to bury the story.
Humans developed agriculture around 12000 years ago. By storing grain, huge numbers of rodents flourished. Cats showed up to eat the rodents, and humans learned that if they took care of the cats, the cats would control the rodents. Therefore, it was the invention of agriculture that led to the domestication of the house cat.
Norway Knighted a Penguin. His plaque officially states he’s the Colonel-in-Chief of their King’s Guard.
The Great Stink of London in 1858.One summer the heat dried up the River Thames (where all the human waste went) and an unbearable smell pervaded throughout the entire city. All Parliament representatives were eventually coerced out of their homes outside of London to convene and solve the issue. Much to the citizens’ glee, Parliament was held in their building on the bank of the River Thames, resulting in one of the fastest Parliament decisions ever made to reform the London sewer system.
In 2006, while the Ivory Coast was in the midst of a civil war, the opposing sides agreed to a ceasefire so that they could all watch the World Cup. The break in fighting paved the way for a peace agreement a year later.
The 2nd Congo War. This was the deadliest conflict since World War 2 with over 5 million people killed. Most people have never heard of it despite it ending less than 20 years ago.
In 1847, Robert Liston performed an amputation in 25 seconds, operating so quickly that he accidentally amputated his assistant’s fingers as well. Both patient and assistant later died of sepsis, and a spectator reportedly died of shock, resulting in the only known surgical procedure with a 300% mortality rate.
Fidel Castro loved dairy products so much that he built a massive ice cream parlor, Coppelia, which still operates in Havana. He also oversaw an ambitious breeding program to create a heat-resistant, high-yield dairy cow. One such cow, Ubre Blanca (“White Udder”), became famous for breaking global milk production records and was treated as a national symbol of Cuba’s agricultural progress.
There was a Japanese soldier named Hiro Onoda who never realized ww2 was over until 1974. He was sent to a small island in the Philippines to spy on the American forces. He evaded capture and remained in the jungle to carry out his mission for the next 30 years. His former superior had to come out of retirement to convince him the war was over.
The katana, the famous sword of the Japanese Samurai, was never an important military weapon. Samurai went into battle armed with bows or polearms, swords were just backup weapons. The katana didn’t become prominent until the Edo period, when the country was unified under one ruler and warfare between Samurai had ceased. The katana was primarily a status symbol, valued because only members of the Samurai class were allowed to carry them.
In the early 1900s, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society was an illegal orphanage that kidnapped babies from poor households and sold them.
Continue reading with Bored Panda PremiumUnlimited contentAd-free browsingDark modeSubscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited contentAd-free browsingDark mode
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
In 2006, a gamma ray burst was detected from a distant galaxy, but it did not strip away Earth’s atmosphere or pose a threat to life. If a stronger, more direct GRB had hit Earth, it could have caused significant damage, including potentially harming the ozone layer, which shields us from harmful radiation.
Picasso would have big dinner parties in restaurants and draw on the check so it wouldn’t be cashed. I know someone that has one of these checks. It’s just a doodle but it’s worth more than cashing it.
In 1899, the U.S. invaded the Philippines, claiming it was America’s “Manifest Destiny” to civilize and Christianize the islands. The ensuing Filipino-American War was brutal, with atrocities like General Jacob Smith’s order to k**l everyone over 10 in a village, leading to his court-martial. The conflict even influenced U.S. military gear, prompting the switch to the .45 caliber pistol for its stopping power. After fighting together against Japan in WWII, the U.S. granted the Philippines independence on July 4, 1946. Later, the Philippines moved its Independence Day to June 12 (from Spain in 1898), rebranding July 4 as Philippine-American Friendship Day. This overlooked history reveals the dark side of U.S. expansion and the resilience of the Filipino people.
Napoleon was not actually short; he was around 5'7”, which was average for his time. The misconception came from British propaganda and a misinterpretation of French measurement units, which made him seem smaller than he actually was.
A Chinese emperor once ran in circles around a pillar to escape an assassin. He survived.
The year 536 was deemed the worst year to be alive. Volcanic eruptions caused prolonged dark sky for up to 18 months. This then caused a mini ice age, crop failures and plague over the next 10 years killing millions.
Louis the 19th was King of France for 20 minutes.
The last time Liechtenstein went to war was the Austro-Prussian war. The fact that sounds like fiction is that they were forced to send 80 soldiers… and came back with 81. They made a friend in the form of an Austrian liaison officer.
The Rif region of Morocco has one of the highest cancer rates in the country. Studies suggest this is linked to the Spanish military’s use of mustard gas and other chemical weapons against Berber fighters during the Rif War (1921–1926). Despite Spain having signed the Geneva Protocol in 1925, which banned chemical weapons, no formal apology has ever been issued for their use in Morocco.
Coca Cola still uses coca leaves in their formula but just for the flavor. They are the only US company that is legally allowed to import coca leaves. The processed leaves are then sold to a pharmaceutical company.
European settlers introduced rabbits to Australia in 1859, when Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits on his estate in Victoria for hunting. With no natural predators and a favorable environment, their population exploded, leading to one of the worst ecological disasters in Australian history. Today, millions of rabbits continue to cause extensive damage to the ecosystem
Jack a Baboon who was employed to change rail signals.“After initial skepticism, the railway decided to officially employ Jack once his job competency was verified. The baboon was paid twenty cents a day, and a half-bottle of beer each week. It is widely reported that in his nine years of employment with the railroad, Jack never made a mistake.”
Humanity was likely nearly wiped out about 900,000 years ago when our ancestors were reduced to about 1280 breeding individuals and stayed around that many for 117,000 years.
An actually true fact about Liechtenstein is that Switzerland accidentally “invaded” Liechtenstein during a Swiss army exercise when some soldiers got lost and accidentally walked into Liechtenstein. On two separate occasions. So Switzerland has accidentally invaded Liechtenstein, twice.
In the 1890s, thanks to the popularity of Latin music, especially the Tango, parlor guitars became fashionable in Victorian England and the US. Then over time as those guitars were sold off, they found their way into poorer communities. Because of a glut of these abandoned guitars, they were often used instead of more expensive banjos in rhythm sections and solo performances of early jazz and blues. So the influence of the guitar in popular music today is due at least in part to the Tango.
The Netherlands sends Canada 20,000 tulips every year for liberating them during WW2. The Netherlands also has a cemetery dedicated to Canadian fallen troops.
See Also on Bored Panda
Astronomer here! Galileo did not actually invent the telescope- that honor goes to a Dutchman, Hans Lippershey, who applied for a patent in 1608 (and two other Dutchmen also may have been involved, depending on who you ask). Galileo instead heard of the Dutch invention and built his own in 1609, improving on its design. He was also the first person to think about looking up with the telescope, or at least being the first scientist who did so and could thus comprehend what he was seeing.
Unsinkable Sam is the nickname of a cat who survived the sinking of three different ships during World War II. Originally known as Oscar, the cat was aboard the German battleship Bismarck, which was sunk in 1941. He was rescued, only to survive the sinking of the HMS Cossack and the HMS Ark Royal. After these miraculous survivals, Sam became a symbol of luck and was retired from naval service, earning the nickname “Unsinkable Sam.”
In 1956 a man named Tommy Fitzpatrick stole a small plane from New Jersey for a bet and then landed it perfectly on the narrow street in front of the bar he had been drinking at in Manhattan. Two years later, he did it again after someone didn’t believe he had done it the first time.
Humans weren’t familiar with the concept of extinction until the fur trade wiped out most of the sea otters in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. They just thought the animals went to an undiscovered corner of the world.
Violet Jessop survived the sinking of both the Titanic (1912) and the Britannic (1916). She was also aboard the Olympic in 1911 when it collided with the HMS Hawke, but the Olympic did not sink. Jessop, a stewardess and nurse, became known as “Miss Unsinkable” for her incredible survival record.
Diogenes was a masterful Troll.When Alexander the Great comes into town, the only person he wants to meet is the legendary Diogenes. They find him, sitting outside (as he’s homeless) and he introduces himself and says “I’m Alexander the Great. Do you want ANYTHING?“Diogenes turns to him and says “Get out of my sunlight”.Alexander leaves and says “If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”.
Apparently, death from laughter is an incredibly rare but a completely legit cause of death.In the third century BCE, Chrysippus, a Greek Stoic philosopher, died of laughter after he saw a donkey eating his figs.And Chrysippus' is not the only isolated case. Among the few other cases, a fifth-century BCE Greek painter, Zeuxis, is said to have died laughing at his painting of the goddess Aphrodite for which an old woman (who had commissioned the painting) had insisted on modelling. Also, Cleopatra, the ruler of Egypt in the first century BCE, claimed that her retainer died laughing at her husband’s death.According to the linked Wikipedia article, the most recent case is that of Ole Bentzen, a Danish audiologist, who saw a funny scene in a comedy film and laughed so hard that his heart rate rose to a point where he had a fatal heart attack, in 1989.From what I understood from reading up on this topic, it’s not the act of laughing itself but rather a fatal repercussion from a fit of laughter, such as cardiac arrest, asphyxiation or aneurysm, which causes death. For instance, Ole Bentzen suffered a heart attack as a consequence of the terrible fit of laughter he had. It’s possible that such was the case of Chrysippus (and others) as well.(I always thought of ‘I’m gonna die laughing!’ as a hyperbole, and I myself use it quite liberally. But I guess every hyperbole has a grain of truth to it.)
During the battle of Waterloo, one of the most treasured pieces of “loot” was the teeth of the deceased soldiers. ~200 years ago, it was rather common to use the teeth of dead people in the creation of dentures.
Equifax lost the personal data of almost every single adult (in the US). This is data we didn’t give them permission to access, they simply automatically collect it.They are still in business.In September of 2017, Equifax announced a data breach that exposed the personal information of 147 million people.That’s out of roughly 210 million adults at that time.That’s 70% of the adult population whose data was lost.That’s more than likely every single household in the US.
In 2017, Facebook’s AI team created chatbots that developed a shorthand language to communicate more efficiently. While this seemed unusual, it was a result of their programming to optimize communication. The experiment was adjusted because the bots' language wasn’t useful for the research goals, not because of any fear or mystery surrounding their behavior.
The Great Wall of China wasn’t built all at once it’s a patchwork of different walls from different dynasties
The Phoenix Lights were a mass sighting of unexplained aerial lights over Arizona in 1997. Thousands of witnesses reported seeing a massive, silent, V-shaped craft moving slowly overhead, while others saw a series of bright lights in formation. The official explanation was military flares, but the event remains one of the most widely debated UFO sightings to this day.
128 billion dollars went missing in my country Turkey. It is talked about for about 3 months here
The London Beer Flood of 1814 - when one vat of beer at Meux & Co. brewery exploded, it proceeded to cause a domino effect of other vats to also burst, causing a tidal wave that flooded a neighborhood, leaving crumbled homes in its path as well as 8 people dead (and dozens injured).
Abraham Lincoln grew his famous beard because a little girl said he would look better with one.
Ringo Starr once decided the Beatles didn’t need him and decided to take a holiday with the intention of never coming back. When John, Paul and George found out they went all the way to where he was staying just to convince him to come back
In 1997, Apple was struggling financially, and Microsoft invested $150 million to help stabilize the company. This investment was part of a deal where Apple agreed to drop a lawsuit against Microsoft over intellectual property. However, the claim that Microsoft did this to avoid an anti-trust breakup is misleading—Microsoft was already facing a separate antitrust case from the U.S. government at the time. Microsoft later sold its Apple shares in 2003 for a profit of nearly $600 million.
The anthrax attacks straight after 9/11. Seemingly unconnected and no one was ever charged, from memory. Largely forgotten.
Psychological experiments were often highly unethical historically, experiments with children were particularly cruel a lot of the time.
In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Nix v. Hedden that tomatoes should be classified as vegetables for tariff purposes, even though they are botanically a fruit. The court’s decision was based on the common usage of tomatoes in meals, where they were treated as vegetables rather than fruits.
The Illuminati was a real historical group originating in Bavaria in the late 1700’s. They were a sect of freemasons who were rather peculiar. They were unusually critical of religion and monarchy. They were in competition with groups like Rosicrucians and Jesuits.They were ultimately short lived and vanished when secret societies were banned in Bavaria.There are all kinds of conspiracy theories that they engineered the French Revolution and have been in continued secret existence influencing events to this day. I doubt that is true, but it makes for interesting thought.
Did you know that the myth about carrots improving night vision was actually a clever piece of wartime propaganda? During World War II, the British Royal Air Force spread the story that their pilots ate large quantities of carrots to enhance their ability to spot enemy aircraft at night. In reality, this was a cover-up to hide the fact that they had developed advanced radar technology. The British didn’t want the Germans to know about their radar system, so they created the carrot story as a bit of misinformation. While carrots are good for your health, they didn’t give British pilots superhuman night vision – it was their top-secret radar that made the real difference!
When we learned about prohibition, it was presented as kind of this silly historical mistake. It was years later when I learned that in the 19th Century people were drunk basically all the time in part because very few people had access to clean drinking water and would drink booze instead which was often cleaner/safer to drink. So a big part of the anti-booze movement was providing safe drinking water and we owe a lot of our drinking water infrastructure (like available public drinking fountains) to teetotalers.
Not something that nobody believes just something that makes people do a double take when I say it.Within 17 days of each other, with no evidence of collaboration between them, two women (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and Sarah Jane Moore) unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate the same President of the United States (Gerald Ford) in the same state (California). Even more unbelievable is that both of these women are alive and not in jail.
Modal closeAdd New ImageModal closeAdd Your Photo To This ListPlease use high-res photos without watermarksOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add New ImageModal closeAdd Your Photo To This ListPlease use high-res photos without watermarksOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal closeAdd Your Photo To This ListPlease use high-res photos without watermarksOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Add Your Photo To This ListPlease use high-res photos without watermarksOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Add Your Photo To This List
Please use high-res photos without watermarks
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
You May LikeWhat They Saw, What They Knew: 50 Breathtaking Historical Images From Eyes Long ClosedDominyka30 Utterly Unique Historical Photos That Have A Much Deeper Backstory (New Pics)Rugilė Žemaitytė30 Intriguing True Stories From The Past Few Know AboutViktorija Ošikaitė
Dominyka
Rugilė Žemaitytė
Viktorija Ošikaitė
History
