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0 / 30 Fotos
Pope Gregory IX deemed cats evil
- In 1232, Pope Gregory IX wrote a letter called Vox in Rama (“A Voice in Rama”) to the king of Germany expressing his concerns about witches in Germany, whose rituals included cats.
© Getty Images
1 / 30 Fotos
Pope Gregory IX deemed cats evil
- Mass killings of cats reportedly followed. Really, cats (black ones in particular) have been demonized ever since.
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
Pope Gregory IX deemed cats evil
- But the reported cat killings may have contributed to the proliferation of rats, which consequently helped spread the plague!
© Shutterstock
3 / 30 Fotos
'Mary Had a Little Lamb' is based on a true story
- The real person was called Mary Sawyer, and indeed she took a little lamb to school in 1816.
© Getty Images
4 / 30 Fotos
'Mary Had a Little Lamb' is based on a true story
- A young man named John Roulstone witnessed Mary sneaking the lamb into school and wrote a poem about it. He then gave it to Mary.
© Getty Images
5 / 30 Fotos
Human alarm clocks
- Before alarm clocks, people would pay "knocker uppers" to wake them up. They would do so by using long poles and knocking on people's windows.
© Getty Images
6 / 30 Fotos
Human alarm clocks
- Alternatively, they used pea shooters. Sounds like a fun job, right?
© Getty Images
7 / 30 Fotos
Heroin was used to treat children’s cough
- In the 1890s, heroin was commercialized by the German pharmaceutical company Bayer as a cough remedy.
© Public Domain
8 / 30 Fotos
Heroin was used to treat children’s cough
- In fact, the company specifically advertised its use for children up until 1912.
© Public Domain
9 / 30 Fotos
Swearing parrot
- President Andrew Jackson famously owned a pet parrot. When the president died, the animal attended his funeral in 1845.
© Getty Images
10 / 30 Fotos
Swearing parrot
- However, the parrot started to swear, and mourners were obviously disturbed by it. The bird ended up having to be removed from the funeral.
© Getty Images
11 / 30 Fotos
Sacrilegious forks
- Back in 11th-century Italy, forks were actually considered sacrilegious.
© Getty Images
12 / 30 Fotos
Sacrilegious forks
- But why were forks offensive to God? Well, God created humans with fingers, which they used to eat, so they wouldn't need such a tool, right?
© Getty Images
13 / 30 Fotos
Mary Shelley kept her dead husband's heart
- The English novelist, best known for writing the Gothic novel 'Frankenstein,' actually kept the heart of her dead husband in a box in her desk.
© Getty Images
14 / 30 Fotos
Mary Shelley kept her dead husband's heart
- Shelley’s husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, drowned in a boating accident when he was 29.
© Getty Images
15 / 30 Fotos
Romans would use urine as mouthwash
- Sure, the Romans had some dubious practices, but using urine for dental hygiene is pretty out there even for them!
© Shutterstock
16 / 30 Fotos
Romans would use urine as mouthwash
- Though there is some method to the madness. Urine is rich in ammonia, which has stain-removing properties. Maybe the Romans were onto something after all...
© Getty Images
17 / 30 Fotos
Peter the Great made his cheating wife feel guilty every day
- Peter the Great's wife, Catherine, cheated on him with Willem Mons. So Peter the Great not only killed him, but found a creepy way to remind his wife of her adultery.
© Getty Images
18 / 30 Fotos
Peter the Great made his cheating wife feel guilty every day
- Peter the Great decapitated his wife's lover, put his head in a jar, and placed it in Catherine's bedroom as a reminder of her affair.
© Getty Images
19 / 30 Fotos
Toilet meetings
- US President Lyndon B. Johnson was said to have conducted meetings on the toilet.
© Getty Images
20 / 30 Fotos
Toilet meetings
- He had a telephone installed in the White House bathroom so he could work while sitting on the toilet.
© Getty Images
21 / 30 Fotos
Albert Einstein could have been president of Israel
- When Israeli president Chaim Weizmann died in 1952, Albert Einstein was offered the position.
© Getty Images
22 / 30 Fotos
Albert Einstein could have been president of Israel
- The idea came from then-Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Einstein eventually refused, but it makes us wonder what would have happened if he had accepted the role.
© Getty Images
23 / 30 Fotos
A double agent was awarded by both the Allies and Axis powers
- Spanish spy Juan Pujol García worked as a double agent for both the British and the Nazis during World War II.
© Public Domain
24 / 30 Fotos
A double agent was awarded by both the Allies and Axis powers
- García went on to be awarded the highest honor of service from both sides: the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by the Nazis, and the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
© Public Domain
25 / 30 Fotos
Raising of Chicago
- Chicago suffered from numerous sewage and draining problems during the 19th century. So it was decided that the city level should be raised.
© Public Domain
26 / 30 Fotos
Raising of Chicago
- Chicago streets and buildings were actually physically raised by over four feet (1.2 meter) on jackscrews during the 1850s and ’60s.
© Public Domain
27 / 30 Fotos
Woolly mammoths were still around when the pyramids were built
- We often associate these animals with the Ice Age, but the last ones died as late as 1650 BCE.
© Getty Images
28 / 30 Fotos
Woolly mammoths were still around when the pyramids were built
- Which means that they were still around when the Egyptians were building the pyramids. Presumably, when the last mammoth died ,the Great Pyramid of Giza had already existed for a millennium. Sources: (Reader's Digest) (History of Yesterday) See also: The 30 best historical destinations to visit in the US
© Getty Images
29 / 30 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 30 Fotos
Pope Gregory IX deemed cats evil
- In 1232, Pope Gregory IX wrote a letter called Vox in Rama (“A Voice in Rama”) to the king of Germany expressing his concerns about witches in Germany, whose rituals included cats.
© Getty Images
1 / 30 Fotos
Pope Gregory IX deemed cats evil
- Mass killings of cats reportedly followed. Really, cats (black ones in particular) have been demonized ever since.
© Shutterstock
2 / 30 Fotos
Pope Gregory IX deemed cats evil
- But the reported cat killings may have contributed to the proliferation of rats, which consequently helped spread the plague!
© Shutterstock
3 / 30 Fotos
'Mary Had a Little Lamb' is based on a true story
- The real person was called Mary Sawyer, and indeed she took a little lamb to school in 1816.
© Getty Images
4 / 30 Fotos
'Mary Had a Little Lamb' is based on a true story
- A young man named John Roulstone witnessed Mary sneaking the lamb into school and wrote a poem about it. He then gave it to Mary.
© Getty Images
5 / 30 Fotos
Human alarm clocks
- Before alarm clocks, people would pay "knocker uppers" to wake them up. They would do so by using long poles and knocking on people's windows.
© Getty Images
6 / 30 Fotos
Human alarm clocks
- Alternatively, they used pea shooters. Sounds like a fun job, right?
© Getty Images
7 / 30 Fotos
Heroin was used to treat children’s cough
- In the 1890s, heroin was commercialized by the German pharmaceutical company Bayer as a cough remedy.
© Public Domain
8 / 30 Fotos
Heroin was used to treat children’s cough
- In fact, the company specifically advertised its use for children up until 1912.
© Public Domain
9 / 30 Fotos
Swearing parrot
- President Andrew Jackson famously owned a pet parrot. When the president died, the animal attended his funeral in 1845.
© Getty Images
10 / 30 Fotos
Swearing parrot
- However, the parrot started to swear, and mourners were obviously disturbed by it. The bird ended up having to be removed from the funeral.
© Getty Images
11 / 30 Fotos
Sacrilegious forks
- Back in 11th-century Italy, forks were actually considered sacrilegious.
© Getty Images
12 / 30 Fotos
Sacrilegious forks
- But why were forks offensive to God? Well, God created humans with fingers, which they used to eat, so they wouldn't need such a tool, right?
© Getty Images
13 / 30 Fotos
Mary Shelley kept her dead husband's heart
- The English novelist, best known for writing the Gothic novel 'Frankenstein,' actually kept the heart of her dead husband in a box in her desk.
© Getty Images
14 / 30 Fotos
Mary Shelley kept her dead husband's heart
- Shelley’s husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, drowned in a boating accident when he was 29.
© Getty Images
15 / 30 Fotos
Romans would use urine as mouthwash
- Sure, the Romans had some dubious practices, but using urine for dental hygiene is pretty out there even for them!
© Shutterstock
16 / 30 Fotos
Romans would use urine as mouthwash
- Though there is some method to the madness. Urine is rich in ammonia, which has stain-removing properties. Maybe the Romans were onto something after all...
© Getty Images
17 / 30 Fotos
Peter the Great made his cheating wife feel guilty every day
- Peter the Great's wife, Catherine, cheated on him with Willem Mons. So Peter the Great not only killed him, but found a creepy way to remind his wife of her adultery.
© Getty Images
18 / 30 Fotos
Peter the Great made his cheating wife feel guilty every day
- Peter the Great decapitated his wife's lover, put his head in a jar, and placed it in Catherine's bedroom as a reminder of her affair.
© Getty Images
19 / 30 Fotos
Toilet meetings
- US President Lyndon B. Johnson was said to have conducted meetings on the toilet.
© Getty Images
20 / 30 Fotos
Toilet meetings
- He had a telephone installed in the White House bathroom so he could work while sitting on the toilet.
© Getty Images
21 / 30 Fotos
Albert Einstein could have been president of Israel
- When Israeli president Chaim Weizmann died in 1952, Albert Einstein was offered the position.
© Getty Images
22 / 30 Fotos
Albert Einstein could have been president of Israel
- The idea came from then-Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Einstein eventually refused, but it makes us wonder what would have happened if he had accepted the role.
© Getty Images
23 / 30 Fotos
A double agent was awarded by both the Allies and Axis powers
- Spanish spy Juan Pujol García worked as a double agent for both the British and the Nazis during World War II.
© Public Domain
24 / 30 Fotos
A double agent was awarded by both the Allies and Axis powers
- García went on to be awarded the highest honor of service from both sides: the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by the Nazis, and the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
© Public Domain
25 / 30 Fotos
Raising of Chicago
- Chicago suffered from numerous sewage and draining problems during the 19th century. So it was decided that the city level should be raised.
© Public Domain
26 / 30 Fotos
Raising of Chicago
- Chicago streets and buildings were actually physically raised by over four feet (1.2 meter) on jackscrews during the 1850s and ’60s.
© Public Domain
27 / 30 Fotos
Woolly mammoths were still around when the pyramids were built
- We often associate these animals with the Ice Age, but the last ones died as late as 1650 BCE.
© Getty Images
28 / 30 Fotos
Woolly mammoths were still around when the pyramids were built
- Which means that they were still around when the Egyptians were building the pyramids. Presumably, when the last mammoth died ,the Great Pyramid of Giza had already existed for a millennium. Sources: (Reader's Digest) (History of Yesterday) See also: The 30 best historical destinations to visit in the US
© Getty Images
29 / 30 Fotos
Strange historical facts that are actually true
The truth is sometimes stranger than fiction
© Getty Images
It is true that there are many historical 'facts' that are anything but factual, but the opposite is also true. There are some very bizarre facts that indeed sound like they are made up. Except, they're not! Did you know, for instance, that forks were once considered sacrilegious? Or that Albert Einstein was actually offered the position of president of Israel?
Click through the following gallery and discover fascinating historical facts you won't believe are real.
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