Weird Facts

Weird Facts about History

pontifexWeird Facts & Trivia about history and historical events

    1. In the Spanish Civil War, pilots attached live turkeys to supply drops so it would slow the fall when they flapped their wings. Source
    2. The first female American soldier was Deborah Sampson, who enlisted using her dead brother’s name to fight in the Revolutionary War where she was wounded; she cut a musket ball out of her own leg to avoid doctors finding out she was a woman. Source
    3. According to tradition, the first engineer to build a bridge across the Tiber in Ancient Rome was given the name Pontifex, meaning "bridge builder." The Pontifex was seen as someone who "connects" people, and that symbolism was so powerful that Roman high priests--including Julius Caesar--later adopted the title Pontifex Maximus. During the Roman Imperial age, the emperor was always the Pontifex Maximus. The title eventually passed from Roman emperors to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Today, the Pope still carries the title Pontifex Maximus.
    4. Ancient Egyptian statue of the God of Death (Osiris) has started MOVING on its own. Over several days, the ten-inch Egyptian statuette gradually rotates to face the rear of the locked glass cabinet in which it is displayed, and has to be turned around again by hand. Source
    5. Acupuncture was first used as a medical treatment in 2700 BC by Chinese emperor Shen-Nung.
    6. James Jameson, heir to Jameson whiskey, explored Africa in 1888, where he bought an 11-year-old girl and gave her to Congolese cannibals to sketch how they ate her. Source
    7. Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute. They would also use their right hand to raise their visor to show that their sword hand was empty and they were not possessing a weapon Source Source 2 Both Sources state this is one possible origin.
    8. In the 1950s a Texas white man went through extensive physical changes to become a black man and travel for six weeks on greyhound buses. After publishing his experiences, he was forced to move to Mexico for several years.  Source
    9. At the height of its power, in 400 BC, the Greek city of Sparta had 25,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves.
    10. Bock's Car was the name of the B-29 Bomber that dropped the Atom Bomb on Nagasaki.
    11. In 1962 the CIA tipped off South Africa’s intelligence service about the location of Nelson Mandela, leading to his arrest that put him in jail for 27 years. Source
    12. Britain's present royal family was originally named Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The name was changed in 1917, during WW1 because of German connotations. The name Windsor was suggested by one of the staff. At the same time the Battenberg family name of the cousins to the Windsors was changed into Mountbatten.
    13. Captain Cook lost 41 of his 98 crew to scurvy (a lack of vitamin C) on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768. By 1795 the importance of eating citrus was realized, and lemon juice was issued on all British Navy ships.
    14. Chicago's Lincoln Park was created in 1864. The original 120 acre cemetery had most of its graves removed and was expanded to more than 1000 acres for recreational use.
    15. A war cry used by the Finnish Army during WW2 was “Tulta munille!” which roughly translates to “Fire at their balls!” Source
    16. Christmas became a national holiday in the US in 1890.

    17. During the US Civil war, 200,000 blacks served in the Union Army; 38,000 gave their lives; 22 won the Medal of Honor.
    18. Until 1936, Liechtenstein and Haiti were unknowingly using the same flag, and they didn’t find out until they competed against each other in the Olympics. Source
    19. A Frenchwoman, Jeanne de Clisson, became a pirate in the 1300′s for revenge after her husband was beheaded. Selling her lands to buy 3 ships, they were painted black with red sails. Hunting French ships, when she caught nobles, she personally beheaded them with an axe. Source

    20. As many as 1.2 million US citizens of Mexican descent were forced out of the United States from 1929-1939 by federal and local authorities. It was claimed that the expulsions would free up jobs for “real Americans” during the Great Depression. Source

    21. Emperor Nero's lust for excess was most evident in his elaborate parties. According to the ancient writer Seutonius, Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea had a circular main dining room with a roof that revolved day and night, in time with the sky. In what remains of the palace today, there is a large octagonal room with a domed ceiling that some believe is this dining room. The octagonal room has a large dome with an oculus in the middle. It predates the Pantheon--and was probably the inspiration for it. The architects of the Domus Aurea developed an innovative mechanism cranked by slaves, that made the ceiling underneath this dome revolve like the heavens. While the ceiling revolved, perfume was sprayed from the ceiling and rose petals were dropped on the diners. Legend has it there were so many rose petals falling at one dinner that one of the guests was asphyxiated.
    22. There was an Order of Temperance in the Middle Ages; members pledged to drink no more than 7 glasses of wine with each meal. Source
    23. Emperor Trajan, who ruled from 98--117 A.D., was celebrated as the greatest of Roman emperors. In fact, for the rest of Roman history, new emperors were honored by the Roman senate with the prayer felicior Augusto, melior Traiano, meaning "may he be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan." In Dante's Divine Comedy, Trajan is the only emperor allowed into heaven.
    24. One of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in US history, the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812, were so powerful that they reversed the flow of the Mississippi River, rang church bells in Boston, and cracked sidewalks in Washington D.C.  Source
    25. Former President Cleveland defeated incumbent Benjamin Harrison in 1892, becoming the first (and, to date, only) chief executive to win non-consecutive terms to the White House.
    26. During the WWII, the German forces built fake airfields with fake wooden planes in it. The allied forces waited until they finished them, then sent out air raids in which they dropped wooden bombs on them. Source
    27. Fourteenth century physicians didn't know what caused the plague, but they knew it was contagious. As a result they wore an early kind of bioprotective suit which included a large beaked head piece. The beak of the head piece, which made them look like large birds, was filled with vinegar, sweet oils and other strong smelling compounds to counteract the stench of the dead and dying plague victims.
    28. From its completion in 125 A.D. until 1958, the Pantheon's domed ceiling was the largest unsupported concrete span in the world. It was surpassed only with the construction of the CNIT building in Paris.
    29. From the Middle Ages up until the end of the 19th century, barbers performed a number of medical duties including bloodletting, wound treatment, dentistry, minor operations and bone-setting. The barber's striped red pole originated in the Middle Ages, when it was a staff the patient would grip while the barber bled the patient.
    30. Grand Rapids, Michigan was the 1st US city to fluoridate its water in 1945.
    31. In 1810 US population was 7,239,881. Black population at 1,377,808 was 19%. In 1969 US population reached 200 million.
    32. Justin II was a sixth century emperor of Byzantine. He would hear voices in his head and scream and hide under his bed to escape them. Apparently, the only way his servants could help him out was to play organ music throughout the palace to drown out the voices. It wasn’t much fun to be around the palace when Justin II went into full crazy mode — it’s said that when his servants were rushing around trying to restrain him, he would fight back by biting them, often on the head. Eventually, the servants had to go to greater lengths to entertain him, and came up with a solution that would appeal to any toddler — building a makeshift throne on wheels and pushing Justin around the palace on it, to his great delight. Source
    33. In 1865, several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, called the Ku Klux Klan.

    34. In the American Civil War, Union soldiers were required to have six opposing upper and lower front teeth to become servicemen while Confederate soldiers were only required to have four opposing front teeth, so they could open a gunpowder pouch. Some draftees had their front teeth removed to avoid service. Source

    35. In 1892, Italy raised the minimum age for marriage for girls - to 12.
    36. In 1947, Toys for Tots started making the holidays a little happier for children by organizing its first Christmas toy drive for needy youngsters.
    37. The first African slaves brought to North America in 1526 revolted, escaped, and integrated themselves into Native American communities. Source
    38. In 1965, Congress authorized the Secret Service to protect former presidents and their spouses for their lifetime, unless they decline the protection. Recently, Congress limited the protection of former presidents and their spouses (elected after January 1, 1997) to 10 years after leaving office. President Clinton, who was elected in 1996, will be the last president to receive lifelong protection from the Secret Service.
    39. In England and the American colonies they year 1752 only had 354 days. In that year, the type of calendar was changed, and 11 days were lost.
    40. Wild Bill Hickok always had a personal rule to never play poker with his back facing the door. The one time he did, he was shot in the back of the head and killed. Source
    41. In the Holocaust between 5.1 and 6 million of Europe's 10 million Jews were killed. An additional 6 million 'unwanted' people were also executed, including more than half of Poland's educated populace.
    42. Many of Rome's most ambitious emperors idolized Alexander the Great. When Julius Caesar was a 33 year-old general in Spain, he wept when he saw a statue of Alexander, lamenting that he had accomplished nothing, while Alexander had conquered the whole world by his age. The schizophrenic emperor Caligula built a bridge of wooden boats across the Bay of Naples and rode back and forth across it on a horse, wearing armor he stole from Alexander's tomb. Emperor Caracalla set out to conquer the same eastern lands Alexander had conquered, and made a great show of visiting his grave in Alexandria, Egypt.
    43. Martha Washington in the only woman whose portrait has ever appeared on a US currency note. Her portrait was on the face of the $1 silver certificate issues of 1886 and 1891, and on the back of the $1 silver certificate of 1896. Sacagewea and Susan B. Anthony are the only women pictured on a US coin. Both were honored on a dollar coin.
    44. Members of the Nazi SS had their blood type tattooed on their armpits.
    45. More than 20,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing in action in the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. This was the bloodiest one-day fight during the Civil War.
    46. Napoleon took 14,000 French decrees and simplified them into a unified set of 7 laws. This was the first time in modern history that a nation's laws applied equally to all citizens. Napoleon's 7 laws are so impressive that by 1960 more than 70 governments had patterned their own laws after them or used them verbatim.
    47. Nevada was the first state to sanction the use of the gas chamber, and the first execution by lethal gas took place in February, 1924.
    48. In 1882, Robert Ford killed the outlaw Jesse James in order to collect the reward… only to find out that he would immediately be charged for first degree murder. He was charged with murder and sentenced to be hanged but was pardoned and given 500 dollars and let free instead (much less money than promised). Source
    49. New Orleans' first Mardi Gras celebration was held in February, 1826.
    50. New York's first St. Patrick's day parade was held on March 17, 1762.
    51. Of the 262 men who have held the title of pope, 33 have died by violence.
    52. On April 12, 1938, the state of New York passed a law requiring medical tests for marriage license applicants, the first state to do so.
    53. On August sixth, 1945, during World War Two, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 140,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare.
    54. On Dec. 10th 1901 the 1st Nobel prizes were awarded. Literature - Rene Sully-Prudhomme; Physiology - Emil von Behring; Chemistly - Jacobus van't Hoff; Physics - Wilhelm Roentgen; Peace - Jean Henri Dunant Frederic Passy.
    55. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union.
    56. On June 26th, 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco. (The text of the charter was in five languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.)
    57. Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
    58. During Napoleons 6 day stay in Malta, he reformed national administration, created twelve municipalities, created a public finance administration, abolished all feudal privileges and slavery, framed a family code, nominated twelve judges and established public education. Source
    59. President George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart in 1782. It's a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and non-commissioned officers.
    60. President Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1863.
    61. Richard Nixon was the 1st US president to visit China in February, 1972.
    62. Roman coins have been dug up in America, suggesting that perhaps the Vikings or Columbus weren't the first Europeans to visit the New World. The coins were found in locations as far afield as Texas, Venezuela and Maine. One stash was found buried in a mound in Round Rock, Texas. The mound is dated to approximately 800 A.D. In the town of Heavener, Okla., a bronze tetradrachm bearing the profile of Emperor Nero was found in 1976. The coin was originally struck in Antioch, Syria, in 63 A.D.
    63. Seven of the eight US Presidents who have died in office - either through illness or assassination - were elected at precisely 20-year intervals.
    64. The "Spruce Goose" flew on November 2, 1947, for one mile, at a maximum altitude of 70 feet. Built by Howard Hughes, it is the largest aircraft ever built, the 140-ton eight-engine seaplane, made of birch, has a wingspan of 320 feet. It was built as a prototype troop transport. Rejected by the Pentagon, Hughes put the plane into storage, never to be flown again.
    65. The 1st 20 African slaves were brought to the US, to the colony of Virginia in 1619, by a Dutch ship.
    66. The 1st nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, commissioned by the United States Navy in 1954, made her maiden voyage on Jan. 17, 1955.
    67. Everyone in the Middle Ages believed -- as Aristotle had -- that the heart was the seat of intelligence.
    68. For decades after Emperor Nero's death, people all over the Roman empire claimed to have spotted him. Several men even claimed to be him, and started popular movements to be reinstated as emperor. Because of his notoriety and the questionable circumstances under which he died (he purportedly stabbed himself to death in hiding outside of Rome), Nero was the Elvis Presley of ancient Rome.
    69. In 1960, Japanese Socialist Party chairman Inejiro Asanuma was assassinated during a televised debate. With a Samurai sword. Source

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