25 Historical Events People Obsessively Love Researching

There is so much to learn and understand about our past. Even if we have heard about something that happened long ago, there is still so much detail that we are yet to discover. This could be why for many people, deep dives into the past are a common form of entertainment. These rabbit holes of information can suck you in for a long time as you discover more and more tidbits about events past. 

#1

Image source: More-Beginning-3054, Erskine Palmer / wikimedia

Marburg virus originating from Kitum Cave in Kenya. 90% mortality rate virus you can just get from visiting a cave. Scary and intriguing.

#2

Image source: CFO-Charles, Iñaki LLM / wikimedia

Khamar Daban incident. A group of hikers basically start bleeding from the eyes, clawing at their throat then turn feral and drop dead. Only one survived, reason range from everything to it was a lie/exaggerated to they came across a military testing location for nerve gas.

Basically reads like 28 days later but irl.

#3

Image source: KnittedParsnip, Fernald / wikimedia

The persecution and extermination of native Americans, and the annexation of their lands by the US government. Probably the most shameful chapter of US history and most people don’t even know about it.

#4

Image source: murch_da, Paweł ‘pbm’ Szubert / wikimedia

The Chernobyl Explosion.

AlterEdward:

Yeah, I find this so fascinating. It’s got a bit of everything – corruption, technology, tragedy, heroism, conspiracy. And the concept of radiation as an invisible, silent killer is so creepy. There are so many echoes of paranormal and mythological threats – to people that don’t know any better, radiation poisoning sure does look like a curse, or a dieties wrath.

#5

Image source: gatvolkak, Anonymous / wikimedia

Krakatoa eruption.. absolutely huge. One of the loudest sounds ever heard, massive Tsunamis, ash filled the sky around the world for years causing red sunsets and darkness. Global temperatures dropped.

#6

Image source: solo1y, Václav Moravec / wikimedia

The Bronze Age Collapse.

Around 1200 BC, every sophisticated culture around the Mediterrean fell apart. The Greeks, the Hittites, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, everyone. They were either completely wiped out or decimated to the point where it would take centuries to recover.

No one knows exactly what happened, but there are vague references to “sea people” and famines and droughts. The Iliad and the Exodus may both be a twisted race memory of this event.

#7

Image source: Mrchristopherrr, O.J. / wikimedia

Might be a little too recent but January 6th and the massive parade of fraud and incompetence that lead to it and followed it.

I have no idea why it’s not a bigger deal to the average American. Also I can’t help but wonder what would have happened or where we’d be if one Democrat failed to evacuate.

#8

Image source: bleedblue4, anon / wikimedia

The Christmas Truce in WW1. There is something so beautiful about it. Ignore what happened the next day.

#9

Image source: PinkRoseBouquet, Boasson and Eggler / wikimedia

The last Russian royal family— Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexis. From incredible privilege to violent extinction, they were a loving but tragic family overtaken by extraordinary circumstances. There are so many family photos, written accounts (including their own letters) and official portraits to view, you really get a sense of them as people. I started reading about them in the 80s, long before their remains were found. It was one of the biggest historical mysteries back then. I always wonder why Nicholas didn’t at least get the girls out while there was still a chance.

#10

Image source: RainyDaysareLovely, General Cucombre / wikimedia

Pompeii.

#11

Image source: WhatINath, Pieter Brueghel the Elder / wikimedia

The Dance Epidemic. What was thaaat?!

FawkMyLyfe420:

The dancing plague of 1518, or dance epidemic of 1518 was apparently a case of dancing mania that occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace [now modern-day France] in the Holy Roman Empire from July 1518 to September 1518. Apparently somewhere between 50 and 400 people took to dancing for weeks. There’s too many theories behind what happened and the most popular one is a stress-induced mass hysteria… Other theories include ergot and there’s a lot of controversy about how many deaths there actually were.

#12

Image source: Strong_Attorney_8646, Brett Sayles / pexels

As an ExMormon, Mormonism. I can’t believe how incorrect I was about what I claimed to believe for three decades.

#13

Image source: Golvellius, original commons upload / wikimedia

Joan of Arc, and in general these young saint girls from the middle ages who claimed they talked to god. But Joan especially. Her story is beyond belief and we know so much because much of the documentation remained.

This f*****g 17 year old peasant girl went to see Charles VII, dauphin of France, to tell him that God sent her and that alone seems like a big deal but isn’t (plenty of girls claimed to be inspired by God then); the big deal is she told him God sent her not to bless him, but to lead his army to break the siege of Orleans and then drive him to be crowned King of France.

This is not fiction or exaggeration, is precisely what happened (and through no small risk or pain for herself, cause when at home she insisted with her parents that she needed to go join the army, her father assumed she would end up a camp prostitute, and to avoid the shame, he considered drowning her).

Now imagine a 17 year old girl today going to Volodymir Zelensky and telling him “hey buddy, God says you need to make me commander in chief of your troops; I’ll take care of the rest”. That’s what happened.

Except it was 1429 and back then this s**t was taken seriously. Charles VII was no idiot, he thought: “maybe this girl is just nuts”. Here’s the issue though, that would never cross our mind today, but it absolutely did in 1429: “What if she’s not nuts?”

So what do we do? We test her. So Charles sends her to be examined by priests and general wise men. Who conclude three things: 1. Joan is not crazy. 2. Joan is a good catholic and 3. Joan is virgin (and that’s a big deal)

“F**k it”, says Charles, he gives armor, a weapon, a horse, a banner. And an army. It’s still unclear how this 17 year old girl who barely ate was going around in platemail, but she was. And the b***h rides to Orleans, breaks the siege as promised, but not before sending to the english the most f*****g badass letter of warning ever which I encourage you to read but says (and I paraphrase, but not by much): “King of England, pull back your troops and leave, because I am a war leader and I am sent by God; and as long as your troops leave I will show mercy, but if they do not I will wipe the f**k out of them wherever I see them”.

And all of this is the LEAST known part of her story since her trial by the I*********n is the most well known. Trial in which they have a hard time accusing her of anything because despite an i*********n tribunal entirely bent on burning her at stake (on orders from the english and with the tacit approval of the french who betrayed her), for whatever reason this peasant girl who we cannot tell for sure if she can even read is able to avoid all the rhetorical traps in which they try to lure her. She handles herself so well in looking like a good catholic that the only way they manage to condemn her is because she dresses like a man (immoral and heretic, for the time).

Even so, the way the i*********n work is not that they just condemn you and burn you; you always have the possibility to admit your guilt, recant and be freed (as long as you don’t commit the same sin you recanted, in that case you go straight in the fire).

Joan is shown the pyre as a threat, and she decides to recant. She asks and receives forgiveness and should be freed, as long as she stops wearing men’s clothes.

So what happens? We don’t know. She is found dressed like a man in her cell again. A theory is she is threatened by the guards of r**e and she feels safer dressed like that; she should be, after all, prisoner of the church and guarded by priests but she is (against i*********n rules) in military custody. Maybe they just left her men’s clothes and she naively wore them. Whatever the case, they get her and she burns. It’s said that in later years, as her legend endured and grew, her executioner went desperate that he’d go to hell for having k**led a holy woman.

#14

Image source: loverbf_3019, Balon Greyjoy / wikimedia

Hiroshima. I visited there a few weeks ago and as an American, it feels odd going to a place like that. The Peace Park Memorial is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.

#15

Image source: SallyMutz314, BoomerKC / wikimedia

The story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed in the Andes and was stuck there for 2 months. The details are mind boggling.

#16

Image source: So_Call_Me_Maddie, Perry–Castañeda Library / wikimedia

The end of the Soviet Union.

#17

Image source: Alarming_Artichoke91, U.S. Air Force / wikimedia

The Vietnam War for me. My dad was there. He’s told me things, but watching these documentaries is just mind blowing to me.

#18

Image source: HumanistSockPuppet, Tima Miroshnichenko / pexels

The 2008 recession. Everything about that era explains , LIKE A MAP, how we got to this point in US history. I am obsessed with it.

#19

Image source: Known_Masterpiece972, I. Columbina / wikimedia

Black Death or Bubonic Plague.

#20

Image source: Axient, MtBell / wikimedia

The Nanking event. It’s just so inhumane and atrocious I can’t stop thinking about those poor innocent people.

#21

Image source: pablonerudaa, Adil Sattarov / unsplash

Did some research on the history of snowmen after I learned that the earliest recorded piece regarding snowmen was from 1380, and I absolutely LOVE that it’s something that has continued and evolved with time. It’s such a cool little piece of history that you don’t think too much about, but has brought so much joy to people for hundreds of years.
Befor the 1950s, snowmen were more often on the elaborate side, created by artists as art for art’s sake, but also used for things like protesting (like the miracle of 1511). The man who sculpted Abraham Lincoln’s tomb created a stunning snow and ice statue in 1857 that became very famous. Art supplies have always been very difficult for many people to acquire through history and artists used whatever they could to create their art, and snow was something that was easily accessible for many, so it was its own special medium for awesome sculptures that people had access to, regardless of income or status. It wasn’t until the 1940s that snowmen became an activity that children took part in, and we have Ruth Herman’s book Snowy The Traveling Snowman to thank for what the western world now recognizes as a snowman.
Snow sculptures obviously didn’t last and people often put so much work and time into them regardless, and I feel like that is such a wonderful and human thing. The urge to create something special, even if it won’t last long.

#22

Image source: Blu_Spirit, Uncredited / wikimedia

The disappearance of the Roanoake colony.

Delaneybuffett:

I just watched some history clips on YouTube saying they have solved what happened to the colony. I want to read up to see if what they say is true. They said the colony basically split up, part combined with a local Indian tribe on Croatoan island ( which is now known as Hatteras. Other members went inland. Supposedly they have found pottery and skeletal remains to confirm these theories. Again, not saying it’s 100% solved just interesting and something I want to read more on

#23

Image source: mergelefthere, Lennart Nilsson / wikimedia

The lobotomy as a medical procedure.

#24

Image source: KingRilian, Teoberto Maler / wikimedia

The Maya and other Meso or South American cultures. Always new and interesting things being discovered. The event I used to be obsessed with was the “disappearance” of the Maya… except they didn’t disappear and there are millions of Maya alive today, big misconception.

I really like the work of Ed Barnhart after seeing a few of his series on The Great Courses.

Wired Tech Support

He also has a fun Podcast called ArchaeoED.

#25

Image source: Schneetmacher, British Library / wikimedia

It’s not a single event so much as the entire reign of one king, but Edward II of England is absolutely fascinating. If your only knowledge of him is the wimp in *Braveheart* (not remotely historically accurate), then please do look up the real guy. He butted heads a lot with his father (Edward I, a.k.a. Longshanks–not quite the psycho *Braveheart* depicted, but tyrannical toward his conquests like the Welsh… though the English friggin *loved* that dude), though they were both martially talented, and was… for all intents and purposes, extremely modern for medieval royalty. For one thing, he floated the idea of actually granting Scotland independence (pre-Battle of Bannockburn), just to see what they’d do with it. He was also as close as a medieval Englishman could get to being openly bisexual, which caused its own problems among the [Lords Ordainers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinances_of_1311) (lead by his own cousin Thomas, 2nd Earl Lancaster, because the Plantagenets were one effed-up family).

Edward, Queen Isabella, and Piers Gaveston (depicted in *Braveheart* as the guy Longshanks tossed out a window–absolutely did not happen) actually seemed to have a nice little polycule going before the Lords Ordainers destroyed it–which caused a schism, since there were several who were *very opposed* to executing Gaveston on trumped up charged. This cleared the way for Hugh Despenser the Younger to become the new favorite, and Hugh… well, I’m pretty sure he’s actually who George R.R. Martin based Littlefinger on (he was greatly inspired by *The Accursed Kings* book series, which ends with Edward II’s “problems” spilling over into France). Hugh ices out Queen Isabella, and this leads to a brutal civil war.

And who ends up on top in the end? Why, the chief Lord Ordainer’s little brother who kept his nose relatively clean until he couldn’t afford to stay out of London B.S. anymore, and who had a disability (*torticollis*). In the Middle Ages.

It’s a crime that this hasn’t been a movie or TV show yet.