35 Short Historical Anecdotes That Dwell On Silly Moments Of The Past

History isn't for the faint-hearted—records show that some people had to 'Game of Thrones' their way through incredible, life-threatening situations. Living in times when most people were less educated and ignorance was widespread meant that those with above-average intelligence were often outnumbered and overpowered in their attempts to bring about change. History Anecdotes is a dedicated Reddit community where enthusiasts share peculiar tales from the past. These captivating stories may not read like romance novels, but they reveal how humanity has evolved to this point. Our protagonists' only means of survival was to outwit the dangers they faced with resourcefulness and determination. Going against the grain was no small task, and these memorable moments in history pay tribute to those who persevered and triumphed.

#1 Respect

  Image source: anon Triboulet, a notorious jester for Louis XII and Francis I once slapped the king on the b**t, which greatly angered him, but then was given a chance to be forgiven if he could think of something more clever. He said "I'm so sorry I mistook you for the Queen!" When he was sentenced to death for making fun of people, he was allowed to choose how he would die. So he chose to die of old age. ... The speechless King let him go.

#2 In 1978, Scottish journalist Malcolm Caldwell (right), an ardent defender of the Khmer Rouge, traveled to Cambodia for an audience with communist dictator Pol Pot, (not pictured) of whom he was an admirer. Caldwell was found m******d only a few hours after their meeting

Image source: anon

#3 Zura Karuhimbi - An Elderly Widow Who Saved More Than 100 People During The Rwandan Genocide By Exploiting Local Rumors She Was A Witch

Image source: Ill_Definition8074 Her family were traditional healers and Karuhimbi was believed to have magical powers. During the genocide she sheltered more than 100 people in her two room house. To maintain her reputation she painted herself and her house with herbs that would irritate the skin of whoever touched them. She threatened that anyone who entered her house to k**l the refugees would unleash the wrath of God upon themselves.

#4 María García Was Taunted Repeatedly By Her Next Door Neighbor Who Had Brutally R**ed Her Daughter Verónica, With Him Even Asking ‘How Her Daughter Was’ On His Release From Jail

Image source: anon She saw him in a local bar, poured gasoline on him and set him on fire. He died. She was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison.

#5 A Protestant Husband And His Catholic Wife Were Not Allowed To Be Buried Together. Here Are Their Headstones Reaching Across The Two Cemeteries In 1888

Image source: senorphone1

#6 In 1984, Ryan White Was Diagnosed With Aids That He Contracted From A Blood Transfusion

Image source: kooneecheewah When the 13-year-old tried to return to school in Kokomo, Indiana, hundreds of parents and teachers petitioned to have him removed, and his family was forced to leave town after a bullet was fired at their house "People would get up and leave so they would not have to sit anywhere near me. Even at church, people would not shake my hand." Ryan White was just 13 years old when he was diagnosed with AIDS. A hemophiliac since birth, the Indiana teen contracted HIV through a tainted blood transfusion — yet he was bullied and ostracized by his peers and the community at large for having the "gay disease." But the brave teenager persevered and helped change the negative stigma around the disease before dying at age 18.

#7 A Thing Can’t Commit Treason

Image source: Rem_Lies During the American Revolution, an enslaved man named Billy was charged with treason and sentenced to hang. Cleverly, he argued that since he was legally considered property, he was not a citizen and could not commit treason against a government to which he owed no allegiance. Billy was subsequently pardoned.

#8 British Sisters Ida And Louise Cook Rescued 29 Jews From The N**is By Sneaking Out Valuables In Plain Sight

Image source: Ill_Definition8074 For Example, Ida pinned a large diamond brooch to her cheap sweater and officials assumed it was fake. They repeated this trick several times. Both girls were born in Sunderland, Louise in 1901, Ida in 1904. By 1934 both girls, now considered spinsters, were living together in London and working civil service jobs although Ida would soon be a successful romance author under the pen name Mary Burchell (her first book was published in 1936). Ida and Louise both had a passion for opera and frequently traveled so they could see their favorite operas. That year Ida and Louise were both in Salzburg attending an opera festival. They became acquainted with a Romanian opera singer named Viorica Ursuleac and her Austrian husband, a conductor named Clemens Krauss who were both secretly involved in helping Jews escape from the N***s. The sisters were told about the plight of Jews in Austria and Germany and what they heard moved them so much that they knew they needed to act. Back in Britain the sisters contributed their own money and later donations from friends to help resettle Jews in Britain. Later they agreed to covertly transport expensive jewelry owned by Jews out of occupied territory. This was illegal as Jews weren't allowed to take any valuable items out of the country so Ida and Louise took a big risk doing this. That's when Ida had to transport the large diamond brooch and got the idea to pin it to the front of her cheap cardigan from Marks and Spencer's. It worked so well that Ida and Louise repeated the ruse several more times. On the rare occasions when they were stopped by officials they would “do the nervous British spinster act” and act so crazy that any official would back off. As an example I'll quote this anecdote from the article "When an Austrian frontier official questioned Louise’s opulent string of pearls that she was wearing along with her otherwise inexpensive outfit, she acted affronted, exclaiming, “And why not?!’ She frantically ran to a mirror and looked at herself, all the while yelling at the inspector, “What is wrong with my appearance? What were you trying to imply?” until the inspector fled Louise’s crazy act." For their heroism they were awarded "Righteous Among the Nations" from Yad Vashem in 1965.

#9 In 1913, 10-Year-Old Sarah Rector Received A Land Allotment Of 160 Acres In Oklahoma

Image source: senorphone1 The best farming land was reserved for whites, so she was given a barren plot. Oil was discovered there, and she became one of the country's first black millionaires.

#10 Hans Münch, A Doctor Known As The Good Man Of Auschwitz Because He Refused To Assist In The Mass M*****s

Image source: Russian_Bagel, Auschwitz trials / Wikipedia His experiments were elaborate farces intended to protect inmates. He was the only person acquitted of war crimes at the 1947 Auschwitz trials after many inmates testified in his favour.

#11 In the early 1920's, when notorious Russian anticommunist general Roman von Ungern-Sternberg learned one of his lieutenants had sexually a*******d several nurses & looted their communities during one of his military campaigns, he ordered the man severely flogged & burned at the stake

Image source: anon

#12 The 21st Of January 1795, The French Attacked And Captured A Dutch Fleet... With Horses

Image source: Tchermob The 14 ships were caught in the ice at Helder, and the French general attempted this bold move. It is the only documented occurence of a cavalry charge against ships in History.

#13 An American Philosophical Society Member For 35 Yrs, Thomas Jefferson Was The 1st Scientist Us President

Image source: anon At 23, he went to Philadelphia to be inoculated for smallpox when Virginia discouraged it. He later vaccinated 200 family members & neighbors. This 1806 letter gives praise to Dr. Edward Jenner.

#14 After She Was Publicly Flogged And Her Daughters R**ed By Roman Soldiers, Queen Boudica Of The Iceni Destroyed 3 Entire Cities

Image source: anon Londinium burned with such ferocity that a blackened scorch-layer still runs under modern London, named by archaeologists the 'Boudican Destruction Horizon'

#15 Carl Herman Unthan A 19th Century Violinist Who Was Born Without Arms

Image source: Russian_Bagel, Wikipedia During a concert, he accidentally broke a string; he replaced and tuned it using only his toes. Afterwards, he deliberately weakened a string before each performance so that he could repeat the stunt.

#16 George Vi Was Appalled When The South African Government Instructed Him To Only Shake Hands With White People While On His Visit There In 1947

Image source: Curtmantle_, Library of Congress He referred to his South African bodyguards as "the Gestapo"

#17 In 1945, A B-25 Bomber Crashed Into The Empire State Building. 14 People Died. An Elevator Operator Named Betty Oliver Survived A 75-Story Elevator Fall

Image source: Russian_Bagel She suffered severe burns, and a broken pelvis, back and neck. It remains the world record for the longest survived elevator fall.

#18 In The Early 1960's, The Kgb Attempted To Blackmail Indonesian Revolutionary & President Sukarno By Secretly Filming An O**y Between Him & Several Flight Attendants. Sukarno, who was openly a polygamist with a reputation as a womanizer, was unimpressed, & asked for his own copy of the tape to watch

Image source: anon, Leiden University Library

#19 In 1942, A Dutch Minesweeper Called The Abraham Crijnssen Avoided Japanese Aircraft And Escaped To Australia By Disguising As A Tropical Island

Image source: Russian_Bagel Personnel covered the ship in foliage and painted the hull to resemble rocks. The ship remained close to shore during the day and only sailed at night.

#20

Image source: Str33twise84, EyeEm / freepik On April 18, 1930, at 8:45 pm the BBC News evening bulletin announced: "Good evening. Today is Good Friday. There is no news." For the rest of the 15 minute time slot, the station played only piano music.

#21 The Sad Tale Of Virginia "Gennie" Christian (1895-1912): The Last Female Minor Executed In The United States

Image source: Ill_Definition8074 Convicted of m*******g her white employer at age 16. Sentenced to death despite no previous arrests and her claims of self-defense. Executed the day after her 17th birthday.

#22 In 1935, Professional Faster Albert Wolly Was On Public Display In A Glass Box To Go 30 Days Without Eating

Image source: The-Union-Report On Day 12, a girl taunted him by waving an eclair in front of him, causing him to go insane and smash his way out.

#23 Colonel Gail Halvorsen, a US air force officer who was known as the "Berlin Candy Bomber" or "Uncle Wiggly Wings" because he airdropped candy to German children during the Berlin Airlift from 1948 to 1949. He would wiggle his wings to let them know he was coming.

Image source: Russian_Bagel

#24 In 1945, Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima, sought refuge in an air raid shelter overnight, and then took a morning train to Nagasaki to report for work—where he endured and survived a second atomic blast.

Image source: senorphone1

#25 The Great Smog Of London In 1952 Was So Bad That Pedestrians Couldn't Even See Their Feet

Image source: senorphone1, Wikipedia Some of the 4,000 who died in the 5 days it lasted didn't suffer lung problems – they fell into the Thames and drowned because they could not see the river

#26 In 1926, Renowned Author Agatha Christie Mysteriously Disappeared, Sparking A Large-Scale Search Effort

Image source: senorphone1, Agatha Christie plaque -Torre Abbey After 11 days, she was identified by a musician at a hotel, where she had been staying under an assumed name. Christie passed away without ever offering an explanation for her disappearance

#27 In 1813, Future President Andrew Jackson Was Shot In The Arm In A Bar Fight Against Two Men, & Was Told It Would Have To Be Amputated

Image source: anon, Thomas Sully / Wikipedia Jackson refused, seeking out the help of a Cherokee medicine man who successfully treated his arm. Decades later Jackson ruthlessly ethnically cleansed the Cherokee

#28 The First Vaccines Were Invented In 14th Century China. Where Powdered Small Pox Scabs Were Blown Up Peoples Noses

Image source: Historicalhysteria Nasal Insufflation k****d 1 - 2% of recipients which was still preferable to smallpox. This method was brought to Europe in the late 17th century before being banned in the 1800's

#29 A Hungarian doctor's brilliant insight saved thousands of mothers in childbirth, but the scientific community rejected it and discredited his irrefutable results; he went mad, and women resumed dying.

Image source: davideownzall Ignác Semmelweis, a 19th-century Hungarian doctor, discovered that handwashing drastically reduced maternal deaths from puerperal fever. Despite clear results, his ideas were rejected by the medical community, leading to his dismissal, mental breakdown, and early death—ironically from the very infection he sought to prevent.

#30 In 1922, A Young Future 3-Star General George S Patton Was In New York When He Saw A Woman Being Carried Into A Truck By Several Men

Image source: anon Patton immediately brandished a pistol & ordered her let out at gunpoint, learning only moments later she was leaving her own wedding, & was exhausted from dancing

#31 The Worst Year In Human History

Image source: Echo_of_Dusk, Museo del Prado If you ask what the worst year in human history is, there are a number of possible answers. Some might respond that 2020 was the worst year in human history, a time when life came to a literal halt. Nearly 6.9 million people died due to COVID-19. And if you’re a bit familiar with history, your answer might be that the worst year was 1918, the year World War I ended, after claiming the lives of around 20 million people. In addition, the Spanish flu swept the globe, k*****g between 50 to 100 million people. But did you know that there's something even worse? A year that is described as the worst in recorded history... The Mysterious Fog: In the year 536 AD, the year began with a mysterious thick fog that covered vast parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It completely blocked out the sun. Procopius described the sun at that time: “It seemed as though the sun had lost its light, and it no longer shone with the brilliance of day, but rather as the moon, without rays or warmth, for more than a year.” The Roman statesman Cassiodorus also wrote: “The sunlight was weak, the sky appeared colorless, the cold pierced to the bone, and it was as if summer had been defeated by winter.” Catastrophic Climate Change: Temperatures dropped by 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius in some regions, causing the worst cold spell the Northern Hemisphere had experienced in the past two thousand years. Widespread Famines: The climate shift led to the failure of harvests across Europe and Asia, resulting in massive famines, particularly in places like Ireland, Syria, and Byzantium. The Spread of Plagues: After this climate catastrophe and the ensuing famines, rats emerged from their hiding places in search of food, increasing their contact with humans. The fleas on these rats, which feed on blood, began infecting humans. Due to the general decline in public health and malnutrition, the world was struck by the Plague of Justinian, or the “Black Plague,” in the year 541 AD—just five years later. This pandemic k****d between 30 to 50 million people, nearly half of the population of the Byzantine Empire. The economy and military were weakened, trade came to a standstill, and this accelerated Europe’s descent into what became known as the Dark Ages. "The Triumph of Death is a painting by the Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, created in 1562."

#32 Adrian Carton De Wiart, During Ww1 Was Shot In The Face, Skull, Ear, Chest, And Leg. After Losing A Hand And An Eye He Refused To Retreat, Staying To Toss Grenades

Image source: Historicalhysteria When a doctor was later amputating his fingers he got impatient and pulled them off. - he later said "Frankly I enjoyed the war"

#33 Solomon Linda (1909-1962) Was A Black South African Musician Who Wrote And Recorded The Original Version Of The Song The Lion Sleeps Tonight In 1939

Image source: Ill_Definition8074, Wikipedia He sold the song rights for 10 shillings (less than $2), and he died virtually penniless, with his estate not seeing any royalties for decades.

#34 A Silent Film About The Titanic Was Made In 1912, Just 29 Days After It Sank

Image source: Russian_Bagel The film starred Dorothy Gibson, an actress who had survived the sinking. To add to the film's authenticity, she wore the same clothes that she had worn on the night of the disaster.

#35 Between 1978 And 1980, A Frenchman Named Michel Lotito Consumed An Entire Cessna 150 Aircraft, Having Discovered At The Age Of Nine That His Stomach Could Digest Metal

Image source: senorphone1