Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down Which Actual Historical Events Are Stranger Than Fiction

Make us preferred on Google

Ever heard of the Great Emu War of 1932?

Well, if you haven't, now you have. It's a very real event, believe it or not.

It was fought between the Australian Army and emus that were destroying crops. The Australians lost and the emus continued to wreak havoc.

Emus: 1 Humans: 0

If that sounds too weird to be true, then just know that the Great Emu War has some competition. People shared their favorite odd but true historical events after Redditor AquaTax asked the online community,

"What historical events are so absurd that they would be too strange for a fiction story or a movie?"

"She screamed and tried to fight him off..."

"Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, once snuck up on his own wife, Marcia Winslow, as they were getting out of their car after a party and began to strangle her."

"She screamed and tried to fight him off until she realized it was him, at which point he stopped and tried to convince her that it wasn't him strangling her, it must have been someone else."

"She stayed with him for several years after that incident."

rubyredrising

Ummm... has anyone checked on Marcia? How's she doing?

"They were displaced from their normal hunting grounds..."

"The Germans and Russians once called a temporary (unofficial) ceasefire in World War I because of wolves invading the battlefield."

"They were displaced from their normal hunting grounds and looking for something to eat, which turned out to be local livestock, corpses, children, and unwary or incapacitated soldiers."

"It got so bad that everyone stopped shooting at each other for a while so they could hunt them down, proving once more that the threat of being eaten is stronger than any political ideal."

Arafel9162

The wolves were trying to teach them a lesson, weren't they?

This sounds like a prequel to The Grey.

"In Anne Frank's original diary..."

"In Anne Frank's original diary, she openly talked about her changing body, periods, and her questions about sex but they were edited out of the final print."

AlienationsYT

The day I learned this blew my mind.

These Actors Were Perfectly Cast In Their Roles | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Sometimes an actor comes along that is able to reach the audience on a deeper level. The actor that immediately comes to mind is Robin Williams. Although it ...

"John Tyler..."

"John Tyler, the 10th U.S. president, still has a living grandchild."

Boi_inc

Yep! He's in his 90s, and still kicking. John Tyler, you rascal.

"It was just a coincidence..."

"Thomas Crapper actually did invent the first reliable modern toilet. (The kind with a raised cistern.) But the word crap/crapper was already a very old slang term by that point."

"It was just a coincidence. Or maybe he felt like he had no choice. But crap and crapper have nothing to do with Thomas Crapper."

SoldMySoulForHairDye

Okay, but this is perfect. We hope Crapper just rolled with it.

"John Adams..."

"John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day. The day? The 50th anniversary of the Fourth of July. Adams's last words were, 'Thomas Jefferson still survives.'"

wizardvictor

Oh, the irony.

John, someone's gotta tell you...

"The Fire Department and some clowns..."

"The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855."

"The Fire Department and some clowns get into a disagreement at a whorehouse, and get into a punch-up. The clowns win, but the firemen return to the circus later and start attacking in revenge."

"The firemen win the day but violence is stopped when the militia come in. The police do nothing, so the city fires all the police (and I mean everyone) and starts a new police force."

splitdipless

This paragraph just grew more and more absurd the more I continued reading.

"That time in the 1700s..."

"Battle of Karansebes."

"That time in the 1700s when the Austrian army got confused, waged a huge battle against itself within its own lines, and lost an estimated several hundred to few thousand men (and a lot of equipment and money) in the process. They then retreated."

"The Ottomans, whom they were originally intending to fight, showed up two days later."

HyvalTheEmolga

What?

How?

Huh?

Explain yourselves, Austria

"The last known kill..."

"The last known kill by bow and arrow in combat was actually during the battle of Dunkirk, 1940. Jack Churchill landed a well-placed arrow into a German soldier's chest."

"He also chose to carry bagpipes and a Scottish longsword."

WasteNot2532

This led a crazy life. Just check out his Wikipedia page.

He was known for the motto: "Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed."

"In 1184..."

The latrine disaster of Erfurt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster

"In 1184, the King of Germany Heinrich VI held court in the Petersberg Citadel in Erfurt. On the morning of 26 July, the weight of the assembled nobles caused the wooden second-story floor of the Peterskirche to collapse."

"Most of them fell through into the latrine cesspit below the ground floor and about 60 of them drowned in liquid excrement."

Supraspinster

Oh, there's a joke here.

It'd be so bad of me to make it....

History is fascinating–and full of odd incidents like these, because life is crazy.

Just think: You'll be the star of your next dinner party as soon as you whip these facts out.

Have some historical facts of your own to share? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Barack & Michelle Obama
@michelleobama/Instagram

Barack And Michelle Obama Explain Why His Presidential Library Is A 'Sexy' Place For A Date In Steamy Video—And We're Fanning Ourselves

If you want your date to turn out as hot as possible, you couldn't pick a better location than a presidential library, right? Those places are positively oozing with sex!

Okay, maybe not. But the Obama Presidential Center isn't your average presidential library, and the Obamas aren't your ordinary presidential couple.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Blasted After Warning Gas Stations To Drop Prices 'Immediately' In Threatening Social Media Rant

President Donald Trump was criticized after telling gas retailers that they need to lower their prices to $2.50 per gallon "immediately" or face "big problems," prompting many critics to suggest he is panicking as discontent toward his administration grows amid fallout over the Iran war and a nationwide affordability crisis.

A recent Gallup poll found that 55 percent of respondents felt their finances were worsening, a level of pessimism exceeding that seen during both the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis. This comes as the highly unpopular war in Iran continues to rage, sending gas prices surging. Americans have spent an additional $59 billion on fuel since Trump launched the war.

Keep ReadingShow less
Blaze Manoukian showcases Pixar's new curly-hair animation technology in Toy Story 5.
Courtesy of Disney/Pixar

MAGA Is Having A 'DEI' Meltdown Over A Mixed Race Character In 'Toy Story 5'—And Fans Are Having None Of It

For a franchise about a toy cowboy, a delusional space ranger, and a potato with removable facial features, Toy Story has never been particularly concerned with strict realism. Yet somehow, a mixed-race child with curly hair in Toy Story 5 is what sent parts of MAGA into full meltdown mode.

In the latest installment of Pixar's beloved franchise, audiences are introduced to Blaze Manoukian, a young girl who lives on a farm, loves animals, and becomes an important part of Bonnie's story. Blaze is also Disney's first half-Black, half-Armenian character.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of John Oliver and Jesse Watters
HBO; Fox News

John Oliver Epically Drags Jesse Watters For Sharing Unverified Video Of Alleged Reflecting Pool Vandals On Fox News

Last Week Tonight host John Oliver mocked Fox News host Jesse Watters for sharing unverified video of alleged "vandals" of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and claiming that liberal media would claim that the people who were seen reaching into the pool "dropped their wedding ring."

The renovation of the Reflecting Pool has become a debacle, marked by recurring algae blooms, workers resorting to pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water to combat the problem, and a political blame game in which some Republicans have attempted to pin responsibility for the mess on Democrats.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pete Buttigieg
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Pete Buttigieg Opens Up About 'Darkest Hours' After Being Separated From His Kids Due To False Abuse Allegations

Former Democratic President Joe Biden's Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, posted on Friday about the ordeal he, his husband Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, and their 4-year-old twins endured after someone targeted them with false abuse accusations.

Buttigieg described the attack as similar to a swatting, a dangerous form of criminal harassment/domestic terrorism in which a perpetrator makes a false report of a dangerous emergency to law enforcement in the hopes that SWAT or a similar heavily armed tactical unit will attack the home. Multiple people have died as a direct result of swatting incidents.

Keep ReadingShow less