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History's Best Kept Secrets
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items Yes, WWI and WW2 were major significant events, but have you ever heard of these events. Follow along as I explain nearly 20 forgotten major events throughout the world that has had devasting impacts on people.
Imagine this: a group of people in Strasbourg suddenly began dancing uncontrollably for days, with some even dying from exhaustion. This strange phenomenon, known as the “Dancing Plague,” swept through the city in 1518, and its origins remain a myste...
Dancing plague of 1518 | Facts & Theories
The dawn raids were crackdowns in New Zealand from 1974 to 1979 and then sporadically afterward on alleged ‘’illegal'' overstayers from the Pacific Islands. Attacking vulnerable families at dawn, this remains a sad period of injustice in New Zealand
The dawn raids: causes, impacts and legacy
In 1932, Australia launched an actual military operation—against emus, which were invading farmland in Western Australia. Soldiers armed with machine guns struggled to control the bird population, but the emus outmaneuvered them. Despite thousands of...
Emu War | History, Summary, & Facts
During WWII, on February 25, 1942, Los Angeles experienced a bizarre military response to an alleged enemy attack. Anti-aircraft fire lit up the sky. However, no enemy planes were found. The “battle” is still debated and has left behind a strange pie...
The Battle of Los Angeles
This manuscript is a 15th-century book written in an unknown language, filled with strange plants and astrological symbols. Discovered in 1912 by Wilfrid Voynich, it remains undeciphered despite modern analysis. Some believe it’s a hoax; others think...
Will the Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript Ever Be Solved?
Ever been so mad you tossed someone out a window? In 1618, Prague Protestants did just that—throwing two Catholic officials from a castle window. Their dramatic exit didn’t claim their lives (thanks to manure), but it did launch the catastrophic Thir...
Defenestration of Prague | 1618, Thirty Years' War, Summary, & Facts
In 897, one of history’s strangest trials took place—the Cadaver Synod. Pope Stephen VI brought Pope Formosus's body to court, had it clothed in papal garments, and staged a formal trial to judge him for supposed offenses from his earlier reign. The ...
The Cadaver Synod: Putting a Dead Pope on Trial
In 1835, The Sun, a New York newspaper, published fake reports claiming astronomers saw bat-people on the Moon. Readers were enthralled. The hoax boosted sales and exposed media gullibility—highlighting early tabloid sensationalism that’s rarely reme...
Belief, Legend, and the Great Moon Hoax | Folklife Today
What looked like an ordinary storage tank held a fatal surprise. In 1919, it burst into Boston’s North End, releasing a wave of 2.3 million gallons of molasses. Buildings crumpled, streets flooded, and 21 lives were lost—all due to poor construction ...
Great Molasses Flood
Lasting only 38 minutes, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 remains the shortest recorded clash in history. A British fleet bombarded the Sultan of Zanzibar’s palace after a coup. Moreover, it marked a significant shift in colonial power dynamics.
Anglo-Zanzibar War | Summary, Facts, & Duration
A strange outbreak of uncontrollable laughter struck a girls' school in Tanganyika, now Tanzania, in 1962. It spread to villages, affecting hundreds for months. Laughter turned to fainting and pain. It was labeled a case of mass psychogenic illness, ...
The 1962 Laughter Epidemic of Tanganyika Was No Joke
Tennis turned into a cultural showdown when Billie Jean King took on self-proclaimed chauvinist Bobby Riggs. Their 1973 match, watched by 90 million people, was all about respect. This is where King’s commanding victory redefined women’s sports and d...
Battle of the Sexes Tennis Match
On October 5, 1789, over 7,000 women marched from Paris to Versailles, demanding bread and justice. Their demands led to King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s return to Paris, marking a pivotal moment in the French Revolution. The march also ignited ...
The March on Versailles | History of Western Civilization II
The Peshtigo Fire, occurring on October 8, 1871, in Wisconsin, remains the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history. In just a few hours, the fire claimed around 1,500 lives, destroying the town of Peshtigo. However, it was overshadowed by the Great Chicag...
The Peshtigo Fire
Young women painting glow-in-the-dark dials were told radium was safe—even encouraged to lick their brushes. When their jaws rotted and cancers spread, they fought back. In the 1920s and ’30s, the Radium Girls' legal battle reshaped labor laws. Today...
Radium Girls: The Women Who Fought for Their Lives in a Killer Workplace
During WWII, a reindeer named Pollyanna served aboard the British submarine HMS Trident. Gifted by Soviet sailors, the reindeer adapted surprisingly well to life underwater. Pollyanna remained aboard for six weeks—an unlikely naval crewmember.
Pollyanna – the submarine reindeer
Elizabeth wasn’t destined for the crown at birth. Her uncle, King Edward VIII, was the rightful heir but abdicated in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. When the scandal hit, her father rose as King, and Elizabeth became the royal su...
Queen Elizabeth II: The early years of a princess who was never supposed to ...
In 1964, a violent revolution in Zanzibar overthrew the Sultan, marking a turning point that led to the island’s merger with Tanganyika to form modern-day Tanzania. The overthrow was swift, and the revolution’s brutality is often overlooked, yet it p...
Zanzibar Revolution Day (Tanzania) | Research Starters
The 1928 Women's Olympics, held in Amsterdam, marked a significant milestone for women in sports. For the first time, female athletes competed in track and field events. Many forget the controversy surrounding women’s participation, making this early...
Amsterdam 1928 Summer Olympics - Athletes, Medals & Results
Icelandic women organized a "women’s strike" (1975), refusing to work for one day to protest gender inequality. The powerful message of this collective action led to lasting societal change, propelling Iceland toward becoming the world’s first countr...
50 years ago, the women of Iceland took a day off—and inspired the world
The USS Scorpion, a nuclear-powered U.S. submarine, sank in the Atlantic Ocean in May 1968 with 99 crew aboard. It was returning from a Mediterranean mission when it mysteriously disappeared. Later, it was found nearly 10,000 feet deep; the cause rem...
The USS Scorpion: Buried at Sea | Naval History