Busby Williams
- Ketchup was once sold as a medicine in the 1830s.
- Ice pops were accidentally invented by an 11-year-old in 1905.
- Tug-of-war was once an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1920.
- Iceland boasts the world’s oldest parliament, the Althing, established in AD 930.
- In the 1840s, people said “Prunes!” instead of “Cheese!” in photographs to keep their mouths taut.
- Dunce caps were originally thought to enhance intelligence in the 13th century.
- In Ancient Rome, Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus made his horse a Senator.
- Buzz Aldrin was the first to urinate on the moon during his 1969 lunar walk.
- Rats were responsible for spreading the Black Death, killing over 75 million Europeans in the Middle Ages.
- The 3 Musketeers candy bar initially had three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.
- The Vikings discovered America around 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
- Easter Island is home to 887 giant head statues, each weighing around 28,000 pounds.
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, key figures in the Declaration of Independence, died within hours of each other.
- Author Morgan Robertson’s novella “The Wreck of the Titan” predicted the sinking of the Titanic in 1898.
- President Abraham Lincoln used his top hat to store important notes and papers.
- The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona but ended up in Paris.
- Napoleon Bonaparte was attacked by a horde of bunnies during a rabbit hunt.
- The University of Oxford, founded in 1096, predates the Aztec Empire.
- The Leaning Tower of Pisa leans due to construction issues, not gradual movement.
- Before toilet paper, Americans used corn cobs for personal hygiene.
- “Albert Einstein” is an anagram for “ten elite brains.”
- Ancient Rome had female gladiators known as Gladiatrices.
- Ancient Egyptians celebrated New Year’s with Wepet Renpet, marking the annual Nile River flooding.
- The Empire State Building has its own unique zip code, 10118.
- The Statue of Liberty served as a lighthouse for 16 years.
- “J” was the last letter added to the alphabet, not “Z.”
- Alexander the Great may have been buried alive due to a neurological disorder.
- Cleopatra was a Greek descendant, not Egyptian.
- “The Avengers,” a group of Jewish assassins, hunted Nazi war criminals after World War II.
- No one was burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials; they were jailed or hanged.
- A Great Dane named Juliana extinguished an incendiary bomb during World War II by urinating on it.
- The shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War, lasted only 38 minutes.
- Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a notorious serial killer, responsible for over 650 deaths.
- George Washington operated a whiskey distillery after his presidency.
- President Zachary Taylor died from a cherry overdose on the 4th of July in 1850.
- During the Great Depression, people used food sacks as clothing.
- In Ancient Greece, redheads were believed to become vampires after death.
- Russia ran out of vodka while celebrating the end of World War II.
- Andrew Jackson had a pet parrot with a potty mouth.
- In the Victorian age, people photographed deceased loved ones.
- Tablecloths were originally used as communal napkins.
- Abraham Lincoln was a licensed bartender before becoming president.
- The first Medals of Honor were awarded during the Civil War.
- “Knocker-uppers” were hired to wake people up in the morning before alarm clocks.
- In the 18th century, pineapples were a symbol of status.
- Saint Lawrence told a joke as he was being roasted to death by the Romans.
- Cars were invented in the 19th century by European engineers Karl Benz and Emile Levassor, not in the United States.
- Human bones were found in Benjamin Franklin’s basement, used for the study of human anatomy.
- The tallest married couple ever recorded was Anna Haining Swan and Martin Van Buren Bates.
- Johnny Appleseed, John Chapman, was a real person who dreamed of producing abundant apples to end hunger.
List of Surprising History Facts for Kids
