Wait, what? That really happened?

[Player 2]

Historians of the Escapist, what weird historical fact do you know that seems too weird to be true, but is?

For example, the first man hanged by the Pilgrims after forming Massachusetts bay colony was a man named Thomas Granger, and was charged with "buggery with a mare, a cowe, two goats, divers sheepe, two calves, and a turkey".

Another would be the London Beer Flood [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood], in which eight people drowned in beer after the vats of a brewery split and poured out into the streets.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Beer is impressive, but it has nothing on the Boston Mollassacre [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses_Flood].

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Did you know that a dog was once sentenced to death by stoning because the judge feared it was the re-incarnation of a dead lawyer? How far back in the dim mists of time, when superstition and fear of witchcraft held sway, do you think this bizarre event took place? 100 years? 200 years? Wrong. Saturday.
[link]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13819764[/link]

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Weird be an unknown quantity, something left to the beholder to determine. On that note:

The most successful pirate of all time (that I know of) was a chinese woman by the name of Hsi Kai Ching, (Madame Ching) she had a good fleet or two of pirate vessels under her command and actually got the Chinese government to pay her to stop, surrendering most of her ships in exchange for being more or less pardoned for all crimes. Not sure how that went down for her many, many underlings.

The battle of Antiedam (bloodiest battle of the american civil war and quite possibly a big turning point) was apparently the result of three Union soldiers stumbling across a cigar box containing Robert E. Lee's orders.

Abe Lincoln's only surviving son was saved by John Wilkes Booth's brother prior to the assassination.

Christmas Carols evidently started because of Jack the Ripper, or the idea of him that kept everyone in their houses, only coaxed out by christmas singers looking for a lost little girl by the name of Carol around the holiday season. She was never found.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Did you know that a dog was once sentenced to death by stoning because the judge feared it was the re-incarnation of a dead lawyer? How far back in the dim mists of time, when superstition and fear of witchcraft held sway, do you think this bizarre event took place? 100 years? 200 years? Wrong. Saturday.
[link]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13819764[/link]

Listen, I can't find this in Hebrew in ynet.
That thing looks ridiculous, I searched 'dog' in the articles section and got nothing from Saturday concerning this.
Are you sure this is real?

 

[Jewrean]

According to an article on cracked, during a World War (not sure which one) the Nazis bombed the French front lines with Chlorine gas. The gas gave off a green haze in the atmosphere and it killed many people making a large dint in the front lines.

The approaching reinforcements saw this and their medical officer told the troops to rip off their pants and piss on them. They then draped their pants around their noses thus effectively canceling out any harm the chlorine gas could have caused when they marched in. The medical officer was probably the most loved and most hated man at the same time.

 

[Duffeknol]

Did you know that a dog was once sentenced to death by stoning because the judge feared it was the re-incarnation of a dead lawyer? How far back in the dim mists of time, when superstition and fear of witchcraft held sway, do you think this bizarre event took place? 100 years? 200 years? Wrong. Saturday.
[link]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13819764[/link]

Listen, I can't find this in Hebrew in ynet.
That thing looks ridiculous, I searched 'dog' in the articles section and got nothing from Saturday concerning this.
Are you sure this is real?

Seen this on pretty much every news website I frequent, it's pretty real.

Dog escaped, by the way.

 

[Player 2]

Did you know that a dog was once sentenced to death by stoning because the judge feared it was the re-incarnation of a dead lawyer? How far back in the dim mists of time, when superstition and fear of witchcraft held sway, do you think this bizarre event took place? 100 years? 200 years? Wrong. Saturday.
[link]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13819764[/link]

Listen, I can't find this in Hebrew in ynet.
That thing looks ridiculous, I searched 'dog' in the articles section and got nothing from Saturday concerning this.
Are you sure this is real?

Here's [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4082843,00.html] the Ynet piece that started the rumour (I think) and here's [http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/50487/no-dog-stoned-death-jerusalem-court] a Jerusalem chronicle article insisting it didn't happen.

Back on topic, something I've just remembered, there's a football team in England called Hartlepool United, and their nickname is "the monkey hangers". The story goes that during the Napoleonic wars a French ship was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool and the only survivor of this wreck was a monkey in a French uniform (presumably done to amuse the crew of the ship). On finding the monkey the locals decide to hold an impromptu trial on the beach, and since the monkey was unable to answer their questions, and many locals were unaware of what a Frenchman may look like, they concluded that the monkey was in fact a French spy. To make sure that the "spy" would not run away with any English secrets, they sentenced him to death and hung him from the mast of a fishing boat.

 

[SckizoBoy]

One of the original designs for the Popemobile had gun turrets. It was rejected with the following comment from a Vatican official: 'It would be unseemly if the Pope was seen to shoot back.'

 

[Raognerrrm]

October 1917 - Bolshevik Revolution
The entire thing is one massive WHAAAT???
First, the defenders of the Winter Palace (place where ministers were hiding) consisted of 'The Woman's Battalion of Death' (which was entirely formed from women, surprisingly enough), and a corps of veterans, most of whom were injured in some way. They were led by a man with no legs.
Second, the Bolsheviks had planned for a ship to come and start the bombardment of the Winter Palace, but it arrived late and had no ammunition. They decided to use the cannons at their own fortification to bombard the palace instead, only to find that the cannons were ceremonial and were incapable of firing anything.
They finally found one that worked, and started the bombardment.
The Woman's Battalion of Death became hysterical and had to be locked in a room.
After a time of inaction, most of the remaining defenders left to eat dinner, leaving the palace practically undefended.
The bolsheviks promptly snuck in through a window, despite the front door being incredibly easy to breach.
Needless to say, they captured the ministers, and later set up the Soviet Union.

 

[9thRequiem]

When Anders Celsius first made the Celsius scale, he put boiling at 0 degrees and freezing at 100. It wasn't until after his death that it was turned round.

 

[Thaluikhain]

According to an article on cracked, during a World War (not sure which one) the Nazis bombed the French front lines with Chlorine gas.

The Nazis were in WW2, use of poison gases such as chlorine by European powers was during WW1[footnote]The Allies tested mustard gas on Australian soldiers durng WW2, but it was never used against the enemy[/footnote]. I think you mean Germans.

Anyways, cloth soaked in urine (you hear about it more in regards to handkerchiefs than pants, though) was somewhat effective as a primitive gas mask against chlorine. It doesn't stop the stuff from attacking your eyes, of course.

Despite having a tiny fraction (about a tenth I think) of the manpower, and none of the helicopters or armour support, Finland beat the Russian attack on them in WW2 massively. It's known as the winter war and I think it was about 10-1 casualities wise. Go Finns!

It did help that they had Stalin on their side. Executing all your military officers and having a hasty round of promotions just before a war is working for the enemy.

 

[Exile714]

According to an article on cracked, during a World War (not sure which one) the Nazis bombed the French front lines with Chlorine gas. The gas gave off a green haze in the atmosphere and it killed many people making a large dint in the front lines.

The approaching reinforcements saw this and their medical officer told the troops to rip off their pants and piss on them. They then draped their pants around their noses thus effectively canceling out any harm the chlorine gas could have caused when they marched in. The medical officer was probably the most loved and most hated man at the same time.

That was World War I that they used chlorine gas. The Nazis were in World War II, it was just Germans in World War I.

Also, the anecdote you repeated is not real. Yes, people used urine soaked clothing to prevent chlorine gas poisoning (to varying degrees of success), but it wasn't some medical officer on a whim, it was the medical corps and scientists who long before had been studying chemical warfare.

 

[Shakomaru]

Charles Lindberg (Did I spell that right?) was a Nazi

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Around World War 2, French had a huge defensive line built up where they were bordered by Germany. How did the Germans cross it when they invaded in World War 2, you ask?

Simple, they walked around it, through Belgium's border.

EDIT: The Maginot Line, thanks Player 2 for reminding me of it.

 

[John the Gamer]

According to an article on cracked, during a World War (not sure which one) the Nazis bombed the French front lines with Chlorine gas. The gas gave off a green haze in the atmosphere and it killed many people making a large dint in the front lines.

The approaching reinforcements saw this and their medical officer told the troops to rip off their pants and piss on them. They then draped their pants around their noses thus effectively canceling out any harm the chlorine gas could have caused when they marched in. The medical officer was probably the most loved and most hated man at the same time.

Gas was from WWI, and it seems to be judging by the rest of the text, but there were NO NAZIS in WWI. Please call them 'Germans' from now on whenever you're not sure. It's just like calling all French people cowards or all Americans fat. It's not a nice thing to do. So don't.

My fact:

History is written by the Winners. DON'T BELEIVE ANY OF IT!

 

[Darth_Dude]

Despite having a tiny fraction (about a tenth I think) of the manpower, and none of the helicopters or armour support, Finland beat the Russian attack on them in WW2 massively. It's known as the winter war and I think it was about 10-1 casualities wise. Go Finns!

Also a monkey was hanged at Hartlepool because they thought it was a french spy.

Not to hate on you, but the first helicopters were invented in the early 1950's. Where-as the Soviet-Finnish war happened around 1937.

 

[Player 2]

Around World War 2, French had a huge defensive line built up where they were bordered by Germany. How did the Germans cross it when they invaded in World War 2, you ask?

Simple, they walked around it, through Belgium's border.

The Maginot Line? Yeah, that was a colossal fuck-up by the French, especially considering the fact that Germany went through Belgium in WW1 when they attacked France, and used pretty much exactly the same attack plan +vehicles in WW2, so it's not as if the French couldn't have seen it coming.