Cracked Archive - History

The McMystery That's Getting the Feds Involved
Give them McFlurry and nobody gets hurt ...
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- By Oona O'Brien
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9
The Professional Rat-Catchers That Made Pet Rats A Thing
From hosting life-threatening filth to pets ...
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- By Oona O'Brien
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9
The Florida Town Which Was A Refuge For Sideshow Performers
It was a vibrant community where sideshow performers could live without judgment.
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- By Ethan Tyrrell
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10
North Dakota Was (Sort Of) Not a State Until 2012
North Dakota historian John Rolczynski made it his mission to get this fixed.
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- By Ethan Tyrrell
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4
This Machine Killed Fascists: The Story of Delmer Berg
In 2016, John McCain wrote an op-ed titled "Salute to a Communist." This is the story of that communist.
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- By Steven Assarian
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11
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One Man's Nose Protected The Subway From Gas (And Elephants)
James "Smelly" Kelly could sniff out any threat.
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- By Ryan Menezes
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3
Old-Timey Robbers Blinded Their Victim With Molasses
And their sticky feat turned into a legend.
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- By Ryan Menezes
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5
Genghis Khan Cooled the Planet (Via Mass Murder)
One part of Khan's history that gets glossed over is that he was one of the world's first (unintentional) green leaders.
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- By Tara Marie
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15
4 Business Pioneers Who Changed The World For The Worse
The world would be a better place had these titans of industry opened bowling alleys instead.
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- By Dan Fritschie
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26
The Case For 'Jack the Ripper' Being 'Jill' All Along
Strange theory, but so was existing in Victorian England, and much of that could’ve been of service to a female Ripper.
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- By Oona O'Brien
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13
How Papua New Guinea Became Home To Over 850 Languages
There are 7,139 languages spoken in the world today, and an inordinate percentage of them are spoken in a single country.
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- By Ethan Tyrrell
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6
Exploring Our Weird Relationship With Magic
And not just the wizarding world...
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- By Oona O'Brien
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11
Before Alarm Clocks, Britain Had Knocker Uppers
Alarm clocks are for those rich folks, so you need a more affordable means of waking up. Enter the knocker uppers.
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- By Ethan Tyrrell
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5
'The Rachel' Cut On 'Friends' Went From Hair Envy To Hair Nightmare
Even Jennifer Aniston wasn’t even a fan of the hairdo ...
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- By Oona O'Brien
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8
A Trip Through The Tomato's Dark Ages (And On To Our Plates)
An entire evil mythos spread regarding the tomato.
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- By Ethan Tyrrell
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6