Cracked Archive - History

5 Cultures Whose Calendars Would Break Your Concept of Time

Let's sit back and appreciate the fact that we don't have to experience the utter chaos that are these calendars.

Authors: By Teddem Yee
Published: February 15, 2014
Comments: 537

5 Attempts at Espionage That Seem Too Dumb to Be Real

All too often, agents are subject to the same human failings as the rest of us, except in their case, the blunders result in international incidents more embarrassing than your high school yearbook.

Authors: By Alex Hanton, Evan V. Symon
Published: February 13, 2014
Comments: 454

13 Old-Timey Photos You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped 3

Photos of the past, when viewed out of context, are bizarre and/or terrifying. And in many cases, adding the context just makes them worse.

Authors: By Jacopo della Quercia
Published: February 10, 2014
Comments: 393

5 Innocent Phrases With Surprisingly Dark Origins

Language often takes some pretty bizarre turns on the way to its modern usage. And sometimes a seemingly innocent phrase is the result of one supremely messed-up past.

Authors: By Brenna Crotty
Published: February 05, 2014
Comments: 649

5 Presidents Who Were Total Badasses in Their Youth

As it turns out, many presidents spent their younger years going on Hollywood-worthy adventures through history, doling out Old West-style justice and opening casino bars in the South Pacific.

Authors: By Gavin Jamieson
Published: February 02, 2014
Comments: 433

5 Famous Pieces of Presidential Trivia (That Are Total BS)

We cling to certain well-known tales that help us easily label and categorize our presidents. There's only one problem with these little nuggets of awesome: Not nearly all of them are true.

Authors: By Alex Hanton
Published: January 23, 2014
Comments: 703

6 Legitimate Organizations That Secretly Act Like the Mafia

In every system at every level of society, you're bound to come across at least one group bent on exploiting you with puppy-punching ruthlessness.

Authors: By A.C. Grimes
Published: January 17, 2014
Comments: 464

5 Nobodies Who Stumbled into Wars and Kicked Everyone's Ass

No one pictures their sweet grandma strafing the border with an AK-47 in one hand and a Molotov cocktail in the other, raining down death and destruction as epic as her homemade apple pie. But it does happen.

Authors: By Evan V. Symon , Matthew Moffitt
Published: January 05, 2014
Comments: 415

6 True Stories From History Creepier Than Any Horror Movie

History books are full of PG-13 violence. Here are the directors' cuts.

Authors: By Jacopo della Quercia
Published: December 30, 2013
Comments: 952

5 Wrongly Convicted People the Legal System Kept on Screwing

It's actually physically impossible for people in authority positions to admit they're wrong, which is why we get situations like these.

Authors: By Robin Warder
Published: December 06, 2013
Comments: 970

5 Laws That Made Sense on Paper (And Disasters in Reality)

Government is somebody coming up with a plan that sounds great on paper, only to be hilariously thwarted by human nature within minutes of it passing.

Authors: By Doron S.
Published: December 05, 2013
Comments: 1200