Uncomfortable Moments From History Not Everyone Knows

The Fletcher-class destroyer made history after a series of unfortunate events that almost ended in tragedy. Its first mission was nearly cancelled after an incident at the port that almost damaged three other docked ships. Then, they dropped a charge near a submarine carrying the then-president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. After that, they almost hit him again with a torpedo. And that's not all, but you get the picture.

This study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States PHS and the CDC controlled the effects of untreated syphilis in black men. The uncomfortable part is that the men involved in the study weren't informed of what was going on, and proper treatment was withheld. More than 100 men died.

Forgotten by history, the Tulsa Race Massacre was a white supremacist massacre. Some were appointed as deputies and given firearms that they used to kill black people and destroy houses and businesses. It's considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history.

Mao Zedong launched the industrialization campaign to transform China from an agrarian society into an industrialized country. A series of policies led the country to suffer one of the biggest famines in human history, which resulted in between 15 and 55 million deaths.

This is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in human history. A fire on board the docked SS Grandcamp detonated its cargo: a huge amount of ammonium nitrate. That started a chain reaction that involved other ships, oil tanks, and more. Only one of the volunteer firemen survived the incident that left 581 dead.

A training exercise for the US forces on UK beaches ended in tragedy due lack of communication. They were rehearsing for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and they wanted to use live ammunition to successfully recreate the conditions of a real battle, with sounds, smells, and everything. However, the soldiers didn't know about this and arrived an hour earlier, receiving friendly fire that caused more than 700 deaths.

This is considered the largest massacre of civilians by US forces in the 20th century. They killed almost 500 women, children, and elders from the Son My village, raping lots of them in the process. Images from this massacre sparked the creation of the “And babies” poster for anti-war propaganda.

In 1534, there was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a communal sectarian government. They forced women into polygamous marriages and starved the townsfolk. An alliance of Catholics and Protestants captured them and killed them in gruesome ways.

Two large ships collided near the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, triggering a massive explosion that killed more than 1700 people and left another 9000 injured.

A large tank containing 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst in Boston. The molasses traveled at 35 miles per hour through the streets, killing 21 and injuring 150 people. Surviving residents reported smelling molasses years later during hot summer days.

Just a few years after the Titanic tragedy, the RMS Empress of Ireland collided with the Norwegian collier Storstad near Canada. Safety measures were in place, but the ship foundered in mere minutes, leaving 1012 dead of the 1,477 people on board.

Nine Soviet ski hikers died in the northern part of the Ural Mountains under mysterious circumstances. The group had a lot of experience, but the reconstruction of the incident suggests something startled them in the middle of the night, making them leave their tents and face extremely cold temperatures. Most of them died from hypothermia, while the others exhibited heavy physical trauma. Some of them were missing their eyes and tongue. The investigation concluded that a “compelling natural force” caused their deaths.

A case of dancing mania had almost 400 people dancing for weeks in Strasbourg, Alsace (today's France) in 1518. Most of them died from starvation or exhaustion. While most theories point to mass hysteria, there's no conclusive evidence of what happened.

The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces occupied many territories during World War II, and they forced women of all ages into sexual slavery. Many women died due to brutal mistreatment and sustained physical and emotional distress.

These boarding schools for Indigenous peoples were considered a civilizing mission meant to isolate the indigenous youth by erasing their cultures and religion to make them Canadians. The system started around 1876, but the last residential school was closed in 1997.

The British and the American armies joined forces to bomb the German city of Dresden. Their explosives destroyed more than 1600 acres of the city centre, killing up to 25000 people.

The Philippines and the US Army forces faced Japanese soldiers in a month-long battle that killed approximately 100000 civilians and completely destroyed the city. 

One of the worst friendly-fire incidents in history is attributed to the Austrian forces. Different scout parties went their separate ways to look for the Ottoman Empire forces, but ended up firing on one another, killing approximately 10000 of their own men. The Ottomans took advantage of the situation to easily take the city of Karansebes.

Considered the deadliest tornado in United States history, it moved through Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois, and Southern Indiana, wrecking everything in its path. The Tri-State tornado killed 695 people and injured 2027.

Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the US forcibly incarcerated around 120000 people of Japanese descent in concentration camps. It was intended to mitigate the security risk in case of a second attack, but the same was not done with German or Italian descendants.