18 Historical Facts They Never Taught Us In School
![18 Historical Facts They Never Taught Us In School](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/9/6/807096_320x180.jpg)
Did you know that Alexander the Great was inadvertently buried alive? Alexander is thought to have had Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a neurological condition. People believe he was only paralyzed and physically and psychologically aware when he died!
Similarly, did you know Abraham Lincoln is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame? By many of his roughly 300 contests, the 6'4" head of state had only one defeat. He established a reputation as a legendary fighter in New Salem for this.
When you study history lessons, it may appear that you are simply memorizing spontaneous facts and information about historical events. And while knowing the past is essential, uncovering a few odd history lessons makes learning even more enjoyable.
These below 18 amazingly weird history information and historical trivia are amongst the most interesting tidbits from the previous era, whether you're hoping to expand the history or become a whiz during your next random history facts trivia night.
![Salt Lake City has the widest streets of any major U.S. city. At 130 feet, they're twice as wide as Manhattan's. CRACKED.COM Brigham Young, the Mormon president who planned the city, chose the wide streets SO settlers could turn their cattle around without resorting to profanity.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/2/801752.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![For years after the Battle of Waterloo, companies would dig up the bones of fallen soldiers, grind them up, and sell them as fertilizer. Bones are rich in calcium which farmers believed was beneficial to plants. The practice went on for a couple decades and only stopped when the farmers were criticized for fertilizing their lands with the bodies of their relatives. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/6/801746.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![The infamous Milwaukee serial killer and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, was a class clown in high school. 75 72 69 66 63 MILWAUKEE COUNTY MILWAUKEE COUNTY His pranks and antics were known as doing a Dahmer around school. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/1/801751.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![THE FIRST EVER TWEET WAS SENT OUT ON 21 MARCH 2006. jack Follow @jack just setting up my twttr 12:50 PM Mar 2006 106.35 Retweets 80. 147 Likes 3.1K t7 106K 80K This historic and thought- provoking tweet was sent out by Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/8/801748.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![Abraham Lincoln was a trash-talking wrestler in the army. As a president, Lincoln was a patient leader, but as a young adult, he'd kick your ass. During one of his matches, Lincoln defeated his opponent, then turned to the crowd and said: I'm the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns. Which is basically 19th century speak for Come at me, bro. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/5/801745.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![Greetings From The Secret City Jenn. During WWII, Oak Ridge TN was commissioned to develop and build the first atomic bomb. The vast majority of the city's workers had absolutely no idea what they were working on and only found out after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/7/801747.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![Due to fire, decay, negligence, or deliberate destruction, 01.10 75% Of all American CRACKED.COM silent movies no longer exist.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/0/801750.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![CRACKED.COM BILLY THE KID was denied a pardon. in 2010 The Kid was allegedly promised a pardon by 1879 New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace in exchange for testifying about a murder he witnessed, but the pardon was never granted. In 2010 Governor Bill Richardson decided to re-affirm Billy's status as a criminal and deny the original pardon.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/9/801749.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![Walt Disney himself helped to design a Mickey Mouse gas mask Though few remain, you can find several on display in various museums in the United States. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/4/801744.jpg)
Source: These 47 Facts Will Make You A Walking History Channel
![Machiavelli's The Prince was a how-to guide for tyranny, and to this day unethical grabs for power are called Machiavellian. WHAT HE LEFT OUT It was satire. Niccolo Machiavelli absolutely despised the monarchy, and everything else he ever wrote advocated popular rule. The Medici family actually tortured and exiled Machiavelli for being a revolutionary. He wrote The Prince- essentially a how-to guide for oppressing the masses- hoping that the ruling family would follow it, outraging the public so much that there'd be a revolution. CRACKED.COM http://www.historytoday.com/vincent-barnett/niccolo- machiavelli-%E2%80%93-cunning-critic-political-reason](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/0/801740.jpg)
Source: 22 Historical Stories That Left Out The Best Details
![A number of major news sources shared the story about the Denmark gym that offered naked cross-fit classes. WHAT THE NEWS LEFT OUT The story had started as an April Fools' joke on the gym's website, but the hoax was SO successful that the gym actually did host naked classes for a while. They eventually stopped because it was getting a little too comical. CRACKED.COM http://cphpost dk/news14/national-news14/the-nude-crossfit-sessions-going-viral-a](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/1/801741.jpg)
Source: 22 Historical Stories That Left Out The Best Details
![Hollywood and history books tell us that European settlers defeated the Indians. WHAT THEY LEFT OUT Just two years before the pilgrims landed in New England, about 96 percent of the Indians in Massachusetts were wiped out by an apocalyptic plague. Nationwide, 90 percent of Native Americans were killed. The settlers had a hard enough time defeating the Mad Max-style stragglers who remained. CRACKED.COM htto://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/12/111205- native-americans-europeans-population-dna-genetics-science/](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/3/801743.jpg)
Source: 22 Historical Stories That Left Out The Best Details
![In 1989, the world watched as the Berlin Wall fell. WHAT WASN'T REPORTED: The whole thing started by accident because an East German Politburo member mistakenly announced that travel restrictions would be lifted immediately - when in fact they were meant to be lifted the next day. He also failed to mention that there was still supposed to be a lengthy application process. Caught between an angry mob and his angry superiors, border guard Harald Jager decided to open the crossing and let the mob through. CRACKED.COM Thttp://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-berlin-wall](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/2/801742.jpg)
Source: 22 Historical Stories That Left Out The Best Details
![Civil Rights VOTING IN FREEDI PUBLIC M RIGHTS SCHOOLS NOW! CRACKED co Schizophrenia diagnoses in angry black men skyrocketed. Moreover, of a specific type schizophrenia was suddenly discovered: paranoid schizophrenia, sufferers of which were typified as having delusional anti-whiteness. The psychiatrists who changed these guidelines probably weren't being consciously racist, but the result was a huge number of black men unjustly committed to mental institutions.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/7/801737.jpg)
Source: 20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events
![World War II CRACKED.COM Ice cream rations were more coveted than cigarettes and fresh socks. Look at the Battle of the Coral Sea from 1942. While engaging the Japanese, the USS Lexington sank. But before the crew abandoned ship, they carried out one important task: They ate all the ice cream. The men broke into the freezer and scooped all the ice cream into their helmets, licking them clean before evacuating at the last minute.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/8/801738.jpg)
Source: 20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events
![Ancient Rome CRACKED.com In ancient Rome, laundromats pretty much ran on urine. The practice continued even after the invention of soap, as many Europeans preferred the all-natural goodness of bladder water. And long before toothpaste, 9 out 10 Romans agreed that gargling urine was the best way to keep your teeth clean and sparkly.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/6/801736.jpg)
Source: 20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events
![World War I CRACKED.CO When Russia exited World War I, they scheduled a peace conference, and the Bolsheviks made a point of bringing along a soldier, a sailor, and an urban worker to hammer home that communism was about the common people. But the politicians were on their way to the train station when they realized they'd forgotten to bring a peasant. So they grabbed a random elderly guy in ratty clothes and brought him along to meet royalty.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/5/801735.jpg)
Source: 20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events
![The Space Race CRACKED.COM The Soviet Union Was not the first country to reach space, and neither was the U.S. On October 3, 1942, almost exactly 15 years before the launch of Sputnik, Nazi Germany became the first people on Earth to fire anything into space. They launched V-2 a rocket which went right through the stratosphere, reaching a height of 150, .000 feet.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/9/801739.jpg)
Source: 20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events