12824. History Facts

During a famine and drought in Jamestown, America, in 1609, one settler was executed for eating his dead wife.

12825. History Facts

Queen Christina of Sweden, who reigned from 1640 to 1654, had a miniature cannon and crossbow for executing fleas.

12826. History Facts

In the 1700s, people wore huge hairstyles made of a mixture of real hair and horse hair or other fibres. As they rarely cleaned them – keeping them in place for months on end – they carried sticks to knock vermin out of their hair-does.

12827. History Facts

Sailors in the olden days often had a single gold tooth, which could be pulled out and used to pay for their funeral if they died away from home.

12828. History Facts

The French actress Sarah Bernhardt took a coffin with her on all her travels. She learned her lines while lying in the coffin and even entertained her lovers in it.

12829. History Facts

An Egyptian mummy can have more than 20 layers of bandages, with glue between the layers. Every finger and toe was wrapped separately. It took 15 days to wrap a royal mummy.

12830. History Facts

Ancient Romans made hair dye from pigeon faeces.

12831. History Facts

Uruguay's rugby team was stranded in the Andes in South America after a plane crash in 1979. It took seventy days for them to be rescued, and they had to eat the other passengers who had died in the crash.

12832. History Facts

An Ancient Egyptian who was feeling a bit unwell might eat a mixture of mashed mouse and faeces. Mmmmmmm, bound to make you feel better!

12833. History Facts

In 1846, eighty-seven pioneers crossing the mountains of Nevada, USA, became trapped in bad weather. By the end of the winter, forty of them had been eaten by the others.

12834. History Facts

In the 1700s, European women had their gums pierced so that they could fit hooks to hold their false teeth in place.

12835. History Facts

King Pepi II of Egypt had himself surrounded by naked slaves smeared with honey so that any biting flies would be attracted to them and not bite him.

12836. History Facts

In the 1800s, flea circuses were popular – the fleas were glued into costumes and stuck to wires or each other to look as though they were performing tricks.

12837. History Facts

Ivan the Terrible blinded the two architects who designed his new church of Saint Basil's so that they could never make anything more beautiful.

12838. History Facts

The Russian ruler Peter the Great had his wife's lover decapitated and insisted that she keep his head in a jar of alcohol beside her bed as a reminder of her crime.

12839. History Facts

Mongolian leader Tamerlane played polo using the skulls of enemies killed in battle.

12840. History Facts

In the Middle Ages, people made washing powder from wood ash and urine.

12841. History Facts

In China in the 1500s, a common method of committing suicide was by eating a pound of salt.

12842. History Facts

The word ‘thug' comes from ‘Thuggees', who were an Indian cult – sometimes described as the world's first mafia – who used to trick and murder people as human sacrifices to their goddess Kali.

12843. History Facts

In the 1600s and later, Egyptian mummies were ground up to use in medicines around Europe.

Fact
Chef Boyardee is actually a real person. His real name is Hector Boiardi and he was born in northern Italy in 1898      .. More >>