'During the Salem trials, a farmer sued a snail': 10+ bizarre historical events that will 'always be funny'

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    Building - "During most of the Roman Republic [...] generals would keep several sacred chickens to consult"
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    Hair - r/AskReddit. Posted by u/crooked_yellow's 4 Which event from history will always be funny?
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    Font - lankymjc Ancient Korea had special recording officials, whose job was to record everything. They were considered separate from the government, so the emperor of the time wasn't allowed to give them orders or tell them not to record something. Of course, some emperors would try anyway.
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    Font - On one occasion, King Taejong (15th century) fell off his horse while hunting. The recorder nearby wrote it down. The emperor insisted that it be removed from the record, and even tried to have the report destroyed. This lead to some nonsense as the emperor kept destroying their work, but the recorders kept copying it and hiding it in increasingly obscure places. And of course, recorded the whole thing as it happened.
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    Font - A few hundred years later, and the only thing that emperor is famous for is trying to hide the fact he fell off his horse. Edit: fixed some factual errors 11.3k Reply Share
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    Font - korar67 During the Napoleonic wars a French ship sank off the coast of Hartlepool England. The only survivor was the captain's pet monkey, which he always dressed in a French military uniform. The locals freaked out because the law was that any French military found on British soil must be executed as a spy. So they ordered the standard punishment spies. Death by hanging.
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    Font - Except instead of dying, the monkey just kept climbing up the rope. Because it was a monkey. Hartlepool has since embraced their failure at executing a tiny primate for military espionage. Their local football team is nicknamed "The Monkey Hangers". 9.6k Reply Share
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    Font - Davos LostFingers. In 1866 when going to Liechtenstein's war, army of 80 men came back with 81 men after making a friend from the enemies side 8.4k Reply Share
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    Font - SayNoToStim In 1945 the Americans were pushing through Germany. General Eisenhower sent General Patton a message, instructing him not to take the city of Trier because it would require 4 divisions to seize the city. Patton sent a message back saying "Have taken Trier with two divisions... what do you want me to do, give it back?" ↑ 7.6k ↓ Reply Share
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    Font - DisThrowaway5768 Andrew Jackson taught a parrot how to swear and it had to be removed from his funeral because it upset the attendees. 6.2k Reply Share
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    Font - _Norman Bates When Persian king Xerxes punished the sea for ruining his bridge. He tried to build a bridge across the Dardanelles to get to Greece faster but storm destroyed the bridge. Infuriated with the sea, Xerxes ordered his soldiers to punish it by whipping it with chains 300 times and poking it with red-hot irons. Handcuffs were also tossed into the water to symbolize the sea's submission to his authority ↑ 5.4k ↓ Reply Share
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    Font - drunk_haile_selassie. The con man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice and got away with it. 4.2k ↓ Reply Share
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    Font - SuvenPan Potatoes were not very popular as a food in France. Like they were seen as fit only for animals. A pharmacist named Parmentier knew they were good food and wanted to popularize them among the working class. He got a 2 acre farm to grow potatoes and placed armed guards around it. People assumed armed guards meant something very valuable was growing there so they began to steal the potatoes. That's how potatoes became popular in france's working class. 2.3k Reply Share
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    Font - TabularConferta The existence of the complaints tablet to Ea- Nasir.Imagine 3700 years after your death having your name still associated with being a crook. "You are the worst copper merchant I've ever heard of" Nasir "But you have heard of me" 2.1k Reply Share
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    Font - bookem_danno. President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit while paddling around in a rowboat. The president was minding his own business rowing around a small pond and fishing when a rabbit left the shore and swam deliberately towards the boat, apparently crazed. Carter splashed the rabbit with water, driving it away from the boat. According to Press Secretary Jody Powell:
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    Font - "Upon closer inspection, the animal turned out to be a rabbit. Not one of your cutesy, Easter Bunny- type rabbits, but one of those big splay-footed things that we called swamp rabbits when I was growing up.
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    Font - The animal was clearly in distress, or perhaps berserk. The President confessed to having had limited experience with enraged rabbits. He was unable to reach a definite conclusion about its state of mind. What was obvious, however, was that this large, wet animal, making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth, was intent upon climbing into the Presidential boat."
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    Font - Staff back on shore initially didn't believe the president's account, but a photographer managed to capture the moment:
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    Font - Carter's political enemies used the incident as fodder to show that he was weak and claimed that his response to the rabbit attack incited the to invade year. 2.0k that same Reply Share :
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    Font - fulthrottlejazzhands During most of the Roman Republic and Empire, generals would keep several sacred chickens to consult whether to go to battle or not. They'd throw seed in front of the chickens: if they ate, it was battle; if they didn't eat, they'd abstain.
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    Font - During the First War with the Carthaginians, Publius Claudius Pulcher, a senator and naval commander known for his Larry David- like antics, went to consult the sacred chickens on whether they should attack the Carthaginian fleet. When Pulcher saw that they were not eating, he exclaimed, 'Since they do not want to eat, let them drink!' and had them thrown them into the sea. The naval battle was a catastrophe with most of the Roman fleet obliterated, and Pulcher was exiled. Always abide th
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    Font - AlwaysHappy4Kitties. The Kettle war. it was the 8th of october 1784.the Dutch kingdom and then Holy Roman Empire had a short naval battle and the only casulty was a kettle full of soup that got hit by a cannonball and that was the only shot that was fired Reply Share 1.8k
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    Font - Saythatfivetimesfast. During the Salem trials a farmer sued a snail because it was loitering on his land, on Sunday when the snail did not show up it was marked as absent and guilty 453 Reply Share

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