History is the study of the human past.
0
votes
3answers
68 views
Did native North Americans have cities before colonist times?
Jared Diamond writes in one of his bestseller books that native North Americans had cities before the colonist times but by the time European settlers arrived diseases killed most of the population ...
9
votes
1answer
155 views
Was Chinese water torture ever used as a torture method?
Wikipedia defines Chinese Water Torture as
a process in which water
is slowly dripped onto a
person's forehead,
allegedly driving the
restrained victim insane.
Was this type of torture ...
14
votes
1answer
461 views
Did the Ancient Egyptians use twenty-sided dice?
Ancient d20 die emerges from the ashes of time
Many centuries before Dungeons & Dragons was even a glimmer in the eye of Gary Gygax, ancient Egyptians were rolling a d20 die.
Metropolitan ...
4
votes
0answers
150 views
Did Incas use potatoes as a measure of time?
I'm currently completing a corporate challenge where you count steps and head to different world destinations to find out interesting "facts".
Today we had a fact or fiction quiz at Machu Picchu, ...
0
votes
0answers
94 views
Was Edgar Cayce visited by Rockefeller and other important figures from that era?
Edgar Cayce was an American psychic who was famous during the early 20th century. He was notorious for giving readings during an alleged trance state he entered while sleeping. There’s a foundation ...
1
vote
0answers
180 views
Were giant human bones discovered in Castelnau?
French anthropologist Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854 - 1936) reported in 1890 the discovery of "the Giant of Castelnau" - giant bones in neolithic tombs, in southern France. According to Mr. de ...
1
vote
0answers
152 views
Was the penal system used to colonise Australia?
A claim was made by Margaret Atwood on the Stranger Than Fiction podcast that the British had a strategy to colonise Australia via the penal system. That is, their motivation for sending criminals to ...
-6
votes
1answer
174 views
Why nobody ever attack Switzerland? [closed]
Why in WW1 or WW2 nobody invaded Switzerland? All other countries was in some wars. How Switzerland do it and should we learn from them?
1
vote
0answers
69 views
Are spiders an effective way to prevent moths from destroying old things? [closed]
In this video a woman with ancestry dating back ~700 years asserts that spiders are part of the reason that moths didn't eat the documents and clothing that have been storaged in a trunk for ...
1
vote
0answers
90 views
Did former president Woodrow Wilson extensively rely on Napoleon Hill's work during the World War?
In the best-selling book Think And Grow Rich, author Napoleon Hill claims that:
This secret was extensively used by President Woodrow Wilson, during the World War. It was passed on to every ...
5
votes
1answer
436 views
Did Hitler borrow his mustache from Chaplin?
The Wikipedia article on the toothbrush mustache quotes the journalist and historian Ron Rosenbaum about the speculation that Hitler modeled his mustache on Charlie Chaplin:
Adolf Hitler was a fan ...
6
votes
1answer
5k views
Was a 5000 year old flying machine discovered in Afghanistan?
If you search on Google "5000 year old flying machine discovery", there are lot of article and YouTube videos available claiming 5000 year old flying machine called "Vimana" discovered in Afghanistan. ...
4
votes
0answers
152 views
Were lice used for election in medieval Sweden?
Here is a quote from Hans Zinsser's Rats, Lice and History:
Lice have even been important in politics. Cowan tells the story of the custom prevailing in Hurdenburg in Sweden, where in the Middle ...
13
votes
0answers
226 views
Did the French Revolution cause people to give the Ace (in a deck of cards) rank above a King?
It has been said"
After the French Revolution some games started to use the ace or 1 as
the highest card which symbolized the lowest in society rising above
the King.
A discussion forum ...
3
votes
2answers
434 views
Is the key legal, historical reason that marriage exists to regulate procreation?
During a recent radio show, at approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the broadcast, Charles Cooper is quoted as saying the following in federal appeals court arguments:
The key reason that ...
19
votes
1answer
835 views
Did ancient Chinese frontline troops decapitate themselves to scare their foes?
From Wikipedia's page on King Goujian of Yue, a king in Ancient China (~500BCE):
King Goujian's army was known for scaring its enemies before battle by forcing its front line, composed of ...
2
votes
0answers
213 views
Was it common among soldiers to put boot blacking on other soldiers' private parts during WW I?
The claim is hidden in a long article about some other ... uhm delicate ... myths surrounding Hitler here:
according to a former comrade of Hitler's from the trenches, Hans
Mend, his comrades ...
7
votes
0answers
156 views
Did cobblers nail Thomas Paine's initials into shoes to scorn him?
I was taught in school that Thomas Paine was so hated that cobblers of the time nailed heels with a T and P (representing his initials, and as a sign of scorn and disrespect).
The Life of Thomas ...
13
votes
1answer
465 views
Did big projects used to get finished on time and on budget?
Big projects (software, engineering, architecture etc.) are plagued by cost and time overruns, or so it is widely thought.
Nicholas Taleb argues in Antifragile that this is a modern phenomenon:
...
8
votes
2answers
588 views
Is the Lindy effect well supported by evidence?
The Lindy effect is the observation that, contrary to the pattern with perishable things like people, the longevity so far is a good predictor of the future longevity. In other words, technologies ...
12
votes
1answer
353 views
Were most gladiators volunteers?
Nicholas Taleb's Antifragile continues to surprise me with interesting claims made as asides during bigger arguments. The following statement appears late in the book:
The great historian Paul ...
7
votes
1answer
758 views
Did Swedish tax rate ever exceed 100%?
In several places I've seen the claim that some people have at some point in history paid more than 100% taxes in Sweden.
The Economist on the Nordic Countries:
Astrid Lindgren, the inventor of ...
9
votes
2answers
360 views
Was Greenpeace ever sponsored by KGB?
I've heard the claim as urban legend many times. Allegedly in 1970s KGB has sponsored various Western "anti-war" movements, especially the ones that could hinder Western nuclear tests. Fact is ...
4
votes
0answers
447 views
Is the U.S. Tea Party astroturf or a genuine grassroots movement?
According to The Wikipedia article on the United States Tea Party movement (emphasis mine), TeaParty.org defines the Tea Party as "a grassroots movement that calls awareness to any issue which ...
6
votes
0answers
177 views
Did clergymen contribute more to science than scientists in the 19th century?
Taleb provides yet more fodder for skeptical enquiry. In the middle of Chapter 16 of Antifragile ("A lesson in disorder") where he is arguing that science isn't the source of practical applications of ...
7
votes
1answer
396 views
Did only a handful of people in Europe know how to do division before the 13th century?
Nicholas Nassem Taleb's latest book (Antifragile) continues to provide fascinating unreferenced claims.
In the middle of an argument that much of the important knowledge in the world is practical, ...
22
votes
1answer
726 views
Did rescue St. Bernard dogs carry barrels of brandy around their necks?
We all know this from cartoons and stuff and off course it doesn't make sense today but are there any evidence that the dogs really carried barrels of brandy?
I'm not sure the Wiki is saying a ...
18
votes
1answer
9k views
Were there only two cars in Ohio in 1895, and they managed to crash into each other?
Currently on Today I Learned, Reddit.
TIL [Today I Learned] In the entire state of Ohio in 1895, there were only two cars on the road, and the drivers of these two cars crashed into each other.
...
8
votes
0answers
238 views
Did Iran launch a monkey into space and safely return it to Earth?
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Monkey-business-US-unsure-of-Iran-s-space-claims-4249556.php
The United States expressed doubt on Monday about Iran's claim that
it safely returned a ...
3
votes
1answer
130 views
Did James Lovelock deny that CFCs destroyed ozone?
In the discussion threads of one of the answers to this meta question How much can we trust peer reviewed scientific literature? EnergyNumbers alleged that James Lovelock had originally denied that ...
15
votes
1answer
453 views
Did medieval Russia reject islam because of its prohibition against alcohol?
Since a long time, I am aware of a historical anecdote about the attempt to convert Russia to islam. I don't know where I first heard the anecdote, I'm pretty sure it was oral, so I had to dig a bit ...
19
votes
1answer
594 views
Did the Vatican build a secret property empire using Mussolini's millions?
Froma a Guardian article on 21 January 2013:
But these office blocks in one of London's most expensive districts
are part of a surprising secret commercial property empire owned by
the ...
5
votes
0answers
564 views
What are the oldest pyramids?
It seems there are at least a few contenders for the title of oldest known pyramids, including:
Egypt
Bosnia
Brazil
Peru
Egypt
The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found at Saqqara, ...
11
votes
1answer
594 views
Did lead poisoning contribute to the fall of the Roman Empire?
The Roman Empire used a lot of lead. It was important component of their plumbing (the english word itself is derived from the latin word for lead). They even used it to sweeten wine and in food ...
9
votes
1answer
392 views
Was Oppenheimer a spy passing nuclear secrets to Soviet agents?
From Los Angeles Times:
A Soviet spy chief's memoirs published here today claim that the late J. Robert Oppenheimer, head of the U.S. atomic bomb project during and after World War II, passed ...
5
votes
3answers
881 views
Was there a deep US involvement with Saddam, Osama and Gaddafi?
U.S. Government Retirement Program
SADDAM HUSSEIN
"FRIEND" 1983 "RETIRED" 2006
OSAMA BIN LADEN
"FRIEND" 1979 "RETIRED" 20?1
MUAMMAR GADDAFI
"FRIEND" 2009 "RETIRED" 2011
...
5
votes
1answer
527 views
Did the EPA fire their chief toxicologist, Dr. William Marcus, for refusing to remain silent on the cancer risk of fluoride?
I read that here in this article:
http://www.nteu280.org/Issues/Fluoride/NTEU280-Fluoride.htm
EPA fired the Office of Drinking Water's chief toxicologist, Dr. William Marcus, who also was our ...
12
votes
1answer
535 views
Did Newton discover that white light consists of various rays of coloured light?
Wikipedia reads:
Before Isaac Newton, it was believed that white light was colorless,
and that the prism itself produced the color. Newton's experiments
demonstrated that all the colors ...
1
vote
1answer
433 views
Was Phyllis Mullenix fired after publishing research on neurotoxicity of fluoride?
According to this CC Pure Water article, Dr. Phyllis Mullenix was fired from her research position three days after it was announced that her research into the neurotoxicity of fluoride was to be ...
3
votes
1answer
152 views
Did a judge rule that poker is a game of skill and not chance?
I just read a NY Times article which claims that a US Judge ruled that poker is a game of skill and not one of chance.
In a ruling that goes to the heart of what it means to play poker,
Judge ...
7
votes
1answer
243 views
In medieval times, were children beaten at Christmas to remind them of the cruelty of King Herod?
Via Reddit's Today I Learned (329+ votes):
The History Learning Site's Medieval Christmas page claims:
In Medieval England, children were reminded of Herod’s cruelty by being beaten.
12
votes
1answer
2k views
Were the Egyptian pyramids wireless power stations?
This video states many claims, among others:
the pyramids were built to create "wireless electricity"
electricity was created by "aquifers" - some mechanism based on water flowing underground
...
2
votes
0answers
257 views
Was Dr. Joseph Bell able to determine the occupation of a stranger by observation?
The Joseph Bell Centre : Bell could tell patients their habits, their occupations, nationality, and often their names, and rarely, if ever, made a mistake.
The physician Dr Joseph Bell, ...
11
votes
1answer
425 views
Did Reverend Mezzofanti fluently speak thirty-four languages?
In the John England's book titled "The Works of Reverend John England, Volume 6" (page 172) I read:
Reverend Joseph Mezzofanti, first keeper of the Vatican library, of whom Lord Byron had so high ...
15
votes
0answers
223 views
Did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle call J.B. Rhine a “monumental ass” in print?
I need help confirming or debunking what may be an urban legend in the paranormal literature regarding the rocky public relationship between spiritualism believer (and famous author) Arthur Conan ...
16
votes
1answer
558 views
Did Victor Hugo work naked to prevent himself from leaving his desk?
I heard this story numerous times. Allegedly, Victor Hugo would ask every day to a servant to take his clothes so that he would be forced to stay, naked, in his room and work instead of going out and ...
2
votes
0answers
526 views
Are the historical secret society Illuminati just some scientists promoting sciences? [closed]
In the movie Angels and Demons:
Robert Langdon: "The Illuminati did not become violent until the 17th Century. Their
name means 'The Enlightened Ones'. They were physicists,
mathematicians, ...
15
votes
1answer
1k views
Are these claims about Christmas true?
This picture* is a little tongue-in-cheek but it makes claims to the real origins of several modern Christmas related traditions such as the tree and carols.
Anyone have the skills to find out if ...
26
votes
3answers
3k views
Has India invaded any country in the last 10,000 years?
There is a common claim that India hasn't invaded any other country in the past 10,000 years.
It has been repeated in chain mails and various web-sites: Example, Example.
India never invaded any ...
2
votes
2answers
343 views
Does knowing Latin help learning English?
I have read that one who knows Latin has a good command over English. Is this correct or just a myth? If it is correct, how does it work?
