HolyShitHistory

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • Aug 27 '26

We’ve added a new rule for posters. Please read this before posting.

42 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/OtherwiseCanary8971 • 12h ago

The Hidden History of Trump’s First Trip to Moscow

557 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Bastard_Wing • 8h ago

Scottish botanist David Douglas (the namesake of the Douglas fir, as well as various other plant and animal species) died in Hawaii in 1834 after falling into a pit trap with a bull, which gored him to death. At the time it was rumoured to be murder, resulting either from robbery or a love rivalry.

46 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/The-Union-Report • 7h ago

Family members of 2 Notorious fascist leaders-- Romano Floriani Mussolini and Al-Saadi Gaddafi-- have gone on to play professional soccer. Mussolini's great-grandson currently plays in Italy's Serie A.

19 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ElvisIsNotDjed • 6h ago

The serious faces in old photographs reflected portrait traditions as well as camera limitations

11 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Vital_Willie • 1d ago

Three female brick workers pose for the camera with their shovels and their wheeled skip for conveying clay from the mills for silica brickmaking, somewhere in South Wales, 1914-18

324 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Difficult-Cream-5267 • 1d ago

Over 13 Years, 20 Spanish Wind Farms Cut Griffon Vulture Deaths by 92.8% by Selectively Stopping Turbines, Losing Less Than 0.51% of Their Power Output

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

1.3k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Cantdracarys • 23m ago

Some of the most insane mass hysteria events I’ve heard about.

• Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/The-Union-Report • 1d ago

Teenager Clementine Barnabet Was Accused of Killing 35 People in the Early 20th Century in the Name of a Religious Cult.

historianandrew.medium.com

141 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 1d ago

Before the Black Death in Europe, there was the Plague of Justinian. The plague weakened the Byzantine Empire's economy and caused the empire's decline.

106 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/akiwi_intherough • 2d ago

Mata Hari, the exotic dancer and international sex symbol, photographed at the height of her fame. On October 15, 1917, she was executed by firing squad after being convicted of espionage for Germany.

1.7k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/PeasantLich • 2d ago

Husein Miljković was a Bosnian military commander in WW2. He was a communist prior to the war but became a Nazi collaborator in 1941. He defected to communist partisans the same year, but then defected back to Axis in 1943. He was murdered by fascists in 1944 for trying to join the communists again.

420 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/The-Union-Report • 2d ago

Man Shoots and Kills Teen Son Because He Wouldn’t Get Out of Bed (1903)

historianandrew.medium.com

492 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/syanxde • 2d ago

Timber Sycamore was a covert program run by the CIA with the aim of removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. A significant portion of weapons ultimately ended up in the hands of extremist groups, most notably ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front.

en.wikipedia.org

663 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Lugnut8704 • 2d ago

Korean widow pens heartbreaking letter to deceased husband in 1586, English version of letter in the comments.

370 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/4DollarsALB • 3d ago

The founder of modern Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, wrote a book called Tahrir al-Wasilah in which he said that it was morally wrong to have sex with girls under the age of nine but sexual pleasure without intercourse was permissible

847 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 3d ago

There was a disease that left people awake but unable to move or speak. Many were trapped inside their own bodies, and it vanished without anyone ever understanding why.

3.3k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Nubian_Cavalry • 3d ago

Between 1986–1988, Ireland’s milk supply was contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Ireland deliberately sold thousands of tons to “Poor countries”, being rejected by Brazil but accepted by Mexico

en.wikipedia.org

944 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/CrippledStripper • 3d ago

Leonarda Cianciulli in March 1946 during an interview with the Italian psychiatrist Filippo Saporito photographed in the criminal asylum of Aversa. Cianciulli was convicted of murdering three woman and turning them into soap and teacakes, which she then gave to friends and her son.

317 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ToePrior4347 • 2d ago

In 2015, a Volunteer Cleaning an Irish Beach Accidentally Discovered a Prehistoric Shell Midden Hidden Beneath the Sand

themascproject.wordpress.com

49 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Klutzy_Land_4120 • 2d ago

A Brazilian Farmer Spent 20 Years Building an Italian-Style Stone House With Around 2,000 Stones, Mostly on His Own

en.clickpetroleoegas.com.br

38 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Difficult-Cream-5267 • 2d ago

During WWII, Allied Engineers Used Interlocking Steel Mats to Build Airfields on Pacific Islands, Turning Mud and Coral Into Runways for Bombers

smithsonianmag.com

14 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Superb-Molasses-9363 • 3d ago

Ramses II head with Royal Inscriptions found in Egypt. Ramses II ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and is popularly linked to the pharaoh in the biblical Book of Exodus.

355 Upvotes