Weird History

It's time to rethink all the Mother Teresa facts you may know, because there's a lot more to Mother Teresa's biography than simply caring for the poor and sick. This is the unfortunate truth of Mother Teresa; a collection of well known Mother Teresa criticism that might make you reconsider just how good of a person she actually was. Was Mother Teresa evil? Was Mother Teresa bad? Check out these Mother Teresa facts and tell us what you think in the comments below!

Ever heard of the playwright Aeschylus? Well he is one of the most important playwrights of all-time -- but wait until you hear how the scribe died. Playwright Aeschylus is famous for being the father of greek tragedy. His plays were the first to have a main actor interact with a second actor, bearing the fruit for much of today’s dramatic work. Speaking of tragedy, he was killed by a turtle. That’s right, a turtle. A regular one. Not even a ninja one. How did it happen? Well as the legend tells it, Aeschylus was soul searching outside, when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. That’ll teach you to look inward and contemplate life’s complexities. Apparently the eagle confused Aeschylus’ bald head for a flat rock, which the eagle thought would shatter the turtle’s shell the eagle could gobble him up. Instead, it killed a famous playwright. He was killed instantly while the dumb eagle went on to live an otherwise bland life. Maybe. Actually it was probably great. It’s probably awe

There are many Teddy Roosevelt facts out there, but perhaps, none as interesting as President Roosevelt delivering a speech moments after being shot! President Roosevelt was shot in the chest on his way to a speech. This is the story of the October of 1912 assassination attempt by John Schrank on President Theodore Roosevelt and the speech he gave right afterwards. In October of 1912, President Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest on his way to give a speech in Milwaukee. Instead of going to the hospital, Roosevelt went to give his speech anyway. He was saved by his heavy overcoat and two items in his breast pocket: his eye glass case and his 50-page speech. They slowed the bullet and prevented it from hitting his heart. Roosevelt still had a bullet hole in his chest, but he insisted that his driver take him to his speech, not the hospital. When he arrived, Roosevelt told the crowd he had just been shot, showed them the blood on his shirt, and said his speech would have to be

Did you know that Jesus Christ was NOT actually born on Christmas? Jesus Christ -- or Yeshua to Ancient Jews -- was born on some day. But if you thought it was Christmas … well, that’s weird, here’s something you should know. Popular culture says that Prominent Jewish preacher Jesus Christ was born on December 25th, which is almost certainly not true according to many historians. The first recorded celebration of Jesus’ birth a.k.a. Christmas was on December 25 in 336 A.D. over 300 years after Jesus’ death. Truth be told, very little is known about the timeline of Jesus’ birth. It’s estimated only a tiny percentage of the population who might have been familiar with Jesus knew how to read or write, thus making something like his birth difficult to track. Even the gospels (which means good news in greek) written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John offered very few references to the date of Jesus birth. So given all of this, where did December 25th come from? The Roman Emperor Aurelian, w

Here’s a completely bad ass Julius Caesar story you might not know. He was once kidnapped by Cilician pirates on the Aegean Sea. The pirates asked for a ransom of 20 talents of silver. Caesar’s response? … He laughed and said. “Make it 50!” Seriously. The pirates agreed and Caesar sent some of his associates to gather the silver, a trip that would take 38 days. During those 38 days, Caesar acted like he was the one in charge. He wrote poetry and speeches and performed them for his captors. He also Demanded silence from the pirates while he napped. Basically, Caesar became best buds with his kidnappers. But he also promised that he’d return to kill them. And that’s exactly what happened. Once the ransom was paid, Caesar gathered a small fleet, returned to the island where he was held, took it back from the pirates... And had them all crucified.

Even though we get a World War II movie EVERY year... there are still some stories yet to be told, and many are Unsolved Nazi mysteries and conspiracies! Whether it be Hitler hiding the Spear of Destiny in Antarctica or Heinrich Himmler possibly having a hand in Otto Rahn’s death. There are many Nazi mysteries that are still unsolved to this day. These WWII mysteries include the death of Gestapo Heinrich Muller, the Nazi ghost train, Hitler’s possession of the spear of destiny, the death of Otto Rahn, and the whereabouts of the pistol for Hitler’s suicide. 5) What happened to Heinrich Muller? What happened to Heinrich Müller? A senior Nazi Gestapo official, Müller played a big role as an intermediary between Extermination Camp bigwigs Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Eichmann. He attended the infamous Wannsee Conference where the Final Solution was formally implemented, and personally supervised the arrests and interrogations of the suspects involved in the July 20th 1944 plot to kill

The Rockefeller family’s industrial and political accomplishments have helped shape America as we know it, and that’s great... but real life isn’t sunshine and rainbows. Here are some surprisingly dark Rockefeller family facts and Rockefeller family history that you probably didn't know: 5) A good place to start is William A. Rockefeller, the father of John D. and William Jr.: his sons who would go on to become titans of industry and amass tremendous wealth. William A, however, was a con artist who used to pretend to be deaf and mute while he was working as a traveling salesman… selling completely useless miracle pills. If pretending to be deaf and mute and selling fake medicine to people isn’t enough for you, he also had a mistress, fathered several illegitimate children, and even pretended to be a doctor named William Livingston. Seems like he could have come up with a better fake name. OR William A. Rockefeller, where the A stands for asshole. 4) Nobody wants to be eaten by cann

Think dowries are a thing of the past? Think again! When you’re a big fancy rich person you gotta have a big fancy rich wedding, and a bride that brings big fancy rich stuff with her. That's where dowries come in. What's a dowry, you ask? Well, a dowry is any gift or monetary contribution that a bride's family provides to the newly wedded couple at their wedding. From historical figures to your average joe-millionaire; here are the most insane dowries in history: 5) To start, Eleanor of Aquitaine brought half of France with her. We need a blender, a kegerator, and half of France. It’s on our Williams Sonoma registry. Medieval France wasn't a united country; it was divided into a bunch little pieces ruled by dukes who answered to the king. One of those pieces was Aquitaine, which was most of southwestern France… SO, when Duke William X of Aquitaine named his eldest daughter Eleanor as his heiress, King Louis VI (AKA "Louis the Fat") said “you’ll be my son’s wife! Deal with it!” So th

Did you know that it's likely that Moses was stoned when he received the 10 Commandments? You know Moses, right? And the 10 commandments? Here’s something weird You should know. It turns out Moses might have been high on drugs when he received them. An Israeli researcher says that Moses was high on mushrooms when he received the 10 commandments and presented them before the people of Israel. How do we know … ? Well the same researcher says that he’s taken many of the drugs the bible alludes to, particularly from the acacia tree … which causes ayahuasca inebriation and “religious experiences” as a side effect. The story of the burning bush in exodus 3 is reason enough to suppose Moses did drugs, as the illusion of objects being on fire -- which Moses attributed to god -- would be a direct effect of doing mushrooms or a similar drug. It’s believed the people of Israel, who Moses presented the ten commandments to, would also have been on drug. After all, they reported Moses as having

Ella Harper was a circus performer who was born with a rare condition called congenital genu recurvatum … which caused her knees to bend backwards … like a camel. Her preference to walk on all fours, opposed to hanging in there and standing up like a champion, which earned her the nickname “The Camel Girl”… and her own circus act. Harper was the main act in W. H. Harris’s Nickel Plate Circus, earning 200 dollars a week in 1886, roughly 5 grand in today’s dollars. Her act became one of the most popular circus acts in its day, especially as she was just a teenager at the time. Harper hung up her cleats and retired some years later, reportedly moving to Tennessee where she married a man … and was never heard from again. She then died in 1921. One of the most memorable circus artists of the 19th century.

Joseph Merrick, aka The Elephant Man, was born on August 5, 1862 in Leicester, England, and he was born a completely healthy child with absolutely no indication that anything was, or would be wrong. There are differing accounts of exactly when Joseph’s disfigurements started to appear, but general consensus is that they didn’t become severe until he was about 5 years old. However he was affected by the disease before his fifth birthday. Accounts state that as early as 21 months, he began developing a swelling of his lips, followed by a bony lump on his forehead, which later grew, of course, to roughly resemble an elephant’s trunk. Merrick's condition gradually deteriorated during his final years, which were spent at London Hospital. He required a great deal of care from the nursing staff and spent much of his time in bed. His facial deformities continued to grow and his head became more and more dangerously enlarged. He died on April 11th 1890, at the age of 27. Merrick had to sleep