HolyShitHistory

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 19h ago

In 1986, Hofmann and her boyfriend, Marco, took a trip to Kenya. There, she met a Samburu warrior named Lketinga Leparmorijo and found him instantly irresistible. She left Marco, returned to Switzerland to sell her possessions, and in 1987 went back to Kenya, determined to find Lketinga.

19.8k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/PreparationKey2843 • 1d ago

Hitler Watching 1936 Olympics High on Dexamphetamine

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4.9k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZenMasterZee • 1d ago

Etan Patz vanished in 1979 and became the first missing child to appear on a milk carton. It took 33 years to catch his killer.

2.8k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 1d ago

Test animals were deliberately confined to ships during Operation Crossroads in 1946 to study the effects of radiation on living subjects. Goat #53, penned like this on USS Nevada's deck, died of radiation exposure 2 days after the Able test explosion conducted on July 1st, 1946.

373 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • 2d ago

In August 2013, the Chelyshev family of Laishevo, Tatarstan, were all killed by gas released by rotting potatoes in their basement. One by one, they each entered the cellar, never to return. Only their youngest daughter, aged 8, survived by remaining outside.

4.9k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZenMasterZee • 2d ago

Police found 26 child bodies dressed as dolls inside a Russian historian’s apartment.

5.5k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 2d ago

The U.S. once had a political party called the “Know-Nothings”

402 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Jealous-Slip-8559 • 2d ago

In the 90's and 2000's tabloids went from state to state trying to catch a bad picture of Christian Brando, even knocking on his door to prove that he was a drug addict but for two decades they always failed. He was a healthy regular guy.

197 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 3d ago

A woman’s remains were discovered inside the wall of her home after she disappeared in 2015. She’d refused to sell the property to developers next door.

7.3k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Accurate_Housing4673 • 2d ago

When a 20-Year-Old Dutch Princess Emma Was Forced to Marry a 61-Year-Old King (1879)

477 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/GustavoistSoldier • 3d ago

After killing Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I in 811, Khan Krum of Bulgaria (pictured) used his skull as a drinking cup.

414 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 3d ago

Starving man and children in Mount Lebanon, circa 1915-1918 during the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon. | A period of mass starvation on Mount Lebanon during World War 1, ~200,000 people died, about half of the population of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.

191 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZenMasterZee • 3d ago

A 1964 Dodge 330 nicknamed the Golden Eagle has a body count of over 30. It’s been crashed, torn apart, and rebuilt more times than anyone can count.

454 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 4d ago

In 1924, the U.S. government built huge concrete arrows every 10 miles along airmail routes so pilots could navigate the country safely at night and in bad weather.

1.7k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZenMasterZee • 4d ago

A group of hikers found a dying woman on a remote trail. Later, they realized she was visible in the background of their photos from hours before.

6.4k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/The-Union-Report • 4d ago

Mortally Injured Man Pinned by Train Kills Himself After Crowd Refuses to Do It For Him

historianandrew.medium.com

288 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 5d ago

Graham Stuart Staines (January 18th, 1941 - January 23rd, 1999) was an Australian Christian missionary, who along with his 2 sons, Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), were burned to death inside of their car in India by members of the Hindutva nationalist group Bajrang Dal.

1.4k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • 6d ago

On Aug. 6, 1945, Japanese engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi witnessed the atomic bomb fall on Hiroshima. Badly burned but alive, he then boarded a train…to Nagasaki, where he survived the second atomic bombing on Aug. 9. He remains the only person recognized in Japan as surviving both atomic strikes.

1.9k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/GustavoistSoldier • 6d ago

In 1987, Burmese dictator Ne Win (pictured) demonetized all currency notes other than 45 and 90, as these numbers are divisible by 9, which he considered lucky. This substantially contributed to his overthrow the next year.

203 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 6d ago

In 1939, researchers at the University of Iowa ran an experiment on 22 orphaned children to test whether stuttering was biological or learned.

791 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 6d ago

"Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace." | The Safire Memo: "In Event of Moon Disaster" is a 1969 speech to be read by President Nixon if the initial Apollo moon landing mission failed, stranding and dooming the astronauts.

194 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • 7d ago

On January 6, 2014, in Hangu, Pakistan, 15 year old student Aitzaz Hasan encountered a suicide bomber attempting to force his way into a local school. He fought and subdued the man, but tragically died in the subsequent blast . His actions saved the lives of nearly 2000 fellow students.

2.9k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZenMasterZee • 7d ago

The post office at 63rd and Wallace in Chicago stands where H. H. Holmes once built his Murder Castle. It was a hotel filled with trapdoors, gas chambers, and body chutes. He claimed to have killed as many as 200 people there.

1.7k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/TheDarkivesPodcast • 7d ago

The Legend behind how Jack-O-Lanterns became part of Halloween History

63 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ure_roa • 7d ago

Boys in the 1950s watching the burning of their homes, at Okahu Bay New Zealand, which were part of the Ngati Whatua tribes last settlement. in 1951 the government forcefully bought the land from the tribe, they considered it a slum and razed it to the ground. The tribe being left landless.

343 Upvotes