After his presidency, Washington opened a whiskey distillery. By 1799 it was the largest distillery in the United States, producing 11,000 gallons of un-aged whiskey.
Russian mystic and friend to Czar Nicolas II, Rasputin survived being poisoned, shot, and stabbed numerous times before he was drowned in the Volga River.
Thanks to Lincoln’s long limbs, he was an accomplished wrestler as a young man. He was only defeated once in approximately 300 matches, and earned a reputation as an elite fighter in New Salem, Illinois.
King Leopold II of Belgium is considered one of the worst mass murderers
Under Leopold’s rule, native people in the Congo Free State suffered mass mutilations and death by Belgians who treated the region as their own rubber plantation. Belgian authorities regularly punished people for missing work quotas by cutting off their hands.
Italian doctors invented a fake disease to save Jews from the Holocaust
In 1943, a mysterious and frightening illness spread through Nazi-occupied Rome. But it was revealed 60 years later by Italian doctors that they invented ‘Syndrome K’ to save Italian Jews. At least 20 people were saved from deportation.
The Boston Marathon didn't have female runners until 1967
As women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon, Kathrine Switzer signed up in 1967 using only her initials. When she showed up, race officials were enraged as she wasn't a man, and several attempted to stop her from running. Nevertheless, she powered through and finished the race.
In 1834, ketchup was sold as a cure for an upset stomach by an Ohio physician named John Cook. It wasn’t until the late 19th century when it became a popularized condiment
Napoleon Bonaparte was once attacked by a horde of bunnies
Napoleon had requested that a rabbit hunt be arranged for him and his men. When the rabbits were released from their cages, they charged towards Napoleon and his men in a vicious and unstoppable onslaught.
A female gladiator was called a gladiatrix, two or more gladiatrices. They were extremely rare, but did exist until being officially banned from 200 CE onwards.
In 300 BCE, these big birds were heralded by the Mayan people as vessels of the gods and honored with worship. They were symbols of power and prestige, and were domesticated to have roles in religious rites.
Fought between Britain and Zanzibar, the Anglo-Zanzibar War occurred on August 27 in 1896. It was over the ascension of the next Sultan in Zanzibar, and resulted in a British victory.
First introduced in Italy in the 11th century by a Byzantine princess, forks were seen as rude and sacrilegious because they were ‘artificial hands.’ Even in the 16th century, the English were still ridiculing those who dared to use the utensil.
