Weird America
Abraham Lincoln was an accomplished wrestler before becoming president.
FACT — Lincoln competed in wrestling matches as a young man and developed a reputation as a skilled wrestler.
Ancient Romans sometimes used urine (pee) to help wash clothing.
FACT — Urine contains ammonia, which made it useful as a cleaning agent.
General and Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was extremely short for a man living during his time.
FICTION — Napoleon was around average height for a French man of his era.
Oxford University in England began teaching students before the Aztec Empire in Mexico existed.
FACT — Teaching at Oxford dates to the 11th century, hundreds of years before the Aztec Empire developed.
The White House has always been officially called the "White House."
FICTION — Different names were used before Theodore Roosevelt officially adopted "White House" on presidential stationery in 1901.
The ancient Egyptians built the pyramids mainly using enslaved people.
FICTION — Evidence indicates that many pyramid builders were organized laborers rather than the huge enslaved workforce often shown in movies.
Albert Einstein failed mathematics when he was a student.
FICTION — Einstein was actually very strong in mathematics from a young age.
A war between two countries once lasted less than one hour.
FACT — The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 lasted less than an hour and is often described as the shortest recorded war.
During the 1800s, the United States government once accepted camels for use by the U.S. Army.
FACT — The Army experimented with camels in the American Southwest during the 1850s.
Cleopatra lived closer in time to the invention of the iPhone than to the building of the Great Pyramid.
FACT — The Great Pyramid was already roughly 2,500 years old during Cleopatra's lifetime.
President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt once gave a speech after being shot.
FACT — In 1912, Roosevelt was shot before a campaign speech and still spoke before receiving medical treatment.
For hundreds of years, Europeans believed tomatoes were poisonous and refused to eat them.
FICTION — Tomatoes came from the Americas and weren't introduced to Europe until after colonization.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to replace the bald eagle as the official national symbol of the United States.
FICTION — Franklin criticized the eagle and praised the turkey in a private letter, but he did not propose replacing the national emblem with a turkey.
Ancient Roman gladiator fights always ended with one gladiator being killed.
FICTION — Gladiators were valuable fighters, and many matches ended without a death.
Queen Elizabeth II of England, who died in 2022, was trained as a mechanic during World War II.
FACT — As Princess Elizabeth, she trained as a driver and mechanic with the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
In 1518, hundreds of people reportedly began dancing uncontrollably in a European city, with some continuing for days.
FACT — The famous "Dancing Plague" occurred in Strasbourg in 1518, although historians still debate exactly what caused it.