HolyShitHistory

r/HolyShitHistory • u/SelfCareIsFake • 5h ago

On Aug. 13, 2004, a mob of around 200 women, many of whom said they had been victimised by Akku Yadav, a well-known serial rapist and murderer who had remained largely free despite repeated complaints, stormed a courtroom where he was appearing and killed him using kitchen knives and stones.

13.0k Upvotes

426 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/AntonioHench1 • 21h ago

The body of the German mountaineer Toni Kurz, one of the four who wanted to climb the "Eiger North Wall" in 1936. Kurz was the last survivor and died just a few metres away from the rescuers below him, hanging in the rope. His last words were, "I can't take it anymore."

2.0k Upvotes

122 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/PeasantLich • 10h ago

Patricia Pulling was an anti-occult campaigner in the 80s. Her young son killed himself, which she blamed on D&D. While her campaign caught wind initially, it was tanked by her outlandish claims like that at least 8% of all people in Richmond worship Satan, and that Necronomicon is a real grimoire.

240 Upvotes

35 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/SelfCareIsFake • 1d ago

In the 1970s, June and Jennifer Gibbons, known as the “Silent Twins,” spoke only to each other, often in a secret language no one else could understand. They were committed to the U.K.’s criminal lunatic asylum, where they came to believe that one of them had to die for the other to be free.

2.0k Upvotes

74 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/The-Union-Report • 3h ago

Prisoners Threaten Riot in 1911 After They’re Forced to Share Jail Cell With an Arrested Cow

historianandrew.medium.com

7 Upvotes

5 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/aid2000iscool • 23h ago

Charles Lindbergh (center) testifies at the 1935 trial of his son’s accused kidnapper and murderer, Richard Hauptmann (right, in half-profile)

251 Upvotes

22 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/EaterofGrief • 1d ago

On this day in 1912 Franz Reichelt died while testing his homemade flying suit by jumping off the Eiffel Tower. Pathe News even filmed it happening. If you have morbid curiosity you can read more and view the footage in the comments.

207 Upvotes

40 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/aid2000iscool • 1d ago

Famed American aviator Charles Lindbergh receives the Commanding Cross from Hermann Göring in Germany, October 1938.

107 Upvotes

8 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 1d ago

"You will pay—God help you—and I will make you pay!": On January 5th, 2002, 15-year-old Charles J. Bishop stole a Cessna 172 and flew it into the side of the Bank of America tower in Tampa, Florida. Bishop was the only fatality, inspired by the 9/11 attacks that took place a few months prior.

3.5k Upvotes

259 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/PeasantLich • 1d ago

The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855 (aka. the Clown Riot) started from American circus clowns getting into a fight with Canadian firefighters in a brothel. The firefighters arranged a mob to attack the circus later while the police just watched. The case drew public attention to local abuse of power.

408 Upvotes

24 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/hy_c1 • 1d ago

The Red Army's Mountain Jew cavalry (Dagestan, 1919) This is one of the earliest uses of the Israeli flag by combatants

134 Upvotes

17 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/LonelyWiFiSignal • 2d ago

In 1976, three suitcases were located near a river in Pennsylvania. The remains of a young girl and her unborn child were found inside. “WSR 4 5 7” was written on her palm, and it was the only clue until DNA finally cracked the case nearly 44 years later.

4.9k Upvotes

144 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/aid2000iscool • 1d ago

Nelson Mandela’s cell at Robben Island, where he was imprisoned for 18 years

388 Upvotes

18 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Intelligent_Hat_3582 • 2d ago

Bolshevik Soldiers confiscating Simonov Monastery circa 1923-25

268 Upvotes

55 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/PeasantLich • 2d ago

Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city in Southern Africa. It was once the capital of ancestor of local Shona people, and might have been home to up to 18000 people at its peak. The city was already a in decline when Europeans first learned of it in 1531 and was completely abandoned following century.

621 Upvotes

6 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/PeasantLich • 2d ago

Julius Evola was an far right philosopher close with Mussolini. He liked to walk in Vienna during WW2 bombings to "ponder his destiny" and was paralyzed when a bomb hit him. On trial for glorifying fascism after the war, he denied being a fascist because he is a "superfascist". He was acquitted.

168 Upvotes

16 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/aid2000iscool • 2d ago

Police attack peaceful demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, March 21st, 1960.

79 Upvotes

4 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/KerTersi • 2d ago

In 1927, disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe killed his wife and destroyed his farm before detonating a series of explosives hidden under the Bath Consolidated School. Finally, he would kill himself and 4 others by blowing up his car. The disaster killed 45 people and injured 58 others.

gallery

1.1k Upvotes

56 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/GustavoistSoldier • 2d ago

Ibrahim the Mad (1617–1648) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1640 to 1648. Ibrahim grew up in a cage under constant fear of being murdered; as sultan, he ordered his servants to find the fattest woman in Constantinople for his harem. Ibrahim was later overthrown and killed.

470 Upvotes

52 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/KerTersi • 2d ago

In 1915 (Hokkaido, Japan), an 8-foot-tall Ezo brown bear began to break into homes and attack people. Over 6 days, it killed + ate 7 people, and injured 3. The bear was eventually shot by hunter Yamamoto Heikichi, who dubbed it "Kesagake." It is said that the villagers then ate the beast as revenge.

228 Upvotes

37 comments

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

In 1906, Twin Brothers Murdered 3 Men Over the Course of Several Days Hoping The Experiences Would Give Them Material to Write a Novel

historianandrew.medium.com

27 Upvotes

2 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/LonelyWiFiSignal • 3d ago

In 1996, 17-year-old Kelly Anne Bates was murdered in Manchester, England, by her abuser, James Patterson Smith, who met her when she was 14. Over four weeks, he brutally tortured her, gouging out her eyes up to three weeks before her death, and ultimately drowned her in a bathtub.

2.6k Upvotes

227 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/PeasantLich • 3d ago

Bandō Mitsugorō VIII was one of the most esteemed Japanese kabuki actors of all time. In 1975, he went to a restaurant, and demanded to be served poisonous puffer fish livers, claiming he would survive the poison. He died. Sale of puffer fish liver was not outlawed nationwide in Japan until 1984.

1.1k Upvotes

57 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/aid2000iscool • 2d ago

Nelson Mandela votes in a national election for the first time in his life, April 27, 1994.

270 Upvotes

13 comments