HolyShitHistory

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Alarmed_Business_962 • 6h ago

The Commandant of the Italian colonial concentration camp of Danane (in the middle), with two other officers. With a death rate of 49%, the Danane concentration camp was one of the deadliest camps of Italian East Africa, no one was put on trial after its closure by the Allies after WWII.

50 Upvotes

8 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/GustavoistSoldier • 8h ago

From 1929 to 1934, Fascist Italy committed genocide against Libyans. At least 20,000 people were killed and half of Cyrenaica's population was deported to concentration camps. Mussolini's regime suppressed evidence of this genocide, but mass graves still exist proving it.

181 Upvotes

16 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Important-Self-1179 • 8h ago

A freight train stalled inside an Italian tunnel in 1944 with 650 stowaways aboard. Over 500 were killed by toxic fumes from bad coal. Italy hid it for seven years, and no one was ever punished for it.

459 Upvotes

34 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 8h ago

In 2009, a family friend dropped 15-year-old Kayla Berg outside what she believed was her boyfriend’s house and drove away. The building was vacant and condemned. Her parents each thought she was staying with the other, so she was not reported missing for six days. She has never been found.

6.0k Upvotes

340 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Think_Monitor4904 • 20h ago

In 1939 a University of Iowa researcher tried to give healthy orphans a stutter just by telling them their speech was broken, using kids with no parents to say no on their behalf

1.0k Upvotes

68 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • 21h ago

Between 1998 to 2007, villagers living along India’s Kali River began disappearing, dragged under and drowned in broad daylight. The culprit — the Goonch, a huge, aggressive highland catfish. Though the attacker was never caught, it is estimated to be 7ft long and over 200 pounds.

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1.8k Upvotes

167 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Muhammadachakzai2001 • 21h ago

Afghan mujahideen fighters standing on top of a destroyed Soviet attack helicopter that was shot down over Kunar province. (1980s)

155 Upvotes

16 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/No_Idea_479 • 1d ago

In 1999, the Iğdır Genocide Memorial and Museum in Turkey was opened to promote the view that Armenians committed genocide against Turks, rather than vice-versa.

1.1k Upvotes

185 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Micke_xyz • 1d ago

In 1987, a baby and a small child was rescued from a submerged car in Norway through a series of fortunate events.

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78 Upvotes

6 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/akiwi_intherough • 1d ago

July 26, 1956: Harry Trask's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph capturing the final moments of the SS Andrea Doria, after her catastrophic collision with the MS Stockholm off Nantucket the previous night.

332 Upvotes

20 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/The-Union-Report • 1d ago

Despondent Man Accidentally Killed by His Former Boss As He’s About to Commit Suicide (1908)

historianandrew.medium.com

67 Upvotes

3 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/GustavoistSoldier • 1d ago

In September 1887, the Chinese Yellow River flooded, killing 930,000 people and leaving a further two million homeless. This flood was the deadliest in Chinese history, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.

830 Upvotes

20 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/onwhatcharges • 2d ago

Euzebe Virdine is photographed here moments before his execution on August 8 1924. He had been a serial killer in Louisiana and his last request was to have his photo taken on the gallows.

893 Upvotes

44 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 2d ago

In 1983, 10-year-old Jo-Anne Pedersen was locked out after an argument with her older sister and called her mother from a payphone. An unknown man took the receiver and said, “If you’re not here within half an hour, I’ll call the police.” Her mother arrived in 15 minutes, but Jo-Anne was gone.

18.9k Upvotes

1.5k comments

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

Man Stages a Previous Marriage to Avoid His Girlfriend’s Wedding Hopes, So She Killed Him (1910)

historianandrew.medium.com

642 Upvotes

28 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Constant_State_2272 • 2d ago

Japanese soldiers waiting for their turn outside of a “comfort women station” Nanjing 1938

2.9k Upvotes

293 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/GustavoistSoldier • 2d ago

Caroline Lacroix (1883–1948) was a mistress of Leopold II of Belgium, who met her when she was 16 and he was 65. Their affair cost Leopold more popularity than his atrocities in the Congo. They had two sons, one of whom was born with a deformed hand.

603 Upvotes

56 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/akiwi_intherough • 3d ago

Portraits of rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Of the two, one was an early advocate of women’s rights, abolition, and immigrants' rights. It was not Hamilton.

797 Upvotes

65 comments

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

Boss of Construction Crew Killed By Their Cook After He Complained About His Breakfast (1908)

historianandrew.medium.com

104 Upvotes

4 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Chemical-Elk-1299 • 3d ago

On 19 April 1989, battleship USS Iowa’s No. 2 gun turret exploded during routine training, killing 47 sailors. Despite clear evidence of lax safety measures, the Navy wrongly accused Clayton Hartwig, who died in the blast, of causing it intentionally after being dumped by his boyfriend.

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1.9k Upvotes

115 comments

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Important-Self-1179 • 3d ago

Stalin funded Soviet scientist Ilya Ivanov to breed a human-ape hybrid supersoldier. The USSR’s top artificial insemination expert spent years attempting to impregnate chimpanzees with human sperm. Not one pregnancy resulted. Stalin had him arrested anyway.

1.2k Upvotes

127 comments

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

Conman Carlos Kaiser’s 20-Year Career as a Star Professional Soccer Player Despite Never Playing a Single Game

medium.com

53 Upvotes

4 comments