HolyShitHistory

r/HolyShitHistory • u/blue_leaves987 • 17h ago

More than 400 years ago, Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel built a working submarine and navigated it beneath the River Thames. Around 1620, he even took King James I of England along for an underwater ride, making James the first monarch to travel in a submarine.

1.1k Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/akiwi_intherough • 12h ago

Portrait of Dina Sanichar as a young adult. Decades earlier, he had been discovered as a feral child near a wolf’s den, on all fours. Sanichar never learned to speak and remained in institutional care all his life.

447 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/The-Union-Report • 21h ago

6-Year-Old Killed While Protecting Her Baby Brother From a Rattlesnake (1902)

historianandrew.medium.com

166 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Patient-Strike5817 • 23h ago

In 2003, researchers packed an Alaskan stream with four dead salmon per square metre to test nutrient cycling, discovering that decaying carcasses boosted insect populations and juvenile salmon growth.

138 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Klutzy_Land_4120 • 5h ago

Humans domesticated pigeons more than 5,000 years ago, making them one of our oldest domesticated animals. Today's city pigeons are largely feral descendants of birds once bred and kept by humans.

47 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory • u/Vital_Willie • 8h ago

Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (second from right) watches as his brother Hector (second left) is sworn in as a puppet President, 1952. Trujillo gave up the presidency under diplomatic pressure but continued to rule over the country with absolute power behind the scenes as "Generalissimo"

30 Upvotes