Hello, Mike Spohr fans! If you clicked into this post, it’s because you love the work of BuzzFeed writer Mike Spohr, and are very excited for this very special post, where we revisit the best of Mike Spohr’s content from 2025!
What’s that? You don’t know who Mike Spohr is? You never bother to look at the byline to see who wrote what? You mainly read BuzzFeed while on the toilet and barely skim the actual post let alone the author’s name? Aha. Gotcha. I see.
Well, in that case, here are the most fascinating history facts I, one of the writers here on staff, published this year. Check ’em out (and hopefully you aren’t out of toilet paper):
1.
In the summer of 1862, Andrew Myrick, a trader at the Lower Sioux Agency in Minnesota, was approached by the Dakota people, who were starving after being forced onto reservations and denied delayed treaty payments and food shipments. They begged for help or, at the very least, credit. But instead of compassion, Myrick reportedly sneered, “So far as I’m concerned, if they’re hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung.” What a dick, right?
2.
Until the 18th century, it was common practice to put animals on trial. What were their crimes, you ask? Rodents and other pests were often tried for damaging crops, while pigs were often tried for the murder of children (with at least one executed by hanging).
3.
I know this looks like something cooked up with AI, but it’s 100% real. In the 1920s, daredevil Gladys Roy played a full-on tennis match against stuntman Ivan Unger on top of a flying plane 3,000 feet in the air. And no, they weren’t wearing parachutes. “Why?” you’re probably asking. Or even “WTF?!” Fair questions. But back then daredevils were celebrities, probably because planes were still new, terrifying, and glamorous, so doing anything on top of one — let alone something as goofy as tennis — captured the public’s imagination. As crowds got harder to impress, though, Roy was forced to up the ante: She danced the Charleston mid-flight, walked blindfolded across the wings, and even posed on the tail while the plane nosedived.
It won’t surprise you that she died at just 31 in a plane accident. What will surprise you is how it happened — she was taking part in a photo shoot on the ground when she accidentally walked into a spinning aircraft propeller and was killed instantly. Playing tennis/walking blindfolded on a plane 3,000 feet up? No problem. Avoiding a spinning propeller on the ground? Hard, I guess. Still, despite the tragic end, Roy remains one of the most badass people of all time.
4.
A common ingredient in medicine until the 20th century was — yuck! — human remains. The remains were most commonly ground up into a fine powder that could be made into pills or stirred into drinks. It was believed that ingesting a certain part of the deceased’s body would help to cure illnesses in that part of the body. For example, crushed skull powder was believed to cure headaches.
5.
During World War II, a bear — yes, a bear! — served as a private in the Polish Army. Orphaned as a cub in 1942, “Wojtek the Bear” was adopted by the Polish II Corps, which was part of the Allied forces. He grew up among the soldiers and believed himself to be one of them, drinking beer, eating cigarettes, and playfully wrestling with them. When the Polish soldiers were moved to the front lines, they had to formalize his presence in the army so that he could travel with them. So, Wojtek was officially enlisted as a private.
6.
On Sept. 13, 1848, 25-year-old railroad foreman Phineas Gage was using a nearly 4-foot, 13-pound iron rod to pack gunpowder into a blast hole near Cavendish, Vermont. (Basically, he was preparing to blow up a rock ledge so they could put down train tracks.) When the fuse sparked prematurely, igniting the powder, the rod rocketed through his left cheek, passing behind his eye, tearing through his left frontal lobe, and then exiting the top of his skull with such force it flew another 80 feet away before hitting the ground. Somehow, Gage not only survived, but reportedly spoke within minutes, and then walked with assistance to an oxcart that took him to town where physicians cleaned the wound with 19th-century tools.
7.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos is today’s richest person with a net worth of $100+ billion, but, according to modern estimates, historical figures like Augustus Caesar and Mansa Musa (ruler of West Africa’s Mali Empire in the 14th century) were likely trillionaires by today’s standards.
9.
In early 1961, Marilyn Monroe was dealing with depression, insomnia, and dependence on barbiturates, plus recovering from surgeries. This put her in an emotionally fragile state, so her friend and psychiatrist Dr. Marianne Kris suggested she check into the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York. Marilyn agreed, believing it would be a place to rest and recuperate, but was horrified to find herself in a far more extreme facility than she imagined. Seeking help, Marilyn wrote to her acting teacher Lee Strasberg and his wife Paula.
Her letter said: “Dear Lee & Paula, Dr. Kris has had me put into New York Hospital – psychiatric division under the care of two idiot doctors – they both should not be my doctors. You haven’t heard from me because I’m locked up with all these poor nutty people. I’m sure to end up a nut if l stay in this nightmare — please help me Lee — this is the last place I should be. Maybe if you called Dr. Kris and assured her of my sensitivity, and that I must get back to class so I’ll be better prepared for the ‘rain.'”
10.
Famously, in 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii in volcanic ash. What you might not know, though, is that the ash preserved a lot of everyday items. Below is a loaf of bread baked the morning of the eruption, so almost 2,000 years ago!
11.
Here’s a story from recent history that captivated Australia, but went all but unnoticed in America. In October 2021, 4-year-old Cleo Smith and her family enjoyed a night of camping in Western Australia — s’mores and fishing, maybe, or the Aussie equivalent — but then her parents woke to a nightmare: the tent was unzipped and Cleo was gone. There were no footprints, no noise in the night, and no sign of the child. Authorities launched one of the largest missing-persons investigations in Australian history. Hundreds of officers, volunteers, and locals searched dunes, scrubland, and the coastline. Helicopters scanned from above. Divers scoured nearby waters. But for nearly three weeks, there was still no sign of Cleo. But then, in the early hours of the 18th day, police raided a suburban home after following up on a lead. Inside, they discovered a locked bedroom. When they broke through the door, a little voice greeted them: “My name is Cleo.”
12.
An engineer for Mitsubishi named Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived being in the blast zones for both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings in 1945. Yamaguchi was doing a three-month job in Hiroshima when he headed to work late that fateful day (delayed by forgetting his ID). The blast knocked him unconscious and covered much of his body with radiation burns. Upon reaching the Mitsubishi office, he found it in rubble. He decided to return to his hometown of Nagasaki…and arrived just in time for the blast there. He survived that one, too, and lived to be 93 years old.
13.
Former First Lady of the United States Laura Bush was the driver in a crash that took a teenager’s life. On the night of November 6, 1963, Laura Welch (her birth name) ran a stop sign while driving her father’s Chevrolet sedan. Her vehicle plowed directly into another car at an intersection, killing Michael Dutton Douglas. Making a sad situation even sadder, Douglas was a close friend of Laura’s with whom she’d spent hours chatting on the phone. According to police reports, Laura was not drinking, was not speeding, and was not charged. The whole thing was ruled a tragic accident. At the time, the crash didn’t make national news — she was just a teenager in a small Texas town. But when Laura became First Lady in 2001, the story resurfaced.
15.
In November 1947, San Diego’s Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company of San Diego, California, did a test flight for its ConVairCar, Model 118 flying car — yes, a company actually made a flying car! — and it made big news around the nation. A second test flight ended in a crash landing, though, and excitement about the flying plane died off (thus ending any hopes of it going into production). When not flying, the car could be detached and driven like a regular automobile. (Detaching and re-attaching the plane sounds like it’d be a real pain in the ass!)
16.
Klansmen sitting openly among worshippers? It’s a chilling image, but it happened during the Sunday night service at New Jersey’s Grace Methodist Episcopal Church on March 11, 1923. Forty hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan scattered through the pews, and the local Klan leader and recruitment officer even stood on the church platform alongside Rev. Parris E. Greenly, who welcomed them.
17.
People were so afraid of being buried alive in the 18th and 19th century that inventors patented safety coffins that would give the “dead” the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive.
18.
Here’s something a little different, but still very cool: if you go to Liverpool, England, you can visit the childhood homes of Paul McCartney and John Lennon! Below is Paul’s home at 20 Forthlin Road, where he lived from age 13 through becoming world-famous.
Paul recently visited his old home while filming Carpool Karaoke. This is the kitchen.
And here he’s playing “When I’m Sixty-Four” in the very room that he wrote the song at age 16! Paul and John often hunkered down in this room to write songs like “She Loves You.”
Here is the home John Lennon grew up in with his Aunt Mimi. Strawberry Fields (then a children’s home run by the Salvation Army) is visible from the backyard, which is interesting to know, considering how it inspired him later.
Here’s the living room as it looked when young John lived there.
And here is his bedroom, complete with posters of Brigitte Bardot (his teenage celebrity crush) and Elvis Presley.
You can even see the toilet where John undoubtedly bid adieu to some beans on toast, LOL.
19.
In 1931, psychologist Winthrop Kellogg and his wife Luella decided to raise their infant son, Donald, alongside a baby chimpanzee named Gua to see whether Gua could learn human behaviors and maybe even develop language. At first, Gua walked, understood commands, and even solved problems faster. But then something unexpected happened. Instead of Gua becoming more human, Donald started grunting like a chimp and copying Gua’s behavior. Alarmed, the Kelloggs ended the experiment after just nine months.
20.
The first known vending machine was invented by Hero of Alexandria in ancient Egypt to dispense holy water. It worked a lot like modern vending machines — you inserted a coin, pushed down a lever, and got your soda…I mean holy water!
21.
When Cleveland Indians’ shortstop Ray Chapman arrived at the Polo Grounds in New York on Aug. 17, 1920, he was having one hell of a season, batting .303 with 97 runs scored. It was rumored, though, that Chapman, who was newly married to a pregnant wife, planned to retire when the season ended to focus on his family. Tragically, while facing Yankees’ submarine pitcher Carl Mays, he was hit in the head with a fastball. This was before batters wore helmets, and the ball met Chapman’s head with a sickening thud. The impact was so strong that the ball bounced into play, and Mays threw it to first, believing it must have hit Chapman’s bat. A dazed Chapman stood, asked someone to call his wife, and added: “I’m all right; tell Mays not to worry.” He then collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where he died the next day.
22.
Michael Rockefeller — the 23-year-old son of New York Governor and future Vice President of the United States Nelson Rockefeller — was an art collector, anthropologist, and heir to one of the richest families in U.S. history. To his credit, he often turned his back on a life of luxury to seek out adventure. Unfortunately, in 1961, Michael and a colleague were on an expedition in Papua New Guinea to collect Indigenous art when their pontoon boat capsized, stranding them miles from shore in a catamaran. After drifting a while, Michael tired of waiting to be rescued and reportedly said, “I think I can make it,” then paddled off toward land using empty gas cans as flotation. His colleague watched him until he disappeared on the horizon. He was never seen again.
Despite a two-week search for Rockefeller involving ships, airplanes, helicopters, and thousands of locals scouring the coasts and swamps, no trace of the heir was found. At first, it was assumed he drowned, was eaten by a shark or 15-foot crocodile, or died from exposure (after all, he was 14 miles from shore when he set out for it). But New Guinea’s coastal tribes had a complex history with outsiders, including brutal colonial violence. Rumors quickly spread that Michael had made it to shore…only to be killed and cannibalized by members of the Asmat tribe, with his bones being turned into weapons and fishing gear.
23.
In 1979, Michael’s father, 70-year-old Nelson Rockefeller — the former vice president of the United States — reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack at his desk in his Fifth Avenue townhouse. I say “reportedly” because it was soon pointed out that his desk was in a totally different house and that his 25-year-old assistant, Megan Marshack, had waited an hour before calling for an ambulance. Oh, and she called a friend first. Eventually, the truth came out: Rockefeller had keeled over while vigorously cheating on his wife with Marshack…in his private apartment. The family tried to keep it hush-hush and whisked Marshack away from the public eye. (She was also said to have signed a nondisclosure agreement to keep quiet.) It didn’t work. Tabloids had a field day, and soon Johnny Carson was telling jokes along the lines of: “They say Rockefeller died in the saddle. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a horse.”
24.
In the summer of 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo set out to study how power and authority affect human behavior, so he and his team converted the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building into a mock prison. They recruited 24 male college students and randomly assigned them to play either guards or prisoners. It was supposed to last two weeks…it didn’t make it past six days. Almost immediately, the “guards” — wearing khaki uniforms, mirrored sunglasses, and holding batons — began to abuse their power. They insulted, humiliated, and punished the “prisoners,” who were forced to wear smocks, ID numbers, and stocking caps. The “prisoners” grew withdrawn, anxious, and depressed. Some even suffered emotional breakdowns.
25.
Australian soldiers lost a war against emus, a flightless bird, while trying to control their population. In 1932, in response to worries about the overpopulation of emus damaging crops, the military authorized soldiers with machine guns to eliminate 20,000 emus. Unfortunately for the soldiers, the emus proved to be quite the opponent. They quickly scattered when shot at, outran trucks carrying marksmen, and even had tough hides that bullets had trouble penetrating. After two months the soldiers had only killed 1,000 emus, and amidst public ridicule (and complaints of animal cruelty), the campaign was called off. The emus, it seemed, had won the war.
26.
Speaking of wars, the shortest war in history, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896, lasted only 38 minutes.
27.
Ancient Romans used urine as a cleaning agent for laundry. They didn’t have soap back then, so they had to improvise. And, it turns out, stagnant urine was full of ammonia, which we still use to clean today.
28.
Lastly, let’s finish with a story that highlights the good of humanity. In the 1950s, Dashrath Manjhi was a poor laborer from a remote village in India who was happily married to his wife, Falguni Devi. Tragically, one day, Falguni took a brutal fall while crossing the treacherous mountain terrain that separated their village from the nearest town. Manjhi tried to race her to the hospital, but it was too far away, and without proper access, she died in his arms. To honor his wife, Manjhi picked up a hammer and chisel and decided to do the impossible — carve a road through the mountain. For 22 years (yes, YEARS), he worked alone, chipping away at the rock. In the end, Manjhi completed a 360-foot-long, 30-foot-wide road, cutting the travel distance to the nearest town from 34 miles to just 9 miles — and improving the lives of his fellow villagers forever.
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