6 Ridiculous History Myths (You Probably Think Are True)

[Odin2005]

http://www.cracked.com/article_18487_6-ridiculous-history-myths-you-probably-think-are-true.html

6. Wild West violence
5. Investors jumping to their deaths in 1929
4. Bra Burnings
3. 1938 War Of the Worlds hysteria
2. "No Irish Need Apply"
1. Medieval torture devices.

[Kali]

1. in the same vein, somethign we tend to think is a modern phenomenon

lawsuits

they were at least as litigious in the last several hundred years as we are now!

[sarge43]

3. In the late Middle Ages law suits were the favorite indoor sport.

Following the Black Death countless amounts of property and goods had no heirs, so the people who survived made claim, shaky claim in many cases. Biggest family fight over grandpa's stuff in history.

[Art_from_Ark]

2. Yeah, things were just hunky-dory in the Middle Ages

Just don't look up "Foltermethoden im Mittelalter" or "Folterwerkzeuge" on the Internet, OK?

http://www.leben-im-mittelalter.net/gesellschaft-im-mittelalter/recht/folter/foltermethoden.html

[sarge43]

4. No mass hysteria over the War of the Worlds broadcast.

Essentially it became an urban legend because the following day the newspapers blew the reaction (which was mainly phone calls to local police) completely out of proportion. As the Time article of the time noted the print media was trashing radio because it was a threat to their advertising income.

The more things change...

[HopeHoops]

5. Yeah, but the original movie was cool MOSTLY because it showed how they did the special effects.

My favorite was running a mic into the bathroom and unscrewing a mason jar inside the toilet bowl to get the sound for the canister opening. I also liked the rednecks shooting up the water tower.

[sarge43]

6. Remember that

The mic wires snaking down the hallway from the control room to the bathroom. The broadcast was for the time state of the art radio drama.

[HopeHoops]

7. Along similar lines, there's "Haunted Honeymoon" with Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner.

That's one of my favorite movies ever.

[sarge43]

8. Never saw it. I'll check it out. Thanks n/t

[HopeHoops]

9. It starts out as a radio show, goes to live action, and well, you'll have to see it.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Mining towns in the Old West could be particularly violent

Take a look at the Gold Hill and other cemeteries in Virginia City, Nevada, for example-- they have lots of graves of men who died at a relatively young age, and there will sometimes even be epitaphs stating that they died a violent death.