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Everyone loves a bit of history—but some stories are just too strange, too unbelievable, or too downright ridiculous to make it into your average high school textbook. This morning, we dove into some of our favorite "Did You Knows," and here are five of the wildest true tales from history.
Napoleon vs. the Rabbits
Napoleon Bonaparte once organized a rabbit hunt for himself and his men. But instead of catching wild hares, his staff accidentally gathered a horde of domesticated rabbits. When the cages were opened, the animals rushed the hunters—expecting to be fed, not hunted. Overwhelmed by the swarm, Napoleon and his men had no choice but to retreat from the field. A planned hunt turned into a fluffy fiasco.
Australia Lost a War to Emus
In 1932, Australia declared war… on emus. The large, flightless birds were wreaking havoc on wheat crops, so the government sent in soldiers with machine guns to control the population. The operation, later dubbed the "Emu War," was a disaster. The emus were too fast, too agile, and too spread out. Despite thousands of rounds fired, the military made little impact—and eventually gave up. The emus had won.
The Fastest Manhole Cover in History
During a nuclear test in the 1950s, scientists conducting underground detonations placed a heavy steel cap—essentially a manhole cover—on top of a test shaft. When the bomb detonated, the explosion launched the cover at an estimated 200,000 kilometers per hour. That’s five times the speed needed to escape Earth’s gravity. The cap was never found, leaving some to believe it might just be the first manmade object to reach space.
Dead Men Do Tell Tales
In one of the strangest legal proceedings ever recorded, Pope Stephen VI put his predecessor—Pope Formosus—on trial in the year 897. The only problem? Formosus had been dead for months. Undeterred, Stephen had the corpse exhumed, dressed in papal robes, and propped up in court. A deacon was even appointed to speak on the deceased pope’s behalf. Formosus was found guilty and his body was thrown into the Tiber River. Church politics, medieval-style.
The Man with the Best (or Worst) Luck
Tsutomu Yamaguchi had a week no one could imagine. In August 1945, he was on a business trip to Hiroshima when the first atomic bomb was dropped. Injured but alive, he returned home to Nagasaki—just in time for the second bomb to fall. Remarkably, he survived both attacks and went on to live a long, full life, eventually passing away at the age of 93. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time—twice.
History is full of surprises—some hilarious, some horrifying, and some just plain hard to believe. Want more weird and wonderful facts? Tune in to the Country 104 Morning Show with Nick Cooper and join the fun!