r/HolyShitHistory

Extended cut of the period between first and second plane hitting World Trade Center

In 1946, World War II veterans in a small Tennessee town armed themselves, laid siege to the county jail, and forced a corrupt local government out of power. It is one of the only times in modern American history that citizens took up arms against their own officials and won.

In parts of the Congo Basin, children were treated as a delicacy, and enslaved children were deliberately fattened before being used as food.

In 1978, Soviet geologists discovered a family living in complete isolation deep in Siberia. The Lykovs had fled Stalin’s persecution in 1936 and, for 42 years, survived without any human contact, technology, or knowledge that World War II had even happened.

Georgia Tann was an American child trafficker who utilised her position as a social worker to fraudulently place kidnapped children for adoption on the black market for 30 years. One such child subjected to kidnapping grew up to become Ric Flair.

This is the back of Harry Eastlack's skeleton. Those sheets of bone welding his spine, ribs and shoulders together grew from his own muscles. A rare disease called FOP slowly turned him to stone until only his lips could move. He died in 1973 and asked that his body be used to help others.

In 2015, a lawyer bought an Apollo-era lunar sample bag at a government auction for $995. NASA later confirmed it had flown on Apollo 11 and contained moon dust, then tried to keep it. She sued, won the bag back, and sold it for $1.8 million.

25 years ago today, these people took ordinary photos while the attacks of 9/11 were happening right behind them.

Condoms in China and Japan Before the 15th Century

In 1898, surgeon August Bier tested his new spinal anesthesia by injecting cocaine into his assistant's spine, then striking his shins with an iron hammer, tearing out his pubic hair, and applying strong pressure and traction to his testicles. They celebrated with wine and cigars.