The following list, with more to come, is from the website "Factinate" at:
I have not checked the facts stated but am aware that a number of those given are accurate, so I am prepared to accept the list as reliable.
1. Queen Elizabeth Had A Nasty Mouth
Although dental hygiene was not necessarily at its peak in Tudor England, Queen Elizabeth I’s fondness for sweets gave her pearly whites an even darker tone…in fact, her chompers were probably very black. More than that, since sugar was a luxury, some women then blackened their teeth both to emulate their queen and show off their wealth.
2. Thomas Edison Was Evil
The famous inventor Thomas Edison had a huge dark side not many people know about. For example, he used electricity to publicly kill animals. He wanted to show how alternating current was more dangerous than the “direct” current that he used. On one occasion, he used A/C to execute a rogue circus elephant named “Topsy” in front of thousands of people.
3. Alexander The Great’s Mother Was Scary
Queen Olympias was Alexander the Great‘s mother, and she was even more ruthless than her son. On one occasion, she sent a captive enemy queen a cup of poison, a noose, and a sword…then told her to choose how she would die. According to history, the woman chose to hang herself, though she cursed Olympias to the very end of her life.
4. Napoleon Used His Wife As A “Womb”
Napoleon Bonaparte famously adored his wife Josephine, but few people remember the dark end of their love affair. Tragically, Josephine couldn’t have children, so Napoleon made a hard choice: He divorced Josephine and took up with Marie-Louise of Austria. Napoleon reportedly told his blushing bride straight off, “It is a womb that I am marrying.”
5. Ernest Hemingway Almost Died In Back-To-Back Plane Crashes
In 1954, the macho writer Ernest Hemingway got into a plane crash. He miraculously survived, but that was just the start of the nightmare. When he tried to take another plane to get medical help, that plane exploded upon taking off. Hemingway managed to survive again. Talk about bad luck. Or wait a minute…actually, is that good luck?
6. The Best Comeback In History
Richard Feynman, a physicist, bet a friend he would be able to get more than two words at a time out of his colleague Paul Dirac, who didn’t talk much. After speaking to Dirac for several hours with no success, Richard revealed his failure to Dirac. He had the most perfect response. The latter smiled and said, “You’ve lost.” Darn, Paul.
7. The FBI Knew About Pearl Harbor
The FBI ignored compelling evidence about the attack on Pearl Harbor because they didn’t trust the Serbian double agent Dusan Popov, who was apparently a gambling, lustful lush. Dusan’s nickname around town was “tricycle” because of his infamous love of threesomes. Unsurprisingly, he was one of the inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond.
8. There Were Original “Siamese Twins”
Two Siam natives, Chang and Eng Bunker, were American twins joined at the sternum. During the American Civil War in 1865, Eng’s name was drawn in a draft lottery, but not Chang’s. There was little the conscription officials could do: The brothers were not only joined at the sternum, but their livers were also fused. Neither twin served in the conflict.
9. Ben Franklin Had Bodies In His Basement
While renovating his home into a museum, researchers made a horrific discovery at Ben Franklin’s house. They found 10 bodies in the founding father’s basement. This led to speculation he may have been a serial killer. However, the bodies were more likely cadavers used for the anatomical studies of one of Franklin’s friends.
10. Abraham Lincoln Cheated Death Once
Abraham Lincoln was almost killed two years before he was assassinated. Late one August evening in 1863, Lincoln rode alone by horse to his family’s summer residence. A private at the gate heard a shot ring out and, moments later, a bareheaded Lincoln clinging to his steed galloped into the yard. Lincoln explained that gunfire at the foot of the hill had sent his horse into a frenzied gallop, running so fast that it knocked his hat off.
The two men retrieved Lincoln’s hat, which had a bullet hole in it. Lincoln asked the guards to keep the incident quiet because he didn’t want to worry his wife...
11. Dogs Nearly Toppled Russia
During WWII, the Russians trained dogs to run under German tanks with bombs strapped to their backs. There was just one enormous problem with this. Although it was a brilliant plan in theory, unfortunately, the dogs were trained to run under Russian tanks. So when the battles actually came, they ended up blowing their home team up instead.
12. The Most Ruthless French Queen
The Tour de Nesle affair was a scandal in the French royal family in 1314. In it, Queen Isabella of England accused her sisters-in-law of adultery. The scandal led to the imprisonment of the women and the execution of their lovers. The lovers were then executed. Most histories agree that they were first castrated and then drawn and quartered.
13. This Cure Was Worse Than The Disease
Amputation was the most common treatment for broken or severely wounded limbs during the American Civil War. Yes, this was a horrible idea, and it showed. More than half of leg amputations at the thigh or knee were actually fatal to the patient, and your chances were even worse if the doctor amputated your leg at the hip joint.
14. Marie Curie Slowly Killed Herself
Marie Curie, the chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, was completely in the dark when it came to the dangers of radioactive materials. Though she and her husband both suffered from chronic pain, neither considered that it was their radioactive substance-handling that was the cause. It was. Some of their original lab equipment is still so radioactive that we cannot safely view or study them.
15. Ancient Romans Dealt Out A Shocking Punishment
In Ancient Rome, the punishment for killing your father was the death penalty. But, uh, not just any penalty. Your prosecutors would sew you up in a sack along with a monkey, a viper, a dog, and a rooster. The punishment varied slightly depending on the ruling emperor; some rulers preferred more snakes and others more dogs.
16. Einstein Was A Horrible Husband
Albert Einstein’s marriage contract with his wife included these conditions: “You will make sure that my clothes and laundry are kept in good order; that I will receive my three meals regularly in my room; that my bedroom and study are kept neat, and especially that my desk is left for my use only.” Worst of all, his wife agreed to these terms.
17. Ancient Roman Bathroom Etiquette Was…Weird
Ancient Romans used a communal sponge on a stick called a “spongia” to clean themselves after pooping. Once you had done your business, you would rinse the spongia in a channel of running water at your feet, give your bottom a solid wipe, rinse off the spongia… and leave it in a basin for the next person to use! Thanks, but no thanks, Ancient Romans.
18. People Wore Wigs For An Icky Reason
Back in the late 16th century, wealthy males became troubled by an outbreak of balding heads from the venereal disease syphilis. In an ingenious move to kill two birds with one stone, elaborate powdered and scented wigs became all the rage in the effort to hide hair loss as well as the unpleasant odours associated with the illness.
19. Al Capone Went Insane
When Al Capone was put in Alcatraz for tax evasion, doctors discovered he had syphilis, but Capone refused treatment because he was afraid of needles. After 11 years in Alcatraz, the disease had eaten away at his brain so much that he could no longer resume his gangster life. Before his passing, people often spotted him casting a fishing rod into his swimming pool.
20. Gandhi Liked To Tempt Himself With Young Women
Today we see Gandhi as a figure of peaceful protest and understanding. But there’s a side of him no one knows. At the age of 36, while married, Gandhi became more and more obsessed with lust. In order to train and “perfect” his control over his desires, Gandhi would sleep naked with young women. But one night, he committed an act so heinous that it made his own staff member quit on him forever. Gandhi had performed this sleeping act with his own grand-niece named Manu. His stenographer left in disgust.
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