It's very popular to create rumors about certain historical figures to which there is no concrete evidence.
Such as the sexual orientation of Abraham Lincoln or the alleged illicit behavior of Lewis Carroll and Hans Christian Andersen.
Understandably, these mostly baseless, though not necessarily false, theories are left out of history books.
However, there are facts about legends of history which have, indeed, been proven true, but are also left out of history books.
Namely, because it's not the sort of information many would consider in polite conversation, let alone be talked about in schools.
Even if it is no less fascinating than anything else we might learn.
Redditor waxlrose was curious to learn about all the juicy, overlooked details of historical figures guaranteed to make others blush, leading them to ask:
"What’s a NSFW detail about a historical figure that’s normally left out of the history books?"
Dubious Contributions To The War Effort...
"During WW1, sex workers in Britain were more expensive if they had STD's."
"This was because if a soldier hired them and got infected, the soldier could be honorably discharged, and not have to fight in war."- KaleBrew
Talk About A Huge Relief...
"Ancient Egyptians believed the god Atum created the universe by pleasuring himself to ejaculation, and that the ebb and flow of the Nile corresponded to how much."
"To honor this, the pharaohs ceremonially pleasured themselves into the river."- -weef
lets go luna fun GIF by PBS KIDSGiphyThe Downside Of Their Journey...
"Lewis and Clark described the screaming sh*ts that they got from eating unfamiliar food (camas) in detail in their journals."- ayriana
Shameful Thanks For A Hero
"After Alan Turing cracked the enigma code, essentially ending WW2 years earlier than expected and saving countless lives, he was thanked by the British government in the form of chemical castration."
"All because he was a gay man."- Dangerjayne
Talk About Man About Town...
"Probably said here elsewhere, but Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame among other tales, was a notorious philanderer who had affairs on top of affairs with sex workers throughout his life."
"When he died, ALL of the brothels in Paris had to close because so many attended his funeral."- JLWilco
classic film vintage GIF by FilmStruckGiphyNone Of Our Business What They Got Up To In Private...
"Pyotr Tchaikovsky was a submissive bottom."
"In one note, never before published in Russian or English, Tchaikovsky wrote of a young servant 'with whom I am more in love than ever', adding: 'My God, what an angelic creature and how I long to be his slave, his plaything, his property!'". Reddit
The Secret Lives Of The Founding Fathers
"Patrick Henry, the American founding father better known for his quote, 'give me liberty or give me death', kept his wife imprisoned in a cellar because of her frequent outbursts due to postpartum depression."
"His wife had eventually died in that cellar, and he had buried her in an unmarked grave."
"10/10 quote but the wife killing part always seems to get left out of history texts."- sortatoxic
"Ben Franklin was a notorious flirt, and hit on and/or ploughed just about every woman he ever met."
"Single women, married women, young women, old women, women of title, women of the royal line."
"Protestant women, Catholic women."
"All of them."- TheLastIronMan
GiphyTaken To Heaven... Just Not Back...
"French President Félix Faure died during oral sex"- Wiesterfeler
His Bubble Was Bound To Burst Eventually...
"It's said that Henry VIII 'exploded' in his coffin."
"Dogs then licked up the Henry juice."- B1LMAN
It's understandable why most of this information is left out of history books.
Particularly those used in schools.
Even if it might make students' attention might be a bit more attentive...
Redditor Halloween-365 wanted to discuss the things in life that we all need to stay far away from, so they asked:
"What don't you f**k with?"
I don't mess with most things.
Just one more dollar...
"I worked in a casino once so gambling. I've seen people over time ruin their life."
Ouija429
"My husband works with bankrupt people helping them get their lives back together, and the most common reason he sees for bankruptcy is gambling addiction. It's a sunk cost fallacy - people buy a lottery ticket every week, which is totally socially acceptable, and then it's two tickets, then five tickets and a few scratch cards, and the more they lose, the more they spend in an effort to get their money back."
"They get to the point where they haven't got enough money for gas, so they borrow money- not to spend on gas, which would help their immediate problem, but to spend on their bingo app so they can win thousands and fix all of their problems in one go."
MerylSquirrel
A Bad Flow
"Electricity."
Beginning_Winner_105
"Electricity doesn't care about you. It just wants to kill you."
gingernipples16
"I mean, it's really worse than that. It just cares about getting from point a to point b, if you happen to be obliterated by being a part of that path, that's a you problem, not an electricity problem. Electricity couldn't care less. Electricity is physics answer to honey badgers."
Akegata
The Monster
"Water. Was trained in Swift Water Rescue when I was younger. Water doesn't care who you are. It's stronger than you."
leftshoesnug
"I live in Chicago and I call Lake Michigan our beautiful monster. She takes a couple dozen lives every year. 3 or 4 times a year someone walking along shore in the city slips or stumbles in and drowns."
"There are a lot of places where it's a stone retaining wall with no easy way to get out of the water...cold water will take a good swimmer too, you only have a few minutes to get out if you survive the initial shock and good luck finding the nearest ladder in the dark. Be careful out there!"
fergehtabodit
Stay Away
No Way Beer GIF by BuschGiphy"Heroin. Especially since the growing popularity of stepping on it with Fentanyl."
LiterallyOuttoLunch
"I've lost at least seven friends to heroin overdose in the last eighteen years."
crass_cigar_cowboy
Heroin is an evil beast.
Bad Odds
Fart Prancing GIFGiphy"Gambling a fart when you have a stomach bug."
No-Conference-6242
"I lost this gamble at work one morning. Nothing says freedom like going commando all day in a woollen suit."
Sir_Arthur_Vandelay
Show Some Respect
"People who make my food. And janitors."
Herodotus_9
"I have a general rule of thumb; don't f**k with janitors, servers, or secretaries. These people have the keys to every door and will make your life a living hell if you treat them badly. If you are kind and show them the respect they deserve, not only as human beings but also for doing some absolutely vital jobs, they can open up a lot of doors for you."
"And let's be realistic here, most of us are a helluva lot closer in social status to them than to the CEOs we are told we should worship."
Dash_Harber
Life Basic
"Monkeys. No specific reason it just seems wise to adopt a 'no monkey policy' in life. I’m not so enamored with the species that I would need to risk being bit, face torn off or transmitted some exotic fatal disease. You might say 'well this Species would never do that' or 'that species isn’t disease' carrying or whatnot i just don’t have the time or energy to discern what’s what so many think it’s best to stay away all together."
missanthropocenex
Full Stop
"As a surgeon, never f**k with the pancreas."
tragalpointer
"As someone who has endured a continuous acute pancreatitis attack for 2 months straight... this tracks. Nothing offered even the slightest bit of relief, and even when I finally managed to pass out from pure exhaustion I felt the exact same level of pain in my damn dreams!"
"I straight up would rather just die than go through that again... full stop."
hkspowers
Hire People
the adventures of pete and pete season number GIFGiphy"Don't try to fix your own garage door. It can take your arm off if you don't know what you're doing... actually, it can take your arm off even if you do know what you're doing."
rhendon46
I hope we all complied a survivor's list here.