Surprising Historical Facts that Have Been Disproved

Untrue historical facts

Apparently you can rewrite history! Several previous historical â??factsâ? that we always knew to be true have proven faulty, as theyâ??ve been modified over time to either represent the actual truth that always was, or a more accurate one as time has changed certain circumstances.

We always thought we could rely on textbooks, but unfortunately, it looks like youâ??ll have to add those to your list of not always reliable sources. Prepare to be shocked at these three seemingly true pieces of knowledge that have changed before our eyes. (One of them has validated itself yet again though, yay!)

1. A type of dinosaur that never was

I donâ??t know about you, but when I think of dinosaurs, the first one that comes to mind is the gentle giant who was known as the Brontosaurus. It was even my favorite dinosaur as a kid. A simple Google search of the name yields hundreds of images of the supposedly legitimate dinosaur. We know now that the â??Brontosaurusâ? was actually just confused with the Apatosaurus. Way back in 1877, Othniel Charles Marsh, a Paleontology Professor at Yale University, described the Apatosaurus based on findings of its skeleton. Two years later Marsh announced the discovery of a new, more complete set of bones of the Apatosaurus. Because these bones were significantly larger and different, Marsh believed they belonged to a completely new dinosaur which became known as the Brontosaurus. (Fun fact: scientific name was Brontosaurus excelcus, which means â??thunder lizard.â?) But over time, Marshâ??s theory proved to be false, and our beloved Brontosaurus was really just an Apatosaurus all those years we thought otherwise. Youâ??ll still live on in our hearts forever, Bronty.

2. Astrological sign changes

If you follow astrology at all, you may have found yourself in an astrological identity crisis when astronomer Parke Kunkle announced there is a new 13th astrological sign Ophiuchus, which caused a shift in all of the dates that defined the previous 12 signs because of the change of the starsâ?? alignment due to the moonâ??s gravitational pull on the Earth. For example, if youâ??re a Scorpio, under this new astrological system you would actually now be a Libra. You would basically be changed to whichever sign comes before yours. A little irritating, considering your whole life you were bursting with Scorpio pride and now suddenly you have to completely re-learn your astrological identity.

But fear not, because in the wake of this â??newâ? discovery, modern astrologists have fired back to prove that there really is no sign change at all. Itâ??s a tad complex, but in a nutshell Kunkleâ??s theory of a new astrological system was based on discrepancies the former signs had with the constellations. However, modern western astrologers say constellations have little to do with the signs. Modern astrology relates signs to movement of the planets, not constellations, so nothing has actually changed. Youâ??re still the same olâ?? Scorpio, Virgo, or Aries you always were. Whew.

3. Salem witches were hung, not burnt

Weâ??ve learned through multiple sources (including textbooks) that the witches of Salem, Massachusetts were burnt at the stake if found guilty. Because of this, vivid imagery of girls being burnt alive has been burned into our minds when thinking of the Salem witch trials. However, this was not actually the case, according to Richard Trask, Town Archivist for the former-Salem (now Danvers), Massachusetts. Trask contends that at the time of the witch trials, English law was followed, which commanded guilty witches to be hung for their crimes, not burnt at the stake. Elsewhere in Europe, the church for the crime of heresy would deem witchcraft punishable by burning at the stake, but English law did not subscribe to this.

Kristen Bright is the social media consultant for Instant Checkmate. Instant Checkmate is a personal criminal background check provider, and does not perform employment screening of any kind.

Click here to find out the top 7 historical documents that changed the world . . .

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11 COMMENTS

  1. I was stunned when I read that the good old brontosaurus is actually a disproved fact :Amazed:

    Yes, this is the first dinosaur that comes to mind when I think of dinosaurs in general.

    I heard that the first dinosaur bone was found on the bank of a river and was just thought to be an unusually large bone. The bone was exhibited as something like . . . ‘Unusually large bone’ for many years until people realised that it was from a dinosaur.

      • Number Singular Plural
        Case \ Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
        nominative excelsus excelsa excelsum excels? excelsae excelsa
        genitive excels? excelsae excels? excels?rum excels?rum excels?rum
        dative excels? excelsae excels? excels?s excels?s excels?s
        accusative excelsum excelsam excelsum excels?s excels?s excelsa
        ablative excels? excels? excels? excels?s excels?s excels?s
        vocative excelse excelsa excelsum excels? excelsae excelsa

        Aarghh! Opening that link has produced a word variation shower 😮

          • Sounds complicated 😮

            You mentioned Spanish . . . I was quite surprised after recently visiting Catral in Spain that no-one spoke English to me. Everyone spoke Spanish to me and a couple even asked me for directions in Spanish, which was weird because I have fair hair. Although there are more and more fair haired Spanish people these days because of mixed race marriages.

            (Quick tip: . . . If you want to pass yourself off as a spanish person, wear trousers and long sleeve tops and sit outside a purely Spanish bar. To avoid: Spanish donkey toys under your arm, castanets, hats with bull horns on, tacky fans, sandals and long socks, English football shirts, tattoos and shaven heads, a partner dressed in leopard skin leggings or sunbathing till you look like a cooked lobster)

            I only learnt ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank you’ and ‘I don’t speak Spanish’ on the plane on the way over, but boy was that a great decision as these three phrases were invaluable. I’m thinking about learning Spanish at a slow pace alongside Thai.

            What in your opinion is the best language course out there online? I’m guessing Rosetta Stone, but I have never taken one of their courses. I wonder if the courses are as good as they are cracked up to be?

            In fact, if anyone surfing around on this website has ever taken a Rosetta Stone course, please leave a comment as I’d like to know. Or . . . is there a better course out there. Or even a free course, or a course that comes with a free Mustang V8 metallic green supercharged car – just kidding. A free transformer pen holder would do just fine . . .

  2. I hear tricked out 1968 Olds Mobiles come with 2 CD courses 🙂

    Although Rosetta Stone is quite expensive I will tell you right now that it is worth it. I have used it for Latin, which I think is overkill, but very easy to learn a language with it. You don’t need to remember words for your primary language words. You see a picture of a dog. You learn the word. You also learn how to say it, write it, etc. Future or past is shown through a calender. It is very simple to follow along and practice. If you want to learn any language out there I definitely recommend it.

    Don’t want to memorize charts? Don’t want to waste your time reading books on languages? Want to learnt the language naturally without gerunds and imperatives? Use ROSETTA STONE!!! http://www.rosettastone.com/demo

    I’m buying the French edition to use next summer before starting French. Using a Romanian, English, and Latin background, with Rosetta Stone for French will make French the easiest class of my life 🙂 I have a feeling someone is going to kick me out for taking it. Maybe I’ll get 2 questions wrong out of 150 on a test 🙂 You know just to make it look like I’m struggling :Happy-Grin:

    I hate confusing people for people they are not! If you’re going to wear a blueshirt and a nametag I’m going to confuse you for a best buy employee!! Might as well answer my question just to keep the whole experience less random 😛 Also next time I think you ought to learn how to say “I’m not spanish” before visiting the country 😀 But it’s good you blend in. I know Max Payne had some issues with that…

    Doubt he would have had it if he used Rosetta Stone.

    BTW I don’t know if I’ve said this enough, but; BUY ROSETTA STONE IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE. I think it is more helpful than having a private tutor. A tutor costs a lot of money. Books cost about < $100. So you ought to get the best results by just buying Rosetta Stone!

    For other people out there, you can learn a language the good old way, but it is not efficient. If you have the money and you need to learn any language you need to invest in Rosetta Stone, or a tutor that teaches you in similar way (with pictures and words).

    Just think about it. As a kid, your mom pointed to something and said a word. You said it. She was happy. You just learned a new word.

    Using books and charts to learn languages is diabolical! Don't do it! PLEASE DON'T DO IT! :Cry-Out:

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