20 so absurd historical facts that they seem untrue

Surely many of you have heard something so incredible and illogical that, except for nonsense, it could not be called anything else. It turns out that our history is full of such examples.

So, we present 20 facts from history that seem to be absolute insanity, but nevertheless it all happened in reality. 

In the XIX century, Mrs. Winslow's soothing syrup for children was popular in the USA and Great Britain, which was considered an indispensable assistant for mothers and nannies. It helped with any pain, because it included morphine and ammonia. Of course, what child will not calm down if he is given such a syrup.

In the 1950s, tobacco companies advertised cigarettes as healthy products.

In the Middle Ages, about 600 thousand people were victims of accusations of witchcraft. Such accusations were very difficult to prove or refute at that time.

Again, in the Middle Ages, those convicted of a crime were subjected to ordalia ("God's judgment", or trial by water and fire). In one of the variants of the test, the condemned person had to dip his hand into boiling water — if the hand remained unburned, it meant that God had protected the person, and he was released.

The notorious Roman emperor Caligula loved his horse Incitatus so much that he made him first a citizen of Rome, and then a senator.

Mexican General Lopez de Santa Anna, who, by the way, became the president of Mexico 11 times, buried his own leg with great pomp, which was amputated due to an injury.

In the United States in 1917, Margaret Sanger was arrested and sent to prison for opening the world's first birth control clinic.

Speaking of contraception. In Canada in the XVI century, people drank tinctures as contraceptive measures. One of the ingredients of such potions was beaver testicles.

In the United States during the colonial period, women were not given any painkillers during childbirth. It was believed that the pain during childbirth was a punishment for the sin of the first woman Eve.

Pope Gregory IX believed that cats were a product of the devil, and they were exterminated. As a result, the number of rats increased so much that the bubonic plague broke out, which killed 100 million people.

In the XIII century, about 30 thousand children and teenagers participated in the so-called Children's Crusade, because people believed that God would protect unarmed children. Most of them died on the way, the rest were enslaved.

In ancient Egypt, the servants of the pharaohs were smeared with honey so that the flies would not bother the rulers themselves.

Nintendo was founded in 1889. She produced playing cards that were drawn by hand.

In the XIX century, dentures were made from the teeth of dead soldiers.

In France, at the time of the release of the first Star Wars film, people were still being executed by guillotine. It was in 1977 that the last execution took place by beheading with a guillotine.

The primitive inhabitants of Britain used skulls as cups.

Between 1909 and 1970, the Australian Government took native children from Aboriginal families and placed them in foster homes. Children were forced to forget about their origin.

The wild flora and fauna of Saudi Arabia is unique. However, some representatives of the animal world are brought to the country. For example, Saudi Arabia receives all camels from Australia.

Colombian Pedro Lopez is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most violent maniac. He was found guilty of murdering 110 girls in 1983. Also known as the Monster of the Andes, he confessed to killing a total of 300 people. He was sentenced to 20 years, transferred to a psychiatric hospital, as he was found insane, and released in 1998 for good behavior and cooperation with the police. At the moment, his whereabouts are unknown.