12 Random Facts That People Probably Wish Never Happened

Remember those boring history classes when it seemed all the teacher cared about was throwing random dates at you? And all the facts were blah, meh, whatever? Well, now we're at the head of the class and we've changed the lesson plan. We've searched some of history's darkest corners and come back with everything too gross, too creepy, and just plain weird that we think you should know. Actually, you might wish some of these didn't happen. No matter what, it's time to stop daydreaming because class is in session and we guarantee it won't be a snoozefest!

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1. Ancient Romans used crushed mouse brains as toothpaste.

They mixed it with baking soda to get those pearly whites.

2. In some the earliest Highland Games, one event involved tearing all four legs from a dead cow.

The lucky winner got a sheep — which we hope kept all its limbs.

3. Despite being responsible for the deaths of up to 20 million people in his lifetime, Joseph Stalin was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.

His nominations came in 1945 and 1948 for his efforts to end World War II.

4. Getting into a fight in the old American South meant eye-gouging, hair-pulling, biting, and crotch shots.

Fighting dirty became so popular that laws were made to ban it outright. In 1772, "gouging, plucking, or putting out an eye, biting or kicking or stomping upon" were made felonies. Other tactics that had to be legislated against included cutting out tongues, and "slitting, biting, and cutting off noses."

5. In the late 1700s, tobacco smoke enemas were a medical remedy.

They were most commonly used when trying to resuscitate a victim of drowning. And, as you might suspect, they are responsible for the expression of blowing smoke up someone's butt.

6. Albino children in Tanzania are being murdered with machetes, and their supposed "supernatural" body parts sold to witch doctors.

As of 2008, up to 29 children have already been killed. Fishermen believe that an albino's hair woven into their nets will attract fish, and miners will pay big bucks for amulets made with ground up body parts.

7. William the Conqueror's body exploded at his funeral, spewing out rotten guts.

This was due to a combination of built-up stomach gasses and an undersized casket. As one written record describes it, "the swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the by-standers and the whole crowd."

8. In the late 1800s, James Sligo Jameson, heir to the famous Irish whiskey maker, once bought a 10-year-old slave girl and intentionally gave her to cannibals.

The girl cost only six handkerchiefs. James apparently wanted to personally record how she was cooked and eaten.

9. Much of our knowledge of the stages of hypothermia are due to human experiments in Nazi Germany.

The big question is whether or not it's ethical to use such data.

10. When a new male lion takes over a pride, he kills all of the existing cubs.

11. In 1997, a 16-year-old Egyptian boy had an unborn twin growing inside him.

The fetus, which was discovered during an operation, weighed over four pounds and had a head, arm, tongue and fully formed teeth.

12. Doctors who were treating victims of the Bubonic plague wore these creepy “plague suits."

The weird beak section was supposed to keep 'plague air' away from the nose and mouth. The plague, also known as the Black Death, took an estimated 150-million lives.

There's a good chance your friends will never believe you, so back up your facts and SHAREthis article!