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History has long been a great source of pride. But sometimes, not so much. Some things are better left in the past, and while sleeping dogs should be left to lie, we woke up a couple just for this list!
1. Not “My Way” Again…
Everyone loves Frank Sinatra, except in the Philippines. It’s common knowledge that the Filipinos are crazy for karaoke, but karaoke bars banned the song My Way by Frank Sinatra due to the high number of people that were killed while performing the tune. One infamous death happened in 2008 when a security guard shot a young man who refused to stop singing it. The song has been known to start riots and built a superstition in the local community.
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2. Belly-Up Jessop
Forget rabbit’s feet. This is a lady you would have wanted with you in a crisis. Violet Jessop was a cruise liner stewardess and nurse with a story: she survived three major maritime disasters. She was on the RMS Olympic when it crashed into the HMS Hawke. She made it back to Southampton before boarding the RMS Titanic a year later. She survived the RMS Titanic‘s sinking before working on the HMS Britannica in 1916, which hit a mine and promptly sunk. She hit her head, but made it to the surface with her toothbrush and swam to safety. Talk about luck!
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3. Lisztomania!
Everyone has heard of Beatlemania, but did you know that nearly a century earlier Franz Liszt, a classical composer, was the rock star playboy of the music world? Liszt, a pianist virtuoso of the eighteenth century, gave many ladies private piano lessons (ahem) and soon became the top celebrity of the music world. Women would tear pieces off his clothing, fight over broken piano strings he would throw out, and even keep his used cigar butts in their cleavages. The term Lisztomania refers to the intense fan frenzy directed towards Franz Liszt during his performances.
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4. Bob’s your Uncle!
It’s widely known that in the older days, the wedding night wasn’t half as romantic as people envisioned it to be. To assure the wedding’s validity, someone would watch the young couple get it on. As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough, future King William of Orange had it way worse. He was the nephew of King Charles II, who was there to witness William’s wedding night with his new bride Mary in 1677. To make William’s embarrassment complete, his uncle spent the entire event yelling encouragement from the sidelines like a cheerleader. Awkward!
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5. Roman Holiday
Silphium was an ancient flower used as a medicine to treat upset stomachs, fever, and was also used for birth control. The plant contained chemicals that made it work as an abortifacient, which means that it deterred pregnancy or caused abortions. When this use of the plant was discovered, the Romans sure got busy because the plant went extinct soon after. Interestingly enough, the seed of the Silphium was shaped as a heart, and historians speculate that this could be where the popular use of the heart shape came from.
SEE ALSO: Surprising Things You Will Only See In Dubai
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