Top 20 Historical Inaccuracies People Think Are TRUE

#20: Pirates Regularly Buried Their Treasure

Everybody loves a good pirate story, not to mention the thrills of an adventure in search of lost treasure. Unfortunately, this image of swashbuckling pirates either digging holes to bury their loot or to find more is mostly fiction. Real pirates had better things to do with their treasure, like spending it immediately. Most pirate crews divided their haul as soon as possible, and there is almost no evidence that they buried it for safekeeping. The myth likely stems from isolated stories, such as Captain Kidd’s rumored stash, or has been popularized through tales like “Treasure Island.” So, next time someone says, “X marks the spot,” give them a history lesson.

#19: Brothers Grimm Wrote Many Famous Fairytales

From Cinderella’s glass slippers to the witch of Hansel and Gretel, we have all heard about the tales written by the Brothers Grimm. Except, they didn’t. Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm weren’t writing brand-new stories. Instead, they were collecting old folklore. Their actual contribution was more about preserving the oral German storytelling traditions that had been passed down over several generations. Today, we are well-acquainted with these stories through adaptations such as Disney's animated and live-action versions. The early versions of these tales were much darker and more violent. So, while the brothers deserve their laurels for compiling the fairy tales, they were more like spooky story editors as opposed to folklore writers.

#18: Gladiators Always Fought to the Death

We’ve seen Hollywood’s gladiatorial bloodbaths, but real Roman gladiator fights weren’t always a death match. Gladiators were expensive to train and maintain. They were otherwise prized athletes and too costly to lose in a random duel. Too much death is not so good for business. Most gladiatorial matches were fought according to rules, with referees present, and the option for surrender was available. The thumbs-up or thumbs-down gesture associated with life or death in gladiator combat is popularized by art and film. It was never a thing. Many gladiators had long careers. They won fame, fortune, and even freedom. Brutal fights existed, but matches to the death were one myth that the Colosseum didn’t condone.

#17: Princess Anastasia’s Disappearance

The idea that Anastasia Romanov, the daughter of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, somehow escaped her family’s tragic fate has been around for nearly a century. Her story has spawned legends, impostors, and even animated musicals. But the harsh truth is that she did not survive. The remains of the Romanov family were discovered in 1991. This did not include Anastasia and her brother. That missing piece kept the mystery of her survival alive until 2007. DNA testing of a second grave identified the missing children. The fantasy of the “lost princess" was closed by modern science. Still, Anastasia’s story remains a fascinating blend of myth, fiction, and tragedy.

#16: Betsy Ross and the American Flag

The American flag is one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. Its creation has often been attributed to one Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress. Betsy would be immortalized in a commemorative stamp in 1952, marking the bicentennial of her birth. The only problem is that she was not the actual designer. The more likely designer was Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Francis would bill Congress for his work on the flag and left behind a paper trail that spanned several years as he pursued payment. Betsy may have stitched some flags, but the legend of her most incredible creation is more a myth than fact.

#15: Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation never actually ended slavery. Issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, it didn’t free anyone. This is because it only applied to Confederate states that were still in rebellion and not to the slave-holding border states loyal to the Union. To make matters worse, nobody took the decree seriously. The actual legal death of slavery only came two years later, in 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was made to the United States Constitution. Lincoln’s Proclamation was a turning point and a bold political move. It just didn’t legally abolish slavery on its own. History classes may skip that footnote, but we don’t.

#14: How We Remember the Alamo

The Alamo is a symbol of Texan pride, but the real story is a bit more complicated and a lot darker. The Battle of the Alamo had more to do with slavery than just Texan independence. Mexico banned slavery in 1829. This did not go well with American settlers in Texas, who continued to keep slaves. The 1836 battle was, in part, about defenders fighting to preserve the rights of slaveholders. The brutal siege ended after 13 days when Mexican forces won the battle. Unfortunately, they would be defeated later at the Battle of San Jacinto. The winners continued to use slaves. “Remember the Alamo” sounds noble, but once you dig deeper, you find the darker truth beneath the slogan.

#13: Cowboy Hats

When you picture a cowboy, you probably imagine men on the American frontier wearing those wide-brimmed Stetsons and riding a horse along a dusty trail. Guess what? Real cowboys had no interest in wearing cowboy hats. They were too bulky. Instead, cowboys in the 1800s preferred to wear bowler hats. These hats stayed on their heads during windy conditions. Even better, they were cheaper. Photos of gunslingers like Wyatt Earp show him in practical headgear. The cowboy hat is undoubtedly an iconic accessory, but not historically based. We have Hollywood westerns and marketing to thank for that.

#12: Benjamin Franklin and Birds

Ben Franklin didn’t like the bald eagle. He felt it had a “bad moral character”. It is one of those fun facts that isn’t quite fact. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin jokingly criticized the bald eagle and expressed his preference for the turkey, deeming it to be a “much more respectable bird.” That did not mean he fully endorsed the bird. He didn’t like the turkey either. Franklin was, in modern terms, a troll. His statement was more satire than political stance. To this day, the bald eagle has stuck around, bad character and all. The turkey, on the other hand, takes the cake, or instead becomes one, on Thanksgiving.

#11: Pocahontas and John Smith

Pocahontas was 10 years old when John Smith arrived in Virginia. Furthermore, Pocahontas wasn’t even her real name. Their supposed romantic relationship? That is all Disney. The absolute truth can be derived from oral histories of the Mattaponi Tribe and various other sources. Pocahontas did help build peaceful relations between her people and the settlers, but her relationship with John Smith is a myth. She initially married Kocoum, the younger brother of the Chief of the Potomac tribe. Pocahontas was later forcibly taken to England, where she married John Rolfe, not Smith. The idea of a cross-cultural romance was invented to romanticize colonization. Sadly, there was no windswept love ballad by Grandmother Willow, just historical distortion.

#10: Washington’s Wooden Teeth

Don’t believe the myth that George Washington didn’t do all he could to prevent the loss of all his teeth. At least Washington could afford better than the wooden false teeth that most people believe to be his signature. He had four dentures made from premium material for the time, certainly not including wood. It is generally assumed that Washington had stained his preferred ivory sets, giving them a wooden appearance. You’d think he would keep these costly chompers in better condition. Perhaps the first President of the United States had other priorities.

#9: “Let Them Eat Cake”

Marie Antoinette supposedly sealed her fate during the French Revolution when she suggested that peasants end their famine with cake or brioche. Of course, those who think this reflected how out-of-touch she was with her subjects are out-of-touch with history. The phrase “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” was coined in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s autobiography, attributed to an unidentified “great princess.” The book was released when Antoinette was only nine years old and still living in Austria. Nonetheless, revolutionaries inspired by Rousseau’s philosophies misappropriated the quote in campaigns to defame the Queen. Still, to this day, many believe “Let them eat cake” says everything about the elitism that led to Antoinette’s execution.

#8: Viking Helmets

Medieval Norse raiders were known to be devils on the battlefield. But of all the fearsome helmets that these Vikings wore in combat, there’s no evidence that any of them had horns. This belief goes back to artistic liberties among 19th century Romanticists in Scandinavia and Germany. It’s believed that the visual was widely popularized by Richard Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung” cycle. The horned helmet myth stuck in pop culture that quickly. Now, 21st century artistic depictions of Vikings are starting to undo it. Research does suggest that Scandinavians wore horned helmets for ceremonies during the Nordic Bronze Age. Of course, as skilled as Vikings were in battle, such headgear would be too impractical there.

#7: Napoleon Complex

Napoleon Bonaparte led France out of a revolution into one of the most powerful empires in the world. It sounds like he was compensating for something. This is the idea behind the Napoleon complex, which attributes a man’s ego trips to insecurity about his short stature. The thing is that Napoleon stood somewhere between 5’6” and 5’10.” That was actually above-average height for a man of his era. Belief to the contrary originated from British propaganda, which belittled the empire’s nemesis by literally belittling him. The campaign may have had no real impact on Napoleon’s conquest, but it seriously distorted his legacy. With greater sensitivity to history and height, the public is finally starting to reject this tall tale.

#6: “The British Are Coming”

The American Revolution might never have been had the Massachusetts Provincial Congress not been warned of a British attack. This heroic image is enhanced by Paul Revere shouting, “The British are coming!” throughout his ride from Boston to Concord. Well, that wouldn’t be particularly smart espionage. Revere and William Dawes in fact covertly passed the intelligence to other riders before Revere was apprehended in Lincoln. There were as many as forty messengers by the time word reached Concord. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow just found it more romantic to credit the original riders in his 1860 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.” The idea that Revere galvanized a Massachusetts devoid of Crown loyalists is pretty absurd. In playing to patriotic ego, however, Longfellow's poem is popularly taken as fact.

#5: Rosa Parks’ Seat

The Civil Rights movement flourished with Rosa Parks’s arrest on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Many believe that her act of defiance was the first of its kind. More naively, some think Parks took a white person’s seat first. She actually was seated in the black section of the bus, but broke Jim Crow laws by refusing to defer her seat after a white passengers’ section reached capacity. Black people, of course, were entirely barred from “white only” spaces. Though this particular incident sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Irene Morgan, Claudette Colvin and others did the same thing earlier. Parks nonetheless deserves praise for showing how many people were willing to take a stand against the lie of “Separate but equal” by staying seated.

#4: Thomas Edison Invented the Lightbulb

American inventor Thomas Edison accrued more than 1,000 US patents, with the incandescent light bulb being considered his masterpiece. While one can reasonably assume he didn’t come up with the idea entirely, the invention of the light bulb is complicated. The concept of producing light with an electric arc was first realized by Humphry Davy in the early 1800s. Edison’s carbonized filament design may be considered groundbreaking. But English inventor Joseph Swan coincidentally patented a near-identical model at the same time. Inquiries found no evidence of intellectual infringement. Edison and Swan ultimately merged their companies to help spread light bulbs throughout the world. Though American mythos gives Edison all the credit, all visionaries need some guiding light.

#3: Einstein’s Math Grades

It’s hard to overstate Albert Einstein’s brilliance. His academic underdog story, on the other hand, has been inflated by the notion that one of the greatest scientists of the modern age flunked math and science in secondary school. His published final report card shows a 6 in algebra, geometry and physics. That was the lowest grade possible at the Cantonal School in Aarau… before Einstein’s day. During his last year, the school inverted its grading system, meaning that Einstein got the highest marks in the fields he went on to reinvent. Granted, he did have trouble with organic sciences. Still, with a history score to match math and physics, Einstein’s grades alone are a lesson in the importance of proper research.

#2: Salem Witch Burning

America’s puritanical foundation was first shaken in 1692. Colonial Massachusetts had to reassess its values after the mass conviction and execution of people, mostly in Salem, for supposedly practicing witchcraft. At least they didn’t import Europe’s common practice of burning convicted witches at the stake. Nineteen of the thirty people found guilty were hanged. Giles Corey was crushed with stones for refusing to enter a plea to his charge. American folklore has since conflated these trials with European ones, which regularly featured fatal witch tests and executions by immolation. The Salem witch trials were more solemn than the sensational fables. Whatever people have come to envision with this infamous episode, it’s more important to remember the tragedy of superstition and neighbors’ betrayal.

#1: Pyramids Built With Slave Labor

Ancient Egypt built so much of modern civilization. Many systems have also been inspired by the premise that this world was partly built on slave labor. The mighty pyramids of Giza are particularly associated with such atrocities. But overwhelming archeological evidence suggests that slavery was not involved in their construction. It sure wasn’t aliens either! The builders were ostensibly skilled Egyptian laborers who were paid fairly. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus spread the theory that these laborers were enslaved. This myth was finally cemented by misinterpretations of the Book of Exodus, which never explicitly claims that the Israelites built the pyramids that predate their culture. With modern historians enabling us to admire the Giza pyramids guilt-free, they're also a monument to the power of historical inaccuracy.

History is not always written by the winners. It can also be written by Hollywood! Drop your favorite false fact in the comments, and hit that like and subscribe button for more content that debunks the bogus.