Comical Historical Events

[The Holy Therns]

The Vasa. That is all.

[Ethel mermania]

The Vasa. That is all.

The best part of the Vasa story is the absolutely incredible museum built for it.


https://www.vasamuseet.se/en

[The Holy Therns]

The Vasa. That is all.

The best part of the Vasa story is the absolutely incredible museum built for it.


https://www.vasamuseet.se/en

Applied for a job there once. Didn't get it. They're missing out, I'd geek the shit out of the tourists.

[Partybus]

I found this story entertaining...

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/wacko-the-us-navy-destroyer-that-sank-a-japanese-submarine-with-the-aid-of-potatoes.html?chrome=1

Beat you to that one.

Well played... a story so nice it needs telling twice...LOL

[Saiwania]

Samuel chapter 5
God gives the philistines hemmeroids.

I can't find it funny, but then again- I perhaps don't have much of a sense of humor to begin with?

Regardless, I'm so sick of that book having such outsized influence it might not deserve. I used to think that Crusader themes or ideology was the epitome of European/Western civilization and culture. But now I feel that it can be called more into question, because of the Bible being a middle eastern import.

What did the Jews in the Bible have against the Philistines or most any other factions they opposed? Their own origin story admits in Old Testament that they weren't the first to reside in Canaan and that they were effectively a tribe of invaders because they believed their God "promised" that land to them, but for some reason had people already living there before they ever arrived? There is also every indication outside of the Bible, that Jewish enslavement in Egypt outright never happened.

[The Archregimancy]

Samuel chapter 5
God gives the philistines hemmeroids.

I can't find it funny, but then again- I perhaps don't have much of a sense of humor to begin with?

Regardless, I'm so sick of that book having such outsized influence it might not deserve. I used to think that Crusader themes or ideology was the epitome of European/Western civilization and culture. But now I feel that it can be called more into question, because of the Bible being a middle eastern import.

What did the Jews in the Bible have against the Philistines or most any other factions they opposed? Their own origin story admits in Old Testament that they weren't the first to reside in Canaan and that they were effectively a tribe of invaders because they believed their God "promised" that land to them, but for some reason had people already living there before they ever arrived?

I'm not convinced you're reading the room on this one, Saiwania; this is supposed to be a light-hearted thread on comical events.

I stress I'm writing as an OP invested in the thread, and not at all in my moderator capacity.

[American Legionaries]

Samuel chapter 5
God gives the philistines hemmeroids.

I can't find it funny, but then again- I perhaps don't have much of a sense of humor to begin with?

Regardless, I'm so sick of that book having such outsized influence it might not deserve. I used to think that Crusader themes or ideology was the epitome of European/Western civilization and culture. But now I feel that it can be called more into question, because of the Bible being a middle eastern import.

What did the Jews in the Bible have against the Philistines or most any other factions they opposed? Their own origin story admits in Old Testament that they weren't the first to reside in Canaan and that they were effectively a tribe of invaders because they believed their God "promised" that land to them, but for some reason had people already living there before they ever arrived?

Supernatural butt sores are funny no matter who you are.

[Ethel mermania]

Samuel chapter 5
God gives the philistines hemmeroids.

I can't find it funny, but then again- I perhaps don't have much of a sense of humor to begin with?

Regardless, I'm so sick of that book having such outsized influence it might not deserve. I used to think that Crusader themes or ideology was the epitome of European/Western civilization and culture. But now I feel that it can be called more into question, because of the Bible being a middle eastern import.

What did the Jews in the Bible have against the Philistines or most any other factions they opposed? Their own origin story admits in Old Testament that they weren't the first to reside in Canaan and that they were effectively a tribe of invaders because they believed their God "promised" that land to them, but for some reason had people already living there before they ever arrived?

Dude, ass jokes are funny. Two chapters of the Bible are basically one giant ass joke.

[Ethel mermania]

The best part of the Vasa story is the absolutely incredible museum built for it.


https://www.vasamuseet.se/en

Applied for a job there once. Didn't get it. They're missing out, I'd geek the shit out of the tourists.

Shame, you would have been wonderful

[The Selkie]

Not something that happened once, but many, many times: When a pilot lands on the wrong aircraft carrier. My personal favourite is the Banshee "Must be Air Force."

[Chan Island]

Idk if it’s funny, but it’s at least interesting for me:
Jack Churchill(nothing to do with Winston) was a British… general I think? Who fought with a sword and a bow. One time he just heckin’ arrested around 50 Germans. With a sword and a bow.

This doesn't even begin to properly discuss this cartoon of a man. Among other things he also;

- singlehandedly infiltrated a nazi town twice
- was in the special forces. Sword and all.
- got the only confirmed bow kill of the war
- got captured, convinced the nazis he was a relation of the PM
- After the war, his train commute passed by his garden, so every day he'd throw his briefcase out the window into the garden so he wouldn't have to walk with it

Just all around a mad lad.

[Saiwania]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle allegedly believed that Harry Houdini's escape tricks were real magic and not illusions.

Houdini made arrangements with his wife, to have a code word be known only to her that he would say after death, so that there would be a way to quickly debunk any attempts by other people acting as mediums; to claim that Houdini is speaking beyond the dead and that they successfully summoned him.

[Chan Island]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle allegedly believed that Harry Houdini's escape tricks were real magic and not illusions.

Houdini made arrangements with his wife, to have a code word be known only to her that he would say after death, so that there would be a way to quickly debunk any attempts by other people acting as mediums; to claim that Houdini is speaking beyond the dead and that they successfully summoned him.

Fun fact: I've got a similar thing as well. Both a living and a dead version.

It'll never come up, but it's easy preparation

[The Two Jerseys]

Not something that happened once, but many, many times: When a pilot lands on the wrong aircraft carrier. My personal favourite is the Banshee "Must be Air Force."

Speaking of carrier aviation: the US Navy dropped a toilet on North Vietnam and the kitchen sink on North Korea.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle allegedly believed that Harry Houdini's escape tricks were real magic and not illusions.

Houdini made arrangements with his wife, to have a code word be known only to her that he would say after death, so that there would be a way to quickly debunk any attempts by other people acting as mediums; to claim that Houdini is speaking beyond the dead and that they successfully summoned him.

Didn't Houdini also call out Conan Doyle as a fake medium after he claimed to be speaking with the spirit of Houdini's mother, but Houdini knew that she could only speak Hungarian?

[The Archregimancy]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle allegedly believed that Harry Houdini's escape tricks were real magic and not illusions.

Houdini made arrangements with his wife, to have a code word be known only to her that he would say after death, so that there would be a way to quickly debunk any attempts by other people acting as mediums; to claim that Houdini is speaking beyond the dead and that they successfully summoned him.

Didn't Houdini also call out Conan Doyle as a fake medium after he claimed to be speaking with the spirit of Houdini's mother, but Houdini knew that she could only speak Hungarian?

Not quite. While Conan Doyle certainly believed in mediums and spiritualism - which may seem odd for the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but there you go - it was Conan Doyle's wife Jean who was the self-proclaimed medium who attempted to contact Houdini's mother in 1922. And it wasn't that Houdini's mother only spoke Hungarian, but rather than his mother's English was too poor to produce the 15 pages of excellent English that Jean Conan Doyle wrote as a message beyond the grave. This led to a breach in the previously strong friendship between the two men. Saiwania's point about Houdini and his wife having some sort of code phrase is accurate, though.

But this isn't actually that comical. Belief in spiritualism, mediums, and contact with the dead was widespread in post-First World War Europe in light of the death toll during the war, and while the claims of the Conan Doyles were treated surprisingly seriously by the standards of the 21st century, they weren't remotely unique; they were beliefs driven by collective cultural grief.

Arguably far more comical was Arthur Conan Doyle's belief that the Cottingley fairy photographs were real, which... well, he really should have known better.

[The Blaatschapen]

The dutch, in the early 1950s, had two ministers of foreign affairs.

They quipped "The Netherlands is so small, and therefore their foreign countries altogether are so large, that one Minister of Foreign Affairs is not enough."

[-Azteca Mexico]

I'm guessing people have already mentioned that Russia seceded from Kazakhstan as Kazakhstan was the last member of the USSR but besides that I guess the only thing I can think of besides that is how the first president of Mongolia, Peljidiin Genden, allegedly slapped Stalin.

[The Blaatschapen]

After world War 2, the dutch annexed the german area of selfkant (a couple of villages). The germans got it back in 1963. However, at the moment of the handover back to Germany, the whole area was full of trucks and all storage space in the area was full.

All goods in the area were not subject to import tax. "Losing" territory can be a lucrative business

[Xmara]

Didn't Houdini also call out Conan Doyle as a fake medium after he claimed to be speaking with the spirit of Houdini's mother, but Houdini knew that she could only speak Hungarian?

Not quite. While Conan Doyle certainly believed in mediums and spiritualism - which may seem odd for the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but there you go - it was Conan Doyle's wife Jean who was the self-proclaimed medium who attempted to contact Houdini's mother in 1922. And it wasn't that Houdini's mother only spoke Hungarian, but rather than his mother's English was too poor to produce the 15 pages of excellent English that Jean Conan Doyle wrote as a message beyond the grave. This led to a breach in the previously strong friendship between the two men. Saiwania's point about Houdini and his wife having some sort of code phrase is accurate, though.

But this isn't actually that comical. Belief in spiritualism, mediums, and contact with the dead was widespread in post-First World War Europe in light of the death toll during the war, and while the claims of the Conan Doyles were treated surprisingly seriously by the standards of the 21st century, they weren't remotely unique; they were beliefs driven by collective cultural grief.

Arguably far more comical was Arthur Conan Doyle's belief that the Cottingley fairy photographs were real, which... well, he really should have known better.

I feel like there’s a parallel between the post-WWI/Spanish flu pandemic era spiritualism boom and the more recent covid era spirituality boom.

Also I do kind of find it funny that ACD believed in all sorts of weird stuff like that but then also created Sherlock Holmes, who was basically a paragon of rationality.

[Kowani]

In 1859, the US and Britain came to the brink of war over the shooting of a pig in Washington

[Ethel mermania]

In 1859, the US and Britain came to the brink of war over the shooting of a pig in Washington

THE PIG WAS EATING AMERICAN POTATOES

[The United Penguin Commonwealth]

The time Napoleon was defeated by rabbits. You thought Australia losing the Emu War was bad, it has nothing on this. One Summer, he decided to have a rabbit hunt to celebrate signing a bunch of treaties to end a war and invited some top brass to join him. Except, instead of wild hares, his chief of staff accidentally brought hundreds if not thousands of tame bunnies. So what do they do when they see a short French guy with a funny hat and an itchy armpit (who was none of those things except for French and an occasional hat wearer)? They charged right at him expecting to be fed. Napoleon and his mates found it funny at first but eventually they had to bail because some of them latched onto his legs and his co-hunters couldn't shake them off. And even then the rabbits still chased his coach, with a few even making it on.

It probably didn't help that his brother Louis Napoleon accidentally dubbed himself the "Konijn van 'Olland" ("Rabbit of 'Olland") the year before when he was crowned the King ("Koning") of Holland. So, you know, foreshadowing.

to follow up on the rabbit theme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Car ... t_incident (somebody has probably already posted this)

[Elejamie]

I'm guessing people have already mentioned that Russia seceded from Kazakhstan as Kazakhstan was the last member of the USSR but besides that I guess the only thing I can think of besides that is how the first president of Mongolia, Peljidiin Genden, allegedly slapped Stalin.

Speaking of the USSR, in 1958 Chairman Mao invited Nikita Khrushchev over to China for some talks. While China and the Soviet Union famously didn't get along to the point where their split was inevitable (and, indeed, during this visit Mao gave the Soviets a frosty reception when they arrived, put them up in an old hotel with no aircon during a fairly hot Summer in Beijing, blew cigarette smoke into Khrushchev's face and just acted condescending towards him), Mao invited Khrushchev to the pool in his compound to carry on their meet. There was one problem, in that Khrushchev never learnt how to swim; Mao, on the other hand, was an avid if somewhat sloppy swimmer. So imagine the Premier of the Soviet Union, who was an old balding guy with a bit of a belly, having to wear armbands or a life ring (depending on which source you read) and just frantically splashing about for dear life, while his Chinese counterpart (who had a full head of hair but was also quite portly) was easily swimming up and down the length of the pool and having the time of his life, all while they're discussing politics. And, of course, their interpretors having to go up and down just to translate it into each others' languages.

I hope to one day ascend to that level of pettiness.

[Space Squid]

That time the USS William D Porter accidentally shot a live Torpedo at the Battleship carrying President FDR to a conference in North Africa during WWII.

for context

For some reason this reminds me of what happened when North Koreans tried to shell the American battleship USS Wisconsin:

There were no deaths, however, 3 sailors were injured and there was minimal damage to the ship. The hit came from a Korean 155mm gun battery which got lucky.

The crew of USS Wisconsin, however, returned fire with all of her 9 guns, totally obliterating anything and anyone in the position the hostile shots came from. Right after the shots were fired, a sister ship which was escorting Wisconsin flashed its signal lamp with the words, “Temper, temper,” before continuing on their way.

[Space Squid]

I can't find it funny, but then again- I perhaps don't have much of a sense of humor to begin with?

Regardless, I'm so sick of that book having such outsized influence it might not deserve. I used to think that Crusader themes or ideology was the epitome of European/Western civilization and culture. But now I feel that it can be called more into question, because of the Bible being a middle eastern import.

What did the Jews in the Bible have against the Philistines or most any other factions they opposed? Their own origin story admits in Old Testament that they weren't the first to reside in Canaan and that they were effectively a tribe of invaders because they believed their God "promised" that land to them, but for some reason had people already living there before they ever arrived?

Dude, ass jokes are funny. Two chapters of the Bible are basically one giant ass joke.

I believe, and maybe Archregimancy can back me up on this, that the first joke recorded to history was a fart joke.

Something about women sitting on their husband's laps only to let one rip, if I remember correctly.