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Small-pox blankets. There is no concrete evidence that there was ever an intentional use of blankets to spread small pox. The myth exists as a result of a letter from a British colonel in the French-Indian wars who suggested using blankets from an infected fort to weaken the native population. His idea was soundly rejected by his superior. However the events are muddled as the native groups did die several months later of a small pox outbreak. Though this could have resulted from a normal outbreak. Despite being at best, conjecture, the idea is regularly invoked.

The M1 Garand cannot be reloaded until its current clip is empty. This is a myth spawned by Call of Duty and Medal of Honor and was pervasive among gamers for a very long time. A quick google search will reveal instructions on how to manually replace the clip for the M1.

There is no evidence that Admiral Yamamoto ever said "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." The saying was made famous by the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! and has appeared in several popular history works before and after. However no source or origin for the quote has ever been found. He also never said "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." The quote has long been attributed to Gordon W. Prange's personal papers, but it does not appear in any of them.

My personal favorite:

That General Leslie McNair held back the production of the M27. A historian named Charles Baily wrote a very detailed account of the tanks development in the 1970's and determined that its impossible for McNair to have held the tank back because the Ordinance Department was constantly fumbling its production. When he famously blocked the tank from entering production, the tank did not even exist. No prototype had been built and no field tests completed. Jacob Denvers, long hailed as a man who went over McNair's head to get the tank produced, was in fact something of a shame. He attempted to force the tanks production so that it would be produced even though no prototypes existed. This information is documented within the Ordinance Department's records, but the histories of the Department written after the war politically scape goat the tanks botched production on the then dead General McNair. In spite of this, it seems that no one in the history field is aware of Baily's work. The myth persists both in popular history and among scholarly works.

EDIT: I've actually got a big book of these lying around somewhere... I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT EDIT: Okay, I can't find... But I remembered more while looking

Lets see here.

Nero did not fiddle while Rome burned. The the Great Fire happened in 64 AD, it is popularly believed that Nero fiddled and watched the city burn. The source for this saying is from a history of the Roman Empire that describes Nero as playing a fiddle (as recorded by Cassius Dio). The fiddle would not be invented for another 1000 years in the 10th or 11th century. In fact, he was playing a lyre (plot twist!). However Dio's account is contested by that of historian Aelianus Tacticus, who records that Nero was in Antium at the time, not Rome (though he was playing a lyre when he heard the news). According to Tacticus' account Nero rushed back to Rome paying out of his own pockets to return to the city as quickly as possible.

The 300 Spartans did not defend Thermopalyae alone. They fought along side several thousand other Greeks. When the main Greek force retreated, the Spartans, their helot (slaver) support troops, Thebans, and a unit of Thespians likely being forced to fight against their wishes, stayed behind and died in a last stand. In total the last stand was made by between 1000 and 1400 men. Likewise, it is infeasible for the Persian army to have numbered over a million. Most likely, the army couldn't have been larger than 500,000 (and that's a stretch).

Vikings did not have horned helmets.

Ring around the Roses is not about the plague. Rather it originated in the Victorian era, and had no connection to fears of the plague.

Human life expectancy has increased in the last 100 years. Not a full myth, but a misleading one. The short life expectancies of ancient humans is the direct result of infant mortality and death in child birth. When these numbers are added up, human life expectancy was 40. However, this is the deceiving result of extreme outliers. Families could have a dozen children and only see two or three make it to the age of 10. Of those, only one or two would make it to the age of 20. However, people in ancient times regularly lived to see ages over 70 when they were not starving or being killed by war/disease. In truth, the possible maximum a human being can be expected to live as a natural state, has not changed much in the past 1000 years.

Pythagoreas did not discover the Pythagorean Theorem. Though he is historically the one it is named for, the formula was known to both the ancient Egyptians and the Babylonians long before he was born.

Knights did not need help mounting their horses because their armor was too heavy.

There is no evidence that any Lord in the middle ages ever invoked a right to sleep with the bride on her wedding night.

While George Washington was not the first President of the United States (whoa there let me explain!) The title, "President of the United States" was held by seven men before Washington under the Colonial Congress and Articles of Confederation before Washington! The first was a man named John Hanson of Maryland.

This is a good thread.

 reds8n wrote:
It's a popular idea that you cannot flog a dead horse.

.. well recent events have blown that one out of the water eh ?

Flog it in a burger, eh?

One of my favorite little myths is the idea that cowboys and Indians were always fighting. Cowboys were more likely to die of an STD than from conflict with an Indian or a duel with another cowboy.

Of course, it'd look bad for Jimmy and Timmy to be playing Cowboys and Syphilis in the backyard, so the facts had to be altered!

 Dr. What wrote:

Of course, it'd look bad for Jimmy and Timmy to be playing Cowboys and Syphilis in the backyard, so the facts had to be altered!

Unrelated but interesting fact. An effective treatment for syphilis is deliberate infection with malaria. Syphilis basically makes your immune sysyem go crazy which is what eventually kills you, the malaria infection 'fixes' the immune system and clears the syphilis. Of course the major downside of this is that you now have malaria....

 d-usa wrote:
Everybody thought the earth was flat. Columbus figured out that it was round and wanted to prove it. When he left everybody was sure he would fall of the edge of be earth.

No, they knew it was round, they didn't think going an uncharted way vs a way they already knew was a smart idea
it wasn't cheap to send ships anywhere

"Don't drink the Kool Aid" or "Stop drinking the Kool Aid" as a reference to the Jonestown tragedy.

At the Jonestown tragedy, they drank Flavor Aid. Leave the Kool Aid man alone.

 LordofHats wrote:
Small-pox blankets. There is no concrete evidence that there was ever an intentional use of blankets to spread small pox. The myth exists as a result of a letter from a British colonel in the French-Indian wars who suggested using blankets from an infected fort to weaken the native population. His idea was soundly rejected by his superior. However the events are muddled as the native groups did die several months later of a small pox outbreak. Though this could have resulted from a normal outbreak. Despite being at best, conjecture, the idea is regularly invoked.

Well, conservapedia in its article on the French Indian War, during the Fort Henry massacre (which didn't happen, only a few hundred were killed at most, but conservapedia says most of the british troops died) the Indians scalped all the dead brits, and got smallpox from the scalps. Which was amusing.

Also, on myths, as no-one has done it yet:

At the Jonestown tragedy, they drank Flavor Aid. Leave the Kool Aid man alone.

Yeah but that's just a name thing. People say cool aid because, well where do you even buy flavor aid. Its like Mickey from life dieing from coke and pop rocks. First of all it didn't kill him, second of all it was called Cosmic Candy back then, The Pop rocks brand didn't not come out till much later, but nobody know what Cosmic candy is anymore.

Actually I guess I'm wrong looks like it might have been a regional thing. We never had pop rocks just cosmic candy until the 80s, but I guess they came out at the same time.

Screen doors on polish submarines?

Long update to my first post with some gems inside. Just so everyone knows its there

EDIT:

And another one! Common thought portrays modern science as springing from a European tradition of rationalism. Myth! In truth, modern science began during the Islamic Golden age. The scientific method was first extrapolated and used by Ibn-Al-Haytham (also known as Alhazen), a Islamic cleric to the court of Cairo. Al-haytham is best known for his work in Optics including the discovery of an accurate Law of Refraction, more commonly known as Snell's Law named for European scientist Willebrord Snellius. Al-Haytham was the first man in history to draw a line between philosophy and science and to argue that the two were not the same.

 Andrew1975 wrote:

At the Jonestown tragedy, they drank Flavor Aid. Leave the Kool Aid man alone.

Yeah but that's just a name thing. People say cool aid because, well where do you even buy flavor aid.

But he's my uncle and I have to defend him. He's fallen on bad times, though. He's taken being blamed for Jonestown pretty hard...

 master of ordinance wrote:

 sebster wrote:

 Laughing Man wrote:
The whole "Polish cavalry charging tanks with lances" myth that came out of WW2.

The Poles not only had a fairly modern army, but dragoons were still a thing amongst every major military at the time, including the Germans. The Polish Uhlans in question were heavily armed with carbines, towed artillery, anti-tank rifles, and light tanks.

The source of the myth was actually a successful cavalry charge by the Uhlans on German infantry (with sabres), which was subsequently caught in the open by armored cars and forced to retreat.

Yeah, good one. It's used so often to support the myth that the German war machine was so advanced, I love pointing out the Germans used cavalry themselves in Russia.

Thing is, when the roads are scarce but there's a lot of open grassland, horses are an excellent way to move soldiers around.

Yup this is a good one. It suprised me when i discovered the truth.

How about the arguments as to the status of the Maus superheavy at the end of the war? There are actually accounts of one or two of these engaging Rusian tanks but people say it never happened.

It's wishful thinking, a hope of something exciting. There's no evidence I've ever seen that indicates they saw any action, though it made for a great story in an old Warlord annual I had.

It could be that the Nazis destroyed the working prototype or that its hidden away in one of the many bunker complexs that are still unexplored.

There are unexplored bunker complexes? Why don't they explore them?

 Grey Templar wrote:
It could be that the Nazis destroyed the working prototype or that its hidden away in one of the many bunker complexs that are still unexplored.

Are there still really unexplored Nazi bunker complexes, like, 70 years later? Honest question.

0.o I thought that the Maus didn't even make it out of the production stages? All that was found was a half built chassis in a workshop and a turret in another one.

At least the Americans finished their super heavies, though again they didn't see action.. ...One wound up being left in the middle of a field because of it quickly running out of fuel as I recall.

The only known prototype(s) of the Maus are currently in possession of the Russians. There is a myth that when the Russians attacked the facility at Kummersdorf where they were stored, one Maus was manned and used in combat, but it is simply a myth. Of the prototypes, only one had a turret and it lacked the mechanisms to turn its turret and had no ammo for it's fake gun. EDIT: It's turret was also stored away from the tanks body and needed to be pulled out of the wreckage of the facility.

The British did acquire an incomplete prototype at Essen, but this prototype wasn't even assembled when they found it (and like cheap Swiss furniture not all the parts were in the box).

That Galileo was burned because he believed the earth moved around the sun. He was executed because he was an a-hole and made enemies all over the place. Just like the round world bit this was pretty common knowledge at the time.

Columbus discovered America.

Indians were savages (or noble savages) and didn't understand the concept of owning land.

Egyptians built the pyramids and they are less than 4000 years old.

Don't get me started on religious myths that didn't happen....

LordofHats wrote:Ring around the Roses is not about the plague. Rather it originated in the Victorian era, and had no connection to fears of the plague.

Actually, the song originated in the 1700s, at least. It was first in print (as far as we know) in the 1880s.


Ask a musicologist!

 Rainbow Dash wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
Everybody thought the earth was flat. Columbus figured out that it was round and wanted to prove it. When he left everybody was sure he would fall of the edge of be earth.

No, they knew it was round, they didn't think going an uncharted way vs a way they already knew was a smart idea
it wasn't cheap to send ships anywhere

Which is why I posted the myth, in a "which historical myths annoy you" thread

The thing about NASA spending a ton of money on a space pen, and the Russians just using a pencil:

Both the US and USSR used pencils, greace pencils, etc. Both switched to pens because graphite dust, shavings, etc. were dangerous in space. The US just switched to fancy pens first.

 Albatross wrote:

LordofHats wrote:Ring around the Roses is not about the plague. Rather it originated in the Victorian era, and had no connection to fears of the plague.

Actually, the song originated in the 1700s, at least. It was first in print (as far as we know) in the 1880s.


Ask a musicologist!

My god, it's a myth within a myth! A double myth!

 LordofHats wrote:

The British did acquire an incomplete prototype at Essen, but this prototype wasn't even assembled when they found it (and like cheap Swiss furniture not all the parts were in the box).

I though that was an E-100?

 LordofHats wrote:

 Albatross wrote:

LordofHats wrote:Ring around the Roses is not about the plague. Rather it originated in the Victorian era, and had no connection to fears of the plague.

Actually, the song originated in the 1700s, at least. It was first in print (as far as we know) in the 1880s.


Ask a musicologist!

My god, it's a myth within a myth! A double myth!

Yep, it's like fething Inception, brah...

Palindrome wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:

The British did acquire an incomplete prototype at Essen, but this prototype wasn't even assembled when they found it (and like cheap Swiss furniture not all the parts were in the box).

I though that was an E-100?

Maybe it was XD I've only read one book that ever mentions the Maus it was only like, three paragraphs

In fairness there wasn't much difference between a Maus and an E-100, both were closer to Steampunk than reality.

 LordofHats wrote:

Knights did not need help mounting their horses because their armor was too heavy.

This one has driven me crazy since I was a kid, right along with the related myth that if a knight in plate armor fell down, he wouldn't be able to stand back up without help. The way I've heard some people describe it made knights in plate armor sound like complete morons for wearing equipment that negated almost all of their advantages and transformed them into sitting ducks the second they tripped or fell off a horse.


The truth was a trained knight could run, jump, mount and dismount a horse and probably even do a cartwheel if he wanted to while fully armored. Armor made for jousting was more restrictive, but the armor people wore into battle was meant to allow for movement.

Knights were thugs with poorly made metal swords. Samurai were honorable warriors of great skill and super advanced metallurgical techniques to create the perfect weapon, and could easily defeat any knight.

 Hordini wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:

Knights did not need help mounting their horses because their armor was too heavy.

This one has driven me crazy since I was a kid, right along with the related myth that if a knight in plate armor fell down, he wouldn't be able to stand back up without help. The way I've heard some people describe it made knights in plate armor sound like complete morons for wearing equipment that negated almost all of their advantages and transformed them into sitting ducks the second they tripped or fell off a horse.


The truth was a trained knight could run, jump, mount and dismount a horse and probably even do a cartwheel if he wanted to while fully armored. Armor made for jousting was more restrictive, but the armor people wore into battle was meant to allow for movement.

The tripping over and not getting up was only in those battle where the entire battlefield was a muddy field.

Ninjas were cool.