History isn’t just about dates and dusty pages; it’s also about the stories that shape our understanding of the world. But while some make it into textbooks, many interesting ones don’t. Thankfully, social media is helping to bring these lesser-known moments to light, giving us new ways to connect with the past.
One Instagram page that does this brilliantly is ‘History Uncovered.’ We’ve combed through their posts and gathered some of the most fascinating facts and photos below. Scroll down to check them out and upvote your favorites!
#1 A Man Willed His $2.4 Million Fortune To The French Village That Saved Him From The Holocaust
The small French village of Chambon-sur-Lignon has just received a surprise $2.4 million gift in the will of a 90-year-old Austrian man named Eric Schwam who passed away on Christmas Day. Shocked officials soon learned that Schwam was paying the town back for saving him and his family 80 years earlier. He's asked that the town use the money to fund education initiatives and scholarships for the local children
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#2 A Guidance Counselor Once Told Judith Love Cohen To Go To Finishing School And Become A "Lady." Instead, She Earned Degrees From Usc, Became An Aerospace Engineer, Worked With Nasa, And Designed A Computer That Helped Save The Apollo 13 Astronauts
Meanwhile, she raised a family — including a son who grew up to be actor Jack Black — and wrote children's books encouraging young girls to aspire to careers in STEM
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#3 Advice On Marriage From A Suffragette Pamphlet In The 1910s
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Some might think history is boring, but with over half a million followers, the Instagram page ‘History Uncovered’ shows just how engaging and popular the subject can be when presented in the right way. The account is dedicated to sharing “the most powerful stories from human history,” as its bio proudly states, and it’s hard not to be intrigued by such a bold claim.
At its core, history is about telling the stories of our past. Interestingly, in Middle English, from the 11th to the 15th century, the word ‘history’ literally meant ‘story.’ Its origins trace back to the Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía), which meant ‘inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation.’ The words ‘story’ and ‘history’ share a common lineage, and in earlier times, the line between them was much less defined than it is today. As Philip Durkin, Deputy Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, notes, “That working out of distinction has taken centuries and centuries.”
Today, while we strive to ensure history is as accurate as possible, it doesn’t mean it can’t be shared through engaging storytelling. In fact, it’s this method that often brings the past to life.
#4 Leonard Matlovich Was A Decorated Vietnam War Veteran With A Purple Heart And A Bronze Star — And He Was Also The First Gay American Service Member To Purposely Out Himself To The Military To Fight Their Ban On Gay People
But despite his impeccable record, the United States Air Force still discharged him after he came out to his officers. Not to be deterred, Matlovich became a fierce advocate for the rights of the LGBTQ community and was featured on the cover of a 1975 issue of "TIME" magazine, making him a symbol for gay service members and gay Americans at large. And when Matlovich died of HIV/AIDS complications in 1988, he had this inscribed on his headstone: "When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for k*lling two men and a discharge for loving one."
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#5 The Pizza Chain Founder Paid Rosa Parks Rent From 1994 Until Her Death In 2005
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#6 Seven Baby Tasmanian Devils Were Just Born In The Wild On Mainland Australia For The First Time In 3,000 Years
At the time, they were hunted to extinction by dingoes. But today, they are still at risk. Tasmanian devils are endangered on the island of Tasmania, having lost 90 percent of their population since 1996 due to a contagious form of cancer. Only about 25,000 remain. Their reintroduction to the Australian mainland hopes to counteract the drastic population decline of the past 25 years
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Our brains love stories. When we encounter one we particularly like, we experience something known as ‘narrative transportation,’ where the story becomes so immersive that we almost feel like we’re living it. This phenomenon explains why we can get lost in a good book or movie, barely noticing time passing. Stories engage multiple senses, creating real changes in our brain’s chemistry and connections.
Two key areas of the brain are especially active during storytelling: the prefrontal cortex, which handles cognition and understanding, and the amygdala, which processes emotion and long-term memory. As the prefrontal cortex absorbs information, the amygdala assigns emotional weight to it, helping to cement these details in our long-term memory. This combination enhances both learning and recall.
When we engage with a story, our brain releases a blend of uplifting chemicals. This mix includes dopamine, which fuels motivation and focus; oxytocin, which fosters empathy and emotional connection; and endorphins, which promote feelings of happiness and relaxation. Together, these chemicals create a deep emotional response, making the experience of the story not just memorable, but meaningful.
#7 "Jules, This Is Brian. Listen, I'm On An Airplane That's Been Hijacked. If Things Don't Go Well, And It's Not Looking Good, I Just Want You To Know I Absolutely Love You. I Want You To Do Good, Go Have Good Times. Same To My Parents And Everybody, And I Just Totally Love You, And I'll See You When You Get There."
Three minutes before United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, passenger Brian Sweeney used an Airfone to leave a heartbreaking final voicemail message to his wife Julie. At the time, she was in the middle of teaching a high school class, so she missed his call. Though Julie was soon pulled away from her students to learn that her husband had died in the attacks, she didn't realize that he had left her a message until she got home.
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#8 On July 17, 1967, A Florida Lineman Named Randall Champion Accidentally Touched A High-Voltage Line — Which Sent 4,000 Volts Of Electricity Through His Body And Stopped His Heart
Luckily, his friend and fellow lineman J.D. Thompson was close enough to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until paramedics arrived. Thanks to Thompson's quick thinking, Champion survived the incident, and even reported to work the following week. Unbeknownst to Champion and Thompson, a photographer for the Jacksonville Journal was standing just below them to capture this daring rescue. From the ground, Rocco Morabito snapped one of the most moving images in history — "The Kiss of Life."
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#9 "Let The People See What They Did To My Boy." That's What Emmett Till's Mother Said After She Saw Her 14-Year-Old Son's Mutilated Body In 1955
Mamie Till-Mobley had never intended to become an activist, but she knew that her child was far from the only victim of lynching in Jim Crow America. And she felt that a public funeral would force people to confront the ugly reality of racially-motivated m*rders. Over Labor Day weekend, nearly 100,000 mourners viewed the boy's body in an open-casket service in Chicago. Till-Mobley also permitted a photographer to take pictures of Emmett's face and distribute them to African American magazines and newspapers so people across America could see him as well.
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Writer Gary Green illustrates how storytelling helps us remember important information:
“When someone says, ‘Guys, don’t eat the red berries,’ and somebody comes along and finds red berries and says, ‘Now, what did Grandpa say? Did he say, eat the berries or did he say don't eat the berries?’ But if Grandpa told me a story once about the little girl who ate the red berries then I know I’m not eating the red berries.”
This example perfectly captures why storytelling has been vital throughout history. For generations, our ancestors used it to pass down knowledge, values, and sometimes life-saving information.
In the modern world, stories continue to be powerful tools for learning. Because of course, when we have a choice between memorizing dates or reading through pages of dry text, and discovering something through stories, speeches, photos, or other records, we’re naturally more drawn to the latter. That’s why many of us prefer exploring history through sources like ‘History Uncovered.’ And honestly, that’s exactly how learning should be—fun and enjoyable.
#10 A Megalithic Monument In Spain That's Older Than The Pyramids Was Uncovered From Its Watery Hiding Place By A Drought. At 7,000 Years Old, The "Spanish Stonehenge" Is Actually Some 2,000 Years Older Than Stonehenge Itself
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#11 On This Day In 1947, Norwegian Adventurer Thor Heyerdahl Came Ashore In French Polynesia
He'd sailed all the way across the Pacific, setting out from Peru by himself on a 4,300-mile journey — in a homemade raft made only with balsa logs and hemp rope. Heyerdahl's intent was to prove that pre-Columbian South Americans could have made this same journey using their own primitive seafaring technology several centuries before, allowing them to spread their culture to the remote islands of the Pacific. After 101 days alone at sea, Heyerdahl completed his so-called Kon-Tiki expedition, leaving the world in awe.
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#12 In December 1997, Julia "Butterfly" Hill Climbed A 1,000-Year-Old California Redwood Tree As Part Of Efforts To Keep It From Being Knocked Down By Loggers
Initially, she only intended to stay there for a couple of weeks. But instead, Hill didn't touch the ground for 738 days, far surpassing the previous record for the longest tree sit of 90 days. During her protest, she lived on platforms 180 feet above the ground, surviving off of food and water brought up by other environmental activists and enduring the freezing rain and winds of a particularly brutal El Niño season. Hill also faced near-constant harassment and threats from employees of Pacific Lumber Co., the logging company trying to cut the tree down. But despite the many setbacks she faced, her protest was ultimately successful and she was able to save the tree.
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#13 A Postman In Texas Just Found Undelivered Letters From A World War II Soldier In His Truck-Then Hand Delivered Them To His Sister In Arkansas
A postman in Texas named Alvin Gauthier was recently looking through the parcel bin in his truck when he came across a Christmas card sent in 1944. Soon, he discovered a series of other undelivered letters sent between 1942 and 1944, all written by the same man, a soldier named Marion Lamb who was stationed overseas during World War II. A Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War, Gauthier immediately knew that he had to track down Lamb's family and put these letters in their hands. On his day off and using his own money, Gauthier then spent five hours making the 379-mile drive to the home of Lamb's sister, Jo Ann Smith, in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Soon after Gauthier arrived at Smith's front door, she hugged him, broke down in tears, and read the words her brother had written 80 years before. "I could have stuck them in the mail, but it's kinda like sometimes you have to go above and beyond," Gauthier said. "Just go the extra mile ... or 379 miles."
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#14 "I Went To This Site Aiming To Find At Least One Nice Dinosaur Skeleton. We Ended Up With 80 Skeletons And More Than 100 Eggs."
During an exploration of a dinosaur graveyard in southern Patagonia, paleontologists found over 100 eggs in a massive nest — and some still had embryos inside. Furthermore, this discovery offers the first indisputable evidence pointing to the fact that some dinosaurs lived in herds. These 193-million-year-old findings prove that dinosaurs had a complex social structure and even shared in raising the whole community.
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#15 A 19-Year-Old Steve Buscemi When He Was A New York City Firefighter In 1976
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#16 In 1925, Residents Of The Small Town Of Nome, Alaska Faced A Potentially Fatal Epidemic And Very Few Options To Save Them From Death. that Is, Until Balto Showed Up, A Sled Dog Who Rose To The Occasion And Saved The Small Town From Certain Death
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#17 A Whopping 4,000 Years Ago, Ancient Egyptians Were Performing Sophisticated Dental Work That Remains Astounding Even Today
Meanwhile, the Egyptians are also believed to have invented toothpaste, although their formulation consisted of rock salt, pepper, and mint
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#18 In 1908, Bertha Boronda Was Charged With "Mayhem" — For Slicing Off Her Husband's P*nis With A Straight Razor
She was sentenced to five years in San Quentin, which still housed female inmates at the time. Despite Boronda's gruesome crime, her incarceration was reportedly a "quiet" one
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#19 Norwegian Farmer Øyvind Tveitane Lovra And His Son Were Recently Cleaning Up A Field On Their Property In Rogaland When Lovra Picked Up What He Thought Was A Scrap Of Metal From A Piece Of Farm Equipment
Upon closer inspection, he realized it was actually the hilt of a sword. The weapon is 15 inches long — about half its original size — has a T-shaped handle, and dates to between 900 and 1050 C.E. What's more, X-rays revealed an inscription on the blade that suggests it may be a famed Ulfberht sword, a weapon of exceptionally high quality that has never been seen in the Rogaland area before.
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#20 Archivists In The UK Just Opened An Unsealed Package From 1807 And Found A Sweater In Pristine Condition Inside
A carpenter from the Faroe Islands sent the sweater, hand-knit by his wife with a black and white floral pattern on a red backdrop, to a friend in Denmark. However, the British Royal Navy seized the parcel amid ongoing wars between the two nations and it sat unopened in the UK National Archives until now. This package is one of more than 160,000 unopened letters and parcels seized by the British Royal Navy between 1652 and 1815 that are now being unsealed as part of a massive project that's expected to take 20 years.
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#21 "I Never Knew Marilyn Monroe… I Knew And Loved Norma Jeane."
James Dougherty was 21 years old when he married a teenage Norma Jeane Baker — who would go on to become one of the most famous women in modern history. At the time, however, Baker was just 16 and set to return to an orphanage unless she found a husband quickly. Her foster mother set her up with Dougherty, but though their relationship began as one of convenience, the pair soon "loved each other madly." Just two years after they wed on June 19, 1942, Dougherty was deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II. While he was gone, a photographer discovered Norma Jeane Baker working in a factory — and soon, Marilyn Monroe was born. Dougherty was on a ship in the Yangtze River outside of Shanghai when he was served with divorce papers. Monroe wanted to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox, and it stipulated that she couldn't be married, because the executives didn't want her to get pregnant. Their divorce was finalized in 1946, and Dougherty remarried shortly after to a woman who wouldn't let him watch any of his ex-wife's films. Although Monroe moved on as well, famously marrying Joe DiMaggio and then Arthur Miller, Dougherty was still devastated when she died in 1962. "She was too gentle to be an actress," he later lamented. "She wasn't tough enough for Hollywood."
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#22 Drought In The Amazon Reveals Dozens Of Carvings Of Human Faces That Had Been Hidden For 1,000 Years
As extreme drought in Brazil causes the Amazon's water levels to drop to historic lows, dozens of ancient rock carvings have been revealed on previously submerged rocks along the river's banks. Carved between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago, these haunting engravings of anthropomorphic faces vary in shape, size, and expression, while their original purpose and meaning remain shrouded in mystery.
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#23 "My Name Is Ralph C. Lincoln And I Am Honored To Be An 11th Generation Lincoln Who Also Shares The Same Great-Grandfather As One Of America’s Greatest Presidents."
"If you visit Fayette County in Pennsylvania, you will find a small, obscure cemetery where members of the Lincoln family are buried, including Abraham Lincoln’s great uncle Mordecai, who served in the Revolutionary War, and his son Benjamin. Mordecai Lincoln is my 5th generation great-grandfather, which makes me a third cousin of the President."
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#24 A Now-Infamous Photo From 1948 Shows A Chicago Mother Hiding Her Face In Shame As Her Young Children Huddle Near Her
At the forefront of the picture, in large, bold letters, a sign reads: "4 Children For Sale: Inquire Within." When this image was first published in the Vidette-Messenger, a newspaper based in Valparaiso, Indiana, it sparked shock, outrage, and even skepticism, with some wondering if the photo had been staged. But unfortunately, the snapshot depicted a very real situation. The children were actually sold off by their parents, and some of them ended up in even worse homes than the house that they once shared with their biological family. For instance, young RaeAnn and Milton were both sold off to an abusive couple, John and Ruth Zoeteman, in 1950. RaeAnn and Milton later said that their adoptive parents chained them up, beat them, and treated them like slaves. In fact, Milton claimed that John told him that he was expected to work as a slave on the family's farm on his first day in the home. "I said I'd go along with that," Milton remembered. "I didn't know what a slave was. I was only a kid." The abuse Milton suffered eventually led to violent bouts of rage in his teenage years. And at one point, he was brought before a judge, deemed a menace to society, and sent to a mental hospital.
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#25 "It Is Amazing To Literally Rewrite What We Know Of History, Adding A New Queen To Our Records."
Archaeologists in Egypt just discovered the existence of a previously-unknown queen named Neith after unearthing a pyramid built in her honor at Saqqara. She was likely named after the goddess Neith, who was worshipped from the Predynastic Period until the Romans took control of the kingdom. She was the goddess of creation, wisdom, weaving, war, and many earlier Egyptian queens were named after her due to her importance
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#26 Benjamin Franklin Is One Of The Most Renowned Figures In American History — And He Was Also So Obsessed With Farting That He Wrote An Essay About It
In 1781, Franklin submitted an article titled "Fart Proudly" to the Royal Academy of Brussels, which was one of the most respected scientific organizations in Europe. In it, Franklin demanded to know why the academy was "putting absolutely no effort into figuring out how to make my farts smell better?"
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#27 Employees From Kazakhstan's Emergency Situations Department Were Recently Performing Routine Inspections In The Country's Akmola Region When They Stumbled Upon A Bizarre Sight
A human face carved into a granite boulder. The carving is about the size of a sheet of paper and dates back at least 3,000 years, but it may be even older. Experts believe that the site was part of a ritual complex during the Bronze Age or early Iron Age, but they're still uncovering more about this "incredibly rare" discovery
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#28 This 1,800-Year-Old Iron Mask Was Once Worn By A Roman Soldier Heading Into Battle
The Roman city of Hadrianapolis, in what's now northern Turkey, was founded in the 1st century B.C. and named after a Roman Emperor. Today, it's known as the home of the "Mona Lisa of Roman Mosaics" and for its stunning ruins, including churches, a theater, and a military garrison. And archaeologists have found a breathtaking part of Hardianapolis's military history, with this fragment of a Roman soldier's iron face mask that dates back 1,800 years
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#29 Founded By Alexander The Great's Father King Philip II In 356 B.c.e., The Historic City Of Philippi Has Become One Of The Most Important Archaeological Sites In The Region
Over the last century, archaeologists have uncovered everything from a theater to a forum to baths from the Greek era, while the Roman layer of the city was designed as a miniature of Rome itself. Now, archaeology students digging at Philippi have made another astonishing find: the head of an 1,800-year-old statue of Apollo. This follows the 2023 discovery of a Hercules statue right nearby, and experts believe that both sculptures were part of an enormous fountain that sat in the city square.
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#30 For Nearly 60 Years, The Small Town Of Centralia, Pennsylvania Has Been On Fire. Neither The State Nor The Federal Government Have Been Able To Figure Out How To Extinguish The Blaze, And The Town Has Been Abandoned Except For Five Remaining Residents
When they die, the state will seize and raze their homes, as it has done with every other structure that once stood in what's now a ghost town. Today, this abandoned town is covered in a constant blanket of smoke and plagued by plumes of noxious smoke that burst out of enormous cracks that have opened up in the ground. Its environs are so chilling that it inspired the setting of the horror franchise "Silent Hill."
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#31 Approximately 1,700 Years Ago, An Ancient Roman Tossed A Chicken Egg Into A Wishing Well In What's Now The Town Of Aylesbury, England
Symbols of fertility associated with the gods Mithras and Mercury, eggs were often offered up as sacrifices in this manner during the Roman era. But unlike the others, the "Aylesbury egg" has somehow remained completely intact after nearly two millennia. Researchers have just used CT scans to discover that its yolk, albumen, and air sac have been preserved, making it the only specimen of its kind in the world.
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#32 Archaeologists In Spain May Have Just Found The Legendary Lost Temple Of Hercules
Ricardo Belizón, a graduate student in southern Spain, was studying topographic maps of the Bay of Cádiz last year when he noticed an intriguing shape just off the coast. Under the waters of Caño de Sancti Petri, he noted a roughly 1,000 by 500-foot structure — and he believes it may be the lost Temple of Hercules. Long regarded as a "holy grail" for archaeologists, many ancient Greek and Roman leaders traveled to this site to pray for strength some two millennia ago.
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#33 Now Known As The "Nuclear Boy Scout," David Hahn Was 17 When He Decided To Earn An Atomic Energy Merit Badge By Building A Working Nuclear Reactor — Right In The Backyard Of His Michigan Home
In the mid-1990s, Hahn painstakingly collected tiny amounts of radioactive material from everyday objects around his house and almost had a working "breeder" reactor in his back shed when he caught the attention of local and federal authorities, prompting an FBI and Nuclear Regulatory Commission response. Remarkably, it would not be the last time Hahn tried to build a homemade nuclear reactor.
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#34 On The Night Of April 22, 1987, Ruthie Mae Mccoy Called 911 To Report That Someone Was Breaking Into Her Apartment Through Her Bathroom Mirror
She called 911 twice that night, as did two of her neighbors who heard her screams, but nobody came to her aid. McCoy was found two days later in a puddle of blood with one shoe on and one shoe off — m*rdered by two k*llers who had actually come in through the bathroom mirror. In 1992, her story helped inspire a horror classic about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand who traveled through mirrors in the Chicago projects.
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#35 For More Than Two Years, Danish Explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen Was Trapped In The Arctic With A Single Inexperienced Crewmate — After The Rest Of Their Expedition Left Without Them
From 1910 to 1912, they survived by eating their sled dogs and abandoned rations from previous expeditions while evading bears, wolves, and foxes. Once, when a polar bear broke into their cabin in the middle of winter, they had to fight it off with only an axe while they frantically tried to heat up their frozen shotgun by the fire so it could shoot.
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#36 A Rare View Of The Statue Of Liberty's Head As Seen From Its Torch
Until 1916, visitors were allowed to climb up the torch and enjoy spectacular views like this one, but for more than a century, the torch has been closed to the public — and the little-known reason for that is far more dramatic than most people realize. On July 30, 1916, a group of German saboteurs set fire to what was then the United States' largest munitions depot on Black Tom Island, right in the shadow of Lady Liberty. The blaze set off a massive explosion that shattered glass windows across Manhattan and Brooklyn and created an earthquake-sized rumble that woke people up as far away as Maryland. The explosion also caused shrapnel to hit the Statue of Liberty, causing permanent damage to the torch
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#37
During the Cold War, many Americans saw the Soviets as their enemy, but when one American professor had a unique opportunity to travel extensively throughout the Soviet Union, many were struck by the photos he took. Some images — like youths at the beach, parents pushing strollers, and shopkeepers working in their stores — looked like they could have been taken anywhere in the United States. Yet other pictures showed another, rarely-seen side of the Soviet Union, like shepherds struggling to herd their sheep, impoverished people riding horse-drawn carriages, and overgrown, long-abandoned churches.
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#38 Ringling Brothers' "Congress Of Freaks" Poses For A Photo In 1931, Including Frank Lentini "The Three-Legged Man" And George And Willie Muse "The Men From Mars."
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#39 On December 12, 1972, Baroness Marie-Hélène De Rothschild And Her Husband Guy Hosted The Legendary Surrealist Ball At Their Chateau In France
With a guest list that included Audrey Hepburn and Salvador Dalí, dinner plates covered in fur, and a dessert that looked like a naked woman, the night was equal parts opulent and bizarre
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#40 Harold Henthorn Of Denver, Colorado Was Sentenced To Life In Prison In 2015 For Pushing His Wife Toni Off A Cliff In Rocky Mountain National Park In September 2012
He'd tried to claim it was an accident, but his inconsistent story and an incriminating map found in his vehicle ensured his conviction. What's more, Toni's death was eerily reminiscent of the death of Harold's first wife, Lynn, 17 years earlier. In 1995, Harold claimed he'd been changing a flat tire on a remote stretch of road in Colorado when Lynn dropped a lug nut and reached beneath the Jeep to retrieve it at the same moment that the vehicle fell off the jack, crushing her. Although Harold insists that he's completely innocent and has never k*lled anyone, Lynn's family now finds it hard to believe that her death was just a tragic accident.
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