# Bullshit history that turned out to be true **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 2, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541 "2021-07-02T21:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/41 "2021-07-03T22:38:50Z")
The Amazons were long regarded as a product of the ancient Greeks’ male-chauvinist fears and fantasies. However, the earliest artwork depicts Amazons dressed in Scythian clothing. Modern archaeology has found that about 20% of Scythian warrior graves contained female skeletons. ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/42 "2021-07-03T22:43:19Z")
Peptic ulcers were, for years prior to the 1980s, thought to be caused by “lifestyle choices” such as spicy food, stress, etc… resulting in the over production of gastric acid. I suffered from them in high school and took Tagamet prescribed to me for several years with no relief. It was discovered that these ulcers were caused by Helicobacter pylori and was easily treated (in my case anyways) with antibiotics. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/43 "2021-07-03T23:14:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > he Iliad and the Odyssey exist, and so therefore someone must have written them. This has been argued, which is how I know that the opposite assumption was the ‘standard’ assumption. That the Iliad and the Odyssey were ‘developed’ over time by generations of contributors. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/44 "2021-07-04T00:07:50Z")
> [@a6ka97](#): > > Peptic ulcers were, for years prior to the 1980s, thought to be caused by “lifestyle choices” such as spicy food, stress, etc… resulting in the over production of gastric acid. I suffered from them in high school and took Tagamet prescribed to me for several years with no relief. I had an older friend (now deceased). He was telling about a boss he had several years previously to the telling of the story. The boss was a man of a rather fiery personality. My friend once said something to the effect, “I’m surprised you don’t have ulcers.” The boss said, “I don’t have ulcers; I give ulcers.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/45 "2021-07-04T00:35:20Z")
Tales of German death camps during WWII were thought of by some during the early part of the war as propaganda, much like the fictional atrocities of the Hun during WWI. Of course it was difficult for people to conceive of the enormity of the death camps. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/46 "2021-07-04T00:38:57Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > The discovery of Richard III’s burial place in a Leicestershire car park. The archaeologists were expecting to find the remains of a Franciscan Friary. Philippa Langley of the Richard III society believed it to be the burial place of Richard III. She wasn’t taken very seriously. Channel IV had commissioned a [documentary](https://www.channel4.com/press/news/richard-iii-king-car-park) but in the earlier scenes it is clear from the rather jokey delivery of the presenter that it was intended to be one of those eccentric British people pieces. Then they took a good look at the skeleton they found on the first day and suddenly it wasn’t. Not really. Everyone agreed that Richard III had been buried in Greyfriars and the rough site of Greyfriars was not in doubt. The uncertainty was over what had happened to his grave after the friary had been demolished. What’s more, the prevailing expert view before the excavation was that [David Baldwin had probably been onto something when he had argued in 1986 that the body was most likely still buried at the Greyfriars site](https://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/BaldwinSmPagesfromvolumeLX-5.pdf). The excavation thus, if anything, confirmed the existing scholarly orthodoxy. > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Re: Richard III - a specific bullshit-history-proved-right moment relates to the unearthing of his skeleton. The “Richard The Hunchback” story was taken to be exaggerated, black propaganda etc. From my ancient Brittanica\*: “Tradition represents Richard as deformed. It seems clear that he had some form of physical defect, though not so great as has been alleged”. > > And then they dug him up. Whoops. It wasn’t just that. Almost everyone played down the idea that Richard was deformed. But it tended to be the academic historians who took the line that there may have been some issue but that this had been much exaggerated. In contrast, the non-academic Ricardians, such as Langley, tended to argue that he had no deformities at all. The former would therefore argue that this was a case where it was the proponents of bullshit history who turned out to be more wrong. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/47 "2021-07-04T01:17:38Z")
> [@a6ka97](#): > > Peptic ulcers were, for years prior to the 1980s, thought to be caused by “lifestyle choices” such as spicy food, stress, etc… resulting in the over production of gastric acid. I suffered from them in high school and took Tagamet prescribed to me for several years with no relief. > > It was discovered that these ulcers were caused by Helicobacter pylori and was easily treated (in my case anyways) with antibiotics. - Well, this isn’t exactly “Bullshit history that turned out to be true” … ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/48 "2021-07-04T01:51:34Z")
Nor is it completely false. H.pylori only causes some ulcers. Others are caused by diet and/or stress, no H.pylori involved. These respond to hydrochloric acid blockers, another medical advance. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/49 "2021-07-04T04:33:38Z")
Peptic ulcers were found to be treatable by antibiotics in the 1950s. Conventional theories at the time brushed this off and continued to treat it as excessive gastric acid. It took a scientist in the 1980s consuming a petri dish full of Helicobacter pylori and treating the results (an ulcer) and recovering (with the use of antibiotics) to prove the “bullshit history” of not being a bacterial infection (it was) causing the ulcers. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/50 "2021-07-04T18:05:15Z")
I’m not sure whether this fits the thread or not, but it’s somewhat appropriate for the day: For some 150 years historians [denied that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Sally Hemings’ children](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson%E2%80%93Hemings_controversy), but after DNA analysis it was finally accepted as true. This is more of a case of historians denying what they didn’t want to be true, though, rather than something viewed as “bullshit.” ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/51 "2021-07-04T18:30:55Z")
the story told in the king and I about the king sending a letter to lincoln offering war elephants along other items of friendship for years it was said it didn’t happen the woman who wrote the original books they based the play on just made it up and the play repeated it (in all fairness its claimed she either exaggerated or made up a lot of things ) and yeah it did as the items and letter is in the national archives ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/52 "2021-07-04T18:36:42Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > A few short months ago, it certainly was controversial. And even now, I’m sure people are convinced that this is still clearly one of Trump’s lies. I was. Now, I’m not so sure. The lab leak theory is still controversial and ridiculous as it was when first proposed. Nothing has changed except it’s been repeated enough to convince folks who are easily convinced by mere repetition. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/53 "2021-07-04T19:13:23Z")
Weird, isn’t it? I’m squarely in the “I don’t know” camp. I WAS clearly in the “It jumped from animals” and Trump and his lackeys were (and still are) liars. Since Trump et al are liars, this is just one of the many racist based stupid ideas they espoused. Now…Hmmm… I just don’t know. Keep in mind…I’M NOT DECIDED…but I’m no longer dismissing the possibility out of hand as ridiculous like you are. Maybe after more information is forthcoming, I’ll go back to the “This is ridiculous”, but I’ll let the science lead me. > **[Scientists Don’t Want to Ignore the ‘Lab Leak’ Theory, Despite No New...](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/health/wuhan-coronavirus-lab-leak.html)** > > Many scientists welcomed President Biden’s call for a more rigorous investigation of a virus lab in Wuhan, China, though they said the so-called lab leak theory was still unlikely. [https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6543/694.1](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6543/694.1) > **[Here’s What Dr. Fauci Has Said About Covid’s Origins And The Lab Leak Theory](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/06/16/heres-what-dr-fauci-has-said-about-covids-origins-and-the-lab-leak-theory/?sh=66919a22a853)** > > Fauci on Wednesday argued it’s a “bit of a distortion” to claim he “deliberately suppressed” the lab leak theory. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HwUtjG3u8l0/maxresdefault.jpg "Was COVID Created in a Lab? Here's What We Know") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwUtjG3u8l0) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/54 "2021-07-04T19:25:17Z")
[Moderating] There are better places to discuss the origin of Covid, and it’s threatening to overwhelm this thread. Let’s keep that discussion out of this one. ---
**Author:** ![ALOHA\_HATER](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@ALOHA\_HATER](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALOHA_HATER)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/55 "2021-07-04T19:28:14Z")
More than that, Chronos. I asked about history. History! It’s in the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/56 "2021-07-04T19:28:53Z")
My apologies, I’ll refrain from this topic in this thread ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/57 "2021-07-04T21:48:09Z")
A lot of people for years thought that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were innocent of the espionage charges they were executed for in 1953 but declassified documents released after the fall of the Soviet Union showed they were definitely guilty. Cite: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona\_project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project) ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/58 "2021-07-04T22:06:19Z")
I’ve been looking for a good citation for this, perhaps someone else has seen it: Pliny (the younger) described the events of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which famously destroyed and buried the city of Pompeii. His descriptions sounded like BS to contemporary Romans who just couldn’t believe it…and no doubt many others disbelieved him in the following 2000 years. At some point, I suppose relatively recently (cite needed!) his descriptions were found to be spot-on for the type of eruption that occurred. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/59 "2021-07-04T22:16:25Z")
One of the other main causes of ulcers is medication, especially NSAIDs, and antibiotics don’t help with those. You just have to wait (a long time) for them to go away. > [@Limmin](#): > > I’ve been looking for a good citation for this, perhaps someone else has seen it: > > Pliny (the younger) described the events of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which famously destroyed and buried the city of Pompeii. His descriptions sounded like BS to contemporary Romans who just couldn’t believe it…and no doubt many others disbelieved him in the following 2000 years. > > At some point, I suppose relatively recently (cite needed!) his descriptions were found to be spot-on for the type of eruption that occurred. One of the many sources would be Mary Beard’s Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541/60 "2021-07-04T22:18:09Z")
Thanks! Sometimes I wish we had an upvote button. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-history-that-turned-out-to-be-true/945541.md?page=4)