# Historical myths DEBUNKED! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251 "2025-08-19T02:56:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/181 "2025-08-24T20:24:39Z")
no, an otpy ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/182 "2025-08-24T21:04:34Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Bryson’s book is notoriously riddled with errors like this. I still enjoy his books immensely regardless but it’s worth noting. He’s got a fully revised and updated “A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0” coming out in October. > **[A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463567/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything-20-by-bryson-bill/9781529941050)** > > Journey through time and space with Bill Bryson in the best-selling popular science book of the 21st century, exploring the history of the Earth, the universe, and everything in between. > > NOW FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED. > > 'Possibly the best scientific... ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/183 "2025-08-24T21:26:44Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Schuylerville, NY. I defy you to pronounce the last name. Presumably the same as this with “ville” appended. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!4v1756070752655!6m8!1m7!1sUQdaT0CdSj9MjHuLHPX7DA!2m2!1d41.12031716804072!2d-87.86411086755403!3f104.77185909736033!4f4.080675896158283!5f2.638264240529734 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/184 "2025-08-24T22:39:10Z")
Huh, I thought he said he was retiring from writing, and would publish no more books. Maybe a revision doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/185 "2025-08-24T23:34:03Z")
Makes me sad, several of his books are really great and had me laughing. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/186 "2025-08-25T01:56:03Z")
> [@Dahu](#): > > He’s got a fully revised and updated “A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0” coming out in October. Thank you for this info. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/187 "2025-08-25T02:22:46Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > The “girl” who warned of the British was Sybil Ludington, a 16-year-old who rode approximately 40 miles on April 26, 1777, through a stormy night to alert colonial militias that British troops were advancing on Danbury, Connecticut. Her courageous ride, which was longer than Paul Revere’s famous journey, helped rally the militia to encounter the British in a successful fight at Ridgefield, Connecticut. Speaking of debunked historical myth… There is no record from Sybil Ludington’s lifetime of her making her ride. She never mentioned it in anything she wrote (at least not in any surviving written records). The first time her supposed ride was recorded was in 1854, seventy-seven years after it supposedly occurred (and sixteen years after Ludington died). The first recorded account was from her nephew, Charles Ludington. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/188 "2025-08-25T02:36:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There is no record from Sybil Ludington’s lifetime of her making her ride. She never mentioned it in anything she wrote (at least not in any surviving written records). Yep. I agree, having read the Wikipedia article. No such ride. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/189 "2025-08-25T02:41:23Z")
I’d like to believe in the story of Sybil Ludington. I used to live in Carmel, NY and we had a statue of her in the town square. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/190 "2025-08-25T03:22:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You mention Charroux and Hancock (both of whose works I’ve read), and imply Erich van Daniken, but you ignore the grad-dadduy of them al, Frank Edwards? What about Charles Fort? ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/191 "2025-08-25T07:49:18Z")
I think it’s likely that this did not happen as described. Probably, reading the 1880 book that seems to have had a large hand in the story, it was family lore with some grain of truth that took on a life of its own. At the same time, I find it interesting that the author(s?) of her Wikipedia article really, _really_ want you to know how sparse the evidence is (indeed, there has been some back-and-forth in the page history about its dubious neutrality). Conversely, we are told in the lede of his own article that Paul Revere “played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts,” with the only additional context being a single sentence well down the page hinting: > The ride has been commemorated in a range of cultural depictions, most notably [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow")’s 1861 poem, “[Paul Revere’s Ride](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere%27s_Ride "Paul Revere's Ride")”, which has shaped popular memory of the event, despite its factual inaccuracies. (Don’t worry, the article on the midnight ride itself assures us that “the inaccuracies were deliberate”) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/192 "2025-08-25T12:19:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’d like to believe in the story of Sybil Ludington. I used to live in Carmel, NY and we had a statue of her in the town square. It’s an impressive work in bronze by Anna Hyatt Huntington. But the uneven oxidation on Sybil’s face now makes her look scary. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ludington_statue_800.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ludington_statue_800.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/193 "2025-08-25T15:22:52Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > part of Schuylerville, NY. I defy you to pronounce the last name. With the huge popularity of “Hamilton,” this would be much less unknown than it may have been 10+ years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/194 "2025-08-25T16:46:54Z")
Dante didn’t call his magnum opus the “Divine Comedy” - the original title was just the “Comedy” (or _Commedia_). It was Boccaccio who added “Divine” (or _Divina_) in his biography of Dante, and the scholarly consensus is that he was expressing his praise and/or describing its subject matter and style, not giving it a new title. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/195 "2025-08-25T16:59:55Z")
> [@Historical myths DEBUNKED!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/172): > > The existence of “Hamilton” (the musical) is a big clue to the pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/196 "2025-08-25T17:46:21Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Columbus wanted to prove the Earth was round.” No, that had nothing to do with it. At the time it was (mostly) common knowledge the Earth was round. And the educated classes knew the approximate circumference of the Earth. Columbus thought its circumference was much smaller. So, not only was he not right wherein everyone else was wrong, he was wrong wherein (mostly) everyone else was right. If the Americas had not been there, he and his crew would have died trying to get to Asia. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/197 "2025-08-25T17:54:04Z")
I suppose most of the learned members here are already aware of this, but just in case…. Julius Casear’s last words were not “Et tu Brute” That was a Shakespearean invention. According to the ancient sources, he either said nothing at all or “You too child” in Greek, directed to Brutus. Personally, if I had just been stabbed 20 times, talking might not be high on my list of priorities. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/198 "2025-08-25T17:57:27Z")
Teddy Roosevelt, leading his Rough Riders, didn’t charge up San Juan Hill. He charged up Kettle Hill. > **[The Battle of Kettle Hill, July 1, 1898 - The History Reader : The History...](https://www.thehistoryreader.com/military-history/kettle-hill/)** > > The Battle of Kettle Hill was a decisive battle of the Spanish–American War, it was also the bloodiest & most famous battle of the war ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/199 "2025-08-25T18:56:28Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Columbus thought its circumference was much smaller. So the world was actually more flat than Columbus believed? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/200 "2025-08-25T19:07:12Z")
No, the world was more _fat_ than Columbus believed 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=11)