# 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:** 3
**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 20, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/41 "2025-08-20T01:01:34Z")
Many years ago, on a particular mailing list, somebody mentioned the Donner Party and several non-Americans who had not heard of it thought it was a typo. Ironic, in a creepy sort of way. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/42 "2025-08-20T01:09:24Z")
During the construction of the transconental railroad over Donner Pass, Chinese workers were placed in large baskets and lowered down the side of a cliff to blast out a shelf for the track. This story doesn’t appear unitl later, years after the railroad was completed - are no contemporary accounts of this happening. There is a very long article debunking this story located here: [http://cprr.org/Museum/Cape\_Horn.html.](http://cprr.org/Museum/Cape_Horn.html) Many years ago I rode the train through the place where this was suppose to have occured and noticed the “cliff” is not vertical as described in the old stories. It’s more like 45 to 70 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/43 "2025-08-20T01:28:27Z")
Here is the wikipedia article on the Donner party: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner\_Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party) The article contains a photo of a page from a survivor’s diary that describes some of the cannibalism. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/44 "2025-08-20T01:42:01Z")
Here’s a myth: FDR provoked the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor. What really happened, very briefly, is militarists took control of the Japanese government, often through assasination. Japan then invaded China. The Imperial Japanese Army had little regard for human life. For example, when they overran the capitol, Nanjing, they slaughtered 200,000 civilians, and 20,000 women and children were raped. News of these atrocities reached America. Many Americans didn’t care, but some didn’t like it that Japanese tanks and trucks ran on American gasoline, while their bombs and bullets were made of American steel. FDR was pressured to embargo all oil and steel. He resisted but eventually enacted conditional and partial embargoes, which the Japanese could have lifted if they stopped the bloodshed. This enraged the Japanese government, which responded with further invasions, and by formally aligning themselves with fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. By 1940 it was obvious that American oil and steel might be needed to defend America, so all sales to Japan were halted. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/45 "2025-08-20T02:22:42Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > Here’s a myth: FDR provoked the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor. We have had a post on this before, and altho I agree with your post, I have asked people to take this debate to GD, since there is some controversy. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/46 "2025-08-20T06:46:54Z")
I got a million of ‘em. No, the 7th-century Indian mathematician Brahmagupta did not invent negative numbers, or algebraic rules for operating with negative numbers. It’s true that his treatise is the first **surviving** work to give a systematic exposition of the algebra of signed quantities, but it’s overwhelmingly likely that the techniques were already quite mature. The ancient and medieval works that survive today are by no means completely representative of everything that got written. No, there was not a specially founded institution in early Abbasid Baghdad called the “House of Wisdom” (_bayt al-hikma_) devoted to translation and expansion of Greek scientific works. The institution of the _bayt al-hikma_ was a pre-Islamic Persian (Sasanian) palace archive of Pahlavi works and translations that got assimilated into the Abbasid bureaucracy. Yes, the Sasanian emphasis on translation into Pahlavi influenced Abbasid sponsorship of translations into Arabic, and yes, Abbasid caliphs supported the translation and assimilation of Greek scientific works at their courts. But the “Greek science project” had nothing to do with anything called _bayt al-hikma._ The [Renaissance Mathematicus blogger has a good summary](https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2019/05/29/the-house-of-wisdom-is-a-myth/) of this issue, and [Dmitri Gutas’s book dives deeper](https://archive.org/details/DimitriGutasGreekThoughtArabicCultureTheGraecoArabicTranslationMovementInBaghdad/page/n69/mode/2up?q=wisdom&view=theater) into the straight dope. ---
**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 20, 2025, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/47 "2025-08-20T11:23:08Z")
Ronald reagan did not free the hostages held in Iran. The Carter administration arranged the release through intermediaries. The radicals who held the hostages hated Carter, and didn’t want him seen to get any of the credit, so they only agreed to the release after Carter would be out of office. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/48 "2025-08-20T13:59:22Z")
I knew that (or rather, learned about it much later after the event), but though I remember the hostage crisis, I was only 11 and didn’t get/remember every detail, so my question is: did the Reagan administration try to claim exclusive credit for the operation? Or was it just a misconception by parts of the public? ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/49 "2025-08-20T14:06:27Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > did the Reagan administration try to claim exclusive credit for the operation? The hostages were released on the day of Reagan’s inauguration. As I recall, neither he nor anyone else directly claimed credit for their release. I, like most Americans, was just relieved that they had been released. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/50 "2025-08-20T14:09:35Z")
So when and by whom came up the myth that Reagan freed the hostages? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/51 "2025-08-20T14:18:01Z")
We all knew the release was specifically timed as a big “fuck you” to the Carter Administration. My group of liberal high school students were also convinced the Reagan campaign had negotiated a delay until after the election. That theory isn’t entirely without merit but if there was a smoking gun, it has remained elusive. ---
**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 20, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/52 "2025-08-20T15:01:15Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > So when and by whom came up the myth that Reagan freed the hostages? I’ve heard it many times from Republicans in recent years. There was a Republican presidential primary debate held at the Reagan Library, I think. It was probably said by at least one pf the candidates there. The claim that Reagan created a million jobs in one month is also specious, at best. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/53 "2025-08-20T15:21:07Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > At the first screenings of the Lumière Brothers’ film _Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat_, the audience members did not jump up in panic and run screaming from the image of a train barreling toward the camera. I’ve not heard that story before, but it’s hard to see how anyone could think it so. I can imagine that somebody seeing a moving picture for the very first time might forget where they are for a brief moment, and really imagine they are really standing on a real platform as a real train approaches. Even then, it’s obvious that the train is running on tracks and would miss him by several feet. It would be no more scary than actually watching a train arrive. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/54 "2025-08-20T15:31:05Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I’ve not heard that story before, but it’s hard to see how anyone could think it so. I can imagine that somebody seeing a moving picture for the very first time might forget where they are for a brief moment, and really imagine they are really standing on a real platform as a real train approaches. Even then, it’s obvious that the train is running on tracks and would miss him by several feet. It would be no more scary than actually watching a train arrive. Have you ever watched a rollercoaster ride from a first person perspective on a panoramic screen or through VR goggles? I have done both, and both times my rational mind knew darn well that I wasn’t sitting in a rollercoaster, but my lizard brain overruled it and I did all the motions and I got dizzy as if it had been real. I suppose the people seeing a film of a train approaching them for the first time had a similar experience. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/55 "2025-08-20T15:32:23Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I’ve not heard that story before, but it’s hard to see how anyone could think it so. “running screaming from the theater” is hard to believe, but I think it pretty lausible that people might flinch, or duck out of the way in response to a vivid image of a train coming toward yo, even if it might miss. Heck, my cat responds to things rapidly moving on the TV screen, trying to catch them. I give you the example of the film “This is Cinerama”, released in 1952 to introduce wide-screen movies to the public. There’s a famous sequence that gives a Point of View of a ride in a roller coaster. People in the audience were seen to lean in reaction to the images, even though they weren’t moving themselves. I have felt the effect while watching the movie myself. The wide-screen aspect, filling more of the range of vision, probably helped the effect. “This was virtual reality 1950s-style. Audience members, their fields of vision nearly filled by the image, felt as if they too were rushing down the track. People would scream, rock back and forth in their seats, and, if we are to believe press accounts of the day (no doubt informed by ballyhoo), leave the theater at intermission to buy Dramamine.”[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2001/04/paul-allen-200104?srsltid=AfmBOor2R-DqX6d3-oavB\_5gm\_cGcZN3ilWAdCnd8T0zWlpY9OwWpxqi](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2001/04/paul-allen-200104?srsltid=AfmBOor2R-DqX6d3-oavB_5gm_cGcZN3ilWAdCnd8T0zWlpY9OwWpxqi) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This\_Is\_Cinerama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Cinerama) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/56 "2025-08-20T15:54:14Z")
I have mention this on this board before.. It is a myth thatwhen Kitty Genovese was murdered in New York City in 1964-- **37** witnesses saw or heard the attack and did absolutely nothing. This has been refuted : [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder\_of\_Kitty\_Genovese#Inaccuracy\_of\_original\_reports](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese#Inaccuracy_of_original_reports) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/57 "2025-08-20T16:19:19Z")
Not arguing that they didn’t bury their treasure, but typically the Captain got a _much_ larger share than everyone else. Like 5-6 shares, then his direct subordinates may get 2 each, then the other officers 1 each, and then the guys before the mast got some fraction of a share each. > [@zimaane](#): > > Revere also did not even make it all the way to Concord. He got apprehended by the British. > > But he got as far as Lexington, where he told Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and bumped into Samuel Prescott. Prescott did make it to Concord. > > So Revere deserves at least a B+ on the Warn the Colonists Assignment. From what I could tell between the exhibits at Minute Man National Park and some research, Revere’s fame and reputation are primarily due to Longfellow’s poem, not anything he actually did. He didn’t make it all the way to Concord, in fact he made it about a third of the way to Concord from Lexington before being captured (there’s a sort of memorial to the spot there now). Also, he didn’t really ride through the countryside yelling something, he’d stop at local leaders’ houses and inform them, then ride on. Those local leaders would then turn out their militia and send them to Concord. Other Revolutionary War-era myths: The Boston Tea Party wasn’t in response to a tax _increase_, but rather a tax cut. The thinking was that by reducing the tax on tea, people would drink more, and it would undercut the principle of “No Taxation without Representation”. Another was the sort of notion that the Boston Tea Party was somehow a stealthy event undertaken by some sort of colonial commando team under cover of darkness. Far from it. It was at least 116 men, who were apparently half-assedly disguised, and there was a crowd of spectators. They destroyed 92,000 pounds of tea in 342 wooden chests weighing 400 lbs each spread across three ships. It took them three hours to carry this out. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/58 "2025-08-20T16:21:32Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Have you ever watched a rollercoaster ride from a first person perspective on a panoramic screen or through VR goggles? I remember Disneyland’s Circle Vision 360 attraction. The film went down Lombard Street and did a few other tippy things. You felt it in your stomach and grabbed the railings. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/59 "2025-08-20T16:26:48Z")
Don’t forget the [Great Michigan Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Michigan_Fire) which started the same day as well (and destroyed a few towns.) ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251/60 "2025-08-20T16:53:26Z")
Is 25yrs long enough to be considered historical? **Y2K** - The year 2000 bug was not a minor computer problem over-hyped by fearmongers without any basis in reality. There actually was a problem, it really did cause computers to crash and do very bad things with data, and it would absolutely have affected the computer systems our society relied on at that time. In the United States at least, banks, airports, national phone carriers, and some parts of the nation’s energy grid & government infrastructure would have gone down or been severely impacted. The fear was justified and billions of dollars in man hours were spent to fix the problem before the year 2000 arrived. Unfortunately, although companies and governments made widespread announcements that they had fixed these problems and were ready to go, their announcements did not make for exciting news stories. The media continued to hype Y2K as 1999 came to a close, and naturally very little happened on January 1st. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-debunked/1022251.md?page=4)