Idiotic Facts About The Dumbest Moments In History
48 of the Dumbest Moments in History
History books are filled with incredible, defining moments by long-ago figures we put on a pedestal. But what we don't often hear about are all the dumb moments, buried in time, that those involved might have wished to erase.
Whether the result of foolishness, insanity, heartlessness, grave mistakes, or just plain awkwardness—we dug up 48 of history's dumbest moments, for you to enjoy.
1. A Moment Too Soon
In Brooklyn, back in 1849, a man named Walter Hunt invented the safety pin. Not realizing the gold mine he created, he made the mistake of selling the patent right away for a measly $400. Hunt later became penniless and, by that time, billions of safety pins were being manufactured each year. Talk about pricking yourself.
2. Keep the Brew Flowing
There's evidence that the Egyptian pyramids were built with the sweat of paid labor—not broken slaves. However, ancient Egyptian leaders were notorious for being extremely stingy, and one of their money-saving tactics was compensating their employees with fermented grain beverages.
Each laborer was given up to five liters of brewed beverage each workday, and historians speculate that the Egyptians would have faced a worker rebellion if the barrels were ever emptied.
Nothing like being permanently tipsy in the blazing desert heat to take the edge off a lengthy construction job.
3. A Disastrous Plan
Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, wanted to profit directly off of an Elvis record through his label. Presley was under contract to RCA, but greedy Parker figured he could release an album of strictly "spoken word" Elvis, and that RCA wouldn't complain. That album, Having Fun With Elvis On Stage, was a complete disaster.
It contained zero songs, just Elvis's banter from his live shows—which was mostly just Elvis mumbling jokes at the audience between tunes.
Critics called it an auto wreck plowing into a carnival freak show, and RCA ended up claiming all the rights anyway.
4. Seeking Immortality
Qin Shi Huang was China's first emperor and the first man to singlehandedly rule over the seven kingdoms that he'd conquered. But Huang wasn't resting easy—he was absolutely obsessed with his quest for immortality. Huang spent the last decade of his life badgering every medicine man in China to invent an elixir for immortality.
Finally, he got what he wanted—or so he thought. One of his browbeaten alchemists finally convinced Huang he'd found the magic pills, and Huang eagerly swallowed the bait.
What that alchemist gave him was poisonous mercury, and Huang perished shortly afterward.
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