15 ‘Hard to Believe’ Historical Moments That Really Did Happen

History gets a lot stranger when you move past the dates and names everyone memorized in school. There are plane accidents that look impossible to survive, coincidences that sound like someone added them to the story years later, and major world events that hinged on surprisingly small mistakes. Some stories have been repeated so many times that they sound more like urban legends than documented history. Others are simply difficult to picture happening in the real world at all. Reddit users shared some of their favorite historical moments that fall into that category, and quite a few are even wilder once you know the details. These 15 events sound made up, but they really happened.

Aloha Airlines Flight 243

In 1988, a huge section of the roof tore away from an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 at 24,000 feet, yet the pilots still managed to land the badly damaged plane in Maui.

Mark Twain and Halley’s Comet

Mark Twain was born shortly after Halley’s Comet appeared in 1835 and predicted he would “go out with it” when it returned, then died in 1910 during its next appearance.

The Berlin Wall Opened After a Confusing Announcement

East German official Günter Schabowski mistakenly suggested new travel rules were effective immediately in 1989, helping send huge crowds toward border crossings that guards eventually opened.

Nicholas Alkemade Fell 18,000 Feet Without a Parachute

RAF airman Nicholas Alkemade jumped from his burning bomber in 1944 without a parachute and incredibly survived after crashing through trees and into deep snow.

Pope Francis’ Peace Doves Were Immediately Attacked

After two white doves were released at the Vatican as symbols of peace in 2014, a seagull and a crow swooped in and attacked them in front of the crowd.

The Dancing Plague of 1518

Hundreds of people in Strasbourg were reportedly swept up in a bizarre dancing epidemic that lasted for weeks, although historians still debate its cause and whether the dancing actually caused deaths.

John O’Neill Became World Trade Center Security Chief

After years investigating Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda for the FBI, John O’Neill left the bureau and became head of security at the World Trade Center shortly before he was killed there on September 11, 2001.

The Ghost Army Fooled the Nazis With Inflatable Tanks

A secret U.S. Army unit used inflatable tanks, fake radio transmissions, and enormous speakers playing military sounds to convince German forces that entire Allied units existed where they didn’t.

Betty Lou Oliver Survived a 75-Story Elevator Fall

After a bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945, elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived when her damaged elevator plunged roughly 75 stories.

The New York Times Was Spectacularly Wrong About Airplanes

In 1903, The New York Times suggested practical flying machines could take between one and ten million years to develop, only for the Wright brothers to achieve powered flight about nine weeks later.

Harrison Okene Survived Three Days in a Sunken Ship

After his tugboat sank off Nigeria in 2013, Harrison Okene survived for about three days trapped in an air pocket until divers searching the wreck unexpectedly found him alive.

Boston Was Once Flooded With Molasses

A massive storage tank burst in Boston in 1919, releasing more than two million gallons of molasses into the surrounding streets and killing 21 people.

1816 Became the Year Without a Summer

The massive eruption of Mount Tambora helped disrupt the global climate so severely that snow, frost, crop failures, and unusually cold weather struck parts of the Northern Hemisphere during the summer of 1816.

A Con Man Actually Sold the Eiffel Tower

In 1925, Victor Lustig posed as a government official and convinced scrap-metal dealer André Poisson that Paris was secretly dismantling the Eiffel Tower, then took his money and disappeared.

A U.S. President Born in 1790 Had a Grandson Alive in 2025

John Tyler, America’s 10th president, was born in 1790, yet his grandson Harrison Ruffin Tyler lived until May 2025 thanks to two generations of Tyler men having children unusually late in life.