- 2 days ago
History is filled with stories so unbelievable they sound like fiction.
In this video, we explore 10 of the craziest true stories in history that are so wild, dramatic, and shocking they deserve their own movie.
From unbelievable survival tales to insane real-life events, these stories prove reality is stranger than fiction.
Subscribe to watchmojo.world for more:
• Insane true stories
• History facts
• Real events that feel unreal
In this video, we explore 10 of the craziest true stories in history that are so wild, dramatic, and shocking they deserve their own movie.
From unbelievable survival tales to insane real-life events, these stories prove reality is stranger than fiction.
Subscribe to watchmojo.world for more:
• Insane true stories
• History facts
• Real events that feel unreal
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Some of the wolves were killed in the struggle, but the rest vanished into alleys of the city.
00:05Leaving Paris in a state of fear.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our-
00:10...picks for the wildest historical events that would make great movies.
00:14To be clear-
00:15...while some of these may be referenced on the silver screen or appeared in documentaries-
00:20...none have received the full film treatment.
00:22What's for the hell?
00:25Suck me this.
00:30The Battle of Castle Itter, in the small village of-
00:35...Itter, Austria, lies a medieval castle named Schloss Itter.
00:39The castle-
00:40...was seized by SS Lieutenant-General Oswald Pohl, under orders from Heinrich Himmler.
00:45On February 7th, 1943.
00:47This World War II battle saw a small-
00:50...group of strange allies hold an Austrian castle-turned POW camp against an-
00:55...approaching German Panzer Division.
00:57The defenders included troops from an American tank battalion-
01:00...and French prisoners, whose members included two former French prime ministers-
01:05...and Charles de Gaulle's sister, even more-
01:10...bizarre is that they were aided by German soldiers and an SS commander who had defected-
01:15...the group held off the Nazi attack until Jean Barotre, a tennis star-
01:20...could return with reinforcements after vaulting the fortress wall.
01:24Oh, and the-
01:25...the XSS guy died taking a bullet for one of the ex-French prime ministers.
01:30How is this not a movie yet?
01:32Olga of Kiev's Revenge
01:35Everyone loves a good revenge story, and this one has all the makings of a bloody R.A.
01:40...in a complicated affair.
01:41Olga's husband, Igor, was murdered by the Drevlians, who then had-
01:45...the audacity to propose that she marry his killer, Prince Maul, to get back at the-
01:50...of the ex-French prime minister.
01:51In the meantime, Olga, at first, pretended to accept their offer.
01:53However, she actually had their messenger-
01:55...burnt or buried alive.
01:57Olga then pretended to want to throw a wake for her late husband.
02:00Olga's husband in the city where he died.
02:02However, she had her men massacre the drunken-
02:05...brevlians at the party before laying siege to the city and burning it down.
02:10...using birds to spread the fire.
02:12Her revenge, recorded in the Primary Chronicle-
02:15...has since become the stuff of legend.
02:18Since she was later named a saint-
02:20...maybe they could call it Saint of Vengeance.
02:23Mansa Musa's Pilgrim-
02:25Ruling the Mali Empire in the 14th century CE, Mansa Musa-
02:30...or the King of Kings, amassed a fortune that possibly made him one-
02:35...of the wealthiest people who ever lived.
02:37...often considered one of the wealthiest men to ever-
02:40...live.
02:41Mansa Musa ruled Mali in the 14th century.
02:44Between thirteen-
02:45...24 and 1325, Musa made a Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca.
02:49Musa-
02:50.
02:51...gave generously on his way there.
02:52...maybe too much.
02:54In 1375-
02:55the Catalan Atlas map added the Mali Empire with a drawing of an African king.
03:00sitting on the golden throne in Timbuktu with a piece of gold in his hand.
03:04Although-
03:05Since he reportedly built many mosques, Musa also gave away so much gold that he may-
03:10have destabilized the economies of multiple countries.
03:13He also ran out of money.
03:15To the point where he had to borrow some of what he gave away on the return trip.
03:19Even going into-
03:20To debt.
03:21Musa's absurd journey would make a crazy historical road movie.
03:25Plus, we need more movies about Africa.
03:30Cooney Lake.
03:31There were records showing that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had investigated the-
03:35the case again in 1931.
03:37These Mounties stated that they-
03:40They discovered an uninhabited settlement, but they deemed it to be either a seasonal,
03:44or permanent-
03:45abandonment of the site with no mysterious overtones and closed the case.
03:50In 1930, in what is now known as the Nunavut Territory in Canada-
03:55fur trapper Joe LaBelle discovered that an Inuit village near Lake Anjikuni had apparent-
04:00immediately disappeared.
04:01The villagers were nowhere to be seen, with their food and belongings-
04:05still laying where they left them, suggesting they'd left suddenly.
04:08A grave had also been under-
04:10unearthed, and a team of sled dogs had starved to death.
04:13The incident is often connected with alien-
04:15production theories or supernatural native legends.
04:18While many have questioned the veracity of the-
04:20story, even if it is a fabrication, it would still make for a great sci-fi or horror movie.
04:25The Cadaver Synod-
04:28Ecclesiastical gatherings and traditions-
04:30Ecclesiastical gatherings are all the rage these days.
04:32And yet, one of history's most bizarre religious trials has-
04:35is yet to make it to the big screen.
04:36Pope Formosus, you stand accused-
04:40of heresy, lying, and conspiring to be Pope.
04:44What say you-
04:45Pope Emperor Quarell the Soviet Union
04:47Pope Emperor Quarell the Yipob
04:50initiating a tribunal against one of his predecessors, Pope Formosus.
04:55After, Formosus was already dead.
04:57The late Pope's corpse was propped up on the throne.
05:00A deacon was appointed to answer for him to refute the charges against him.
05:05Formosus was found guilty, had three of his fingers cut off, and he was
05:10buried again in a different grave, only to be dug up again and thrown into the grave.
05:15Pope Stephen, meanwhile, was overthrown and killed in prison.
05:20Politics, courtroom drama, grave digging, this has it all.
05:24Pope Formosus?
05:25Pope Formos was shortly restored of his papacy, and this demonizing undone anti-law was set
05:30in place that no person after death can be trialed and persecuted for what they might have done.
05:35The fake RMS Carmania.
05:37The Cunard Liner RMS Carmania.
05:40Newly converted to an armed merchant cruiser, was patrolling the South Atlantic Ocean.
05:45When she encountered a baffling sight near the tiny island of Trindade.
05:50In 1914, Germany lacked warships, so they decided to arm war ships.
05:55One of their ocean liners with guns.
05:57The SMS Cap Trafalgar.
05:59The SMS Cap Trafalgar.
06:00It was retrofitted to resemble the RMS Carmania, a British luxury liner.
06:05Its mission was to use its disguised appearance to harass and sink British merchant vets.
06:10The SMS Cap Trafalgar.
06:11The SMS Cap Trafalgar.
06:12The SMS Cap Trafalgar.
06:13The SMS Cap Trafalgar.
06:14The SMS Cap Trafalgar.
06:15It was a brilliant plan.
06:16However…
06:15However, after a fruitless first voyage, the Cap Trafalgar finally encountered a British
06:20ship.
06:21The only problem?
06:22It was the real RMS Carmania.
06:25It had also been given armaments.
06:26The ship they had just come face to face with, the first ship.
06:30The ship of the Cap Trafalgar's top secret cubicle mission was the Carmanian.
06:35The ship they were disguised as, disguised as them.
06:40The Cap Trafalgar was promptly sunk after a battle against the ship it intended to-
06:45imitate.
06:46The world deserves this comedic historical naval action movie.
06:50Toronto Circus Riot.
06:51How does a fight between a clown and a fireman in-
06:55And they end up reshaping Toronto's reputation alongside its police force.
06:58A fireman in a clown-
07:00Walking into a brothel sounds like a good setup for a joke, and we'd argue for a m-
07:05movie.
07:06In July 1855, a group of circus clowns and-
07:10And a group of volunteer firefighters got into a fight at a bordello in Toronto.
07:15Canada.
07:16The clowns won the day, but that wasn't the end.
07:20Firefighters came to the circus the next day, and burned some of the circus's wagons.
07:25People were throwing stones, setting tents on fire, and when the hook and ladder firefighting
07:30co-
07:30company showed up, not to put out the fires, but to join the fight, all hell broke loose.
07:35More firefighters arrived, but instead of doing their jobs, they helped their con-
07:40comrades in their mayhem.
07:41The mayor had to call in a militia to stop the violence.
07:44Oh.
07:45And because the police failed to prosecute, most of the police force was fired.
07:50The-
07:50The real circus was Toronto all along.
07:53The Wolves of Paris.
07:55While the exact year is somewhat debated, several accounts agree that during the early 15th
08:00century-
08:00Paris was attacked by a marauding pack of man-eating wolves during a harsh war.
08:05The pack's leader was nicknamed Cortu, or Bobtail, and they killed several-
08:10dozen people throughout that winter, leaving many in fear of leaving their homes.
08:14Cortu and the-
08:15the other grey wolf packs that roamed the forests outside of Paris, instilled an overwhelming
08:20amount.
08:20of fear in Parisians and foreigners.
08:22According to the stories, a group of Parisians-
08:25banded together to ambush the wolves, driving them into Notre Dame and killing them all with-
08:30rocks and weapons.
08:31This has all the makings of a great horror or thriller film, with the-
08:35ravenous beasts and winter setting giving it plenty of scare potential.
08:39The man-
08:40the man who rode the thunder.
08:42Survival stories have proven to be successful movies in the past…
08:45And this is a contender for the most incredible.
08:48At 6 p.m. on a summer night in-
08:501959, Pilot Lieutenant Colonel William Rankins, F-8, suffered an
08:55engine failure while flying at 47,000 feet at 500 knots.
09:00The failure was followed by a fire warning, then a system failure. Rankin was-
09:05was about to have a very bad day.
09:06William Rankin was a marine pilot. While flying-
09:10a jet over a cumulonimbus cloud, his engine failed, and he was forced to eject.
09:15Rankin's parachute opened early, and he spent 40 minutes after ejection-
09:20storm, being pelted by hailstones, and thrown about by the storm. He suffered fraud.
09:25Cost-bite, extreme decompression, and bruising. He even nearly drowned in-
09:30mid-air.
09:31He tried to hold his breath, but it was a very dangerous thing to do while falling-
09:35at breakneck speed.
09:36But he still made it safely to the ground. Rankin wrote a book-
09:40about the experience, but a movie could take his incredible story to amazing heights.
09:45with the right director and effects.
09:47Hitching a ride turned out to be a tough task.
09:50Imagine a man standing on the side of the road, covered in blood, and dressed in a soaked,
09:54ripped-up flight-
09:55suit. No wonder there weren't many volunteers to give him a lift.
10:00But eventually, someone picked him up and drove to a pay phone, where Rankin managed to call
10:04for an ambulance.
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10:201904's Disasterous Olympic Marathon
10:25The 1904 St. Louis Olympic Marathon was a disaster.
10:29It was a story of fraud.
10:30Thievery, Raw Eggs, Rat Poison, Food Poisoning, Liquor, Feral Dogs,
10:35and at least three separate incidents of near death.
10:37It was the stupidest
10:40sporting event of all time.
10:42The Olympic Games are usually a spectacle.
10:45But, the Men's Marathon at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis was a cavalcade of
10:49eight years.
10:50First, the organizer, James Edward Sullivan, set up only
10:55one water station along the dusty, hot roads the competitors were running on purpose.
11:00This led to only 14 out of the 32 of them finishing.
11:03The initial first
11:05place winner was disqualified after the discovery he'd hitchhiked part of the way.
11:10The actual winner had taken performance-enhancing drugs, which were basically rat poison.
11:15The fourth to arrive took a nap after eating rotten fruit, which he stole, and that-
11:20That's just scratching the surface.
11:21Give this story to someone like the Coen brothers, and let them-
11:25bring this comedy of errors to life again.
11:28Is there a bizarre historical story where
11:30we're nuts for forgetting?
11:32Tell us your favorites in the comments.
11:35The war was over.
11:36But the submarine, developed in peace time, took its place with the airplane as a-
11:40major destructive force.
11:45The war was over.
11:47The railroad forced the motor,
11:49neither my
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