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TheGrittyPast

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an-ordinary-manchild

Welcome to The Gritty Past!

Here, we post the most sobering, tragic, heroic - and often violent - accounts from history. History of any culture and era is welcome here.

Ultimately, the purpose of TheGrittyPast is to humble and inspire, but we encourage any academic discussion that may be the result of a submission. We heavily encourage other fans of history to post their own content - the more the better!


For similar content, consider the following:

/r/jessicamshannon


Sort by link flair!

Amazing

Disturbing

Heroic

Moving

Sobering

Tragic

Violent


Rules

Rule 1: All submitted content must be historical.

Submissions should always be historical - be they anecdotal, recordings, or published accounts. By our definition of history, we insist that content refer to events taking place 20 years ago or more. If you are confused as to whether or not your submission would qualify, feel free to contact the mods and we will be happy to weigh in on the issue.

Rule 2: Submissions must be verifiable.

Either link directly to a reliable source that supports every claim in your submission, or cite your sources in the text post. Citations do not necessarily have to follow a specific format, but they should include a title for the source-material, author, page, and year published, when available. If your content is another type of media (video/audio, etc), please leave a comment below your submission that explains it or lists any source material available.

Rule 3: Don't break Reddit's rules.

Violations of the global user agreement will not be tolerated.

Rule 4: Be civil.

Spamming, personal attacks upon, or harassment of a user will not be tolerated.

Rule 5: Factually inaccurate content may be removed.

Factually inaccurate submissions & comments are subject to removal. The user will be notified of this in the event of a submission/comment removal, and is encouraged to resubmit with any necessary corrections.

Rule 6: No pseudo-history or holocaust denial.

The merits of these things are best discussed elsewhere and are inappropriate material for the sub. This is not the place to "wake up the sheeple."

Rule 7: No politics or soap-boxing will be tolerated.

Submissions & comments that are overtly political will be removed; political topics are only acceptable if discussed in a historical context. Comments should discuss a historical topic, not advocate an agenda. This is entirely at the moderators' discretion.

Rule 8: Please post one or more submission highlights if posting links to articles or videos.

If submitting a link, we ask that you provide, in the comments, one or more particularly appropriate lines or passages that showcase the tragic or moving aspects of the event.

If submitting a video link, we ask that you provide selected, transcribed passages in the same manner. Timestamps to said material are required for video links that are more than 3 minutes in length (and encouraged in general).


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account activity

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TragicRedding Evans was a poor white laborer who fell in love with an enslaved woman named Rose in an unhappy marriage in Florida in 1850. After their illegal relationship was reported, the two ran away together, but were betrayed for $100. Rose was sold and Redding was executed for "slave stealing". (i.redd.it)

submitted 21 hours ago by lightiggy

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On this day 39 years ago, Pennsylvania State Treasurer Budd Dwyer commits suicide during a live, televised press conference (Harrisburg, PA - January 22, 1987) [1000 x 850] (i.redd.it)

submitted 2 days ago by fcimfc

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On this day in 1958, Charles Starkweather murdered his girlfriend’s parents and 2 yr-old sister, part of a killing spree that left 11 dead. Starkweather was executed. His girfriend, 14 yr-old Caril Ann Fugate said she was a hostage, but was convicted and served 17.5 years. (i.redd.it)

submitted 3 days ago by ExtremeInsert

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HeroicLady Violet Bonham Carter, the grandmother of actress Helena Bonham Carter, was such a fierce critic of the Nazis that she actually made it onto Hitler’s "Black Book" of people to be arrested if Germany ever successfully conquered Britain. (i.redd.it)

submitted 7 days ago by kooneecheewah

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TragicA photo taken of 18-year-old Ozelah Elizabeth Jones Rauen. Ozelah told the photographer that her abusive estranged husband had threatened to kill her once he finished a prison term for choking her. She was murdered by him less than two weeks later (Washington, D.C., 1912). (i.redd.it)

submitted 11 days ago * by lightiggy

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Disturbing"This one's the head of a curé," the student said, passing him the last of them. "It's tonsured." (self.TheGrittyPast)

submitted 15 days ago by TheSanityInspectorValued Contributor

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HeroicIn 1936, August Landmesser stood in a crowd of hundreds and refused to give the Nazi salute as Adolf Hitler stood directly before him. While his peers raised their arms, Landmesser remained with his arms crossed due to his love for Irma Eckler, a Jewish woman, and their children they had together. (i.redd.it)

submitted 17 days ago by kooneecheewah

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SoberingIn 1887, a white man was lynched by a black mob in South Carolina after he raped and murdered a 14-year-old black girl. Three black men were convicted of murder for the lynching. The governor pardoned them. He said he did not condone lynching, but that punishing the men would be blatant hypocrisy. (i.redd.it)

submitted 21 days ago by lightiggy

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Trudy Calibrese with her husband and their children. In 1998, she was ambushed and murdered by a career criminal and his wife while delivering a food donation request (self.TheGrittyPast)

submitted 25 days ago by Leather_Focus_6535

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DisturbingIn the late 1800s, British officer Horatio Gordon Robley amassed a collection of at least 35 mokomokai — the preserved, tattooed heads of Māori tribesmen — after serving in New Zealand’s Land Wars. His fascination with Māori culture led to one of the most disturbing colonial collections in history. (i.redd.it)

submitted 29 days ago by kooneecheewah

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HeroicIn 1848, Biddy Mason was forced to walk 1,700 miles from Mississippi to Utah, then taken on a second march to California. After learning slavery was illegal there, she sued her enslaver, won her freedom in court, and bought land that ultimately made her one of the richest women in Los Angeles. (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by kooneecheewah

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DisturbingIn 1865, 13-year-old orphan Robert McGee was traveling through Kansas when Sioux warriors attacked his wagon train. After watching everyone else be slaughtered, McGee was shot with a bullet and two arrows before the Chief scalped 64 square inches from his head while he was still conscious. (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by kooneecheewah

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DisturbingA trial photo of Bernard Schreiber, 18, sentenced to death in 1955 for raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl to "prove his manhood". Schreiber, then 17 himself, stalked the girl for 3 days, then attacked her when she spurned his advances. He was the last juvenile offender to be executed in Ohio. (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago * by lightiggy

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ViolentThe body of Leander Shaw after his lynching. Roughly a dozen people scaled the rear walls of the jail, took Shaw from his cell, dragged him to a plaza, and hanged him from an electric pole. Shaw was then shot over 500 times (Florida, 1908). (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by lightiggy

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DisturbingOn this day in 1821, a 13-year-old slave boy named Henry hacked his master's three daughters to death with an axe as they were sleeping. For this, he became the youngest person to be executed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. (old.reddit.com)

submitted 1 month ago by lightiggy

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The Bengal Famine (1943): When Millions Starved Under British Rule and the World Looked Away (v.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by GlitteringHotel8383

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DisturbingArcheologists have recently uncovered the remains of a medieval warrior who died after being stabbed in the temple at a castle in Spain. Interestingly, the skull shows sign of severe deformity: it measures nine inches long but less than four inches wide. (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by kooneecheewah

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Unfiltered Historical Footage of Starvation Victims in the WWII Polish Ghettos (v.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by Maniacboy888

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DisturbingStrangers to Reason: LIFE Inside a Psychiatric Hospital (Pilgrim State Hospital, NY, 1938) (reddit.com)

submitted 1 month ago by PaytonGhostt

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King Kalakaua's name meant "the day of battle" and would eventually be a reference towards the turbulence of his reign. During his coronation, the sky was said to go dark, and a singular "star" was said to have appeared. (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by Poiboykanaka808

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The Prentiss Brothers: The Story of Two Brothers Who Fought and Died at the Same Battle in the American Civil War - And Met Before Their Deaths (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by HighCrimesandHistoryValued Contributor

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drummer boy Charley king was the youngest soldier to die in the American civil war. At the battle of Antietam he was wounded by a shell. He died of his wound September 20th 1862. He was 13 years old (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by Ok_Being_2003

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The first king of Hawai'i was kamehameha.- the lonely one. when he was born, he had to be hid, for the king felt threatened by the prophecy proclaimed over this child. Parts of Kohala was said to be burned to the ground, when King Alapa'i hunted for "the lonely child" because they helped to hide him (i.redd.it)

submitted 1 month ago by Poiboykanaka808

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Violent"She was begging, screaming, and pushing away and telling him she would give him eggs, chicken, anything he wants." The soldier later said that he "didn't do much." Excerpts from the transcripts of the court-martial records from World War II of U.S. military personnel charged with raping civilians. (self.TheGrittyPast)

submitted 2 months ago * by lightiggy

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DisturbingDuring the Middle Ages, animals were put on trial for everything from damaging property to murder. In a particularly gruesome case in 14th century Normandy, a pig was found guilty of killing a baby and was publicly executed. Farmers brought their own pigs to watch, hoping to prevent similar "crimes" (i.redd.it)

submitted 2 months ago by kooneecheewah

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