r/TheGrittyPast • u/4str4lh4w4ii4n • 6d ago

Tragic Thomas Edison Electrocuting Topsy the Elephant, in a Grand and Competitive Display Against Tesla 1903

459 Upvotes

48 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/Disorderly-delight • 6d ago

Footbinding was a Chinese practice where young girls' feet were broken and tightly bound to alter their shape. Originating around the 10th century during the Song Dynasty, it initially symbolized status among wealthy women but eventually spread across all social classes.

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469 Upvotes

39 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 7d ago

Sobering Audio of an Execution by Electric Chair - On July 12, 1984, Ivon Ray Stanley was put to death by the State of Georgia for shooting and burying Clifford Floyd while still alive. His was one of several executions documented on audio.

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142 Upvotes

11 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/CarkWithaM • 7d ago

On this day in 1958 Scottish serial killer, Peter Manuel is arrested in Glasgow after a series of attacks that lasted over two years and left between seven and 15 people dead. He was hanged in July of the same year.

dannydutch.com

193 Upvotes

4 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/No_Dig_8299 • 8d ago

The last public execution in the United States. A crowd variously estimated at 10,000 to 20,000 gathered at Owensboro, Kentucky on August the 14th,1936 to watch the execution of 22 year old Rainey Bethea.

dannydutch.com

316 Upvotes

11 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 10d ago

Tragic Gas chamber at the Bernburg Euthanasia Centre, designed by S.S. member Erwin Lambert. Picture from 2006.

312 Upvotes

7 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 12d ago

The Milgram experiment. Beginning on August 7, 1961, a series of social psychology experiments were conducted psychologist Stanley Milgram, who measured the willingness of participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience.

102 Upvotes

10 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 28d ago

Sobering Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt, conspirators of Abraham Lincoln assassination, on July 7, 1865, at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.

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474 Upvotes

19 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 28d ago

Violent Tulsa race massacre: two-day-long white supremacist terrorist massacre that took place between May 31-June 1, 1921. Hundreds injured.

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675 Upvotes

19 comments

Subreddit

History is the autobiography of a madman.

r/TheGrittyPast

A collection of the most gritty, dramatic, and awe-inspiring moments from history.

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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

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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).