The original versions and real stories behind the fairy tales we've been whispering to sleepy children.

Once Upon a Time

Trending on Ranker

You&#39;re probably more likely to know&nbsp;Charles Lutwidge Dodgson as British author Lewis Carroll. He wrote Alice&#39;s Adventures in Wonderland&nbsp;and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass.&nbsp;But what you may not know is how close a relationship he forged with a young girl named Alice Liddell, the real Alice in Wonderland, and the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-juana-maria/setareh-janda" target="_blank">inspiration behind his novels</a>. This relationship has&nbsp;been heavily studied and scrutinized, with many believing it had <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-story-that-inspired-nabokovs-lolita/nicky-benson" target="_blank">Lolita-esque aspirations.</a>

Dodgson wrote under a pseudonym, and the first in the series, often shortened to Alice in Wonderland,&nbsp;centers on the titular character falling into a rabbit hole and meeting a serious of fantastical creatures. The book is one of a few that&nbsp;has maintained its popularity despite being published over 150 years ago, like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-real-laura-ingalls-wilder/amandasedlakhevener" target="_blank">Laura Ingalls Wilder&#39;s</a> Little House On The Prairie series.

Dodgson&nbsp;wasn&#39;t simply a writer. He studied mathematics at Oxford University and was a skilled photographer. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson photos are interesting due to their subject matter:&nbsp;over half of his surviving photographs depict prepubescent girls. Lewis Carroll and children go hand and hand - he&nbsp;loved children, and they loved him. But over the years, many have questioned his relationships with young girls, although there&#39;s no conclusive evidence that he acted on any&nbsp;inappropriate&nbsp;impulses.

The Real Alice In Wonderland Was An 11-Year-Old Girl Lewis Carroll Had An Unusual Relationship With

General

Turns Out The Real Alice In Wonderland Was An 11-Year-Old Girl Who Lewis Carroll Had A Demented Crush On

Noelle Talmon

History

Stories about people&nbsp;escaping tough situations can be inspiring, especially when the escapee is innocent and truly deserves freedom.&nbsp;Sometimes, the most interesting getaway stories are about how <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historic-prison-escapes/tracey-graham" target="_blank">people escaped from prison</a>, which doesn&#39;t make them heroes. But other escapees are more heroic, admired for their courage as they&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/positive-holocaust-escape-stories/setareh-janda" target="_blank">broke free from inhumane conditions</a>.

Real-life escape artists from history had a lot of brains and gumption. Vote up the stories about escapes that required serious guts, even if the escapees weren&#39;t inspiring or courageous.

Stories About Daring And Elaborate Escapes Throughout History

Person

Rima Pundir

Interesting

For us plebians, it&#39;s hard to fully imagine what life as a royal is like. Because there are so few people who can even slightly relate to this lifestyle, it&#39;s been the center of much questioning over the years. What do their daily lives look like? How did they get their nicknames? Have they always been so well-known?&nbsp;

A lot of these royal family questions are a little superficial and can likely be answered by the common knowledge about the rules and regulations of royal families today. Others, however, take a little more finesse and understanding of historical events. That&#39;s where the Reddit channel AskHistorians&nbsp;comes in. This page consists of questions posed by curious people who just want answers to some of history&#39;s&nbsp;biggest questions - obvious or never been asked before. Then, actual historians and professionals answer those questions with well-sourced information.

Take a look at some of the history questions about royal people and families that we wish we had the answers to long ago.

Historians Answer Questions About Historical Royals We Should Have Asked Ages Ago

Historians Answer Questions About Historical Royals

Mallory Weiler

Dusting for prints & pointing the magnifying glass at some of history's most persistent, fascinating, and frustrating mysteries.

History's Mysteries

It might seem counterintuitive to call someone a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-historical-figure-facts-122020/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">famous historical figure</a> when we don&#39;t actually know their name. But in these strange cases, people managed to make their mark on history even while their true&nbsp;identities remained unknown. Some used aliases, purposefully keeping their actual identities a secret, while others&#39; anonymity was less of a choice and more of a case of lost history.&nbsp;

In&nbsp;recent years, with advancements in science and technology, many historical figures whose identities were a mystery <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unexplained-mysteries-that-were-solved/setareh-janda" target="_blank">have been uncovered</a>. Yet, there are still a few historical figures whose identities remain unknown despite the best efforts of scientists, researchers, and historians.&nbsp;While many of these enigmatic figures passed before anyone could uncover answers, theories still abound today as to&nbsp;who they actually were, and in some cases, what happened to them.&nbsp;

Vote up the figures from the past you&#39;re still wondering about in the present.

12 Historical Figures Whose Identities Are Still A Mystery

Historical Figures Whose Identities Are Still A Mystery

Jason F. Collins

Who was Mary Boleyn? Her sister Anne Boleyn - who got <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/real-story-of-queen-anne/setareh-janda?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">to be Queen</a> of England for a little while before her husband King Henry VIII beheaded her in 1536 - may be better known, but <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/who-was-anne-boleyn/carly-silver" target="_blank">Mary&#39;s story</a> is no less wild. As a royal mistress, Mary Boleyn&#39;s life was shaped by the treacherous court of Tudor England.

Historians have been able to piece together some key Mary Boleyn facts. She was likely born around 1499 or 1500 in England, and she may have been the eldest of three surviving Boleyn children, along with her siblings Anne and George. She outlived them both&nbsp;and probably passed from natural causes in 1543, far from the court that banished her.&nbsp;

Over the course of Mary&#39;s lifetime, she would see the Boleyn family&#39;s fortunes rise to the highest reaches of the English court before tumbling spectacularly - yet she would survive it all. Mary Boleyn&#39;s children produced generations of descendants that stretch all the way to the modern<a href="https://www.ranker.com/collections/the-royal-family" target="_blank"> royal family</a>.

12 Dramatic Facts About The Life Of Mary Boleyn, The Other Boleyn

Mary Boleyn's Life: 12 Facts About The Other Famous Boleyn

Setareh Janda

Elisabeth of Austria&nbsp;was one of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-warrior-queens-in-history/carly-silver" target="_blank">most powerful monarchs</a> of the 19th century. Remarkably beautiful, Elisabeth, nicknamed Sisi, defied Austrian court traditions. She traveled often and became a beloved figure in both Austria and Hungary.&nbsp;Elisabeth was very concerned with her looks; she engaged in strange beauty rituals and aggressive exercise routines. Elisabeth's iconoclastic ways resulted in&nbsp;her bizarre death at the hands of an anarchist.

The Tragic Life Of Elisabeth Of Austria

Phil Gibbons

Photography

There are certain figures that every school child has heard of but few have ever seen. The earliest presidents of the United States, the most daring abolitionists, even semi-mythical figures like Johnny Appleseed (real name John Chapman), can easily become nothing more than names on a page. Seeing them in the flesh can be oddly affecting - not only to the young but also to adults.&nbsp;

The thing is, photography has existed in one form or another since the late 1820s. It&#39;s strange to think that humans have a photographic record that stretches back nearly two centuries - to a time before electric lights, women&#39;s suffrage, or modern industry.&nbsp;You may be surprised which historic figures had their photos taken, and this list aims to highlight the oldest and most famous of them all. Vote up the ones that give you a new perspective on history.

Historical Figures We Didn't Realize Lived Long Enough To Be Photographed

Pierce Nahigyan

In 1227, one of the greatest conquerors in the history of the world perished&nbsp;- and hid his burial site. For nearly 800 years, the mystery of Genghis Khan&#39;s tomb has captivated people. Was Khan entombed with gold and silver riches captured as his Mongol horde conquered Eurasia? Does his tomb hold secrets about the Great Khan&#39;s legacy? And how did Genghis Khan manage to hide his tomb for&nbsp;centuries?

Born into a nomadic tribe caught up in the harsh warfare of the Mongolian Steppe, Genghis Khan <a href="/list/genghis-khan-facts/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">nearly perished as a child</a>. After rivals slaughtered his father, a <a href="https://www.biography.com/dictator/genghis-khan" target="_blank">9-year-old Genghis Khan</a> tried to take over his father&#39;s tribe. But they exiled the boy, his mother, and six siblings, who had to survive in the wilderness of the Steppe. From those humble beginnings, Genghis Khan went on to unite the Mongol tribes and conquer an empire that stretched <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greatest-empires-in-history#the-british-empire-stretched-over-13-million-square-miles-across-several-continents--23-of-the-worlds-land--at-its-height-in-1922-until-decolonization-began-after-world-war-ii-19" target="_blank">over 12.5 million square miles</a>.&nbsp;

In 2020,&nbsp;research from <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2020/07/archaeologists-discover-genghis-khans-winter-home/" target="_blank">The Australian National University</a> provided evidence that&nbsp;the site of Avraga in eastern Mongolia served as&nbsp;Genghis Khan&#39;s winter base where he staged his invasion. Radiocarbon dating samples&nbsp;proved that the site&nbsp;was occupied during&nbsp;Genghis Khan&#39;s lifetime, and &quot;more likely than not&quot; functioned as his base camp.&nbsp;

At the height of his power, the great conqueror began planning for his ultimate end. The Mongol ruler went to outrageous lengths to hide his tomb, unveiling a plan that called for thousands of&nbsp;horsemen&nbsp;willing to put&nbsp;their lives on the line to keep the secret of Genghis Khan&#39;s final resting place. And for centuries, no one has managed to find his grave.

Inside The Centuries-Long Search For Genghis Khan's Tomb

Inside The Centuries-Long Search For Genghis Khan Tomb 

Genevieve Carlton

As students, we spend so much time in school learning about the people who helped shape history&nbsp;that it&#39;s a real wonder we don&#39;t learn pretty much everything there is to know about them. Especially for figures like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-abraham-lincoln-facts/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">Abraham Lincoln</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-cleopatra-facts/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">Cleopatra</a>, and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-historical-figure-facts-10302020/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">Neil Armstrong</a>.But the honest truth is that there are still so many wild facts about important historical figures we can learn every day. And sometimes it&#39;s these previously unknown facts that blow our minds more than the ones we learned in our textbooks.&nbsp;

Vote up the new facts we learned about historical figures in 2020 that you&#39;re most happy to have learned.

Facts About Historical Figures We Learned That Made Us Say 'Really?'

Much of history has been led by&nbsp;absolute monarchies, and they&#39;ve taught humanity a painful but&nbsp;important lesson about life: Just because someone is the king or queen, it doesn&#39;t mean they&#39;re actually qualified to run a country. They may not even be qualified to run a sandwich shop, quite frankly. If there&#39;s one takeaway from&nbsp;Game of Thrones, it&#39;s that primogeniture is a terrible way to choose a leader.&nbsp;

History is full of examples of the wrong people being put in power. Even an otherwise effective ruler isn&#39;t immune to&nbsp;the kind of boneheaded decisions that land&nbsp;you on an internet list&nbsp;centuries later. Watching royals completely screw up is one of life&#39;s great joys (thank you,&nbsp;The Crown), and in that spirit, here are some&nbsp;bad decisions by historical royalty that immediately backfired.&nbsp;

Dumb Decisions By Historical Royals That Immediately Backfired

Jim Rowley

Whoa Facts

Teachers and textbooks can&#39;t teach everything about the&nbsp;most famous figures in history. Thankfully, many other tools are available to reveal facts that never came up in school. The Reddit thread&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/" target="_blank">r/todayilearned</a>&nbsp;is full of fun facts about historical figures - such as Elizabeth II,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-abraham-lincoln-facts/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">Abraham Lincoln</a>, and more - that almost seem unbelievable.

Vote up the&nbsp;new facts&nbsp;you think are the most awesome!

Facts About Historical Figures We Just Learned This Month That Made Us Say 'Really?'

Lists about the true stories that inspired books, films, TV, and other stories you think you know. 

What Really Happened

It&#39;s impossible for a movie based on historical events to be 100% <a href="/list/least-accurate-biopics-ever/setareh-janda" target="_blank">accurate</a>. If it were, that would make for a boring movie. Still, it&#39;s one thing for a&nbsp;movie about medieval&nbsp;England&nbsp;to have&nbsp;the wrong candlesticks; it&#39;s another thing entirely for a movie to completely misrepresent real people for the sake of a better story. And just as&nbsp;historical movies can make people like Scottish knight&nbsp;<a href="/list/life-of-robert-the-bruce/genevieve-carlton?ref=search" target="_blank">William Wallace</a> much more heroic than he was in real life, they can also make someone much more villainous than they actually were.&nbsp;

Earlier historical figures lived so long ago that it&#39;s impossible for modern historians to know exactly what they were like. Often, everything known about a distant historical figure comes from later historians who had a vested interest in portraying them negatively. In those cases, a movie might just be continuing&nbsp;a longstanding tradition of trashing someone&#39;s reputation. But with more recent historical figures, about whom we have plenty of information, it&#39;s clear that certain movies&nbsp;have&nbsp;turned&nbsp;them into villains for the sake of entertainment. Stories do need conflict,&nbsp;after all.&nbsp;

Here are some&nbsp;historical figures&nbsp;who were much less villainous than movies would have you believe.

Movies That Unnecessarily Made Real People Into Villains

Looking closer at films, TV shows, docs, and miniseries that explore, recreate, and occasionally flub up real historical events.

Watching History

<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/real-people-who-inspired-iconic-characters/robert-wabash?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Movie characters based on real people</a>, and characters based on historical figures specifically, are nothing new. Sometimes, films just happen to be about real events that really happened in real life. But plenty of films are more loosely based on history&nbsp;or just feature historical settings. In those movies, the occasional character can pop up who seems fictional, but isn&rsquo;t. Or sometimes fictional characters might not be exact&nbsp;representations of people from the past, but are&nbsp;based on historical figures.&nbsp;

Nothing beats the feeling of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/real-people-who-inspired-iconic-characters/robert-wabash" target="_blank">connecting with an iconic film character</a>, then finding out they were once a living, breathing person. In some cases, they&rsquo;re the sort of people you&#39;d <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/molly-brown-real-titanic-passenger/molly-weinfurter" target="_blank">want to&nbsp;have dinner with</a> - and others are the sort you&#39;re glad aren&rsquo;t still walking around.&nbsp;

Characters From Historical Movies You Didn’t Realize Were Real

Characters From Historical Movies That Actually Existed

Stephan Roget

Royalty

The last words of historical royalty offer a unique look into the final moments of their lives. Was their last utterance an act of kindness like Marie Antoinette&#39;s? Or a touching, perhaps dazed, expression of love like Napoleon&#39;s?&nbsp;

While some of the last words of famous kings and queens are well-documented, others could be more legend than historical fact - especially those that go farther back in history. But for those royals, the stories surrounding their last words are just as informing as the reported words themselves. In any case, the last words found here range from the incoherent, confused ramblings of royals quickly losing health to the sound communications from royals all too aware of what was about to happen.&nbsp;

The Actual Last Words Of Historical Royals And Rulers

Garri Chaverst

Over the span of 12,000 years, humans have made their mark on the world. Through&nbsp;oral traditions, archaeological discoveries, and the written word, people have been telling stories of our past, our achievements, and our failures to inform our modern decisions, to understand the origins of modern-day issues, and to inspire us to face adversities intrinsic to the human condition. That&#39;s basically the study of history, is it not? So, if we have 12,000 years&#39; worth of stories, why the heck do we keep trodding on the same stories and figures over and over again as if they are the only people in history that matter?

&quot;Oh, King Henry VIII killed his wives. We should feature that story in <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/actors-who-played-henry-viii/gordon-cameron" target="_blank">at least eight movies</a>, seven television shows, and a countless number of books. It&#39;s such a compelling story that no&nbsp;one will ever tire of it. Oh, Marie Antoinette did what?! She spent a lot of money, said &quot;Let them eat cake!&quot; to a bunch of poor people, and then <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/why-was-marie-antoinette-executed/setareh-janda" target="_blank">got her head cut off</a>. That is&nbsp;literally the best story ever told. I think we could make eight or nine movies about that!&quot;

Now, if it wasn&#39;t clear, that was sarcasm. The story of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/surprising-facts-about-marie-antoinette/setareh-janda" target="_blank">Marie Antoinette</a> is not &quot;literally the best story ever told,&quot; and the story of King Henry VIII and his wives doesn&#39;t need a new update every decade -&nbsp;one really good version is sufficient. But that doesn&#39;t stop Hollywood, book publishers, online content producers, and the public at large from treating a few historical figures like they were gods among men.

Normally, the Weird History staff does their best to keep personal opinions out of Weird History content - first, to prevent bias or subjectivity from affecting the history we tell, and second, to keep Ranker a place for readers to express their opinions. But, in this case, the Weird Historians can&#39;t help but argue who they believe to be the most overrated people in history.

Are these historical figures really overrated? Or do you think the Weird History staff members and contributors are wrong, and these people are really worth the hype given to them?

13 Of The Most Overrated People In History, According To Weird History Editors And Contributors

Brenden Donnelly

American People

We know the names of all of those&nbsp;historic big shots standing in the middle of the spotlight. But what about those huge contributors standing&nbsp;up there on the stage of history with them, but just out of the spotlight&#39;s reach? It&#39;s about time we move that light around the stage.

It has taken a lot to get to where we are at this point in time, for better or worse. The importance of the contributions made by those before us is&nbsp;near impossible to measure. But what we can do is remember the people that made them, especially the ones on the verge of being forgotten. These are the nearly forgotten Americans that changed history and the way we experience our world today.

Nearly Forgotten Americans We Didn't Realize Dramatically Shaped History

Will Morgan

Historical Figures lists at Ranker - The ultimate source for hundreds of historical figures lists and rankings

Historical Figures lists on Ranker

A look at major events that happened a long time ago and the people who played the biggest roles in shaping the world as we know it.

Historical Facts & Figures

This is a list of the most <a href="/list/important-historical-figures-not-taught-in-school/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">influential people</a> of all of human history. This means that the individuals on this list have had a significant effect on how regular people live their lives today and have had a large impact on how modern society works. The names on this list include iconic religious figures, recognizable scientists and inventors, and some of the most powerful&nbsp;<a href="/crowdranked-list/the-most-important-leaders-in-world-history" target="_blank">important leaders in world history</a>. Vote for your top choices and re-rank this list your way.&nbsp;

What makes an individual worthy of a spot on a list of the most influential people ever? Certainly, some of the <a href="/list/greatest-minds-of-all-time/walter-graves" target="_blank">greatest minds of all time</a> deserve to be ranked highly. Examples include Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, and certainly <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-historical-figure-facts-09252020/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">Albert Einstein</a>. Each one of these incredible and inspirational&nbsp;people used the power of their minds to change the world. Not surprisingly, several names on this list are also among the most <a href="/crowdranked-list/famous-role-models-we_d-like-to-meet-in-person" target="_blank">famous role models we&#39;d like to meet in person</a>.

Featuring historical figures, interesting men, and impactful people, this list of the world&#39;s most legendary figures have had all kinds of effects on the biggest and historic events.

And modern-era figures also deserve to be listed here. Can anyone argue that Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg aren&#39;t among the <a href="/crowdranked-list/the-most-influential-contemporary-americans" target="_blank">most influential contemporary Americans</a>? It&#39;s time to add your opinions on who you believe are the most&nbsp;influential&nbsp;people&nbsp;in&nbsp;history, with your votes and your rankings.

William Shakespeare

The Legacy Of Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The Most Influential People of All Time

Ranker Community

Weird, spooky, and tragic stories of people who passed in odd ways or on strange days.

Unusual Demises

Death

There were some strange deaths that have occurred during the 20th century and these are the most bizarre ways that people passed in the 1900s. The following list includes some the most unusual ways of passing imaginable. There are plenty of strange ways to perish, but these might be the strangest&nbsp;of all&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;unique and extremely rare circumstances that you can think of.

What are the most bizarre ways famous people have died in the last century? Do you know someone who swallowed a toothpick at a party and then perished because of peritonitis? Did you know about an actress who passed when she fell down a chimney, thinking it was a balcony? If not, read this list of all the unusual deaths of 20th century people who died in strange ways.

Unusual Deaths: Bizarre Deaths Of The 20th Century

Bizarre Deaths | List of Unusual Ways To Die

Notable Famous Deaths

Politics

List of the Greatest Minds of All Time, throughout history. This list represents the most influential thinkers across various disciplines, ranked in a way that represents the power of their ideas and their impact on the world. The wisest men and women include <a href="/list/top-philosophers-ever-/jedralski">top philosophers,</a> physicists, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/notable-poet_s)/reference">famous poets</a>, thinkers, teachers, physiologists, artists, inventors, engineers, <a href="/list/the-most-irreplaceable-ceos-in-the-world/ready-to-startup">the most irreplaceable CEOs in the world</a>, economists and politicians and those whose talents span across many fields of study.This list takes a historic perspective, so the greatest thinkers who are included on this list come from many different eras. The greatest minds of the 21st century may be quite different from great geniuses from the distant past, but each person should be judged within the context of the time that they were living. For example, inventing a new type of telephone in 2013 would not qualify one as &quot;the most brilliant mind of all time,&quot; but in 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell first patented the telephone, it was an act of genius not seen before. See Also: <a href="/crowdranked-list/the-most-influential-people-of-all-time">The Most Influential People of All Time.</a>

Isaac Newton

The Greatest Minds of All Time

Greatest Minds of All Time |  List of Genius Thinkers in History 

Walter Graves

Historical Figures

Some of the most prolific&nbsp;figures in history got off in ways that would have been considered untoward in their time.&nbsp;

Nowadays, many&nbsp;of the&nbsp;behaviors described here are seen as normal, or at least, somewhat so. But back in the day, some of these writers, revolutionaries, philosophers, and the like kept their sexuality&nbsp;and kinks a secret, only to be discovered decades after their passing by scholars and curious readers.

Perhaps if these legends were alive now, they would wave their flags proudly and let the world know what turns them on. Or not, and that&#39;s fine too; after all, it&#39;s nobody&#39;s business what you&#39;re into.