Throughout history, humans have created myths and legends to make sense of the world around them. Most of the time, that’s exactly what they remain—myths and legends, fascinating but ultimately untrue, or only partly so.
But not always.
So when one Redditor asked people to share which myths and legends turned out to be real, people came through with some pretty interesting answers. We’ve rounded up some of the best below—scroll down for a chance to learn something new.
#41
The "Hobbits of Flores". The local people had an oral tradition of stories about these little people. It was considered to be a myth or a legend, until the bones were found.
Interestingly, the locals have stories of the hobbits up until the 19th century. Presumably these later stories are myths, because we never found bones that recent. But what if...
Interestingly, the locals have stories of the hobbits up until the 19th century. Presumably these later stories are myths, because we never found bones that recent. But what if...
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11points
#42
Black holes. I remember when I was in elementary school, there was a book series of thin informational books about things like bigfoot, loch ness monster, UFOs, and the like. Lumped in with those were black holes.
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10points
#43
The landfill of Atari ET cartridges was considered an urban legend for a long time. When it was initially reported, people within the company gave conflicting reports on whether or not the landfill existed and how big it was. Hilariously, this turned out to be true as the landfill was discovered in 2014 and had some ET cartridges.
edit: Here are 3 links I provided to someone earlier:
Wiki
Snopes
Ars Technica
As pointed out in the Snopes article, what appears to have made it into a "legend" is that the size of it became widely exaggerated over the years. Not to mention people at Atari were both confirming and denying its existence. The fun part is that what we suspected all along is true and we know the scope of it.
edit: Here are 3 links I provided to someone earlier:
Wiki
Snopes
Ars Technica
As pointed out in the Snopes article, what appears to have made it into a "legend" is that the size of it became widely exaggerated over the years. Not to mention people at Atari were both confirming and denying its existence. The fun part is that what we suspected all along is true and we know the scope of it.
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9points
#44
Panda bears.
Nobody used to believe they existed because those who found them had to go so far to do so and weren't guaranteed a spotting.
Nobody used to believe they existed because those who found them had to go so far to do so and weren't guaranteed a spotting.
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9points
#46
The city of Ninive. It is mentioned in the bible and literally nowhere else, so it was regarded as fictional or an alternative name for another city, until they found the ruins of an old city complete with inscriptions that it was in fact, Ninive.
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9points
#47
Turning lead into gold. Alchemists tried to do it for centuries, but with no success. No one could ever get a philopher's stone created. The mysticism of alchemy eventually gave way to the scienc of chemistry. People scoffed at the idea of turning lead into gold.
Then someone went and built a particle accelerator.
Then someone went and built a particle accelerator.
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8points
#48
Jews in Ethiopia lived in really isolated villages. They did not believe that there was any such thing as "white jews"
Edit - Here is a pbs link that gives a bit more detail.
Relevent portion:
"Mr. Wattenberg:There’s that lovely one that the Ethiopians are descendants of a torrid love affair between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Mr. Bard:That’s right, but that actually -– the Ethiopian Jews themselves don’t like that theory. They don’t subscribe to it. It’s actually more from the non-Jews who have accepted that idea, so no one’s really sure and they weren’t even discovered until fairly late in the game. In the ninth, tenth century, people began to find out about them, there was little written history. Travelers began to discover them, missionaries, but the Ethiopians themselves always had this desire to go to their homeland and they were never aware there was such a thing as White Jews.
Mr. Sabahat: when we did the journey from the villages, we didn’t understand about the people that [are] living in the counrty of Israel. We came without to understand the politics, and we came without to understand that there is other people who are living on that land. So try to imagine the first time that we saw white people, we were scared and we thought that they got a skin problem. And when we discovered that they are Jewish, we were much more terrified to discover there is a Jewish –- a White Jewish people because we thought that we are the only Jewish that exist in this way. So when you’re doing this kind of journey, walking in the desert, you’re feeling like Moses when he took his exile from Egypt and we had to wander fourteen years in a desert. And then those who are pure enough will be in the Holy Land. And it’s absolutely amazing thing because the first time that we saw that white guy, we were actually terrified from him.".
Edit - Here is a pbs link that gives a bit more detail.
Relevent portion:
"Mr. Wattenberg:There’s that lovely one that the Ethiopians are descendants of a torrid love affair between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Mr. Bard:That’s right, but that actually -– the Ethiopian Jews themselves don’t like that theory. They don’t subscribe to it. It’s actually more from the non-Jews who have accepted that idea, so no one’s really sure and they weren’t even discovered until fairly late in the game. In the ninth, tenth century, people began to find out about them, there was little written history. Travelers began to discover them, missionaries, but the Ethiopians themselves always had this desire to go to their homeland and they were never aware there was such a thing as White Jews.
Mr. Sabahat: when we did the journey from the villages, we didn’t understand about the people that [are] living in the counrty of Israel. We came without to understand the politics, and we came without to understand that there is other people who are living on that land. So try to imagine the first time that we saw white people, we were scared and we thought that they got a skin problem. And when we discovered that they are Jewish, we were much more terrified to discover there is a Jewish –- a White Jewish people because we thought that we are the only Jewish that exist in this way. So when you’re doing this kind of journey, walking in the desert, you’re feeling like Moses when he took his exile from Egypt and we had to wander fourteen years in a desert. And then those who are pure enough will be in the Holy Land. And it’s absolutely amazing thing because the first time that we saw that white guy, we were actually terrified from him.".
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7points
#49
The Hoan Kiem Turtle was a legendary creature living in Hoan Kiem lake in Vietnam.
In the 15th century the golden turtle god Kim Qui appeared to the emperor of vietnam and gave him a sword. After a war with the Chinese, the turtle reappeared and took back the sword. Sightings of the mythical turtle persisted on and off for hundreds of years until in 1967 a fisherman actually found or caught the turtle and beat it to death with a crowbar. Multiple sightings since then confirmed the turtle or turtles in the lake are very similar to or possible the same creature as the Yangtze giant softshell turtle.
In the 15th century the golden turtle god Kim Qui appeared to the emperor of vietnam and gave him a sword. After a war with the Chinese, the turtle reappeared and took back the sword. Sightings of the mythical turtle persisted on and off for hundreds of years until in 1967 a fisherman actually found or caught the turtle and beat it to death with a crowbar. Multiple sightings since then confirmed the turtle or turtles in the lake are very similar to or possible the same creature as the Yangtze giant softshell turtle.
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6points
#50
Earth revolving around the sun was just a myth.
People believed that the sun revolves around the earth.
People believed that the sun revolves around the earth.
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6points
#51
Back in the day, there was an old Scottish superstition. Scotch brewers used to have these big copper stills, and once they got worn out, they'd be very dented and worn. When a new still was made, the dents from the old one were replicated, as it was believed that doing this preserved the flavor profile of the last still. This was later found out to be true, although I have no source for it.
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1point
