Extreme Historical Hobbies That Sound Made Up - But Aren't

The ancient hobbies of years gone by are fascinating and fraught with interesting facts that many of us might not know today. People of the past didn’t have the modern luxuries most of the developed world has now, so for entertainment, a fair amount of imagination had to be invoked. Bizarre and outrageous hobbies arose during the time of ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, 19th-century Victorian England, and even during the 1950s in America.

To read about more extreme historical hobbies on this list, go here:

#hobbies #Weird #WeirdHstory

[stew]

Weird History 2122: crazy hobbies people had 100 years ago. First one, scrolling through 5 different five social media apps even though it was very detrimental for people's mental health. Crazy!

[TetsuShima]

*Fun fact:* The Romans also had really extreme and curious hobbies. A clear example would be the Lupercalia, a party (in commemoration of the pranks that Romulus and Remus committed as children and dressed as wolves) in which naked men covered in goat and sheep blood ran through the city while hitting women with leather straps as a way of wishing them good fertility. In fact, many important figures of the time such as Mark Anthony participated in a lot of Lupercalias. Interestengly, the birth rate in the city considerably increased 9 months after each Lupercalia...

[zombywoof]

The narrator for this channel is great, Dudes a natural. he has the perfect voice for narration and the subject matter. Others that narrate history mostly have such a boring tone and way of speaking, but this guy is upbeat with a sense of humor that keeps you intrigued.

[jenniferzackschewski]

Not sure why it tickled me so much, but “The Great Skedaddle” made me laugh so hard, I almost choked on my drink.

[elizabethramsey]

My favorite uncle was a marine stationed in Utah during 1951. He and his 3 buddies would share a keg of beer and watch the atomic bombing light show. Six years later he converted to a religion that encouraged healthier lifestyles. Unfortunately he passed away of brain cancer in 1986.

[hawsrulebegin]

I love this channel. Always reminding us that humans really are absolutely crazy.

[rollout]

I once asked my grandmother why she and my grandfather had so many kids. Her answer was because they didn't have tv back then...so not everyone was I into weird stuff to pass the time.

[bobbieschendel]

So my Dad who would have turned 100 this year told me about this:
He said when He was a little boy His relatives would take Him for entertainment to the local State Hospital for an afternoon of watching the "crazy people". ( People that had problems with mental illness). There was a viewing room where people would make fun of these sick people.
So I guess that was a hobby?
Really sad.
Also you could talk about people going to "freak shows" at the circus.

[kimberlyjohnson]

Yall should do an episode on weird superstitions from around the world!!! I think it would be interesting 😁

[jimmcfarland]

"Once played water polo, until my pony drowned." Author unknown.

[akramgimmini]

Those Brits sure are ....
Creative with their Freetime

[Melissa]

When I was a kid, I went to the William Trent House museum in Trenton New Jersey. He was the founder of the city in the 1700's. They told us that back then guys used to bet money on weird stuff. Like they would sit and watch animals like birds and squirrels running outside and bet on which one would get somewhere first, like a race. They said it sounds boring, but you have to remember that they didn't have anything back then.

[hxxqtlf]

We are pretty, hard crazy in England.. we still die chasing cheeses down hills for fun 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

[RabidJohn]

This was one of my favourite episodes. As an Englishman, I love how many of the 'hobbies' were British.
You missed Cheese Rolling, the Haxey Hood, and Scandinavian Wife Carrying!
However, I didn't appreciate you sneaking a pic of Howard Carter into the 'Mummy Unwrapping Parties' segment. He was a proper archaeologist and that pic was taken in-situ in Tutankhamun's tomb. Bad WH!

[ebogar]

It was not Guy Fawkes plot at all. He was involved, but his only role was the explosives. Guy snitched out who came up with the plot and planned it from the beginning. That was Robert Catesby. He got Robert killed along with two of my ancestors Kit (christopher) and John Wright.

[killercharm]

Taking a picnic to watch a battle was a pastime for centuries before the civil war.

[wrestlingconnoisseur]

On another note about the shin-kicking point, it was incorporated into the Devonshire style of wrestling during the 18th and 19th centuries, and was so prevalent that retired wrestlers tended to have chronic vascular conditions in one or both legs.

[ingridfong-daley]

The corpse-viewing trend, the war-front front-line picnics... humans are such fascinating sociopaths sometimes. It's the same as public executions, reality tv, or Jerry Springer: people are voyeuristic creeps, by and large... and thank god! Life would be way less interesting if we didn't have such topics for Weird History to cover :)

[totallyfrozen]

The headless photographs are pretty cool. I’d definitely use a few of those as decorations for my annual Halloween party.

[scottnotpilgrim]

I mean everyone watching this pulled up a video about how weird history can be