History is full of salacious moments, but most of them won’t make it into a standard classroom. Here’s a roundup of 10 dirty history facts that have been skipped in schoolbooks.
10 Dirty History Highlights
10 The Spanking Squad
Spanking kids used to be a common way to keep them in line, but one early‑20th‑century mayor took the idea to an industrial level. Arthur C. Whitaker, who ran Bridgeton, New Jersey, in the 1910s, installed an automated spanking contraption right inside City Hall. Instead of sending delinquent youths to reformatory schools, he sentenced them to a session on the machine, letting the “spanking squad” carry out the punishment.
The device let officials adjust both the length and force of each spanking, matching the severity of the offense. Over his seven‑year tenure, Whitaker claimed more than a hundred boys and a handful of girls endured the contraption, and he proudly called the program a triumph. Parents even began volunteering their misbehaving offspring for a quick corrective smack.
Whitaker kept the whole operation under wraps, insisting the machine stay a secret while it was in use, despite the steady stream of local press clippings that hinted at the bizarre practice.
9 The Bawdy House Riots And The Whores Petition
In 17th‑century London, Shrove Tuesday riots erupted each Easter week, with pious crowds targeting taverns, playhouses, and other places of ill‑repute. While most of these uprisings fizzled out without severe repercussions, the 1668 outbreak was a different beast. After King Charles II outlawed conventicles, thousands of dissenters stormed brothels in fury. Samuel Pepys chronicled the chaos, noting that the ringleaders were tried for treason and four of them were drawn and quartered.
In retaliation, a group of madams and their employees drafted “The Poor‑Whores Petition,” a scathing letter addressed to the king’s mistress, the Countess of Castlemaine. The petition mocked the monarch’s own licentious habits, lampooned high‑profile courtesans, and pleaded for the Countess to aid the “sisters” of the trade.
8 Cocaine Tampons
Women’s medical care has historically been a bit… experimental. Ancient Greeks once eased vaginal pain with tampons drenched in opium and belladonna. Fast‑forward to the mid‑1800s, and cocaine entered the scene as a surgical anesthetic, often applied to bullet wounds via antiseptic tampons.
By the century’s end, cocaine was hailed as a cure‑all for gynecological woes. Physicians prescribed cocaine‑infused tampons for everything from uterine inflammation and cervical endometritis to painful childbirth and even sore nipples, believing the drug’s absorption through the vaginal walls could resolve a myriad of ailments.
7 Desecration Of Constantinople
The Latin Empire, a short‑lived offshoot of the Fourth Crusade, lasted barely half a century. In 1204, crusaders under Baldwin of Flanders turned on the Byzantine capital, sacking Constantinople with a ferocity that still shocks historians. Baldwin crowned himself Emperor Baldwin I, claiming his new realm as the true successor to Rome.
Byzantine chronicler Niketas Choniates documented the looting in vivid detail: priceless reliquaries, golden vessels, and sacred chalices vanished, while anything not made of precious metal was smashed. The most infamous act, however, was the placement of a naked prostitute upon the patriarchal throne of Hagia Sophia, where she sang and danced for the conquering soldiers.
6 Czarina’s Official Foot‑Ticklers
Catherine the Great’s love life has become legend, from whispered rumors of horse‑related debauchery to documented affairs with aristocratic courtiers. Adding to the intrigue, she appointed a cadre of official foot‑ticklers whose job was to delight her soles while regaling her with scandalous stories or bawdy ballads.
The ticklers were drawn from women of noble birth, making the position highly coveted. They sometimes lingered in the bedroom during Catherine’s more… vigorous encounters, offering a quick foot‑massage or a playful smack to keep the empress refreshed between trysts.
5 The Warren Cup
In 1865, the British Museum created the Secretum—a cloistered collection for artifacts deemed obscene by Victorian standards. Most of the items came from Dr. George Witt, whose trove overflowed with phallic curiosities. The Secretum remained off‑limits to the general public, accessible only via private tours.
Within that hidden vault, one object proved too risqué even for the Secretum: the Warren Cup. This silver Roman vessel showcased explicit homoerotic scenes—two men engaged in intercourse on one side, and an older man with a youthful boy on the other.
The museum first declined an offer to buy the cup in the 1950s, but by 1999 it reversed course, paying £1.8 million for the piece—a record sum for the institution at the time.
4 Porta Tosa
For centuries, travelers entering Milan were greeted by a bas‑relief on the eastern gate—Porta Tosa—depicting a woman shaving her pubic hair. The carving survived until the 19th century, when the gate was demolished and the explicit sculpture was transferred to a museum.
Legend ties the relief to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Some say it portrays Barbarossa’s wife in a compromising pose; others claim it shows a defiant Milanese woman exposing herself to the emperor’s army. A third theory suggests the carving faces east as a deliberate insult to the Byzantine Empire, which failed to aid Milan after its 1162 sack.
3 Caesar, Queen Of Bithynia
Julius Caesar, celebrated as a military genius, also faced a salacious rumor that tarnished his reputation. Political enemies whispered that he was the secret lover of Nicomedes IV, king of Bithynia, during an embassy mission around 80 BC. The allegation branded Caesar the “Queen of Bithynia.”
Although modern scholars can’t verify the claim, ancient biographer Suetonius treated it as fact, citing it as the sole blemish on Caesar’s record. He noted that contemporaries, like a certain Octavius, dubbed Caesar “queen” in public assemblies, and poets even crafted verses proclaiming “All the Gauls did Caesar vanquish, Nicomedes vanquished him.”
2 Molding Cockle Bread
“Cockle bread” likely referred to a type of rustic English loaf, yet “molding cockle bread” described a bawdy dance that resembled an early form of twerking. 17th‑century writer John Aubrey recounted that “young wenches” would climb onto tables, lift their coats sky‑high, and shake their posteriors as if “kneading dough with their arses,” all while chanting lewd verses.
The phrase surfaces in several contemporary works, each hinting at a shameful, sexually charged performance. Some scholars argue the dance doubled as a method for women to prepare bread they would later present to lovers, blending culinary craft with erotic display.
1 What The Butler Saw
William Dickson, a pivotal yet under‑celebrated figure in early cinema, began his career assisting Thomas Edison and helped design the Kinetoscope, Edison’s pioneering motion‑picture device. Later, Dickson founded his own firm and introduced the Mutoscope, a rival that offered larger, clearer images and a hand‑cranked mechanism allowing viewers to control playback speed.
In the United Kingdom, the Mutoscope became popularly known as a “What the Butler Saw” machine, a nickname derived from its most notorious film. The device essentially functioned as an early peep‑show, delivering short, soft‑core clips to curious audiences.
The eponymous film, “What the Butler Saw,” presented a voyeuristic tableau: viewers peered through a keyhole as a woman gradually undressed in her bedroom, making it one of the first recorded examples of erotic cinema.
+ Further Reading
The bawdy side of history is seldom discussed, so it’s a pleasure to share these lurid tales. If you crave more, check out these related pieces from our archives:
- 10 Bizarre And Kinky Crime Sprees
- Top 10 Prominent Prostitutes In History
- 10 Tales Of Prostitutes In War And Espionage
- 10 Types Of Prostitutes In History