Disturbingly enough, massacres have been committed throughout human history and across the world. Evidence of this can be found during archaeological excavations as mass graves are sometimes well-preserved.

Ancient texts can also provide detailed information on past atrocities. Together, this shows the dark side of human nature and the horrors that may result from it.

10 Pit Of Severed Limbs

Among 60 Neolithic pits discovered near Bergheim, France, 14 contained human remains. One of these stood out from the rest with its morbid collection of severed limbs. The pit had severed arms, hands, and fingers from at least seven different people, including one teenager, dating to 5,335 years ago. All the bones had marks indicating they had been cut off with a knife or axe.

Underneath this were the remains of a man missing an arm, and on top of the severed limbs were the complete skeletons of seven other people consisting of two adults, four children, and one infant. A while later, 5,245 years ago, the body of a woman had been placed above these individuals.

However, these remains showed no evidence of violent trauma, just like the human remains found in the other pits in the area. As the severed remains were the only ones covered in injuries and were deposited at the same time, researchers think they are the result of warfare or armed conflict and that they were all killed in the same event.^[1]

9 Executed Immigrants

A grave containing nine skeletons was discovered near a known Neolithic settlement in Halberstadt, Germany. The settlement was part of the Linearbandkeramik culture dated to 5500–4900 BC, the first full-time farmers in Central Europe.

As most graves from the period consist of individual inhumations with the occasional cremation, this mass grave stood out. The grave consisted of seven adult males, one young adult female, and one probable teenage male. There were no grave goods, and the skeletons seemed to have been thrown into the grave as they were positioned in a disorderly fashion.

Seven of the skeletons had well-preserved skulls, revealing that each had at least one injury to the cranium from a blunt force trauma. One individual had at least two such injuries, while another had at least five.

All the injuries had been sustained at around the time of death and were likely the cause of death. Isotope analysis of six of the skeletons revealed that five of them were immigrants, having moved to the area not long before death.

Carbon and nitrogen isotopes also revealed that their diets were very different from that of the locals. Researchers thus believe that the nine were potentially immigrants who were executed and dumped into a mass grave.^[2]

8 Obliterated Village

Yet another massacre from the Linearbandkeramik culture in the Neolithic was discovered in Schoneck-Kilianstadten, Germany, in a 7,000-year-old grave. It contained the remains of at least 26 people. Most of them had signs of blunt force trauma to their heads, and many had had their lower legs broken around the time of death.

As there was such a large group of people in one grave (at a time when people were usually buried separately), no grave goods (which were highly common at the time), and a high rate of violent injuries, this is believed to have been the result of a massacre which would have decimated the village.

Half the individuals were children, but there were no teenagers. Of the adults, only two were female. Thus, women and teenagers may possibly have been taken as captives or they may have managed to escape.^[3]

7 Magi Genocide

Shockingly enough, an annual holiday in the Persian Empire was a celebration of a genocide committed against the Magi, a group of people living in Media (which is now in modern-day Iran). They were conquered by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 549 BC.

Although they followed a different type of Zoroastrian religion and had many norms and beliefs that differed from the Persians, the Magi found their place in the new land. Most of them became priests and took up important positions in society.

However, in 522 BC, 27 years after they were conquered, the Magi were brutally massacred by decree of Darius I. He claimed that Cyrus the Great’s son, Cambyses, had gone crazy and sent an assassin to kill his brother, Smerdis, who was next in line to the throne. Then Cambyses accidentally killed himself by falling on his sword.^[4]

Supposedly, the Magi leaped at the opportunity and put an impostor on the throne, pretending that he was Smerdis so that they could rule. Darius I gathered his men and stormed the castle, beheading the supposed impostor and any other Magi present. The king’s men then ran into the streets and ordered everyone to grab any weapons and kill any Magi they could find. The people obliged and spent the rest of the day hunting down the Magi.

For years afterward, the Slaughter of the Magi was an annual holiday in Persia where people feasted and celebrated. On this day, any surviving Magi had to stay in their houses. If found outside, they could be freely beaten and left to die. According to historians, Darius I most likely made up the story of a king-impersonator as an excuse to take over the throne himself.

6 Pyramid Pits

In China, a massive step pyramid from around 2300 BC was recently excavated, leading to the discovery of six pits containing decapitated human heads. The pyramid is 70 meters (230 ft) high with 11 steps. At the time of its use, it was surrounded by a giant city, named Shimao in modern times.^[5]

On top of the pyramid, there was a large residential complex for the city’s elite and an area for craft production. The skull pits were discovered below the pyramid and may have been a building sacrifice.

The skulls most likely belonged to people from the neighboring city of Zhukaigou. They may have been captives from an expansion of Shimao who were sacrificed to show the power of their conquerors. All the skulls belonged to young females, but further information has not yet been revealed.

5 The ‘Great Death Pit’ Of Ur

In Ur in ancient Mesopotamia, six burial pits were discovered and named “death pits.” Most of these consisted of a single burial of a high-status individual. However, one stood out. It was named the “Great Death Pit” as it contained 74 individuals, six males and 68 females.

The males were placed at the entrance of the pit and had helmets and weapons. They have been interpreted as guards of the burial. The females were placed in rows throughout the tomb.

One of the females had a highly intricate headdress that was much more elaborate than the simple headdresses worn by all the others buried there. She also wore expensive jewelry. Due to this, it is believed that the other 73 individuals were sacrificed when she died and then buried to accompany her in the afterlife. It is unknown whether this was voluntary or not.^[6]

4 War Remains

Throughout history, massacres have commonly resulted from battles during wars. The excavated mass grave from Visby, Sweden, is a vivid example of such warfare.

Visby is located on the island of Gotland, which was an important medieval trading spot. King Valdemar IV of Denmark sent a large army to attack the island in AD 1361, both to gain their wealth and supposedly as a personal vendetta as the inhabitants were said to sing rude drinking songs about him.

As the Danish army was made up of highly skilled mercenaries and the Swedish army consisted of untrained men, the residents of Gotland were brutally massacred. The bodies were buried in several mass graves that were excavated in the 20th century.

The graves revealed that a third of the defenders were children, elderly, or crippled.^[7] The bodies were also buried wearing their armor and carrying their weapons. Some even had weapons from the attackers still inserted in their bodies. As the remains are so well-preserved, these graves are a unique discovery.

3 Shackled Skeletons

During the excavation of a large cemetery from the ancient city of Phaleron near Athens, Greece, a mass grave was discovered. The cemetery contained around 1,500 burials from the eight to the fifth century BC.

The mass grave was made for 80 individuals and stands out as 36 of them were shackled with their arms above their heads. This grave is dated to 650–625 BC based on the pottery shards found within it.^[8]

Due to the date of the grave and the way the people were buried, piled together, and bound, it has been speculated that they were rebels from the revolt in 632 BC. At this time, a former Olympic champion, Cylon, had raised a group of people to try to take over Athens.

However, when he failed, Cylon escaped and left the rest of his group to be captured. Though the story matches the grave, there is presently no way to say for certain that this was Cylon’s group of rebels.

2 Fort Massacre

A partial excavation of a ringfort at Sandby borg on the Swedish island of Oland revealed a potential massacre of its inhabitants in the fifth century AD. The fort is made up of an oval wall surrounding over 50 houses.

Only a handful of houses have been excavated. But so far, they have revealed over two dozen human remains, an unusually high number for such a small excavation.

The individuals are spread out across the houses and the roads. Some are articulated, and some are disarticulated. Two discovered in the same house were partially charred, indicating that there was a fire for unknown reasons.

Several of the skulls, one individual’s shoulder, and another person’s hip have blunt force trauma. All the injuries are on the back or side of the bodies indicating that the people were fleeing rather than fighting back. All the individuals whose sex could be determined are males, so women may have either been spared or taken as captives.^[9]

1 Child Sacrifice

The largest child sacrifice discovered so far is located on the northern coast of Peru and was committed by the Chimu Empire somewhere between AD 1400 to 1450. On a bluff near the ocean, 140 children and 200 llamas were discovered.

The children were 5–14 years old, with most aged 8–12. They had a red pigment made from cinnabar smeared on their faces. Their chests had been cut open at the time of death, potentially to cut out their hearts, and they were mostly buried facing west toward the ocean. The llamas were all juveniles, 18 months old or less, and most of them were buried facing east toward the Andes.

There were also three adult humans buried nearby. They all had blunt force trauma to the head and were buried without grave goods. All the burials are believed to have been from a single event.

Footprints were also preserved from the time, showing adults, children, young llamas, and dogs moving around. They indicate that the children were brought in from the north and south and met in the middle of the bluff for the sacrifice. DNA analysis reveals that both boys and girls were sacrificed, and isotopic analysis indicates that the children came from all over the empire.^[10]

The American frontier was a brutal environment. A land with few to no laws meant situations were often handled in dark and unusual ways. Violence was often a first resort.

At other times, it was the natural world that posed the biggest threat to human survival. Nature on the frontier was vast and unforgivable. Here are 10 of the grisliest tales from the American frontier.

Horrific Facts About Scalping On The American Frontier

10 John Colter And The ‘Human Hunt’

John Colter, a legend of the American frontier, spent most of his life in the wilderness. In 1803, he joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition where he gained renown as one of the best hunters and scouts.

After the expedition, Colter worked for the Missouri Fur Company and was sent on scouting missions to warn Native American tribes that the company was heading toward them and wanted to trade.

He is largely thought to be the first white man to see Jackson Hole and Yellowstone Lake. People later dubbed Yellowstone and nearby regions as “Colter’s Hell” in reference to his descriptions of the bubbling water and other geothermal activity for which the area is known. Sources vary as to the geographical definition of “Colter’s Hell.”

In 1809, Colter was captured by Blackfoot warriors. They stripped him naked and took everything from him before saying that he was free to leave. Colter could not believe his luck until he realized that he had just become part of a grisly game of “human hunting” for sport.

The warriors chased him. Although he eluded most of them, he did have to face one, killing the man with his own spear before stealing his blanket and hiding in a river to avoid the others.

Over the next 11 days, Colter made the arduous 320-kilometer (200 mi) journey back to civilization. He ate bark and roots and had only the blanket for warmth. Having survived this ordeal, he decided to return to civilization and live a quieter life.^[1]

9 The Shooting Of David Lunt

One evening in January 1877, David Lunt was in a saloon in the frontier town of Deadwood, South Dakota, when an enraged drunken man entered. As the marshal of the town attempted to calm him, the drunk accidentally fired his revolver into Lunt’s head.

For most people, a shot to the head would be the end. But not for David Lunt. He calmly got up, left the bar, and went home as onlookers gawked at the bullet hole in his head.

Lunt continued daily life and seemed to have no pain. However, after two months, he began to complain of worsening headaches. A short time later, Lunt died. The autopsy revealed that the bullet had caused a terminal abscess to form in his brain.^[2]

8 The Tragedy Of The Donner Party

The story of the Donner Party is a horrifying tale of suffering, starvation, and cannibalism. In 1846, a group of 89 people, led by Jacob and George Donner, left Springfield, Illinois, to start a new life in California. During the initial part of the journey, members of the Paiute tribe stole or killed many of the party’s cattle. But this was only the start of their troubles.

Attempts to find shortcuts cost the group valuable time. By October, they still had not made it across the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the relative safety of California. After heavy snowfall blocked the pass across the mountains, the Donner Party was forced to set up camp at Truckee Lake and wait out the bitter winter.

As the winter dragged on and the supplies of food dwindled, starvation and malnutrition set in. Those who wished to survive were forced to resort to cannibalism by eating their dead companions.^[3]

A group of fewer than 20 men, women, and children (known as the “Forlorn Hope”) fashioned makeshift snowshoes and set out from the camp to find help. Only a few made it to the other side of the mountains. The remaining members of the group died of hypothermia, exhaustion, or starvation. The bodies of those who had fallen were used to feed the survivors.

It was not until April 1847 that the last survivor at Truckee Lake was rescued. By this time, fewer than 50 of the original group were still alive.

7 Hugh Glass

In 1823, trapper Hugh Glass was attacked by a bear in South Dakota while on an expedition. Although he was able to kill the bear, Glass was left badly wounded by the attack. He had suffered a broken leg, a ripped scalp, a punctured throat, and numerous gashes.

His expedition partners, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger, believed that Glass would not survive his injuries. After several days, they decided to put him in a shallow grave, take his weapons, and leave him for dead.

Glass, however, had other plans. After regaining some strength, he began the journey back to civilization. This approximately 320-kilometer (200 mi) trip would have been difficult at the best of times. But for someone as badly injured as Glass, it was a formidable ordeal.

On many occasions, his agonizing pain forced him to crawl for miles. But eventually, he arrived at his destination. After he recovered, he set out to take revenge on Fitzgerald and Bridger. However, upon tracking them down, he decided to forgive them.^[4]

Does this tale sound oddly familiar? It was the inspiration behind the 2015 film The Revenant, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio.

6 The Wilbarger Scalping

In 1827, Josiah P. Wilbarger built a farm on the Colorado River. One day, he and his party were out scouting when some members of the Comanche tribe attacked Wilbarger’s group. Two of Wilbarger’s men were killed immediately while another two escaped.

Wilbarger himself was hit by two arrows, one in each leg, and was also struck by a bullet on his neck. Knowing that playing dead was his only chance of survival, Wilbarger lay still as the enemy approached. Then, without warning, one of the tribesmen grabbed Wilbarger’s head and scalped him. How he did not scream in pain is a wonder.

After the tribesmen left, Wilbarger lay in agony while visions of his sister, Margaret, assured him that help would come. Indeed, those who had escaped the attack did return to the farm, and a party set out to help Wilbarger. Ultimately, he survived the ordeal.

For 11 years, he went about his day-to-day business with a special cap on his head to cover the area where his scalp had once been. Unfortunately, he accidentally knocked his head against a beam one day. This resulted in an infection which claimed his life.^[5]

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5 The Great Flood Of 1862

As one of the worst natural disasters in American history, the Great Flood of 1862 ruined thousands of people’s lives. The flood—which was caused by an unprecedented amount of rain and snow—lasted for over 40 days. As of this writing, it still holds the record in California, Oregon, and Nevada for the largest flood in each state’s history.

The deluge swelled rivers to the breaking point, with water spilling across the land and ruining everything in its way. Entire towns were obliterated, leaving thousands displaced and fighting for survival.

Although the number of deaths was relatively low, the economic implications of the flood were enormous, with livestock killed and infrastructure destroyed. It took more than 10 years for the stricken areas to recover. Thousands of people never overcame the impoverishment caused by the flood.^[6]

4 John Heath And The Bisbee Massacre

In 1883, five armed men entered the town of Bisbee, Arizona, to rob the local bank. The robbers believed that the bank was holding the payroll for hundreds of miners working for the Copper Queen Mining Company.

However, the thieves had timed the robbery poorly—the payroll had not been deposited into the bank yet. Taking what they could, the bandits exited the bank and were immediately embroiled in a gunfight on the streets of Bisbee. When the battle was over, three townsmen and a pregnant woman were dead.

The gang quickly mounted their horses and rode out of town. John Heath organized a posse from the town to track down and apprehend the bandits. The posse failed in their mission.

However, thanks to the work of detectives, all five bandits were eventually found and arrested. Upon their capture, they implicated a sixth man—none other than John Heath. Working as an inside man, he had allegedly been the mastermind behind the entire bank heist.^[7]

All five robbers were sentenced to death. The condemned men died in what is still Arizona’s largest mass hanging. John Heath, who was tried separately, was only sentenced to life in prison because all five bandits chose to deny his involvement during the trial.

However, the townsfolk were not satisfied with this outcome and decided to take the matter into their own hands. An angry mob stormed the jail, took Heath outside, and lynched him from a telegraph pole.

3 Margaret Handley Erskine

In 1779, a young woman named Margaret Paulee (who was later known as Margaret Handley Erskine) was traveling with her husband and her baby from Virginia to Kentucky. They wanted to establish a new life on the frontier.

During the journey, they were attacked by members of the Shawnee tribe. Margaret’s husband was shot and killed. The tribe members also beat Margaret before brutally killing her baby in front of her.

Margaret was then taken captive by the Shawnees. Over the next five years, she lived with them, giving birth to another child while captive and surviving an attempt on her life by one of the tribesmen.

She finally escaped from the wilderness when frontiersmen found her and purchased her freedom. They took her back to Virginia. There, she eventually remarried and lived a long life.^[8]

2 Buffalo Bill’s First Scalp For Custer

In 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his men lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn against warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. Afterward, William Frederick Cody (aka “Buffalo Bill“) decided to avenge Custer.

Cody traveled to Warbonnet Creek, where he attacked Native Americans in a bloodthirsty frenzy. Infamously, he managed to kill one warrior, who was known as “Yellow Hair.” After removing the man’s scalp, Cody exclaimed, “The first scalp for Custer!”

At the time, Cody’s act of revenge was well received by American settlers who also wanted payback for Little Bighorn. However, history has helped to highlight his actions as being incredibly barbaric and unwarranted. Indeed, he claimed later in life that he regretted what he had done.^[9]

1 The Cholera Epidemic Of 1873

In 1873, a cholera epidemic swept through America. It was hardest on frontier towns as they had fewer resources to treat patients and less sanitary living conditions.

At the time, it was believed by some that the epidemic had been started by migrants who had first arrived in New York and then moved west. In Yankton in the Dakota Territory, Dr. J.B. Van Velson described migrants to his frontier town as “filthy persons.”

He said they could not be compelled to adopt sanitary precautions. According to Velson, they preferred not to use toilets, instead urinating and defecating just outside of the buildings where they were located.

The people who contracted cholera often died quickly. The disease was known to wipe out 50–60 percent of the population of a wagon train or small settlement. Quite often, towns were forced to quarantine themselves to limit the spread of the disease.^[10]

It is estimated that thousands of settlers who headed west died of disease each year during the 18th and 19th centuries.

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About The Author: My name is Aidan, and I’m from the UK. It is safe to say I’m a bit of a history nerd. I have a BA in History and American Studies and an MA in Global History. I enjoy most history. But I have a particular interest in darker tales and subject matter and focus mostly on modern history.