Questions from History that Historians Can't Answer

[@CommisarHood]

2:01 why do I get the feeling that when Simon watches this back and sees that paper he's going to turn to someone and say "You had ONE job!"

[@doranconall9995]

The devil is not a fan of The Times...or their reporting bias.

[@Nyeoom]

It's part of the video, Historians have been trying for decades to rotate that picture without any reasoning behind their failures. I, for one, applaud Simon's editor for trying, as the devil will surely take his soul as retribution within a fortnight.

[@spencerthompson1049]

Haha nah Simon wanted it all wonky like that!

[@jasonburt7160]

Your editor did put the image in correctly, it is a sign of the ghost aliens using magic again Simon.

[@Sdcreech04]

I paused just to find a thread like this, not disappointed one bit lol

[@meechewv2point0]

2:00 ... Someone needs to tell the paper it is supposed to stay within the frame.

[@TheK01234]

The Devil's Clipart

[@Something2ShowYou]

4:02 why did Neolithic Europeans burn down their houses? the answer is that they finally had enough of that darned mouse

[@AnotherSpin]

What Simon mentions around 4:10 with the Burned House Horizon, reminds me of another video he did about the Faroe islands, where the ruins are stone but older structures were wooden and consistently burned every few years.

[@chrisshorten4406]

Which video?

[@lizc6393]

@@chrisshorten4406 aaah! I want to know too!

[@coffeepie]

my guess at the burnt houses: spiders. The villages were spider-infested, and the only reliable option in such a case is obviously burning the whole place down and start anew.

[@juanmonge8]

Or rodents.

[@Sierrahtl]

Or both with the addition of disease control.

[@fishinwidow35]

Rats, fleas, lice

[@pacolet2994]

12:11 The King remarried within 1 week. Henry was obviously the one behind the plot.

[@angelwings1979]

Henry was, obviously, ok with what happened with Anne Boleyn but that doesn’t mean he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place.

[@Commissarharry]

A human burning down their own home regularily... bed bugs.... sounds like bed bugs

[@Foolish188]

A lot easier to burn down a thatch house than to tear it down. Reminds me of how Carnegie rose up to the top in the railroad he worked for. Train accidents were fairly common and it took days to remove the trains from the tracks. He instituted burning the cars to clear the tracks, so the railroad could get back to using the line.

[@RivenGreivances]

As a pest control technician I completely agree. I’ve walked away from customers because of the severity of the infestation and recommended fire insurance, a can of gas, and road flare. Bedbugs are pure evil, deserving of a death by fire.

[@bhh8005]

some history, i think it was from the old testament was about burning houses to stop black mold fungi. mold fungi kan die at 70 degrees celsius and above. living in a house infected with black mold fungi can give: migraine problems with memory , and hallucinations.

[@nosuchthing8]

@@RivenGreivances how do you make sure you are free of them? I heard you can get them from hotels for example.

[@LaurieAnnCurry]

Or spiders. Burning a house infested with spiders is totally legit.

[@franl155]

They sailed to a brand new world, immediately captured 50 of the locals to enslave, and then wondered why further expeditions, which had split up to search the land, never came back?

[@outhousephilosophies3992]

Yep they were boss level geniuses

[@Loralanthalas]

Please. They couldn't fathom savages with sticks and rocks could kill a full ship (and shipS) of armed men with guns. --- ego is what humans CONTINUE to have most.

[@parlainthtownie85]

Wait. Let me get this straight. Some Slavery profiteer in the 1500's goes missing while sailing in the North Atlantic, in a wooden sailing ship, 8 years after Columbus, hundreds of years before proper Longitude was a thing. And THAT is a Top 10 Mystery that historians cant solve? Who didn't get lost in the North Atlantic would be shorter list.

[@Xiuhcoatl_]

In the year 3022: Questions historians cant answer - How did one man have over 574 youtube channels ? Did primitive humans know how to clone an entire human?

[@KaytaRaven]

Science conspiracy: the beard is where Simon stores his expanding knowledge

[@theprimo100]

It sure isn't staying in his head.

[@Taco-TannerVODS]

If it was shaved I wonder what things he would forget.

[@TylerGreen22]

@@Taco-TannerVODS It's like a soft reboot. He'd slowly gain his power back as it grew.

[@Taco-TannerVODS]

@@TylerGreen22 so it wouldn't be gone but to regain the knowledge he would have to grow the beard back.

[@MrDestro0000]

Mythological Conspiracy: Simon is modern day Samson.

[@sallyintucson]

About the Devil’s footprints: if they were made by a cloven hoof (cattle, goats, sheep) why are the drawings in the shape of a horse shoe?

[@meowmeowoverlord9504]

Its also along one track, not two like, well, any other animal...hot take: it was a prankster on a pogo stick with a horse shoe at the end lol

[@patrickbarrett7536]

Most drawings are modern depictions, so that's more of an artistic license. This story comes up a lot in various books and other media, yet I've never seen a contemporary drawing, so I do wonder if any actually exist...

[@88happiness]

One thing for sure is that kangaroos don't have hooves , they have paws @2:13

[@OldNew45]

Thanks. Thought I was the only one.

[@MagdaleneDivine]

They had a bed bug infestation all across Europe and the only way to stop them spreading was catching it on fire and running away .

[@112313]

KZbin conspiracy theory: there are as many Simon channels as there are individual strands of his beard.

[@michaelgallagher3640]

I wish

[@fgstech4857]

And all have massive following! Busy man.

[@ajstevens1652]

I believe it was Steven Hawking who once said "there are more Simon Whistler channels on KZbin than there are grains of sand on the seabed..."

[@bruced6543]

More

[@YusufGinnah]

_KZbin:_ "How many channels would you like to host??" *_Simon:_* *"YES!!!!!*

[@MagdaleneDivine]

If you've ever had bedbugs you would have immediately thought that too.

[@EsotericResearcher777]

Maybe they burned their homes when plagues and sickness swept through.

[@joeywatch1145]

Thank you. I'm curious why this wasn't the first thing put forward.

[@td370]

This is very likely. Historians tend to forget how intelligent Neolithic ancient humans actually were. Historians put everything down to “religious ceremony” when they don’t know the answer

[@patrickbarrett7536]

It is unlikely that they would have thought of it as a way to stop a disease, most older civilisations even up to the late middle ages viewed disease as mainly sent by a higher power. The closest theory to this is the one about insects, but that would have been coincidental rather getting rid of the insects because they were a pest and spoiled food.

[@KEVMAN7987]

Who were the "Sea People" is one I like.

[@Andrewza1]

People from the Sea duh

[@JonBastian]

Damn. That whole Cromwell family is one of the worst things to happen to England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland... ever.

[@patrickbarrett7536]

As soon as he mentioned Thomas Cromwell's part in the reformation, I thought 'figures'. As you said everything they touched caused 1000's to suffer.

[@fishinwidow35]

I don't know if I should love them or hate them. Oliver sent the Scottish prisoners to the British Colonies and I am a descendant (1/4)

[@flamencoprof]

1:37 Umm "cloven" is an adjective from the verb to cleave, which means cut. Thus "cloven" hooves are of two parts, such as those cattle, deer, pigs, antelopes, gazelles, goats and sheep possess. The pictures here are of horseshoe shapes. That leaves yet another unanswered question: - How can people document uncloven hoof prints pictorially, yet describe them as cloven hoof prints narratively? Plus! If they appeared by the ex-river, what was it before then?

[@IrishMike22]

Burning down their homes? Someone saw a spider, one of them big 'ol furry ones what can look at you and whatnot...

[@joshuabowen6919]

🤣🤣🤣

[@saldiven2009]

There are over 160,000 kofun, and nobody knows much about any of them.

[@Andrew-ix6ni]

Lol when you can't explain a phenomenon then blame it on a balloon

[@jefferybarron929]

#5 Burning houses. In the early wild west, settlers would burn down their shacks, cabins or homes to retrieve the cut nails. Nail were expensive and hard to come by so, Burn it down, glean out the nails and move on... (Believe It Or Not, LOL)

[@janneaalto3956]

Considering it's shape, the one buried in Daisen Kofun is probably the Gatekeeper. Just waiting there for the Keymaster.

[@americannomadnewsthecardbo4339]

One reason is village homes might have been burnt so often is to get rid of pests like bed bugs and lice and things like that.

[@incremri]

I think the hoof prints were from a clever man with horse shoes on his feet not wanting to get caught cheating

[@elominsha2336]

Yay! Kofun. One of my favourite historical topics.

[@randalthor741]

What brought down the MInoan civilization was almost certainly some combination of several of the possible causes mentioned. Civilizations don't typically fall for a single reason; it's almost always a combination of disasters (whether natural disasters or man-made disasters like wars) happening in too short a period of time for the civilization to fully recover between them.

[@dagmar0904]

yeah, i think so too. I visited one of the minoan palaces this summer, our guide thought that at least the one we were was destroyed by fire

[@jewsco]

Exactly civilizations can survive one , even two disasters ( natural or man made) but when they stack on top of each other over a short period of time it becomes too much

[@jakealter5504]

@@jewsco and that’s what’s generally believed to have happened to the Minoans, they got hit with one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history (which devastated many of their ports) and got invaded all within around 60 years

[@Loralanthalas]

They fall all the time when somone pulls up with bigger weapons. You really never figured out colonialism? Really?

[@JervisGermane]

4:36 Every time they make one of these movies, they burn our village to the ground! Leave us alone, Mel Brooks!

[@scruffyy]

2:03 This is why we can't have nice things!

[@DUARTE99]

I'd love to see the bloopers on this one.

[@michaelgallagher3640]

New channel idea💡

[@RottenRogerDM]

Or maybe it was an English Man in a blue box.

[@blindprince1513]

Great video Fact Boy!

[@jerichostevens2711]

Wolf Hall is a great mini-series about Thomas Cromwell. Very much recommend it.

[@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929]

Some years back I was watching a documentary about Vietnam. 3 survivors of a firefight couldn't get their stories straight. Not that anyone was lying or exaggerating it's just how memories work. In any case I only accept the broad strokes from history as much as I love it. Great content on this another history oriented channels though. Cheers.

[@Bungiman]

Stress and fear of death will do that . We are individuals hence we'll have different perspectives of the same situation.

[@no_peace]

Not to mention the amount of trouble caused by chauvinism and refusal to try to see things the way other groups see them, then lying to cover it up

[@no_peace]

People (individuals and groups) always have an agenda, whether it's opportunistic or not. Often they just don't want to look bad but often they're knowingly committing atrocities

[@MF_UNDERTOW]

The biggest mystery in history is why certain British accents cause speakers to add “r” sounds at the ends of words with vowels when the following word begins with a vowel. For instance, Simon said “Lar enforcement” about 10 times in a recent video and does it at least a couple of times in any episode. We must solve this mystery.

[@mamacito1795]

I'm British and Simons accent is a mystery to my at times. I cant remember the word but there was something thats well known in the UK that he said so weirdly I wondered if he had been born there or came in later life or whether he has lived outside the UK so long that its messed up his accent a little. Doesnt he live in Hungary or something?

[@bobbyanderson1054]

@@mamacito1795 he lives in the Czech republic (Czechia)

[@MF_UNDERTOW]

@@mamacito1795 I’ve heard this added r sound from many British folk over the years. Simon also says “behemoth” funny.

[@rapmastac1362]

like idear

[@MF_UNDERTOW]

@@rapmastac1362 if he was to say “the idea is” he would add an r sound. Another example would be “Obamar is.” That example sticks in my head because I was watching the bbc a decade ago and a news caster said it and that’s when it occurred to me. I’ve noticed it with certain British accents ever since.

[@marccolten9801]

He left out the greatest irony of Anne Boleyn. Henry got rid of her because she couldn’t give him a male heir. Yet after all the others fell away her daughter was probably the most successful monarch they’ve ever had.

[@mirandagoldstine8548]

Yep. Henry is probably kicking himself in the underworld.

[@chrisagnew2923]

Perhaps the Minoans were so advanced they had a form of Facebook?

[@deanamodeo4072]

Even the devil is afraid of badgers.

[@briansullivan5908]

They are badass

[@stellaeleptheriadou3062]

When I used to live in Santorini, whenever there was an earthquake in Crete, we could definitely feel it also in Santorini. So I suppose that both islands are either situated on the same rift or their rifts are closely connected. Therefore adding to the hypothesis that the volcanic eruption in Santorini somehow contributed to the downfall of the Minoan civilization in Crete.

[@jakealter5504]

The eruption was certainly large enough to do severe damage to nearby Minoan settlements, it most likely weakened them pretty badly

[@sophroniel]

2:02 Clearly the devil didn't like the framed screencap so he cursed it to fly up weirdly to the top of the screen.... watch out Simon.... it's coming, blaze boye!!! 😱

[@Nozubozu]

I'm so tempted to send this to my old anthropology professors, because we can so relate with historians on this topic. Except it's even worse, as a majority of ancient hominids lacked the ability to actually record much of anything 😭🥲

[@bartstewart8644]

I always suspected that the "Hoof-prints at Devon" had to be done with a balloon somehow. I figured it was a deliberate prank, with a balloon carrying a wheel of spokes with a horseshoe at the end of each. I never heard that there was an experimental balloon that got away, dragging gear on a rope.

[@timmy2shoez]

I figured it was a prank as well. We as humans like to troll others, so I wouldn't find it outlandish if it's nothing more than a 150 year old prank that's still fooling us now and we'll into the future

[@bhgtree]

Bart Stewart, If it was a prank like that, how come no one either seen it being done or told about it later. (I'm not saying it was of supernatural origin, just saying if a person/s done it why not claim their moment of fame later?)

[@bartstewart8644]

@@bhgtree There were many reasons to keep quiet. Maybe they feared a negative reaction. There could have been charges of some kind. Maybe they just enjoyed the "legend" they created, all the days of their lives. It had to have been done with a balloon somehow. And now this video says a big had got loose. So maybe it was all a weird accident!

[@thegardener3324]

Also those are hoof prints not a cloven hoof ie split toes… little bit of poetic license there

[@douggaudiosi14]

@@bartstewart8644 if u get a very long rope and tie to points then tie a horse shoe to that rope when u would make the rop tight the horse shoe could jump and appear to hop down the rope. U don't even need a ballon

[@maryscott9430]

The minoan theory sounds allot like some things talked about on the discovery tv show finding alantis

[@matthewwallen1145]

Except we found Atlantis is western Africa (Morocco) it's just not widely known or accepted

[@DneilB007]

@@matthewwallen1145 You’re talking about the Eye of Africa. It’s an interesting hypothesis, but to date there’s zero evidence that even points in that direction. There’s no known evidence of intense habitation, there’s no evidence for survivor civilizations, and, crucially, no evidence of enough water within 1,000 km of the location to feasibly fuel a flood narrative.

[@DneilB007]

Some scholars have proposed the idea that the Minoans were the original source for the Atlantis myth.

[@maryscott9430]

@@DneilB007 i know! Soooo cool right????

[@matthewwallen1145]

@@DneilB007 I mean there was when it was lost, there's been sea shells etc found in the area and it's accepted that the area used to be surrounded by water

[@drsuperhero]

Your researchers and writers are amazing!!

[@TheJMBon]

I thought that Scientists had shown that a rare condition in the Salem, MA caused the local crops to contain abnormally high levels of a LSD ingredient.

[@chadfalardeau5396]

I heard it was ergot

[@Ater_Draco]

Some scientists believe that hypothesis, others don't

[@patrickbarrett7536]

Ergot contains LSD, so yeah that does line up with Ergot

[@JoshSweetvale]

12:20 Didn't Cromwell go nuts and declare himself "not-King-but-kinda" later?

[@Mustlovebooks15]

Surprised that the princes in the tower wasn’t on this list. That is one of Britain’s most famous mysteries along with who was Jack the Ripper

[@ajstevens1652]

I am quite intrigued by the idea that Jack the Ripper was a deviant member of the Royal family and thus they had to keep it quiet. But of course that is just speculation.

[@briansullivan5908]

@@ajstevens1652 read the Graphic novel From Hell

[@redseethus2872]

As always, very interesting and entertaining!!!

[@machocamacho1503]

The idea of burning down the house seemed perfectly logical and desirable after suffering a bed bug infestation!

[@lizdierdorf]

the same question of the Minoan applies to the Mayan and the Teotihuacan civilizations in pre-hispanic Mexico. archeologists, both Mexicans and International don’t have a definite answer on either of them.

[@jakealter5504]

They do have a better idea on what happened to the Minoan civilization though, they got a double whammy of a massive vei 7 volcanic eruption and an invasion within a single century. The volcanic eruption severely weakened them and the invasion from the Mycenaean Greeks finished them

[@5777Whatup]

There could be a series of videos of this subject.

[@egads3696]

I bet there are.

[@andywilson5828]

I would have thought the Sea People would be on this list

[@nosuchthing8]

Yes, the bronze age collapse

[@matthewmillburg3933]

Moldy rye could account for a lot of the weird behavior in olden days

[@fishinwidow35]

I think they ruled out moldy rye some time ago. PTSD from the trauma of the Indian Wars could also have been involved.

[@no_peace]

What about the newen days? That's just what people are like

[@matthewmillburg3933]

@@no_peace meth

[@beachboy0505]

Great video 📹 👍 The explanations are simple, Like ' the hanging gardens of Babylon' was not in Babylon but in the adjacent city.

[@amberrichardson1681]

Hooves In the snow = devil automatically 🤣🤣🤣

[@NothingToSeeHere32]

Ran out of BLAZE BEARD OILS Factboi?

[@davidtownsend6092]

Simon's beard is the source of all his thunder⚡

[@micheal49]

"Who's buried inside?!" U.S. Grant, of course.

[@trevormillar1576]

The Black Prince disappears from history without trace, Edward III was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II; The Black Death and the Peasants' Revolt happened on his watch his uncle Lord Bolingbroke had to come home from France to "Save The Nation", imprisoning Richard in the Tower and crowning himself as Henry IV

[@Iambrendanjames]

3:08 for a split second I really thought I had a booger on my screen.

[@ravenhill_of_yore_1968]

history- now this is up my street.

[@rogermiller2159]

Never have a “falling out “ in a hot air balloon!

[@eclecticx]

We probably know more about Ancient Rome than any other ancient era, yet still, in actuality we know precious little about Ancient Rome.

[@patriciapalmer1377]

How many of these sites does he have ? Next it will be Simon's Travels and a visit to the Amazon in a canoe, pith helmit, binoculars, knee socks & khaki shorts.

[@joshuarogue9345]

I think the burning down houses deal had to deal with some type of infestation. Something bad enough they couldnt salvage the home, and were afraid it would spread.

[@Art_Vark_and_Rock]

I’m disappointed there was no “Thundar the Barbarian” type scenario, with the moon splitting in two and various cataclysms resulting in Ukla the Mock…!!!…

[@btetschner]

Abigail Williams would be a great Halloween Costume. Very interesting questions, thank you for the video.

[@theunspoke815]

My 1st instinct on burning the houses is it started during the Plague & now they do it to cleanse the space of germs.

[@richsorrento4107]

Simon's beard is badass

[@wesbeuning1733]

Bet Augustus just straight up had Antony and Cleopatra killed in private, and just had it said to the public they had an acceptable burial.

[@rebeccarebeccaa2515]

One thing about trying to find cleopatra's tomb that I have never heard me tinned is the elephant in the room. Octavian/Augustus. What involvement did he have in the burial of cleopatra and Marc Anthony? Did he follow through with cleopatra's plans for an afterlife? Or did he make plans of his own to benefit him?

[@A13X_H_22]

Lol whats with the graphic at 2:02? I thought you said you watched these before putting them out

[@gabrielgomescunha]

They probably burned the houses because of pests. It's the only thing that makes the most sense. Those types of hoses tend to accumulate all kinds of pests

[@kellyhill430]

You know you have made it when your family name is used to name a countries money. The Spanish real

[@Lehi0001]

Conspiracy: Simon's beard is actually microfeesh containing the answers to all the items unknown he covers in his videos.

[@btetschner]

This might be an extremely silly idea....but have you ever acted before? You could play a rogue scholar, that would be a great part. I find that the best first parts for an actor to play are those most like themselves.

[@Andrew-zq3ip]

Those people who burnt down their houses? Bedbugs. They were clearly combating bedbugs.

[@88happiness]

Kangaroos don't have hooves, they have paws 😀

[@jcboy7050]

Oh...Kho-fin....coffin. I was thinking what a cowfin was...coffin.

[@RealMoukeycat]

Does top tenz use youtubes automatic captions or is there a way they add them themselves? When I turned captions on it didn't say anything about being auto generated like other channels do. If they add them themselves I very much appreciate it. The automatic captions are usually absolute crap. The reason I'm wondering is it was doing very well until the captions couldn't get Roald Amundsen right at all, which made me wonder. Any ideas?

[@no_peace]

And dyson coven or whatever lol

[@Downloadeodeo]

The U shaped marks in a line across the ground, a u shape is an Australian indigenous symbol for a person ie., the imprint they leave in the sand after sitting down. This is very similar to the cunieform symbol for person, which is a squared off u. The above means a line of people, adults with no paraphenalia to denote role.

[@bassett_green]

9:43 yeah they were unsuccessful … because they only searched 45 square miles lol

[@totalherenow]

Burning houses: possibly a Potlatch. The Haida used to do the same thing. It's a behavoral thing that arises in non-capitalist cultures.

[@beachboy0505]

The hoof prints were definitely done ✔ by the local clergy to increase the flock.

[@multiyapples]

I hope these mysteries get solved.

[@hanzzarkov7690]

Its late, and I havent thought this through but.. Could there be a 'cross cultural historical confirmation' thing? That is .. writings of some sort from one area of the world, confirming myths or lore from another. The overlap/mix might be interesting. Just a thought. Love the content, thx!

[@JoshSweetvale]

That's how we cross-referenced comets and stuff. I thiiink.

[@quinnzykir]

I don’t think Cleopatra killed herself.

[@terryenby2304]

Oops! Someone needs to reframe the news article about those spooky footprints!

[@krissymarklewis1793]

I reckon you made those footprints Simon you cloven-footed devil!

[@jessicazaytsoff1494]

THE SEA PEOPLE!!

[@TannerWilliam07]

I completely support this 7:57. Someone explain that to the Americans who keep digging up my ancestors

[@rustyshackleford6018]

So, what the hell was up with the cloven hoof story? Every single drawing of the prints are totally different. and inconsistent from a locomotion and scale perspective. Not to mention it totally didn't make any sense. I've seen footprints in the snow i couldn't identify before. I should have drawn a picture and wildly speculated as to what made the tracks. I could have been in this video.

[@tallahasseepcs8329]

Maybe they burnt their houses because of bed bugs or other pest Edit...well simon covered that after I commented

[@twocvbloke]

Well, only way to find out, time machine, get to work!!! :P

[@mjlh7079]

Pest control seems like the most logical reason for burning houses, esp. when they did not have the chemicals we have today. Heck Indigenous tribes in North America, Africa and Australia regularly used fire for a variety of reasons including getting rid of insects & other pest. Some still do.

[@IrishMike22]

#11: Dafuq happened to the graphic at 2:01 😉

[@dudebuchanan]

IDK what kind of Ergot everyone has been on since then but those are not cloven hooves. They resemble a shoed horse.

[@Thedeepesttruth]

I’m wondering if the house burning had to do with pest control issues. That turned into a tradition and practical practice. I mean think of the fleas and bed bugs that would have infested those villages at that time of everything was made of organic material. Like wood and mud and clay and peat and moss. Bugs would thrive then and spread to epidemic proportions, and the house would be easy to rebuild.