With a lot less explosions and a lot more research. Many of us are con- tent to accept what we learned in his- tory classes and seldom dispute the sources. But believe it or not, there are “facts” that have been misinterpreted or completely fabricated. These errors continue to mislead people, even in everyday conversation—until now.

Emily Leyva | Contributing Writer

 

 

Myth No. 1 Cavemen only lived until an average age of 30

In a recent study from the University of Santa Barbara by Michael Gurven and Hillard Kaplan, the research indicated that the “hunter-gatherer” lived until an average age of 72.

The researchers found that, “departures from this general pattern in published estimates of life expectancy in past populations (e.g., low child and high adult mortality) are most likely due to a combination of high levels of contact-related infectious disease, excessive violence or homicide, and methodological problems that lead to poor age estimates of older individuals and inappropriate use of model life tables.”

In other words, mortality rates were very high for infants and children, but risks were greatly reduced after cave- men reached their 20s. When deaths from imperiled infancy, youthful misadventure, epidemics and disease are factored out, the caveman’s lifespan was actually very similar to today’s life expectancy.

Myth No. 2 A fleet of stock- brokers on Wall Street threw themselves out of a window after the stock market crashed

On Oct. 25, 1987, The Washington Post pinned Will Rogers as the father of a famous joke made about “Black Thursday,” also known as Oct. 24, 1929. In his newspaper column for that day, he wrote: “When Wall Street took that tail spin, you had to stand in line to get a window to jump out of, and speculators were selling space for bodies in the East River.” Later, a New York correspondent for a British tabloid wrote that Broadway was covered with dead bodies. The rumor grew, circulated and eventually became an associated image for the famous crash. In reality, The Post reported only two suicides were committed (in regards to the crash) by jumping out of a window by the end of 1929.

Myth No. 3 George Washington (or at least his biographer) can tell a lie

The famous tale of the nation’s first president portrays an overly excited six-year-old Washington eager to use his brand new axe. Upon receiving his gift, he axed everything in his path, including his father’s cherry tree. When his father confronted him, young George hesitated and said, “I cannot tell a lie. I did cut the tree.”

The origin of this story was traced back to Parson Weems, a famous book seller and storyteller. The anecdote was first published by Weems in 1809, roughly 10 years after Washington’s death in the fifth edition of his biography, Life of George Washington the Great. The cherry tree story reportedly came from an old neighbor who knew Washington as a boy, yet the source was unreliable since very little was known about Washington’s childhood, especially the relationship he had with his father, who died when he was 11.

Oddly enough, the story that teaches students the value of honesty is not very honest itself.

Myth No. 4 Witches were burned at the stake in the Salem witch trials

In 2007, Smithsonian magazine discredited the common belief that the accused were burned to death after being found guilty of witchcraft. According to the town records, 20 were killed by alternative methods. Nineteen women were accused and hanged on Gallows Hill, and a 71-year-old man was pressed to death with heavy stones. Nearly 200 people had been sentenced to prison for practicing witchcraft and several of them died in their jail cells without seeing justice or the flames of accusation.

Myth No. 5 Vincent van Gogh Cut Off His Own Ear

The tortured artist and painter is best known not only for his Starry Night painting, but also for his insane and desperate act of love by cutting off his own ear and sending it to Rachel, the then current object of affection who was also a prostitute. However, a book published in 2009 by Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans recent titled Van Gogh’s Ear, Paul Gaugun and the Pact of Silence paints a different story.

The historians argue that van Gogh may have fabricated the story in order to protect his friend Gauguin (another object of his obsession) who may have chopped it off with a sword during a heated argument. The biography states:

“On the evening of December 23, 1888 van Gogh, seized by an attack of a metabolic disease, became very aggressive when Gauguin said he was leaving him for good. The men had a heated argument near the brothel and Vincent might have attacked his friend. Gauguin, wanting to defend himself and wanting to get rid of ‘the madman’ drew his weapon and made a move towards van Gogh and by that he cut off his left ear.”

Kauffman and Wildegans recent say that the real version of the story never surfaced because the two men both kept a “pact of silence.”