Bizarre History: | Strange Happenings, Stupid Mis...

Should we dive deeper into , or would you rather hear about medical oddities from the Victorian era?

One of the most infamous examples of collective "stupidity" is the . Faced with a "plague" of 20,000 emus destroying crops, the Australian military deployed soldiers armed with Lewis machine guns. The result? The emus, utilizing what the commander described as "guerrilla tactics," simply ran too fast to be hit. The military eventually withdrew, soundly defeated by a flightless bird.

Then there are the "stupid" mistakes that changed the world. In 1999, NASA lost the because one engineering team used metric units while another used imperial units. This $125 million error sent the craft into a fatal plunge into the Martian atmosphere. Similarly, in 1867, a Russian clerk sold Alaska to the United States for about two cents an acre, believing the land was a useless, frozen wasteland. Shortly after, gold and oil were discovered, making it one of the most lopsided real estate deals in history.

Sometimes, history turns bizarre through mass hysteria. In 1518, the city of Strasbourg was struck by a It began with one woman dancing fervently in the street and escalated until hundreds were caught in a month-long, uncontrollable trance. Some danced until they collapsed or died from exhaustion. To this day, historians debate whether it was caused by ergot poisoning or a stress-induced psychogenic illness.