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It can be pretty disconcerting to realize that things are happening all the time around us, to the point that massive events with far reaching consequences might be going on right now and most of us have no idea. However, the truth is that there is often not enough time to process every historical mystery.

We’ve gathered some examples of historic events that seem to often go overlooked. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own examples in the comments below.

#1

Forgotten-Historical-Events

The Panama Papers that exposed the list of elite who were hoarding vast amounts of wealth in offshore bank accounts. Conveniently forgotten about entirely.

regisgod , Pixabay (not the actual photo) Report

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    #2

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The Clinton administration funded nationwide fiber optic cable. The cable companies took the money, then disappeared it in all their late 90’s corporate consolidations. Paid for fiber optic cable, did not get it.

    encantoMariposa , panumas nikhomkhai(not the actual photo) Report

    #3

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    Over 800 tons of dead sealife including dolphins, washed up in Tampa Bay due to a fertilizer plant spill - never heard about this disaster again.

    ptypitti , Momo (not the actual photo) Report

    #4

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The Universal Music fire of 2008. The fire on June 1, 2008, destroyed anywhere from 120,000 to 175,000 master recordings.

    Donkeybog , pinguino Report

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    #6

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The protests in Hong Kong seemed to vanish like they never happened when COVID started up.

    SpankyDomingo , Ben Cheung (not the actual photo) Report

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    Hippopotamuses
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yes they pretty much did. But I suspect that that may have something to do with Covid being a pandemic, as well as likely Chinese goverment censorship.

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    #7

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The US government admitted it couldn’t account for 2.3 trillion dollars of the budget on 9/10/01. The world forgot about it the next day.

    reddit.com , Kaboompics.com (not the actual photo) Report

    #8

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    There was a huge scandal involving the UK foster care system. Social workers were getting paid more for each child they placed in foster care. This resulted in 100s/1000s of children being placed into foster care that didn’t need to be. To this day there has been no uproar or anything about it, it got swelter under the rug and unless you was personally involved (myself) then you will more than likely not have any idea about it

    anonymous21123 , Kindel Media(not the actual photo) Report

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    Daniel Sanders
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Created an account just to comment on this: I'm a judge in the family court in the UK and this is not how the system works at all. Social workers cannot choose to put a child in foster care. There is a multi levelled system with multiple agencies and, ultimately, the court makes the decision based on copious amounts of evidence. No social worker in the UK has the autonomy to place a child in foster care. In the interest of fairness, there have been plenty of mistakes and scandals within the UK care system, but it has never involved a social worker taking cash for removing a child. It is not how the system works, in fact, removing a child is a last resort as it is the last thing any court wants to happen and costs tens of thousands of pounds. Standard journalistic fact checking clearly isn't happening here.

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    #9

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    If it’s anything like the world devastating Spanish flu then I think Covid will soon be denied and forgotten except by health experts.

    oudcedar , Anna Shvets (not the actual photo) Report

    #10

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    Those few months in 2016 when people started dressing like clowns and terrorizing people

    Spare_Republic_6453 , Nika Navi (not the actual photo) Report

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    Magenta Blu
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We got used to people wearing weird clothes and excessive make-up and contouring. So that doesn't scare anyone anymore. I think those Kardashians made a great job desensitizing us, because whoever look at them can't no longer get scared of anyone

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    #11

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The Malaysia airlines flight disappearing... Still creeps me out

    bww1380 , SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS (not the actual photo) Report

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    Lame Llama
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How is this collectively forgotten? Plenty of youtube videos on it, netflix documentary. Maybe only OP forgot about it.

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    #12

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    I can’t be the only one who feels the Vegas shooting was massively swept under the rug considering it’s magnitude. Was in the news for a few weeks then was never really spoken about again. We have never been told an actual motive for it and I just feel like there’s so much more investigating that can and should be done.

    ScreenRough5989 , Pixabay (not the actual photo) Report

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    #13

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    Astroworld, why is no one talking abt this anymore! The Kardashians used all kinds of slightly smaller ‘scandals’ to try and cover the fact that they were involved with it such as getting their bbls removed or making a picture of their kids look deliberately photoshoped to get people talking abt them. It’s very smart of them and their teams but it still isn’t ok

    GoodFig3691 , Wendy Weinot (not the actual photo) Report

    #14

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The australian wildfires that were all the news just prior to covid.

    Eye_Doc_Photog , National Interagency Fire Center Report

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    Huddo's sister
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is the Black Summer bushfires 2019-20. Like all bushfires, these weren't forgotten by people in Australia. Every fire season we are reminded how bad it can get. There are tv ads about things that happened to real people during the black summer, like having to leave the family dog when evacuating because the fire was too close to try and find them. Last year was the 15 year anniversary of the Black Saturday fires that were the most devastating ones until black summer started. I moved a few years ago to a regional town, where some of the black saturday fires occurred. I spoke to people around the anniversary who lost their homes during these fires, it was just devastating, but somehow they managed to restart their lives. The man who started those fires was released from prison not long before the anniversary and allowed to live in the area again, which triggered a lot of people.

    Smeghead Tribble Down Under
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They were put out, money was raised, people began rebuilding - what more is there to say? It's still talked about, believe me. It's known as Black Summer, and is held up every summer as a warning to us to have a bushfire evac plan in place, keep your land cleared, etc.

    MalayDragon
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A very good question, Australians have most assuredly not forgotten about this, it was terrifying.

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    Narelle Hussy
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We took care of each other the best we could, when things get tuff us Aussies come out in droves, pretty sure we learnt not 2 depend on our pollies as they usually let us down, we band 2getha when things get tuff 🇦🇺

    Suck it Trebek
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I remember watching the news about these and being heartbroken and horrified by the brutal events.

    Melinda Salmon
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    As an Aussie I'm very much aware of them and worried about this fire season as well.

    Ron Man
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    No, not forgotten at all, and the US news covered it during Covid. It wasn't a leading story, obviously, but it was still reported and kept up with.

    Bec
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    With increasing natural disasters, people will quickly forget them unless they are directly impacted.

    Deth Invictus
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    As an Aussie, bushfires/wildfires are something we go through a lot more than outsiders realise. It's a bit like tornado alley in America.

    Amelia Lewin
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I remember helping a fundraiser by drawing a koala climbing a tree

    G A
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We raised money at work in the UK for a Koala Hospital. Was not forgotten but as with many, it faded into regional news.

    MegDragon
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don’t live there but I think about it pretty often because I care about Australia and wildlife in general.

    S
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The fires stopped. What do you want? Such an idiotic post.

    Laura ballam
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I work in the field of disaster monitoring and climate actions - we still talk about this. it is in no way forgotten there have just been many events as big or bigger all over the world since

    iseefractals
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not forgotten so much as collectively ignore. 3 billion animals burned alive, koalas almost went extinct and the cause was human driven global warming.

    Uncle Schmickle
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It happens every year. Just that some years are worse than others.

    London Paris
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's Australia, they were wild fires: they will happen again like they always do. Let me give you an insight into the Australian psyche. Australians are great at DOING but f***ing useless at A) remembering and B) planning.

    Petra Peitsch
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago (edited)

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    I'm from Europe, and I remember. But honestly guys, from my point of view, you got these fires so regulary as the USA guys their tornados. How to say to not seem insensitive..... but, you guys are living in a 80% uninhabitable continent.

    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    @Petra, Australia is perfectly inhabitable, only: inhabitable the right way. Pay attention to the local environment, work with it, don't muck it about. If you go against what the land wants, the land'll win. I live in NW England. It's a soggy part of the world - but we have wildfires here and thereabouts (admittedly mostly started by humans in the dry summer months, but once they're going, they're hard to deal with). Australians just need to manage things appropriately - she'll be right, no worries. And so on.

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    #15

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The Great Smog of London in the 1950’s. Killed up to 12,000 and injured thousands more. A mysterious pea soup fog mixed with coal smog that covered the city for days. In the fog there was a crime wave where criminals were hidden by the fog and police couldn’t operate, and there was even one famous serial killer who killed in the fog. John Reginald Christie. A book about it called Death in The Air is very interesting and worth a read.

    reddit.com , Ollie Craig (not the actual photo) Report

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    #16

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    So, I know this is not exactly forgotten or erased as such, but the story of the Darien Scheme is remarkably unknown given its consequences.
    To clarify, this was a Scottish attempt in the 1690s to set up a colony in the Panama region that failed disastrously and caused financial ruin to many investors in Scotland. It was this financial crisis that ultimately was a major contributing factor to Scotland agreeing to form a union with England in 1707, because the English would financially bail them out.
    In short, combined with the Union of the Crowns that happened because Elizabeth I died childless, it caused the emergence of the United Kingdom.

    Herald_of_Clio , Ken Cheung (not the actual photo) Report

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    Debby Keir
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ahh, but who else remembers what also happened in the 1690's. Earliest sighting of Uranus - foundation of the bank of England - battle of the boyne (granted some never forget) Unless you either studied that period or read widely, how could you 'remember. Yes, I have read about the Darien scheme, and that it was proposed by the Scottish parliament.

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    #17

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The Philippine-American war. The war started in 1899, when the newly established Philippine republic, itself a product of a war of independence from Spanish rule that started in 1896, objected to the terms of the treaty ending the Spanish-American war that ceded the Philippines to the United States. Officially the war was over in 1902, but small resistance groups continued to fight on for several years. The war produced some 200,000 Filipino dead, a butcher's bill approximately 10 times higher than that of the more famous Spanish-American war that preceded it.

    DanTheTerrible , Perley Fremont Rockett - Library of Congress Report

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    Original Kinkster
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well, we can't pay attention to every war the USA were involved in. We're right now busy enough with the ones from the last three decades...

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    #18

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    Battle of Tours. If Charles Martel lost, Christendom would have been destroyed by the Umayyad Caliphate. There would be no Papal States, no Charlemagne, no Holy Roman Empire, No Germany, no third reich. Quite frankly history as we know it would turn out quite different.

    gentryadams , Maria Pop (not the actual photo) Report

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    Floeckchen
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Was just recently in an episode of "Eine Stunde History" on Deutschlandfunk Nova

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    #19

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The SS Eastland tragedy in 1915. Happened in the Chicago River. Boat topples over and kills 844 people.

    LikesStuff12 , Detroit Publishing Company Report

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    Floeckchen
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There might have been something happening in europe at that time slightly overshadowing this event...

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    #20

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The Bronze Age Collapse comes to mind. All the Bronze age civilizations crashing into barbarism for a few hundred years.

    Catlenfell , Václav Moravec Report

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    Tom Brincefield
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Just listened to a podcast about it a couple of weeks ago. Not surprising most people don't know about it, 3200 years is a long time, and there is a lot happening in the world today that is much more urgent.

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    #21

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The early history of Yamato Japan.
    It's not 'erased' so much as 'burned.' This state did have an official record of its history, but the record was burned down in a great fire in the 6th/7th century. It was then recreated afterward, but... Well. There's better people than me who have discussed how the recreation seems to have done a lot to suit the interests of contemporary politics that doesn't seem to make much sense or line up with the archeological record of Japan's earlier history.

    Lord0fHats , Willian Justen de Vasconcellos (not the actual photo) Report

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    #22

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    I'm gonna go for a wild one here and say Caesar's conquest of Gaul.
    While a pretty well-known historical event, almost everything known about it comes directly from Caesar's diary or statements by people who were politically motivated to make him out as a savour/warmonger.
    As an example of how little we actually know, Caesar would talk about a hard fought battle, uphill against an entrenched enemy and how they spent hours fighting under the worst possible conditions before having to withdraw but then state the Romans casualties were "simius threw his back out during a coughing fit, no other injuries, the gauls lost a million men"

    Martinw616 , Skitterphoto (not the actual photo) Report

    #23

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The US invasion of Grenada

    NeutralityTsar , 42 North (not the actual photo) Report

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    Michael Largey
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A "Wag the Dog" operation to distract the press from how the Reagan administration had just made a dog's breakfast out of its intervention in Lebanon.

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    #24

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The battle of long tan. 105 aussie, and 3 kiwi soldiers held back an entire NVA battalion for three and 1/2 hours. It's estimated that the Vietnamese battalion was up to 2500 men strong. 18 Australian soldiers died and 24 were wounded. 245 Vietnamese soldiers died and 350 were wounded.

    Aussieboi393 , US military personnel Report

    #26

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    That Miami mall incident with the aliens, like what was that about

    Natural_Bug956 , Pixabay(not the actual photo) Report

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    Karri Berkowitz
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Kids setting off fireworks. Bayside is out doors and ppl thought it was gun fire. No aliens.

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    #27

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    Creation of the Federal Reserve Bank in America. Maybe not forgotten but definitely not remembered.

    LaserMaker88 , Kaboompics.com (not the actual photo) Report

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    General Anaesthesia
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A large portion of right-wingers in the US knows it's there though, and want to end it, even though so many of them have no idea what it does or why they want to end it.

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    #28

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    Boston Marathon Bomber. Never hear anything on him.

    seeisme , Teju (not the actual photo) Report

    #29

    Forgotten-Historical-Events

    The War of the Roses

    AwardNew7864 , Giota Sakellariou (not the actual photo) Report

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    Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
    Community Member
    2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not exactly forgotten, but something that happened between 1455-1487 is hardly going to be a common topic of conversation today. And what's with the picture of a Näzi death camp?

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