10 Historical Figures With Horrifying Secrets

Charles Dickens

Youll probably know the author Dickens for his famous novels, like Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. Well, behind the scenes, he was quite fond of the occasional prank. This included telling strangers incredibly long and confusing jokes. His most infamous prank was grabbing a random woman at the beach, then almost drowning her. Dickens declared he loved her, and therefore, they should drown together. His wife tried to intervene, but it didnt seem to stop him. Other secrets of his include a magician persona, having an affair with a woman 27 years his younger, and another with his sister in law.

King Edward VIII

He was one of the shortest-reigning kings in history, ruling Britain for only 326 days. Edward stepped down to marry a divorced American woman, an outrageous scandal in 1936. That wasnt his worst controversy however, it was instead his suspected Nazi sympathies. In 1937, he and his wife went on a tour of Nazi Germany. In 1939, he made a public address to come to terms with Nazi Germany, which the BBC refused to broadcast. Some historians believe he further collaborated with Nazis during the war, encouraging the bombing of Britain. These were revealed in the Marburg files, but Churchill and others suppressed them to minimize scandal. As such, we may never know the full extent of his fascist sympathies.

Pablo Picasso

In the 20th century, Picasso became one of Spains most famous artists. Most of us are familiar with at least some of his work, but fewer of us are aware of how misogynistic the man was. Nowadays, people are becoming increasingly aware of his toxic tendencies. Despicably, he once said, There are only two types of women: goddesses and doormats. There are many stories of him being abusive towards women, including having an affair with a teenager while he was already married, only to cheat on her later on in life as well. It was barely discussed during his lifetime, but it undeniably leaked into his artwork. Its ironic when you learn he was a staunch communist, an ideology often tied to feminism.

Ulysses S. Grant

Americas 18th president and a Union Army General fought hard to abolish slavery. Despite opposing slavery, theres sufficient evidence to say he harbored racist beliefs. As president, he allowed white settlers to take indigenous lands. He favored the assimilation of Native Americans, which is considered cultural genocide. Additionally, Grant was the last president to own a slave, whom he thankfully freed. In 1862, he controversially issued General Order No. 11, which forcibly expelled all Jewish people from his district. In 1871, he hoped to move all American people of color to the Dominican Republic. Grant thought this was an ideal solution to racial tensions in the South.

John F. Kennedy

JFKs presidency was monumental for a few reasons; he was Catholic, only 43 when elected, and also the last president to be assassinated. To make him more likable, he kept a lot of secrets. For instance, he had constant affairs. The most famous was with Marilyn Monroe, but he also slept with women associated with mob bosses, at least two rumored Soviet spies, a few actresses, and some White House secretaries. Alongside this, JFK had major health problems, which he treated with a wide range of narcotics. This was because he suffered from Addisons disease, caused by steroid prescriptions when he was young. As such, it had to be kept top secret.

Alexander Graham Bell

In the 19th century, his invention of the telephone made him one of Scotlands most famous figures. Outside of inventing, he dedicated a lot of energy to researching eugenics. He specifically concerned himself with deaf people, whom he was strongly connected to as both his parents and wife were deaf. Bell believed that if deaf people married other deaf people, then a deaf race could arise. While eugenics was a popular study at the time thanks to Darwins recent research on evolution, Bell also focused on the education of deaf people and has been criticised for supporting ideas that could cause the closure of dozens of deaf schools. On a less horrifying note, he had a 30-year-long interest in breeding a sheep with four nipples.

Thomas Jefferson

Americas third president can be highly revered in the States, but had a dark side few discuss. Despite the Constitution stating all men are created equal, Jefferson believed some were more equal than others. During his life, he owned over 600 slaves. At his dinner parties, he took great effort to hide them. This included a fireplace panel where theyd deliver wine, and guests would receive food through revolving doors. Even though slaves were responsible, guests would never hear or see them. Jefferson also secretly fathered multiple children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, as proven by later DNA tests.

Joseph Stalin

Almost all aspects of Stalin were exceedingly horrific, regardless of whether they were secret or not. Publicly, he hated capitalism and all things Western. In private, he was a huge cinephile who loved Hollywood movies. Thats pretty tame compared to his secret prison outside of Moscow, the Sukhanovskaya Prison. In its 14-year existence, it had 35,000 occupants, and few of them survived the experience. Towards the end of his rule, he fabricated a plot that Jewish doctors were trying to assassinate officials. Stalin used this as an excuse to do horrific things to Jewish Russians, but thankfully died before it escalated. Given his nature, there are probably even more disgusting secrets well never know.

Adolf Hitler

Widely regarded as one of historys most evil villains, its no shock that he had some despicable secrets. Publicly, he didnt smoke or drink, and was also a vegetarian. Secretly, he was highly addicted to opiates. This is why there are so many videos of him shaking wildly. It was initially believed to be Parkinsons disease, but its now thought to be withdrawal symptoms. He also became highly wealthy through a variety of schemes. These included tax evasion and making his government buy piles of Mein Kampf for royalties. Publicly, he was celibate, but reportedly he had affairs with numerous women, who were often ones he found easy to control. One was even rumoured to be his half-niece.

King Leopold II of Belgium

One of the most brutal men in history was Leopold II, who personally owned the Congo Free State for 23 years. Its very rare for a colony to be owned by one man, and Leopold proved it was a disastrous idea. It was a disgusting regime, which caused the deaths of millions, but was kept largely secret. That was until E. D. Morel and Roger Casement made the horrors public, causing a huge international backlash. The king denied many of these claims, but the evidence said otherwise. Eventually, in 1908, Belgium took the region from him and ended his absolutist rule.

Were there any particularly egregious secrets we forgot to mention? Leave them down in the comments section!