The entire point of going to school is to learn things. In theory, that is. But sometimes, those things that are being taught aren’t quite true, and that’s a huge problem in history classes across the country. Well, we’re going to set the record straight with this look at false things your history class taught you. The period of European exploration into the Americas was an ugly, bloody time. There was savagery on both sides, especially when it came to the subject of scalping. However, many believe Native Americans never practiced the awful art of taking scalps until their European enemies landed on their shores and showed them how it was done. The reality is more complicated, and scalping has been practiced for a long, long time. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of scalping being done in Europe from the Stone Age into at least the 11th century. And on the flip side of the ocean, in North America, archaeologists have found scalped skulls dating back to 1325 A.D., long before Columbus, Europeans, and the relentless march through Native American lands. It’s not clear just when scalping started, but historians have even discovered evidence that it occurred before the Vikings sailed across the Atlantic. And as historian James Axtell writes, by the time Europeans first showed up, they found certain tribes like the Delaware, Mohawks, and Algonquins already had scalping down to an art form. Once the Europeans moved in, everybody stepped up their scalping game. When white settlers arrived in the New World, they put out bounties for the hair and flesh of their Native American enemies, encouraging tribes that had never practiced scalping before to take up a bloody new hobby. Scalping became widespread across North America, resulting in a whole lot of bloodshed on both sides of the conflict. The infamous Salem witch trials kicked off in 1692, and they remain one of the darkest chapters in Massachusetts history. Before it was over, around 200 people were accused and tried for the rather difficult-to-prove crime of being witches, and many were executed in spite of a distinct lack of concrete evidence. Twenty of the accused were found guilty and killed almost immediately, but none lost their lives by being burned at the stake like most people think. At least, none of the American victims did. In Europe, witch trials were all the rage, and they executed most of their victims with fire. In Salem, though, different methods were used to bring about the end of a perceived reign of witchy terror. 19 of the 20 victims were hanged on Gallows Hill, while the other victim, Giles Corey, was crushed to death with heavy rocks. Keep watching to learn more about false things your history class taught you.

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