In June 1969, El Salvador and Honduras played three World Cup qualifying matches that spiraled into riots, a national martyr, and ultimately a real shooting war. The underlying causes were decades of tension over immigration, land reform, and poverty, but the soccer matches lit the fuse. After fans on both sides attacked visiting teams, burned flags, and killed spectators, El Salvador invaded Honduras on July 14th with World War II-era planes and tanks. The “100 Hour War” killed thousands, displaced up to 300,000 people, and featured the last propeller-plane dogfights in military history. The Football War proved that sports rivalries can mask deeper conflicts, and that when politicians use nationalism as a weapon, everyone loses.

This is an episode of “Wait, That Actually Happened?” a podcast exploring history’s most unbelievable true stories.

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In January 897, Pope Stephen VI ordered the corpse of his predecessor Pope Formosus dug up from its tomb, dressed in papal robes, and propped up on a throne to stand trial for crimes including “coveting the papacy” and illegally switching dioceses. The decomposing body was assigned a teenage deacon as its defense attorney while Stephen screamed accusations at it, and the inevitable guilty verdict resulted in the corpse having its three blessing fingers cut off before being thrown into the Tiber River.

The macabre spectacle backfired spectacularly when the body was recovered (reportedly performing miracles), an earthquake damaged the very basilica where the trial was held, and Stephen himself was deposed and strangled in prison within months. The so-called “Cadaver Synod” remains one of history’s most bizarre examples of political revenge, proving that medieval church politics made modern cancel culture look like amateur hour.

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Subscribe to never miss history’s weirdest moments.

Until then, remember: truth is stranger than fiction, and history is weirder than you think.

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Since the 1600s, families in Catalonia, Spain have gathered around a small wooden log with a painted smiley face and a red hat every Christmas Eve. They’ve spent the past two weeks “feeding” it scraps of food to fatten it up. Now comes the big moment: the children grab sticks and beat the log while singing songs demanding it poop out presents. When they lift the blanket covering the log, candy and small gifts have magically appeared underneath.

This is Caga Tió, the “pooping log,” a tradition that evolved from ancient pagan winter solstice rituals into a beloved holiday custom that’s now over 400 years old. The ritual continues until the log “poops” out something gross like a head of garlic or a herring, signaling it’s empty. And yes, this is the same culture that has hidden a figurine of a pooping man in every nativity scene since the 1700s, because Catalonia committed fully to bathroom-themed holiday cheer centuries ago.

Thanks for listening to Wait! That Actually Happened? from Author Daniel P. Douglas. This podcast is public, so feel free to share it!

Subscribe to never miss history’s weirdest moments.

Until then, remember: truth is stranger than fiction, and history is weirder than you think.

Be sure to check out my Substack (Intelligence Bulletin from Author Daniel P. Douglas) for other podcast series, written articles, and links to my books.

Thanks for listening. Have a memorable day!