Side-Splitting Historical Facts That Will Leave You in Stitches

Side-Splitting Historical Facts That Will Leave You in Stitches

Shannon Quinn - December 29, 2022

Side-Splitting Historical Facts That Will Leave You in Stitches
A portrait of Pope Urban VIII. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Pope Tried to Forbid People From Sneezing

In the 17th Century, Pope Urban VIII tried to ban people from sneezing, because it felt too much like having an orgasm. Both orgasms and sneezing release feel-good endorphins in the body. The similarities pretty much stop there, but the Pope apparently thought it was a sin to enjoy any kind of bodily function. You obviously can’t stop people from sneezing from natural causes like catching a cold. But the closest thing he could do to stop it was ban tobacco products, since they typically caused people to sneeze. A century later, the ban on tobacco was lifted. And by 1779, the Vatican opened its own tobacco factory! So Pope Urban was obviously alone in his opinion about both tobacco and sneezing.

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