It’s easy to think of history as a series of clear, disconnected chapters. For example, we all know that prehistoric animals were ancient, civilizations rose and fell one after the other, and technology started changing everything in the twentieth century. But when you look closer, the overlaps get weird.
Here are some that’ll completely reset how you think time actually works.
John Tyler’s Grandsons Are Still Alive
John Tyler became president in 1841, but he was born much earlier, in 1790. He fathered children in his seventies, and one of his sons, Lyon Tyler, repeated the pattern. That’s how Tyler, who was alive before electricity or trains became common, has living grandsons.
Stegosaurus and T. Rex Never Crossed Paths
Stegosaurus went extinct roughly 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period. Tyrannosaurus didn’t evolve until about 67 million years ago, deep in the late Cretaceous. That means nearly 80 million years separate the two, which is more time than separates T. rex from modern humans.
Queen Elizabeth and Marilyn Monroe Were the Same Age
They met once in London at a 1956 film premiere—two women who had already become global figures. Back then, they were both 30. Marilyn Monroe had just finished The Prince and the Showgirl, and Queen Elizabeth had been on the throne for four years. The pair moved in completely different worlds, and yet, their timelines briefly and visibly overlapped that night.
A Tree That’s Older Than the Last Mammoths
The Methuselah tree in California’s White Mountains is estimated to be nearly 4,900 years old. It’s a bristlecone pine, a species known for extreme longevity. When the last population of woolly mammoths died off on Wrangel Island, around 2000 BCE, Methuselah had already been on Earth for a thousand years.
The Pyramids Were Built While Mammoths Were Alive
The Great Pyramid of Giza began construction around 2550 BCE. At the time, woolly mammoths survived in isolated pockets, especially on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. Although the rest of their species had gone extinct elsewhere, a small group persisted for centuries.
The Guillotine Was Used the Year Star Wars Premiered
The year 1977 marked the debut of Star Wars, but it was also the year France carried out its final execution using the guillotine. The device most associated with the French Revolution remained legal until capital punishment was abolished. While science fiction reshaped pop culture, a tool from the 1700s was in use.
Oxford University Predates the Aztec Empire
By 1249, the first colleges of Oxford University had already been established. The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán didn’t exist until 1325, nearly 200 years later. The Aztec Empire rose to power in what’s now Mexico just as Oxford scholars were already debating law, theology, and astronomy.
George Washington Never Knew Dinosaurs Existed
When George Washington passed in late 1799, the scientific concept of dinosaurs didn’t exist. At the time, no one had pieced together that massive, extinct reptiles once ruled the Earth. The first fossil described as a dinosaur, Megalosaurus, was identified in 1824 by William Buckland.
Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. Shared a Birth Year
In 1942, Anne Frank began keeping a diary while hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Across the Atlantic, Martin Luther King Jr. was a teenager growing up under Jim Crow laws in the American South. They came into this world just months apart in 1929, yet their lives unfolded in different corners of injustice.
Five Days Separated the Deaths of Diana and Mother Teresa
Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris in 1997. Five days later, on September 5, Mother Teresa passed away in Calcutta after years of declining health. Their subsequent deaths created a strange dual mourning. News outlets around the world reported tributes, ceremonies, and public grief that stretched across continents.
Harvard Was Founded Before Calculus Was Invented
Early Harvard students studied math, but without derivatives or integrals. The foundations of calculus existed in ancient Greece and India, but they hadn’t been formalized yet. It’s a reminder that institutions we consider advanced today once operated without tools now considered basic in science and engineering.
Chaplin and Hitler Were Born in the Same Year
Most people have seen The Great Dictator or at least know of it—Chaplin’s bold satire where he mocks a fascist ruler who looks a lot like Hitler. But you may not realize that Chaplin and Hitler were born just four days apart in 1889. The visual similarity was quite real.
NASA’s Moon Buggy and Swiss Women’s Voting Rights Happened Together
In 1971, astronauts drove a lunar rover across the moon’s surface during the Apollo 15 mission. While in Switzerland, the constitution finally gave women the right to vote in federal elections. As one of the last countries in Europe to do so, the vote marked a major shift in Swiss civil rights.
Van Gogh Painted Starry Night When the Eiffel Tower Was Unveiled
The year 1889 was extraordinary—two cultural landmarks were created, though hardly anyone recognized their importance at the time. In a small asylum room in southern France, Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night, capturing the sky in a way no one had before. Meanwhile, in Paris, the Eiffel Tower opened as the centerpiece of the World’s Fair.
McDonald’s Opened Right Before Auschwitz Began Receiving Prisoners
On May 15, 1940, the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California. Just five days later, the Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland received its first transport of Polish political prisoners. Their near-simultaneous beginnings highlight how dramatically different parts of history can unfold in parallel, without any connection.