Some very famous and genius people from our history were actually quite crazy, but we sort of forgot about that because of their shining glory. They say that there is a thin line between being a genius person and a crazy person. There is obviously evidence for this statement since some genius people from our recent history have been somewhat “crazy”. Some stories may be hard to believe since most people are not aware of them, and they might come as a shocker.
The Top Famous And Genius People From History
Let’s have a look at 10 famous historical figures who were genius in their fields but at the same time kind of unhinged.
1. Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was actually diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD. He had a phobia of germs and could not touch anything which was even a little dirty or round shaped. He even preferred to dine alone. Not only that, but he was also in love with the number ‘3’ and would avoid staying in hotel rooms that were not divisible by three.
There have been many theories and rumors about Tesla’s OCD and how he developed it during the course of his life.
2. Charlie Chaplin
A fantastic, talented, and charming artist and entertainer from the black and white era, Charlie was and still is the talk of the town. His silent movies are widely spoken about in the film industry. However, he was a totally crazy person.
He hated children and is also allegedly considered to be the creator of the “casting couch”. He would ask young actresses to strip in front of him and would throw pies at them once they were naked. He was extremely weird and a total deviant.
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3. Winston Churchill
A highly respected and one of the most prominent people of the last century, Churchill had even won a Nobel Prize and was an honored Prime Minister of Britain. However, the story does not end here. He was totally eccentric. He would frequently surprise the foreign dignitaries and ambassadors by showing up naked or sometimes even ambushing them without any trace of clothes on his body.
History says that Franklin Roosevelt’s son, Elliot once walked in on Churchill standing completely naked and smoking a cigar while dictating a letter to his secretary. He had no qualms over conducting the business of the country while being entirely naked.
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4. Ben Franklin
He was one of the founding fathers of the U.S. and a really intelligent man. He was an author and his face can also be found on the 100 dollar bill. Regardless of all that glory, he is also considered one of the craziest people in history. He was into sleeping with really, really old women, probably around 30-40 years older than him.
He always surrounded himself with older women and his wife kept silently tolerating him. According to him, old women were more smart, experienced, and better secret keepers than the ones his age.
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5. Pythagoras
Pythagoras was a renowned mathematician and scientist but also quite crazy. If you are wondering where you might have heard his name before, remember the Pythagoras theorem from school? Yes, this man is behind that. History has it that he had founded a religion that forbade people from eating beans, stepping over a crossbar, and walking on highways.
The term coined for his strange religion was “Pythagoreanism”. Though much of the religion’s practices remain a mystery, it is believed that the Pythagoreans worshipped his philosophical beliefs.
6. Salvador Dali
Despite being a great artist, Dali believed that he was a reincarnation of his late brother who had the same name as him but passed away 22 months after being born due to stomach infections.
He visited his brother’s grave as a child and his parents made him believe that he was indeed a reincarnation of him. Due to these psychological events, Dali had forgotten the difference between being apathetic or losing touch with his emotions as they had taken a toll on him. He once pushed his friend off a bridge and had no remorse for his actions.
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7. Lord Byron
Another crazy person on the list but again a talented man, George Gordon Byron or Lord Byron was an incredible British poet who led the Romanticism movement in Europe in the 19th century. Being a romantic person, he had several affairs, but the greatest and the weirdest hobby he had was collecting the pubic hair of his lovers as a trophy.
If this was still not crazy enough, he once slept with his half-sister, thus committing incest, and then drank wine straight out from a human skull.
8. James Watson
A Nobel prize winner for his exceptional work in the field of DNA, he is an extremely intelligent person who is also quite racist. He actually believes that white people are smarter and wiser than Africans. His controversial views on race, sexuality, and politics put him under the spotlight. One time, he told a British newspaper that a woman has the right to abort her unborn child if any preceding tests show that child would be homosexual.
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Few Final Words
They might have been famous and genius people in their field, but they sure were unhinged and very deviant. Sure, you get to be a little crazy if you are a genius, because how else would you convince the outside world to believe you? But there is a fine line between going completely nuts and not losing sight of yourself amidst the madness.
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