In this list, we’ll explore 25 of the most sought-after historic events that people say they wish they could have been there to see.
Golden Gate Bridge Completion (1937)
“My father was one of the first to walk across it. He died when I was 8. I would love to see him again.”
” I’ve read a lot of the comments here, and if I had a time machine, I would make this one happen before any of them.”
Library of Alexandria (200 BC)
“Take a portable scanner! Hopefully, as you’re scanning ancient texts, it doesn’t malfunction and set the whole place on fire.”
“Plot twist; it was full of cheesy Ancient Greek romance novels all along.”
The Pyramids Being Built (2600 BC)
“They’re made out of millions of stones weighing 2.5 tons each, with the heaviest at 80 tons; stacked very precisely, very high, with inner chambers and workings. In a time without electricity or even proper paper.”
“I’d love to know for certain how the blocks were raised to such a great height. The evidence is for an internal spiral ramp, but I’d love to see for myself.”
Roswell, New Mexico (June, 1947)
“Let’s see what really crashed out there.”
“Weather balloons weren’t classified. Whatever crashed, they recovered in secrecy and then transported by armed escort. A weather balloon is the one thing we can be sure it wasn’t.”
The Birth Of The Moon (4.51 Billion Years Ago)
“The Mars-sized planetoid would alter gravity, tides, and weather. You’d begin to feel weightless. Earthquakes and tidal waves would be severe; the collision would crack the earth open; all the hot gooey magma exploding into space; then coalesce by its own gravity and go into orbit.”
“I like this one – it has to be the single, most meaningful moment in our planet’s history.”
4500 BC
“Purely to record the languages being spoken around the world. Research has deconstructed proto-languages, but those only go so far back and don’t account for lost languages.”
“This would be amazing. I want to figure out what language the neolithic people spoke in Ireland and whether their symbols represented speech or something else.”
Chateau Versailles In Its Hey-day (1682)
“I would love to see the debut of a Molière play at Versailles.”
“I want to see that female singer do the chicken-nodding song and watch Mozart giggle to himself.”
Tenochtitlan (1325)
“Yes! I’d love to witness the day Cortez first arrived. What a unique moment in history; the sense of awe and bewilderment from both sides. So much has been lost to history.”
“I want to see it BEFORE the Spanish destroyed it.”
“There were so many sea turtles that the Spanish couldn’t sleep because it sounded like they were hitting rocks all night.”
The Lake Agassiz Flood (12,875 Years Ago)
“12,000 years ago, there was a massive lake in the middle of North America fed by glacial meltwater: Lake Agassiz. It was larger than all of the current Great Lakes combined.”
“At the end of the last ice age, the lake drained almost completely – in less than nine months. The flooding was likely unprecedented, carrying boulders the size of small houses.”
Dinosaurs (150 Million Years Ago)
“So long as I could be a mere observer, I’d want to see the Chicxulub impact extinction event.”
“What if they just sounded like chickens but deeper in pitch? That would be soul-destroying.”
The Zanclean Flood (5.33 Million Years Ago)
“The Mediterranean Sea used to be a dry basin. At some point, the Atlantic Ocean cut an opening at Gibraltar, and millions of cubic meters of water poured into the basin.”
“It wasn’t a waterfall; maybe steep rapids. It happened over only months; maximum two years.”
“Imagine seeing the very birth of a huge sea!”
Strasbourg (1518)
“A villager accidentally synthesized MDMA in their farm kitchen.”
“The whole town succumbed to mass hysteria and danced themselves to death over two months.”
“None of the sources mention fatalities, but there was inexplicable dancing, and they were hospitalizing people for it.”
Prehistoric Man (100,000 Years Ago)
“I’d love to see how early humans lived, to witness a hunt and their survival. What their early community life was like, and what they really looked like (with their pre-farming teeth and during food shortages). How did they walk so far without shoes?”
“I’d go back to see when Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens lived side by side.”
Diogenes Telling Alexander The Great To Step Out Of His Sunlight (330 BC)
“I would also love it but I may need to brush up on my ancient Greek!”
“Knowing our man Dio, he had some hand gestures and facial expressions going on. You wouldn’t have to know the lingo to love the moment, body language, and all that.”
Kepler’s Supernova (1604)
“It was more visible than any other star in the night sky. Records of its sighting exist in European, Chinese, Korean, and Arabian sources.”
“Just imagine the magnitude of that explosion, which was visible for three weeks during daylight, despite occurring 20,000 light-years away.”
“October 1604 isn’t even that long ago! Wild.”
The Charge Of The Winged Hussars (1683)
“It was so impressive that those in the battle nearby stopped just to watch them.”
“Imagine ceasing to defend your own life, or the lives of your closest companions, just because you’re gawking at horses.”
“There were 2000 Winged Hussars. They led 18 000 Cavalrymen, the largest cavalry charge in history.”
The Premier Of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (7th May, 1824)
“Rehearsals were rushed, so Beethoven stood next to the conductor to give him cues. On finishing, Beethoven (deaf) just stood with his back to the audience. A soloist went to the maestro and physically turned him around so he could see the audience standing in full ovation, jumping up and down on their chairs as they cheered and clapped.”
Chernobyl (1986)
“I’d watch reactor four explode from very far away, and maybe in a special suit.”
“I’ll pass. The HBO show alone gave me a lot of existential dread and a very healthy fear of radiation.”
“You would need to worry about the wind more than the distance.”
The Battle Of Stamford Bridge (1066)
“I want to see that single Viking on a bridge holding off an entire army while duel-wielding.”
“Didn’t he hold them off, only for one English dude to go under the bridge and skewer him in the privates? Ouch.”
“True! The reported battle sounds far more interesting, as a spectacle, than Hastings.”
Whitechapel, London (1888)
“I will discover who Jack The Ripper was myself! Hopefully, without being murdered or dying of cholera.”
“It’s definitely just some guy. I’m not in the way of thinking it was anybody famous or high status as some conspiracies suggest.”
“Yes! One of my favorite historical mysteries!”
Opening Of The Crystal Palace Exhibition In London (May 1st, 1851)
“I love this one! They had so much cool stuff at the Great Exhibition that you wouldn’t expect for 1851, including photos of the moon!”
“It’s such a shame that it burnt down; it would’ve been a sight to see.”
Anne Boleyn’s Execution (1536)
“Just so I could roll my eyes and make evil eyes at her accusers.”
“Henry the 8th had invented a new church so he could divorce his Catholic wife and marry Anne. She bore him one daughter, and he was executed for treason, so he could marry someone else and try to have a son. What a jerk.”
“He destroyed her paintings; we don’t know what she looked like. I’d like to see her face.”
The assassination of JFK (1963)
“I’d take along a bunch of hi-res cameras.”
“I don’t think it would end well for you if you were spotted by his bodyguards hiding on the knoll with a lot of scary-looking technology. They’d assume you were a commie sniper and… BLAM.”
Live Aid (1985)
“I want to see Queen perform; from the footage, you can tell it was an amazing event, but to be there and experience it must have been something else.”
“My parents had tickets for Live Aid and couldn’t go because my mother was heavily pregnant with yours truly. My dad brings it up often.”
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863)
“It lasted only two minutes but is one of the most powerful expressions of freedom and liberty in any language.”
“This. And to hear/record Lincoln’s famous lost speech, which was said to be so enamoring that those in attendance stopped taking notes just so they could listen to it.”
“A truly great and emotive speaker. What a moment to witness!”
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