this post was submitted on
136 points (69% like it)
246 up votes 110 down votes
shortlink:

WTF

subscribe1,814,311 readers

New Rules:

  • No screenshots (e.g. Facebook, Youtube)
  • No memes
  • No rage comics
  • No politics / posts with political implications - Includes Activism, Call for public outcry etc.
  • No re-hosted web comics
  • No begging for upvotes
  • No links to reddit
  • Personal information is not allowed and will be removed, repeat offenders banned
  • Links to facebook are not allowed
  • NSFW posts must be tagged or will be removed.
  • Gore and Porn are not by default WTF, consider posting the more extreme stuff to /r/spacedicks

All (& only) things that make you say WTF. The moderators of /r/WTF reserve the right to moderate posts for not being WTF and would be more appropriate in more relevant subreddits.

Thanks to licenseplate for the excellent logo & thanks to humansmartbomb for the previous logo

Please DO NOT post personal information

Such posts or comments will be removed and offenders may be banned. This includes anything hosted on Facebook's servers, as they can be traced to the original account holder.

Shout Outs:

/r/weird

/r/creepy

/r/creepy_gif

/r/offbeat

/r/WTFart

/r/NSFW_WTF

/r/sfw_wtf

/r/BugWars

/r/awesome

/r/toosoon

New: /r/mildlyinteresting

New: /r/FanTheories

New: /r/tifu

Exceptions to the rules can be granted by the moderators; The moderators of /r/WTF reserve the right to moderate posts and comments at their discretion, with regard to their perception of the suitability of said posts and comments for this subreddit. Thank you for your understanding.

a community for
to anything interesting: news article, blog entry, video, picture...
message the moderators

MODERATORS

reddit is a source for what's new and popular online. vote on links that you like or dislike and help decide what's popular, or submit your own! learn more ›

135
136

Bison Skull Pile Circa 1870 (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by reebokpumps

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on
all 58 comments
sorted by:
best
hot
new
controversial
top
old
best

[–]ehorgan 13 points14 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I'm curious ... are there more skulls represented in that photo than living bison today? I would wager so.

[–]glennwithcheese 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

about 500,000 alive today. not sure how many skulls in the pile...

[–]XtortionBear 2 points3 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Many are cross-bred with cattle, though. There are few true bison left.

[–]botanist 2 points3 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

TIL most surviving bison herds are cross-bred with cattle.

[–]siouxsie_sioux 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

But they're so delicious.

[–]ehorgan 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

You'll get no argument here. Very tasty indeed ;)

[–]cspeed 13 points14 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

They sure knew how to pile skulls back in the day.

[–]i_m_fury 5 points6 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Agreed. If we could pile skulls like that nowadays, we wouldn't have so much trouble finding places for all our skulls.

[–]BeholdTheHypnoToad 9 points10 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Fuck everything about that.

[–]informationmissing 7 points8 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

It's like that game where you try to guess how many gumballs are in the jar, and you win a jar of gumballs. Only with this game, you win a smallpox outbreak.

[–]wrathofg0d 21 points22 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

i've seen this pic before, but i'm really curious about the context. those skulls have all been dried and bleached, it seems. i'm assuming whoever amassed the pile put out a bounty for bison skulls, with the goal of fucking over native americans.

[–]windigo 4 points5 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

They may have been used for fertilizer such as in Regina, saskatchewan which was originally named 'pile-of-bones'. Just a theory though on the OPs post.

[–]AndrewP7 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I'm surprised you never got any upboats for the truth...

[–]windigo 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Truth isn't as interesting

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Regina Represent!!

Now for another pic:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/A_pile_of_buffalo_bones_stacked_for_shipment_to_Saskatoon%2C_young_man_posed_in_front.jpg

Apparently (this is a story my native studies teacher told me "off the record") the white people were shooting them from the train to take food away from the aboriginals.... apparently they did mass killings for the sake of taking food away from the Indians... they would kill the bison/buffalo and let them die.... While Saskatchewan Indians were known to use "every part" of the buffalo..

VERY GOOD PIC!! BEST IV SEEN!

[–]windigo 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

That's entirely possible. I read in a text book once that the RCMP used to shoot all the Inuits dogs so they couldn't go dog sledding to find food. This forced them to go to the churches and ask the missionaries for help (which they'd only do if they accepted the Christian god). I think this may have been going on up to the '50s.

[–]ehorgan 9 points10 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Why anybody downvoted you is beyond me.

To undermine the plains indians is exactly the reason the bison of America were killed wholesale.

[–]Kangaroo__Court 3 points4 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Buffalo fur was pretty popular; I think that was the main reason. It's effect on the tribes was a lesser reason.

Native Americans are not stupid and they responded to market forces as well by over hunting and selling to fur traders.

[–]Lampmonster1 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

There was a campaign to wipe them out sponsored by the US army for the purpose of removing them as a food source for the native Americans. It's not speculation.

[–]xiannow 3 points4 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I'm taking a course over the Llano Estacado in Texas and my professor brought this picture up in lecture last week. There was bison slaughter not only to hurt the plains indians, but also because the hide was sronger than cow hide, bison coats were a fashion for a while, and also plains native americans were also to blaim for the bison decrease, or by the author of The Comanche Empire.

[–]treggify 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Or to make cool chandeliers.

[–]maverick_adam 3 points4 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Maybe it has something to do with this?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Head smashed in cliff is GENIUS!! it was a hunt technique where the aboriginals used to scare and drive the buffalo off the cliff where they would ultimate fall to there brutal deaths.... No weapons just scare tactics

[–]Itsgoodsoup 14 points15 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

That's fucking horrible. Humans are dicks.

[–]Ssssnacob -1 points0 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

And everyone is trying to out-dick each other it seems. Assholes.

[–]Kilsimiv 2 points3 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

This picture always gets me ... CAN YOU IMAGINE?

[–]cyclenaut 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

look up the catacombs of paris people

[–]AlexDeLarge4848 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Humans don't just suck bad now'a days. Humans have ALWAYS sucked bad. We are just more cynical now because of access to information.

[–]Saeveo 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

[–]GregoriousC 1 point2 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Don't know which is creepier: This photo or that I clicked to see it thinking the title read "Bison Skull Pie."

[–]majorsyph 2 points3 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

That makes me HORNY

[–]ConeyIslandWarrior 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I see what you did there.

[–]Bear_Masta 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

SOMEONE CALL DETHKLOK

[–]XtortionBear 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Hey OP, thank you for saying 'bison' instead of 'buffalo'.

[–]tankerhoosen 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Bison hide is also incredibly strong, pretty much all of the belts that drove the machinery in mills and factories were made from bison.

[–]durden87 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

I like it when pictures from this sub-reddit make me literally go "what the fuck?!" in my head.

[–]ChickenFarmer 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

They were doing it for the earth! Imagine the methane and CO2 emitted by this number of bovines!

[–]ElectricEggnog 0 points1 point ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

my stack of bacon is bigger:/

[–]Purehatred -1 points0 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

awesome.

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

This is why we can't have nice things.

[–]Rigga_Mortizz -1 points0 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Mr Mojo BISON!!!

[–]nihilist11 -1 points0 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

this planet would be better off without humans

[–]energy4anarchy -4 points-3 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

Another tick in the box for why i hate America

[–]ricker89 -2 points-1 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on

leave it to white people to see a lot of anything and insist on destroying all of it

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy. © 2012 reddit inc. All rights reserved.

REDDIT and the ALIEN Logo are registered trademarks of reddit inc.

π Rendered by PID 27300 on app-02 running fc22e53.