True stories behind 3 nursery rhymes

No one can imagine the kind of weird and scary stories from which some nursery rhymes originate. We’ve gotten 3 of them here; the stories are true, and totally horror movie material.  

Ring-a-ring-a-rosies 
Pocket full of posies, 
Ashes, ashes, 
We all fall down! 
This nursery rhyme refers to The Black Death, a bubonic plague pandemic which lasted from 1346 to 1352, affecting mainly Europe. The main symptom was black sores on the body. People stuffed "posies," a type of flower, into their pockets to mask the smell of dead bodies piling up everywhere. The ashes refer to the burning of bodies to stop further spread of infection. As far ‘all fall down’, 20% of the world's population dies in the plague. 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, 
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. 
All the king's horses and all the king's men 
Couldn't put Humpty together again. 
This poem was first published in 1810. Some suggest it’s about a village drunkard. But most point it’s a reference to King Richard III of England, who was a humpback. When King Richard III went to war at the Battle of Bosworth, he fell off of his horse and was hacked to death by his rivals. 

Jack and Jill went up the hill 
To fetch a pail of water. 
Jack fell down and broke his crown, 
And Jill came tumbling after. 
Water is typically found at the bottom of a hill instead of the top, so this rhyme is often questioned. However, theories suggest that it has a much deeper meaning. Jack and Jill are supposedly representations of France's King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, a couple that was said to be greedy, carelessly wasting money on finery, completely unaware that people in the country were suffering from severe poverty. King Louis XVI was beheaded (‘crown’ is another word for the head) in 1793, and Marie Antoinette was also beheaded (‘came tumbling after’ the King) around 10 months later. While we are not certain about the exact date, this poem became popular around the same time, so historians suggest this source.