The Defenestration of Prague, 1618

In 1618, two royal officials plunged forty feet out the window of Prague Castle, but neither one hit the ground bleeding. The Defenestration of Prague started with a furious priest and a stack of legal documents, and by the time the nobles stormed into that chamber, the room was packed with nervous guards and unread royal proclamations. As the protesters dragged their victims to the casement, the officers barely had time to shout for mercy before tumbling into the moat below. But what saved them from broken bones was a pit of horse manure, left uncollected beneath the castle walls, and that foul landing set Europe on fire for thirty years.