Weird Facts & Trivia 19
- A one-eyed man was executed for bestiality in 1642 in Connecticut after a local sow gave birth to a one-eyed piglet. Source
- The first ‘mooning’ in recorded history was 66 AD, where a Roman soldier mooned Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, causing a riot, an over-response by the Roman military, and the death of thousands. Source
- Two inmates sued the state of Alabama, claiming the cramped space in their cell was a cruel and unusual punishment. The state argued that students at Auburn University actually paid to live in even smaller living space in the Magnolia Dorm. Source
- When child actor Jackie Coogan turned 18 he found out all his money ($68 million) had been spent by his mother who argued “No promises were ever made to give Jackie anything. Every dollar a kid earns before he is 21 belongs to his parents.” Coogan’s Bill was passed to protect child actors. He is perhaps best remembered as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family. Source
- Nearly 40% of people of East Asian decent lack the enzymes to properly metabolize alcohol. Source
{/googleAds}
- Canada declared national beauty contests canceled as of 1992, claiming they were degrading to women.
- United Airlines stewardesses were forbidden to marry until 1968. Source
- In 1964, during their first American tour, The Beatles refused to play their scheduled concert in Jacksonville until the audience was desegregated. Source
- The Dubai police fleet includes a Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bentley. According to them, expensive and fast cars allow them to catch speeders who can outrun others. In fact, the fleet is more of a PR exercise. They’re for showing off the glamour of Dubai and are all driven by female officers to improve Dubai’s public image. Source
- A U.S. family tried to spend a year living without Chinese made goods and found it almost impossible. They wrote a book about it. Source
- A magazine sent a check for 13 cents to a dozen wealthy people. Only Donald Trump and Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian arms-dealer and businessman, cashed the check. Source
- In 2005, Iraqi terrorists held an action figure hostage and tried to claim that it was a U.S. Soldier. Source
- Vermont, admitted as the 14th state in 1791, was the 1st addition to the original 13 colonies.
- Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote.
- Yellowstone is the world's 1st national park. It was dedicated in 1872.
- Robert Shields, a former minister and English teacher, holds the record for having kept the longest modern diary ever, at a mind-boggling 37.5 million words. To put that in perspective, the average novel is about 75,000 words long. So this was the size of about 500 of those. For 25 years, from 1972 to 1997, he wrote down what he experienced every five minutes. He would spend four hours a day doing this, sometimes just checking and recording his vital signs. Source
-
A cop in New Mexico tasered a 10 year old on a playground during career day because the child did not want to wash the policeman’s cruiser. Source
- Gandhi refused to let doctors administer penicillin to his wife, which led to her death, yet accepted quinine to save his life. Source
- Walt-DisneyWalt Disney was fired from a newspaper company for lacking creativity. Source
- After loosing his two daughters and wife in a mid-air collision, the man years later murdered the air traffic controller whom he felt responsible, in front of his family at his home. Then served less than 3 years jail. Source
- More than ten people a year are killed by vending machines.
- Dr. Allan Zarkin was so pleased with the Caesarean section he performed that he decided to tag it with his initials. Zarkin (appropriately nicknamed “Dr. Zorro” by the press) carved the initials “AZ” into Liana Gedz’s stomach, presumably forgetting that human beings are not pumpkins, public playground equipment or school desks. Naturally, Zarkin was dismissed from Beth Israel Hospital, which had been fined $14,000 by the state, in addition to the massive lawsuit from the patient. Source
- Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a massive stroke. When he woke up twenty days later, he found he was entirely speechless; he could only blink his left eyelid. Despite his condition, he wrote the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking when the correct letter was reached by a person slowly reciting the alphabet over and over again. Bauby composed and edited the book entirely in his head, and dictated it one letter at a time. The book, about 140 pages long, took Bauby an estimated 200,000 blinks to complete. It was published in France on 6 March 1997. Bauby died suddenly from pneumonia three days after the French publication of his book. Source
- Central-ParkCentral Park‘s rivers and streams are entirely artificial and can be turned on and off. Source
Greta Friedman from the kissing sailor photo did not want to be kissed saying “It wasn’t my choice to be kissed, The guy just came over and grabbed me!“ Source
Weird Facts has been updated daily since 1999.
We read all comments and respond to any requests.
Submit a Fact or Correct a Fact